Keep It in Classrooms Essay

When it comes to the topic of discussing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in schools, most of us will agree that the interactions between whites and blacks in the book cause many controversies. Where the agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of whether Huckleberry Finn should be completely banned in schools. Whereas some people believe that keeping the book in school systems and developing a new curriculum solve the problem better, other people maintain that all schools must ban the book. The controversy over race, shown in Huckleberry Finn, takes place when Huck uses the â€Å"n-word† casually to talk about all blacks that he knows including Jim. The controversy over racism, also shown when the king, duke, and Huck go into a town and leave Jim and paint him blue so he looks ridiculous, may be argued because the king, duke, and Huck seem not to care about what they put Jim through. Some believe that when Jim stays at the Phelpses’ plantation in a cottage with many live animals, Mark Twain uses prejudices against blacks meaning they do not have many characteristics of humans because Jim live in a cottage and he cannot think for himself because Huck thinks for him. When my class started reading Huckleberry Finn, having an introduction to the book helped while we tried to understand how Twain writes. We discussed racism in our classroom which made me learn more from the class altogether. Although I grant that reading Huckleberry Finn may cause controversy and some discomfort, I still maintain that students should carefully read Huckleberry Finn with extra discussion and introduction about Twain’s background, style of writing, and ideas about racism. I believe that though Twain starts out the novel with some racist comments, by the end of the novel Twain proves to the audience that he is not racist. Franek and NiiLampti disagree with me in their article â€Å"Shoot the Author, Not the Reader† thinking that Twain never stops his racist comments and situations and â€Å"Twain’s other ‘hero’ †¦ acts] so stupid, naive, and subservient† (21). Though this depiction of Jim may be the way that Twain characterizes Jim at the beginning of the novel, by the end of the novel the views of Jim change because he grows during the novel and Huck also grows by accepting Jim into the novel. Franek and NiiLampti believe that by having a black character described stereotypically, black students in the class will feel uncomfortable. But instead teachers should take advantage of the moment to discuss racism in the setting of the book. The turning point for Jim’s rowth occurs when he helps the doctor by watching Tom so that the doctor can fetch more help. The doctor realizes that â€Å"he ain’t a bad nigger† (Twain 214). Jim, a noble friend to Tom, helps Tom and even risks his life in order to help out his friend. Huckleberry Finn studied in classrooms, the classic must be examined carefully and taken within the context before the Civil War although Twain actually wrote the book after the Civil War. The use of the â€Å"n-word† must be discussed before students start to read the novel because of course if the students see the â€Å"n-word’ for the first time, the written word will shock them. Huck uses the â€Å"n-word† on many situations and he does not think twice about saying the â€Å"n-word. † Huck explains how everyone respects Jim by saying, â€Å"Niggers would come miles to hear Jim† but while Huck praises Jim, he still uses the â€Å"n-word† because back when Huckleberry Finn took place, although the â€Å"n-word† derogatorily explained blacks, the negative connotation associated with the â€Å"n-word† today had not surfaced yet, and so people uses the â€Å"n-word† more frequently (5). Teachers and school boards should not ban the book just because the use of the â€Å"n-word,† and Paula Leider agrees with me in her article â€Å"Does Huck Finn Belong in My Classroom? † by saying that â€Å"when Huck Finn is taught in my classroom†¦ it must be explored with sensitivity† (50). If students start to understand the background of the book then the confusion about race will clear up; Leider explains that she likes to talk to her students about why Twain uses prejudices and what the problem is with them. Some of the same prejudices that were in place in the setting of Huckleberry Finn are still depicted today and the reasons for the prejudices stay the same. Twain has a firm attitude that depending on the situation the use of the â€Å"n-word† enhances the context and meaning. To make a more worthwhile class for students, teachers must make the students engage in conversation and provide the students with background information by starting the unit with a history introduction. Along with considering the context of the novel, teachers must note that Twain strengthens the book by adding literary value. A lot of what Twain wrote about had to do with the life that he lived and dealt with; he wants to inform the reader by telling an intriguing story. Katherine Schulten agrees while explaining that Twain uses satire to criticize prejudices from after the Civil War. Twain uses the literary tool of satire to poke fun at certain groups of people by using irony, but his irony must be obvious so that his audience understands that he is not serious. Huck and Jim talk on the raft about French people and Jim says, â€Å"Is a frenchman a man?†¦ Why don’t he talk like a man† (60). Using humor to poke fun at French people, Twain plays with French people because Twain did not like anyone foreign. In Huckleberry Finn the use of satire, a great literary tool that Twain uses, adds light fun and humor to the novel along with provoking thought. Huckleberry Finn has great literary value; the book can not be banned just because of racism. Marge Kraemer agrees in Schulten’s article â€Å" ‘Huck Finn’: Born to Trouble†: â€Å"I’d rather change my approach to a novel than lose the right to teach it† because in her school system the teachers decided to make a curriculum that pleases both sides of the argument (59). I agree with the decision that the Cherry Hill school community made because by keeping the novel the students can still study the literary value of the book. Students should read Huckleberry Finn in schools because the book has a great literary value and teachers can use the time reading to book to discuss racism. Suggestions to teachers may include: discussion of racism in the setting of Huck Finn, racism today, and how we deal with racism. To strengthen race relations, teachers need to convey to their students that they can speak up and disagree at anytime with what is said in the book because that makes the students more active readers. Ernest Hemingway says in his book Green Hills of Africa that â€Å"all modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. † I agree with his statement because the book leads all other books and if Huckleberry Finn is ban, future generations will not be able to study one of the greatest pieces of American literature.

Moral nihilism Essay

When determining the status of morality there is three different options. Morality may be the different between objectives, relativistic, or it may be a complex set of rules. Moral nihilists are like relativists by denying ethical objectivism however, relativists believe in moral goodness, duty and virtue and nihilists don’t. Error theorists and expressivism are both forms of moral nihilism. Error theorists believe â€Å"our moral judgments are always mistaken†. Expressivists don’t agree and also deny that our moral claims can ever offer an accurate take on reality. (307) Error theory and expressivism are two forms of moral nihilism. Error theorists believe â€Å"our moral judgments are always mistaken†. (307) While expressivists deny those beliefs and deny, â€Å"that our moral claims can never offer an accurate take on reality†. (307) The error theory is made of three doubts/claims. The first is â€Å"there are no moral features in this world†. Error theorists believe that nothing is morally good or bad, or right and wrong. Exemplified in the book many scientific qualities in the world (liquids, being three feet long, carbon based chemicals) but none of them contain moral features. The next doubt of error theorists is no moral judgments are true. There are no moral facts so certain statements made cannot be true. The third corresponds to the second doubt, â€Å"our sincere moral judgments try, but always fail, to describe the moral features of things†. Since there are no moral truths for moral decisions, all of our moral claims are mistaken. These three principles used by error theorists lead to the conclusion of no moral knowledge. The fourth claim counteracts and answers the third point. â€Å"There is no moral knowledge† when means knowledge requires truth. (307) If no moral truths are given there can be no moral knowledge. Error theorists want it to be known that all moral thoughts are wrong. They believe that moral thoughts are not believable and people who believe in them are lies. Error theorists stand by there main point â€Å"morality is nothing but a fiction†. Error theorists are kind of like atheists. The example in the book is â€Å"error theory is to morality as atheism is to religion. † They both deny truths of widely populate views. Atheists don’t believe in god yet a very large percent of the population believes in god even if there are many different gods. Error theorists deny morality even though many people live life off of their â€Å"moral beliefs†. You can think of atheists are error theorists about religion. Atheists think there are no religious beliefs in the world and when religious people try to preach, atheists believe they never speak the truth about â€Å"god†. Error theorists have agreed that the main disbelief of morality is the assumption of objective moral beliefs. These beliefs â€Å"supply us with an excellent reason for obedience, regardless of what we care about†. (309) Morality is objective and provides the ones who believe in morality with â€Å"categorical reasons†. If you don’t agree with categorical reasons then this proves error theorists true that there is no such thing as morality. To prove that error theorists are right they have to convince people of how they came out with the thought that morality is a lie. Error theorists must first prove that morality is a commitment to categorical reasons. If morality doesn’t rely on these and they can prove a different way to live off of moral reasoning’s, then error theorist are wrong. The second point is that error theorists must show that at least of the moral assumptions are false. Its good that many people haven’t heard of the error theory because if error theorists can prove the moral theory wrong, there would be terrible results. People would now believe they have been living a lie their entire life. If morality is proven wrong, people will do whatever they want and everyone will soon go crazy. If error theorists are correct, they must defend themselves that morality is objective. Expressivism is like error theory with a few changes in certain places. Expressivists accept the first two beliefs of error theorists. The first â€Å"there are no moral features in this world†. The second belief â€Å"no moral judgments are true†. The beliefs that separates error theory and expressivism that expressivists think they are not trying to speak the truth while making moral judgments. Error theorists believe â€Å"our sincere moral judgments try and always fail to describe the moral features of things. (312) Expressivists vent their emotions and are known to make others act certain ways by making a plan of action. Expressivists want to have confidence in morality while also denying ethical objectivity. Expressivists say â€Å"moral claims cannot be true, then this makes it very difficult to understand how moral argument is possible†. An argument to this theory is that a conclusion must be true provided that its premises are true. My opinion would be that expressivists theory cannot be true. The other claims they make cant be used. If the first two parts are true then the third cannot be true. If the two parts of the argument are true the conclusion will be as well. Expressivists warn to â€Å"not be fooled by the superficial similarity between factual claims and moral ones†. (315) Moral claims are known as nihilism that would mean†¦ Moral claims are nothing essentially. They express our personal feelings. That’s how expressivists express people’s moral judgments. Concluding with all that I have learned with the different theories and morality. Morality is a set of objective tasks and rules to oblige by, giving us specific reasons to do everything that we do. Error theorists believe there is no such thing as morality. Moral beliefs are all lies in other words. They think out moral thinking is about assumptions in our head that is a lie. Expressivists are the same as error theorists and believe that â€Å"denying moral duties supply us with categorical reasons†. (317) Error theorists believe morality is all fake in peoples heads. I believe with the error theorists about morality.

