Ethics of Kant and the Categorical Imperative Essay

What is a categorical imperative? A categorical imperative is a moral obligation which is absolute and necessary in any moral situation and isn’t reliant on a singular person’s desires or wills. For Kant, categorical imperatives are the foundation for morality because they invoke â€Å"pure† reasons for our moral actions and decisions since each rational being reasons to act outside of their own personal desires or will which may cloud judgments or impose a biased verdict of the situation. Kant explains this by distinguishing two different kinds of imperatives; categorical and hypothetical. Obviously Kant is interested in categorical imperatives and uses this distinction to show the difference between them so that categorical imperatives come out stronger. As stated before, categorical imperatives according to Kant are moral obligations which are absolute and necessary in any moral situation and isn’t reliant on a particular person’s desires or purpose. He also says that categorical imperatives (obligations) are such if they are of a commanding or imposing nature. For example â€Å"Don’t murder! † is a categorical imperative which is binding to every rational person and forces a person to act of good will. Hypothetical imperatives on the other hand are obligations in which there is an end result of your action which is in turn a result of your personal desires our thoughts. An example of a hypothetical imperative is the statement â€Å"If you want to stay out of jail, then don’t murder†. Here, there is no sense of authority behind it; it doesn’t have any weight or value behind it. He further distinguishes that there are different types of imperatives which make us act or think the way that we do in a question of morality. These distinctions are imperatives of skill, imperatives of prudence, and imperatives of morality. Kant does recognize the imperatives of skill and prudence even though he doesn’t believe them to be intrinsically â€Å"good† or â€Å"of good will†. Imperatives of skill call for action and are a means to an end in which the end that the person is seeking isn’t the end result of happiness but something else. An example of this would be the duty to not smoke cigarettes in order to live a healthy lifestyle. Here, your end goal is to live a healthy lifestyle in order to avoid conditions associated with smoking. Imperatives of prudence also calls for action and is a means to an end but with the end result being a product of the person hoping to achieve happiness. For example, the duty to be polite and respectful so that others will do the same unto you and in turn you will be happy. Here, you are hoping to achieve the end of being happy by acting in a polite and respectful way. Imperatives of morality for Kant are totally different from those of prudence and skill. These duties do not have a specific means to an end but instead they represent a way of determining what to do because of what is morally right. These imperatives are the ones in which they are categorical since a rational being is one in which you are exposed to a situation in which you must determine what the right thing to do is and being a rational being, you choose the action which has good will which in turn means you are acting my duty due to respect and understanding of morality in general. For example the duty to not physically harm another person doesn’t have a specific end that will satisfy yourself but it is the morally right thing to do if you are a rational person who respects the wellbeing of yourself as well as others. How does he arrive at the conclusion that The Categorical Imperative is the â€Å"purest† way to reason your morals? He reasons that the only thing that is unconditionally good is the good will and that good will is an act of duty. For Kant, acting from your duty means not acting by your own desires and wills but for respect of morality in general. Looking at the Categorical Imperative versus other moral theories, the Categorical Imperative is the only one in which a person’s desires or inclinations aren’t needed to make a moral decision (versus Aristotle’s view that a person’s skill and acting prudently is what contributes to moral decisions). Therefore; the only thing that is unconditionally good is to act according to The Categorical Imperative. From this, Kant is saying that the amount of value placed on morals of any action or decision depends on moral duty and moral law. For Kant, if a person acts from a good will then they are acting by moral duty and if a moral decision is binding to every person capable of having a rational thought, then they are acting by moral law. Since both are required for a â€Å"pure rational reason†, then The Categorical Imperative is the only moral law which allows us to meet these requirements of allowing us to act from good will and to also be binding to every person. Even though Kant does seem to be making his point, he has many flaws in his reasoning. One problem is that he doesn’t look at the big picture; he seems to say that if we are to make a moral decision then it should be based on being intrinsically good so that you are able to universalize it which is a good thought however he doesn’t look at situations case by case. He doesn’t believe that there are any exceptions to his theory about categorical imperatives, he believes that it is morally right to act in a certain way for one situation, then you should act that way in all situations and also if it is wrong to act a certain way then it is wrong to act that way in any situation you are in. An example of this is say your best friend is very sick in the hospital and is feeling down. None of his/her friends seems to be coming to visit so your friend’s mom asks you to go and visit but then she adds that she will pay you twenty dollars if you go and do it. So you go and visit your friend which cheers them up. A few weeks later when they are out of the hospital, your friend’s dad accidentally tells your friend that you were paid by their mother to go visit. Your friend is infuriated and confronts you about the situation. Here is the dilemma: do you tell your friend that you were going to visit them anyway and the money was a bonus or do you lie and say that you never took the money in order to save your friend from hurt feelings and a damaged friendship? In this situation Kant would have you tell the truth because lying in general is immoral so if it is immoral in one situation, it is immoral in all situations no matter the circumstances. Another problem with Kant’s theory is that it creates contradictories since there is no room for exceptions even though some duties conflict with each other. An example I will use to show is this from the Bible in Numbers 10:4-6: â€Å"Who will give us meat to eat? † they said. â€Å"Think of the fish we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic! Here we are wasting away, stripped of everything; there is nothing but manna for us to look at! † Here, the Israelites are complaining about their new source of food which God provided for them, because it isn’t tasty and that is the only thing they have to eat. The Israelites are contradicting their new found freedom by wishing for the food they had back in Egypt when they were enslaved under the Pharaoh. Should they be thankful for their newfound freedom even though they have bad food or should they desire the good food they had while they were enslaved? This is a contradiction. Kant seems to only focus on the motives for our actions in moral situations versus the actual outcomes of our actions (which is kind of the point in acting or not acting in a dutiful way). There are many times in which we have good intentions for a situation but what ends up being the outcome of those intentions are abysmal. For example, consider a family member is terminally ill and is in constant pain on a daily basis. There is no hope of a cure or for the pain to diminish; your family member must endure the pain until the illness kills them. What if your family member asked you to aid in their plan to commit suicide in order to escape their pain? Say you come to the decision to help them after deciding it is the morally right thing to do. Without thinking of the outcome of the situation, you are soon found guilty of a felony charge of aiding in a suicide. Even though you had good intentions, the outcome of a person dying with the help of another person clearly outweighs the good and the outcome of the act is just as important as the decision itself. Overall, morality is too complex and full of exceptions to situations so that specific decision procedures won’t work. Kant believes that morality necessitates that we do the morally right thing because it is right, and for no other reason. He also believes that we should account ourselves to the same standards we would require of everyone else so that we aren’t placing exceptions for our own benefit. We must use our reason to come to our own conclusions about good will and ignore our predispositions even if they tend to point in the right direction. An action or decision is only intrinsically worthy because of your ought to do it, because of your obligation to do it. I think what Kant was trying to aim at was the importance of a person’s character (acting the right way even when you may not want to). Only the actions done from our obligations have any value. They have value because we will them from our obligations not because of the goal we try and achieve or the outcome we intend to happen. We have obligations to each other and our actions are right when we are correctly motivated in the face of every obstacle keeping us from those obligations. It isn’t easy being unbiased by our predispositions or desires, but predispositions and desires are often conflicting with what is right. Works Cited The Holy Bible: King James Version. Dallas, TX: Brown Books Publishing, 2004. Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Cambridge University Press. 2012. Print.

King Lear’s Journey of Finding Self-Knowledge Essay

In the play, we see King Lear going through a journey of self-knowledge. The play starts with King Lear who seems to be obsessed with honour. He divides his country, giving the one who honours him the most the biggest part. But the treachery of his daughters, Goneril and Regan, and the loss of the daughter who truly loved him, Cordelia, will make him see clear again. This will make Lear see himself and the world as they truly are. First I’ll show how Lear lacks self-knowledge at the start of the play. Then I’ll shortly discuss what political effects the lack of self-knowledge has on the country. Third I’ll show what causes Lear to regain his self-knowledge. In the beginning of the play, Lear seems obsessed with honour. He divides his country among his daughters based on who praises him the most. Giving the one who praises, or loves as Lear calls it, him the most the will receive the largest area of land. But the strange thing is that; immediately after one daughter speaks he tells her which part of the country she’ll receive. So that means that Lear supposedly knew already how he wanted to divide his country, and that the whole thing is just to boost his own ego. So when Cordelia and Kent, who truly love him, don’t want to play his game of praise, he reacts real strongly and banishes them from the country. He even threatens to kill Kent: â€Å"Thy Banished trunk be found in our dominions, the moment is thy death†. This shows that his hunger for praise and honour make him blind for what is really happening around him. We see this again when Kent, in disguise, decides to serve the King. Kent uses Lear’s hunger for honour to gain employment: â€Å"No, sir, but you have that in your countenance which I would fain call master†. Lear: â€Å"What’s that†? Kent: â€Å"Authority†. Lear is blinded by his hunger and doesn’t even know that the person, who he banished, is standing right in front of him. We see that Lear’s hunger for praise and honour make, him blind for what is really happening around him. He gives away his country to his daughters who are evil minded, and the daughter who truly loves him is banished. So the country is now divided and ruled by the evil daughters, Goneril and Regan. And Lear, even after he divided his country, wants to remain powerful and keeps a hundred knights. Goneril and Regan are unhappy with the way Lear is acting so they turn against him. This leaves the country divided and vulnerable, because Lear still owns a hundred knights. I guess that is why the French invaded, also the fact that Cordelia was banished and married France may have had something to do with it. So the decision of Lear to give Goneril and Regan his country and banish Cordelia seems to have caused a war. The great turning point for Lear is when he left Gloucester’s castle and ends up in a fierce storm. Through Lear’s anger over his last conversation with Goneril and Regan, and the power of the storm starts the process of the change within Lear. Lear starts to see the treachery of Goneril and Regan. Also from this moment, Lear no longer sees himself as a mighty king but as â€Å"a poor, infirm weak and despised old man†. All though Lear still doesn’t blame himself for all this: â€Å"I am a man more sinned against than sinning†. After this Lear goes through another change, it seems Lear starts caring for those around him and not just of himself. He thinks about the poor and how hard their live is, he says: â€Å"Poor naked wretches wheresoe’er you are, that bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, how shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you†. Lear then gains the self-knowledge of how he never helped the poor. When Lear meets Cordelia again his journey of finding self-knowledge comes to an end. He now sees that he punished Cordelia while it should have been her sisters. He asks Cordelia for forgiveness for what he has done. Finally, when Lear returns carrying the body of Cordelia, he once again realizes that he is no different from other people. His life ends with the great words: â€Å"Pray you, undo this button†. So it seems Lear starts as a man who’s blinded by the hunger for praise and honour. Because of his lack of self-knowledge he makes the wrong decisions: banishing Cordelia and giving Goneril and Regan all the power. These decisions had great influence on the country. The country was now ruled by his two daughters, who were too busy with conspiring against him. During the play Lear goes through a long process of finding his self-knowledge. In the last seconds of his life he finds himself.

