Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Differences Between Carbon-12 and Carbon-14
Differences Between Carbon-12 and Carbon-14 Carbon-12 and carbon-14 are two isotopes of the element carbon. The difference between carbon-12 and carbon-14 is the number of neutrons in each atom. The number given after the atom name (carbon) indicates the number of protons plus neutrons in an atom or ion. Atoms of both isotopes of carbon contain 6 protons. Atoms of carbon-12 have 6 neutrons, while atoms of carbon-14 contain 8 neutrons. A neutral atom would have the same number of protons and electrons, so a neutral atom of carbon-12 or carbon-14 would have 6 electrons. Although neutrons do not carry an electrical charge, they have a mass comparable to that of protons, so different isotopes have different atomic weight. Carbon-12 is lighter than carbon-14. Carbon Isotopes and Radioactivity Because of the different number of neutrons, carbon-12 and carbon-14 differ with respect to radioactivity. Carbon-12 is a stable isotope. Carbon-14, on the other hand, undergoes radioactive decay: 146C → 147N 0-1e (half-life is 5720 years) Other Common Isotopes of Carbon The other common isotope of carbon is carbon-13. Carbon-13 has 6 protons, just like other carbon isotopes, but it has 7 neutrons. It is not radioactive. Although 15 isotopes of carbon are known, the natural form of the element consists of a mixture of only three of them: carbon-12, carbon-13, and carbon-14. Most of the atoms are carbon-12. Measuring the difference in the ratio between carbon-12 and carbon-14 is useful for dating the age of organic matter since a living organism is exchanging carbon and maintaining a certain ratio of isotopes. In a diseased organism, there is no exchange of carbon, but the carbon-14 that is present undergoes radioactive decay, so over time, the isotope ratio becomes more and more different.
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Answers to Questions About Punctuation #3
Answers to Questions About Punctuation #3 Answers to Questions About Punctuation #3 Answers to Questions About Punctuation #3 By Mark Nichol Here are a few questions from DailyWritingTips.com readers about various punctuation issues, followed by my responses. 1. A lawyer asks a witness about a quoted statement made to the witness by another person, such as â€Å"Did she tell you, ‘I have to call the authorities, you’re going back. Stay right here.†Should there be a question mark after the closing quotation mark? The framing sentence the one in which the quotation is framed, is a question, so the terminal punctuation should be a question mark. However, the division of the quotation into two sentences, with a period intervening, is awkward, because that terminal punctuation interferes with the role of the question mark. (The first sentence also includes a comma splice, in which two independent clauses are erroneously separated by a comma rather than a stronger punctuation mark such as a semicolon.) Here’s my solution: â€Å"Did she tell you, ‘I have to call the authorities; you’re going back stay right here’?†2. Is the following quotation punctuated correctly? â€Å"Do you think she has the nerve to tell him, ‘You are a terrible man.’?†I think I recall a rule that you can’t have two kinds of punctuation at the end of a quote, but how else can it be done? The question mark preempts the period: â€Å"Do you think she has the nerve to tell him, ‘You are a terrible man’?†3. Is it still correct to place a semicolon before however and a comma after it? Yes. Here’s a post on the topic. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Whimsical Words50 Idioms About Arms, Hands, and FingersWhile vs. Whilst
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Policy and Governance in Sustainable Systems Term Paper
Policy and Governance in Sustainable Systems - Term Paper Example Instead, they end up electing the leaders who use the governments’ money to come up with projects that use a large amount of government’s money in order to, please people. This results into huge deficits in a country. Democratic participation in the making and enforcement of policies is very common in many countries. It is true that democracy affects environmental policies stringency positively, but only if the country has a history of democratic rule and the country is less corrupt. The positive effects of democracy are linked with the citizens’ ability to give information concerning the environmental destruction and the ability to protest against it. Because of democracy, there has been an augmentation in environmental commitment, in states. For instance, democracy has influence the signing off Multilateral Environmental Agreements, which is a sign of environmental commitment (Pellegrini 2011). â€Å"What is the tragedy of the commons and what are some of the ways to mitigate it? What are some of the conditions that enable self-organization to alleviate the tragedy?