For Cause And Comrades By James M. Mcpherson - 1705 Words

James M. McPherson, author of For Cause and Comrades, uses more than 25,000 unaltered letters and closely 250 private journals from Civil War soldiers—both Union and Confederate—in his attempt to explain what possessed these men to endure the roaring, gruesome chaos of war. What better way to express the motivation behind fighting than words straight from the pens of the men who were physically there and experienced the Civil War to its fullest? I personally feel as though McPherson succeeded in his explanation of the different driving forces that kept each man going during these difficult years of battle. The Wall Street Journal describes McPherson’s work as â€Å"an extraordinary book, full of fascinating details and moving self-portraits.† â€Å"Duty and honor were indeed powerful motivating forces.† (p. 5) Honor is defined as â€Å"respect that is given to someone who is admired† by Merriam Webster’s Dictionary. Many of the men who enlisted during the Civil War were driven by the desire to uphold their honor and/or their family honor. Because honor was essentially a masculine concept, the wives and mothers of soldiers did not understand how this desire for bringing honor to one’s name was more important than a man’s duty to his family. A South Carolina planter and thirty-nine year old father of several daughters chose to enlist after the Union capture of the South Carolina sea islands in 1861. He attempted to explain the driving force behind his decision to enlist: â€Å"The honor of ourShow MoreRelatedHow A Soldier Can Fight And Kill People From His Own Country1562 Words   |  7 Pagesdocuments and the book â€Å"For Cause Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War† by Jam es McPherson many factors of their decision arose. Nationalism, duty, honor, and moral obligation were only some of the reasons people joined the war effort. The overarching theme in the letters I read was the inspiration they had due to a feeling of nationalism. Both Union and Confederate soldiers used talk and images of nation, freedom, government in explaining why the decided to fight (McPherson, 21). However, the SouthRead MoreFor Cause and Comrades Essay757 Words   |  4 PagesFor Cause and Comrades For Cause and Comrades by James M. McPherson consists of mostly of soldiers’ diaries and letters home as to why the men were fighting the Civil War. The initial motivation the union and confederacy sustain throughout the story proves that personal honor is valued more than their lives. The opening chapter of the book is mostly a plot overview of the events that had yet to come. Fratricide, Meaning one that murders or kills an individual (as a countryman) havingRead MoreFor Cause and Comrades: an Analysis1538 Words   |  7 PagesFor Cause and Comrades: An Analysis As long as man has had the ability to think for himself, there has been conflict and war. Wars are waged by the rich and powerful, but fought by the poor masses who march, inexorably into the meat grinder. The question of â€Å"why do soldiers fight?† arises when looking at the study of warfare. What compelled the hoplite from Sparta, the foot soldier in Napoleon’s Grand Army, the American Infantryman on Omaha Beach, or the Army Ranger in Baghdad to willingly enlistRead MoreDifferences Between Union And Confederate Motives Within The Civil War Essay1705 Words   |  7 Pagesto themselves or to their home life. Commander Charles Steedman, who confessed his support of the union expresses this passion â€Å" I am as I have always been, a Union man-I know no North or South...all that I know is my duty to flag and country† (McPherson, 15). Duty to serve was imperative within the culture of the north. Union ideals were grounded in the ideals that the Founding Fath ers had laid out. Ideals of federal power and love of their country were paramount. Some soldiers often so passionateRead MoreEssay on Cause of the American Civil War1732 Words   |  7 Pages The cause of the American Civil War has been a politicized subject for the past 152 years. There are many different theories for what the main cause is, however the best answer is an all of the above approach. The cause of the war that divided the nation cannot be narrowly defined into a single issue but each cause is affected and tied together. The main causes that resulted in the Civil War were the issue of nullification, tariffs, but most importantly just an overall difference in their ways

Marxist Theories Of International Relations - 903 Words

Introduction Since the Cold War came to an end and capitalism stood victorious, it was generally accepted that the ideas of Marx could be declared irrelevant. Marx’s theories were excessively concerned with the role of economics in defining social and political relations. These were also exceedingly pessimistic in their approach, offering hardly any viable option to replace the capitalist system. The core principle of Marxism is that the world is divided not into politically determined nations but into economically determined classes. Subsequently, politics does not supersede economics, but rather economics trumps politics. The various Marxist theories of international relations agree that the international state system was constructed by capitalists and therefore serves the interests of wealthy states and corporations, which seek to protect and expand their wealth. Although, Marx during his own time was not widely appreciated and Marxism can be considered outdated, he still remains an iconic figure of the 19th century. Although Marx left several theories around the theme of international relations, Marxism itself has not yet produced a whole paradigm that tackle the broad problem of international relations in both political and economic dimensions. His theories have had a meaningful influence on academic studies, and while he did not address the field of international relations directly, a lot can be derived from his writings on certain phenomena, such as colonialism andShow MoreRelatedWhy Has Marxism Been Neglected For International Relations?977 Words   |  4 PagesWhy has Marxism been neglected in International Relations? One of the major reasons why Marxism has generally been neglected in International Relations is due to the scarcity of Marxist writing that is specifically focused on this subject. However, it can be argued that due to this paucity of material, Marxist theory has nothing of substantial value to offer with regards to international relations. Non- Marxists argue that the concepts in Marx’s analysis of capitalist production; class, labor, exchangeRead MoreSpeech Relations in Constructivism Theory1599 Words   |  6 Pages Analysis of the speech in relation to Constructivism theory The ideas that countries float and advocate for at times of conflict usually lead to intense war or peace. In constructivism, the major idea is how structures put in place are influenced by persuasive ideas and common beliefs that countries bring into play in the international arena. Politics in the international community is a product of social construction emanating from common values and persuasive ideas asRead MoreThe Major Problems That International Relations1639 Words   |  7 Pages Causes of War One of the major problems that International Relations has been trying to explain is the phenomenon of war and what causes it? War is a state of armed conflict between different states or different groups within a country. War can take on many forms including world, inter-state, intra-state or revolutionary. In order to figure what causes wars, a theoretical approach is useful to expand our understanding and perspective on the issue. The three theoretical approaches we will exploreRead MoreMarxism Of The Cold War And The Triumph Of Capitalism1528 Words   |  7 Pagesof the policies of these so-called Marxist states are often dramatically different and conflicting from the basis of Marxism. Since the end of the Cold War and the triumph of capitalism, it became commonplace to assume that the ideas of Marx could be safely consigned to the dustbin of history. They needed an alternative to capitalism after the failed experiment of the Soviet Union, and after two decades of this, there appears to be a renaissance. Marx theories were seen excessively concerned withRead MoreMarxisms Tools for Contemporary International Relations Essay1619 Words   |  7 Pagesneo-liberal ideologies characterizing the various dimensions of the global order, such as international politics and economics. As the world is homogenizing into neo-liberal capitalist orders, the rich substances of the Marxist school on international relations seem rather distanced. However, this essay will argue the contrary. It seeks to justify that, instead of being irrelevant under the contemporary international relations, Marxism offer vital tools to contest the hegemony of capitalism through criticalRead More Inte rnational Organizations1664 Words   |  7 PagesAccording to Pease (2012), an international organization are conceived as formal institutions whose members are states and these are divided into two sub-groups called intergovernmental organizations (IGO) and non-governmental organizations (NGO). An IGO consists of states that voluntarily join, contribute financially, and assist in the decision making process. All of their members’ resolves, structures, and administrative protocols are clearly outlined in the treaty or charter. An example ofRead MoreGlobal Capitalism And Its Impact On The United States895 Words   |  4 PagesIt is not just the arbitrary concepts of capitalism which have a tendency to expand, under the Marxist understanding of the state, capitalist states will make foreign policy decisions for the benefit of global capitalism. The increased intervention by western states in the Marxist view is about the sole purpose of the expansion of capitalism in the s earch of profit for the companies, using the state as a mobiliser for action towards such an end. Mark Rupert brought forward a case study of such â€Å"imperialism†Read MoreKarl Marx And The Communist Manifesto Essay1691 Words   |  7 Pages(1820-1895), founded the Marxist Theory. Both men were philosophers, however were referred to as revolutionaries. ‘The Communist Manifesto’, was written collaboratively by both Marx and Engels, as they explored the argument that â€Å"history and progress can be seen dialectically as societies shift from one mode of production to another†. This will be argued through a contextual account of Marxism, its development, critiques, and both the dependency theory and critical theory. Marx closely analysedRead MoreThe Politics of International Economic Relations Essay1505 Words   |  7 PagesPolitics of International Economic Relations The purpose of the essay is to draw out the conceptual differences of Liberalism, Realism and Marxism. Each author stands for different approach among the three readings. Deundey and Ikenberry are liberals, Gilpin researches for Realism, David Harvey is a typical scholar of Marxism. The perspectives of three authors overlap on three issues but have different view on them. The first issue is what are the main actors involved in economic relations accordingRead MoreIs Democracy Promotion A Mask For Hegemonic Power?1546 Words   |  7 Pagesoccupation or annexation). Many scholars in international relations have tried to find an answer to these questions, but they are still open to a much debate and discussion. Liberals believe that democracy promotion is an essential action from more prosperous states in order to achieve international peace and protect human rights. However, realists claim that democracies promote their values and principles in order to fulfill their national interest s. Marxist thinkers disagree with both and state that

