Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Positive Impact of Guidance Counselors Essay

A school instructor, ordinarily called a direction advisor, is one who helps manage understudies through various parts of their life whether it be scholastic, vocation, school, or social angles from grades K-12. At certain levels a direction instructor may assist understudies with harassing or an awful home life, and at different levels they assist understudies with remaining on target and guide them down the correct scholarly way for the student’s achievement and graduation. Regardless of what heading the direction instructor is going, their mentality is consistently one that will positively affect their school atmosphere and culture. Direction guides can work cooperatively with different teachers to make program changes important to help keep understudies from dropping out of school. With the assistance of the advisor, understudies can be coordinated down right ways that will forestall understudy drop outs, in this manner decidedly influencing the school atmosphere and culture. A compelling direction advocate will likewise invest energy with upset understudies helping them work through their issues, in this way making a superior study hall condition for the instructors. At the point when pained understudies are getting the assist they with requiring outside the study hall, educators can keep up a methodical domain liberated from interruptions, and hence higher learning can occur. This is one more case of the positive effect that the guide has on school atmosphere and culture. The school culture is decidedly influenced by advocates once more because of the way that direction advisors help associate the school with the network, and the school with the guardians. Guides help associate the family all in all to the instructive procedure by having educational meetings with the network concerning things like: how to document the FAFSA; clarifying what grades mean; offering assistance with ACT study meetings, and so on. Advisors additionally send home useful pamphlets keeping the guardians and network educated about what’s going on inside the school building. Taking everything into account, it is apparent that a school guide has various positive effects on a school’s atmosphere and culture. They are an indispensable asset for the understudies, school, and the network. Without their essence, schools and understudies couldn't and would not be the place they are today.

Saturday, August 22, 2020

Dionysius I of Syracuse Essay -- History, Dionysius

Dionysius I of Syracuse collected a notoriety for being a warmongering despot who hurt his kin with his harsh system. Anyway many enduring sources that investigate his standard were composed by individuals who were ideologically restricted to apparent despots. It is in this way very conceivable that parts of Dionysius rule where forgotten about or misrepresented to suit the creator's enemy of oppressive motivation. It is the goal of this paper to contend that Dionysius rule did in actuality advantage Syracuse more than he hurt it during his lifetime. His residential and remote issues will be investigated so as to show how he in reality profited the Syracusan state just as most of its kin. It will anyway additionally be contended that his inheritance harmed the Syracusan state yet that general Dionysius rule was helpful in the course of his life. Sources will in general depict Dionysius rule in a negative light and apparently maintain a strategic distance from the last piece of his rule. L. Pearson recommended that the explanation behind this was on the grounds that Philistus was estranged abroad at that point (since numerous sources depend on him for a firsthand record) which means there was an absence of data. Diodorus gives the most compressive enduring work of Dionysius rule however follows the counter oppressive custom. As indicated by Diodorus, Dionysius came to control by disparaging the military chiefs' so as to have him delegated general with incomparable force by the get together (Diodorus 13.91-2, 95). Dionysius was currently ready to do whatever was important to win the war giving him essentially boundless control over the state. He additionally persuaded the get together to review Syracusan who were estranged abroad to help in the war, giving Dionysius a lot of new supporters among the returning individuals (Diodorus 13.92). He at that point increased a guardian o... ...le profited by his standard. The rulers building tasks and arrangements for war made numerous occupations that would last various years. Stabile business was found by numerous individuals and activities, for example, the sustained divider spared them from a Carthaginian attack. Dionysius huge armed force assisted with securing the state just as grow its impact in both Sicily and Italy. As time went on the severe parts of Dionysius rule ebbed away as he tried to improve his picture so as to increase incredible partners. This in the long run proved to be fruitful importance Dionysus had the option to hoist Syracuse to a global level. Anyway his heritage was unsafe to Syracuse as it prompted the enduring of its kin and the debilitating of the state. During his life time anyway Dionysius benefitted Syracuse became it was at last left it in a superior situation than it was before he came to control.

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

New Student Photo Entry #18 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog

New Student Photo Entry #18 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY - SIPA Admissions Blog The first three photos were submitted by incoming MPA student, Joseph Musso. Young dancers perform in an entertainment club in Lima, Peru. A Traditional Spice Market in Dubai. The view atop a camel in the desert outside Dubai, UAE. ______________________________________ The following three pictures were sent in by incoming MIA student, Major Lance Sells. My friends and I watch an evening storm hit Gaborone, BW on New Years day from a campsite deep in the Khutse Nature Reserve in the Kalahari desert. 1 Jan 2009 Climbing Big Mama the second largest sand dune in the world located in South central Namibia. Mar 2009. The largest sand dune, Big Papa, is next to Big mama. All traces of human activity is erased by the wind each night. Touring the rock cathedrals in Lalibela, Ethiopia. Each of the dozen plus of rock cathedrals in Ethiopia were carved in their entirety from single pieces of granite rock, shortly after the regions conversion to Christianity. Apr 2009. In the past 12 months I have been able to explore Botswana, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Mozambique, Angola, DR Congo, R Congo, Rawanda, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Senegal.I am looking forward to joining the SIPA MIA program.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Analysis Of Toni Morrison s Beloved - 1323 Words

Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a masterwork of fiction that allows the reader to have many different experiences based on the novels that you pair the book with. When you read Beloved in a modernist light you get a story with slightly different themes then if you read it through a feminist lens. It is a credit to Morrison that her thoughtfully crafted piece of art is able to stand on it own in so many varying ideas. One of the lens that doesn’t get discussed enough is the lens of African American empowerment in the 20th century. There are quite a few insights that can be gleaned when reading the book surrounded by authors such as: Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, and Sonia Sanchez. Beloved shows us the harsh truths that were facing the†¦show more content†¦As a racial group they are forced to spend more time looking back then looking forward. A major issue of the time period that Morrison was writing in is one that reflected itself through Sethe in Beloved. Sethe experiences many different kinds of alienation throughout the novel. Early on she is physically and emotionally alienated from her husband Halle, from her children, from her community, and also from herself. This alienation comes from her being forced to kill her eldest daughter by the whites sent to put her back in chains. Sethe being forced to kill her daughter to keep her out of chains is what puts Sethe back into chains. No, she is not technically a slave to the white man again. However, she is an outcast to her community, this burden is the chains she must wear now, and it is the fault of the white man she must bear this burden. Alienation is a chain that every black character in Beloved must bear. They are all alienated in one way or the other. One of the best ways to see this is the multiple flashbacks to Sweethome. In these flashbacks the black characters do not show much in the way of characterization or personality. Their every action is personified by their nee d to be less victimized by their white masters, and how they could be safer from them. In Amiri Baraka’s Black Art Baraka lays out the idea that poetry must be used as a weapon to further the cause of African Americans. He says the African American artist need to,† let all