Mr. Doe

* 1. Look over the scope statement (PE Figure 4-1). If you were an employee at Petrie’s Electronics, would you want to work on this project? Why or why not? The project scope statement is to describe a high level overview of the project size, duration, and outcomes as a summary of the baseline project plan (BPP) information. A project scope statement and a baseline project plan are created during project initiation and planning * 2. If you were part of the management team at Petrie’s Electronics, would you approve the project outlined in the scope statement in PE Figure 4-1?What changes, if any, need to be made to the document? * 3. Identify a preliminary set of tangible and intangible costs you think would occur for this project and the system it describes. What intangible benefits do you anticipate for the system? Cost Benefit Analysis Spreadsheet Alternative C Chapter 5 Electronics Case * 1. What do you think are the sources of the information Jim and his team collec ted? How do you think they collected all of that information? * 3. If you were looking for alternative approaches for Petrie’s customer loyalty program, where would you look for information?Where would you start? How would you know when you were done? * 5. Why shouldn’t Petrie’s staff build their own unique system in-house? Chapter 6 Electronics Case * 1. Are the DFDs in PE Figures 6-1 and 6-2 balanced? Show that they are, or are not. If they are not balanced, how can they be fixed? * 5. Why is it important for the team to create DFDs if they are not going to write the actual system code themselves? Chapter 7 Electronics Case * 2. Again, review the DFDs you developed for the Petrie’s Electronics case (or those given to you by your instructor).Use these DFDs to identify the attributes of each of the six entities listed in this case plus any additional entities identified in your answer to Question 1. Write an unambiguous definition for each attribute. Then , redraw PE Figure 7-1 by placing the six (and additional) entities in this case on the diagram along with their associated attributes. * 3. Using your answer to Question 2, designate which attribute or attributes form the identifier for each entity type. Explain why you chose each identifier. * 4.Using your answer to Question 3, draw the relationships between entity types needed by the system. Remember, a relationship is needed only if the system wants data about associated entity instances. Give a meaningful name to each relationship. Specify cardinalities for each relationship and explain how you decided on each minimum and maximum cardinality at each end of each relationship. State any assumptions you made if the Petrie’s Electronics cases you have read so far and the answers to questions in these cases do not provide the evidence to justify the cardinalities you choose.Redraw your final E-R diagram in Microsoft Visio. Chapter 8 Electronics Case * 1. In the questions asso ciated with the Petrie’s Electronics case at the end of Chapter 7, you were asked to modify the E-R diagram given in PE Figure 7-1 to include any other entities and the attributes you identified from the Petrie’s case. Review your answers to these questions, and add any additional needed relations to the document in PE Figure 9-1. * 5. Complete all table and field definitions for the Petrie’s Electronics case database using Microsoft Access.Besides the decisions you have made in answers to the preceding questions, fill in all other field definition parameters for each field of each table. Chapter 10 Electronics Case * 1. Why don’t information systems projects work out as planned? What causes the differences between the plan and reality? * 5. Information systems development projects are said to fail if they are late, go over budget, or do not contain all of the functionality they were designed to have. Is the customer loyalty program a failure? Justify you r answer. If not, how can failure be prevented? Is it important to avert failure? Why or why not? Use Case Diagram (CRM)

Breach of Contract and Informed Consent Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Breach of Contract and Informed Consent - Essay Example ding to the facts of the case, Harvey suffered from carotid artery blockage and while his doctor recommended a surgical procedure, Harvey signed a consent form that restricted use of blood or blood products on his body. He acknowledged potential health risks to his condition. He confirmed this in another agreement a day before the surgery. The surgery appears successful until a blood clot was realized and he suffered a stroke. His mother, who was also listed as the next of kin, then offered consent for subsequent operations and procedures, some of which involved blood transfusion because Harvey lost lots of blood and was at risk of heart attack and death. Harvey later recovered and sued. One of the principles that guide the case is existence of a contract and its terms, and an agreement between Harvey and the doctor prior to the initial surgery identifies this. Consequently, any surgical procedures ought to have been conducted within the terms of the agreement. The agreement was further based on the patient’s informed consent as he acknowledged possible consequences on his decisions on the surgical procedure. This is because the initial agreement that existed in writing identified â€Å"disclosure,† â€Å"comprehension,† â€Å"voluntariness,† â€Å"competence,† and â€Å"consent† (Kennedy, 2008, p. 83). The informed consent was further consistent with statute law on autonomy and informed consent that grants a patient right to information and allows a patient to refuse treatment (Rutgers, n.d.), and case law as was argued in the case of Schloendorff v. Society of New York Hospital, as the patient reserved the right applicatio ns in the surgical procedures (Albert, 2000). There are however exceptions to the doctrine of informed consent that are applicable to the case and undermine Harvey’s chances of winning. Emergency is an example and defines need for an immediate action with the aim of preserving a patient’s life. This means that delays in a surgical action can

Economic Profile for the Airline Industry Essay

Economic Profile for the Airline Industry - Essay Example In the end the paper observes the influence of governmental policies on the success and failure of the airline industry. The deregulation of the US airline industry preceded that in the European market by approximately 10 years (Alderighi et al, 2004, p. 2). Still, on both continents the process of deregulation and privatization induced important structural changes. Deregulation allowed many carriers to sign alliances to exploit economies of scale (Alderighi et al, 2004, p. 2); reduced price levels and expanded the number of services. It affected the industry structure and dynamics both on the supply and demand side. In the airline industry there are two types of companies - traditional carriers and low cost firms (Alderighi et al, 2004, p. 7). Traditional companies offer products with different quality - economy and business - at different prices and can provide a full range of products and services at a higher cost. Low-cost carriers offer a restricted range of services at much lower prices. This is so, because traditional full-service carriers "with hub-and-spoke systems" have a high cost business model, while low cost carriers have a low cost business model (Gillen et al, 2004). Price elasticity of supply measures how the supplied quantity responds to changes in prices (Mankiw, p. 100). In the light of the airline industry, elasticity of supply means the extent to which airline companies can adjust the number of flights for the different airline segments. Given the high maintenance costs, intensive capital structure within the industry (Skapinker, 2001), also the strict regulations and reduced flexibility in market behavior, there are not many opportunities for quick changes in airline travel supply, meaning that in the short-run supply is inelastic. Over the long-run period, though, as history has proven, the industry can adapt to changing demand. One example is the deregulation in the industry that significantly increased supply over the past 20 years (Alderighi, 2004). 5. Industry demand The process of globalization has increased mobility of goods and people (Alderighi et al, 2004, p. 3). On one hand expansion of cargo transport has significantly increased the demand for airline transport. On the other, tourist travelers increasingly enjoy the comfort of airlines. It can therefore be concluded that the airline market demand comprises of different market segments, based on consumer type, distance and location. Business travelers form the so called "strong market" (Adlerighi et al, 2004, p. 7) whereas the weak market comprises of leisure travelers. Additionally, the travel market is divided into long-haul and short-haul travel, and international, and North American long haul travel (Gillen et al, 2004). 6. Price elasticity of demand Price elasticity of demand measures the degree of responsiveness to change in prices of fares (Mankiw, p. 90). Because the airline industry demand is formed by two very different types of consumers - business and leisure - there is no single elasticity value for the airline travel demand (Gillen et al, 2004). Price elasticity of demand is also influenced by time and distance aspects. This is so, because

Starbucks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 10

Starbucks - Essay Example Today is the 10th of November; the weather is cloudy here in Prescott Arizona and it is somewhat cold. It is the perfect weather for having a walk in Prescott’s downtown for me; however, unfortunately the same is not true for others. Starbucks is the perfect place for studying for most of my friends because it is quiet, but today its not. Unlike usual, I waited for around fifteen minutes in the line just to give my order; not to mention how long I waited to finally receive my order. Starbucks seems to be experiencing a very busy day today. Before I came to Prescott, I was at Nashville Tennessee studying English as a second language. As I have been told Starbucks is the best place to study, I was eager to check it out and see for myself. I am seeing students at their laptops; however, they are seem to be mentally distracted. They are having trouble concentrating in what they are doing; probably because of the noise that people are creating all around them. Unfortunately, this â€Å"best place to study† is not the best today. The people creating most of this noise are in the ordering line. However, the individuals that are sitting at tables are also conversing loudly, talking on cell phones, laughing. What had really grabbed my attention is a guy setting with a very old man; they look like a father and his son. The father seams to be sad and the son was trying to make him feel better. Seeing them started to stir thoughts in my mind with regards to how I would behave with my own son in the future. Regardless of whether Starbucks Coffee can be considered a good place to study or a good place to concentrate, the fact remains that a large group of people from all strata of society regularly can be seen in such a place. As such, going there to enjoy a cup of coffee or a snack can oftentimes lead one to consider many aspects of the way that people interact. Accordingly, it can

Bush Temporary Workers Program Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Bush Temporary Workers Program - Essay Example The Program acknowledges that current immigration system in the United States is broken and suggest that a system of â€Å"matching willing employees with willing employers† will help reform the system. Position: While Bush Temporary Workers Program can be laudable, this is however counter-productive considering the current economic condition of the country. Where we have more than 10 % unemployment rate caused by the 2009 Financial Crisis. The economic health of United States have already changed dramatically and it is no longer as robust as before. Such, it can no longer accommodate additional workers to compete with domestic workers. While I have nothing against foreign workers who are as talented and productive as an American worker, I would prefer that scarce jobs will go to Americans first. Had this proposal of Bush been made during America’s economic peak, I would have nothing against it. But just not today where a job that will go to an immigrant worker will be a job that will be taken away from a prospective American job seeker. I understand that having more than 8 million undocumented workers can be a threat to national security. But taking away jobs from Americans who equally needs it, cannot justify the proposed immigration reform.

