History of Guitar Essay Example for Free

History of Guitar Essay Music has consistently been a piece of the world’s culture since the commencement. Path back a huge number of years prior, individuals used their body parts, for example, their mouth, hands and feet, so as to make sounds. In any case, due to people’s imagination and cleverness, they have started to utilize various materials that are a piece of their regular day to day existence so the production of instruments has started. One of those found and concocted instruments is guitar. This paper tries to give nitty gritty data respects to the historical backdrop of guitar. To start with, it will give a meaning of the term ‘musical instrument,’ and its sorts. At that point, it will likewise give a meaning of the instrument ‘guitar. ’ Second, it will follow and portray its history. What's more, in conclusion, it will uncover its advantages to the general public. Besides, it will give a concise information its contemporary status in the general public. Instrument, generally, is any solid delivering material that originates from any culture, initiated in any methods, and is used for making what is all around and much of the time known as â€Å"music. † It envelops programmed or mechanical anyway it likewise incorporates recording or playback gadget (Rice). It is characterized into various sorts to be specific: (1) idiophones, which comprises of cymbals, triangles, gongs, castanets, ringers, xylophones; (2) membranophones, which comprises of drums, a skin or layers is expanded and extended over a resounding hole; (3) chordophones or instruments that produce and make sounds by method of vibration of at least one strings extended in the midst of two fixed focuses. It tends to be a guitar, lupe, harp, violin, cello; (4) aerophones which are blowing gadgets that utilization vibration of the air. These incorporate trumpets, clarinets, woodwinds, bagpipes, whistle (qtd. n Wade 10). Guitar is a stringed instrument, which resembles the lute or the violin, in any case, it is greater in size and has six strings: three of them are silk-shrouded silver wire and the other three are catgut (â€Å"Guitar†). It is an all around portable instrument by which structure, apparent surfaces and playing methodologies and strategies are aftereffect of its allotment. It is used in different locally explicit melodic settings (Bennett and Dawe 1). It is made of wood, associated with lute, nonetheless, it has a more box-molded resonatorâ€the general attribute of the instrument. All through the history, its strings are played by either a plectrum or a finger. It has a round soundhole in its inside (Wade 12). The cutting edge English wording for ‘guitar’ originated from the Spanish expression ‘guittara’ and was gotten from Arabic and Latin terms ‘qitara’ and ‘cithara,’ separately. These terms were gotten from ‘kithara,’ and before Greek word, and from the Persian expression ‘sithar’. â€Å"‘Sithar’ itself is identified with the Indian instrument, the sitar† (â€Å"History of Guitar†). The historical backdrop of guitar is followed hundred of years prior. It has been set up alongside other predecessor instruments known as lyres and harps, which are referenced in the Old Testament, Mesopotamian since quite a while ago necked lutes, string instruments depicted in antiquated Babylonian and Egyptian craftsmanship (Wade 13). The most seasoned well known portrayal of the instrument that shows all its significant highlights is on a 3,300-year old stone cutting of Hittite minstrel (â€Å"History of Guitar†) found at Alaca Hoyuk (Wade 13). All through the Middle Ages, three, four, five-string guitars do exist. The Guittara Latina, which has bended sides, is said and thought to have started in Spain (â€Å"Acoustic Guitar History†). It is an item fundamentally of a long and multifaceted history of different impacts (â€Å"History of Guitar†). Renaissance is the picked period that is supposed to be the appropriate beginning stage of guitar since it is during this age the instrument is as of now comparable to music (Turnbull 2). During this period, writers composed more often than not in sheet music (â€Å"Acoustic Guitar History†), a melodic documentation generally not quite the same as the advanced ones. Its page generally looked colorful, lavish and muddled however for artists and instrumentalists, it has been a down to earth, valuable and a direct technique and way of changing images into sounds (Wade 18). All things considered, in this period, the guitar never had the regard that the lute has in light of the fact that it has not been viewed as a genuine instrument. The main distribution for guitar was perceived to have originated from Alonso Muddara’s â€Å"Tres Libros de Musica en Cifras para Vihuela. † Finally, the guitar started to draw in instrumentalists consequently; there had been an expansion in distribution and music (â€Å"Some Guitar History†). Italy turned into the focal point of guitar in seventeenth century. In the late eighteenth century ensuing to the expansion of the 6th string, the Spanish school of