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

The Problem Of Aggression And Violence - 2205 Words

Aggression and violence are common in every day life, so common everyone is exposed to it. Krahe’ defines aggression as behavior that has intention to inflict negative consequences on a target with an expectancy the action will have a particular outcome (2001).There are an innumerable amount of studies to explain why aggression and violence occur, which are ranged from social and biosocial explanations as seen by the frustration and aggression theory (Dollard, 1939), the excitement transfer theory (Zillman, 1979), and the social learning theory (Bandura, 1961). Also ranged from biological theories, such as, psychodynamic (Freud, 1920), evolutionary (Buss, 1990), and ethological (Lorenz, 1966). Aggression has many forms, from social, verbal and physical aggression and other serious kinds of violence (Karriker-Jaffe, Foshee, Ennett, Suchindran, 2008). Based on theories and studies; I will propose my FIVEstop approach, which are 5 solutions that may help reduce aggressive in soc iety, and why the solutions may work. First, I recommend starting with children and parents. Since children are our future adults who will grow to learn different behaviors and actions, I believe it is crucial to reduce aggression in children first starting from birth. Many studies have shown that spanking children causes aggression. Maccoby (1992) found that children who have experienced physical discipline from their parents are more aggressive than those who have not. However, to understandShow MoreRelatedThe Journal Article : Elementary School Youth Essay943 Words   |  4 Pagesarticle Pathways To Aggression In Urban Elementary School Youth, studies and investigates the violence that is profound in the urban school district. The authors researched and examined the students to see if the violence from their environment was the cause of the children’s violence in school. Two hundred and fifty nine students were examined with the permission of parents to come to a conclusi on. Nearly one hundred percent of the participants were exposed to at least one act of violence. Results showedRead MoreThe Effects Of Violence And Violence On Children1425 Words   |  6 Pagesdesire of violence, if it might have prevented him from acting out his violence and aggressive behavior toward his victims. Whether the behavior is being acted out at home or in a public place, to a family member or a stranger, this issue must be address to help protect our children from hurting others and themselves as time progress. With no help, as time develop things gets worst; this goes for anything. Children are too young and emotionally unstable to handle or hold back any kind of violence and aggressiveRead More Sports Violence in Relation to Preserving Values in Society Essay808 Words   |  4 Pagesall images of today’s sports that are familiar to us. In recent years players and fans alike have shown increased aggression when it comes to sporting events. One of the most disturbing trends in sports is the increasing frequency and severity of violence. Injuries and deaths among participants are on the rise, as are injuries and deaths among fans and spectators. Violence in sports is an important issue because sports themselves are an important aspect in our lives and the society we liveRead MoreChildren Of Inter Parental Family Violence1087 Words   |  5 PagesEvery single day, a child encounters an act of violence. Not only on televisions but also in their own homes as well. For those who go through those circumstances strongly believe that even families and homes are not the shelters where they would find encouragement and sense of security, but rather they abstract the meaning as an arena where fear, anxiety, confusion, anger, and disruption are significant threads in the needlepoint of a home life,(Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric NursingRead More Youth Violence Essay597 Words   |  3 Pages Youth Violence nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Ever since the terrible tragedy at Columbine High School, there has been a numerous list of recent school shootings in America. Youth violence is a major issue in today’s society. Many people dread what causes adolescents to be so violent, committing horrible crimes.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;There are many wonders that go around about why young adolescents commit such violent crimes. These questions vary from why kidsRead MoreEffects Of Parental Neglect On Children From Ages 8-131199 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Tameika N. Martin PS504 July 5, 2016 Delores Harrell Assignment: Research Proposal - Draft of Introduction The subject of this particular research proposal is: Does parental neglect cause aggression in children from ages 8-13. The thesis statement for this subject is: Even though childhood aggression can come from things other than parental neglect, and not all neglected children have anger issues, neglectful parents can cause children to have anger issues because when children feel neglectedRead MoreMedia Violence And Its Effects1057 Words   |  5 Pages Media violence exposure has been investigated as a risk factor for aggression behavior for years. The impact of exposure to violence in the media the long term development and short term development of aggressive behavior has been documented. Aggression is caused by several factors, of which media violence is one. Research investigating the effects of media violence in conjunction with other predictors of aggression such as; environmental factors and dysfunction within the family household,Read MoreViolent Video Games Do Not Cause Violence And Aggression1527 Words   |  7 PagesGames Over the past few years, the United States has seen violence that has come from the inside of the country. Various high schools, have had shootings inside of them from some of the high school students that go to that specific school. Some experts blame the shootings by categorizing the students as someone who has been tormented and bullied basically most of life, while other experts believe the shootings were caused by the violence in video games. There has been a lot of nation-wide discussionRead MoreEarly Disclosure, Violence, And Violence1248 Words   |  5 Pagesdisclosure to violence may possibly lead to aggression in young preschoolers. Research stated that exposure to violence in adolescence at a young age may lead to aggression in school age youths. Aggression and violence may not be as serious for some individuals and it’s often considered a part of growing up as a child. Aggression can be understood in a range of ways. It can be conceptualized as ones’ person ality trait or having origins within a difficult temperament. In other words, aggression and violenceRead MoreSexual Behavior And Substance Abuse Related Activities1255 Words   |  6 Pagesanother. They Examined data from two peer-group intervention studies and found that youth in the experimental group had increased adolescent problem behavior and negative life outcomes in adulthood, whereas youth in the control conditions did not show such effects. I suggest that, youth may be particularly vulnerable to negative outcomes as a result of peer aggression. The youth in the juvenile justice system have to deal with peer pressure almost all the time when not under guard supervision; it’s most

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Law and morals Free Essays

Law and morals Part A Law has been defined by Sir John Salmons as the body of principles recognized and applied by the state in administration of Justice. There are two theories on what law Is, the natural law theory and the positivist law theory Lloyd a natural law theorist defined the law as the constant assertion that there are objective moral principles which depend upon the natural of the universe and can be discovered by reason Natural law theorists believe that for law to be valid It must coincide with natural law. Natural law theorist Aristotle describes natural law to be the law of nature. We will write a custom essay sample on Law and morals or any similar topic only for you Order Now Positivist law theorists such as John Austin would describe law as ‘a law which exists to be law though we happen to dislike It’ positivists such as Jeremy Beneath rejected natural law theories, he describes them as ‘nonsense on stilts’ his key argument was that natural law was based on principles that could not be proved. Legal positivists believe that a law that is made In a manner recognized by the sovereign power of the state is valid irrespective of its content. Legal rules have many different characteristics. For example breach of legal rules can result in state sanctions and reoccurred – a S. 47 PAPA 1861 offence carried and a maximum sentence of 5 years. Compliance is not a matter of choice when it comes to legal rules. These rules are imposed upon all members of society. Compulsory compliance applies to judge made decisions as well. The case of R v R established that man could be found guilty of raping his wife, this was a Judge made law. Fuller would argue that this is not valid law as it is retrospective. Legal rules are made and take affect at a precise time. A precedent is created in the Judgment of case and it applies to future cases and rower courts. The legislation will only start to take effect at a precise time for example the Smoke Free Premises and Enforcement Regulations , implemented a ban on smoking in public places , were made on 13th December 2006 but came in to effect on the 1st of July 2007. Phil Harris defines society ‘Morality as a set of beliefs, values, principles and standards of behavior. Compliance with moral rules is voluntary, so people have a choice as to whether or not they follow these. People make personal decisions as to what they consider moral and immoral. Moral duties of Individuals ray. For example some people may believe that abortion is immoral while others consider It acceptable. Moral rules develop gradually. They often stem from religious rules made thousands of years ago. Over time, what society once considered Immoral, can become acceptable. For example attitudes towards homosexuality continue to change Moral rules are enforced Informally , usually through social or domestic pressure for example John terry lost his title as the England football team captain because of his Infidelity Sir John Salmons describes the relationship teen law and morality as two Intersecting circles, with the Intersection representing laws with moral values and the separate areas for laws and morals with no connection. Many laws have a moral connection such as the law against murdering another person this can be traced back to religious scriptures such as the 10 Commandments and is punishable by a mandatory life sentence Public morality can influence changes in the law, like abortion was legalized by the Abortions Act consenting adults as society changed to accept homosexuality the more law has followed this change by reducing the age of consent to make it the same for trousseaux couples in 2000. Law reform may result from a campaign to change public morality. Howard league for penal reform persuaded the government to take a look at capital punishment. The government refused to change the laws because society considered death penalty to be morally correct. Subsequently a pressure group was set up, during the years of 1955-1957 public opinion was changed by the campaign; and the government introduced laws to abolish the death penalty Public morality can be influenced by law reform such as the Disability Discrimination Act 995 as by the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, which makes it against the law to discriminate against disable people in any areas of employment, education, access to goods, facilities and services and the function of public authorities. It can be argued that legislation is introduced to with the aim of educating the public to recognize morally wrong behavior. Thus demonstrating the convergence between the two Some legal rules appear to have no moral connection. Like the fact that smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol is legal but cannabis is illegal. Road traffic laws such as irking on a yellow line. In Britain there is no Good Samaritan law, however we all have a moral duty to help those around us if they are in danger. For example a passer-by will not be legally held responsible if they don’t help someone drowning. But they do have a moral duty to help them this was shown in 2007 when 2 Peso’s were subjected to bad media and moral outcry when they failed to help a drowning boy. The reason for divergence between moral and legal rules is that the moral attitude might not me widespread and they may not reflect popular morality The UK as a large multicultural, multiracial society, with citizens with different views on politics and religion. For example some people regard abortion as immoral while others see it as acceptable for medical reasons only at the second reading of the human fertilization and embryology bill on may 20th 2008 MSP voted against reducing the current 24 weeks abortion limit to 20 weeks. Therefore demonstrating that although there is a relationship between Law and Morality it will always be partial. Art B The wolfed report was issued in 1957; it was set up to consider the law relating to nonsexual acts prostitution, also to see the function of the criminal law in such cases. The committee said the function of the law is to pressure public order and decency and to protect citizens from what is offensive or injurious and to provide sufficient safeguards against exploitation and corruption of others, particularly those who are vulnerable. The function of the committee is not to intervene in private life of citizens or to enforce any particular pattern of behavior. The committee made three proposals which were, homosexual acts between two concerting adults should e made legal, soliciting in the streets should be made an offence and selling of services for money should be a private matter. The Hart and Devils debate was prompted by the wolfed report by the wolfed report. The focus of the debate was the extent to which the law can enforce moral rules. Lord Devils set out his view in a book (the enforcement of morals, with Hart setting up his views in his own book that the minority should not be made to conform to the view of the majority when in private. Sir James Stephen argued in his book liberty, equality, fraternity (1874) that o shouldn’t attempt to distinguish between self-regarding act and acts which regards others is like an attempt to distinguish between acts which happen in time and acts that may happen in space. The wolfed report supported Harts view that law and morality should be separate, however various cases decided since the report show that Judges are imposing their moral views on their Judgments, for example R v Brown. This is an example of how moral change led to legal change. Devil’s views are in line with those of Sir James Stephen, as Devils believed that individual privacy should be respect. How to cite Law and morals, Essays