Institutional investments- the pension schemes Essay

Institutional investments- the pension schemes - Essay Example 18). These are retirement plans made by insurance companies, the government and other institutions put in place to assist their employers after retirement period. Pension is usually made by the employer’s body in order to enable their employees sustain themselves after retirement as they are not able to be paid their normal salaries after retirement. Through this they will be able to benefit and support themselves. In addition to this, they can be funded by labor unions as well as the government, among other organizations. Pension schemes can be divided into defined-benefit and defined-contribution pension scheme. Differences between Defined-benefit and Defined-contribution Pension Schemes A defined benefit pension scheme is dependent on the final salary of an employee depending on the member’s length of service and based on a fixed formula (Mathis & Jackson 2012, pg. 11). It can be either funded defined benefit pension scheme or unfunded defined pension scheme whereby the benefits are paid up by the sponsor or the employee. The funded benefit pension scheme is dependent on the contribution from the plan members and the employer, as well others in the contribution to the pension scheme. A defined contribution pension scheme can be termed as an investment fund at retirement, and which depends on the level of contribution prior to the retirement. This depends on how much each contributor releases to the pension scheme and also on the money contributed in the investment after retirement. The contributions are invested in the stock market where it can succeed or fail. An example is the Australian superannuation system and the United States section 415, 401 limits among others. A defined benefit pension scheme growth is slow especially at the early years and tends to grow in the mid-work period. This leads to an increase in its costs to older employees as compared to the younger employees, aided by the flat accrual rate and also the decreasing period f or interest discounting as retirement period approaches (Redhead 2003, pg. 51). This therefore only favors the companies and not the younger people, making it unpopular among many people. This leads to the risk of spending a lot of cash and also gets a higher interest led by the time period as it is not funded by the government. The funding makes it to be risky and thus less trusted by most people as it may not be well funded in the future and may also be terminated. Defined contribution pension scheme is a better way or form of investing money as it is put in the stock exchange and through this it is possible to see how one’s portfolio grows. This leads to competition and through this the person or the company can increase its share values and also choose how to can invest. This is different in the defined benefit pension scheme as the amount or pension paid is not invested as the contribution is fixed. Contributions are also made annually or monthly causing them to get a lo wer retirement amount as compared to those in defined contribution pension schemes, and thus making people prefer contribution pension schemes over defined benefit pension schemes. Why Defined-contribution Pension Schemes are becoming more important Defined benefit pen

Cash Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cash Accounting - Essay Example You also have to satisfy the HP Revenue and Customs by clearing any VAT payment arrears to use the cash accounting scheme. When you start using the cash accounting scheme, it is must to use it for the whole business and it is desirable to continue it for a period of 2 years. However, you can quit the scheme at any moment, provided it does not contribute to your business as well as your accounting system does not support the necessary requirements for the scheme. While starting with cash accounting, you need to be very much careful that you do not re-account for any VAT on receipts and payments that are already dealt with. In cash accounting the main accounting record is kept in a cash book summarizing all the payments made and received. It has a separate column where you can specify the relevant VAT. In the cash book, you also need to record the corresponding tax invoices and provide an efficient system for cross referencing. The benefit of the cash accounting scheme primarily depends on the time period between the issuing of the sales invoice to receiving payments from the customers. Cash accounting is likely to be more beneficial when this time period extends.

Disclosure of fair value information in the corporate annual report Essay

Disclosure of fair value information in the corporate annual report - Essay Example The manner in which businesses are run in the UK markets is monitored and controlled through policies that touch on ethical business relationships, fair representation of financial statements, and fair valuation of company’s worth. While corporate operations are regulated in order to attain an ethical business environment, various other regulations are conducted to ensure that financial and accounting approaches of the business are transparent to attract genuine interest from investors and other stakeholders (Martinià ¨re, 2007). Within the UK marketplace, IFRS 13 is considered the law governing fair value information which is a vital set if information required to value a business entity. The IFRS 13 is responsible for fair value measurement and provided guidelines on how companies should measure their fair value (Deloitte UK, 2013). However, since the financial and accounting field has various approaches to valuing assets and business’s net worth, the IFRS 13 conside rs fair value at the exit price and makes use of fair value hierarchy to value an entity. Valuation using the fair value hierarchy is market-based and is not entity-specific (Demski, Lin, & Sappington, 2008). Entity specific measures tend to consider the type of business and the owner of the business. However, fair value hierarchy makes use of market-based approach to value assets and business’s worth. Additionally, the approach of considering the exit price aims at showing how much the business entity or company would be worth in its current market if were to close at the moment of valuation (Song, Thomas, & Yi, 2010). Under the UK regulations, fair value is defined as the prices acquired from an asset sale or in transfer of liability in a systematic transaction among market participants at the date of measurement. Based on the market value, fair value considers active markets which are defines as

Public health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 25

Public health - Essay Example Vaccines develop the tendency in the body to resist infections, and bring an overall improvement into the immune system of the body against the particular types of infections. In the past, one would frequently hear the news of someone losing life because of malaria, but today, in the omnipresence of vaccinations, such news is no more heard. I agree that participatory evaluation is inclusive of all kinds of stakeholders that a project has. This includes the people who are establishing the standards for evaluation, the people who are actually carrying it out, the people who are arranging and organizing it, the individuals responsible to retrieve information from the experts and professionals from academia and industry, the people for whom the evaluations are conducted, and the people who help convey the results of the evaluations to the concerned departments. Participatory evaluation is essentially a teamwork that requires input from all stakeholders to reach the conclusions. In effect, a holistic effort is made to obtain objective

In management of organisations, why is it important to be clear on how Essay

In management of organisations, why is it important to be clear on how workforce culture is defined; managed and influenced - Essay Example Culture can also been defined as â€Å"the interweaving of the individual into a community and the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes members of one known group from another† (Ogbonna, 1996). Culture acts as glue and binds the culturally diverse workers together removing their differences. It dictates the way things should be done in a particular work environment. Though there are reservations to their view, yet a vast majority of the researchers are of the view that realization of a solid organizational culture is the first and foremost requirement of practical strategic planning and plays a pivotal role in determining the performance of the organization (Brown, 1998 cited in Kemp and Dwyer, 2001, p. 78). Realization of a strong culture favors identification of employees whose performance counts a lot in the achievement of organizational objectives. Managers can indeed, use culture as a tool to achieve unanimity of responses in the employees and incorporate ethics in the work practices. Smooth functioning requires development of a coherent culture in any organization. A coherent organizational culture integrates independent departments within an organization and makes them united. This union earns an organization competitive advantage over others in the market. It is not easy for the competitors to imitate such an organization. Cultural web explains the way a culture modifies human behavior in the context of an organization, and how the change affects the organization itself. The strategies an organization bases its plans upon are conventionally preserved in such organizational documents as annual reports. However, the underlying traits of these strategies that actually shape an organization’s paradigm show up in the interaction of employees working in the organization. Indeed, the assumptions forming the base of strategies are so

Pollutions and External Costs Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Pollutions and External Costs - Case Study Example The externality can be considered as one of the most important concepts which can be perceived on the basis of different aspects. The externality can refer to the cost of the factors that can affect business transactions mainly the group that used the factor to be able to be related to a group. Thus, the externalities then can be perceived in cases wherein the group being supplied gains profit (Gibson, 1996). Due to the fact that every factor and component of the environment even the economic aspect can be considered to have a price. For that matter, the sale of the products being produced can be of great effect to the supplier company, although it can be considered as an indirect effect. In the study of the effects of externality, it is important to determine that the effects of the said concept can either be positive or negative (Gibson, 1996; Hussen, 2000). A negative externality can be perceived when the side of the production or consumption of a particular product. One of the most significant examples of a negative externality in consumption is pollution. In such case then, externalities can be considered as an effect of the failure of the 3rd group. On the other hand, externality can also be positive wherein indirect actions in the society can improve the chance for good transactions. An example is the development of different types of remedies and medication (Gibson, 1996; Hussen, 2000). The presence of externalities can be questioned in terms of efficiency. This can be attributed to the fact that a system targets the efficient use of every part and every material. Due to the fact that externalities are based on the indirect effects of different factor, a sign of being weak, the study of the implications of externalities is a vital issue (Gibson, 1996; Hussen, 2000).