guitar making prospered. In the period of nineteenth century, there was at that point an upgraded and improved correspondence and transportation that permitted the entertainers to travel the world over, in this manner, the guitar advanced to turn into a broadly known instrument (â€Å"Acoustic Guitar History†). The angles and measurements of the cutting edge traditional guitar were set up and established by Antonio Torres, who works in Seville in 1850 (â€Å"History of Guitar†). Guitar music at that point got famous in Spain. The advancement in guitar that was finished by Torres meant modifications in appearance. The cutting edge guitar appeared as a widened body, the abdomen bend was expanded and the paunch was diminished. An improvement with respect to its inward supporting was structured; single string courses were supplanted by twofold courses and the machine head supplanted the wooden tuning pegs (â€Å"Acoustic Guitar History†). Before the finish of the nineteenth century, the guitar has become undesirable. Notwithstanding, it was restored by Francisco Tarrega, who was known for his â€Å"Receurdos de la Alhambra. † He acted in broad daylight and decided to perform for his companions at his home. He composed a method on the most proficient method to instruct guitar. He likewise translated a horde of melodic pieces for guitar. He was additionally considered as the pioneer of playing guitar with fingernails; which advanced into a custom (â€Å"Some Guitar History†). A large portion of the credit and acknowledgment in regards to the advancement of guitar was carried on to the Europeans. Today, steel-string acoustic guitars are created by the Americans. In the mid twentieth century, when European wanderers showed up in America, various them are profoundly talented instrument creators, which remembers those pros for the steel-stringed guitar. There are two sorts of creation that have evolvedâ€the level top guitar and the curve top guitar (â€Å"Acoustic of Guitar History†). At the point when guitar innovation has at long last driven and advanced toward the United States in the mid nineteenth century, it was Charles Friedrich Martin, a guitar producer who moved in New York in 1833, who started it. In mid 1900s, the Martin Company created and made bigger guitar instruments yet still followed and lived with the exemplary model plans, particularly the Spanish guitar (â€Å"How a Guitar is Made: Background†). The ancestry of the guitar is immense and laborious to follow particularly in light of the fact that there is an incomplete confusion that the guitar is an immediate replacement of the lute. The absence of notoriety and noticeable quality of guitar in history is appropriately because of the way that it pulls in little regard from great writers and performers until the twentieth century (â€Å"A Contextual Background†). The production of guitar has been of indispensable significance in the field of music. It is a portrayal and encapsulation of revelation, innovativeness, creative mind and articulation of performing knowledge and expertise. The early guitar offered noteworthy commitments during the Baroque time frame. The guitar and guitar predecessors grabbed hold of the consideration of people culture and the working class route back the Baroque time just as the Classical time frame (â€Å"A Contextual Background†). The instrument speaks to a theoretical thought, a method of intuition with respect to sound and a method of distinguishing and perceiving societies. The guitar is a central symbol in American culture and different societies around the globe. There are a few forms of stringed instruments that are made and made as far off away from Japan, and are formed into the symphony. It additionally shapes remarkable varieties like the Sitar of India (â€Å"The Linage of Guitar Construction†). The development of the guitar over the span of history is in a two-overlap way. The specialized movement and improvements have been exciting, interesting and crucial. By and by, feeding and building up that advancement and improvement has been the social component of guitar’s notoriety and acknowledgment. The mechanical modifications that have been requested socially added to its better and stronger instrumentation. Hence, there have been documentations on its turn of events and excursion. The guitar’s movement throughout time is one of the mirrors that culture undoubtedly changes after some time. It advances simply like how the guitar advances (Kentor and Michaels 10). The guitar isn't only an exemplification of one’s culture and time. It is likewise a portrayal of the status of whoever possesses it particularly during the old occasions on the grounds that a great many people in the working class claimed a guitar. Its improvement serves a reflection that people’s resourcefulness, thinking and innovativeness do upgrade and progress, close by with the way of life that they have a place. The making of guitar has helped a great deal in the music business since it goes with and produces sound even without the utilization of power. It is simply repairman