Monday, May 4, 2020

Antigone A Tragic Hero Essay Example For Students

Antigone: A Tragic Hero Essay Antigone: A Tragic Hero Essay Heroes come in many forms. Some such as immense in size and strength as Hercules, some in the form of people that are shunned upon, such as Harriet Tubman, and some that are only valorous heroes to some, such as Kurt Cobain. These heroes have many characteristics that make people flock to their side and follow them without a thought of hesitation. In Sophocles Antigone the hero is a women that believes in her heart far stronger than that of her leaders rule. This brings up many characteristics that are shown within her that are also seen in other heroes. One being that she is up against an impossible enemy, one who does not fit well into societys mold, and is destroyed by her own pride. For these characteristics Antigone is given the title of an epic Heroin. Antigone is one of the lucky townsfolk to be born of a royal house, yet is unlucky to be born in the House that she is born into. As Antigone defies Creons law, she is cast into a pool of danger between what she believes is right and what the states law decrees is right. As Antigone is charged with the burying of her brother, an action which the King has declared unlawful, she holds like stone to her undying gratitude for her deceased brother. She holds to this thought because of the fact that she believes that her, who died fighting against the state, must be interred with the same honor as her brother who died defending the state. She believes that this will help lift the curse plagued on the household. The curse in which there father tried to hold at bay and failed. Her sister Ismene warned Antigone by exclaiming Sister please, please! remember how our father die: hated, in disgrace, wrapped in horror of himself, his own hand stabbing out his sight. And how his mother-wife in one, twisted off her earthly days with a cord. And thirdly how our two brothers in a single day each achieved for each a suicidal Nemesis (166). This has already gave Antigone the mind set that even the Gods are against her will. She is also up against a great foe in fighting that of Creons edict. Ismene has said this: The rest, if we defy our sovereigns edict and his power. Remind ourselves that we are women, and such not made to fight with men. For might unfortunately is right and makes us bow to things like this and worse (167). So as one would believe Antigone sees herself as not only on who can defy the power of the Gods but the power of the state. Thus she would be up against an force greater than her own. Second, another characteristics of a tragic hero is that the person does not always fit into societys mold. The tragic hero is usually one who wants change, yet also needs the peace that goes along with stability. The fact that the tragic hero also usually thinks that they are in there right mind when yet the rest of the society thinks that they are mad. Antigone has said Say that I am mad, and madly let me risk the worst that I can suffer and the best (168). this shows that although Antigone thinks she is doing is right, she also does not care how the other members of society deem her for her action. Antigone also must believe that she must be different from not only society but members of her family. Dracula Essay Compare And Contrast When asked if she knows the edict her exclamation is Of course I knew. Was it not publicly proclaimed? (179). This line clearly shows that Antigone has .

Monday, March 30, 2020

Affirmative Action And Its Effects Essays (1773 words) -

Affirmative Action And It's Effects Affirmative Action and its Effects The roots of affirmative action can be traced back to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act where legislation redefined public and private behavior. The act states that to discriminate in private is legal, but anything regarding business or public discrimination is illegal (Affirmative 13). There are two instances when opposing affirmative action might seem the wrong thing to do. Even these two cases don't justify the use of affirmative action. First is the nobility of the cause to help others. Second, affirmative action was a great starter for equality in the work place. The most promanite variable in deciding affirmative action as right or wrong, is whether or not society is going to treat people as groups or individuals. Affirmative action is a question of morals. The simplicity to form two morals that are both correct but conflicting is the reason for the division of our nation on affirmative action. Affirmative action is very noble when looking at who benefits from the outcom e. Take a closer look at affirmative action. The people that are involved and the damage it takes on our society surfaces many doubts. Taking a closer look also stirs up a question of nobility that needs to be answered before making a decision on affirmative action. Does affirmative action simply change who is discriminated against and makes it legal for the new discriminators? Coming from my point of view, the view of a white male, this is a serious question. One example of this came to my attention from Dave Shiflett who once worked at Rocky Mountain News wrote Rocky Mountain Hire. In this article he tells about a new hiring strategy used at the Denver news paper Rocky Mountain News. A memo was sent out stating, The job reviews of supervisors and others involved in hiring should address race and sex. Each review should have a hiring goal of at least half of our hires being women and at least half non-white (Shiflett 45). Lets put this strategy to work. We have ten positions to fil l, these positions can be filled following the above guidelines by hiring five black women. It can also be met by hiring five white women and five non-white men. Obviously to meet this goal successfully would mean to not hire a white male (Shiflett 45). I strongly disagree with my white fore fathers and society today who both address race and sex when hiring. Using a persons skin color in hiring is discrimination no matter how society looks at it. At St. Bonaventure University the potential for reverse discrimination became a reality. In May 1994, 22 faculty members were fired, all were male. The president of the university was very blunt about his motive, to protect the small number of women on the university staff (Magner 18). This was purely a discussion based on gender not qualification. No matter how efficient these men were some were fired for not being part of a certain minority. Gary A. Abraham, who was fired as a tenured associate professor stated, It seems ludicrous that t he university can rectify its failure to engage in affirmative action on the backs of its male faculty. Twelve of the men took their complaints to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The commission sided with the men and are even planning to bring the university up on charges themselves (Magner 18). Giving an employer the power to discriminate only towards minorities is unfair and unethical. Now the question is who will the government protect? Society can not consider its self fair when we are still forming decisions based upon gender or race. It is not noble to protect the jobs of women at Bonaventure University simply there are not enough women on the roster. We should protect the jobs of the experienced. We can not form a new society from affirmative action and believe the rights of all United States citizens will be upheld. The whole idea behind affirmative action is to right the wrongs of the past. Well, what about the individuals that were not even born when this a trocity of discrimination was going on. Society should not punish

Saturday, March 7, 2020

The Illustrated Man summaries essays

The Illustrated Man summaries essays This chapter included vivid sensory detail, creating great imagery of the illustrated man. The narrator met the illustrated man running down an asphalt road in Wisconsin. In a days time the man had learned the life story of the illustrated man, including the day that he got his illustrations, and the tattoo artist who he plans to kill if ever seen again. When watched, the illustrations move, and each tell a story. While spending the night with him under a bench, the narrator watched the forbidden illustrations come to life as the chapter ends. This story upon the illustrated man was of the Hadley family who had purchased a house, which did everything for them except for sleep. The house even carried them from floor to floor, by an air flue. The two children, Peter and Wendy, because of the house, overtime had replaced their parents with the a room called a vedlt. The vedlt made the thoughts of whoever was in it come to life. The children learned to love this room, because it gave them everything they wanted. When the children learned of their parents plans to try and kill the entire house, they informed the vedlt, and had the lions in the vedlt of Africa, to eat their parents. Bradbury is showing us to not let technology go to far, and not to let technology run our lives. In this chapter, a rocket had blown up, leaving its crew falling in space. Though thousands of miles away, the crew was able to talk about where they were headed, after realizing that they had no choice. Once all communication was lost, captain Hollis realized that he had nothing to try and live for, and thought of what he could now do for himself to say that his life had been worth living. There was nothing. The chapter ends with captain Hollis burning alive like a shooting star over Illinois. The theme in this chapter is to live for today. You cant always think, well theres tomorrow.&quo...

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Chicago Gun Laws and its effect on the Criminal Justice System Research Paper

Chicago Gun Laws and its effect on the Criminal Justice System - Research Paper Example In fact, perhaps Chicago is a case study in which we see quite clearly that strict gun controls harm the public rather than protect it, by removing legitimate access to firearms and leaving the illegal arms trade to those who have less legitimate purposes for those guns. The legal climate of Chicago’s gun control policies is complex and confusing to most who try to follow it, especially with the constitutional challenges even new laws are facing. A detailed study of these laws, and their respective effects on the criminal justice system, should provide a useful perspective on whether their existence is warranted given Chicago’s crime rates. Chicago’s reputation for strict gun control laws started in the 1980s when the city passed, along with Washington D.C., tighter restrictions on who can legally acquire and use firearms within the city limits. However, despite these laws being in place in both Washington D.C. and Chicago, neither city enjoyed a reduced crime ra te (Levitt 174). Although Chicago never received a careful analysis at this time, it was known that Chicago lagged behind the nationwide homicide decline during the 1990s. This had led those familiar with the Chicago legal situation to suggest that policies raising the cost of using guns as opposed to targeting ownership is the most effective strategy for reducing gun-related crime. Although Chicago’s policies against guns were well known even in the 1970s, some authors have remarked that enforcement of those laws is the weak link connecting gun control laws to reduced crime (Bendis and Balkin). Because gun laws vary by state to state and, in some cases, from city to city, the best strategy for understanding the impact of Chicago’s gun control laws is to examine those laws in the context of state laws related to guns. In Illinois, firearms are not required to be registered nor are carry permits issued. However, individuals need a state permit to purchase a firearm and an owner license is issued to every firearm owner. Part of this process is the Firearm Owner’s Identification (or FOID) card, which owners acquire from the Illinois state police (Illinois General Assembly). An individual must present a valid FOID card whenever he or she attempts to purchase firearms or ammunition. This allows the state to monitor the purchasing of firearms (1) to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people and (2) to assist in investigations in gun-related crime. Additionally, the use of FOID cards screens out and prevents individuals who have been convicted of a felony from acquiring firearms from a licensed vendor. The FOID card is difficult to acquire for individuals under 21 years (Illinois General Assembly). As the most populated and crime-ridden city in Illinois, Chicago has in place its own level of restrictions on gun ownership. For instance, the municipality has an ordinance in place that requires all firearm owners not only to have p ossession of a FOID card, but also that firearms are registered with the Chicago Police Department, in addition to the Illinois State Police. This policy did not include handguns up until June 2010, when new registrations of pistols were unfrozen by law after thirty years (AP). The effect of not allowing handguns was negative in the view of many city officials, who began to recognize the need for conceal-and-carry