Market Research Plan Bulla Dairy Foods

Question: Discuss about theMarket Research Planfor Bulla Dairy Foods. Answer: Introduction: Bulla Dairy Foods is a dairy company from Australia which manufactures various dairy products for the domestic and international markets. The company was established in the year 1910 and later became a partnership among three families which are interrelated. As stated by Collis and Hussey (2013), the purpose of the report is to develop a market research plan for the organization as the organization is planning to introduce a low calorie chocolate ice cream, in the existing market, thus the research focuses on the consumers of ice cream (Bulla 2016). Statement of Market Research: Chocolate is widely popular among the young generation. The organization is planning to expand its customer domain by introducing low calorie chocolate ice cream in the market. The research is thus aimed to see whether the consumers of Australia will prefer low calorie chocolate ice cream over the regular chocolate ice cream. Research Objectives: To identify the potential consumers. To identify changes in attitudes and behaviour patterns of the consumers To create detailed consumer profiles. Project Scope: This project incorporates creating a dairy product which will address the people of Australia of all ages. According to Kotler et al. (2015), it will give the consumers their preferred taste without compromising their health. It will open a new horizon for the ice cream and dairy industry in Australia. Required Data: The required data are: Number of people who have usually opts for regular chocolate ice cream. Number of monthly chocolate ice cream sells. Age limits of the consumer domain. Health consciousness among the regular chocolate ice cream eaters. Data Collection: As stated by Oliveira et al. (2015), both primary and secondary data will be collected for the research. Primary data will be collected from a survey conducted by the Bulla Dairy Foods from a random sample group of the consumers. The secondary data will be collected from the researches done by the food department of Australia and private researches (Australia 2014). Data Process: The data will be used for statistical measurements which will reveal the market situation where the product will be introduced. Statistical tools like econometrics and correlation will be used for this purpose. Estimates of Time Lines and Costs: To estimate the time lines a Gantt-chart has been produced: Week 1 - 2 Week 3 - 4 Week 5 - 6 Week 7 - 8 Week 9 - 10 Creating project plan and objectives for the research Conduct a literature survey Collecting fund for data gathering purpose Collecting data and operations Interpretation of the results and creating plans for production accordingly Collection of funds for investing on the new product Production trial Table 1: Gantt chart for estimating the time line and costs. Source: As created by the author. Expected Outcomes: Due to less health risks, the low calorie chocolate ice cream will meet a huge market demand from all the age groups. According to Zikmund et al. (2013), this will have a significant impact on the demand for regular chocolate ice creams. Conclusion: The research will show the pattern of demand for low calorie chocolate ice cream. The research will open horizon for this type of products. Health conscious people of Australia with a taste preference for chocolate will opt for this new product. The whole research will take ten weeks to finish. The full fledged production can be started after the trail run. References: Australia, D., 2014. Australian Dairy Industry. Dairy Australia. Available online: www. dairyaustralia. com. au/Industry-information/About-the-industry. aspx. Bulla, (2016). Cream, Ice Cream, Yoghurt, Cheese in Australia | Bulla Family Dairy. [online] Bulla.com.au. Available at: https://www.bulla.com.au/#/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2016]. Collis, J. and Hussey, R., 2013. Business research: A practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students. Palgrave macmillan. Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L. and Armstrong, G., 2015. Marketing. Pearson Higher Education AU. Oliveira, J.D.S., Azevedo, G.M.D.C., Santos, C.D.S.A. and Vasconcelos, S.C.S., 2015. Fair value: model proposal for the dairy sector. Agricultural Finance Review, 75(2), pp.230-252. Zikmund, W.G., Babin, B.J., Carr, J.C. and Griffin, M., 2013. Business research methods. Cengage Learning.

Superstition in Vietnam free essay sample

Each individual will be responsible for writing their own research paper on a specific issue discussed in class. The topic will be the same as the one presented on. It is imperative that students write their own research paper. The minimum length for the paper is 8-10 pages (double spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font with 1-inch on all sides), not including bibliography. Specific requirements of both the paper and the presentations will be disscused further during class. Each student will also present this paper (approximately 5-10 minutes) and their findings to the class at the end of the semester. After the oral presentation, it is encouraged for all to participate in an active disscusion. Answer: Since a long time ago, people had always been living with the belief in the supernatural force. Needless to say, there have been many stories and cases with the mysterious air around them occuring all over the world, some are pretty hard to believe, while many others happened very close to our lives, it is just so familiar to us that actually scares us the most. We will write a custom essay sample on Superstition in Vietnam or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Believing in this kind of force, for me to say, it is neither good or bad as everything in this world always has two sides depending on the viewer’s perspectives, just like a mirror. However, if the people become too obsessed to the supernatural world , it will bring out many negative affects which surely lead to tragedies, that is what we call â€Å"superstition†. Basically, superstition is the belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any physical process linking the two events, such as astrology, omens, witchcraft, etc. , that contradicts natural science. It makes people believe that when certain events happened, which cannot be explained by reason or science, might bring good or bad karma, affect them in positive or negative ways. For short, superstition means blind belief. Superstition is the fear of what is unknown and mysterious, we cannot possibly explain it by science laws and researchs. When it comes to superstition, people have no idea of who or what they are dealing with, superstition has always been there, the invisible existence of this term had appeared since ancient time, then by generations, the seed of superstition is passed down from people to people, from grandparents to parents, then rom parent to their child, etc. Because people at that time couldnot understand the causes of physical changes taking place around them, they were ignorant of the science, which leads to they believing in the supernatural force, for example: respecting and worshipping the force of nature like the sun, the moon, fire, wind, water, storms, etc. Also, they believed that diseases were caused by the wrath of gods as well as evil spirits. They tried to satisfy the gods with offerings, prayers, sacrifices, etc. They tried to ward off evil spirits by offering sacrifices. Sacrifice of birds and animals to please the gods and goddesses and to atone for ones sins in a common practice. We can also see this in the way of definition of social norms influecing behavior, they are unspoken but shared rules of conduct in a formal or informal group, in this case, it is the superstition that is passed and ruled in the social. People generally adhere to social norms, however at times they make errors in perceiving these norms and in interpreting the social world by norm misperception –pluralistic ignorance, just like the superstition rumour with harmless intention but by receiving the message wrong, people misunderstand it and thus, it become dangerous. That is to say, even nowaday, at the era of science blooming, many countries, including developed countries like United State, or China, etc, still have many kind of superstition behaviors. Almost all of the superstition are just old stoies or traditions or rumours passed from mouth to mouth, which we do not actually see or feel them, they are just neither true or false, depending on the viewer’s perspectives. They are kinda harmless if we just ignore or just don’t know them yet. Here are some of the superstition in Vietnam: One of the most interesting superstitions of Vietnam is the belief in the wandering soul. Wandering Souls Day Vu Lan Day is the second largest festival of the year (Tet is the first). It is held on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month every year at the Hoi An pagodas. It is believed to bring absolution of the soul. This is especially true in the case of parents; it allows their wandering souls to return home safely. The Vietnamese celebrate this holiday with many ceremonies including the floating of lights down the rivers at night to guide the lost souls to Nirvana. Another superstition is the burning of spirit money. When it comes the specific days like fullmoon or a family member’s death ceremony there will be the altars and the $100 bills being peeled off individually and arefully offered into the burning embers of a clay pot outside the family home. This money is offered to the deceased ones to use to pay down the remainder of his or her debt and to be able to obtain a body and fate to pursue their karmic journey, etc. So these are the samples of superstition with deep belief. I personally think that there is absolutely nothing wrong with believe in traditions like that, in fact, I think this is a good way of paying respect and homage to our ancestors, since the ancestors are the ones having brought us into this world. As a way to thank them nourishing us and having prepared the conditions under which we grew up, it is like a way to pay back them by looking after their afterlives and spiritual body. Basically, this is the kind of tradition suprstition we should keep and follow. But just like the water reflecting everything, there are always two side of this matter. Even without any evidence and science explaination, many people blindly believe and follow these rumour without knowing they are right or wrong. For example, don’t express lavish admiration for a new baby, because the devils might hear you and steal the child because of his desirability. When going somewhere on business, avoid seeing a woman first, if you do see a woman first as you go out your door or on the way, postpone the trip. Mirrors are often placed on front doors, if a dragon tries to get in, he will see his reflection and think that there is already a dragon there and go away. Single bowls of rice and chopsticks should not be served, always place at least two on a table, one bowl is for the dead. Never let chopsticks touch others or make unnecessary noise with them, do not place chopsticks in food and leave them there. Do not hand someone a toothpick. Never buy one pillow or mattress pad, always buy two. Do not use relative’s towels. Do not overturn musical instruments, or beat both sides of a drum simultaneously. Do not cut finger and toenails at night. Going dutch with a Vietnamese is not appreciated. If you run into someone at a restaurant and you join his table, let him pay the whole bill or pay it all yourself. The senior person usually pays. Gifts for brides and grooms are usually given in pairs, including blankets, a single item indicates the marriage is not expected to last long, two less expensive items are more desired than one nicer one. Educated people and others who are not in the peasant class do not work with their hands, to do so would appear to try to beat a poor peasant out of his job. In addition, it is considered beneath the dignity of refined people. Hats are not usually worn inside churches, even Catholic ones. And don’t take photo of three people posing, otherwise the middle one will die, etc. As we can see, most of these superstition belief is kind of like made-up rumours, without any of the believers actually experiences it, though they just blindly accept it as a part of their daily lives, trying their best to avoid it. What I am trying to say here is that we are all being influenced by the social without realizing it. Essentially, it is what we call â€Å"mass hysteria†. To definite â€Å"mass hysteria† in psychologic term, it is a form of groupthink, in which several people with something in common begin to think in the same way. In mass hysteria, the group members all develop a common fear that often spirals into a panic. The group members feed off each others emotional reactions, causing the panic to escalate. A popular case involving mass hysteria had happened for the last few month and become a hot issue, that is the case of some man in Tiringoulou Town, Africa lost their penis because of a handshake. The rumour is about two local mans, when shaking hand with a certain strange foreign traveller after he buying a cup of tea, they suddenly felt a ray of electric shock run across their body. They realized that their bottom parts were becoming smaller and smaller till it totally disappeared. They screamed in pain which drew attention of other people around. As a result, this rumour became a seed of anxiety, which scare around 2000 mans in the local area, made them afraid of greeting others by shaking hands. This is surely an unique case, however it is not the only one. Like in 1967, there was this Koro incident, many mens experieced the belief that their genitals were getting smaller or dissapearing entirely. For the lat two century, there were many reports involving this rumour had been seen around the world. â€Å"Losing penis† has become a disease that makes the Western and the Africa and the Asian mans afraid most. The real cause of this superstition is never revealed, though just because of rumour spreading like that had made the people in chaos and riots all over the world. From this case we can see how easily people are influence by the social, when many people speak of one thing, wether it is true or false, we will also start to believe in it too. And because of that, many religions and organizations takes advantage of superstition to spread their power and influent, doing bad things to the social. Which leads to many people have been commiting crimes based on the superstition they now, as well as many others taking advantage of this to control blind believing and illiteracy people. That is truly unforgiven. Unaccountable serious cases involving superstition are happening around people without us aware of that. For example, here is a serious case of superstition happened in Vietnam that leads to the deaths of a member in the family. The case began with this family in Binh Dinh province, wit hin one week, two members of the family suddenly passed away, due to this incident, the other members started to fell unsafe and anxious of evil spirit. After knowing about the family situation, a women named Huynh Thi Huu Duyen (born in 1986, Quy Nhon city) approached them and took advantage of them. The family included Mr. No Ngoc Duy (born in 1948, Binh Dinh province), with his wife (also the victim) Tran Thi Lieu, and his daughter Ngo Thi Thom. When Miss. Thom was working in Ho Chi Minh City, she met Duyen and became friend with her. The relationship between them was really deep, to the point Duyen was even considered as another member of Mr. Duy’s family. The tragedy started when Mrs. Lieu’s mother passed away at the end of the year 2008. After the ceremony, just a few days later, Mrs. Lieu’s older sister also suddenly died, although she had no sign of illness or any other disease, she was a really strong women. From that that onward, Mr. Duy’s family started living in fear, this double death made quite a riot over the local area. And so, Mr. Duy’s family went to a famous shaman’s house in hope of clear the spiritual force that haunt them. But after looking at the case, the shaman said that these all happened due to Mrs. Lieu’s mother passing away at such a bad time, leading to the death of her daughter and would continue to bring bad karma to the famiy. Duyen heard and saw everyhing in the story because all the time, she was there with the family. But instead of comforting the pain of the family and ease the anxiety of supersition, Duyen took advantage of the situation and talked to Mr. Duy’s family that someone else was telling her because they were living with bad virtue, they now had to take bad luck. If they hadn’t worship the God carefully, Mrs. Duyen will be next in line. And because of that, Mr. Duy had to spend a lot of money to ask Duyen doing the worship, he even sold everything in the house to continue the worship. The case became really serious at the start of 2009 new year, Duyen said that the God had told her in dream that Mrs. Lieu would get the bad karma and die, thus, she also said that she can worship to overcome the situation. Blindly believe in Duyen, at month 9 of the year 2009, Mrs. Duyen went to Ho Chi Minh city to meet Duyen at her house. Duyen helped her buy many sacrifices like fruits, chickens, etc, to give to the God. But not only bringing sacrifices, Duyen also said that she had to make Mrs. Lieu feel pain by hitting and kicking her, so that the God would forsaken her. The serious crime happened at 14/8/2010, when Duyen was kicking Mrs. Duyen continuously, made her unable to breath. Seeing that Miss Thom and other family member stopped her and took Mrs. Lieu to hospital, but it was too late, Mrs. Lieu passed away while being taken to the hospital. Mr. Duy after that sued Duyen, asked her for a compensation of 65 million dongs for the loss in mental and physical. For Duyen, she was then sentenced for 4 years in jaw and give back every assets Mr. Duy gave her along with 65 million dongs compensation. What is need to consider in here is about both Duyen and Mr. Duy’s family, it’s true that Duyen is the one with the biggest responsibility, but we also cannot ignore the stupidity and blindly belief of Mr. Duy’s family. They knew about this all along, yet, when Mrs. Lieu was being violenced brutally, no one intercept and stop it, they were just watching there with the blind belief that was the right thing to do. This case is just one of many supersition cases happening around the world. In my opinion, superstition is not a thing we should judge blindly, there is no such thing as good or bad in this matter, to determine it, we have to question both the people with blind belief and the people takig advantage of it. Superstition has and always been a part of our life, we cannot just throw it away, but if a person believing too much in superstitions he will always be haunted by unknown fears and anxieties, he loses self-confidence. We have to learn how to co-exist with it, not blindly become its slve. In order to do that, we have to choose carefully what kind of superstition that need to be keep and what kind of ignorance superstition should be forgotten forever. Thus, gradually as the light of knowledge grows brighter, born of darkness, as the superstitions are, they cannot stand the light. I believe that one day, superstition will remain with importance traditions and good lifestyle, with eventually bad superstitions and bad people taking advantage of it will vanish forever.