Environmental sustainability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Environmental sustainability - Essay Example It would then only be a question of time that man ceases to exist. This paper discusses about environmental sustainability, mainly focusing on the Brundtland Report about the same. This report not just considers the earth’s â€Å"environmental decay, poverty, and hardship,† but also brings to fore the â€Å"possibility for a new era of economic growth† and how this possibility can be realized. Environmentalists and scientists alike have tried to bring the situation under control by closely examining the environment as well as the earth. They have proposed several theories and steps that would help man to protect the environment and safeguard it. One such concept is sustainable development, which is the â€Å"ability to make development sustainable (by) ensuring that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs† (Brundtland, 1987). So, in other words, sustainable development proposes some r estraints on the use of resources, which are to be followed in order to change the present perishing situation of the environment to some extent. It is a known fact that â€Å"poverty is no longer inevitable,† thus, such a world, is â€Å"prone to ecological and other catastrophes† (Brundtland, 1987). ... Even after they are implemented, there arise several changes in the environment, which curb the overall impact that the strategies might have had, had the environment remained the same as to when the plans were originally prepared. Therefore, it becomes clear that there are a lot of issues which stand in the way of environmental sustainability and its success. According to the Brundtland report, some of these issues include population growth, â€Å"food security, species and ecosystems, energy, industry and the urban challenge† (Brundtland, 1987). Population growth relates with not just the ever increasing number of people on the planet, but also the way in which this â€Å"number relate(s) to available resources† (Brundtland, 1987). The resources available are limited, but the population keeps on expanding, thus making it obvious that sooner or later consumption would increase so much that the resources would be finished off completely. Another factor that poses an iss ue is the unawareness or lack of knowledge on part of the greater number of people, who do not know how to use the resources efficiently. Therefore, the increasing population demands for increase in educational facilities and awareness programs, in addition to increase in other requirements such as food, health care, energy supplies etc. The problem in terms of food security is that though the production of food has increased rapidly â€Å"food is often not available where it is needed† (Brundtland, 1987). Thus, poor people frequently suffer from hunger and starvation. Similarly, when population grows, environmental risks such as pollution through means of increased number of transportation, factories and other chemical wastes also increase. In the case of species and

Economics and United States Essay Example for Free

Economics and United States Essay Introduction to Allstar Brand Allstar Brand is a United States based consumer products company that produces and sells ethical (prescription) pharmaceuticals, OTC (over-the-counter or nonprescription) drugs, and consumer products. It is an $8.9 billion firm that was formed in 1924 and competes with a variety of larger and smaller firms, depending on the product market. It has a number of leading brands in various product categories. Over the years, it has expanded its product category width through internal new product development and acquisition of brands as well as companies. Allstar has operations in Europe and alliances in Asia. These have proven to be very successful markets that performing exceedingly well. But these markets are maturing very quickly, and with increased competition and slowing populations, it is now necessary to look elsewhere for continued growth and profit margins. The Allstar Board believes that to generate the kind of growth needed to drive their stock price, Allstar needs to develop a market presence in South America. South America is a region of great potential. With a population of approximately 450 million, the region represents a population that is 50 percent larger than that of the United States and Canada. The dominant national language across South America is Spanish, as is the case with Argentina. A variety of trade enhancement actions have put in place in recent years. The MERCOSUR agreement was set up among the South American countries of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, including association agreements (but not membership) with Bolivia. This agreement reduces trade barriers among these countries and has encouraged a variety of companies to establish production inside their borders to take advantage of low labor costs and fairly seamless access to neighboring markets. For accounting purposes at Allstar’s corporate offices, revenues and costs are converted into US$. Therefore, fluctuations in the exchange rate will affect consolidated reports directly. Allsmile Demographics Allsmile, a toothpaste brand, is a key asset of Allstar Brands. It is one of the company’s highest recognition brands in the United States. It is produced in the United States and in Germany for the United States and European markets, respectively. A large number of stock keeping units (SKUs) are produced. South Korean and Japanese manufacturers also produce Allsmile under license for distribution and sales in Asia. There have been reformulations of the brand, but as of today, the product formulations are essentially the same across all markets for a given SKU (although there are slight differences in packaging and in the type and intensity of flavoring that are thought to reflect regional preferences). With an entrance to South America, it may end up being cost effective to build a plant in South America instead of shipping products from the United States. Current world toothpaste sales total approximately $10 billion. The largest country market for toothpaste is the United States, with $1.4 billion spent during the past year. Toothpaste is available in a number of sizes, delivery systems, textures (paste or gel), and formulations. The basic toothpaste product is a paste or gel with flavoring and one or more active ingredients that provide specific benefits to consumers. A general description of these variations in the United States market is listed below. It is important to note that not all companies produce all possible combinations as each company determines where the holes in the market are and where the most money can be made. Why Argentina? Below is a market attractiveness index for the potential countries Allstar could enter. We have listed five criteria which we believe most accurately provide the best comparative results. The importance weight displays the percentage of importance to the criteria compared other criteria. Under each country is a rating. The ratings illustrate the importance of the criteria in that specified country. The assessment combines the importance weight of the criteria’s and the overall assessment of the country. As you can see by this chart, we have determined that Argentina would be the best country to sell Allsmile toothpaste. Background on Argentina Argentina is a large country comprised of approximately 1,068,302.2 square miles, slightly smaller than 3/10 the size of the United States. It has a democratic government that was set up in 1983. It has a population of 39.9 million people of which about 49% are male and 51% are female. Of the population, 97.1% of the people ages 15 and higher can read and write. Eighty-eight percent of the population lives in urban areas. The population of Argentina is pretty steady and is only growing at 0.96%. At 97%, Argentina is comprised primarily of Spanish and Italian (white-skinned) people. The life expectancy of Argentina is quite high with males living to 76 years of age and women living to 80. The age structure of Argentina is typical of what it to be expected for a South American country. The Age Structure Chart below shows the different classifications. Argentina’s Economy Argentina currently has a strong economy compared to its neighbors. Argentina benefits from rich natural resources, a highly literate population, and an export-oriented agricultural sector. It has a large industrial section. Over the past decade however, the country has suffered recurring economic problems of inflation, external debt, capital flight, and budget deficits. Growth in 2000 was at negative 0.8%, as both domestic and foreign investors remained skeptical of the governments ability to pay debts and maintain the pesos fixed exchange rate with the US dollar. The economic situation worsened in 2001 with the widening of spreads on Argentine bonds, massive withdrawals from the banks, and a further decline in consumer and investor confidence. Government efforts to achieve a zero deficit, to stabilize the banking system and to restore economic growth proved inadequate in the face of the mounting economic problems. The pesos peg to the dollar was abandoned in January 2002, and the peso was floated in February. The exchange rate plunged and real GDP fell by 10.9% in 2002, but by mid-year the economy had stabilized. GDP expanded by about 9% per year from 2003 to 2005. Growth is being led by a revival in domestic demand, solid exports, and favorable external conditions. The government took corrective action and boosted spending ahead of the October 2005 midterm congressional elections, but strong revenue performance allowed Argentina to maintain a budget surplus. Inflation has been rising steadily and has now reached 12.3%. The unemployment rate for Argentina is currently 11.5% which translates to businesses the people have money to purchase products. As you can see on the Market Comparison Chart below, Argentina is the leader in GDP/Capita and is second in GDP Growth and CPI Growth. Argentina’s Infrastructure Argentina, while smaller than some countries in South America, has a great infrastructure. Argentina has 21,183 miles of railways, 129,463 miles of highways, and 6,835 miles of waterways. In addition, Argentina has 11 ports and harbors and 1,333 airports. This expansive infrastructure makes doing business in Argentina very reliable and smooth. As mentioned before, Argentina falls under the MERCOSUR Agreement which allows for seamless transactions between the countries under the agreement (Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and Bolivia). This agreement reduces trade barriers among these countries and has encouraged a variety of companies to establish production inside their borders to take advantage of low labor costs and fairly seamless access to neighboring markets. The chart below shows the benefits of doing business in Argentina. It also points out the extra costs of doing business outside this agreement. When deciding whether to build a plant in Argentina, we recommend looking at another country. It is important to take into effect all factors. For example, one may at first glance think Mexico is the most suitable to manufacturing, and this may be the case if the company was going to do business in the United States or Canada. However, when doing business in South America, it is important to stay within whichever trade agreement you will be doing business under. Otherwise, high tariffs and duties will blanket your company. It is also very important to look at means of distribution, specifically shipping. The table below shows the per unit costs for shipping toothpaste from various manufacturing locations, assuming the usual shipping mode for each origin – destination combination. As you will notice, having a plant in the United States is not so valuable because imports to Latin America come with a high price on shipping comparatively from shipping from within Latin America. As mentioned earlier, it is of great importance to note that in addition to shipping originating within Latin America, one also has no import duties or tariffs if shipping is done within the regional shipping agreements, such as is the case with the MERCOSUR agreement. Distribution channels in Latin America have traditionally been grouped into four categories: traditional, self-serve, hypermarket, and newly emerging is web purchases. Traditional channels are small, independent stores or open market areas almost exclusively served by wholesalers (indirect distribution). Self-serve is a more developed store where customers serve themselves, but that typically offers a narrow line of merchandise. These may be independent or part of a regional chain but are almost all locally owned. Convenience stores and grocery stores would fall in this category. Hypermarkets are a new style of channel that is found primarily in cities. These are usually large stores with a wide variety of goods and typically purchase items directly from the manufacturer (direct distribution). Many of the hypermarket chains are foreign owned or allied with a global distributor, such as Wal-Mart or Carrefour. The chart below shows the toothpaste distribution within each channel.

