Accumulation of Engineering Ethical Issues Leading to the Katrina Hurricane Response Free Essay Example, 1500 words

The operators and designers of a New Orleans flood control system are faced with sophisticated design conditions (Christian 6). In the early 20th century, pumping stations were constructed along the ridge to take out floodwaters from the river basin. The newly inhabited areas north of the ridge were exposed to flooding from the nearby lake. Rather than constructing additional pumping capacity at the shores of the lake, the existing pumping stations were connected to drainage canals that emptied into the lake. The city also stretched towards the east (particularly in Lower Ninth Ward and New Orleans East regions). All these areas towards the east lie below the sea level and thus, they must be protected or sheltered by a system of levees (Christian 7). Southern Louisiana was constructed out of sediments transported from Mississippi River interior. The crystalline bedrock is covered by tens of thousands of feet of soft sediments from the river. There is a basic pattern of subsidence s ophisticated by additional settlement such that a levee can be placed on the sediments. Thus, the individual structures and the city settle by varying amounts, for instance, the tops of the levees can be actually low than the water levels they are required to defend against. We will write a custom essay sample on Accumulation of Engineering Ethical Issues Leading to the Katrina Hurricane Response or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Additionally, because of the basic subsidence, it is not easy to establish reliable benchmarks that can be used to assess the location of the levees (Christian 7). The flooding in New Orleans occurred due to three phenomena and two of these phenomena are important in this context. The phenomena include overtopping of the levees and sections of the canals or levees failing even before the level of the water reached the overtopping level. Some of the levees were overtopped because they were constructed withstand the small magnitude of storms than Hurricane Katrina. The levees were below their design elevations and the impact of the design storm was not sufficiently estimated. The levees that failed to work even before the overtopping could not adequately hold water levels for which they were constructed.

The Traumitized Life of Holden - 1747 Words

Psychoanalysis is a method of analyzing the mind and helping emotional and mental disorders by inspecting the unconscious mind. According to Jacques Lacan, a psychiatrist, â€Å"Human behavior is often something of puzzle, requiring concerted acts of investigation to discover root causes and multiple effects† (105). Holden Caufield in the novel The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, is a perplexed adolescent that is living in misery and agony from the past. From a psychoanalytical perspective, readers can understand Holden’s behavior throughout the novel as a troubled teenager trying to avoid growing up and demonstrates reckless actions like consuming alcohol, immature relationships with women, not committing to school and silly fantasy†¦show more content†¦The unconscious is a place where a person holds all of their memories, thoughts, and feelings. Freud claims, â€Å"beneath the conscious lies the powerful dimensions of the unconscious, the warehouse from which our active cognitive state and behavior are dictated† (Freud 95). Holden’s unconscious stores the painful loss of his brother Allie to leukemia, when he was thirteen years old. Allie’s death has stirred up bizarre mood fluctuations that have molded Holden into a rebellious adolescent. Holden tells readers about his experience when he lost Allie, he briefly states â€Å"I was only thirteen, and they were going to have me psychoanalyzed and all, because I broke all the windows in the garage† (Salinger 38). Holden’s psyche has become so compromised with the complexities of dealing with his brother’s death that he too is broken. It is obvious that Allie’s death has taken a negative toll on Holdens direction of growing up. Holden grows with misery in his private world filled with depression and loneliness. The unconscious state unravels the psychological conflicts of the author’s life to works of fiction through the character. Examining Salinger’s life, it is obvious he has had traumatizing experiences similar to Holden’s. Salinger was drafted into the army in 1942 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. After the war ended, Salinger returned home and suffered a nervous breakdown and was briefly hospitalized. Salinger’s breakdown is similar