Effect of the Black Death in England on London's culture, population Essay

Impact of the Black Death in England on London's way of life, populace and economy among 1348 and around 1500 - Essay Example The way where the plague immediately spread is fairly crippling. The activity of the Sicilians to close their Messina port required the boats from the east to look for accessible port nearby the Mediterranean. In that capacity, the plague immediately developed and spread into the countries where these plague harboring ships moored. Along these lines, the plague was answerable for the end of around one third’s of England’s populace. In around four years, the plague had secured nearly the whole world. This outlines the grave circumstance that had been designed by the plague. Thusly, it is basic to dissect the specific effect of this plague on England all in all. The consistent development that had described England before the plague encountered an abrupt turn. The degree of passings that were being acknowledged from the plague resoundingly affects the strict, monetary, social and political structures. The way that the boats couldn't grapple in Messina was insufficient gro unds to clarify the irregular idea of the spread of the plague. In sourcing the response to this inquiry, the circumstance that existed in England preceding the rate of the Black Death, must be featured. The wellspring of the plague was from the insects that were preset in creatures. This is particularly the huge dark rodents. For whatever length of time that the creatures were alive, the bugs remained with their host. In any case, an issue emerged when these creatures kicked the bucket; and the bugs had no place to go. As they continued looking for another host, they would in general likewise assault people. In that capacity, the way that the plague slaughtered 33% of the whole England populace, it left a fundamentally huge effect on the political, monetary and strict structure of England. At the hour of the plague, England had been furiously catholic; as such it is basic to diagram the effect of the Black Plague on religion in England. The plague had its most disastrous effect in the urban areas (Sloanb 45). This depends on the way that the urban communities had been portrayed by congestion. Another factor that supported in this unlimited spread was the low norms of sanitation in the urban areas at that point. The relative speedy time frame among disease and extreme death profoundly affected the strict practices at that point. The time of the fourteenth century was a time of significant strict tendencies. Britain was to a great extent catholic. In that capacity, it was a show that individuals would kick the bucket with their last rights and having admitted their wrongdoings. In any case, this methodology couldn't be continued given the tremendous number of passings that were being recorded. This constrained the Pope Clement VI to offer reduction to each one of those passings was a legitimately sourced from the Black Plague. This is on the grounds that the pastorate couldn't be at the bedside of each and every individual who passed on. The strict change permi tted the withering to admit their wrongdoings to anybody at their bedside. So much was the need to have individuals at the bedside of the withering that individuals were additionally permitted to admit to ladies. This had recently been unsuitable in the catholic religion. In any case, given the idea of the circumstance, this must be acknowledged. The dependence on the pastorate hit low probabilities given the trait of the plague in assaulting secluded populaces exemplified by cloisters. It is nothing unexpected that individuals imagined that the plague was subsequently

First of the Fall Recruiting Fairs COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog

First of the Fall Recruiting Fairs COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog This message serves two purposes.   One is to remind you to check out our travel schedule to see if a representative from SIPA will be in your area this fall.   Two is to announce that this coming week the first few recruiting events of the fall will take place.   Alumni from SIPA will be attending recruitment fairs in Bogota, Colombia and San Jose, Costa Rica this coming week. Both fairs are sponsored by the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA).   Registration is required but there is no cost to attend.   Please see the links below for details: Bogota, Colombia Fair Details (September 9th) San Jose, Costa Rica Fair Details (September 10th) SIPA will also take part in the New York City Idealist.org Graduate School fair on September 10th.   Once again, registration is required but there is no cost to attend. New York City Idealist.org Graduate School Fair Registration Page