Immortality - A Possibility essays

Immortality - A Possibility essays Immortality has been highly sought after by many individuals since the beginning of time. It is also in our biological nature to keep living and reproducing, thus maintaining our family line. Immortality is the ability to live on to your hearts content and cheat natural death. You can still die by many other tragedies, such as getting hit by a car, but will remain alive as long as you indulge yourself in safe and smart activities. This is the first line of humans that will have the chance at being bicentennial, an animal that lives for at least 200 years. Only one generation ago, our parents for example, this was a far-fetched idea that would have not been proposed as a possibility! Despite the new fate that may await us, there are a few species that are already capable of this feat and have been for quite some time. The Turritopsis nutricula, a jellyfish believed to have originated in the Caribbean, is capable of a process known as cell trans differentiation. This is a process in which the jellyfish alters the cells in their current state and transforms it into a completely new cell. The jellyfish then reabsorbs its tentacles and begins a new life as a baby, also known as a polyp. This can occur for as long as the jellyfish pleases and can die happily on its own accord. The last species that has been known to be immortal is surprisingly, a human. A woman known as Henrietta Lacks is not alive today, but her cells are abundant in almost every laboratory in the world, constantly dividing and growing. Henrietta Lacks was a poor black tobacco farmer who was diagnosed with cancer in 1951. A doctor examining her at the time, removed a tumor from her body without her consent or knowledge and sent it into a lab for further investigation. Her cells were remarkable; they kept on dividing and living and would never die. These cells became one of the most important tools in medicine and greatly contributed to the development of the polio...

Archetype of a satire essays

Archetype of a satire essays Candide, a satire by Voltaire, is about Candide, a young man educated by the optimistic philosopher Pangloss, believes that he is living in "the best of all possible worlds." Voltaire uses different Satires which define, and differentiates this novel from any other. Candide resides in Westphalia, Germany, in the castle of the Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh. The other inhabitants of the castle of baron are his wife, son and stunning daughter, Cunegonde. The comfortable, yet lavish world of Candide is finished when the baron finds Cunegonde and Candide kissing. Candide finds himself assisted by two strangers who kidnap him into the Bulgar army. After a long while, Candide was later reunited with Cunegonde, murdered her two masters, and was forced to escape. Candide finds himself at a Jesuit camp where the commander of the Jesuits is Cunegondes brother. The brother of Cunegonde is murdered by Candide after the happy reunion ended by Cunegondes brother refusing Candide to marry Cunegonde. After many struggles between Candide, Cunegonde, and their faithful friends and servants, they are all reunited with one another in the free state of Italy. The reason why authors satirize is so that they can make fun, or criticize different parts of society, beliefs, etc, indirectly without getting in trouble for it. Candide is a form of social, philosophical, and religious satire. Voltaire loved to make fun of religion, and he often made religious satires against the Catholic Church. For example, The Grand Inquisitor looked at young women instead of preaching during mass. Voltaire also makes fun of the higher social class, by making them snobbish, and rude. Candide is a philosophical satire because he challenges the idea of that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds, also known as optimism. He makes fun of this philosophical view by describing an earthquake in Lima and Lisbon, and h ...

Business information system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Business information system - Essay Example The marketing technique used by CPS is also archaic. They depend on advertising themselves on newspapers and magazines as well as organizing open days to allow people to learn more about the school. The school does not have a website, and hence faces a hard time especially in the process of recruiting teachers. This is especially so because other schools are adopting IT and their working procedures are continually being simplified. Students lack adequate Information Technology knowledge since they do not have a computer lab where they can be taught computer classes. Teachers have also complained that the process of researching via books and recording every information on paper is very tedious. Collaboration with the outside world is impossible due to lack of a modern system of IT. They do not have a virtual learning system, and hence open learning, and distance learning cannot be take place in CPS. The available computers are stuffed with a lot of files, and the files have not even b een arranged; they have just been dumped into the computer. This makes the computers useless, since they cannot achieve their role. Accessing the files that have already been saved on the computer is also very hard. Introduction With the recent revolutions and inventions in the field of technology, one ought to stay up to date. There is a need to upgrade to better technological systems so as to catch up with the rest of the world. Information technology is the pillar of every successful business of the modern day world. Technology has helped to reduce the burden of having to work for long hours by introducing methods of working effectively and maximally for a shorter period than it used to be. The introduction of the latest technology into CPS can have various benefits. This paper will give a critical analysis and review of CPS, regarding its use of technology. Literature review (Theoretical concept of Business information system) Technology is a key to success in today’s wor ld (Blaze 2010). Not very many people are able to live in a world that lacks technology. Everyone wants to have a mobile phone and a PC in the modern world (Burnstein 2007). People want to drive vehicles that have the latest technology installed in them. Employees want to do work with the help of modern machines (Goodpasture 2009). Technology is everything. The teachers of CPS live a very stressing life. For example, they have to mark exam papers, then record the marks in a book manually. Their record keeping is also manual, in books, and this would mean that in case of a fire, all their data would be lost. What would happen if the marks of the final exams of students got lost in a fire? This would be a very terrible situation since most of the students would not care about what happened; they would sue the school. Most of the students may also leave school when they are not fully conversant with the computer system. This would pose as a threat to them since they would not be able t o fit in the world after school, considering that everyone is getting acquainted with the technology. The school may also face a problem of marketing itself. With the advancement of technology, not many people buy newspapers and magazines; people simply don’t have space for such paper work in their houses and offices (Sutherland 2005). Most people read them online, and get news from different internet sources (Hoolladay 2011) Social

Definition of Philosophy Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Definition of Philosophy - Dissertation Example The paper is aimed to compare the two given definitions of philosophy, based on Aristotle and Novalis. Aristotle defined philosophy as a body of knowledge that begins with wonder. Novalis defined philosophy as homesickness, or the longing (nostalgia) for a home one never had which results in search for knowledge. Between the two definitions of philosophy, Aristotle’s view is more logical, thus, it can be considered to best define philosophy. He presented the essential elements that are required to establish the knowledge in philosophy. One is the sense of wonder which drives the quest for knowledge. This element can be considered as the primary phase in the field of philosophizing. Another is wisdom which had been equated with the terms vision and the manner of perceiving a concept. This is important because the manner of exploration in the field of philosophy is through critical thinking. While the definition of Novalis is more artistic and literary in perspective, Aristotle’s view is more scientific which is important since philosophical thoughts and concepts are established through scientific method and inquiry.