Tsutomu Miyazaki, The inside out Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Tsutomu Miyazaki, The inside out - Essay Example when the real killer was apprehended in 1989, the killers true gender was male, he was a well mannered photo shop employee, and his name was Tsutomu Miyazaki. Upon his arrest, police and investigators confiscated thousand video cassettes that contain horror films and animation, one of which was a footage of one of his murders. His many pornographic comic books about young girls and pedophilia were likewise discovered (Whiteperil.com, 2006). But even the most hardened and sensationalized criminal must have had their own humble beginnings, and this goes true for Tsutomu Miyazaki. My stand on this issue is that Tsutomu Miyazaki was delusional and a paranoid Schizophrenia. Before going any further about the state of his mental health, a brief outline of his life and personality must be appraised objectively. Born in August 21, 1962, Miyazaki was premature at birth. His inborn deformity consists of gnarled hands that are permanently fused to his wrists. In order to rotate or use his hands, he needs to move his entire forearm. During his elementary and high school days, Tsutomu Miyazaki was considered an outcast and he often keeps to himself. In the beginning, he was a star student but probably because of his disfiguration, was constantly ridiculed and mostly keeps to himself. Hence, he not only lost the ability to properly socialize but likewise lost self-esteem in the process and his grades plummeted as well. Unfortunately , due to the low grades, he was not admitted at his desired university where he planned to study English and become a teacher. As an alternative, he went to a local college where he took up studies in order to become a photo-technician. In the exploration of his mental health a number of written articles and studies were brought forth to analyze how one human being could actually commit murder without though or conscience. According to an article by Leo Lewis (2008) of the Jiji Press in Tokyo, Miyazaki was a ravenous sexual marauder who

Subjectivity statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Subjectivity statement - Essay Example The basis of my opinion is that the food and beverage industry considers children and adolescents as key market force (Story & French, 2004). This assertion is supported by the current intensified and specialized food advertising efforts and policies that target adolescents, chiefly girls. Since I was a child, I have had the opportunity to be in the midst of girls and critically studied their attitude to advertisements, of which I have come to realize that adolescent girls are more easily influenced by food advertisements. It is for this reason, among others, that I am interested in unearthing the relations between food advertisement and adolescent girls’ nutritional status and eating behaviors. Besides the apparent global interest in this subject, I would wish to explore it further for its personal relations and effects on my life and my family’s. For instance, I have three lovely little kids, one daughter and two sons, whose age range from 5 to 11 years. Notably, all of them fall in the school-going age, their school-going age making food advertisement and teenage girls’ eating habit issues my concern. However, I appreciate that school-going children need a lot of energy and generally love food a lot due to their active lives. On a more personal level, as a kid, I was rather chubby and I really had a rough time growing up. Additionally, the fact that my family came from a foreign and we settled in a strange land made the situation worse for me as. As I was introduced and got accustomed to the American way of living and eating, characterized by fast food and junk food, I gained more weight. Hence, since my childhood, I have been concerned with health and well-being. More specifically, I am currently concerned about the physical, emotional, and psychological well-being of my family and my students. As a teacher, I must ensure that my students, who are youth, understand both the positive and negative implications of

Continuum Of Care Outline Essay Example for Free

Continuum Of Care Outline Essay I. Introduction II. Stakeholders A. The â€Å"description of the roles of various stakeholders in the health care industry who are involved in the continuum of care† (University of Phoenix, 2015). 1. Who the patients are. 2. Who the employees are. 3. Who the payers are. 4. Who the providers are. B. â€Å"How the component contributes to or detracts from the overall management of health care resources† (University of Phoenix, 2015). 1. Is this a positive or negative affect? III. Services provided and employees’ role(s). A. â€Å"Discuss the services provided and how these services fit into the continuum of care† (University of Phoenix, 2015). 1. What services are provided? 2. How do these services fit into the continuum of care? 3. â€Å"The role of transitioning patients from one level of care to another in the health care continuum† (University of Phoenix, 2015). See more: 5 paragraph essay format B. â€Å"Description of the health care delivery components role in providing services† (University of Phoenix, 2015). 1. Who provides these services? 2. How the services are delivered. IV. Current and Future of Home Health Care A. What are the current trends and how they are changing? B. What the potential trends are. 1. How these potential trends will change delivery components and services in the future. 2. Accommodating for the future trends. V. The Characteristics of Integrated Delivery System (IDS) A. Health Care organizations. B. Community health. VI. Conclusion References University of Phoenix. (2015). Continuum of Care Presentation. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, HCS/235-Health Care Delivery in the U.S. website.

Stereotyping and Social Identity Theory

Stereotyping and Social Identity Theory Apply your knowledge of stereotyping and social identity theory to explain what went wrong here. Stereotyping is the basis of the social identity theory. Stereotyping can be characterized as the way to assign qualities to people in light of their investment in a social theory (McShane, 2010, p. 72). When you further investigate stereotypes, we find two different types. Prescriptive stereotypes and descriptive stereotypes. Prescriptive stereotypes depict the specific behavioral norms that individuals must uphold to avoid derogation or punishment by others (Gill, 2004). Descriptive stereotypes are perceivers beliefs about the characteristics of a social group and indicate the attributes, roles, and behaviors that describe that group (Gill, 2004). Collectively, stereotyping lays the groundwork for prejudice and discrimination. The social identity theory states that the in-group will discriminate against the out-group to enhance their own self image. It also clarifies how we perceive people through differentiation, homogenization and categorization. It is crucial to remember that in-groups are the groups you are apart of and that you associate with and out-groups are the groups that we dont normally identify with and my discriminate against. It was clear on in the case of Rochelle Beauport that she appreciated being an assistant brand manager. The position appeared to be more challenging and had a greater affected on the organizations profits than the new position, market resource coordinator. The market resource coordinator position was more classified as a behind the scenes job. Rochelle had the feeling that the new position was not the route to top administration in most organizations. Because of her skin colour she had also built up a perception that she was placed on reserve and felt that Syd Gilman thought she didnt deserve her previous position. What went wrong was that Syd Gilman thought that Rochelle would enjoy and appreciate the new position that had brought him to the high position he holds at the company. He felt as if offering the new position to her, would help her widen her experience and enhance her career at Hy Dairies, Inc. Mr. Gilman thought that his journey up the corporate latter through market resource coordinator would benefit Rochelle the same way. He believed that his experiences he would be able to share with Rochelle in the future. From Rochelles point of view she was confused that the job offered to her was at the same level or even a downgrade for he previous position. Since she had such a great year boosting the company sales, Rochelle was anticipating a promotion to a higher position. Hearing that Mr. Gilman offered her market resource coordinator she was shocked to say the least. She thought that the position was a downgrade and that Mr. Gilman didnt want her to get promoted because of her skin colo ur or even her gender. Rochelle wasnt aware that the new position had been given with positive implications that shed advance in the company the same way Mr. Gilman did as well. What other perceptual error is apparent in this case study? While reading the case study I noticed that the Halo effect, and others is apparent as well. The Halo effect is when you immediately form an impression on someone just from one trait/behaviour. Since you are blinded by the one trait/behaviour its hard for you to be able to see their other traits because you are so focused on one. For Rochelle when Syd Gilman offered her the new position she immediately thought he was trying to downgrade her because the market resource coordinator was known to be a sideline job. Just based on this interaction she felt as if she was being betrayed because of her differences, her thought was that Syd Gilman didnt want her to reach top management so he gave her market resource coordinator trying to make her think she was getting a promotion. Through the lack of communication What can organizations do to minimize misperceptions in these types of situations? In conflict situations, avoiding misunderstanding takes a lot of time and effort. Some considerations that the organizations or Mr. Gilman can do are: A.) The first is active listening. The goal of active listening is to understand the receivers as well as you understand yourself (McShane, 2010, pg 81). A message cannot be interpreted by the listener if he/she does not pay attention to what the speaker says. In this case, Syd Gilman should pay close attention to what Rochelle Beauport is saying. If need be, he should have the eagerness to discuss, clarify, or repeat anything that is unclear or seems unreasonable. It is possible that Syd is thinking that he understands Rochelle very well, but this is mere a confusion of interpretation and understanding. Because Syds goal is to give Rochelle the position where he started, he should first hear her side of story. A major problem is that Rochelle Beauport is interpreting Mr. Gilmans actions in a different way. You could go as far as saying she felt that she was underestimated. Because of the misunderstanding, there was an error in the communication between the two. To avoid this Syd Gil man should attempt to repeat back her case just as she has presented it to him. This will show that Mr. Gilman is listening (which suggests that Gilman cares about what Rochelle has to say) and that Syd Gilman understands what she has said or feels. It does not indicate that Gilman agrees with what she said, nor does Gilman have to agree. Mr. Gilman just needs to indicate that he does understand her perspective.