†Tragedy of the commons is the problems caused by individuals’ collective actions. It results when resources in the community has no private ownerships and are owned by the entire community. Since the resources that are owned by the community, no one cares to use them responsibly, and this leads to their depletion. Example of the tragedy of he commons is overfishing from a lake that is not owned by a specific person in the community, or cutting trees from a community forest. The problem can be mitigated if the whole community comes together to restrict the harvesting of the resources. The problems can also be mitigated in a country if the governments set regulations or taxes. Self-organization can alleviate the tragedy of the commons if it creates a system of give and receive, which can sustain a high level of cooperation to generate new canons of reciprocity. Mo reover, the self-organization should create group identity especially in the institutions that are self-governed, so that a player can discuss the problems related to the tragedy freely (Gunderson, 2002). â€Å"How does splitting types of goods and services by levels of exclusivity and subtractability help us to understand governance systems better? Explain the various types of goods and the relevant institutional arrangements for effective governance†. Public and private goods are in opposition because of the difficulties in excluding access to and low substractability of public goods, and the corresponding ease of exclusivity and high substractability of the private goods. Splitting the goods in such levels help us to understand the governance system better since they make is easier for one to understand how and why particular systems of resource governance and property regime develop as they do. The types of goods that exist are the private goods and the public goods. The public cannot use the private goods; however, the public can use them under certain conditions. The public goods have no specific ownership, and that can result to the Tragedy of the Commons. The nature of goods depends on its exclusivity and substractability. The private rights refer to the clear specification, security and exclusivity of the right, which the right holder alone is entitled to. The public or private nature of a resource defines the representational claims of the body. A public body represents the general
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Who Benefits from College Pressures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Who Benefits from College Pressures - Essay Example Those were: economic pressure, parental pressure, peer pressure and self-induced pressure. For sure, those pressures haven’t become weaker today. Students differ, yet there have always been those highly motivated ones, doing their best in attempt to satisfy and exceed high academic standards. This group enhances college pressure, spreading it upon the rest of students. Young people all over the country courageously struggle through academic years gritting their teeth and suppressing their natural inclinations. All these sacrifices are done in the name of the golden calf and absurd ideas. However, it stays unclear, who benefits from this race. College pressures do more harm than good. Economic and parental pressures, being interrelated, are the major sources of students’ uneasiness. Today the USA goes through difficult economic conditions. Life is expensive and the competition in the society is as high as it has never been before. It is easy to get frightened about your future. Loving parents dream of the success of their children. They are ready to assist in achieving this success. Certainly, they expect their offspring to be grateful for this assistance, thus placing a heavy burden on the youth striving for freedom and self-realization. The puzzle seems simple: having graduated from a prestigious college and having got a prestigious profession, one finds himself on the top of life (or at least somewhere near it). Education costs ever more, and the young people, who are enrolled, feel an obligation to their parents. Many of them pursue the career chosen by their parents, while their own vocation is rejected as non-beneficial. Abandoned dreams do not disapp ear without leaving a trace. They continue disturbing one’s imagination and spirit. As the result, students follow the path chosen by others, feeling deeply unhappy and discontented. They realize that something is wrong but often cannot admit that they are lying to themselves. Â
Sunday, November 17, 2019
SWOT Analysis of Regis Corporation Essay Example for Free
SWOT Analysis of Regis Corporation Essay Section I – Organizational History Regis Corporation, a Fortune 1000 company, specializes in beauty salons, hair restoration centers, and cosmetology education. The Company owns, franchises, or holds ownership interests in approximately 12,700 worldwide locations (Regis Corporation, 2009). Regis corporate and franchise locations operate under concepts such as Supercuts, Sassoon Salon, Regis Salons, MasterCuts, SmartStyle and Hair Club for Men and Women (Regis Corporation, 2009). In addition, Regis maintains an ownership interest in Provalliance, which operates salons primarily in Europe, under the brands of Jean Louis David, Franck Provost and Saint Algue. Regis also maintains ownership interests in Empire Education Group in the U.S. and MY Style concepts in Japan. System-wide, these and other concepts are located in the U.S. and in over 30 other countries in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia (Regis Corporation, 2009). In its nearly 9,500 North American salons, Regis offers a wide range of hair care services including haircuts, styling and coloring, as well as a wide selection of professional hair care products (Regis Corporation, 2009). Through their 96 Hair Club for Men and Women locations, Regis also offers a comprehensive menu of hair restoration products and services (Regis Corporation, 2009). Section II – Strengths and Weaknesses I would consider two of Regis Corporation’s strengths to be their longevity brand recognition and salon