Hunting and mindset Essay Example for Free

Hunting and mindset Essay I believe if you have a fixed mindset it’s never too late to change and adapt to a growth mindset. The growth mindset will lead you to try new things but a fixed mindset will stop you in your tracks causing you only to fail. The type of mindset you have is very important because it will influence your life in many ways. What is the difference between a growth and fixed mindset? Well a growth or positive mindset leads to a desire to learn and therefore a tendency to embrace challenges, persist in the face of setbacks, see effort as the path to mastery, and learn from criticism, and find lessons in the success of others. As a result you will reach even higher levels of achievement. A fixed or negative mindset leads to a tendency to look smart at any cost. Therefore a tendency to avoid challenges, give up easily, see effort as fruitless or worse, ignore useful negative feedback, and feel threatened by the success of others. As a result you will plateau early and achieve less than your full potential. Some of the ways a positive mind set affected my life happened early in my life. For example when I was ten years old I went to camp seven hills and took on archery. It was really hard but I learned it very quickly and never gave up. When I got home from camp I asked my dad if I could go hunting with him once I was old enough and he told me girls cant hunt we are too weak. Because I had a growth mindset I never gave up I practiced without my father every day for three years. I got my hunting license when I was thirteen and went with my friend mike and his parents to their cabin in Olean NY. It was really cold out that day I remember shaking while perched up in my tree I wanted to give up so bad but I wanted to prove my dad wrong and show him that girls can hunt. Finally a 8 point buck walks in my range I got my bow ready and breathing slowly I pull back the arrow aim for the kill spot let go WAMM right threw his lungs. I was so excited knowing I just proved to my father that I can do anything I put my mind to. After I turned fifteen I started to develop more of a fixed mindset towards school which affected my life in many ways. It all started with failing one test and my life spiraled downhill from there. It was 2003 and I thought I was on top of the world I could pass any test without studying and I thought I knew everything, but what I didn’t know is how this stuck up attitude was going to change my life in a huge way. I walked into my class head in the clouds sad down and looked at my test â€Å"spelling ha this is going to be easy† I muttered. I flew through the test handed it in and walked out. The next day I got to class and my teacher handed me my test my jaw dropped â€Å"this has to be a mistake I couldn’t of got only a 63% on my test you had to grade it wrong† I yelled to the teacher. She gave me detention for yelling at her in class but I didn’t bother going I was so mad. I started skipping school and going to parties because at this point I started not to care anymore. When I got home one day my dad grounded me because the school called him and mentioned my behavior to him. I was so mad I ran away from home and started drinking and doing drugs. This caused me to get put in a detention center when I was sixteen and when I got out I moved in with my mother because she didn’t care what I did. Now twenty-three I have started to work at getting back into a positive mindset so I can be a good role model for my daughter. In order for someone to adopt a growth mindset, they would have to care about what their mindset is, understand why they act the way they do, and understand that they can change, and the reason for change, which would be to become a better person, which they would also have to care about. Our mindset will affect us in many ways and it can also affect the people around us which are why we should try to keep a growth mindset.

The Great Gatsby :: Essays Papers

The Great Gatsby Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was influenced by eastern society during the roaring 20’s. He portrays his knowledge of eastern morality in the novel The Great Gatsby. In The Great Gatsby the corruptive effect of wealth is the cause of the most conflict regarding the morals of Nick Caraway and the morals of Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Jay Gatsby. Daisy Buchanan has a very little moral value for herself and others. She is very careless. These low morals show throughout many parts in the story. For instance, her attitude toward Jay Gatsby – she doesn’t want him for what he is, but for the superficial illusion of what he is. The ultimate act of carelessness by Daisy, however, is the violent death of Myrtle. Daisy never thought twice about the night she hit Myrtle with the car, and never looked back. She never even bothered to tell Tom the truth that she was driving the car, not Gatsby. They move away before Gatsby is even dead. Tom Buchanan is so much like Daisy, which is why they will never be separated from each other. Tom Buchanan’s outlook is much like Daisy’s, Tom cares only for himself. Tom believes that cheating on his wife is perfectly normal. This is a very prominent example of Tom Buchanan’s low Morals. Tom views Daisy as a possession rather than a person. Tom did not marry Daisy because he loved her. He married her for her beauty, as a prize, to show that he had the best of everything. The low morals of Jordan Baker are what hurt Nick the most. Although Nick realizes he will never be with Jordan, he still has his hopes. He knows that Jordan’s â€Å"wealthy morals† will not allow this. Jordan can never be with Nick simply because she is rich and Nick doesn’t have money. Rich girls don’t marry poor boys. Jay Gatsby’s actions conflict with his morals. Gatsby’s fortune did not come from â€Å"old money.† Most of his fortune was obtained trough illegal activities. This conflicts with how Jay portrays his morals. He portrays himself as being morally sound, but throughout the book Nick can sense the reality of Gatsby. Gatsby’s affair with Daisy also conflicts heavily with his moral values. He feels he is doing the right thing, but at the same time he feels guilty about what he is doing.

British Petroleum Essay

2. Introduction BP is one of the largest multinational corporations in the world. According to CNN (2011), BP is the fourth largest multinational corporation in the world and employs over 80,000 people and making annual revenue of $392 Billion. BP has massive influence on the global economic climate and has the operation capacity to affect stakeholders. This essay will analyse BP’S current stance using Porters five forces. It will also establish who are the most important stakeholders and suggest strategies that can be used in future. 3. Porters Five Forces This looks at he external factors that can affect which include new entrants, buyers, suppliers, substitutes and competition and can affect productivity of a business as seen in appendix A. 3.1 Threat of New Entrants The threat of new entrants into the oil and gas industry is relatively low. This is a result of the high capital costs and technology, distribution channels, economies of scale, regulations and geopolitical barriers and the high levels of expertise required for exploration and extraction. (Mascarenhas, 1997) This makes it relatively easy for the oil and gas industry to fend of potential entrants; however the investment in relation to profit returns with suitable environmental and technical environment is relatively high. 3.2 Rivalry Rivalry in the oil and gas industry is relatively high because of the resource based nature of the business. There is severe competition to locate and secure drilling licenses between the major players and the cost of expedition and production is relatively high. The main source of competitive advantage in his industry is to cut down the costs of production per unit produced. 3.3 Substitutes for Oil and Gas Products The threats of substitutes for oil and gas products are low and come from  wind, nuclear, hydroelectric and biomass. Wachsmith et al (2013) states that solar power, wind power and other substitutes for oil and gas products are not yet efficient enough to challenge oil and gas products as they can be affected by environmental factors. Other substitutes such as Nuclear power can cause devastating harm to the environment in the event of unprecedented spillages and reparations would be extremely costly. However, BP is currently embarking on projects to diversify the range of their energy production sources into wind power and biofuels which yield less carbon emission.(BP, 2014) 3.4 Buyers Buyers are both industrial and individual consumers. Consumer power is relatively low because suppliers have an incentive to keep supply low in order to control oil prices. Also OPEC has the power to limit the amount Oil in the market and can alter this to the benefit of the producer to achieve the highest possible price. (Radetski, 2012) The consumer is the price taker. 3.5 Supply Supplier power in the oil and gas industry is high. This is because of the constraints attached to the supply of the output by OPEC and countries resource management levels. (Radetski, 2012) This enables suppliers to control oil prices to an extent while working in unison to the regulations of overseeing organisations and countries of operations they can decide to seize BP’S output if terms and conditions of resource exploitation are not met. 4. Stakeholders The major BP stakeholders are suppliers, environmental organisations, countries of operation and oil production governing organisations. 5. Conclusion This essay has given a short account of BP’s stakeholders using Porters five forces as a model and identified the major stakeholders. This study has shown that suppliers, countries of operation and governing bodies play a  major role in the success of BP. These finding suggest several courses of action for BP which include: †¢Abiding by the rules and regulations of both countries and governing organisations. †¢Maintaining a frugal means of production and investing in more efficient methods of production †¢Maintain good relationship with government to secure more oil blocs. †¢Caution should be taken when mining to reduce hazardous environmental effects as they will call for reparations and damage government relationship. 6.Appendices Appendix A: Porters Five Forces (own source)