The Importance Of Team Work Management Essay

The Importance Of Team Work Management Essay The essay begins with an attempt to define the nature of teams and groups and considers the differences between the two. This is followed by a discussion of why teamwork is important to contemporary organisations. After which, the conditions necessary for effective team working is discussed drawing on Tuckman (1965) model of group development. Then a discussion of group processes that lead to ineffective teamwork are considered. Finally, the impact of technology is considered on the effect of teams and the rise of virtual teams before a conclusion is made. Defining Groups and Teams A definition of a team may assume that the team has, or is working towards a common goal (Pynadeth and Tambe, 2002). A team can be defined as groups of people embedded in organisations, performing tasks that contribute to achieving the organisations goals. They share overall work objectives. They have the necessary authority, autonomy and resources to achieve these objectives (West, 2004, p.18). The difference between a group and a team is that members of a team share a common goal they are pursuing collaboratively. Moreover, they can only succeed or fail as a whole, and the members of that team share the benefits and costs of success or failure. In contrast, the members of a (psychological) group may share a number of common features.but each has his or her own individual goals (Buchanan and Hyczynski, 2007, p.379). Importance of Teamwork In a contemporary organisations, what were once competitors are now collaborators, what were once outsiders are now stakeholders, what were once stark boundaries are now fuzzy fences. Organisations have now discovered the value of collaboration, both inside and outside (Brooks, 2006, p.115). Teamwork has been linked to economic advantages, higher output, lower absenteeism and increased employee satisfaction (Steijn, 2001; Brooks, 2006; Buchanan and Hyczynski, 2007). It has also been shown to lead to less stressful work, reduced alienation and improved working relationships (Katzenback and Smith). Effective Team Working Certain conditions are necessary for effective teamwork (Buchanan and Hyczsynski, 2007). Several models of team working have been developed, however Tuckmans Model of Group Development (1965) is one of the most widely used (Murray et al., 2006, Buchanan and Hyczynski, 2007). Tuckman (1965) model depicts four stages of group development, which represents a logical sequence of stages of group development of which every team must go through in order to work as a cohesive and effective team (Tuckman, 1965; Murray et al., 2006). The first stage is forming. Forming is about orientation, socialisation and developing relationships. Discovering what is acceptable behaviour, focusing on objectives. Discovering the nature and boundaries of the task, developing team behaviours The second stage is storming this is about confrontation and conflict and the struggle for power and influence. At this stage the group structure shifts towards hostility and conflict, as members express their individuality and resistance (Murray et al., 2006, p.314). During this stage there is conflict over individuals desires to express their own opinions, which often results in the polarisation of opinions (Buchanan and Hyczynski, 2007). The third stage is norming, in this stage groups develop a cohesive approach, whereby harmonious relations replace conflict and disagreement. During this stage, communication becomes more open and people are more comfortable with expressing their opinions, even if it is different to others without fear of repercussions or thoughts of deviant behaviour (Buchanan and Hyczynski, 2007). Members begin to develop social interactions that enhance the overall performance of the group (Murray et al., 2006). Performing is the final stage of group development, in which teams are finally able to work as a cohesive unit. This is about team collaboration and the focus is on getting the task at hand completed and reaching the shared goals of the team. By this stage, the team should have a thorough understanding of what is required of them, the problems, challenges and issues they face in reaching their goals and will have established norms of behaviour that will facilitate the team in meeting its goals (Tuckman, 1965; Murray et al., 2006). The team which emerges as a result of these group development stages is a mature group, capable and willing to complete the tasks as defined by the organisation (Tuckman, 1965; Murray et al., 2006, Buchanan and Hyczynski, 2007). Arguably, if the team is not able, for whatever reason to complete the stages of group development, then the team will be ineffective (Murray et al., 2006). As a result, this has important implications for managers and team leaders. Group processes and behaviour cannot be separated from the pursuit of effective team working. Therefore, leaders and managers must develop and emotional awareness of the influence of the psychological group on the overall performance of the team (Steijn, 2001; Buchanan and Hyczynski, 2007) Factors which Threaten the Success of the Team Buchanan and Hyczynski (2007) point out that teamwork of all kinds is fraught with tensions, conflicts, obstacles and problems. If these are not managed effectively, rather than surpassing the best members capabilities, the total group output may actually equal less than the weakest members efforts (p.351). This is known as negative synergy. This can be caused by factors such as negative equity, whereby other members of the group underperform so the other person thinks why should I?, shirking of responsibility, negative effort of group reward whereby everyone is rewarded the same regardless of effort and finally, problems of coordination, so people are obstructing others ability to get on with a task (Buchanan and Hyczynski, 20007). Collectively, this phenomenon has come to be known as social loafing (Ingham et al., 1974). In addition to social loafing, problems of group think can have a negative impact on the performance of teams. Whilst the development of group norms and behaviour can be beneficial to the team, in its extreme form this can lead to the problem of group think (Buchanan and Hyczynski, 2007). Group think occurs whereby members of the group fail to critically analyse, test and evaluate problems, issues and challenges which face the group (Murray et al., 2006). This may be caused as a subconscious desire for members to avoid deviating from the prescribed norms of behaviour and group consensus (Buchanan and Hyczynski, 2007). However, this leads to ineffective team working, which is not beneficial to the organisation (West, 2004). Managers and team leaders play a pivotal role in ensuring that the problems of social loafing and group think does not occur. In addition managers should recognise team leaders who may advertently or inadvertently encourage the onset of negative synergy, social loafing and group think and take steps to minimise the impact of their ineffective team leadership. Impact of Technology on Team Functioning Technology plays an increasingly important role on the way in which teams function (Brooks, 2006). This is because organisations are becoming increasingly distributed across geographical boundaries and across industries (Brooks, 2006, p.115). There are many different types of technologies that have emerged which facilitate the development of teamwork both in a virtual and non-virtual teamwork environment. The rise in computer mediated technology, which facilitates communication, planning and organisation, has broken down barriers and can contribute towards making the team more effective (West, 2004; Brooks, 2006). Virtual teams are becoming an increasingly common extension of traditional organisational structures. Brooks (2006) describes the process as the following: virtual organisations, workplaces and teams are becoming increasingly common place. In a virtual team the members primary interaction is through some combination of electronic communications systems, which allows members of the team to cross time, space and cultural boundaries (Brooks, 2006, p.110). The type of technology which facilitates both physical and virtual teams includes the reduction in costs in recent years of portable PCs and consumer electronics and of communications devices. For example, laptops have seen a reduction in price and the majority of modern laptops come with in-built microphones, speakers and web cams for video conferencing. The cost of international calls has reduced and can even be made for free using VOIP (voice over internet protocol) technologies, such as Skype and Google Voice. Conclusion Teamwork is becoming increasingly important in contemporary organisations, and as long as teams are formed, managed and implemented effectively, can provide a source of competitive advantage in terms of increased employee satisfaction, creativity and innovation. However, if teams are assigned to inappropriate tasks, are managed ineffectively or not provided with adequate support, resources and autonomy to carry out their tasks then the effect of teamwork can be counterproductive. Teams are formal groups assigned by management that have shared goals. There is a difference between teams and groups; groups can exist without teams but teams cannot exist without groups. Therefore, the impact of group behaviour and group dynamics will have a significant impact on the overall performance of the team. Therefore, management must be awareness of the presence of groups that create their own norms and personal goals, which may deviate from the objectives of the team. Therefore, teamwork can be i s a complex management area, yet if carried out effectively, the results can be very rewarding.

The Reality of Science :: Psychology Essays

The Reality of Science Science is defined in the Merriam Webster dictionary as "an area of knowledge that is an object of study". What is the object of scientific study? Through an adherence to the rules prescribed by the scientific method, researchers and students of the various scientific fields search for truths, as defined by what can be proven to really exist; in short, they searching for what is real. It is the quest to define reality, for the purpose of mastering it; perhaps, to one day be able to manufacture reality in a vast warehouse in the likeness of the landscape-altering remnants that litter the hills and meadows of industrialized nations around the globe. Through extensive research, theorizing and endless testing, retesting, and further retesting, scientists seek the common goal of determining the reality composing an exhaustive array of materials. Science, as we regard it today, was coaxed into consciousness by the ancient philosophers of Pre-Socratic fame. These legendary thinkers whiled away the days in deep contemplation regarding the nature and definition of reality. Out of the flames of the fire started by the investigations of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and others, a fork in the road arose along the journey in pursuit of reality. Science is seldom seen as a branch of philosophy, yet to deny its association to philosophy would be to deny its own mother. Science has arisen from the epistemoligical branch of philosophy, that massive vine of the great oak tree that encompasses the pursuit of reality through the utilization of the five senses. This twisting, intertwining bough developed from the attempts by philosophers who sought to define reality through inspection, comparison, and logical deduction. Nothing is real but what can be felt, sensed, smelled, heard. This can be represented by the famed question "If a tree falls in the forest, but no one hears it, does it make a sound?" Philosophers in every school of thought continue to struggle with this question, which scientists have attempted to solve through methods of investigation. Still, the original question remains: Is a sound really a sound if it is not heard? If there are two people in the forest who both hear the tree fall, yet because of thier respectiv e locations they perceive entirely different sounds, how do we decide which one is real? Can reality take on opposing characteristics? Can the same sound be at once muffled and booming?