Functionalist conflict and symbolic perspectives on education

Functionalist conflict and symbolic perspectives on education The basis of todays theoretical perspectives provides sociologists with a philosophical position for asking certain kinds of questions about society and the people that occupy it. The three primary perspectives are functionalist, conflict, and interactionist. These three theories are very relative to education and the whole learning process. These different perspectives allow sociologists the ability to explain how society influences people and their actions. Each perspective uniquely conceptualizes society, social forces, and human behavior. The functionalist perspective, also known as functionalism, states that each aspect of society is interdependent and contributes to societys functioning as a whole. The government, or state, provides education for the children of the family, which in turn pays taxes on which the state depends to keep itself running. The family is dependent upon the school to help children grow up to have good jobs so that they can raise and support their own families. With this being said, the children become law-abiding and taxpaying citizens, who in turn support the state. The parts of society produce order, stability, and productivity. If something goes wrong, the parts of society then must adapt to recapture a new order, stability, and productivity. For example, the financial recession we are in right now, with the high rates of unemployment and inflation, social programs and their budgets are usually cut back because funding isnt available. Families end up having to cut back on their spending an d budget as well just to make ends meet. Functionalists believe that society is held together by social consensus and work together to achieve what is best for society as a whole. The functionalist perspective was popular during the 1940s and 1950s among American sociologist. American functionalists focused on discovering the functions of human behavior and European functionalists focused on explaining the inner workings of social order. Sociologist Robert Merton, who was born in 1910, divided human functions into two different types: manifest functions are those that are intentional and obvious and latent functions are those that are unintentional and not obvious. For example, my manifest function of attending my church is to worship, receive the word, and help children, but my latent function may be to help those children learn to discern religious and personal views. Manifest functions are apparent, while the latent functions have a more sociological approach. A sociological approach in functionalism is the consideration of the relationship between the functions of smaller parts and the functions of the whole. Functionalism has received criticism for neglecting the negative functions of something such as abuse. Critics claim that the perspective justifies the status quo and complacency on the part of societys members. Functionalism does not encourage people to take an active role in changing their social environment, even when such change may benefit them. Instead, functionalism sees active social change as undesirable because the various parts of society will compensate naturally for any problems that may arise. Karl Marxs writings on class struggles sparked the conflict perspective. The conflict perspective presents society in a different light than do the functionalist and symbolic interactionist perspectives. The conflict perspective focuses on the negative, conflicted, and ever-changing nature of society. Unlike functionalists who defend the status quo, avoid social change, and believe people cooperate to effect social order, conflict theorists challenge the status quo, encourage social change, and believe rich and powerful people force social order on the poor and the less fortunate. American sociologists in the 1940s and 1950s generally ignored the conflict perspective in favor of the functionalist, the 1960s saw American sociologists gain interest in conflict theory. They also expanded Marxs idea that the key conflict in society was strictly economic. Today, conflict theorists find social conflict between any groups in which the potential for inequality exists such as race, gender, religion, political views, and economic stance, etc. Conflict theorists note that unequal groups usually have conflicting values and agendas, causing them to compete against one another. This constant competition between groups forms the basis for the ever-changing nature of society. Critics of the conflict perspective point out its negative view of society. The theory attributes humanitarian efforts, altruism, democracy, civil rights, and other positive aspects of society to capitalistic designs to control the masses, not to inherent interests in preserving society and social order. The symbolic interactionist perspective, directs sociologists to consider the symbols and details of everyday life, what these symbols mean, and how people interact with each other. Although symbolic interactionist perspective traces its origins to Max Webers assertion that individuals act according to their interpretation of the meaning of their world, the American philosopher George H. Mead (1863-1931) introduced this perspective to American sociology in the 1920s. According to the symbolic interactionist perspective, people attach meanings to symbols, and then they act according to their subjective interpretation of these symbols. Verbal conversations, in which spoken words serve as the predominant symbols, make this subjective interpretation very evident. The words have a certain meaning for the sender, and, during effective communication, they hopefully have the same meaning for the receiver. Words are not static things; they require intention and interpretation. Conversation is an interaction of symbols between individuals who constantly interpret the world around them. Of course, anything can serve as a symbol as long as it refers to something beyond itself. Written music serves as an example. The black dots and lines become more than just marks on the page; they refer to notes organized in such a way to make music. Symbolic interactionists give serious thought to how people act, and then seek to determine what meanings individuals assign to their own actions and symbols. Applying symbolic interactionist perspective to the American institution of marriage, symbols may include wedding bands, vows of life-long commitment, a white bridal dress, a wedding cake, a Church ceremony, and flowers and music. American society attaches general meanings to these symbols, but individuals also maintain their own perceptions of what these and other symbols mean. For example, one of the spouses may see their circular wedding rings as symbolizing everlasting love, while the other may see them as a financial expense. Critics claim that the symbolic interactionist perspective neglects the macro level of social interpretation or the big picture. In other words, symbolic interactionists may miss the larger issues of society by focusing too closely on the trees or the size of the diamond in the wedding ring rather than the forest or the quality of the marriage. The perspective also receives criticism for slighting the influence of social forces and institutions on individual interactions. All of these perspectives have valid points as well as constructive criticism that holds value. The one perspective that sticks out to me is the conflict perspective; to me this perspective is real. I think being able to identify the many things that are wrong with our society today, makes the blows less painful when something goes wrong. The conflict perspective focuses on the negative, conflicted, and ever-changing nature of society. With this being said the conflict perspective can also be viewed in a positive light. Someone learning about this perspective their eyes could be opened up to many different issues that they might not necessarily experience.

Comparing the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller Essays

Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell and when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough. --William Saroyan Although this approach to living life may be humorous and simplistic, William Saroyan describes a common need of people to live wholly and experience life at its fullest. 'Carpe diem' is a phrase that is familiar to more than just Latin scholars. This need for fullness in one’s life also stems a need for completeness. At one time or another most people have experienced the desire to be ‘whole’ – to feel complete and well rounded. Children want to become adults as quickly as possible, students want to become better educated, and college graduates long to find that self-defining career all in the name of becoming a ‘complete’ person. Of course, this could be a reflection of a personal crisis as a graduating senior, but it nonetheless seems to be a universal longing. This longing for fullness and wholeness transcends time and is found in both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller’s works, albeit in different ways. Summer on the Lakes was written during a period of hiatus and reflection in Fuller’s life. There is a sense of seeking and desiring new experiences that permeates this work, a need to experience new things in order to continually learn and grow as a person. Part of this desire could come from her views on the rights of women to be recognized as whole citizens and people in America in the nineteenth century; also imparted in her discourse is her longing for women to simply want more for themselves. In the following passage, Fuller describes the girls and women in an Oregon farming town. She lament... ...se of being in the process. By diminishing a complete person to parts, Hawthorne demonstrates that a whole sense of being is important and should not be destroyed. Both authors seem to be making statements on wholeness and attaining a sense of completeness in life. Fuller demonstrates this by wanting a sense of wholeness for individual people and by seeing beauty in nature in terms of fullness. Hawthorne shows the reader what can happen if you strip a person of their sense of being; a composite person should not be reduced to parts and destroyed. This theme of desiring wholeness defined by these nineteenth century authors, Fuller and Hawthorne, transcends time and appeals to readers today. As someone still searching for that sense of wholeness, it is reassuring and exciting to find literature that subtly examines personal journeys that are still experienced today.