My European Experience Essay Example For Students

My European Experience Essay This summer, I went to Europe for a few weeks and during this time I interacted with many different cultures and people. It was definitely a life changing experience and has left me promising myself that I will go back someday. Before leaving I was stressed due to the fact that I would have to enhance my foreign language speaking skills, because at the time they were mediocre. When first arriving in Germany to stay with my friend Moritz, a previous friend who had visited the United States, I was jet-lagged and very hungry so he took me to get something to eat. It turns out that fast food there is much different than fast food in America. I had something called a doner, sort of like a falafel but much better. The food was definitely something I had to get used to, but it wasn’t the only thing. That night we went to a house party and I figured oh it will be tame I bet since Mo knows I have jet lag. I was wrong. It turned out to be a massive party to celebrate the world cup, which didn’t end till about 4 A. M. Also everyone spoke very little English so I had to manage with my little bit of German. Throughout the two weeks of staying with Mo we didn’t stay home one night, each night we either went to a party, club, bar, or sporting event in honor of the world cup. I was tired 24/7 and coffee became my best friend while I was there. I can’t complain though, being able to experience how life for a teenager over in Europe is like was definitely an eye opener. They never stay home; they are always going out and doing something, not smoking is considered weird because it is socially accepted there and every one of all ages does it, I myself though did not choose to indulge in this common habit of theirs. There were times that Mo and his friends would let my poor German and I fend for our selves at restaurants or other places, which they found very amusing, me not so much. Towards the end of my stay in Germany though, my German become decent enough that I could actually hold a pretty lengthy conversation with someone. During my last week at Mo’s I don’t remember a time I had to use English, because I had spoken so much German that mine had improved. It’s amazing what two weeks of staying in a foreign country can do to you. I’m glad I over came my fear of speaking German and just adjusted to everyone and their style of life. I’ll end with this though, if you’re ever in a situation where your beliefs and experiences don’t match up with the majority of others, just embrace the change and see what happens. You’re bound to enjoy yourself more in the end than if you had not tried at all.