geographic locations. Two of Regis Corporation’s weaknesses are poor management and poor management. Strength #1- Longevity Brand Recognition Regis began 88 years ago and since then has grown into a multi-billion dollar company. Regis Corporation owns several well-known brands such as SuperCuts, Master Cuts, Vidal Sassoon, and ProCuts. They also have their own complete hair care line of products called DesignLine. Strength #2- Salon Geographical Locations Regis strategically places all of their salons in locations with high customer traffic flow such as malls, shopping centers, and Wal-Mart Supercenters. Having salons located in these areas allows for customer flexibility as well as a highly visible location for potential walk-in clientele. Regis is also has salons operating in Canada and Puerto Rico, as well as over 400 salons operating internationally in Europe (Regis Corporation, 2009). Weakness #1- Poor Management After reading many Regis employee reviews from glassdoor.com, the majority of cons the employees listed had to do the management. Employees described management as unconcerned with quality of stylists hired, unresponsive to employee’s needs and concerns, and low opportunity for advancement. Upper and lower level management need to be properly trained and incorporate employee empowerment which includes employee recognition, sharing leadership, and providing feedback (Glassdoor.com,). Weakness #2- Poor Customer Service After reviewing many customer reviews, many of the complaints were centered on customer service issues. Some customers complained they were rushed through their service and there were complaints of having to wait over an hour for their service even though they had an appointment. Bad customer service is bad for the hair business because you not only loose that one client; you also lose any future referrals from the client and it can develop a bad reputation for the salon itself (Glassdoor.com,). Section III – Opportunities and Threats Two current opportunities for Regis Corporation’s are their hair restoration businesses and the availability of real estate for new construction. Two of Regis Corporation’s current threats are the downturn of the general economic environment and their current negative same-store sales. Opportunity #1- Hair Restoration Business In December 2004, Regis Corporation acquired the Hair Club for Men and Women (Regis Corporation, 2009). Currently this industry is comprised with numerous locations domestically and internationally. By consolidating and expanding, this industry would generate a great deal of revenue. Growth plans for hair restoration include construction of a modest number of new locations in untapped markets domestically and internationally (Regis Corporation, 2009). Opportunity #2- Availability of Real Estate for New Construction The availability of real estate for new construction is an opportunity for Regis to continue to expand not only the new construction of salons but also the construction of new hair restoration centers. By adding new units in convenient locations with good visibility and customer traffic. The availability of real estate will allow Regis to achieve long-term growth objectives (Regis Corporation, 2009). Threat #1- Downturn of the General Economic Environment Downturn of the economic environment results in customers spending less and waiting longer between returning visits to the salon. General economic factors include interest rates, recession, inflation, deflation, tax rates and policy, energy costs, and unemployment trends (Regis Corporation, 2009). Visits to hair restoration centers would be greatly impacted by increases in unemployment rates and decreases in income levels (Regis Corporation, 2009). Threat #2- Negative Same-Store Sales Same-store sales is taking the amount of revenue generated by stores (open one year or more) over a certain period and then comparing it to an identical period in the past. Many factors affect same-store sales such as fashion trends, competition, or even weather conditions. Regis same-store sales have declined for the eleventh consecutive quarter to 2.3% (Zacks Investment Research, 2011). Continued declines in same-store sales performance may cause us to be in default of certain covenants in their financing arrangements (Zacks Investment Research, 2011). Section IV – Summary Regis is a well-known brand name and had been in business for over 80 years. Regis is one of the largest companies in the hair care industry holding about 2% of the worldwide market. Their salons are conveniently located in malls, shopping centers, and even within Wal-Mart Supercenters. They have salons located all across the United States and have expanded their business to Canada, Puerto Rico, and Europe. Regis needs to improve on their employee satisfaction in regards to management and need to focus on improving customer service relations. Regis’s newly acquired hair restoration line provides a great opportunity to consolidate and expand this industry in turn creating a great deal of revenue. The availability of real estate for new construction is also a great opportunity for Regis to expand in the construction of new salons and new hair restoration centers, which will allow Regis to achieve long-term growth objectives. A threat to Regis is the downturn of the economic environment, which results in consumers spending less and waiting longer between salon visits. If Regis same-store sales do not begin to improve it will have a huge impact on their financing arrangements.