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

The effect of reverberation and amplification on sound localisation Thesis

The effect of reverberation and amplification on sound localisation - Thesis Example In reverberant environments, most hearing impaired listeners are aware to the disturbance of the signals caused by the reverberation. However, when reverberation is minimum, the actual cause of disturbance is not clear to them and hence can be very frustrating. Localising a sound source in the horizontal plane relies mainly on two different sources of information: The differences in time of arrival of the sound at the two ears, and the level differences at the two ears. These time and level differences are called interaural time differences (ITD) cues and interaural level differences (ILD) cues. Recent improvements in hearing aids, such as compression and filtering, can significantly alter ITDs and ILDs. The digital processing to input signals tend to restrict the availability of fine timing cues, forcing the listener to rely on level cues. The effect of digital processing in hearing aids on the hearing aid wearers use of localisation cues in different listening environments is not well understood. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the effect of reverberation on the localisation abilities of normal hearing and hearing impaired listeners. Moreover, to investigate the effect of Siemens Prisma 2M hearing aids utilizing the localisation cues. Two main sets of experiments were conducted, The first set (4 experiments) were performed on normal hearing listeners to study the effect of reverberation and signal onset/offset times on their localisation abilities for different stimuli signals (i.e. Speech, high-pass speech-low-pass speech, pink noise, 4 KHz pure tone, and 500 Hz pure tone and under different reverberant environments. The second set of experiments was conducted on twenty eight Bilateral Siemense Prisma 2M wearers. They were tested under both reverberant and anechoic conditions, with and without the hearing aids. Signals used were speech stimulus, pink noise, high-pass pink noise and low-pass pink