Atheistic Existentialism †Life Domains Essay

Directions: Complete the â€Å"Atheistic Existentialism† column in the table below by filling in the cells from information provided in the textbook. Atheistic Existentialism / REALITY The only reality for an AE is the one they create for themselves†¦everything is matter – everything is connected as some form of matter or energy and in a cause and effect relationship Atheistic Existentialism / KNOWLEDGE The only knowledge comes from our own senses. Atheistic Existentialism / HUMAN NATURE To an AE – humans are allowed free-will, personalities and consciences – but don’t have any reason to do anything with it Atheistic Existentialism / HUMAN PROBLEMS Their problem is that they can’t deal with the fact that they have human personalities and tendencies – but don’t know why, or what to do with it Atheistic Existentialism / SOLUTIONS TO HUMAN PROBLEMS Humans alone have the only solution to their problem and the more they evolve the better they’ll be at fixing them, so live as if your inner desires do have some meaning and try to make an impact on the world. Atheistic Existentialism / HUMAN VALUE Truly there is no ultimate value of a human life, but Humans can have value because they create their own reality by making their own choices – good or bad. Atheistic Existentialism / HUMAN PURPOSE Our only purpose – according to an AE is that of making yourself into who or what you wish to be, otherwise there is no purpose. Atheistic Existentialism / ETHICS Ethics – Schmethics†¦As long as you make a conscience choice to do something – good or bad – you are determining what your ethics are. not living by the laws of man, or any other guide. Atheistic Existentialism / SUFFERING Nothing good comes of it – there is no purpose for it – so don’t do it. Atheistic Existentialism / MEANING OF LIFE There is no real meaning – each individual is able to determine what life means to them by their choices to be or not to be, do or not do, etc. Atheistic Existentialism / HUMAN DESIRE Kill it! Don’t be led by your inner needs, wants, voices, it is absurd to follow these â€Å"accidental causes† of evolution – because you don’t need anything more than the basics to survive. Personal Reflection Directions: Briefly summarize your personal reflection on the information that you have entered into Tables 1 and 2 in this assignment. It is interesting to see the â€Å"evolution† of these 3 worldviews. From the Naturalist who views everything as natural in it’s existence – you exist based on your senses and experiences alone to the Secular Humanist with their realization that humans are wonderful – great creatures with personalities and determinations, but it doesn’t matter†¦to the Atheistic Existentialist (AE) – who finally realizes that the innermost feelings and desires we have as humans do exist, but would be better off â€Å"killed† or cut out than to be nurtured and followed. To me – It is just man’s way of not wanting to give credit where credit is do! So many people feel they have to â€Å"give up† so much to follow God. The only way Satan can â€Å"win† is to have more souls in his army than God. He finds our weaknesses and zeroes in on them to keep us from realizing the truth. Man’s ego and sense of self is historically his ruination. It’s easy to see how in these days, these 3 views – all making humans the only thing that matter and by crossing out God, satan is able to lead many astray. (NIV) Matthew 7:13-14 † 13 â€Å"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.†

Really Funny Quotes From Famous People

Really Funny Quotes From Famous People There are funny quotes and then there are funny quotes. Some really make you guffaw, while others rarely make your lips curl in mirth. Truly, there are only a few award-winning really funny quotes that make you laugh over and over again. Here are a few really funny quotes that are different from the others and have stood the test of time. Colonel Sanders Theres no reason to be the richest man in the cemetery. You cant do any business from there. Roseanne Barr Experts say you should never hit your children in anger. When is a good time? When youre feeling festive? W.C. Fields I am free of all prejudices. I hate everyone equally. Milton Berle Theyve finally come up with the perfect office computer. If it makes a mistake, it blames another computer. George Gobel If it werent for electricity wed all be watching television by candlelight. Groucho Marx I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book. Voltaire It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. Oscar Wilde By persistently remaining single a man converts himself into a permanent public temptation. Ellen DeGeneres My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. Shes ninety-seven now, and we dont know where the hell she is. Tommy Cooper You know, somebody actually complimented me on my driving today. They left a little note on the windscreen, it said Parking Fine. Oscar Levant Roses are red, violets are blue, Im schizophrenic, and so am I. Flip Wilson If you think nobody cares if youre alive, try missing a couple of car payments. Joey Adams If it werent for the fact that the TV set and the refrigerator are so far apart, some of us wouldnt get any exercise at all. Mike Myers My theory is that all of Scottish cuisine is based on a dare. Emo Philips I was walking down Fifth Avenue today and I found a wallet, and I was gonna keep it, rather than return it, but I thought:  well, if I lost a hundred and fifty dollars, how would I feel? And I realized I would want to be taught a lesson. Steven Wright If at  first, you dont succeed, then skydiving definitely isnt for you. Robin Williams Why do they call it rush hour when nothing moves? Jerry Seinfeld There is no such thing as fun for the whole family. Joan Rivers I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw that my bath toys were a toaster and a radio. Larry David When youre not concerned with succeeding, you can work with complete freedom. Lewis Black Do you know what meteorologist means in English? It means liar. Mae West When Im good, Im very good. But when Im bad Im better. Alice Roosevelt Longworth If you havent got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me.

9 Best Hurricane Tracking Charts

9 Best Hurricane Tracking Charts Updated October 15, 2018 Hurricane tracking charts are blank maps used to track the path of a hurricane. When tracking hurricanes, the intensity of the storm is indicated on the path along with any dates/times of landfall. There are several versions of the charts depending upon your needs. (All links will open maps in PDF format.) Atlantic Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 1This version is as official as it gets. Used by forecasters at the National Hurricane Center (NHC), it not only has a view of the full Atlantic basin but of the east coast of Africa, too. With a smaller grid overlay, the path of a hurricane can be plotted with greater precision. Atlantic Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 2This grayscale NOAA chart has a smaller grid and a wider view of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast. Atlantic Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 3This color chart is produced by the American Red Cross and shows the full Atlantic basin. Helpful tips on the dangers of hurricanes are printed on the map and all states, islands, major cities, and beaches are clearly labeled. Atlantic Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 4This black and white chart is one of NOAAs older versions but has small dot marks in a grid for easy plotting. Islands and land structures are labeled. Atlantic Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 5Courtesy of the LSU Agricultural Center, this grayscale chart is unique in that it labels the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Pacific, and Atlantic waters. One obvious drawback? It only includes a view of the eastern seaboard up to Virginia. (NOTE: The chart is on page 2 of this .pdf file, but the first page contains some very useful evacuation tips and hurricane facts.) Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 1For those wishing to track hurricanes that enter into the Gulf of Mexico, this map provides the perfect solution. A grid overlay and labels of major cities on the Gulf Coast provide an easy way to track the path of some of the most destructive United States hurricanes. Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Tracking Chart Version 2The Boat Owners Association of the United States provides this simple map for tracking Gulf Coast hurricanes. (Its a great kid-friendly version.) The Caribbean Islands are labeled as well as major Gulf Coast cities. Eastern Pacific Hurricane Tracking ChartThis map comes directly from the NOAA NHC. It includes a view of the Hawaiian islands. Hawaii Hurricane Tracking ChartIf youre only interested in plotting hurricanes that venture near the Hawaiian Islands, this is the map for you (courtesy of AccuWeather). Plotting the Path of a Hurricane Now that you have the maps printed, its time to start plottin! For a simple how-to, check out How to Use a Hurricane Tracking Chart.   Edited by Tiffany Means

Consumer behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Consumer behaviour - Essay Example Currently, many people are concerned with healthy living and healthy eating. Therefore, most will prefer to spend on salads than on fast foods, which are unhealthy. In addition, those who want to obtain their ideal self-image of a slim physique will also make a choice of what to purchase depending on their goals. These will prefer salads due to their nutritional value, and the fact that these are healthy to eat (Solomon, Zaichkowsky & Polegato, 2011). External factors influencing sale of pre-packaged salads include family decision and influence or opinions of groups. Some families have working mothers who do not have sufficient time to spend in the kitchen preparing salads; therefore, pre-packaged salad comes in handy. In addition, most students lack time for the kitchen, so, they will prefer to buy pre-packaged salad as a timesaving strategy. The factor of buying and disposing mainly affects single consumers who cannot buy and prepare salad for a single meal, as most will be disposed, thus going to waste. Therefore, such consumers will buy the pre-packaged salad, which comes in different quantities, and which does not go bad easily when it is left over (Solomon, Zaichkowsky & Polegato, 2011). It is more likely that the sale of pre-packaged salads will continue to grow in the coming years. This is because people are continuously being made aware of healthy eating for better lives. Many people are therefore, drifting from fast foods and processed foods to the more natural foods, including vegetables and fruits. In addition, research shows that most young women are getting an education, therefore, most future mothers will be working mothers, with knowledge in healthy eating, thus these are more likely to purchase pre-packaged vegetables, because of its convenience and health value. To increase the sale of pre-packaged vegetables, the concerned companies need to invest in more advertising. This is to make more consumers

Popol Vuh Creation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Popol Vuh Creation - Essay Example Therefore, they are capable of manipulating their fellow beings in such a way to fulfil their goals apparent in the way some have to exterminate others to dominate. These comprise animals relied on by man for various specific purposes not only in Mayan society, for instance birds. In this context, the grandmother utilizes them to obtain certain messages, which is also evident with the twins. Maintaining unity irrespective of people’s individual capabilities they are capable of overcoming what they may be hindering them. This is evident in this case whereby the twins are capable of facing courageously evil traps and eventually emerge triumphantly. In each situation one ought to find a way to emerge victoriously especially when challenges may jeopardize one’s life, reputation or dignity. However, one should not use trickery to harm others but to evade the challenges evident in the way twins evade grandmother’s humiliations besides others once they climb the tree. The account’s core message encompasses how one can live well with the knowledge such that he or she prevails not by a person’s strength but through wisdom. Hence, it calls upon the Mayan society not only rely on their physical energy or other dubious means instead of engaging their rational thinking first. The account’s narration reserves high positions in the society for gods and other people who due to their wit manage to use other for their advantage. In terms of agriculture and religion, it emphasizes on gods by appeasing in terms of calling them being able to yield to ordinary people’s demands. Consequently, this grants them what they especially rain and other essential aspects meant to aid them have high

Eating disorder in adolescent Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Eating disorder in adolescent - Research Paper Example Eating disorders tend to develop during adolescence and are much more common to girls and women, where the causes of these disorders are related to psychological and medical issues such as low self esteem, depression, anxiety, trouble coping with emotions and substance abuse. Additionally, eating disorders start by eating less or more than the usual, where the behaviour goes out of control and gets taken over by the person’s life. Smolack and Thompson (32) argue that although the symptoms of eating disorders are known to originate primarily in adolescence, most studies have revealed that these disorders emerge due to lack of solid knowledge on how to eat well and live healthy. Obesity in adolescents has now become a very serious matter, leading to health risks such as hypertension, respiratory problems, mellitus and orthopaedic disorders (Cooper and Stein 76). Matsumoto and Herrin (32), discuses the three types of eating disorders Anorexia, Bulimia and Binge eating disorders , where Anorexia is a condition where an adolescent refuses to eat adequate calories out of an intensive and irrational fear of becoming fat and this condition has greatly risen in the past years among these adolescents. Few cases of Anorexia lead to recovery since some experience alternative bouts of weight gain and weight loss and through this conditions tend to emerge as a result of treatment such as depression and low self esteem among the adolescents. Anorexia has been known to increase risks of deaths among these adolescents and they come as a result of starvation, suicide, and severe low levels of potassium, (Matsumoto and Herrin 33). Anorexia is better when discovered and treated in early stages, since it prevents against mortality among the adolescents. Effective treatments for disorders in eating have been availed to, because Anorexic