Proposal on Energy Audit - 1640 Words

Proposal Energy Audit: An energy audit is an inspection, survey and analysis of energy, flows for energy conservation in a building, process or system to reduce the amount of energy input into the system without negatively affecting the output(s). Energy audit identifies opportunities for financial savings by elimination of wasteful use of electricity, coal and fuel oil, without affecting the process or quality of product. Need for Energy Audit: It has been established that Energy savings of the order of 5 to 20% are possible by optimizing use of Energy with better house keeping, low cost retrofitting measures and use of Energy efficient equipment at the time of replacement, renovation or up gradation. Pakistan†¦show more content†¦It is this first phase where you, the facility manager, can watch the work of the energy auditor to make sure he does not miss any equipment and allocates the equipment to their right meters. Phase-II: Data Analysis The second phase expected of an energy audit is an analysis of the data obtained at the facility. Here the auditor leaves the facility and returns to his place of business to use his skills and computer programs to analyze the data collected. When he/she has analyzed your existing equipment’s operation, it should match the demand and energy consumption on the electric bills. The analysis should show a breakdown of the percent of demand and energy used by various types of equipment such as air conditioning, heating, lighting, motors, etc. It should bench mark the facility’s energy use index to similar facilities. Phase-III: Recommend Energy Conservation with Cost Effective The third phase of an energy audit is to recommend energy conservation measures in equipment and operations. This would include replacing inefficient with high efficiency lighting, air conditioning, and motors, adding window tint to south and west facing windows, installing motion sensors, and purchasing there energy saving devices. Each item would have a cost and an annual savings associated with it so as to calculate a payback period and rate of return percent. They should be graphed to show individual as well asShow MoreRelatedEssay on Energy Planning Proposal1093 Words   |  5 PagesRunning head: ENERGY PLANNING PROPOSAL 1 Alternative Energy Planning Proposal NAME SCI/362 July 15, 2013 PROFESSOR NAME Alternative Energy Plan Proposal 2 Energy Planning Proposal Project: Alternative Energy Organization: City of Seattle, Washington Requestor/Sponsor: MAYORS NAME City of Seattle Mayor Description of Request: Develop and implement an Alternative Energy Plan for City of Seattle. 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I would like to obtain this opportunity to first and foremost thank my supervisory team, for their guidance, support and good advice throughout this research journey. I would have got lost without them. I am also very thankful to the library support provided by the Fairfield school of business who have contributed with their experience for the investigation of this proposal Finally, I doRead MoreTechnology Of Mechanical Heart, Thyroid Surgery1825 Words   |  8 Pageswhich uses material that reduces noise, and optimal use of light for energy savings. b. Discuss the benefits of buying your product/service - Healthcare industry wants a secure and reliable tool to provide exceptional patient care, and manage data securely and scale for future growth. Eaton helps ensure operation in accordance with the needs and on demand. - Eaton can help hospitals to cut costs by saving energy and real-time energy management, so that the Mount Elizabeth Hospital can focus on patient

Implementing QuickSort Sorting Algorithm in Delphi

One of the common problems in programming is to sort an array of values in some order (ascending or descending). While there are many standard sorting algorithms, QuickSort is one of the fastest. Quicksort sorts by employing a divide and conquer strategy to divide a list into two sub-lists. QuickSort Algorithm The basic concept is to pick one of the elements in the array, called a pivot. Around the pivot, other elements will be rearranged. Everything less than the pivot is moved left of the pivot - into the left partition. Everything greater than the pivot goes into the right partition. At this point, each partition is recursive quick sorted. Heres QuickSort algorithm implemented in Delphi: procedure QuickSort(var A: array of Integer; iLo, iHi: Integer) ; var   Ã‚  Lo, Hi, Pivot, T: Integer; begin   Ã‚  Lo : iLo;   Ã‚  Hi : iHi;   Ã‚  Pivot : A[(Lo Hi) div 2];   Ã‚  repeat   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  while A[Lo] Pivot do Inc(Lo) ;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  while A[Hi] Pivot do Dec(Hi) ;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  if Lo Hi then   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  begin   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  T : A[Lo];   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A[Lo] : A[Hi];   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A[Hi] : T;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inc(Lo) ;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dec(Hi) ;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  end;   Ã‚  until Lo Hi;   Ã‚  if Hi iLo then QuickSort(A, iLo, Hi) ;   Ã‚  if Lo iHi then QuickSort(A, Lo, iHi) ; end; Usage: var   Ã‚  intArray : array of integer; begin   Ã‚  SetLength(intArray,10) ;   Ã‚  //Add values to intArray   Ã‚  intArray[0] : 2007;   Ã‚  ...   Ã‚  intArray[9] : 1973;   Ã‚  //sort   Ã‚  QuickSort(intArray, Low(intArray), High(intArray)) ; Note: in practice, the QuickSort becomes very slow when the array passed to it is already close to being sorted. Theres a demo program that ships with Delphi, called thrddemo in the Threads folder which shows additional two sorting algorithms: Bubble sort and Selection Sort.