Monday, January 27, 2020

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Chapter 1 Introduction Corporate Social Responsibility is a rapidly developing, key business issue. It is a concept that has attracted worldwide attention. Due to the demands for enhanced transparency and corporate citizenship, CSR started to embrace social, ethical as well as environmental challenges. Today, companies are aware of the social and environmental impacts of international production. It is accepted that Companies should not be only profitable, but also good corporate citizens. Through globalization of the economy, multinational companies are increasingly involved with suppliers and customers worldwide, especially if they operate in developing countries. The CSR agenda has a close relationship with international development. CSR within multinational companies is seen as a vehicle through which larger, well known corporations can contribute to the well being of developing countries by operating responsibly in terms of social and environmental issues. However, the promoted CSR in the developing world by multinationals is not real CSR, despite significant contribution to development in some cases. Very little is known about the companies CSR policies and practices in an international context, developing countries in particular. As reality shows, most of the larger corporations abuse the CSR and behave unethically and irresponsibly towards both society and the environment. Issues such as unsafe working conditions, unfair payment, gender discrimination, sexual h arassment, toxic emissions and the hazardous pollution of water and soil have all raised fair allegations by consumers, non-governmental organizations and the larger society. . Famous global brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, GAP and McDonalds are often under intense pressure from the public. Much of those pressures are due to their unethical behaviour in developing countries, where their main operations take place. Though companies operate in host countries, their reputation extends across numerous national boundaries. The actions of multinational companies in a host country can cause significant loss of reputation in the developed world, where the general public have become more sensitive to environmental issues and social impact. The public have the power to boycott the goods and products of multinational corporations in cases of unethical behaviour where organisations are thought not to fulfil their social and environmental obligations. However, international reputation side effects a re not the only reason behind the potential increased level of social and environmental responsibilities faced by multinational companies; there are many drivers for the correct implementation of CSR by business entities. However, for many companies, corporate reputation and brand image are the fundamental components of business success. Corporate Social Responsibility in developing countries represents the formal and informal ways in which multinational business enterprises contribute to improving the social, ethical and environmental conditions of the developing countries in which they operate. However, the rational approach to the CSR in the developing world is different from CSR in developed countries. For example, developing countries represent the ongoing growth of the economy; hence the most attractive growth markets for many foreign companies. They provide cheap labour, an absence of strong regulations and a rich availability of resources; all crucial concerns for multinational enterprises for conducting their businesses in developing world. It has been found that the public and the government are not as critical of unethical business practices within foreign companies. In addition, developing countries are where globalization, economic growth, investments and business activities are likely to have both posit ive and negative social and environmental impacts. Therefore, developing countries represent a different set of CSR agenda for multinational companies to those operating in the developed world. In this research paper the CSR practices of multinational corporations will be examined. Their CSR commitment as well as irresponsible practices will be highlighted. In the first chapter, there will be overview on the previous works in this field. As CSR is a new concept, especially in developing countries, the short history of the development of CSR and main contributions will be presented. Literature review will give us the background knowledge about CSR. In chapter two, research methodology and relating this to the subject matter will be discussed. As research will be based on case study, there will be some examples of multinational corporations experience in developing countries. The examples of their commitments towards environmental and social sustainability as well as negative impacts caused by their unethical operations will be provided. The opinions and critics of analysts and experts will provide a clear understanding of companies CSR practices in the developing world. The well known multinational companies like Nestle, Nike, KFC, Apple iPod and many others will be examined for their irresponsible and unethical behaviour in developing countries such as China, Indonesia, India, Southeast Asia and Africa. For the main research point the Coca-Cola crisis in India has been chosen, as Coca-cola, despite its CSR commitment towards society and environment, has caused damages to both the community and environment where it operates. From the case study, we are able to make some conclusions regarding CSR practices and make suggestions and recommendations for future of Corporate Social Responsibility, as it will undoubtedly increasingly become a major issue and integral part of business practise. Chapter 2 Literature review The 21st Century has seen much advancement in the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and there has been particular interest in the impact CSR could have globally. This literature review will begin by defining what is meant by corporate social responsibility. There are a lot of debates about the origins of CSR; however it is clear that CSR is a modern term, a consequence arising from the history of business responsibility. The modern term is considered to have western origin; however it has developed from different countries ideas and theories. This has created a number of definitions of CSR. This can lead to confusion making CSR less effective. It is interesting to observe that none of the definitions actually defines the social responsibility of businesses, as so famously discussed by Milton Friedman (1970), but rather describe it as a phenomenon. The Government sees CSR as a business contribution to sustainable development. However, the modern concept of CSR has been i nfluenced by Globalization and so CSR has developed and is taken in different context worldwide. (Crane, Matten, Spence, 2008). In addition, organizations such as the European Union (EU) see CSR as a concept integrating social and environmental concerns in business operations and in their interactions with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. However, others like Ethics in Action Awards (2003), describe CSR as a companys obligation to be accountable to all of its stakeholders in all operations and activities (Dahlsrud, 2006). There are a number of debates raised in academic literature over the issue of to whom the business must have responsibility. Various authors have referred to the common approaches: shareholder, stakeholder and societal approaches. According to shareholder approach, the classical view on CSR maximizing the profits of shareholders (Friedman, 1962). This approach can also be interpreted as being that the company should make contributions to the extent, to whic h it can be connected with the creation of long-term value for the shareholders (Foley, 2000). From the stakeholder theory, it is obvious that organisations should be accountable towards other groups of stakeholders, who can affect or be affected by a companys objectives (Freeman, 1984). The last approach, which is regarded to give the broader view on CSR, argues that the organisations should be responsible to societies as a whole, of which they are an integral part. The aim of the following literature review is to identify the most valuable academic studies and important practical investigations. The field of Corporate Social Responsibility can be divided into several parts; definitions of CSR, analysis of CSR approaches, CSR in supply chain, CSR in developed countries as well as in developing ones, the link between CSR and globalization and last, but not least the global understanding of CSR. The history of CSR The development concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been carried out mainly in western countries; particularly in United States. Literature picks up the issue from the 1950s when attention was devoted to the responsibility of businessmen ( Bowen, 1953) to the 1980s when the argument with stakeholder theory took place (Freeman, 1984) and of course, to the 1990s when most studies were devoted to the analysis of the relationship between CSR and corporate financial performance (Roman et al, 1999). In the beginning of the 1950s, Howard Bowen tried to give rational and systematic arguments in favour of CSR and its connection with big corporations and their influence on social consequences and undoubtedly, their primary societal responsibilities. The one of the earliest books on CSR, The Social Responsibilities of the Businessman, was written by Bowen in 1953. Bowens book was specifically concerned with the doctrine of social responsibility. Bowen argued that social responsibility is not panacea for all business social problems, but that it contains an important truth that must guide business in the future (Asongu, 2007). Because of Bowens early and very valuable work, Carroll has argued that Howard Bowen should be called the Father of Corporate Social Responsibility (Carroll, 2000). The decade of the 1 960s is characterized as seeing a growing interest in the formalizing or more precisely, defining the meaning of CSR. One of the prominent writers in this period was Keith Davis, who later extensively wrote about the topic in his business and society textbooks, later revisions and articles. He argued that social responsibility is a nebulous idea, but should be seen in a managerial context (Mahon, 1991). Another influential contributor to the early research into CSR was Friedman. The argument made by Friedman (1962) that the main corporations responsibility is toward shareholders has created much debate among academics. It was not until 1970, that Wallich and McGowan first made attempts to demonstrate the link between corporations social responsibility and shareholders interests. They argued that the aim of corporations long-term interest should be linked to the environment to which a corporation belongs. If society and environment became worse, a business would lose their critical s upport structure and customer base (Keim, 1978). In the 1970s there are a wide range of references, increasingly being made to corporate social responsiveness, corporate social performance as well as corporate social responsibility. In the 90s, literature tried to find out answers to questions such as why some companies are doing well and if CSR could be identified as a competitive advantage. Most academics and scholars started to apply the stakeholder theory to CSR, because stakeholders, other than shareholders have interest in the well-being of a company in relation to employees, customers, governments and others. This model renewed the interest in CSR and more research was devoted to this subject. Also, there is great interest in the linkage between CSR and corporate competitiveness; but bbbthere is a shortcoming of quantitative translation of socially responsible practices into specific results affecting the income and loss of particular organization (Murillo and Lozano, 2006). Many scholars connect CSR with the competitive advantage that a company can gain. The most well-known work in this field is Professor Michel Porters The competitive advantage of corporate philanthropy in which he describes how a company is able to improve its long-term potential by linking financial and societal goals (Porter, 2003). Further development in this area was made by Kramer (2003). Problems with CSR research We know very little about CSR initiatives and undoubtedly, there are some questions about both the efficiency of CSR approaches and the tangible benefits for stakeholder groups. Also, we know very little about the social and environmental impacts of CSR initiatives. For example, many business schools analyzed and devoted their works to studying the content of codes of conduct. They looked at specific issues such as child labour, but they failed to study the wider societal impacts of CSR. The most notable study about societal impacts came from development study scholars, not from business schools. The study by Barrientos and Smiths (2007) reviled that there are, in particular in those countries where empirical investigation took place such as South Africa, India, Vietnam and Costa Rica, some benefits from codes of conduct and initiatives implementing CSR by multinational companies. However there are failures in the areas of noncompliance and ensuring the improvement of working conditi ons. In addition to this, Barrientos and Smiths questioned the methods used by the business communities in investigating the societal impacts of CSR, doubting the efficiency of the tools used to monitor CSR performance. Due to the lack of empirical study and evidence regarding CSR impacts, there are still analytical limitations in the current CSR field. For example, some academics (Lantos, 2001) wrote about conceptualization of CSR, however, current field of CSR and business scholars fail to answer vital questions. For example, how can CSR tackle a development challenge like poverty, without an understanding of the negative influence caused by multinational companies operating in host communities? Even if there is agreement about societal benefits of CSR initiatives, there is still uncertainty about the way in which CSR should be studied and analyzed. Lockett, Moon and Wisser (2006) argued that CSR knowledge should be best described as a continuing state of emergence. Indeed, many s cholars study CSR initiatives without any reference to theoretical perspectives. Milton Friedman and other authors highlighted the agency problem of CSR for a long time. For example, Friedman argued that the pursuit of societal and environmental objectives will undoubtedly hurt shareholders by lowering profits. However, other scholars like Margolis and Walsh (2003) oppose the arguments of Friedman. They found that, between 1972 and 2002, at least 172 empirical studies investigated the positive relationship between social responsible behaviour of an organization and its financial performance. Levels of CSR Another main contribution to the development of CSR made by Carroll (1991), considered the economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic levels of CSR. These levels represent what is required, expected and desired for CSR strategies (Crane, Matten, Spence, 2008). According to Crane, Matten and Spence, Carrolls pyramid of CSR is the most widely accepted definition of CSR. Until the 1980s, environmental corporate responsibility was the part of social responsibility, which was used as a frame term that covered a wide field of ideas. However, corporations became to understand the importance of environmental responsibility. For this reason, the concept of corporate environmental responsibility has started to be used by researchers such as Rondinelli and Berry (2000) in parallel with the development of corporate social responsibility by Carroll (1998), Maignan and Ferrel (2000) and Zarkada-Fraser (2004). CSR and Corporate Social Reporting The great number of scholars, who have since the 1970s (Fenn, Ackerman,), analyzed the complex issue of Corporate Social Responsibility and the advantage of reporting on a wider scale, have given the possibility to evaluate social performance (Levis, 2006). The theme of social reporting has been developed along with the CSR. The approach for researching reporting is different in comparison with past decades due to the growing number of organizations that have published a social report. (Belal, 2002; Bitcha, 2003; Weaver et al, 1999). The reason for the growing interest in this field is linked to progress in business ethics (Donaldson, 1999) and the significant importance of the stakeholder approach, which has led to an increase of interest in studying the causes and real meaning of the phenomenon. The present approach to social reporting activities can be divided into two parts: fists, those who still think that it is a responsiveness approach and others, who argue that it is much mo re than communication; it is a tool of strategic management. Research in CSR worldwide Cultural differences affect CSR dynamics as well as companies practising responsible behaviour. For instance, research by Juholin (2004) reviled that long-term profitability is the prominent driving force behind CSR in Finland. Research by Fulop et al. (2000) discovered differences in CSR orientations between large and small firms. A similar study by Uhlaner et al. (2004) suggests a mixture of CSR perspectives (economic benefits, legal, ethical and philanthropic considerations) as useful in explaining variations in CSR orientations amongst Dutch firms. Despite cross-cultural and national differences, there are differences in the variety of methodologies adopted in examining and analyzing CSR. Some studies considered CSR as a philanthropic and ethical responsibility; however other studies have made a distinction between CSR as simple legal compliance vs. CSR as conducting business with high regard for morality. As noted previously, the debate about CSR has existed since the 1950s. In the first academic papers, a narrow concept of corporate social responsibility was used. Most of the authors like Bragdon and Marlin (1972) and Spicer (1975), tried to approach CSR through the main social and environmental problems such as pollution and contributions to the local community. The data used for their analysis was based on information issued by the Council on Economic Priorities. However they were not able to cover the whole aspects of CSR and their works were not valid for every industry (Dooley, 2004). Later, a broader valuation and examination was provided by Moskowitz (1972, 1975). In his work he tried to cover almost every aspect of corporate social responsibility such as equal employment opportunities, charitable contributions, fair dealing with customers, product quality and more. CSR in developing world Despite the great interest in ethical and responsible behaviour in business, very little is known of the practise of CSR in developing countries. For example, Belal (2001) notes that there are a wide range of academic publications, describing CSR in the context of developed countries such as Western Europe, the USA and Australia. Also that we still know too little about practices of corporate responsibility in ex-colonial, smaller and developing countries. He suggests doing more research into developing countries as it will give a valuable insight to the western meaning of CSR in context (Jamali, 2007). There are no large scale developmental studies of CSR in developing countries as there are in western countries. However, the CSR discussion traditionally revolved around the multinational companies operating in developing countries. The multinational companies response to CSR has great impact on the future global CSR agenda. The first notions of corporate social responsibility in developing countries emerged in the 1960s amongst American companies operating in developing countries, particularly in Asia and Africa. Perhaps a simple definition, truly reflecting the responsible behaviour of current multinational companies operating in developing countries is presented by Davies, who suggested CSR as a framework for the role of business in society. The implication of this definition is that it includes any society in which the company operates, including the global society (Engle, 2006). Within the Asian context, most academics paid attention to describing the governance aspects of environmental responsibility (Hong Kong: Hills and Welford; China: Bi; The Philippines: Forsyth). In contrast, in India, Mohan has focused on social responsibilities and corporate citizenships. Also, there is some research into the normative aspects of CSR such as the evolution of business ethics in Taiwanese companies (Wu). In the study of CSR in Malaysia, Teoh and Thong found that the most foreign multinational companies seemed more inclined to accept their responsibilities towards environment and society (Chapple, 2005). CSR in the Global Context CSR and multinational corporations. Relatively little is known about management of corporate social responsibility by multinational companies (Gnyawali, 1996). In general, little is known about the management of CSR in multinational companies, either practically or academically. While many areas of research have examined the nature of cultural or business preference to social equality (Adler, 1997; George and Jones, 2002; Lantos, 2002), there has previously been no research regarding the role of CSR in the expansion of organizations into new territories or cultures. The dominant theoretical approach to studying CSR practices among multinational companies, operating in developing countries, is the works of Bartlett and Ghoshal (1989) and Prahalad and Doz (1987), who tried to analyze general multinational companies management practices in CSR. This framework was then extended by Yip (1992) and Husted and Allen (2006) to cover CSR practices (Geppert et al., 2006). The studies of these researchers enabled interesting insights such as how CSR is being managed, the potential barriers to successful implementation of CSR practices within domestic p laces into operation among multinational corporations. However, mainstream research of CSR was concentrated particularly on domestic issues such as labour issues, racial discrimination, the position of women and the environment. To date there has been limited analysis in the developing countries context, in particular regarding foreign multinational companies. Further detailed analysis is needed of what instrumental, moral and relational motives exist in systems very different to the western context in which they were developed. CSR and Globalization With Globalization, CSR has been propelled into a global context. Ruggie (2004) identified three particular aspects of social responsibility in the context of global governance. Firstly, nowadays it is expected that multinational companies will build new capacities and take care of issues such as working conditions, healthcare and education as well as respect human rights. So that, if corporations insist on setting up in developing countries, they are forced to consider challenges, normally associated with developing countries like poverty or child labour. Nowadays, most multinational companies face a lot of new and challenging problems in this era of Globalization. According to Weber, Lawrence and Post, multinational companies are able to solve such problems. They have introduced the idea of Three sector world, compromising multinational companies, non governmental organizations and community. In their research, they compared both strengths and weaknesses of each sector and analyzed their contributions to solving global problems. The research method was based on comparing attempts of two multinational companies in implementing CSR in developing countries (Young, 2008). Based on their findings, it is obvious that a collaborative partnership with community and non governmental organizations can carry better results in implementing CSR. Therefore CSR in the global context involves more than business implementation, it needs business cooperation with other organizations whose focus is greater on CSR. From the vast majority of literature, it is clear that CSR has gained major significance in the era of Globalization and multinational companies should take responsibilities for their actions worldwide, especially in developing countries. Multinational corporations should behave as a moral leader in an area where there are no legal requirements (Scherer and Smid, 2000). CSR is considered a Western idea, which has now to be applied to problems in the developing world ( Scherer and Smid, 2000). The literature review is an account of what has been published on corporate social responsibility; it acknowledges the critical points highlighted by scholars and researchers. The literature review conveys what knowledge and ideas have been established on corporate social responsibility and it enables further research to compare and contrast these ideas in order to create new theories. Therefore a literature review provides the basis for the analytical framework of this research (Bryman, 2004). It has also helped with the interpretation of the results and has led to other questions being asked. The literature review also highlighted that there had been little research carried out on the societal impacts of CSR and implementation of CSR by multinational companies in developing world. This gives further importance and emphasis to the analysis of literature in giving rise to new questions and theories. The literature review has provided the framework of following deep research about cor porate social responsibility of multinational companies in developing countries, in particular the problems and benefits of implementing of CSR and the role of huge corporations in this issue. The literature review has helped to identify key themes within CSR by multinationals and from this more questions have evolved. Chapter 3 Methodology In this research paper the case study was employed as the research strategy. Usually descriptive or exploratory research is associated with the case study, and this might be particularly useful when the phenomenon under investigation is difficult to study outside its natural setting. Using case study research methodology is also helpful when the concepts and variables need to be considered where experimental or survey methods are regarded to be inappropriate (Yin, 1994). Case study is used particularly in looking at the specific questions such as how and why that is set in the contemporary environment (Yin, 1989) Case study methodology has a lot of advantages over some other methodologies. First, it allows the use of multiple data collection techniques in order to build a more comprehensive picture of the case being investigated. Second, this in turn leads to the ability to capture both qualitative and quantitative data. Case studies can provide a solid understanding required for hyp othesis development that then leads to improved theory development. The main advantage of case based research is that results are considered to be interesting and important and can shift the focus of investigation towards a new area of interest (Scapens, 1990). The case study is usually considered more accurate, diverse and rich, if it is based on several sources of data (Alasuutari, 2000). Advantages of using secondary data for research purposes As the research is concerned with multinational companies operating internationally, secondary data will probably provide the main source of necessary information. As our research strategy is case study, it is better to use compiled data that have already been sorted or summarised (Kervin, 1999). Secondary data can be obtained from different sources aimed at the same geographic area, where our case study takes place such as the Coca-Colas crisis in India. Area-based multiple sources of data are usually easily available in different forms, especially in published forms. Also tracking the original source of secondary data is much easier, especially when time restrictions are severe. As it will be a case study, it is even preferable to use newspapers, journals and media on a regular basis, as they may provide recent events within the business world. Research will concern the specific country i.e. India, data from government sources are also useful due to their high quality. Because of t ime constraints, secondary data can be obtained very quickly, in addition they have better quality standards in comparison with collecting own data (Stewart and Kamins, 1993). Using secondary data within collection also has a wide range of benefits, as they have already been collected and analyzed (Cowton, 1998). Unlike the data collected by myself, secondary data are permanently available and easily accessible, so that it can be checked relatively easily to others (Denscombe, 1998). Problems with collecting primary data for research purposes Access for some primary data can be problematic and difficult. Therefore it is unlikely that gaining permission for physical access will be easy and will be time consuming. As an interview is way for collecting primary data, however it is difficult to seek access to a range of participants such as employees, suppliers, customers and other stakeholder groups. The main cause might be restricted access to companys data either directly or indirectly (Bunchanan et.al., 1998; Raimond, 1993). As a full time master student, you are not able to have prior contact with huge multinational companies and you will be required to negotiate in order to gain any access to each level of information. Also, the major obstacle in obtaining primary data is time constrains. There is not sufficient time for all methods of collecting primary data, as physical access may take weeks or even months (Bunchanan et.al., 1998). Even, if there are time allowances, nobody can guarantee that replies will be quick and contain all necessary information. In case of opportunities for conducting interviews, undertaking questionnaires or engaging in observation, unfortunately, this would take several weeks. Whichever method will be chosen, almost all methods for gathering primary data are very time consuming (Bryman, 1988). However, due to the growing significance of the topic, many researchers have used primary data to conduct research. They collected primary data through interviews, observation and questionnaires. There are some examples of case study based research approaches. The implementation of CSR in developing countries was examined by Christina L. Anderson and Rebecca L. Bieniaszewska in the paper The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Oil Companys Expansion into New Territories. The aims of the study were to analyse the role of CSR in British Petroleums overall business strategy and to examin the benefits of employing CSR as a part of business strategy when it was operating in new territories and cultures. The case study approach was conducted through providing interviews with representatives from BP, social auditing and accounting specialists. Recent company reports and website information were also examined. Another example came from Richard Welford and Stephen Frosts research that provides an overview of CSR practices in Asia. The aim of the research paper is to review the benefits of the implementation of CSR in supply chains and arising obstacles. In order to collect data for research purposes, interviews were undertaken with six CSR managers working for well-known brand corporations, ten factory managers and eight CSR experts. Interviews were held confidentiality and anonymously. All participants have extensive experience of CSR issues and provide a good overview of the challenges for CSR by multinational companies in Asia. The case study based approach showed that multinational corporations such a