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Henri Matisse Essay -- Art Artisit
Henri Matisse      Henri Matisse was born December 31st, 1869 to two storeowners, Emile and Heloise Matisse. His father wanted him to be a lawyer, so later on in life he could takeover the family business. They sent him to Henri Martin Grammar School where he studied to be a lawyer. There was a hint of artist in Henri because while working as a lawyer’s assistant he took up a drawing course (Essers 7). It was for curtain design but it seemed to be destiny for a lawyer’s assistant to take up such a distant hobby as drawing.      At the age of 21, his intestinal operation led to appendicitis. Henri was on bed rest for most of 1890 and to help him occupy his time, his mother bought him a set of paints. That was the turning point in Henri’s life. He decided to give up his career in law for a career in art. Matisse himself said, â€Å"It was as if I had been called. Henceforth I did not lead my life. It led me†(Getlein 80). Soon after, Henri began to take classes at the Academie Julian to prepare himself for the entrance examination at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (Essers 7). Henri failed his first attempt, leading to his departure from the Academie. He then enrolled at the Ecole des Arts decoratifs and that is where his friendship with Albert Marquet began. They started working alongside of Gustave Moreau, a distinguished teacher at Ecole des Beaux-Arts, even though they had not been accepted (Essers 12). In 1895, Henri finally passed the Beaux-Arts entrance examination and his pa thway to his new career choice had officially begun.                                                        Henri studied under Moreau at the Beaux-Arts. Moreau obviously impressed with his student, told him, â€Å"You were born to simplify painting†(Getlein 80). It was at the Beaux-Arts where he met another Moreau student named Derain. Matisse and Derain would grow to become friends and future trendsetters.      During a visit to Brittany, Matisse discovered Impressionism (Essers 8). The works of Cezanne and Van Gogh influenced him. When he returned, he exhibited his first painting, Dinner Table, in 1897. This was his first painting of impressionistic style. Matisse’s art began to concentrate on landscapes, still life, and domestic interiors. Still life is a theme Henri would follow for the rest of his career.      Henri tried to return to the Beaux-Arts after the release of Dinner T... ...g, but not what he meant. Was it supposed to be taken as seen or is their hidden meaning behind the scenes?      The iconography of the picture could represent art in the view of the fauvists. Fauvists wanted to be free from tradition and natural colors. They wanted to be free to explore their world of colors as they saw fit. Fauvists and expressionists did not like to be held to strict rules when it came to painting. It could be that Le Bonheur de Vivre was a state in which they where trying to reach, but in reality could get never get there. On the other hand, could it be a place where they could only reach in their dreams? Critics have struggled with the interpretation of Matisse’s painting since the first display. That may have been Matisse’s meaning after all.                                                        Bibliography Essers, Volkmar. Henri Matisse, 1869-1954: Master of Colour. Taschen: Koln, 1987. Flam, Jack. Matisse: The Dance. National Gallery of Art: Washington D.C., 1993. Flam, Jack. Matisse: The Man and His Art, 1869-1918. Cornell University Press: Ithaca, 1986. Getlein, Mark. Gilbert’s Living With Art: Sixth Ed. McGraw Hill: New York, 2002.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Effects of corruption Essay
1. Introduction in philosophical, theological, or moral discussions, corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. Corruption may include many activities including bribery and embezzlement. Government, or ‘political’, corruption occurs when an office-holder or other governmental employee acts in an official capacity for personal gain. Corruption has been a major problem in our country Kenya, affecting individuals all over the country. Most problems facing the country can be associated with corruption, starting with unemployment; which has seen the rate of jobless Kenyans go up each and every year, tribal wars which saw the country almost to flames in the year 2007, crimes, which are as a result of the increased rate of unemployment, national debts e.g. the Anglo-leasing which has seen the government spend billions trying to repay the debt. 2. Objectives The study has two objectives; First, it aims to review the essential elements of the various approaches that have been used to analyse the causes and effects of corruption. Second, it aims to explore how research has been applied in developing countries. This is a question of what policy recommendations have been made, and what might be learned from the anti-corruption campaigns and policies applied in specific countries. 