Accounting Assignment Week 5 Free Essays

16-1, 16-2, 16-3, 16-5 Exercise 16-1Identifying cash inflows and outflows Indicate which of the following items will result in cash inflows and which will result in cash outflows. The first one is shown as an example. Initial investment |Outflow | |Salvage values |Inflow | |Recovery of working capital |Inflow | |Incremental expenses |Outflow | |Working capital commitments |Outflow | |Costsavings |Inflow | |Incremental revenue |Inflow | Exercise 16-2Determining the present value of a lump-sum future cash receipt Stan Sweeney turned 20 years old today. We will write a custom essay sample on Accounting Assignment Week 5 or any similar topic only for you Order Now His grandfather established a trust fund that will pay Mr. Sweeney $80,000 on his next birthday. However, Stan needs money today to start his college education. His father is willing to help and has agreed to give Stan the present value of the future cash inflow, assuming a 10 percent rate of return. Required A. Use a present value table to determine the amount of cash that Stan Sweeney’s father should give him. Using the Present Value of $1 table, The factor for 1 year at 10% rate of return is 0. 90909 The PV of $80,000 after year 1 is PV = 80,000 * PV factor PV = 80000 * 0. 90909 PV = $72,727. 20 Based of The Present Value, Stan Sweeney’s father should give him $72,727. 20 B. ) Use an algebraic formula to prove that the present value of the trust fund (the amount of cash computed in Requirement a) is equal to its $80,000 future value. Investment + (0. 90909 x Investment) = $80,000 $72,727 + (0. 12 x $72,727. 20) =$80,000 $72,727 + $7,273 = $80,000 $80,000 = $80,000 Exercise 16-3Determining the present value of a lump-sum future cash receipt Marsha Bittner expects to receive a $600,000 cash benefit when she retires five years from today. Ms. Bittner’s employer has offered an early retirement incentive by agreeing to pay her $360,000 today if she agrees to retire immediately. Ms. Bittner desires to earn a rate of return of 12 percent. Required A. Assuming that the retirement benefit is the only consideration in making the retirement deci- sion, should Ms. Bittner accept her employer’s offer? Ms. Bittner should not accept the her employers offer. B. Identify the factors that cause the present value of the retirement benefit to be less than $600,000 Inflation is one factor that could affect the present value of the retirement benefit. Taxes is another factor that could affect the present value of the retirement benefit. Exercise 16-5Determining net present value Metro Shuttle Inc. is considering investing in two new vans that are expected to generate com- bined cash inflows of $28,000 per year. The vans’ combined purchase price is $91,000. The ex- pected life and salvage value of each are four years and $21,000, respectively. Metro Shuttle has an average cost of capital of 14 percent Required a. Calculate the net present value of the investment opportunity. |Present Value |FV X PRESENT VALUE |=  Ã‚   Present Value Equivalent  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   | |Period 1 |28,000  Ã‚   X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   0. 877193  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   |$24,561 | |Period 2 |28,000  Ã‚   X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     0. 769468  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   |21,545 | |Period 3 |28,000  Ã‚   X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     0. 74972  Ã‚  Ã‚   |18,899 | |Period 4 |28,000  Ã‚   X  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     0. 592080  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   |16,578 | |   |TOTAL |$ 81,583 | b. Indicate whether the investment opportunity is expected to earn a return that is above or below the cost of capital and whether it should be accepted. The investment opportunity is anticipated to earn a return that is below the cost of capital. T he investment should not be accepted. How to cite Accounting Assignment Week 5, Essay examples