George Balanchine Essay -- Choreographer Art Ballet Essays

George Balanchine If composers are the masters of time, then the choreographer George Balanchine is the master of visual realization of that time in human terms. A master in both the kinesthetic and musical frames of creativity, he did not devote his energies to music visualization by assigning a certain number of dancers to represent strings, others the brass, and still others woodwinds or percussion but by creating a visual analogy in space that restates the musical structure with the trained dancer's body. He claimed that "Ballet... should not be an illustrator of even...the most substantive of literary sources. It will speak for itself. The ballet is flowers, beauty, poetry...I am, if you please, an advocate of pure art." Balanchine's most intense desire was "to make audiences see music and hear dancing." Georgi Melitonovitch Balanchivadze was born the second of three children to Meliton Balanchivadze and his wife Marie on January 22,1904 in the village of Banodzha in western Georgia. His older sister was named Tamara and his younger brother, Andrei. Georgi was a very reserved child and never showed his emotions. When he was punished he would hide, afraid someone would see him crying. When translated, balanchivadze means "jester's son", which always amused Balanchine because his father was a singer and composer, and his mother was a pianist who encouraged the musical development of her children. When Meliton was home from his many tours and study trips he would teach the children to sing, and all three of them took piano lessons. At parties Andrei and Tamara would often dance for the guests but Georgi refused because he hated anything to do with dance and performance. When she reached the official age for admitt... ... companies perform at least one Balanchine work. Upon his death, it was written in the New York Review of Books that "George Balanchine liked to say, quoting Mayakovsky, 'I am not a man, but a cloud in trousers.' And now that luminous cloud has floated off, leaving us with a loss far deeper than the grave." Works Cited: A Ballet Society Book. Portraits of Mr. B: Photographs of George Balanchine. New York: The Viking Press, 1984. Buckle, Richard. George Balanchine: Ballet Master. New York: Random House, 1988. Flatow, Sheryl. "The Balanchine Trust: Guardian of the Legacy". Dance Magazine. December 1990, p 58-61. McDonagh, Don. George Balanchine. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1983. Reynolds, Nancy. "Balanchine in the USSR: Cultural Revelation". Dance Magazine. January 1994, p 88-90. Taper, Bernard. Balanchine: A Biography. New York: Times Books, 1984.

Unit 302

UNIT 302 POLICIES AND PROCEDURES INTRODUCTION I will be showing my knowledge and understanding of why schools have policies and procedures. I will also show a brief summary of 4 different policies. 5. 1 Explain why schools have policies and procedures. Policies and procedures are in schools because it establishes rules and regulations to guide acceptable behaviour and it ensures that the schools environment is a safe place for students, teachers and all staff. Schools policies also create a productive learning environment. The policies should also promote to respect for others and the importance of self discipline.It also shows the intolerance of bulling, harassment and shows the difference between right and wrong. Schools policies are also enforced to demonstrate to all pupils and staff what is acceptable or not in conduct of behaviour and discipline. The procedures are there also to protect all pupils and staff when situations may occur, abuse, threatening behaviour and violence. T his will demonstrate the protocol to follow to ensure that everyone involved is treated fairly and none judgementally and the right outcome is achieved.All policies and procedures are in situ to ensure that everyone involved or who attends the school know and understand the expectations. That everyone is dealing with situations in the right manner to ensure the protection of all staff and pupils. Policies and procedures are clear and concise that they are also a legal requirement within the school environment. There are many policies in a school environment which could be child protection, Health and Safety, confidentiality Anti-bulling and Harassment. These policies are in place to make sure that all members of staff and pupils feel safe and secure in the school environment.The policies are all on the Kettering Science Academy schools website for all staff and parents to have available at their own convenience to read. Also the school staff handbook is on the schools website, or th e book is in the school’s main office. The schools website is updated on a regular basis. The schools policies and procedures are reviewed and updated too within the legal requirements. This enables the parents to view and understand the construction of the schools expectations at all times. 5. 3 Evaluate how schools policies are developed and communicated both with and outside the schoolThe schools policies are developed in conjunction with the governors depending on the policy, sometimes using the senior management and teaching staff input. All policies are revised and updated on a regular basis. The Head teacher is responsible for â€Å"the internal organisation, management and control of the school. Also for advising on implementing the governing bodies strategic framework. In particular head teachers need to formulate aims and objectives, policies and targets for the governing body to consider†.Policies regarding the school’s curriculum may be written by th e subject coordinator then agreed at the staff meeting. All staff may contribute to the behaviour policy in the school. When all policies have been drawn up and agreed on by the governing body they will be put on to the schools website for all staff and outside bodies to read. These policies are also on the schools prospectus to give future parents of pupils the aims and values that the school can offer to their child for the learning and development within the school.As the policies are updated regularly and are also available on the website all the time this is the best format to communicate to parents and anyone else to view. CONCLUSION Policies and procedures are very important because they help a school establish rules, to create standards of high quality for learning. It also reflects the safety of all staff, pupils as well as expectations of all that attend and work within the school. They enhance the structure and function of a school which is necessary to provide the educat ional needs of the students.These also ensure that all staff to know the protocol to follow for whatever incident that they may come across. Ultimately policies and procedures are necessary for the success and safety of all in the school environment. They are also there to maintain the high quality of pupils receiving the most productive education they would encounter. Also it guides the management of the structure of a school to be maintained and to be at the highest quality to help a strong leadership in the school. Reference Burnham, Louise, (2010) Support Teaching and Learning in Schools, Heinemann.