Patricia MacLachlan’s Sarah Plain and Tall - Comparing Book and Movie :: Compare Contrast Comparison

Patricia MacLachlan’s Sarah Plain and Tall - Comparing Book and Movie The beginning of the movie begins with the exact same scene between Anna and Caleb that appears in the book. However, the movie, Sarah Plain and Tall has a variety of differences from Patricia MacLachlan’s children’s novel Sarah Plain and Tall. Essentially the movie had to go to a deeper level in order to attract adults to the story. Every event that is in the book happens in the movie. However, the movie adds scenes and complicates the relationships between the characters. The complication between characters is especially shown in Anna and Sarah’s relationship. In the movie Anna is mad about Sarah coming to stay for a month. However, in the book she says â€Å"I wished everything was as perfect as the stone. I wished that Papa and Caleb and I were perfect for Sarah† (21). In the book Anna has no trouble liking Sarah, but in the movie Anna has a hard time letting go of her real mother and will not let Sarah get close to her. It is not until Sarah comforts Anna after a bad dream and tells her â€Å"when I was ten my mamma died† (which was not told in the book) that Sarah and Anna have a close relationship. After Sarah and Anna reach an understanding, Sarah tries to help Anna remember her mother by putting her mother’s candlesticks, quilt, a painting, and her picture back into the house. They also put flowers on her grave together. However, Anna and Sarah’s relationship is not the only one that takes a while to develop. With the exception of some small problems with Sarah’s strong will, MacLachlan makes the relationship between Sarah and Jacob seem easy. However in the movie, Jacob also has a hard time letting Sarah get close to him because of his love for his dead wife, Katherine. For example, in the movie when they fight about putting Katherine’s possessions in the house and going to visit the grave Sarah says â€Å"I cannot make a difference until you make peace with Katherine’s death†. Jacob does not make that peace until Sarah goes to help Maggie deliver her baby. The delivery brings back memories of Katherine’s death since she died giving birth to Caleb. It is here that Jacob realizes â€Å"I never stopped long enough to tell her that I missed her†. Once Jacob realizes this he has room to love Sarah.

The Lies of James Gatz Essays -- F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gatsby

The Lies of James Gatz Many great novels such as F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby tackle the subject of passing, or being fake, which involves a character pretending to be something or someone that he or she is not. Although it takes a while for the reader to discover that Gatsby has been living a fictitious life, in order to pass for someone from a higher social class, this becomes one of the more important aspects in The Great Gatsby. Gatsby has created this magnificent lie about his past in order to be impressive, yet he still comes off as quite mysterious to the people he associates with. This may be due to the fact that Gatsby is a quiet but exceedingly generous man. Gatsby is constantly throwing parties and buying the nicest of things. This causes rumors to be constantly flying about Gatsby and his wealth. Gatsby is a powerful looking man who insists on having his house filled with nonstop parties. The guests at these parties spend much of their time gossiping about Gatsby, some saying things such as, ?he killed a man once? and ?he was a German spy during the war? (44...

Spin-Out Management: Theory and Practice Critique

Name: Yue Qi BA501 1H-Management Theory & Org-FA12 Instructor: Dr. Scott Burke Week 8(10/17-10/23)-Spin-out management: Theory and practice Critique Critique The article The Tensions of Organization Design: Optimizing Trade-offs discusses a new theory of organization design which is the tensions of organization design that managers must face and resolve. Robert Simons introduces four crises in different stages of organizational growth, including the crisis of leadership, the crisis of autonomy, the crisis of control, and the crisis of red tape.To anticipate and avoid the crises just mentioned, managers must design organizations that can adapt over time. And the author offers a number of tensions that affect organization design which we must be sensitive to the need to reconcile the tensions between: Strategy and structure, Accountability and adaptability, Ladders and rings, Self-interest and mission success. The author uses an organized thought process throughout the article that hel ps to develop a clear understanding of the subject matter.The author begins with a background of the importance of this subject and the factors that make the subject relevant in today’s environment: â€Å"New technologies have increased productive capacity, markets have become global, the pace of competition has quickened, work has become more complex, and the capabilities of workers have been enhanced. Information technology, outsourcing, and alliances have changed the traditional boundaries of the firm†. Then the article go with the negative effects an organization will encounter by doing nothing, using previous research from Greiner and Miller & Friesen.Next, the four tensions of organization design are discussed in a manner that is easy to comprehend. Each tension is given its own section that gives a background of the information that is about to be presented and the implications for organizations to tend to those tensions. A crisis of leadership emerges in an ent repreneurial structure when the leadership of founding entrepreneurs is no longer suitable for the management of a larger company and the organizational structure will change to functional structure which is based on specialization and separate business functions.Under this structure, decision making becomes highly centralized. As the firm is growing, the decision making prevents company from contact with customers and market and leads to a crisis of autonomy. Then the organizational structure will be redesigned as a decentralized structure. After the company's growth resumes, a crisis of control arises from a set of problems, such as waste of resource, decline of profit, and hampered coordination. The segment structure, which relies on the new centralized staff groups, like a new top management team, replaces the former structure.Over time, central staff groups become more powerful, leading to a crisis of red tape in which decision making slows down and a lot of time is wasted in m eetings. Therefore, the organizational structure will back to basics and cut through the bureaucracy. To avoid the crises just described, managers must always redesign organizations with changing circumstances. The second one is the tension between accountability and adaptability. There are always some imbalance problems between accountability and adaptability, like agency problem and ethic problem.For instance, top managers may focus on the accountability for today's goal to accomplish a great job while stakeholders may emphasize the adaptability for the future to retain competitiveness of the company. By using governance mechanisms, like stock-based compensation schemes or promotion tournaments and career paths, this kind of problem can be resolved. The third one is the tension between ladders and rings, namely, the tension between vertical hierarchy and horizontal networks. If an organization has vertical hierarchy, it chooses a mechanistic structure; and, an organization with ho rizontal networks has an organic structure.When managers trade off ladders against rings, they also balance differentiation and integration, centralization and decentralization, and standardization and mutual adjustment. The tension between self-interest and mission success is the last one managers should consider. The author demonstrates this problem through introducing the change of the view of human nature in organizations, and concludes that every individual in every organization makes some important decisions: Should I work toward my own self-interest, the goals of the subunit to which I belong, or the goals of the overall organization taken as a whole?If the tension is interrupted, employees may leave the organization and the organization will lose part of its workforce. Thus managers should recognize the importance of the tension between self-interest and mission-based goals to keep the advantage of human resources. In all, Robert Simmons’ work was organized in a way t hat made the information clearly understandable and that helped to engage the reader.

Divorce & marriage Essay

People from broken families are less likely to have successful marriages. This is because of the psychological implications such families bring into their life. According to available psychological evidence, divorce is a major cause of emotional stress and depression (Clarke-Stewart, & Brentano, 2006). Depression as a psychological impairment has been evidently found to factor much in compromising the social life of the victim. Such individuals are marked with lack of hope for the future, a factor that only serves to negate their chances of engaging in successful marriage. Another commonly cited potential implication of divorce on children is that it can cause negative perception of a particular gender by the child. According to available statistical evidence, it is clear that due to the social and economic hardships experienced by children after the divorce of their parents, most tend to develop hatred against one gender of the community (Clarke-Stewart, & Brentano, 2006). With such a mental setting, an individual finds it a major challenge to accept and appreciate that gender into a binding relationship. This has the direct implication that they are less likely to engage in successful marriages. Still, the sustainable building of character traits in a child is mainly by copying the character traits of the surrounding members of the community (Clarke-Stewart, & Brentano, 2006). This means that their parents are the most influence society members in modeling the character of the child. However, prior to divorce or family breakdown, families are found to have constant conflicts and/or communication failure. Such imply that the character of violence is instilled in the mind of the child. Also, broken families fail to provide the efficient parental love required for modeling reliable social behavior of the child due to the lack of one parent character in the family. All these only negate the children understanding and appreciation of the underlying meaning of marriage. References Clarke-Stewart, A. , & Brentano, C. (2006). Divorce: Causes and Consequences. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Brain Development Essay