The study of design research methodology Essay Example for Free

The study of design research methodology Essay Abstract Studies on design research methodology are infrequent, although there is a consensus that more e ort is needed for improving design research quality. Previous calls for exercising better research methodology have been unsuccessful. As numerous studies reveal, there is no single scienti c methodology that is exercised in science or in any other research practice. Rather, research methodologies are socially constructed. Since some constructions are better than others for di erent purposes, it becomes valuable to study di erent methodologies and their in uence on research practice and results. Proposals for such studies are overed. 1 The state of design research methodology In many disciplines, research methodology is seldom discussed by researchers. Such neglect may result from several attitudes towards research methodology including indi erence or ignorance. Researchers may be indi erent because their research is well received by the community therefore they need not change or worry about it; or researchers may perceive their practice as science and wish to adopt as their methodology what they perceive to be the methodology used by scientists, henceforth referred to as the received scienti c methodology. Roughly, the received scienti c methodology consists  of several steps: (1) observations or preliminary studies, (2) hypothesis formation, (3) hypothesis testing, (4) hypothesis evaluation, and (5) hypothesis acceptance or rejection. It is asserted that results of research discovered by this methodology lead to applied research and subsequently, to practical impact. In contrast to this assertion, it is proclaimed that the goal of this methodology is to advance knowledge for its own sake and not address practical needs nor be responsible for delivering practical results. Most researchers would rarely question this methodology, but since it is impossible to follow or even hard to approximate, researchers who would claim to have adopted it, would not practice it.  Indi erence may be caused by ignorance; often researchers are not familiar with the details  of, and the controversies about, the received scienti c methodology. They are unaware of the alternatives of this methodology that we brie y mention later, their practice, and consequences. In fact, most researchers interpret methodology as a fancy synonym for method, while methodology is (or attempts to approximate) a compatible collection of assumptions and goals underlying methods, the methods, and the way the results of carrying the methods out are interpreted and evaluated. The ability to validate the attainment of research assumptions and goals through the evaluations is a critical factor in making the above collection compatible. The di erence in meanings assigned to the term methodology can be illustrated through an example from structural optimization. One research method of structural design involves the development of optimization procedures and their testings on benchmark problems. Most researchers will call this method \research methodology. However, the assumptions underlying such work (e.g., that optimization is a good model of structural design) and its testing (e.g., that simple benchmark problems are representatives of the complex structural designs performed by designers), or the believe that such research advances practice (e.g., that designers use optimization programs developed in research and that designers practice bene ts from them), are rarely articulated thus  rarely validated. If these issues would be addressed, the conclusions would probably contradict those implicit assumptions. First, independent of any discipline, optimization is a very restricted view of design (even with respect to Simons (1981) restricted view). Second, results obtained on simple benchmark problems do not necessarily transfer to real design problems nor do they re ect performance on other benchmark problems (Haftka and Sobieski, 1992); simple benchmark comparisons provide little understanding of the relative merit of di erent optimization procedures (Burns, 1989). Third, practitioners are very reluctant to use optimization procedures (Adelman, 1992; Haftka and Sobieski, 1992). This reluctance contradicts the implicit or stated research goals of improving structural design practice. Indi erence or ignorance towards research methodology relieve researchers from addressing such contradictions or exercising informed choices between methodologies in their research. Many researchers simply follow the method of their close senior peers without questioning or even knowing the assumptions that underlie it. In most cases, only the method|the actual research activity|is transferred to research apprentices. Thus, driven by social proximity, research assumptions become part of the implicit unarticulated research culture. Infrequently, this state of a airs had called the attention of researchers. In 1987, two representative papers critical of the state of design research practice were published, one by Antonsson (1987) and the other by Dixon (1987). Both papers advocated adopting the scienti c methodology in design research either for improving research quality or for improving design practice. These and other related papers elicit almost no response from the research community. Since their publication, the state of design research methodology has remained virtually unchanged. Such reaction raises at least two questions: what may have caused this response and if this is an expected reaction, is the state of research methodology worth additional discussions? Two plausible answers that originate from two di erent interpretations of Dixon and Antonssons papers justify further discussions. First, Dixon and Antonssons positions may have been interpreted as criticizing the intellectual de ciency of research and demanding from researchers to exercise a methodology di erent from the one they actually use and one that requires additional e ort. In particular, the methodology Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  proposed demanded researchers to seriously test their hypotheses. It might have been expected that such requests would be opposed to or, worst, be ignored. Second, researchers who are familiar with current views in the philosophy of science may have treated Dixon or Antonssons positions as being too simpli ed if they interpreted these positions as advocating for the received scienti c view. Since the stated goal of science is creating knowledge for the sake of knowing, but not necessarily knowledge that is relevant to practice, the received scienti c methodology may hinder improving practice by detaching the products of research ( i.e., design theories) from actual practice (Argyris, 1980; Reich, 1992). According to this interpretation and its limitation, previous calls for improving research methodology could not have impacted design practice even if researchers had adopted them. If design practice is indeed a goal of design research, di erent methodologies may be needed to establish a connection between research and practice (Reich et al, 1992; Reich, 1994a; Reich, 1994b). These methodologies can evolve in various ways including studying researchers activities and the way these activities correlate with research progress, thereby identifying the relationships between di erent assumptions, methods, and consequences. I have no intention to select between these two interpretations or to develop others but to explain how to improve research practice without assuming a xed methodology. To start with, we must acknowledge that there are di ering views about scienti c methodology (Kourany, 1987). In addition, we must  acknowledge studies on science and technology demonstrating that scienti c progress is in uenced by social, cultural, and political factors. Researchers in various sciences are increasingly acknowledging that knowledge is socially constructed (Pickering, 1992), and knowledge of design, in particular (Konda et al, 1992; Monarch et al, 1993). Moreover, the social in uence on research practice includes aspects such as: shaping research goals according to available grants or unarticulated interests; publishing papers to receive tenure or to justify traveling to conferences; and fraud (Bell, 1992; Broadbent, 1981). The rst studies on the social dimensions of science analyzed the progress of the \hard sciences such as chemistry or physics (Feyerabend, 1975; Kuhn, 1962). More recently, historical or re ective studies in science and engineering have begun addressing the social aspects underlying research and the need for di erent methodologies if practical impact is sought. These disciplines include: management science (Argyris, 1980), education (Guba, 1990), public policy (Palumbo and Calista, 1990), information systems (Bjerknes et al, 1987), cell biology (Grinnell, 1982), design in general (Broadbent, 1981), structural design (Addis, 1990; Timoshenko, 1953), solid mechanics (Bucciarelli and Dworsky, 1980), and even mathematics (DeMillo et al, 1979). Moreover, the social aspects manifested themselves in unexpected circumstances and in resolving seemingly trivial issues such as the implementation of computer arithmetic (MacKenzie, 1993)|the most basic infrastructure for much engineering design re search and practice. The importance of the aforementioned studies is twofold. First, they reject the received scienti c view as the means for formulating theories and as a means for improving practice. Second, they acknowledge and demonstrate that research methodology is a subject of study and constant improvement, and that gaining insight into the procedures of doing research can improve research itself. Since science is a social enterprise, the study of research methodology is mandatory for providing guidance in the maze of methodologies and in monitoring the quality of research. In order to sustain credibility, researchers must use and demonstrate that the techniques they develop in design research have some relevance to practice. Moreover, since funding  agencies Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in  press researchers to work towards improving design practice (National Research Council, 1991), researchers need to understand what kinds of studies are useful in practice, how are such studies conducted within budget limits, and which factors account for the di usion of studies results into practical engineering. 2 Studying research methodology Researchers may nd it fruitful to study: the objectives or goals of engineering design research; how can these objectives be ful lled through research; how can progress towards research goals be tested; and how can this overall process be improved. Such study will evolve a repository of methods with their assumptions, interpretations, successes and failures. This is the essence of studying engineering design research methodology. This view does not advocate for nor lead to anarchy. Furthermore, the evolving nature of methodology does not empty the usefulness of some principles for evaluating scienti c theories (e.g., such as those acknowledged even by Kuhn, 1987), nor does it mean that methodology is merely an art (Beveridge, 1957) that is not amenable to systematic study. It only acknowledges that the assumptions underlying methodologies and their potential e ectiveness and drawbacks for conducting certain types of research projects must be studied. We now illustrate the study of research methodology by elaborating some issues related to Antonssons six-step methodology (1987, p. 154). Each of the steps raises issues that need further study. These issues are not startling; some are familiar while others are not. Unfortunately, most of them are neglected all too often. (1),(2) Propose/hypothesize that a set of rules for design can elucidate part of the design process and develop those rules. Several questions arise about the actual execution of this activity. What is a good source of such rules? Are (un)successful designs (Petroski, 1989; Suh, 1990), patents previously issued (Arciszewski, 1988) or design textbooks (Aguirre and Wallace, 1990) good sources? Is studying human designers useful (Subrahmanian, 1992)? The answer is obviously a rmative; nevertheless, rarely are these sources consulted. If studying human designers is useful, how do di erent ways of studying a ect the usefulness of the rules hypothesized? Inarguably, such studies bring to bear research methods from psychology and sociology into play in design research. For example, how are designers activities being coded in observational