Master Of Professional Financial Accountingâ€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Master Of Professional Financial Accounting? Answer: Introduction Ethical issues affect everyone who is related to the business in some way or the other. It is important that the officials who are working for the company takes important steps to make sure that they are morally correct and that their actions are not affecting the overall materiality of the company. There have been several such incidences that have affected the company on ethical ground, and have even led to the downfall of the same. It is thus important that the actions should be ethically corrected. Moral dilemma often leads to a large number of issues and before taking any steps, it must be considered that there are several people who are dependent on the financial reports of the company(Lefkowitz, 2017). Not only the management but other people like the auditors must be very clear about their actions and they should maintain that all the steps that they take helps the investors in providing a true and fair view of the business. In the recent years, one of the most prominent cases was of the downfall of the ABC learning centre that showed how unethical decisions could harm the company and the people who are related to the company. In addition, why it is important to take important decisions, considering the investors who are dependent on the company and its management(DeZoort Harrison, 2016). Analysis ABC learning centre was one of the biggest companies in the educational centre in Australia. The company had hundred of learning centres that provide proper education to a large number of children in Australia. The company went into liquidation after a successful for two decades and there were several reasons that led to the same(Burke Clark, 2016). The backdrop behind all this is the major acquisition and child care support which the company started to give in the early 2000s and the major increase In the number of centres as compared to its major competitors who had barely 100 centres across the world. Will all these acquisitions, they not only capitalized and improved the markets share in the UK but also captured 1% of the markets in the US as well. It grew raiding and aggressively negotiating to deal with Australias largest employers like Department of Defence. It was highly profitable in 2004 -05 and 2005-06 giving the net profits percentage of 17% and 18% respectively on the sales revenue of $292.7 Million and $219.8 Million. In all this process, it kept on increasing its debt triggering a decline in the share prices by 42% in 2007. To meet all these debt obligations, the owner and his wife had to sell all its shares, and thus going on in voluntary liquidation by selling of its US subsidiary in 2008(Knechel Salterio, 2016 ). Despite all this, it fell into receivership because of increase in the debt servicing obligations due to which the auditor could not sign the financial statements. Even though the then federal government injected funds in the company, but it was still delisted from SP and Australian Stock exchange on account of creditors voluntary winding up in this case(Brannen, 2016). The major ethical issues that were involved in the overall scenario were the stand of the management and the auditors. They falsified the reports to book profits that they earn from loss making units and showed the same in their financial reports. As an auditor, it is important that the auditor maintain proper scepticism in their approach. They should given an honest opinion on the financials of the company and make sure that the true and fair view of the company is stated in his reports. However, in the given case the auditors Pitcher plan, work as per the discretion of the management and gave an opinion that was influenced by the decisions of the management. It showed that the company was very profitable and the books of accounting were free from all kind of issues and were error free. However when the new auditors ENY looked into the financial statements after taking over from the previous auditor, they saw that the stand of the previous auditor was entirely different from their v iew. The company was incurring losses and no disclosure in respect of the same was given. The auditor asked the management to do the necessary changes and update its accounts. However, the management of the company refused to follow the same. This led to a lot of probe in the matter and the auditor found that the management of the company had very less internal control measures that had led to the same. It was important that the management should have disclosed all the relevant facts that were affecting the materiality of the company(Jones, 2017). The previous auditor was static on its stand that the company was performing well and that the only job of the auditor is to comment on the matters that it found to be erroneous and not go into the matter. In cases where he finds that, there are certain issues involved, in that case the auditor needs to comment on the validity of the accounts and look into the matter. The new auditor Ernst and young was also static on its views that the company had falsified its accounts. This led to many issues, a third firm was appointed to look into the matter and comment on the stand of the auditors. However, the new firm could not take any stand and was not able to prove any opinion wrong. This affected the overall image of the company and when it was further inquired, it led to the liquidation of the company. The main point here is that the auditor faced ethical dilemma when the management of the company to provide reports as per their recommendations interrupted them. It is important that audi tor must not let such issues affect him in any way and take necessary steps that are free from any moral dilemma(Raiborn, Butler, Martin, 2016). As an auditor, the work is to give unbiased opinions on the financial reports of the company. This duty should supersede all the other duties that the management wants the company to perform. The audit report should be true and in cases where the auditor is found guilty than he will be penalized for the same(Sonu, Ahn, Choi, 2017). Thus, we see how the issue of ethical dilemma led to one of the biggest accounting and financial company that was eventually liquidated. Thus, the management of the company must take important steps to avoid the same. Liquidation affects the investors who are dependent on the company. If the company liquidates, large numbers of people are affected. It is thus important that necessary steps must be taken to avoid the same; this will help the investors and the other parties who are dependent on the company(Sonu, Ahn, Choi, 2017). Conclusion Through the above analysis, we saw how a company can be affected and how important it is for a professional to maintain its stand on the ethical grounds. That will only suffice the important criteria of true and fair view of marinating the financial statements making sure that they are free from all kind of errors. The overall scale of profitability of the liquidated company was much more than its peers; this raised a question on the validation of the accounts. There were many assumptions that the company had done that showed that the books were not maintained ethically. This liquidation affected a large number of parties. Thus before companies take such steps they must think about the various stakeholders. The one lesson that can be learnt from the downfall of the company is that we should try to maintain ethical practices as much as possible and should never go for falsification of the records. If the company in any way frauds, it is the responsibility of the auditor to look into t he matter and comment on the same(Guragai, Hunt, Neri, Taylor, 2017). The audit opinion must be unbiased and should not be influenced by the company or its peers. In the given case, the previous auditor pitcher plant worked as per the suggestions of the management and that had affected the overall audit report which was proved to be tampered and showed a wrong impression about the company accounts. It is thus important that important policies and procedures must be undertaken; no external pressure must be there. In addition, all the issues that are faced and all that might affect the overall profitability of the company must be stated and disclosed in the financial statements of the company(Abbott, Daugherty, Parker, Peters, 2016). References Abbott, L., Daugherty, B., Parker, S., Peters, G. (2016). INTERNAL AUDIT QUALITY AND FINANCIAL REPORTING QUALITY: THE JOINT IMPORTANCE OF INDEPENDENCE AND COMPETENCE. Journal of Accounting Research , 54 (1), 3-40. Brannen, J. (2016). Mixing Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Research. NY: Ashgate Publishing. Burke, J., Clark, C. (2016). The business case for integrated reporting: Insights from leading practitioners, regulators, and academics. Business Horizons , 59 (3), 273-283. DeZoort, F., Harrison, P. (2016). Understanding Auditors sense of Responsibility for detecting fraud within organization. Journal of Business Ethics , 1-18. Guragai, B., Hunt, N., Neri, M., Taylor, E. (2017). Accounting Information Systems and Ethics Research: Review, Synthesis, and the Future. Journal of Information Systems: Summer 2017 , 31 (2), 65-81. Jones, P. (2017). Statistical Sampling and Risk Analysis in Auditing. NY: Routledge. Knechel, W., Salterio, S. (2016). Auditing:Assurance and Risk (fourth ed.). New York: Routledge. Lefkowitz, J. (2017). Ethics and Values in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Second Edition (second ed.). NY: Routledge. Raiborn, C., Butler, J., Martin, K. (2016). The internal audit function: A prerequisite for Good Governance. Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance , 28 (2), 10-21. Sonu, C., Ahn, H., Choi, A. (2017). Audit fee pressure and audit risk: evidence from the financial crisis of 2008. Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting Economics , 24 (1-2), 127-144.