Carbon-14 Dating: an Invaluable Yardstick in the Chronology of Humans Essay

Archeologists use many methods to analyze data from the past. One scientific tool they use is to analyze the radioactive decay of chemical elements found in plant and animal remains, pottery, and even in rocks. Radiocarbon dating, also known as carbon-14 dating, has been one of the most important radioisotope dating methods used. This scientific tool, which was first developed by Willard F. Libby in the late 1940s, has significantly improved the accuracy of assigning dates to past events and artifacts as far back as 70,000 years. It is helping archaeologists, geologists, and anthropologists reconstruct the world’s history by filling in some of the many blank dates in the chronology of the history of our human world and by substantiating and revising other dates. In 1941, the radioactive atom, carbon-14, was isolated and discovered. Utilizing this discovery of the unstable radioactive isotope of carbon, Libby formulated an idea for using the decay rate of this radioactive form of carbon to date the remains of once-living plants and animals such as charcoal, wood, bone, shells, and fossils. In 1948, while at the University of Chicago, he and his colleagues started experimenting with carbon-14 as a means for dating the past. The scientists proved that carbon-14, which is present in our atmosphere as carbon dioxide, is absorbed by plants, animals, and human beings at a constant rate, and that the amount of carbon-14 is stabilized at a specific amount. A living organism can only intake a finite amount of carbon-14. Then, at the moment the living organism dies, it stops taking in any carbon-14, and the carbon-14 remaining in the organism starts to disintegrate at the half-life rate of 5,568 years (Poole 1961:27). (Today, based on refined calculations/techniques the half-life rate of carbon-14 is generally considered to be 5,730 years) (Wheatley 2004:98; DeYoung 2005:46). From the experimental results, Libby devised an apparatus to measure the amount of carbon-14 that had been lost and the amount that still remained in the substance. He planned to calculate the age of an object from the amount of carbon-14 left inside it after death. To test the validity of his carbon-14 counting device and subsequent calculations, Libby tested many items that archaeologists had previously dated. Some of the items he tested included: acacia wood from the first stepped pyramid tomb of Egyptian ruler Zoser  (established rate: 2700 B.C.; Libby date: 3979 ±350 years), cypress wood from the tomb of Sneferu in Egypt (established date: 4,575 B.P.; Libby date: 4802 ±210 years), cedar wood from the Egyptian pharaoh Sesostris’s funeral boat (established date: 3750 B.P.; Libby 3621 ±180 years), wood from a mummy coffin from the Ptolemaic period in Egypt (established date: 2280; Libby 2190 ±450 years), wheat and barley seeds (established date: 5000 years old; Libby date 5256 ±230 years), and lastly, Libby dated charcoal from Iraq at 6596 ± 360 years which coincided with the known approximate date (Poole 1961:28-32, Libby 1952:70). Except for the Zoser sample date, which dated too far back in history, his experimental dates were accurate within an acceptable margin of error. These sample tests, along with many others, confirmed that his carbon-14 test dating method was scientifically dependable within an acceptable margin of error for objects already dated. Libby then continued his work on dating objects for which no dates had been established. Scientists and scholars began to send him samples from all over the world to radiocarbon date. This included dating artifacts from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Pompeii, Stonehenge, and New Mexico. One of his most significant results occurred when his colleagues dated glacial debris near Two Creeks, Wisconsin. His scientific work provided strong evidence that the last Ice Age in North America had covered the land as recently as 11,000 BCE years ago, not 25,000 years ago as most geologists previously believed (Libby 1952:105). All of these accomplishments and the inroads Libby made in dating the past employing carbon-14 dating earned him the Nobel Prize in 1960. Although radiocarbon dating methods have improved tremendously, Libby’s overall methodology is still utilized and accepted as a dating technique. It is based upon the fact that carbon-14 is a radioactive, unstable isotope of carbon-12 since its molecular composition has two more neutrons than protons. Carbon-14 is made when cosmic rays enter the earth’s atmosphere and collide with nitrogen atoms. The unattached carbon neutrons then combine with nitrogen-14 atoms to become carbon-14 (Nitrogen-14 + neutron → Carbon-14 + proton). As the resulting carbon-14 atoms drift down towards the earth’s surface they combine with oxygen to make carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide includes the stable, common isotope carbon-12 and also tiny  amounts of radioactive carbon-14. Both kinds of carbon, C-14 and C-12, are absorbed and used by plants and trees during the photosynthesis process and become part of their cellulose structure. Animals then eat these plants containing carbon-14 and carbon-12 and thus forms of carbon enter their tissues. When plants and animals die, they no longer absorb carbon from the atmosphere and the trace amount of carbon-14 in them starts to slowly decay back to nitrogen (Carbon-14 → Nitrogen-14 + Beta (ÃŽ ²)). Beta particles are single electrons that are free from atoms and carry a negative charge (DeYoung 2005:25). At the point of death, all organisms contain one atom of carbon-14 for every trillion atoms of carbon-12 (Poole 1961:25). Carbon dating requires determining the amount of carbon-14 that has disintegrated in the sample and the amount that remains. Generally this is measured as the ratio of isotopes C-14/ C-12. This value is then compared to the initial carbon-14 content in the sample to determine its age taking into account carbon-14’s half-life and other calibration factors (DeYoung 2005:46-48). Since the amount of carbon-14 in each sample is miniscule, it is necessary to have several â€Å"clean† samples of the same artifact being dated. It is imperative to avoid contamination of the artifacts as any carbon-14 found in the non-sample material, such as roots or other decaying remains which might be from a different time period, could significantly distort the results since the percentage of carbon-14 in a sample is minute (Hedman 2007:58). Therefore, scientists or archeologists generally collect large samples because when they cleanse the sample, which includes purification and distillation processes, small amounts of matter tend to be removed. The trowels must be meticulously cleaned and the artifacts are packed in chemically neutral materials to ensure that the sample’s ratio of C-14 to C-12 remains the same. The stratigraphy of where the sample was taken must also be examined to ensure that the carbon sample location was not contaminated. In addition, scientists extract several samples in order to perform similar test on the artifact to confirm the accuracy of the dates they calculate. In order to determine a samples age, scientists perform experimental trials to identify and count the number of carbon-14 atoms in the sample based on carbon-14’s unique physical properties of larger mass and radioactivity (Hedman 2007:58). Today, scientists manipulate two formulas to determine the age of an artifact. One is the formula t = (1/ÃŽ »)  ln (I0/I), where â€Å"ÃŽ »Ã¢â‚¬  symbolizes the decay constant for carbon-14, â€Å"I† stands for the amount of carbon-14 in the dead matter, â€Å"t† represents time in years, and â€Å"I0† is the carbon-14 in living matter (L’Annunziata 2007:526). This formula calculates the time that has elapsed from the time of death of an organism. The second is an exponential decay formula which is A = A0* e^(-ÃŽ »k) (L’Annunziata 2007:523). In this equation, â€Å"A† stands for the amount of carbon-14 atoms remaining after a given time â€Å"t†, â€Å"A0† denotes the number of carbon-14 atoms at the time of observation, and â€Å"ÃŽ »Ã¢â‚¬  remains the decay constant. This formula allows scientists to know the ratio of the present amount of the radioactive isotope that remains versus the original amount in relation to time. This formula also determines the amount of carbon-14 that would diminish over a given time period. An important fact when using these formulas is that archaeologists and scientists are assuming that the production of radiocarbon in the atmosphere and the carbon-12 and carbon-14 ratio has remained constant over time. When Libby and his colleagues developed this dating system in the 1940’s, they relied on the radioactivity of carbon-14’s unstable nuclei. They, as well as subsequent scientists, have used Geiger counters to detect if radioactive carbon is present in a sample. This device is able to detect the beta particles emitted by atoms of carbon-14 as they decay. When these rays hit the Geiger counter, the device clicks indicating that the substance is radioactive. After, scientists start their process of determining the samples historical age. For example, if scientists wants to know the age of a piece of wood destroyed by fire, they take the piece of wood and soak it in chemicals to confirm any contamination particles that remain on the artifact are gone prior to it being tested. The next step is to separate the carbon-14 atoms from everything else in the wood. To do this, scientists place the wood in a heavy glass tube and then burn it. When this reaction occurs, the burning of the wood leaves very little ash and emits carbon dioxide, which is collected in a purification vacuum system. Once the gas containing carbon-14 is completely purified, the gas enters a glass jar, which then enters the carbon-14 counter. This device is comprised of a ring of Geiger counters inside a casing, and all of this is surrounded by lead or iron bricks to filter out even more radiations from the atmosphere. The sample is then tested and an electronic panel counts and records the time elapsed  as each carbon-14 atom disintegrates. From this, scientists can calculate the approximate age of the sample by manipulating the formulas mentioned previously and calculate the number of years that have elapsed since the sample stopped the intake of carbon-14 and began its half-life decay (Poole 1961:40-46). A second method of radiocarbon dating used is the Liquid Scintillation counting method. This was particularly popular during the 1960’s. The Liquid Scintillation counting method converts a sample to carbon dioxide either through combustion or acid hydrolysis. The gas is purified until it is ready to be â€Å"reacted with molten lithium to form lithium carbide, before being catalytically trimerised to benzene† (Higham 2002: paragraph 2). Once this process finishes, the benzene is driven off and collected under a vacuum to be counted for carbon-14 content utilizing a Liquid Scintillation spectrometer. This apparatus counts the pulses of light emitted by the benzene compound when it is bombarded with photons and has a high precision in dating. Advancement in technology has led to the third method of radiocarbon dating, which is more precise than the other two methods. This process is accelerator mass spectrometry or AMS. This technique uses multiple stages of acceleration and ionization, as well as several magnets to separate the carbon-14 isotopes from all other atoms and molecules in the sample. A major advantage of AMS is that all carbon-14 atoms in a sample are counted, not just the ones that happen to decay. This makes this method very sensitive and can give accurate dating even if only one milligram of carbon is provided (Hedman 2007:60). The limit of carbon-14 detection using AMS is about one carbon-14 atom for every 1016 stable carbon-12 atoms. This sensitivity is one part per ten thousand trillion or the equivalent of being able to detect a unique grain of sand along a 100 mile-long seashore (DeYoung 2005:50)! This sensitivity means that artifacts can be analyzed without causing damage to them. It also enables objects with small amounts of carbon-14 (like steel tools) to be analyzed and dated. The only drawback is that AMS machines take up entire buildings, are only found in about thirty specialized places throughout the world, and it is very expensive to test samples utilizing this method (Hedman 2007:60). Various scientists use radiocarbon dating as a device to measure ages of artifacts; however, it is categorized under the Culture History theoretical school of thought in archaeology. Culture History  archaeologists focus their work on cultural processes and work to determine human behavior. In the field their focus is keened toward the distribution of artifacts that can define traits, which leads to defining cultures and changes over time. Carbon-14 dating falls under this theoretical school of thought because its purpose is to date artifacts, and when the dates of an artifact are known, they can be related to one another and aid in defining a culture or changes in culture over time (shortman). One of the areas where carbon dating has been particularly useful is in trying to date the evidence of human activity in the Americas. Prior to carbon-14 dating, most scientists believed the last Ice Age ended about 25,000 years ago (Poole 1961:51). In 1950, ancient logs from spruce trees were found under glacial debris near Two Creeks, Wisconsin. Scientists were certain that these trees were crushed by the fourth Ice Age. Pieces of this wood were sent to Libby for dating. Based on his tests, the last Ice Age had spread across the land as recently as 11,000 years ago! This meant scientists had to restudy and revise previous dates of other natural events (Poole 1961:52-53). Another example of how carbon-14 dating helped was dating the evidence of humans coming to the New World. This evidence revolves around the Clovis points, a group of artifacts, found in New Mexico. The Clovis points are large spearheads with a â€Å"flute† at their base and are made from rocks like flint or volcanic glasses like obsidian that can be chipped away to form sharp edges. Clovis points have been found throughout the United States, and at several sites, these artifacts were found with the remains of mammoths. Carbon-14 dating of these Clovis points places them at 11,000 BCE or 13,000 years ago after calibration (Hedman 2007:86). Using this data, the Clovis first-model was developed that suggested that there should not be any people in the Americas much before 13,000 to 14,000 years ago in view of the Ice Age that made travel difficult, even if it did provide a corridor into this land. However, over the years archaeologists have claimed to discover sites that predate the Clovis points. As an example, carbon-14 dating of charcoal samples from the Meadowcroft rockshelter in Pennsylvania suggests that the site is over 15,000 years old. This leads to the belief that people landed in America well before the ice-free corridor opened. In addition, in 1997 independent archaeologists confirmed the accuracy of the date of wooden poles and posts from a site in Monte Verde, Chile. Carbon-14 testing suggested the artifacts were 14,000 to 15,000 years old. This site also appears to be older than Clovis, which is surprising given the fact that it is 10,000 miles south of Alaska (Hedman 2007:88-91). There are controversies surrounding the carbon dating of these sites. As to Meadowcroft, which is near Canada, remains of oak and hickory trees were found in the oldest layers. It seems unlikely deciduous trees could survive the ice age yet the excavators counter this argument saying the area was sheltered which made the climate milder. Meadowcroft skeptics also suggested that the samples might be contaminated since the site is in the heart of coal country. If any of the surrounding material (which no longer had carbon-14 in it since it had already decayed) was mixed with charcoal from the fires, it would dilute the C-14 fraction and the dates would be too old. The archaeologists countered this by saying the dates in each layer of excavation were in order of age. As to Monte Verde, skeptic said the artifacts found were near a stream so the evidence was not reliable. They might be a mixture of material from a range of different times (Hedman 2007:89-91). What is interesting about these examples is it points out some of the shortcomings of radiocarbon dating on the one hand, and on the other hand, it shows that it is a valuable tool for approximating the chronology of history when used with other dating techniques. Even though carbon-14 is a great tool in establishing the age of artifacts, it has some drawbacks. First, it can only date objects up to about 70,000 years ago since its half-life is 5,730 years (Wheatley 2004:98). In addition, its accuracy is debated. Some scientists question the validity of using 5,730 years as a half-life since this assumes nuclear half-lives have always been stable. Moreover, radiocarbon dating assumes that the carbon-14 content of the atmosphere has remained constant over the years and that living things have a constant ratio of C-14 to C-12 in them when alive based on the C-14 content in the atmosphere. However, it is known that since the 1950s, the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere has increased because of nuclear bombs and reactors. Artifacts from this era would be dated younger than they really are since they have a higher C-14 to C-12 ratio. By the same token, the ratio between carbon-14 and carbon-12 during the industrial era would be lower due to the burning of fossil fuels and the release of large amounts of carbon dioxide. Because of the increased levels of carbon dioxide, it would  cause things to appear older than their true age. Fortunately, scientists have been able to adjust their radiocarbon dating results to account for changes in the carbon-14 levels in the atmosphere by taking into account information obtained from tree-ring dating. The carbon-14 data is calibrated to the tree ring dates. This has greatly improved the accuracy of this dating technique (Wheatley 2004:98). The earth’s magnetic field can also impact carbon-14 dating results. Cosmic rays are charged particles, so they can be deflected by magnetic fields. Shifts in the magnetic field will influence the quantity of cosmic rays that enter the earth’s atmosphere. If the magnetic field is strong, the number of cosmic rays entering the atmosphere will be reduced. This in turn affects the amount of C-14 in the atmosphere. There have been variations in the earth’s magnetic field. For example, based on data from volcanic rock, the earth’s magnetic field was stronger around 2000 BCE than it is today. At about the same time, the carbon-14 content of the atmosphere dropped. Today, the radiocarbon dating process considers these variations in magnetic fields when dating artifacts (Hedman 2007:75-76). Lastly, another key assumption in radiocarbon dating is the fraction of C-14 to C-12 was the same for organisms living in the past as it is for organisms living today. It is known that some living organisms can accumulate more carbon-14 in their bodies than others. This is known as mass fractionation. For example, corn’s photosynthesis process causes it to have 2-3% higher carbon-14 fraction than sugar beets or tree leaves growing at the same time. If scientists did not take this into account, carbon-14 would underestimate the date of materials derived from corn (Hedman 2007:68-69). Despite these limitations, in my opinion, carbon-14 dating is an invaluable tool in helping date artifacts. Even though it can only date artifacts that are 70,000 years old or younger, it has enabled archeologists, geologists, and anthropologists to have a better understanding of how and where people lived over time in a large part to the chronological information it provides. Specifically, it helped revise the human timetable when it dated the Ice Age to being as recent as 13,000 years ago, not 25,000 years. Radiocarbon dating has also aided in confirming previously established dates. Some may discredit this dating technique because of some of its assumptions, however, refinements to this carbon dating process and collaboration with other dating techniques, such as  dendrochronology, continue to confirm that carbon-14 is still an important yardstick in measuring time and has significantly helped the field of archeology. Bibliography â€Å"Dating.† Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2009. Encylopaedia Britannica Online. 09 Sept. 2009 . DeYoung, Don. Thousands, Not Billions: Challenging an Icon of Evolution: Questioning the Age of Earth. Green Forest: New Leaf, 2005. 13-62. Hedman, Matthew. The Age of Everything: How Science Explores the Past. Chicago: University of Chicago P, 2007. 49-95. Higham, Thomas. â€Å"The 14C Method.† Radiocarbob WEB-info. 9 Aug. 2002. 26 Sept. 2009 . L’Annunziata, Michael. Willard F. Libby. Radioactivity Introduction and History. Amsterdam: Elsevier B.V., 2007. 518-28. Poole, Lynn, and Gary Poole. Carbon-14. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1961. Wheatley, Abigail, and Struan Reid. Radioactive Dating. The Usborne Introduction to Archaeology. London: Usborne Ltd., 2004. 98-99. Willard, Libby F. Radiocarbon Dating. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1952. 69-111.