3. Research questions 1. To what extent has corruption penetrated into our society today 2. How has corruption affected our way of lives today 3. Which population (the youth or the old) are mostly affected by corruption 4. Which characters in our society influence corruption 5. What is the major contributor to high levels of corruption in Kenya today 6. What role can the government play to bring an end or reduction to corruption 7. How can Kenyans ensure that corruption is eradicated from our system 8. What are the benefits of living in a corruption-free country 4. /Literature review Corruption has recently become a major issue in foreign aid policies. However, behind the screens it has always been there, referred to as the â€Å"c-word†. The major concern for international aid policy through the last five decades is to improve the living conditions for the poor in the poorest countries of the world. This endeavour requires a close co-operation with the national governments in poor countries. Generally speaking, however, the governments in poor countries are also the most corrupt. This is one of the few clear empirical results of recent research on corruption. The level of GDP per capita holds most of the explanatory power of the various corruption indicators. Consequently, if donors want to minimise the risk of foreign aid being contaminated by corruption, the poorest countries should be avoided. This would, however, make aid policy rather pointless. This is the basic dilemma corruption raises for aid policy. Unlike international business most development aid organisations and international finance institutions have the lion’s share of their activities located in highly corrupt countries. The international community in general and some donor countries in particular are, however, increasingly willing to fight corruption. Within the â€Å"good governance†strategies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund initiatives to curb corruption are given priority. OECD and the UNDP have also developed particular anti-corruption programmes to assist governments in tackling the problem. Furthermore, several bilateral development agencies have placed anti-corruption efforts high on their development agenda. Whether this is a desirable change in focus of aid policy, and, hence, whether it is possible to find workable policy instruments to fight corruption, remains to be explored. Corruption is a problem that mainly arises in the interaction between government and the market economy where the government itself must be considered endogenous. Therefore it is complex to handle from a theoretical point of view. This difficulty is underlined by the fact that data are difficult to gather, and, if available, data are often â€Å"soft†, unreliable and masked. Moreover, from an aid organisation’s point of view the issue of anti-corruption may become diplomatically delicate since at least some of the 7 stakeholders who are handling the aid instruments in the partner countries, are likely to be part of the problem. 5. Research methodology The methods employed were the use of observation questionnaire and interview. Observation involved watching and listening to what people are doing in groups and also what they are watching when in cyber cafes or at home using televisions and also observing what the reaction is when the topic of corruption is introduced. The questionnaire involved a series of questions directed to parents or guardians and another directed to youths and children. They were aimed at finding out how parents and youth view the aspect of corruption The parents or guardians questionnaire consisted of sections which were; Closed ended questions (which required a YES or NO answer) Open ended questions (respondent free to answer in his/her own words) The youths and children’s questionnaire consisted of Closed ended questions (which required a YES or NO answer) The other method used was interviewing where there was a one on one with the respondent and the questions to be asked would revolve the topic of corruption that is the accessibility moral social and health effects. 6. Data collection Ideally the data applied in research on corruption should be based on direct and first-hand observations of corrupt transactions made by unbiased observers who are familiar with the rules and routines in the sector under scrutiny. More aggregate numbers should then be constructed on the basis of such observations. This kind of empirical studies hardly exist, however, and for obvious reasons we cannot expect many more in the near future. Most of the time we are dealing with complex transactions taking place in large hierarchies to which independent researchers normally have no access, nor the appropriate social networks for picking up and checking data. The information is indirect and, until recently, rather unsystematic. One of the major difficulties in corruption research has consequently been the lack of a solid empirical basis. The observational basis of corruption research In countries with honest judiciaries, the most reliable information about corruption is court cases. Courts are spending huge resources on establishing which transactions have in fact taken place, and to judge whether they have actually been corrupt. The problem