The first eight years of a child’s life are not only the most important years of a child’s life, but also the most rapid period of human development throughout a human life. These years are critical to the emotional and physical growth of a child. By the age of four, half of a person’s intelligence potential has already been developed and early childhood experiences can have a lasting effect on personality, behavior, and learning. (Early, 2001) These first eight years of life are broken down into the first two years, early childhood, and middle childhood. Throughout these three stages of life, the brain does most of its developing and determines the life that person will lead. The developing of a child’s brain falls upon the interactions and experiences a child has with its parents and any other primary caregivers in the beginning of life. During the first two years of a child’s life, a lot occurs in their brain which is essential to their life. Whe n a child is born, about seventy percent of their neurons are located in their cortex. (Berger, 2010) In an infant, the cortex is made up of thin layers of tissues that cover the brain and make the thought process possible. The layers related to the basic senses tend to mature pretty early in an infant’s life, but the prefrontal cortex is one that matures late. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for anticipation, planning, and impulse control and is practically inoperative during the first few months of life. It doesn’t start to mature until childhood and continues to through adolescence and adulthood. (Boyd, 2010) Areas of the brain are very important for basic needs to live such as breathing and heartbeat deep in the skull. Emotions and impulses are controlled somewhere in the middle of the brain and perception and cognition are in the cortex. Even though at birth the brain contains more neurons than it needs, it contains fewer dendrites and synapses than it will obtain throughout life. In the cortex, the growth of synapses, axons, and dendrites takes place quickly in the first months and years of an infant’s life. This causes the brain weight to triple by the age of two. In addition, five times as many dendrites and one hundred trillion synapses are present by the age of two. This large growth of dendrites is followed by pruning. Pruning is the process by which unused connections in the brain atrophy and die, so that new ones can grow. (Berger, 2010) Pruning is very important in the development of a healthy  brain. If there is too much or too little pruning going on, problems can oc cur. When there is too little pruning, children make have intellectual disabilities that makes thinking difficult, such as autism. When there is too much pruning, it can lead to a reduction of brain activity. (Berger, 2010) Infant brains to not develop correctly if they lack certain experiences that all humans need, such as stimulation. Babies need to be played with and talked to during their first years in order to encourage movement and allow sensations. If babies are not talked to or played with, it can stunt the brain. Infants are satisfied with even the most simple objects and facial expressions. Human brains are designed to grow and adapt with whatever object they have available and whoever provides them with every day attention. Every baby will go through a stressful experience here and there, but it is patterns of mistreatment that harm their brain, not moments. (Berger, 2010) The most important parts of the brain develop during early childhood. Between the ages of two and six, planning, thinking, social awareness, and language occur in the cortex. It is during early childhood when the prefrontal cortex starts to mature. This allows young children to begin to plan ahead and even think about the past. (Berger, 2010) The biggest increase in brain weight after the first two years is because of myelination. Myelination continues for years and it is a life-long process, but is most apparent in early childhood. It speeds the transmission of nerve impulses between neurons and becomes pivotal when multiple thoughts and actions have to take place all at once. (Boyd, 2010) By time m ost children turn six, they can see object and name them, catch a ball and throw it, and write and say their ABC’s in order. It is important that when children are doing these things, that the adults in their lives are patient. The only way children are going to learn how to tie their shoes, write their name, or get dressed, is if they do it on their own with a little help from a parent. If a parent is constantly yelling at a child to hurry or take over, their child will always think that they can’t do it by themselves. (Berger, 2010) In early childhood, children have the tendency to stick to a thought for a long time instead of switching to another. This is why children at this stage have difficulty sorting objects. Once a child is told to sort something by color and do it correctly, if they are told to next sort by shape, they try to sort by color again. However, something in  the brain matures between ages three and five that allows children to grow out of perseveration. (Berger, 2010) The corpus callosum grows rapidly during early childhood. This long, thick band of nerve fibers that connects the left and right sides of the brain ,make communication between the hemispheres better and allows children to coordinate both sides of the brain and the body. (Boyd, 2010) If the corpus callosum does not mature, it could result in serious disorders such as autism. It is important that children can coordinate both sides of the brain because both sides are normally involved in every skill, even though both sides do diff erent things. (Berger, 2010) The amygdala, the hippocampus, and the hypothalamus are crucial to emotional expression and regulation during early childhood. The amygdala registers positive and negative emotion, including fear. Increased activity in the amygdala can cause young children to have nightmares or phobias. (Berger, 2010) Located next to the amygdala, the hippocampus is in control of memory. Children are able to remember memories they had at certain locations that will follow them through adulthood. The hypothalamus responds to symbols from both of these parts of the brain. The hypothalamus produces a hormone called cortisol to activate parts of the brain and body. As all three of these parts of the brain develop, children pay close attention to their parents’ emotions. If they sense that their parent is scared or worried, they will also develop fear. (Berger, 2010) Brain maturation in young children is advanced, but like in infants, experience and parental relationships has an impact too. Brain maturation only increases more throughout middle childhood. Since the brain has no areas specific for reading like it does for talking, gestures, and expressions, humans have to learn to read on their own. This is possible because of massive interconnections between the parts of the brain that deal with sounds, vision, and comprehending. (Berger, 2010) These â€Å"massive interconnections† are not only needed for reading but for many other social skills as well. Several parts of the brain connect to enable for many activities, reading, writing, logic, and social decisions. Children require more connections than adults because they often use more parts of their brain for activities than adults do. (Boyd, 2010) The older that children get, the quicker their reaction time gets. In middle childhood, children are more efficient learners because of their more speedy reactions. In addition  to thinking quickly, children are able to pay more attention in middle childhood. As children get older, they get better at concentrating on one stimuli and ignoring others. They are more able to focus on one thing and not get distracted by others. This usually happens by the age of seven. (Berger, 2010) In middle childhood children also learn how to do math. They adopt newer, better strategies to solve math problems. Although they aren’t always perfect, they can usually find the right answer. In children during middle adulthood they may know the answer one day, but it isn’t permanently in their brain and they may not know they answer the next day. (Berger, 2010) Another way children advance in middle childhood is through memory. They are better at connecting their past knowledge to what they are doing in that moment. Children realize that some things should be remembered and they begin to strategies like repeating themselves in order to remember them. Th ey also use strategies like visual clues such as remember how a word looks or auditory clues like remembering how a word sounds. In middle childhood children’s memory becomes more adaptive and they are able to learn from their parents, teachers, and friends. (Berger, 2010) From the time children are born until they reach adolescence they are developing rapidly in their brain and bodies. Although most of the development of the brain during childhood is genetic, it is so important for parents to interact with their children, be patient with them, teach them new things, and set the best example they can for their children so they can become healthy adults. Brain development doesn’t stop after childhood, but continues to develop throughout adulthood. Almost all of the brain development takes place during childhood and the first several years of a person’s life are the most important to their personality and their future. â€Å"References† Early Childhood Development: The Key to a Full and Productive Life. New York: UNICEF, 2001. PDF. (Early, 2001) Berger, Kathleen Stassen. Invitation to the Life Span. Second ed. New York: Worth, 2010. Print. (Berger, 2010) Boyd, Denise Roberts., and Helen L. Bee. The Growing Child. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2010. Print. (Boyd, 2010)

A Summer’s Reading-Plot Essay

Setting Nearly four years ago, George Stoyonovich had quit high school â€Å"on an impulse† when he was sixteen. â€Å"This summer† [the beginning of the story] is a hard time for jobs and George, now â€Å"close to twenty†, has none. Having no money to spend, he stays off the streets and spends most of the day in his room. Sophie urges him to read some â€Å"worthwhile books† but he is in no mood for them: â€Å"Lately he couldn’t stand made-up stories, they got on his nerves.† Rising Action- Events â€Å"Then one night† George sees Mr. Cattanzara, a little drunk, walking toward him. He hands a nickel to George, saying â€Å"Go buy yourself a lemon ice, George,† as he used to do when George was a â€Å"squirt.† Asked to name one book on the list he has read so far, George cannot answer. After saying, â€Å"George, don’t do what I did,† Mr. Cattanzara leaves. One evening, while on his walk, George meets Mr. Cattanzara coming home very late from work. George tells him that he is reading one hundred great books in the library list. He wants Mr. Cattanzara to respect him. â€Å"After that†, George does nothing different from usual but he finds the people in the neighborhood start calling him â€Å"a good boy.† He feels himself being respected because of the books he is not reading. â€Å"As the summer went on George felt in a good mood about things.† He occasionally buys paperback books but he never gets around to reading them. Yet, â€Å"he could could feel approval on all sides.† â€Å"For a few weeks† he talks only once with Mr. Cattanzara, who says nothing about the books. George decides to stay away from â€Å"the change maker.† â€Å"The next night† George is afraid to leave his room. Sophie finds out that his brother is not reading a single book on the list and calls him a â€Å"bum.† â€Å"One night,† after staying in his room â€Å"for almost a week† George sneaks to the park unable to stand the heat. Unexpectedly, he finds people still friendly to him. A man on a street corner asks him if it is true that â€Å"he had finished reading so many books.† â€Å"After a couple of days,† George sees Mr. Cattanzara again. He feels that Mr. Cattanzara â€Å"had started the rumor that he had finished all the books.† â€Å"One evening in the fall,† George runs to the library and â€Å"though he was struggling to control an inward trembling, he easily counted off a hundred, and then sat down at a table to read.†

Serving Customers in Global Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Serving Customers in Global Markets - Essay Example Laughter, fear, sadness, desire, and inspiration are just some of the many emotions TV induces in viewers. TV reaches millions of people worldwide, is affordable, and combines audio and visual power to create the ultimate advertising machine. Below is a screenshot of a TV advert: Website advertising uses the power of the internet to convey the intended messages to consumers. With increased internet penetration and the expansion of the â€Å"internet generation,’ website advertising is giving TV a run for its money (Aalberts & Nill, 2012:97). In fact, website advertising is currently the second-most powerful advertising media in the world, in terms of revenue and reach. Just like TV, when used correctly, website advertising can trigger different emotions in consumers and capture their attention (Barry, 2012:37). These facts make these two media the best options for discussion in this paper. Below is an image of a website advert: Understanding consumers’ psychology provides marketers and manufacturers with knowledge of consumer preferences and spending habits. The clichà © saying, ‘customer is king† rings true in this case (Proulx & Shepatin, 2012:58). Understanding consumers’ psychology supports selling products or services that are almost guaranteed to be successful. Studies have shown that marketing expenses, marketing risks and failure of products or services are reduced when consumer psychology is understood. The message the advertiser wishes to communicate in the TV advert is that the new song is exclusive, it is affordable, and it comes with other incentives that the viewer will not get elsewhere. In the website advert, Dolan Jewellers wants the consumer to know that they have a moving sale, there are special offers, and time is running out for those who have not bought anything yet. Research has shown that emotional and psychological messages resonate more with customers than feature and

Technology Education relevant to Curriculum Methods Article

Technology Education relevant to Curriculum Methods - Article Example In addition, it is important to note that the instructional technology is very important in the curriculum and knowledge accumulation amongst the students. This is because, when the instructional technology is employed, the curriculum can be individualized to suit the specific learning styles of different students (Scherer, 2011). This improves learning in a broader perspective amongst students. This article plays a critical role in molding the technological learners to become persons of commendable reputation in their future careers. This is evident in the instructional system relevant to the curriculum methods (Scherer, 2011). The article is very important in strengthening the curriculum methods relevant to technology education. This relates a lot towards some of the strengths vested in the article. For example, the article equips the students with lots of knowledge of the principles as well as practices of teaching and learning relevant t the field of technology (Scherer, 2011). I n addition, the article has greatly succeeded in articulating relevant curriculum documents that are very important to the students. These comprise of the manner in which the article has succeeded in instilling into students the ability to generate plans for lessons, as well as units of work in association with the contents of the curriculum documents.