studies? Is the coding scheme tested for reliability by using at lease two coders? Are the results statistically valid? Which criteria may be used for selecting candidate hypotheses for further testing? Can the subjective bias in th is selection be reduced? Note that the above questions raise a related question. Consider trading the quality of the design rules proposed with the resources to nd them. What kind of information is needed for making a sensible trade o and how can this information be collected and organized? (3) Have novice designers learn the rules and apply them. How is the above learning process taking place? Are the designers being taught thus introducing teachers bias? Or do they learn the rules on their own, potentially by solving Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  other design problems, thereby excluding the exercise of some measure of control? How are problems selected such that novice designers can solve them yet such that they are relevant to real practice. For that matter, how relevant is any laboratory experiment to real design? This critical question leads researchers in other disciplines as well as in design to use different  methods such as ethnography and participatory research while studying designers. See (Reich et al, 1992; Subrahmanian, 1992; Reich, 1994a) for additional details. Are benchmark problems used by di erent researchers to allow for the replication of results? Is performance on benchmark problems indicative of performance on other problems or on real design? Is it possible to replicate results relevant to real design? Can rules for multidisciplinary design be hypothesized and tested in the same manner? If the common view of science is adopted, this study must be controlled to be valid. One minimal requirement is that another group of designers participate in the study, potentially novice designers that did not study the new design rules. Note, however, that since the rst group of novice designers are trained with the new rules, the second group must receive similar training with default or irrelevant rules. Furthermore, members of the groups must not know which group was trained with the new rules. A better study may also include two groups of expert designers, one that learns the rules and another that learns the default rules. The latter may prov ide better indication about the relative merit of the new design rules with respect to existing design practice. In contrast, if the study follows a di erent methodology such as participatory research (Reich et al, 1992; Whyte, 1991), the nature of the study would change signi cantly into long-term case studies where real design problems are addressed. Exercising common scienti c methods in this methodology may damage research (Blumberg and Pringle, 1983). (4) Measure the design productivity of the rules. How is productivity being measured? Which criteria are included in the measurement: quality of design, time to design, or revenue of manufacturer? Do the measures used adhere to the principles of measurement theory (Roberts, 1979; Reich, 1995), or are they ad hoc and meaningless? Do independent designers than those who created the designs, or do potential customers, participate in this measurement?  Can the quality of design be assessed without manufacturing it and subjecting it to actual use? How relevant will abstract measurements be to practical  design? Is the measurement quantitative or is qualitative information being gathered as well? (5) Evaluate the results to con rm or refute the hypothesis. How is the measured data evaluated? What are the criteria that determine whether a hypothesis was con rmed or refuted? Are these criteria general or context dependent? Note that most philosophers of science including Popper and Kuhn reject the existence of such criteria (Weimer, 1979). Are the criteria correlated with real design? That is, could not researchers nd designers successfully employing design rules that were refuted by researchers? For example, Fritts et al. (1990, p. 478) describe engineers using theories that produce erroneous results with respect to experiments but that have a pragmatic utility of di erentiating between candidate designs. Are hypotheses really refuted or con rmed or are di erent hypotheses found to be useful Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  in different contexts? When is it possible to disregard experimental evidence in favor of keeping a hypothesis (Agassi, 1975)? When can experiments be harmful to progress (Truesdell, 1982)? Does a failure of a hypothesis constitute a failure of a research project or can it provide useful information worth reporting? Will archival journals publish such a report? (6) Re ne the hypothesis. The comments on items (1) and (2) apply here. Moreover, How does one diagnose a faulty hypothesis to accommodate empirical testing? When is re nement insu cient to address the failure of a hypothesis and a new \worldview must be adopted? The above expansion of Antonssons proposal re ects the complexity, richness, and necessity of studying research methodology. It illustrates that the design of a research activity is complex and di cult. It hints that  some activities that lead to research successes may fail other research and that some activities may not be compatible with some methodologies. Furthermore, research failure s (OR SUCCESSES) can lead to practical successes (or failures). Therefore, it is critical to identify where methods fail or succeed and in relation to which assumptions. Summary Science does not progress according to a distinctive methodology, nor could engineering design research; especially not if the goal is advancing design practice and not some abstract `understanding. Di erent research scenarios consisting of di erent goals, disciplines, and cultural settings, may call for di erent research methodologies for attaining the stated goals. Research involves design and therefore design researchers must be re ective continuously. This paper illustrated how researchers can be re ective upon their research methodology. If researchers object to such re ection, they risk losing credibility and, more importantly, lose the chance of discovering whether their work is meaningful. Acknowledgments The ideas expressed in this paper bene ted from discussions with Suresh Konda, Sean Levy, Shoulamit Milch-Reich, Ira Monarch, and Eswaran Subrahmanian. This work was done partly while the author was with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University, Durham, NC. and the Engineering Design Research Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. References Addis, W. (1990). Structural Engineering: The Nature of Theory and Design, Ellis Horwood, New York NY. Adelman, H. M. (1992). \Experimental validation of the utility of structural optimization. Structural Optimization, 5(1-2):3{11. Agassi, J. (1975). Sciene in Flux, D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht. Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  Aguirre, G. J. and Wallace, K. M. (1990). \Evaluation of technical systems at the design stage. In Proceedings of The 1990 International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED-90 (Dubrovnik). Antonsson, E. K. (1987). \Development and testing of hypotheses in engineering design research. ASME Journal of Mechanisms, Transmissions, and Automation in Design, 109:153{154. Arciszewski, T. (1988). \ARIZ 77: An innovative design method. Design Methods and Theories, 22(2):796{ 820. Argyris, C. (1980). Inner Contradictions of Rigorous Research, Academic Press, New York, NY. Bell, R. (1992). Impure Science: Fraud, Compromise, and Political In uence in Scienti c Research, Wiley, New York, NY. Beveridge, W. I. B. (1957). The Art of Scienti c Investigation, Norton, New York, NY, Revised edition. Bjerknes, G., Ehn, P., and Kyng, M., editors (1987). Computers and Democracy: A Scandinavian Challenge, Gower Press, Brook eld, VT. Blumberg, M. and Pringle, C. D. (1983). \How control groups can cause loss of control in action research: The case of Rushton Coal Mine. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 19(4):409{425. Broadbent, G. (1981). \The morality of designing. In Design: Science: Method, Proceedings of The 1980 Design Research Society Conference, pages 309{328, Westbury House, Guilford, England. Bucciarelli, L. L. and Dworsky, N. (1980). Sophie Germain: An Essay in the History of Elasticity, D. Reidel, Dordrecht, Holland. Burns, S. A. (1989). \Graphical representations of design optimization processes. Computer-Aided Design, 21(1):21{24. DeMillo, R. A., Lipton, R. J., and Perlis, A. J. (1979). \Social processes and proofs of theorems and programs. Communication of the ACM, 22:271{280. Dixon, J. R. (1987). \On research methodology towards a scienti c theory of engineering design. Arti cial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing, 1(3):145{157. Feyerabend, P. K. (1975). Against Method, New Left Books, London, UK. Fritts, M., Comstock, E., Lin, W.-C., and Salvasen, N. (1990). \Hydro-numeric design: Performance prediction and impact on hull design. Transactions SNAME, 98:473{493. Grinnell, F. (1982). The Scienti c Attitude, Westview Press, Boulder, CO. Guba, E. G., editor (1990). The Paradigm Dialog, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA. Haftka, R. T. and Sobieski, J. (1992). \Editorial: The case for helping consumers of research. Structural Optimization, 4(2):63{64. Konda, S., Monarch, I., Sargent, P., and Subrahmanian, E. (1992). \Shared memory in design: A unifying theme for research and practice. Research in Engineering Design, 4(1):23{42. Kourany, J. A., editor (1987). Scienti c Knowledge: Basic Issues in the Philosophy of Science, Wadsworth, Belmont, CA. Kuhn, T. S. (1962). The Structure of Scienti c Revolution, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Kuhn, T. S. (1987). \Objectivity, value judgment, and theory choice. In Kourany, J. A., editor, Scienti c Knowledge: Basic Issues in the Philosophy of Science, pages 197{207, Belmont, CA, Wadsworth. MacKenzie, D. (1993). \Negotiating arithmetic, constructing proof: The sociology of mathematics and information technology. Social Studies of Science, 23(1):37{65. Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press  Monarch, I. A., Konda, S. L., Levy, S. N., Reich, Y., Subrahmanian, E., and Ulrich, C. (1993). \Shared memory in design: Theory and practice. In Proceedings of the Invitational Workshop on Social Science Research, Technical Systems and Cooperative Work (Paris, France), pages 227{241, Paris, France, Department Sciences Humaines et Sociales, CNRS. National Research Council (1991). Improving Engineering Design: Designing For Competitive Advantage, National Academy Press, Washington, DC. Palumbo, D. J. and Calista, D. J., editors (1990). Implementation and The Policy Process: Opening Up The Black Box, Greenwood Press, New York, NY. Petroski, H. (1989). \Failure as a unifying theme in design. Design Studies, 10(4):214{218. Pickering, A., editor (1992). Science as Practice and Culture, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Reich, Y., Konda, S., Monarch, I., and Subrahmanian, E. (1992). \Participation and design: An extended view. In Muller, M. J., Kuhn, S., and Meskill, J. A., editors, PDC92: Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference (Cambridge, MA), pages 63{71, Palo Alto, CA, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. Reich, Y. (1992). \Transcending the theory-practice problem of technology. Technical Report EDRC 12-51-92, Engineering Design Research Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. Reich, Y. 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In NSF Workshop on Information Capture and Access in Engineering Design Environments (Ithaca, NY), pages 567{578. Suh, N. P. (1990). The Principles of Design, Oxford University Press, New York, NY. Timoshenko, S. P. (1953). History of Strength of Materials: With a Brief Account of the History of Theory of Elasticity and Theory of Structures, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. Truesdell, C. (1982). \The disastrous e ects of experiment upon the early development of thermodynamics. In Agassi, J. and Cohen, R. S., editors, Scienti c Philosophy Today: Essays in Honor of Mario Bunge, pages 415{423, Dordrecht, D. Reidel Publishing Company. Weimer, W. B. (1979). Notes on the Methodology of Scienti c Research, Lawrence Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ. Whyte, W. F., editor (1991). Participatory Action Research, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA. Transactions of the ASME, Journal of Mechanical Design, 1995, in press