Sunday, January 19, 2020

Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the cognitive level of analysis Essay

Discuss ethical considerations related to research studies at the cognitive level of analysis There are plenty of ethical considerations connected to research studies at the SCLOA, for example the right to withdraw, deception, knowledgeable agreement and excessive stress or harm. For example, Festinger’s â€Å"When Prophecy Fails† observation of a doomsday cult has ethical invasions of deception as well as knowledgeable agreement. Festinger and his group of researchers invade a doomsday cult that thought that the world would come to an end on December 21st and aimed to see how they would react when it wouldn’t end. By pretending to be one of them, Festinger violated the ethical thought of asking for their authorization and consequently, since it was a secret observation, he also cheated them. They were incredibly upset when he said who he really was; to be an undercover researcher. It is most likely that Festinger would not have been able to earn a full understanding of the cult’s behaviour and how it played into the social recognise theory if he had not cheated them, as he was observing them on their normal day without any effects influencing their behaviour. However, he cheated on ethics. This is a matter with other observations at this level of analysis as being secret that tricks them and is unethical if they aren’t in a public place, during undisguised influences their natural behaviour that is precisely what you are trying to study. Milgram’s study on people’s willingness to do authority also is an invasion of ethics in terms of cheating, but also with excessive stress or harm and even the right to withdraw. Members that participated were asked to ask a number of questions to someone they were only able to hear and to give a number of electric shocks every time the other person, who was normally only a tape recording, would give an answer to the question incorrectly. The voltage of the shock would be increased per incorrect answer. Although the members that  participated delivering the shocks weren’t able to actually hurt someone, they still became more and more stressed every time the person on the reco rding would sound more hurt or even stop saying something. The whole point of this experiment was to be able to see how far someone would go when carry out authority so some people, when forced by a calm researcher, would deliver shocks that were marked as lethal. When the experiment was over, the people who had done it all the way to the strongest shocks were questioned and told that they hadn’t actually harmed anyone. Nonetheless, they were still tricked and were stressed by the cries of pain or silence that showed that the person was dead. Moreover, the long-term effects of this study on the members that participated, is that they know that they are capable of hurting someone or even killing them, which may traumatize them. Nonetheless, the experiment was controlled, and so was artificial and lacked ecological acceptance. Also, it was done on other people who had sound like they had mental health problems, so this experiment can be easily generalized and used for the SCLOA as it studies how others influence one’s behaviour. As mentioned before, however, Milgram had some problems with the right to pull back, which Zimbardo’s â€Å"Prison Study† also had. Milgram made it able for people to leave if they became uncomfortable; nonetheless, his aim for this study made him to become more uncertain and made them continuously to stay. This is not the case with Zimbardo’s study. In his study, he randomly chose mentally healthy members that participated to the role of a prison guard or a prisoner to search the role of dispositional and situational factors in behaviour. Nonetheless, over the course of this study, Zimbardo and his members that participated became so involved in their roles that they were made to that not only the prisoners were humiliated, physically punished and felt violated and in danger, at some moments they were forcedly undressed and given a piece of clothing that covered little of their private parts; however, they weren’t able to be let out of the study. Only one member that participated with the role of a prisoner was released because of a severe state, but the others members that participated who screamed and cried to be released, couldn’t be released. On top of the excessive stress and harm inflicted on the prisoners and   guards, who might have been traumatized by their actions during this study, none of them could leave the experiment. The researcher was not Zimbardo himself, he became absorbed in his own role as the prison officer, and consequently he is biased when analysing his own study. Overall, this was an unethical study, even though; fortunately the members that participated were questioned and offered psychological counselling because of the long-term effects. It is obvious that deception, knowledgeable agreement, the right to withdraw and undue excessive stress or harm are ethical considerations at the SCLOA. It is frequently hard to keep away of such ethical violations at this level, though, as in order to study someones behaviour and how we are influenced by others in their natural state, the existence of a researcher may affect this behaviour. Therefore, questioning is important in sensitive ethically risky studies such as Festinger’s, Milgram’s and Zimbardo’s studies. However, when studying someone’s behaviour, a researcher must stay a secret, for example, not becoming affected by the group, and keep paying attention to the rights of the members that participate; being denied the right to withdraw has no excuse.