Proudct design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Proudct design - Essay Example The attribution of newness usually arises in association with positively valued qualities, often supported by the inclusion of criteria such as originality, progress, or truth. From a historical perspective, the positive treatment and appreciation of newness can be described as a consequence of the functional differentiation of modern society. Religion, the political system, science, business, and art not only display different degrees of receptivity to novelties, they also react to it at different speeds. The appreciation of newness can be observed, in particular, in the field of fine art towards the end of the 19th century (Hughes 1971). The establishment of the idea that the value of works of art arises from the special skill of the artist and the privileging of the original over the copy, channeled attention to new works of art. The associated appreciation of newness also abandoned the idea of the work of art as a representation of reality and therefore highlighted the self-referentiality of art (Luhmann 1999b). Hence, newness assumed a key position within the art system both in the sense of a product (novelty) and in the sense of an evaluation criterion (newness). Newness plays an increasingly significant role in the field of science and technology. There is a permanent quest in these fields for new scientific insights and technological inventions, which are only deemed to be novelties if they extend or transform technological and scientific paradigms (Schummer, forthcoming). In addition, technical objects and scientific facts achieve visibility and value by being marked as â€Å"new†, thereby providing orientation to users. Can newness be considered new any longer? Is the concept of originality in contemporary art even possible or relevant? Interpreted as fresh, transformative, or even deliberately backward-looking, the idea of newness seems empowered by our own personal and

Kinetic of the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide Coursework

Kinetic of the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide - Coursework Example Calculate the activation enthalpy of the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide solution when (manganese (IV) oxide & Iron (III) chloride) act as a catalyst and compare their effectiveness. A standard procedure for working out the enthalpy should be applicable for both case studies. Find the order of each reactant and use the order to explain the mechanism of the same. It should involve comparison of the rate of reaction of hydrogen peroxide with manganese (IV) oxide and Iron (III) chloride. Such a comparison would be easy under standard conditions. Graphical representations of the course of reactions with varying quantities of reactants will facilitate comparison. Chemical kinetics studies chemical reactions under different conditions. Chemical kinetics explains the nature and order of reactions. Knowledge of kinetics is important in conducting experiments to identify unknown substances. It is also vital in determining reactivity of chemical substances under non-specific conditions. Catalysts find use in facilitating reactions, including manganese (IV) oxide, potassium iodide, and an enzyme catalyst. However, in my investigation, I will only choose two catalysts to use and I will focus on the effect of changing concentration, quantity, temperature and type of catalysts in order to investigate the rate of reaction changed under various experimental conditions. Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) in an aqueous decomposes very slowly under ordinary conditions which means the reaction will happen without the catalysts being used. The reaction is dependent on the internal energy that disordered and random motion of molecules contributes. Increase temperature will increase molecular speed, on the other hand lower the temperature, lower the internal energy of a substance. However, temperature is indirectly proportional to internal energy. Temperature is a measure of the kinetic and not a reflection of the whole internal energy.

The Symbiotic Relationship Between the United States and Britain Essay

The Symbiotic Relationship Between the United States and Britain - Essay Example The Second World War was initially fought on the European Continent and American role was marginal till it came under Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor in December 1941. The American masses were generally against participation in a Continental War. The British were facing a crisis of sorts as France was overrun and the Soviet Union came under the throes of the biggest threat ever, Churchill the British Prime Minister was left to Britain’s dogged determination to survive the critical days till America joined the war effort. The incidents leading to Pearl Harbor, America’s reaction to Japan’s surprise attack and British response denote that Churchill had foreseen the eventuality of this strike and declared war against Japan within 24 hours. It was a momentous event and Churchill could not hide his glee at finally drawing America into the Great War, as this tipped the balance in favour of the Allies. (Churchill: 1970). A key event which not only determines the course of the Second World War but also the post-war alliance was drafting of the Atlantic Charter. Churchill had developed a personal rapport with the American President, Roosevelt. Drafting of the Charter was a triumph of Anglo American cooperation. The declaration included provisions as no territorial aggrandizement or changes by the alliance partners, right of people to choose the form of government, fair and equitable distribution of resources and creation of peace and stability within nations as also on the high seas. (Churchill: 1970). The United Nations was thus formed after the war and a number of nations freed from colonial dominance.

Build A Team Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Build A Team - Essay Example From the West Coast Transit team member profiles, the following members have been selected to be part of the A team that will undertake the above mentioned project: Natalie, Elizabeth, Katelyn, Bob, Susan and William. In brief, these six members have good qualities that can positively yield in great team performance. Essentially, collaboration and coordination are basic tenets of teamwork in an organization (Schultz, 2007). In brief, Natalie is positive and has great communication skills; Elizabeth enjoys the collaborative aspect of the job and has a positive attitude; Katelyn’s mindset suits teamwork; Bob’s attitude is positive and he is a team player; Susan’s attitude is positive and she is an excellent team player and William is also positive and believes that he is a team player. When combined, the qualities of the selected six members are likely to contribute towards the formation of a strong and formidable team that can collaboratively work together to prod uce positive results for the organization. The other people have not been selected to become part of the A team as a result of their negative attitude. For instance, Ian is arrogant and he does not want to back down from his ideas. Doug is a bit of a temper and he is easily frustrated and is viewed as abrasive by his workmates. On the other hand, Michael is overconfident and at time battles with depression though he collaborates with others when the need arises. It can be observed that the qualities of the members left out of the A team are not consistent with the spirit and letter of teamwork. The attitudes of these members can impact negatively on the overall performance of the team since they can lead to conflicts. As indicated above, the A team is formed for a specific purpose. Given the diverse factors that may influence the behavior of your team members, the job characteristic model and goal setting will be

Marketing analysis and forcasting Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing analysis and forcasting - Coursework Example The data available is of Hughes Travel PLC monthly travel data collected over the span of January 1986 – December 2010. It consists of two variables, namely: number of overseas visitors travelling to the UK and the number of UK residents travelling abroad. The time interval of data collection for both the variables is a month. As both the variable data is independent of each other, hence, we have two univariate time series. The data does not depict a particular trend. Analysis of UK Residents Time Series Figure 1 of appendix A shows the month wise distribution of UK residents travelling abroad. The graph shows that highest number of UK residents travel abroad during the months of August, September, and July. The graph shows that August has had highest number of UK residents travel abroad and it has happened consistently for the past 25 years. Similarly, figure 2 of appendix A shows the cumulative data on UK residents travelling abroad on a yearly basis. The data shows a steady rise in the number of UK residents travelling abroad with the highest being year 2010. Figure 1 in appendix A also depicts that UK residents travel least during the months of December, January, February. ... Figure 4 of the appendix shows that the rate of Overseas UK travels has risen considerably from the previous years and it was the highest in 2010 from the past 25 years whereas the years 2007-2009 saw the lowest travelling statistics. This probably has to do with the recession and the credit crunch during these years. Figure 5 displays the overseas travelling statistics distributed over the 25 years. The graph clearly shows that not once in the period of 25 years, the months of July and August have never seen a decline in the number of overseas travellers as compared to other months. Moreover, the graph also shows that as the years 2007-2009 were an all time low for overseas travellers, the number of travellers declined to their lowest during the July-August of these years as well. Forecasting Methods Several forecasting methods have been developed over the years and each of them have their advantages and accuracy. We have chosen the two most basic and common forecasting models: expo nential smoothing model, and ARIMA Model. Exponential Smoothing – This method is most common forecasting method for different types of time series data. It was developed by Brown and Holt. A basic approach towards time series modelling is to look at each observation as the combination of a constant and an error term. The value of constant would vary with time but is constant in a short interval of time. One way of modelling this is to assign greater weight to the most recent values of the constant as compared to the older observations also termed as moving averages, which is the basis of simple exponential smoothing. Following is the formula of simple exponential