Religious Parallels Lord of the Flies

William Golding's Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel from numerous perspectives. It draws societal parallels to a post-war world, political parallels to different methods of government, and even psychoanalytical parallels to the psychological models of Freud. One of the most prominent allegories contained in the story is its parallel to the Bible. William Golding creates these parallels in many different ways, through both settings, and the actions of characters. Interestingly, every religious allegory in Lord of the Flies is incomplete; they are similar to events in the Bible, but none of them are completely synonymous.Golding's creates a unique stance on Christianity by his flawed allegories to the Garden of Eden and Jesus’ teachings and death; he shows that he favors some Christian values and some of the Bible’s messages, but is opposed to others. The first connection between Lord of the Flies and the Bible is located at the very beginning of both books: the s etting of the island reminds one of the Garden of Eden. Golding describes the island: â€Å"Beyond the platform there was more enchantment. Some act of God [†¦] had banked sand inside the lagoon so that there was a long, deep pool in the beach with a high ledge of pink granite at the further end† (10).He also notes that the â€Å"shore was fledged with palm trees. These stood or leaned or reclined against the light [†¦]† (9). This is eerily similar to the Garden of Eden, which â€Å"the Lord God planted [†¦] and he placed there the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made various trees grow that were delightful to look at and good for food, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden [†¦]† (The New American Bible, Gen. 2:8-9). If â€Å"the man† in the Bible is taken to be Ralph and the other boys, then another comparison can be drawn.When Ralph strips down and swims in the lagoon, it reminds one of Adam naked i n the garden. The water could be seen as a connection to baptism, which is the recognition of a new birth or creation. This is one of the few connections in the novel which is entirely parallel with that of Bible, suggesting that Golding probably supported the creation theory. Yet another connection the Garden of Eden appears in the â€Å"beastie† that the boys are afraid of; it is often connected to the serpent in the garden that tempts Eve and causes original sin.These connections, however, are far from ideal. The island is indeed close to utopian, but there is the â€Å"long scar† (7) from the airplane crash. Golding probably rejected the idea that anything, even if created by God, could be perfect. Also, the serpent in the bible is always thought of as an external force, such as the devil, whereas Simon will eventually learn that the beast is not an external but an internal fear. This could be interpreted to mean the Golding did not believe that original sin came f rom an outside force; rather, it is an inherent part of human nature.Golding’s characterization of Simon creates a strong link between his actions on the island and the life of Jesus in the gospels. The first major example of this is when Simon is walking through the woods and is followed by the littluns: [The littluns] talked, cried out unintelligibly [†¦]. Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands. When he had satisfied them he paused and looked round. † (56)

A Synopsis of the Movie I, Robot Essay

I always asked myself if those stories about robots overcoming humankind will become real. Sci-Fi books are being my favorites since I was a kid and I watched every major movie about this subject. My favorites is â€Å"I, robot† that tells the story of a society in the future that relies on robots for all its domestic activities, but somehow one of those robots became aware of his own self and started to develop a mind, but most important, a soul. The robot started to develop a sense of what is right and wrong, and not because some program installed in its memory or an algorithm protocol of orders, it begun making decisions not based on instructions or learning by mistake process, but by searching deep on its â€Å"heart† what was the right thing to do. The robot’s name is Calvin and the movie, starred by Will Smith, is based on a set of short stories by Isaac Asimov, prolific writer considered a master in hard science fiction. On his â€Å"I, robot† short stories, one of them titled â€Å"Three Law of Robotic†, and which he considered his maximum contribution to human kind of the future (Asimov wrote the book on 1950), he came up with three laws that he thought a future society must input on robots in order to coexist with them as part of their day by day living. Those laws are: 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws. These laws seem to be really basic, but their logic really doesn’t have any gaps, at least at first impression. When Calvin (the robot) encounters a conflict with those commands, he started to develop its artificial intelligence and becoming more human. When Calvin is in a situation that its deactivation will be harmful for his two human friends, he decided to fight for his existence, and a new era of robots was born. Like Asimov there are several authors and scientists that predicted a future where robots and artificial intelligence are a big part of society. And they have reasons to believe on this. After the Industrial Revolution took place, we have being searching for more productive ways to increase manufacture. Industrialization and mass production levels demand better, faster and smarter ideas to satisfy the greater demand of consume based societies. To achieve those exigent goals, technology and specially robotics is used more and more often. Some factories are made only on robots that build equipment parts or process food in a way no human can do. Major companies know where we are heading and invest more and more in robotic technology and artificial intelligence, like we read in the following citation of the article of Nicholas Carr â€Å"Is Google Making us Stupid?†: â€Å"Where does it end? Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the gifted young men who founded Google while pursuing doctoral degrees in computer science at Stanford, speak frequently of their desire to turn their search engine into an artificial intelligence, a HAL-like machine that might be connected direct ly to our brains. â€Å"The ultimate search engine is something as smart as people—or smarter,† Page said in a speech a few years back. â€Å"For us, working on search is a way to work on artificial intelligence.† In a 2004 interview with Newsweek, Brin said, â€Å"Certainly if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.† Last year, Page told a convention of scientists that Google is â€Å"really trying to build artificial intelligence and to do it on a large scale.†Ã¢â‚¬  There is no doubt for me that there is a future where robots will be everywhere: Some robots might be performing precise heart surgeries, controlling traffic and overseen proper transit on the streets, cleaning our houses as domestic service or maybe even teaching English Composition at the local Community College (no offense to Ms. Patrice Fleck), but let’s be ready if some day they become aware of their own existence, giving the next step on their evolution as metallic beings. Let’s hope that their intentions towards us are attached to the Three Laws of Robotic stipulated by Asimov, they could be the difference between our survival and coexistence, or our total annihilation.