with court cases is that they are few, compared to the underlying number of corrupt acts, that they cannot be used neither as an indicator of sector occurrences nor of general frequency. For the same reasons court data are difficult to use for cross-country comparisons. They are likely to tell more about political priorities or the efficiency of judiciaries and police than about the underlying problem of corruption. Such data on corruption has nevertheless been collected on an international basis and some efforts have been made to make them comparable across countries, for instance by the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division of the United Nations Office in Vienna (United Nations 1999). However, the fact that Singapore and Hong Kong have exceptionally high conviction rates confirms the suspicion that data from courts cases on corruption, when aggregated, are telling more about judiciary efficiency than about corruption frequencies12. They do, nevertheless, bring interesting and often very detailed descriptions of the social mechanisms involved. In addition to the court cases, the police and other investigation units are producing considerable information about instances of corrupt transactions, also when the information may not be precise enough to win court cases or to fire employees. The quality of this information is highly variable, ranging from cases almost ready to bring to court, to mere rumours.13 In some cases this information may be sufficiently extensive to construct risk patterns for entire sectors, but in most cases it will be biased in the sense that active, strongly motivated police units will tend to exaggerate the number and the danger of the crooks they are hunting. Investigative journalists are in many ways in a better position to collect data than social scientists. The public exposure of journalists gives them a larger supply of informants. They will often have to handle the data carefully, since good stories demand the naming of actors with the obvious possibility of harming innocent individuals. The risk of being sued necessitates caution. Like the police, journalists possess much surplus information that they cannot use. This means that stories from the media are important sources of information also for social science research on corruption when it comes to establishing facts14. Media are also important subjects of research on corruption, mainly for political scientists. Some forms of corruption may be considered as a kind of political scandals, and the political effects may often be quite similar to the publication of private misbehaviour of politicians or their families. Media are not only important in bringing forward facts about corruption, but also for forming public and scientific perceptions of corruption. Moreover, the media are to a large extent setting the stage for determining the likely political consequences of revealed corruption scandals. Like court decisions, media sources have their evident biases when comparing corrupt transactions across countries and across time. Firstly, the media will tend to give priority to the more spectacular stories, making the less dramatic but more common practices of corruption less attention. Secondly, and more important, the number of stories on corruption that are reaching the public are not likely to be determined only by how many stories that exist out there, but is also a question of press freedom, of the market for corruption stories, the journalistic professionalism and resources available, and various kinds of journalistic bandwagon effects. The bias created is likely to be serious also when it comes to empirical research because of the need to rely on second hand information. This makes it almost impossible to determine whether the perception of increasing corruption levels worldwide is based on facts or not, because the main sources used are likely to be strongly influenced by shifts in media attention and public opinion. As far as we know, unlike the case of criminal convictions for corruption, no international counting of media stories has been attempted. It is clear that the actual occurrences of discovered and provable corrupt acts discovered through courts, media and the few instances of participatory research are too few in most countries to constitute a representative sample of the underlying corrupt transactions. To create patterns and analyses, researchers have to bring in information that is relatively unreliable, and then try to process it and make explicit the large and hardly determinable margins of err or in the field. Or alternatively, researchers can decide to let the uncertain and imprecise information about patterns pass, and consider it as not amenable to serious research. Until recently, the last strategy has been the dominant one, but since the mid-1990s a number of quantitative studies have been published based upon quite subjective and commercial indexes of aggregate country levels of corruption. The first and most influential one was Mauro (1995) who brought corruption into the renewed field of economic growth studies among economists. It was an econometric study of the