Computer Crimes Ethics free essay sample

Page 3 Explain the three elements of the opportunity triangle (commit, conceal, convert), and discuss how Miller accomplished each when embezzling funds from Associated Communications. What specific concealment techniques did Miller use?. Page 3 What pressures motivated Miller to embezzle? How did Miller rationalize his actions?.. Page 4 Miller had a framed T-shirt in his office that said, â€Å"He who dies with the most toys wins. † What does this tell you about Miller? What lifestyle red flags could have tipped off the company to the possibility of fraud? Page 5 Why do companies hesitate to prosecute white-collar criminals? What are the consequences of not prosecuting? How could law enforcement officials encourage more prosecution?.. Page 5 What could the victimized companies have done to prevent Miller’s embezzlement?. Page 6 David L. Miller: Portrait of a White-Collar Criminal Question 1:How does Miller fit the profile of the average fraud perpetrator? How does he differ? How did these characteristics make him difficult to detect? Mr. Miller is a very sad case. He has all the qualifications of a stellar employee, but those traits are only there to mask who he truly is. He fits the average profile for the average fraud perpetrator because of the following: * The vast majority of fraud perpetrators spend everything that they steal. Only a very small percentage invest the money. Mr. Miller spent all the money and thus it explains why he stole from a new employer in order to repay the prior one. * Many white-collar criminals are stellar employees until that very moment when they are caught. They are always eager, work many days and long hours and are reliable employees. * Employers viewed Mr. Miller as an honest employee and it was because of this trust that he was placed in positions of sensitivity. * Mr. Miller had the life and behaved in the manner of your average citizen and did not raise any flags. He was an educated family man with values and good psychological framework. Even though he has some of the same traits as your average fraud perpetrator, he was harder to spot because of the many ways that he differed. Mr. Miller was not unhappy nor was he vengeful towards his employer. He also had never been convicted of his prior transgressions, and there were various. Normally, most of the fraud perpetrators are first time offenders and not serial offender as Mr. Miller has proven to be. This type of character is very difficult to spot because they do not tend to stand out. White-collar criminals are very educated talented individuals and are the perfect employee. No one would think that they would be capable of such deviant behavior. These people are placed in position of trust are usually work very hard and long hours for the employee. It is sad because there are many employees who possess these traits, but are truly honest and have the company’s best interest at heart. Question 2: Explain the three elements of the opportunity triangle (commit, conceal, convert), and discuss how Miller accomplished each when embezzling funds from Associated Communications. What specific concealment techniques did Miller use? The three elements to the opportunity triangle are as follows: * Commit – for this instance the perpetrator commits the fraud by taking something that is of value to the victim. For corporations this could manifest itself in the form of money and the corruption of financial records in order to conceal the fraud. A great example of this was displayed when he was able to convince not one but two senior officers into signing various checks with the excuse of â€Å"in case something happens† to sway them into signing before they were to leave on vacation. Conceal – to conceal is to hide, so for this to occur the perpetrator must try to conceal their crime. Accounting must be kept in balance in order to avoid from being discovered. They normally do this by increasing other assets or decreasing corporate liabilities and or equities. I think about lying. It is often too easy to say one, but to conceal that lie takes skill and time and perhaps more lies. On one of Mr. Mi ller’s transgressions he concealed his fraud through doctoring of records and removal of checks. He concealed a particular theft by retrieving canceled checks from the bank and taking the recordings and destroying the evidence. Then to further conceal what he did, he hid the amounts of the money that he stole into other expense accounts in order to be able to reconcile the books. Internal controls are in place for a reason and just because someone is in a position of trust, these should not be ignored and for this particular occurrence they were overlooked due to too much trust. * Convert – normally to convert is to take something that is stolen and converting it to cash. This could occur in the form of inventory or company equipment. However, Mr. Miller did not do either of these. His crime was done more indirectly. Mr. Miller was able to forge checks to himself and deposit them within his personal account. Even though checks were signed by approved officers, the intended use for the check was not approved and constitutes fraud on behalf of Mr. Miller. Question 3: What pressures motivated Miller to embezzle? How did Miller rationalize his actions? I do not believe that Mr. Miller had a lot of pressures. However, he stated, after undergoing therapy that his problem was a disease and went as far as to compare it to alcoholism and gambling, but this to me is an excuse or a way to rationalize what he had done. He felt that he needed to steal and have all the luxuries to be liked by his peers; which is sad because he was liked, but not for the reasons he thought, but by his working capabilities. You know you are guilty of something if you have to rationalize what you are doing. I did not notice too many explanations other than Mr. Miller had to steal from his new employer in order to repay the old one. Nonetheless, I feel that he truly believed his own excuse that he was simply borrowing and not really stealing. Sometimes our rationalizations of our actions are so powerful that we can even fool ourselves. Question 4: Miller had a framed T-shirt in his office that said, â€Å"He who dies with the most toys