Personality Impact Paper Essay Example for Free

Personality Impact Paper Essay In order for managers and employees to effectively get along in the workplace they must first learn how to understand and appreciate one another. The Journal of Adlerian Theory published an article discussing the various personalities’ styles in the workplace. The report states that being able to recognize characters from in workers and managers is important for those who lead or manage as others as well as for those who consult or treat workers and leaders (page 2). The purpose of this paper is to summarize Exhibit 2. 5, 2.6, and 2.7 assessments, it will also summarize my primary personality aspects, cognitive abilities that I can apply to my workplace, and mitigate any shortcomings. Exhibit 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 Exhibit 2.5 is an assessment that measures the extraversion or positive affectivity of a person. According to the text a person, which is positively effective, is predisposed to experience positive emotional states and feel good about themselves and the world around them (page 43). People, who are extroverted, tend to be more sociable and affectionate towards others. Exhibit 2.6 is to measure the neuroticism or negative affectivity. Negative affectivity in the textbook is defined as people tendencies to experience negative emotional states, feel distressed, and view themselves and the world around them negatively (page 44). This is the exact opposite at positive affectivity. People, who have high neuroticism, are more likely to experience more stress over time and often have negative moods at work/ home. Exhibit 2.7 is a measure of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experiences. The textbook explains agreeableness as individuals who get along well with other people and those who do not (page 45). People, who are agreeable, are very likable, care for others, and tend to be affectionate. A person, who is conscientiousness, is careful, scrupulous, and persevering (page 45). People, who score high in the area, are found to  be very tidy and organized, as well as self-disciplined. People, who are open to experiences, have broad interests and are willing to take risks (page 46). Summary of My Testing Results In Exhibit 2.5 I scored high on positive affectivity. and answered all of the questions with true. This result would show that I am a happy person and views my work and the world around myself positively. My results of Exhibit 2.6 indicate a low level of negative affectivity. I means that sometimes he feels tense all day because of the challenges he has ahead of myself at work and also gets nervous from time to time. This would again reaffirm the results of Exhibit 2.5 which I have a positive outlook on life. The results of Exhibit 2.7 proved what I was already aware of. I tends to be an agreeable person who is open to experiences. I scored the lowest on conscientiousness, implying that is can be somewhat careless. I have a strong personality and a lot of good characteristics to offer as a leader. I did very charismatic and pragmatic. As a leader, this would be necessary in times of boosting morale and encouraging others around myself. my view on things from a positive light as well and tends to be open-minded. Cognitively I am numerically conscious, is also able to use reasoning, deductive abilities, and is perceptual. I scored the lowest on conscientiousness, which as a leader could mean that he is willing to take more risks. Conclusion The purpose of this paper was to summarize Exhibit 2.5, 2.6, and 2.7 assessments, define My primary personality aspects, cognitive abilities that he can apply to the workplace, and mitigate any shortcomings. People all over the world tend to operate based on feelings and innate habits they learned from their surroundings. Having a clear understanding of these feelings and how it drives our individual personalities can create successful business relationships. References Jennifer M. George, Garth R. Jones (2012). Understanding and Managing Organized Behavior. 6th Edition. Published by Prentice Hall Sperry, Len (1995). Individual Psychology. Personality Styles in the Workplace, Volume 51 (Issue 4), pages 422.

Global Financial Crisis Essay Example for Free

Global Financial Crisis Essay The Global Financial Crisis can be studied from many different perspectives. Most of the consequences are already being analyzed, and even though new events may still take place; these consequences have impacted, and if not yet detected, they will impact our Society, our Culture, old and new technologies, the commercial and industrial sector and overall our value systems and ethical standards. Global warming is the major issue that would impact Technology, Society and Culture and have an important effect upon our ethics. Most of us expected a great reaction from the biggest economy in the world because the level of consciousness about global warming, had motivated many politicians to act upon it, the financial sector was already in a position to invest in it, and many industrial sectors had made the decision to participate in what could have been called â€Å"The Green Adventure†. â€Å"It took a great war, and all the military industries that fed the carnage, to bring America out of the Depression. But to a surprising degree, the world economy has been riding the strength of its hottest sectors ever since. By the 1990s, it was the rise of the Internet and the network economy, which collapsed in the dotcom bubble and gave way to housing and the financing that paid for it. In each of these recent cases it was the market that discovered and promoted a new engine for growth—creating millions of jobs and trillions in profits worldwide. Between 1996 and 2000, the technology sector created 1. 6 million new jobs, according to Moodys Economy. com—roughly 14 percent of new U. S. job growth. In this decade, the financial sector accounted for a lions share of U. S. corporate profit, while housing accounted for a staggering 40 percent of new U. S. job growth. Now, those two stalled drivers are leading producers of unemployment: Goldman Sachs, the royal house of finance, announced a 10 percent staff cut last week. The world, simply put, needs a new economic driver, a new hot growth industry. † A lot of funds are being invested in the green technology activities like in its research and development, even though the oil prices are reducing and the economic crisis seems to take longer than expected. Whether such investment measures will yield the anticipated success is not a subject that can be experimentally tested. A number of business organizations have been reported to have made huge investments in the green technology, even though there seems to be minimal improvements. As the current economic crisis demand numerous investments to rescue the economy, concerns are being raised on the resources which are being dedicated at rescuing the environment. These concerns are raised while considering the fact that the continued economic crisis could divert the attention of the organizations and the governments in sustaining effective green technologies. Some of the efforts which are being made by the business organizations and the governments include the trade in the carbon market, which seeks to reduce the carbon emissions. On the other hand, the governments are offering stimulus packages for offering support to the financial institutions, which have promoted the carbon trading investments. In a number of occasions, the policies which seek to achieve a sustainable environment seem to take a back seat, when the global economy experiences financial difficulties. International organizations like the United Nations are devising strategies, which seek to reduce the level of carbon emissions through the utilization of the renewable sources of energy. This research paper will make an analysis of the green technologies and its impact on the global economy. A number of benefits of the green technology has been analyzed, besides the measures that the various governments and organizations are taking in reacting to sustain the environment. Going green and fossil fuel In the 1990’s fossil fuels accounted for 85% of the U. S energy use, and today fossil fuels are still the prime movers of industrial life. (Griffin, PG. 2) Although fossil fuels have contributed to global warming the U. S has continued to use it, because of its cheap availability; however, in the recent years it has become scarcer and more expensive. (Griffin, PG. 2) In the 1990’s the U. S oil supply climbed to 17 million barrels a day; however with domestic oil declining the U. S has opted to now import roughly 50% of its crude oil petroleum. (Griffin, PG. 2) As the war continues between the U. S and Iraq the price of oil will continue to rise, and the U. S may need to look into alternative energy. Although the U. S has always had the spending power to burn through resources such as oil and fossil fuels; the current economic crisis is an opportunity for the U. S to become more green and learn that alternative energy can be more affordable in the long run and definitely safer on our environment. Every economic crisis brings opportunities for the U. S to get out of their comfort zone and really do something to move the U. S forward. Alternative energy will be more affordable and will help during the economic crisis. The U. S’s dependency on oil imports has been a concern for years, and now with the economy in bad shape the U. S can take the opportunity to look into moving towards alternative energy. Unlike oil fossil fuels solar energy, wind energy, and hydropower energy are reusable and will not bring an issue of scarceness. One of the issues with our current use of oils fossil fuels is that they have become scarce and therefore, a concern arises with the U. S dependency. Reusable energy will eliminate that threat and the cost benefits in the long run will improve. We do not need to buy sun power to use solar energy, nor do we need to buy the air to get wind energy. The cost to switch to these new systems may be expensive to start, but the maintenance will be more cost efficient than importing oil at the amounts we do and at the current cost. (FT Business, PG. 1) Wind is a favored sub-sector in the BlackRock portfolio because it is affordable, low carbon, and scalable power generation technology of choice. (FT Business, PG. 1) Wind accounts for the largest share of new generation capacity installed in the US and Europe in 2007, respectively at 30% and 40%. (FT Business, PG. 1) Ed Guinness co-manages Guinness Asset Managements Dublin-domiciled says it is not only the cost of fuel that is driving up electricity prices, but also increases in the raw materials needed for construction. (FT Business, PG. 1) He also stated that prices of oil, gas and coal are all increasing tremendously and so are the construction costs of power plants, stating it now costs twice as much to make electricity from new-build gas turbines than it did one year ago making wind and solar energy highly competitive. (FT Business, PG. 1) With that said it is now in the times of economic struggles that America should make change that will be benefited in the years to come. Some manufacturers, such as, agriculture, food processing, metal refining, paper manufacturing and the chemical industry have switched to alternative energy to join the â€Å"Green† campaign that has been moving through the world for years. (Katz, PG. 16) The main alternative energy the manufacturing applications have used is electricity and thermal energy. (Katz, PG. 16) James Lee, an associate professor in the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at the Rochester Institute of Technology, stated that manufacturing companies are working in both of these areas to reduce consumption and expand the use of alternatives to fossil fuel. Many manufacturers are investing in combined heat and power (CHP) systems that produce both electricity and heat for their manufacturing processes. CHP systems increase energy efficiency by making better use of the energy. Using a CHP system also enables companies to produce electricity directly from alternative fuel sources such as biofuels, hydrogen and solid municipal waste. (Katz, PG. 16) Unlike Solar and wind energy, thermal energy is not really a natural resource, but still more cost efficient and less risky to be dependent on than oil fossil fuels.