effects of country corruption level on the growth rate, and the results indicated, as discussed in chapter 7.4, that there was indeed a significant negative impact. The study was based on data on general country corruption levels. What kind of data had Mauro been able to find? Corruption measured: The construction of corruption indicators Mauro (1995) used mainly data from a commercial organisation, Business International (BI), which in 1980 made an extensive survey of a large number of commercial and political risk factors, including corruption, for 52 countries, among these several developing countries. Business International had an international network of correspondents (journalists, country specialists, and international businesspeople) who were asked about whether and to what extent business transactions in the country in question involved corruption or questionable payments. The perceived degree of corruption involved in these transactions was ranked on a scale from 0 to 10. BI also made efforts to make the rankings across correspondents consistent. In fact, Business International was not the only organisation that tried to monitor where international businesses have to expect the most extensive or frequent bribe demands. Quite a number of both profit and non-profit organisations constructed similar indexes. Today it is Transparency International’s â€Å"Corruption Perception Index†(CPI) that is the most well known and most used both in research and in the public debate. The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) The CPI is the most comprehensive quantitative indicator of cross-country corruption available, where each single country is recognisable. It is compiled by a team of researchers at Gà ¶ttingen University, headed by Johann Lambsdorff. The CPI assesses the degree to which public officials and politicians are believed to accept bribes, take illicit payment in public procurement, embezzle public funds, and commit similar offences. The index ranks countries on a scale from 10 to zero, according to the perceived level of corruption. A score of 10 represents a reputedly totally honest country, while a zero indicates that the country is perceived as completely corrupt15. The 1999 corruption perception index includes 99 countries. It is based on 17 different polls and surveys conducted by 10 independent organisations, not by TI itself16. None of these surveys are dealing with corruption only, but they cover a number of issues of relevance for development and business confidence. TI, however, is using only the data on corruption. Hence, the Transparency International index is not based upon information from the organisation’s own experts but is constructed as a weighted average of (for 1999) 17 different indexes from 10 different organisations. The majority of these indexes are based on fairly vague and general questions about the level or frequency of corruption perceived either by experts or business managers. About half are based upon expert opinions within built checks to ensure cross-country consistency. The other half is mainly based on questionnaires sent to middle and high-level management to either international or local firms. Only one organisation (i.e., International Working Group, developing the International Crime Victim Survey) asks the respondents directly about their own experience of corruption. Thus, the CPI is mainly a â€Å"poll of polls†, reflecting the impressions of business people and risk analysts who have been surveyed in a variety of ways17. According to TI, none of these sources combines a sufficiently large sampling frame with a convincing methodology to produce reliable comparative assessments. Hence, TI has opted for a composite index as the most statistically robust means of measuring perceptions of corruption. Each of the other surveys uses different sampling frames and varying methodologies. The definition of the concept corruption also varies between the surveys. Thus, we may question whether the surveys cover the same phenomenon (see Lambdsorff, 1999b). Furthermore, all the surveys ask for the extent the phenomenon, although the meaning of â€Å"extent†is not obvious. Is it the frequency of corrupt transactions or the amount of bribes paid or money embezzled? 7. references Hamilton , Alexander (2013), Small is beautiful, at least in high-income democracies: the distribution of policy-making responsibility, electoral accountability, and incentives for rent extraction Morris, S.D. (1991), Corruption and Politics in Contemporary Mexico. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa Senior, I. (2006), Corruption – The World’s Big C., Institute of Economic Affairs, London â€Å"Glossary†. U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre. Retrieved 26 June 2011. Lorena Alcazar, Raul Andrade (2001). Diagnosis corruption. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-1-931003-11-7 Znoj, Heinzpeter (2009). â€Å"Deep Corruption in Indonesia: Discourses, Practices, Histories†. In Monique Nuijten, Gerhard Anders. Corruption and the secret of law: a legal anthropological perspective.
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