Saturday, January 11, 2020

Classical Economics Essay

The neo-classical economics movement has been touted as the replacement to classical economics movement as it appeared to have been presented as an improvement to the beliefs and ideologies of that of the classical economics movement. Not many people agree with this fact as it stands though. While some think that the neo-classical movement represents an evolution of economic theory from the early and probably flawed version which was the classical economic theory to a more advanced, sophisticated and improved theory, others believe that the neo-classical movement represents the birth of an entirely new discipline that had decided to abandon a lot of the questions and issues that the classical economic movement had been riddled with instead of trying to find a better approach to arriving at reasonable solutions for those issues. As a result of these contrasting views, it is necessary to delve into the origins of both movements, carry out a thorough analysis of the modus operandi and arrive at a reasonable conclusion by taking a subjective stance on the matter. In doing this, some of the issues that will be addressed include: the specific issues that the neo-classical economic movement and the classical economic movement really address, how much overlap there is between the named set of issues, the kinds of analytical methods used in both economic movements, and whether the neo-classical analytical method is more effective at accomplishing its own goals as well as that of the classical economic methods (even better than the classical economists themselves). Classical Economics The birth of the classical economics movement is largely attributed to Adam Smith as a result of his 1776 publication titled The Wealth of Nations, although Jean-Baptiste Say, David Ricardo, Robert Thomas Malthus and John Stuart Mill (over a period of about hundred years) are all seen as the major contributors to the development of the movement (Evans & Phillips, 2006). Adam Smith laid emphasis on the fact that a perfect economy is self-regulatory in the sense that the needs of the population present in that economy are automatically satisfied. He coined the term ‘invisible hand’ as a mechanism that is responsible for the propelling of the populace to pursue their individual self-interests which indirectly promotes the general improvement of the society (Evans & Phillips, 2006). This emphasis served as the basic foundation of the classical economic movement. David Ricardo on the other hand, stressed that profits and wages were drastically affected by increase in the price of rent. The increase in rent according to Ricardo was as a result of the increasing population which is a consequence of the fixed availability of land (Evans & Phillips, 2006). Reverend Robert Thomas Malthus in his suggestion averred that unemployment in a market economy is caused by the economy being frugal with spending. However, he was more famous for his population theory that explains that food production increased at an arithmetical progression while population increased at a geometrical progression (Evans & Phillips, 2006). This implies that with time, the population will soon outgrow food supply and the limited amount of available which will result in diminishing returns to labor (Evans & Phillips, 2006). The diminishing returns to labor in turn leads to a radical reduction in the standard of living as a result of the low wages that workers are paid. John Stuart Mill’s proposition took into consideration, the fact that resource allocation and income distribution, which happened to be the two major roles of the market system were distinctive from each other and that the market may not be efficient enough to perform both roles therefore, the involvement of the society is required to compliment the inefficiencies (Evans & Phillips, 2006). The term ‘classical economists’, was first used by the father of communism, Karl Marx to describe the group of economists that shared the same beliefs regarding the labor theories of value. At a time when capitalism was gaining grounds at the expense of feudalism, and when the industrial revolution was rapidly restructuring the society, it was necessary to re-examine and re-define the status quo by ensuring that the nation’s economic interests as a whole lies in and is determined by market forces instead of the autocratic and individualistic determinants that were formerly widespread (Evans & Phillips, 2006). Since then, various classical economists, such as Samuelson Paul, Hollander Samuel, John Hicks, Kaldor Nicholas, and Luigi Pasinetti, have thoroughly studied how the wealth of a nation grows and how policies need to be implemented so that the nation’s wealth continually grows. In doing this, the aforementioned economists (Samuelson et al. ) basically presented various recognized models so as to define their own analysis of classical economics. A major contribution of the classical economists was the development of the labor theories of value whereby the market values of commodities are associated to the various labor efforts that is needed to produce them. These theories of value were largely attributed to William Petty, Adam Smith, and David Ricardo who were acclaimed to have developed them so as to suitably look into economic dynamics. In order to properly make the representation of the regularities found in prices easy, the classical economists brought about a basic distinction between market price which is largely affected by many short-lived influences which are not easily put forward at the theoretical level and natural prices of commodities which are responsible for taking into consideration, the continual forces that are operating at a given point in time (Evans & Phillips, 2006). As far as the labor theories of value are concerned (as seen especially by Adam Smith), when an individual purchases a commodity, the real value of that commodity as far as the individual is concerned, is the practical sum total of the exertion that the individual underwent in purchasing the commodity. In other words, the actual value of a commodity (from the consumer’s angle) lies in the labor that is expended in the acquisition process of the commodity. Also, the value of a commodity from a producer’s angle is the total stress or trouble that has been experienced in order to arrive at the finished product. This also implies that the actual value of a commodity (from the manufacturer’s perspective) lies in the labor that is expended in the production process of the commodity. The labor described above depicts that which does not involve a pleasurable experience in the sense that the individual (consumer or producer) does not conveniently or pleasantly go through the experience of acquiring or manufacturing the commodity. In this case, labor is seen as opposing to utility. As a result of this, the natural price of a commodity is determined by the summation of profits, wages and interests (from Adam Smith’s proposition), although this view differs between the classical economic thinkers’ community because David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, and Robert Thomas Malthus all had varying concepts (though similar to an extent) about labor value of theory. The classical economic movement also addressed the issue of comparative advantage, especially David Ricardo. The principle of comparative advantage suggests that each nation should specialize in the production of the particular commodities that it can efficiently produce (Evans & Phillips, 2006). It should then seek to import every other commodity it needs. The implication of this is that the total output of the nations of the world would be more than if the nations decided to be more self-sufficient. This theory served as the foundation of the theory of international trade and immensely influenced the free-trade doctrine aspect of classical economic thought (Evans & Phillips, 2006). Classical economists also addressed the issue of the theory of distribution which proposed that the national product is divided between laborers, capital owners, and landlords. These three social classes share national products in the form of wages, profits, and rents, i. e. wages in the case of laborers, profits in the case of capital owners, and rents in the case of landlords (Evans & Phillips, 2006). It is therefore possible for one of the above-mentioned social class to achieve a superior allocation of the national product over the other social classes. There is hardly any common characteristic between the above mentioned issues that were addressed by the classical economists. The theory of comparative advantage is not related to the theory of distribution as well as the labor theories of value. Therefore, the issues cannot be said to be overlapping. The analytical method utilized by classical economists involves the historical-deductive method (Evans & Phillips, 2006). The economists that belong to the classical economic movement actually observe real life situations and then from their observations, they propose solutions to economic problems. The solutions arrive largely as a result of the fact that the observer has noticed a pattern and can then deduce a likelihood of such pattern occurring again based on the tendency of the pattern to repeat itself as had already been observed. A typical example of the historical-deductive analysis employed by classical economists is the input-output analysis. The technique behind this method involves viewing the raw materials of a production process as an input while the semi-finished or finished product is seen as the output (Evans & Phillips, 2006). Such semi-finished or finished product may be used as an input to another process which will result in a different output. In other words, the output of one industry is the input if another industry and this happens over and again when the economy is concerned as a whole. Neoclassical Economics The â€Å"Marginalist Revolution† was responsible for the introduction of the neoclassical economic movement. It was as a result of the theories of William Stanley Jevons, Carl Menger and Marie-Esprit-Leon Walras. Jevons reflected this theory in his 1871 publication titled Theory of Political Economy, Menger in his 1871 publication titled Principles of Economics, and Walras in his 1874 publication titled Elements of Pure Economics (Evans & Phillips, 2006). William Jevons’ concept of utility was largely influenced by the utilitarian principles of John Stuart Mill and that of Jeremy Bentham because of the integration of their hedonic conception in his works (Evans & Phillips, 2006). However, his view was different from those of Mill and Bentham on the grounds that value depends on utility among other things. He opined that the contentment or satisfaction derived from goods and services will always tend to reduce at the margin. For instance, the more cups ice cream an individual takes, the less pleasure such an individual derives from the last cup of ice cream until finally, the individual stops taking the ice cream. This principle is otherwise explained as the theory of diminishing returns. He also modeled his theories after mathematical principles found in mechanics thereby incorporating mathematics into economics. Carl Menger on the other hand, failed to agree with Jevons’ notion and did not embrace the hedonic conception that Jevons added in his own works. Instead, he tried to explain diminishing marginal utility in terms of an individual prioritization of the possible usefulness or uses of a commodity (Evans & Phillips, 2006). In other words, Menger posits that consumers will always act in a way that ensures that their satisfaction is maximized in all inclinations. In other words, consumers will always apportion their money in such a way that the last component of a good or service that they purchased generates no more satisfaction than the last component of another good or service that they purchased (Evans & Phillips, 2006). He also failed to embrace the incorporation of mathematics into economics as observed in the case of Jevons. Walras conversely was more focused on the market interactions within an economy and also had similar views with Menger on the concept of diminishing marginal returns. He was of the opinion that as small as the change in a consumer’s preference for a particular commodity might be, it would always affect the producer’s predilection to adjust production of such a commodity. For instance, a shift in the consumer’s preference from land phones to mobile phones results in the reduction in the price of land phones and a corresponding increase in the price of mobile phones. The producer or manufacturer as the case may be would shift production to mobile phones which will lead to increase in market supply thereby setting a new price equilibrium between both commodities. Although the trio of Jevons, Menger, and Walras were responsible for the originating the Marginalist concept of economics which birthed neoclassical economics, their works were not so popular until it they were popularized by Francis Edgeworth, Alfred Marshall, Philip Henry Wicksteed and Lionel Robbins (Evans & Phillips, 2006). These set of economists were called the consolidators while Jevons, Menger, and Walras were known as the revolutionaries. Although not very common, a few economists have been referred to as the main proto-marginalists. These less-notable economists include Antoine Augustin Cournot (1838), Jules Dupuit (1844), Johann von Thunen (1850) and Heinrich Gossen (1854) (Evans & Phillips, 2006). Their era preceded that of the revolutionaries, but it was not until when Jevons, Menger and Walras published their own works that the Marginalist concept came into the economics public enlightenment. Also, the popularity of the Marginalist theory did not end with the consolidators; there was this group of economists known as the Revivalists who further incorporated the Marginalist theories into their own work, thereby leading to further popularization of the concept (Evans & Phillips, 2006). The economists that belong to the ‘Revivalist movement’ include: John Hicks (1939, 1934), Harold Hotelling (1938), Oskar Lange (1942), Maurice Allais (1943), and Paul Samuelson (1947) (Evans & Phillips, 2006). In one way or the other, all the above mentioned economists had a major role to play in the origin of the neoclassical economic movement. Another peculiarity of the neoclassical community of economics is that there appears to be factions or different ‘schools of thought’. This was as a result of the independent nature of the pioneers. That is, Jevons was writing in England, Menger from Austria, and Walras from France. They were not aware of each other as at that time and as a result; different schools of thought developed thereby presenting the neoclassical economic movement as an embodiment of different schools. These schools include the Lausanne School, Vienna School, Paretian School, Cambridge School, to mention but a few (Evans & Phillips, 2006). The neoclassical movement as a whole tends to address the issue of marginal utility. Marginal utility refers to the ‘utility’ that is derived from an increase in the consumption of a particular good or service. It could also refer to the ‘utility’ lost from a decrease in the consumption of a particular good or service. It results in the concept of diminishing marginal utility previously described, that is, more utility is obtained during the first consumption of the unit of a particular commodity than is obtained during the second consumption and this occurs in subsequent consumptions. It is basically what the Marginalist revolution was about. While consumers of a commodity strive to maximize the utility derived from the commodity, the producers or manufacturers of the community also tend to maximize profit in the process. Apart from maximizing utility and profits, the neoclassical economic movement also addressed the issue of rational preferences. Every human behavior is guided by a rational reasoning. This implies that an individual will always tend to select that which appears to be appropriate as far as satisfying his or her needs is concerned. As a result, such an individual develops a preference for that good or service that would suitably be of benefit to them by comparing the costs and benefits of their actions. Another issue that was addressed by the neoclassical economists was the question of how people act on the â€Å"basis of full and relevant information† (Evans & Phillips, 2006). It was proposed that an individual acted independently on this basis because the more relevant information such an individual had on a particular product, the better the chances of maximizing utility. From the mentioned issues, it is evident that there is a kind of overlap between them. For instance, an individual that has a relevant information on a particular good or service is then provided with the choice of comparing the costs and benefits of acquiring such product or service. After comparing the costs and benefits, the individual chooses to either develop a preference for that product or some other favorable product in order to maximize utility. The analytical method utilized by neoclassical economists involves the hypothetical-deductive methods (Evans & Phillips, 2006). This method is more mathematical in nature thus leading to the neoclassical economists being accused of â€Å"mathematicalizing† economics. In order to observe the economic system for the sake of analysis, neoclassical economists strive to develop various tools that will aid them in analyzing the system. These tools are developed with from mathematical models and are then used to hypothetically deduce an explanation or solution to the defined problem. A typical example of this method of analysis is the marginal revenue that is usually used to calculate the extra income that will be gained from selling an additional unit of a particular commodity. Mathematically, it is described as the rate of change of total revenue per change in the number of units sold and can be expressed as From the relation above, TR is the total revenue, P is the price of the commodity and Q is the quantity demanded. When the price does not change with quantity, then meaning that the marginal revenue is equal to the price of the commodity (Evans & Phillips, 2006). To address the main purpose of this essay, which is to know whether neoclassical economics represents an evolution of economic theory from an early, flawed version (Classical Economics) to a more advanced, improved theory or rather represents the birth of a new discipline that decided to abandon many of the questions and issues that had troubled Classical Economics instead of trying to offer a better way to address them, it can be inferred from the above discussion of both economic theories that contrary to the popular views of people that neoclassical economic theory evolved from classical economic theory so as to amend its flaws, the opposite (not reverse) is the case, that is, the neoclassical economic theory actually evolved from the classical economic theory but it addressed a complete set of totally different issues. The reason for this assumption is evident. The classical economic theories as earlier discussed mainly addressed the issues concerning the labor theories of value, theories of distribution, and that of comparative advantage while the neoclassical economic theories essentially address the issue of marginal utility, rational preferences, and the predilection of individuals to act on the basis of full and relevant information. Placing these issues side-by-side, one would observe that they are quite different and do not seem to overlap. This means that as much as it is that the neoclassical economists evolved from the classical economists, their views are entirely different and do not seem to correlate. For instance, the theories of distribution which emphasize that national the national product is divided between the laborer, capital owner and the landlord, is not in any way applicable to any of the issues attended to by the neoclassical economists. Similarly, the theory of marginal utility as an issue addressed by the neoclassical economists is not applicable in either the labor theory of value, comparative advantage principle or the theory of distribution. What this spells out is that the neoclassical economic movement represents the birth of an entirely new discipline that has decided to abandon many of the questions and issues that had troubled classical economics instead of trying to offer a better way to address them. Instead of improving on the issue of labor theory of value, it chose to adopt a totally new issue which it termed theory of marginal utility thereby creating difficulties when it comes to finding a correlation between both economic movements. Also, when considering the analytical tools employed by both economic movements, it is apparent that there are conflicting issues as well which further buttress the point that is being made here. While the neoclassical economists are hypothetically or mathematically inclined, the classical economists are historically inclined. Generally speaking, most scholars who have studied both methods of analyzing the economy would stick with the classical because it is believed that economics as a social science is more accurately gauged by the historical approach than mere mathematical models which failed to address the issues surrounding the great depression in the 1920s when it occurred. Subjectively speaking therefore, the neoclassical economic movement does not improve on classical economics as claimed by many but instead, it addressed a brand new project. Finally, given the methods of economic analysis employed by both, it is evident that the neoclassical analytical method is not as effective at addressing its goals as much as the classical analytical method is at addressing its own goals which still points out the point that has been made by this essay. References Evans, B. , & Phillips, S. (2006). Comprehensive History of Economics (4th ed. ). Pretoria: Brayton Publishers.