Imagery In Macbeth :: essays research papers

Imagery in Macbeth William Shakespeare’s play, (if indeed he did write it) Macbeth is rife with killing, and is probably only second in bloodiness to his earlier play, Titus Andronicus. Not only is blood a key part of the plot for obvious reasons, it is also an example of imagery, representing several different symbols throughout the play. In the beginning, blood represents honor. Later, blood seems to show treachery. A the end of the play Shakespeare uses blood to show Macbeth’s guilt for all his evil and greedy acts. The first reference of blood occurs when Duncan sees the injured sergeant and says, "What bloody man is that?" (1.2.1) The King is referring to the brave messenger who has just returned from a war. Soon after, the bloody captain praises Macbeth’s deeds in battle, saying that he held his sword "Which smoked with bloody execution" (1.2.20), meaning that Macbeth’s bravery was shown by his sword covered in the hot blood of the enemy. After at first symbolizing bravery, blood soon becomes an image representing treachery and treason. When Lady Macbeth is trying to summon enough courage to have the king killed, she cries out to spirits to "make thick my blood," (1.5.50) meaning that she wants to try and be as remorseless as possible so that she can perform this treacherous deed. Macbeth also calls the act of treason the â€Å"...bloody business...† (2.1.60) In addition, Lady Macbeth knows that blood is evidence of treason, and so she shifts the blame onto others by telling Macbeth to "smear the sleepy grooms with blood," (2.2.64) Throughout act two, whenever a character speaks of Duncan’s murder, they always refer to it as the bloody deed or the bloody murder, showing that blood has taken on the meaning of treason. In addition to treason, blood also represents guilt and remorse in act two. Shortly after he has killed Duncan, Macbeth asks himself, "Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?," (2.2.78-79) meaning that he is already disturbed by his awful deed. Later, during the banquet scene, blood represents the guilt that haunts Macbeth. Banquo’s ghost (who is covered in blood) appears and haunts Macbeth, who says, â€Å"... they blood is cold...,† (3.4.114) meaning that Macbeth feels guilty and is scared of Banquo’s cold revenge. Blood as a symbol of guilt shows itself very well in the scene in which Lady Macbeth walks in her sleep.

Filipinos Before the Spanish Era

Long before the Spaniards came, the Philippines was already inhabited by natives. And among the natives of the Island were the Negritos. Characteristically, the Negritoes were short and dark skinned people. They had curly hair, small nose and were thick-lipped. These natives were barely clothed as clothing for them consists of the bahag and a jacket-like upper for men. They wore neither shoes nor slippers but go about barefooted. Their women adorn themselves with ornaments while their men usually tattoo themselves.The natives of the Island lived in small huts more popularly known as bahay kubo. These small huts were usually made of bamboo and the roofs made of nipa, resources that are readily available and abundant in the Philippines. For their livelihood, the natives depended on fishing since the Philippines is mostly coastal. However, the natives also went hunting for food. This is because the Philippines is known for being rich in natural resources. Thus, food was never a problem for the natives as the island is abundantly endowed.Like any tribe or group of people, the natives were very communal and thus lived in small communities known as the balangay. Each balangay was headed by a leader called the datu or raj. The Datu or the Raj was usually a brave and respected leader who is expected to protect his community from outside attack. It is also the leader’s responsibility to maintain peace and order within the community. Thus, the Datu or the Raj resolves whenever conflicts arise between and among his constituents.This system is the earliest known form of government which has now been carried over to the present day Barangays. Even before the Spaniards came and who claimed to have civilized the inhabitants of the island, the natives were already literate and civilized people. Manifestations of their civilization and literacy can be seen from the rules that govern the balangay. And there have been many other indications especially in their communities that these natives were literate people.

Ethics in Economics and Finance Essay

Ethics is defined as a standard of human behavior that offers how to act in many situations with friends, family members, employees, business people, professionals, etc. It is necessary to mention that to make really ethical decision means to use trained sensitivity to ethical issues. In other words, ethics is associated with acceptable human behavior in this or that everyday or scientific field. Ethics incorporates norms of conventional morality to distinguish ‘wrong’ behavior from ‘right’ behavior. Generally, ethical norms suggest honesty, truthfulness, fairness, integrity, justice and respect for others. Ethics is applied to all aspects of life as, for example, medicine, psychology, business, finance and economics. Financial and economic ethics is considered subset of general ethics. (Frowen, 1995, p. 46) Ethics and Ethical Norms Researches argue that ethical norms and values play important role in maintaining harmony and stability in social life as ethics suggests proper ways of human-human interactions. Ethics recognizes human needs and aspirations, as well as cooperative efforts, fairness and truthfulness. Ethics contributes social stability and ensures balance in all spheres of life and business. Social evolution has developed instinct care in humans to take care of ourselves and of others. Ethical norms are necessary for guiding human behavior and it is refereed to when it is necessary to resolve conflicts between selfishness and selfishness, between conscience and material needs. In finance and economics ethical violations are associated with inconsistency in modern financial-economic theory. Violations are also attributed to inconsistencies in use if principal-agent model of relations in economic and financial transactions. It is noted that the financial-economic theory is based on the rational-maximizer paradigm which promotes capitalist system stressing that individuals are egoistic and they tend to behave rationally when looking for ways of maximizing their own interest. The problem is that modern financial-economic theory contradicts ethical norms of loyalty, fidelity, trustworthiness and stewardship. Moral values are the core of traditional concept of agency, but if humans are claimed to be rational maximizers, then traditional sense is impossible. (Frowen, 19995, p. 47-49) For example, Duska argues that â€Å"to do something for another in a system geared to maximize self-interest is foolish. Such an answer, though, points out an inconsistency at the heart of the system, for a system that has rules requiring agents to look out for others while encouraging individuals to look out only for themselves, destroys the practice of looking out for others†. (Duska, 1992, p. 61) Ethics in Finance Ethics in finance plays important role as it aims at ensuring fair deals and transactions. Moreover, ethics in finance addresses corporate governance, and agency relationships which should be purely contractual. In financial sphere, ethical behaviour should be based on carrot-and-stick approach. In corporate governance the conflict between stockholder and management is described as agency problem. To deal with this problem an agency theory was developed. It stresses that the principal and agent are both self-interested aiming at generating their gain. (Dobson, 1993, p. 7) Researchers say that we tend to entail our needs as, for example, management of retirement savings or stock and bond investing, to financial services as we may fail to carry them effectively. We are not as organized as financial managers, but we are not aware of agency problem. Lack of necessary information limits our ability to monitor managers’ behaviour. Therefore, modern world is characterized by selfish behaviour as people are willing to get their things done by others. Such paradoxical situation explains ethical problems in financial sphere stressing that declining in morality is observed. (Dobson, 1993, p. 8) Ethical violations in finance are rather frequent nowadays and that mainly associated with stakeholder interest, insider trading, investment management and camping financing. Loyalty and trust in public and private dealings are often violated. The most common occurrences are fraudulent financial dealings, corruption in government and public institutions, influence peddling, cheating customers about their trading profits, insider trading, unauthorized transactions, misuse of customer funds in order to obtain personal gain, larceny and corruption in banks, improper pricing of customer trades, etc. Most frequently, unethical behaviour is associated with insider trading which is defined as trading in securities of particular company or organization with an effort to take advantage of information about material side of the company. In such a way, trade is provided with unfair advantage over other competitors in the same security. (Dobson, 1993, p. 59) Therefore, ethical codes are very important in financial filed as they set standards of acceptable behaviour, fair dealing and honest relations with customers. Ethical codes in finance tends to replace egoistic paradigm and to create such system which would promote, honesty, altruism and virtuous traits. It is rather common to fid ethical codes in modern financial markets and financial corporation. In financial markets such ethical codes are established by official regulatory agencies which are trying to ensure ethical and responsible behaviour as important part of all operations and transactions. Furthermore, re-examining of the core principle of capitalist society helps to address ethical problems in both financial and economic fields. Financial ethics suggests that individual should be presented as honest and altruistic promoting honesty and fairness in public and private dealings. The primary purpose of ethic in financial sphere is to set standards of internal good. (Dobson, 1993, p. 60-61) Ethics in Economics Ethics is related with economic sphere in three ways: economists should follow ethical values trying to shape the way they are doing economics; economic actors have ethical values which shape their own behavioural standards; finally, ethical values are important for economic policies and institutions as they affect people differentially. However, from economic perspective ethics is defined as a matter of choice for everyone. Many economists argue that ethical values contribute positively economic welfare. However, there are ideas that economics is ethically neutral. Economists are interested in implication of Adam Smith’s idea that all human are driven by self-interest and egoism. Smith argued that self-interest led to the common good of nation. (Wilber, 1996, p. 135) However, he agreed that human should act in terms of internationalized moral law and police power of the state. Therefore, it is recognized that in economic sphere all figures should act on the basis of acknowledged ethical norms as economy of every country needs efficient ethical behaviour to improve country’s reputation at the world scene. In economics ethics suggests avoiding corruption in government and promoting fair decision-making. It is a matter of fact that ethics is not an easy task for economic system and business as there will be always interest groups which will challenge ethical standards and values. Therefore, economics should pay more attention to ethics and social responsibility, as well as to set ethical codes of behavior. For example, businesses are defined as important institutions in any economic structure. Therefore, they are expected to follow ethical norms when deciding how to organize the work and to produce necessary goods and service. Businesses reflect the overall economic system and unethical behavior may create unfavorable reputation. (Wilber, 1996, p. 139) Conclusion Ethics plays crucial role in all aspects of life, especially in financial and economic sphere. In financial field ethics is associated with fair transactions and dealings, honest buyer-customer relations and avoidance of corruption. In economic field ethics is associated with social responsibility, ethical decision-making as the whole nation depends on them, and, of course, with no corruption on national level. Ethics is necessary not only for maintaining balance and harmony, but also for improving reputation of company, organization, and even country. (Frowen, 1995, p. 68)