wins. † What does this tell you about Miller? What lifestyle red flags could have tipped off the company to the possibility of fraud? I truly feel sorry for Mr. Miller. His life seemed to be centered around money and materialistic obsessions. That shirt and his behavior showed his desire for money and power, but above all to be recognized by friends and peers. In the end it was Mr. Miller’s extravagant way of living in comparison to his salary proved to be his undoing. When you have a salary of just $130,000 a year, you cannot afford the â€Å"toys† that he had. He had overall a large house, a condo on Myrtle Beach, tailored suits, monogrammed shirts, plenty of jewelry, gifts for relatives and above all the two Mercedes-Benz sedans that he just so happened to possess. In the synopsis there was no mention of his wife working, but with his salary and their 3 children, there was no reason for her to work and this logic is what led me to believe how his salary to possession ratio would raise a few red flags. Question 5:Why do companies hesitate to prosecute white-collar criminals? What are the consequences of not prosecuting? How could law enforcement officials encourage more prosecution? Even though we see in the news about CEO’s and CFO’s being prosecuted for fraud and embezzlement, in actuality, fraud against a corporation happens more frequently than one would think. The following are a few reasons why I feel that corporations are hesitant to prosecute white-collar criminals: * Lack of knowledge – many of the law enforcement agencies, attorneys or lawyers lack the knowledge in how to properly handle these types of cases. As technology use becomes ever so prevalent, the task is becoming more difficult as computers are a whole new playing field that is yet to be learned. * Aloofness by Society – unless the loss happens to you, society is more concerned with crimes of violence against another than monetary. The internal theft of funds within a corporation are seen as just that an internal problem. * Difficulty Prosecuting – unless you are lucky and have a confession from the perpetrator, like in Mr. Miller’s case to which he confessed in every event, you have a costly and lengthy case that will prove to be rather hard to prove. Prosecution can sometimes cost more than the theft itself and it is not seen as an incentive to prosecute. * Lack of understanding on what computer fraud really is. Computers and the internet are pretty new things and as such the laws and ways to prosecute are very vague and hard to understand. * Guilt on the outcome of the perpetrators family. Because Mr. Miller in every event promised restitution and had a wife with 3 children, the companies felt that prosecuting was heartless and they did not wish to cause harm to the family. One corporation, Crest even hired the attorney to represent Mr. Miller. * Negative shadow against the corporation – Companies do not like anything that could hinder their public image. Mr. Miller’s transgressions would cause a very public trial and a lot of investors would have been involved. This would have caused many to remove their investment. Overall, the corporation would suffer greatly. * Knowledge that their weaknesses would be exposed. Lack of trust in the internal controls or any discovery of weaknesses would have caused a lot of future damage against a corporation. People are creatures of trust and habit and once trust is broken, it is very hard to return and provide that trust again. This would hurt future business that the corporation would have. Look at Enron, AIG, and Bernie Madoff, to name a few. * My favorite of all would be those that are prosecuted and the outcome is favorable to the victim, the perpetrator gets very light sentences. Many go to minimum security prisons, work camps that have certain luxuries. Because of this many corporations do not even bother in spending the additional funds in prosecuting these cases. The above named are mere excuses and to not prosecute fraud causes more harm. It allows for the perpetrator to move on to commit fraud against another corporation, like in Mr. Miller’s case. By having this exposure, corporations feel that they will feel that they will look to others as being weak and will encourage others to commit fraud against them. When someone is not punished for their transgressions that person will not learn and feel that they can get away with it again if they get caught. Law enforcement officials are stuck and all they can do is encourage others to come forward and report the offenses. Corporations need to know that if they take action that there will be a support system and their voices will not be lost. They need to be sure that the perpetrator will be convicted accordingly depending upon their transgressions. They need to be made an example of, so that the public know that this behavior is not tolerated and it is a serious offense that will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Question 6:What could the victimized companies have done to prevent Miller’s embezzlement? When I read the synopsis, I was looking for how Mr. Miller committed many of the frauds, but not much detail was revealed. However, the best way that the corporations could have avoided this was to have better internal controls and adhering to them. I would have prevented some of the thefts by doing the following: * Having better controls of the checks and the signing of checks. * Secondary looks at the monthly reconciliations and the bank statements. * Provide a list of all check deposits with the subsequent invoice explaining the reason for the expense. No employee should have the level of trust and freedom that Mr. Miller was given. There always needs to be a system of checks and balances in place in order to ensure and prevent this from happening. I can understand that these positions merit trust, but there should be a second person looking at the financials to curb any temptation for even the most honest to commit fraud. Had the first employer chosen to prosecute none of this would have happened. However, the future employers could have avoided all of this had they just bothered to do a more thorough background check on Mr. Miller. There they would have discovered the reasons for his separation from his prior employment.