Friday, January 3, 2020

A Comparison Of George Orwells And Dorians Reality

Comparison of Winston’s and Dorian’s Reality Everyday people wake up in their own homes and act themselves and do what they need to do to get ready for the day, and people put on their social masks as they enter into everyday society. In the novel 1984, written by George Orwell, the overall idea of the book revolves around the fact that everyone portrays a front and never actually displays who they really are for fear of death; moreover, in the novel Picture of Dorian Gray, shares similar characteristics on how people portray a face different from what they show in public. Continually, the idea of social masks and identity can be seen through the manipulation of previous events and how they shape the mindset of people with how they act;†¦show more content†¦The curves of your lips rewrite history.† (Wilde 54). The emphasis on how the person who rewrites history is the one who is described as elegant and said to me made of ivory and gold. This portrays an out-and-out in how the rich and powerful, or those who are made of ivory and gold are able to rewrite history. Through this ability to control the past, Big Brother is able to command how Winson and others act socially like the restriction on facial expression and putting laws in place to even control how people think. They are able to do this because of how they have painted the past and how it shows them as a powerful organization that cannot be challenged, and just as in The Picture of Dorian Gray they have no choice but to follow directions and put on their social masks. Continually, the adoption of constant social masks that are worn by those in the novel 1984 and the lack of identity that they all face can be accounted from the propaganda that is always present in daily life. Moreover, the propaganda that is being produced is just factually wrong from what we know in the real world. As Winston describes how the saying â€Å" War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Str ength.† (Orwell 34). This slogan was plastered everywhere and on everything you looked at as