MSc International Marketing Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

MSc International Marketing Management - Essay Example ise has two--and only these two--basic functions: marketing and innovation." Chadwick (1998) predicted that marketing research would evolve from the role of merely providing ‘market and opinion research’ to a more vital function of furnishing a company’s tactical data, consultation, and communication with clients. Marketing research is a superior management technique that collects and analyses customer requirements and desires within the marketplace in an effort to ascertain how to satisfy them. Higgins (2008) defines marketing research as, â€Å"all techniques used to provide information that assists the firm in all of its decision-making processes relevant to customers or clients† (Higgins 4). Marketing research is one of the main branches of marketing which the American Marketing Association (2007) describes it as, "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."(AMA 1). AMA characterizes marketing research as ‘the systematic gathering, recording, and analyzing of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services.’ Kumar (2000), classifies international market research as â€Å"market research conducted either sim ultaneously or sequentially to facilitate marketing decisions in more than one country† (Kumar, 2000 p2). An exceptional export market research therefore involves collecting appropriate market information that enhances the export decisions to be undertaken. This includes unearthing the economic, socio-political and cultural factors that either encourage or hinder market penetration in the foreign market. Comprehensive market research assist the corporation correctly decide on, the fragmentation, zero in or position their merchandise in a foreign market appropriately. Market research consequently embraces the creation of goals, collecting information, analyzing and disseminating the

Famous Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Famous Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez - Essay Example While Rodriguez today has achieved tremendous critical acclaim this was not always the case. Rodriguez started from humble beginnings and in-large part carved the path for his own success. This essay examines Chicano filmmaker Robert Rodriguez. Robert Rodriguez is Chicano American, with both of his parents -- Rebecca Villegas and Cecilio G. Rodrà ­guez – being of Mexican descent. While many people struggle to discover their path in life, from a young age Robert Rodriguez knew he was interested in artistic production. In his autobiography, Rodriguez indicates that â€Å"I associate my earliest memories with the movie theatre† (Rodriguez, p. 1). Here there is the recognition that Rodriguez formative youth was occupied by his life at the movie theatre. One considers the understanding that oftentimes foreign languages are difficult to learn late in life. Rodriguez early youth obsession with the cinema seems to have profoundly affected his cognitive development. Rodriguez indicates that his mother took him to the Olmos Theatre in San Antonio and he would watch classic films (Rodriguez, p. 1). While many mothers allow encouraging their children to read books, Rodriguez mother was unique in that she encouraged the future filmmaker to watch these classic films. Rodriguez’ ability to watch classic films was a great benefit for the filmmakers, as the Olmos Theatre was a rare art-house theatre. Rodriguez access to these films then further shaped his development as a filmmaker. Rodriguez first great break as a filmmaker came after he filmed the short ‘Bedhead’. This short film featured a girl and her brother. The film had a very simple plot, with the boy having disarranged hair. The boy’s disheveled hair causes him to come into a number of conflicts with his sister, as her fastidious behavior is at odds with the boy’s awkward appearance.

Evaluating Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Evaluating Change - Essay Example From this study it is clear that the role of change masters in guiding the change process is to examine the present situation alongside the desired future state and to establish the strategic plan towards achieving that objective; however, the most daunting task for change masters is to get others to buy into the change vision and to support it. Most importantly, honoring the past while moving boldly towards the future is imperative for the success of organizational transformation; nonetheless, it is not uncommon for many organizations to be insensitive to, and to disregard their past in the change process by thinking that the old is bad while the new is good. This paper outlines that during the reform initiative at our workplace, the organizational transformation process was sensitive to, and honored all the past organizational successes and accomplishments, which were all attributed to the smoothness and efficiency of the previous work processes. The change agents were careful not to discard everything about the old processes as bad, especially because they are the firm foundation on which the present position of the organization was built. In this respect, past work designs and task allocation among the staff were hailed as the building blocks upon which the previous successes and accomplishments of our organization were found; as such, the change initiative started off by chatting a way forward from the existing organizational work design. The change masters observed that the prevailing work design was effective and only needed minor adjustments to make it water tight in view of the shifting global business environment because of emerg ing challenges and threats to business survival and profitability.  

Online advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Online advertising - Essay Example Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video. According to the report, in total, 138 million Americans - approximately three in four U.S Internet users - viewed online video in November. Top U.S. Online Video Properties* by Unique Video Viewers November 2007 Total U.S. - Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore Video Metrix Property Unique Viewers (000) Percent of all U.S. Internet Users Total Internet 138,383 75.9% Google Sites 76,187 41.8% Fox Interactive Media 46,349 25.4% Yahoo! Sites 37,300 20.5% Time Warner Network 31,212 17.1% Microsoft Sites 28,470 15.6% Viacom Digital 23,522 12.9% Disney Online 10,361 5.7% ESPN 10,128 5.6% ABC.com 9,969 5.5% CBS Corporation 8,336 4.6% *Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video. Online advertising "opens up new communication possibilities for personalized messages to be delivered to targeted individuals (Davis 2000, 113). It can help us "create a customized, common information technology platform for all your company's activities-resulting in unique, integrated systems that reinforce the strategic fit among your firm's many functions. Even better, competitors can't easily imitate these systems" (Michael E. Porter 2). That online media as an effective source of advertising can be gauged from the fact that the second generation of Internet ("Web 2.0") companies such as MySpace, Facebook, Linked/In and YouTube that set shop three years ago, today have more users than the entire U.S. population. This trend adequately highlights the fact that we can target the online community for creating customer loyalty, promoting sales and services and building and strengthening our brand... This essay "Online advertising" outlines the advantages and effectiveness of online ad and how it can help the company to increase the sales rate. Unlike forced advertising methods which can have a negative impact on sales if the consumers are not interested in our products, we can provide information to those who actually look forward to receive it. The benefit of this is that our email advertising campaign will have a better chance of sales conversion than any other form of advertising. There are many websites that have dedicated communities of members interested in a particular subject. In our case, there are communities for each our textbooks: AutoCAD, SolidWorks, Catia, and Solid Edge. WE can reach our potential customers by providing press releases in websites dedicated to these communities. Here, I can give you the example of a website www.tenlinks.com that has a large registered audience of software users as its members. While most websites allow us to place our press release s for free, there are others that do charge a nominal cost. The advantage is that at very low rates, we can target a global audience and create a bigger market for our textbooks. I rest my case by saying, "Internet technology makes both giving and collecting feedback very easy, which further encourages two-way communication" (Y Liu, LJ Shrum 7) between the business entity and the consumers providing opportunities for mutually beneficial relationships, better sales and promotion of goods and services.

Business Structure Advice Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Structure Advice - Coursework Example A market survey can also give you valuable information on how to overcome the challenges, spot the present and the future troubles in the business and discover other opportunities. Financing a business that is just starting is always very difficult. The person in business should know the amount of cash that is actually required to begin and drive the business. You can start a business with the individual money or capital obtained from acquaintances, and relatives (Kurtz, & Boone, 2011). The individual investments show your obligation to the business and also give you a chance to request support from the government subsidy. This subsidy may be a loan for which you are expected to pay back the principal amount including the interest. These business loans are either short term or long term hence it will depend on the size of the business you want to venture in. There are different business structures or forms. You should consider what business form is efficient for your needs depending on whether you want to conduct the business by yourself, or you want to do it with a colleague. According to Pride, Hughes, and Kapoor (2012), an appropriate business form is determined by monetary, individual, law and duty issues. The following types may be suitable for a new business venture: Sole proprietorship: This is a business owned by a single person. The owner is entirely in charge of all its operations. All the earnings from the business are for the sole proprietor. It is possible for the owner to use own assets to remove the debts. Sole proprietorship is advantageous because: it is easy to start, the starting fee is moderately low, the management load is small, the owner is fully in charge and can make his choices in the business, and all the income goes directly to the owner. However, this form of activity has open problems, for instance, if you have debts, the individual resources will be used to remove the debts. There is also no stability in business

Eco-Friendly Packaging Initiative - Heinz Essay

Eco-Friendly Packaging Initiative - Heinz - Essay Example There are several initiatives that this company has undertaken to ensure environmental stewardship. Some of the initiatives it is undertaking include sustainable agriculture, and manufacturing processes that are energy-efficient (Lamb, Hair, & McDaniel, 2011). It also engages in packaging initiatives that are eco-friendly. To ensure that the packaging used for their products are eco-friendly, there are laws that need to be observed. The initiative to use eco-friendly packaging is in line with the sustainability goals of the company. Use of alternative packaging materials is envisioned to lead to an absolute reduction of 15% of all packaging expenses. In addition to this, Heinz also aims to reduce the packaging currently used for the various brands and containers. The new packaging to be used includes recycled paper cartons and trays, and cartons that have not been bleached. The initiative will also see reduced use of steel, and resin. These measures are all an effort to facilitate ec o-friendly packaging. By making sure that the packaging used is not harmful to the environment is a statement of social responsibility on the side of the company. Environmental degradation has been a major concern for the world today. Governments have established laws that are aimed at protecting the environment, and preserving it for future generations. Pennsylvania has also a set of guidelines that direct companies on how they treat, and manage the environment. Elements of administrative laws that will affect most this initiative are those that are concerned with waste issues. Pennsylvania seeks laws, policies, and regulations that are founded on principles that encourage waste reduction, conservation, beneficial re-use, and recycling (Heinz, 2011). These are policies that will cut the costs of handling waste. Since Heinz deals with products for human consumption, it is affected by the Food Code of Pennsylvania. Under the Food Code, refuse, returnables, and recyclables have to be handled in a specific manner. This code, for instance, requires that these items be removed from the premises where they are used by either receptacles or vehicles. These equipments have to be designed in a manner such as to hold the material disposed in them. The receptacles are transported in a vehicle specifically for this purpose. In Pennsylvania, the laws under municipal waste management will affect most the initiative to recycle waste. This is because for the waste to be recycled, it has to first of all be collected in one area. Wherever the waste will be disposed waiting for recycling, strict guidelines have to be adhered to. By following the guidelines that the law requires, the company will be practicing safety for the citizens. Residual waste management requires a permit from administrators so as to make sure that companies do not ruin the environment. Steel is facing a ban in Pennsylvania, and thus Heinz Company is doing well in planning to reduce the use of the same mate rial in its products. According to the Pennsylvania code, a sales tax of 6 per cent is charged for every retail sale. Since Heinz deals with goods that are consumed at retail outlets, it has to price them with this in mind. By recycling the residual wastes from its products, Heinz cuts down on production costs (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania nd). These two factors need to be reflected in the price that consumers pay for the