The Role of Oracles and Dreams in Herodotus’ the History

usChristina Bramanti October 5, 2012 CLAS 20105 The Role of Oracles, and Dreams in Herodotus’ The History Throughout Herodotus’ The History, Oracles, and dreams play an important role. While the gods have almost no presence throughout the book, the Oracles and/or dreams are linked to many of the major events. We first encounter the Oracles in Book I, when Croesus asks the Oracles at Delphi if he should attack the Persians, the Oracle replies telling him (in a very ambiguous way) that if he fights, he will destroy a great empire (7. 12).Unbeknownst to Croesus, the empire he will destroy will be his own. However, this answer from the Oracle is one of the things that convinces Croesus to attack Persia, in a manner jumpstarting the war. It could be that Croesus was always fated to destroy his empire, for the Pythia said, â€Å"Fate that is decreed, no one can escape, not even a god. Croesus has paid for the offense of his ancestor† (1. 91). This was important to reme mber throughout the book. Whether Herodotus believed it or not, the Oracles and Magi believed that one could neither change nor escape fate.In Book VII, the Oracles tell the Athenians that a wall of wood and Salamis will save Athens. When the Athenians first consulted the Pythia at Delphi, whose name was Aristonice, their demise was foretold. They asked for a different oracle. â€Å"My Lord,† they asked, â€Å"give us a better oracle about our fatherland; be moved to pity the suppliant boughs with which we come before you, or we will never go away from your shrine but remain right here till we die† (7. 141). The priestess replied: No: Athena cannot appease great Zeus of Olympus With many eloquent words and all her cunning counsel.To you I declare again this word, and make it as iron: All shall be taken by foemen, whatever within his border Cecrops contains, and whatever the glades of sacred Cithaeron. Yet to Tritogeneia hall Zeus, loud-voiced, give a present, A wall of wood, which alone shall abide unsacked by the foemen; Well shall it serve yourselves and your children in days that shall be. Do not abide the charge of horse and foot that come on you, A mighty host from the landward side, but withdraw before it. Turn your back in retreat; on another day you shall face them.Salamis, isle divine, you shall slay many children of women, Either when seed is sown or again when the harvest is gathered. (Herodotus, 1. 141) The Athenians argued about what this meant, whether they will be victorious or defeated at Salamis. Themistocles concluded that, if the oracle referred to Salamis as â€Å"isle divine† that must mean that the Greeks would be victorious, because, he argued, it would have been referred to as â€Å"O Cruel Salamis† if all of its inhabitants were going to die. He then convinced the men to prepare for a sea battle. The ‘wall of wood’ would be their ships.The Athenians agreed with Themistocles, if, for no other rea son, than his explanation sounded better than that offered by the oracle-interpreters. Hope, they saw, was better than despair. In this instance, the Oracles do offer some idea of what will come, but the oracle-interpreters, whose purpose is to interpret, are essentially ignored. Themistocles heard what was said and picked out a phrase by which he explained the rest of the prophecy. The Athenians believed what they wanted to believe, which was that Salamis would be a Greek victory, and the ships made up the wall of wood to which the Oracle referred.While the Athenians do not listen to what the oracle-interpreters had to say, they did take to heart what was told to them by the Oracle, and this led to many of the Greek peoples uniting—Argos sided with Persia; Gelon of Syracuse refused to help unless he could lead, thereby offending the Spartans; Corcyra assembled men and ships and went to the war, but sat on the sidelines watching; and Crete refused to join. The united Greece, led by Leonidas, decided to fight at Thermopylae, where Leonidas was killed. However, after this, the war goes to Salamis, where the Greeks, surrounded, battle the Persians, forcing Xerxes to retreat with his army.Dreams also play a particular role in Herodotus’ The History. Like the Oracles, dreams influence people to make certain decisions. And like the situations with the Oracles, fate also plays a role. These people had these specific dreams because they were fated to make said decisions. The dreams, possibly, were the only ways to convince them, or to ensure that fate run its course. So was the case with Astyages, who dreamt of his daughter, Mandane, â€Å"making water so greatly that she filled all his city and flooded†¦all of Asia† (1. 107). Astyages immediately went to visit the Magi who were dream interpreters.Fearing that this meant she would have more powerful offspring, he married her, not to a Mede, but to a lesser, Persian man. However, fate would no t back down. After his daughter was married to the Persian, Astyages had another dream. â€Å"†¦It seemed to him that out of his daughter’s privy parts there grew a vine, and the vine shaded all Asia† (1. 108). Astyages again went to dream interpreters among the Magi, who suggested that this dream meant that Mandane – who was now, in fact, pregnant – would have a child who would become king in the place of Astyages. This is the point in the story where fate really comes into play.Much like the story of Oedipus, attempting to control or otherwise act in a way opposed to, fate seems to be exactly what allows for fate to run its course. Astyages takes the child, a son, when it is born and hands him over to a kinsman, Harpagus, and orders Harpagus to kill the child. Harpagus agrees, but cannot bring himself to do such a thing. Harpagus, in turn, hands the child over to Mitradates, a slave herdsmen of Astyages. Harpagus also passes on the task of murderin g the child. When Mitradates gets home with the child, he tells his wife, Cyno, the task with which he had been charged.Cyno, however, had given birth that day to a child who was stillborn, and she suggested that they place the dead child on the mountain to ‘die’ and raise Mandane’s child as their own. This way, they still get to raise a child, and the innocent boy is not killed. By removing the child from his mother, and handing him over to his death, Astyages is creating the path for which the foreseen future can now happen. One day, the boy was playing with children in town and they named him their king, and he reprimanded one of the children, a son of a man of higher rank than his herdsman father.They were all brought before Astyages, and this is how he came to learn that the boy had not been killed. When the Astyages learned that the boy, who would be called Cyrus, but was not yet at this time called Cyrus, was still alive, at first he was angry with Harpagu s, and he killed Harpagus’ son and fed his flesh to Harpagus. Then, after consulting with the Magi, he believed that the dream had already come true, since the boy was named king. â€Å"As it is,† the Magi told him, â€Å"the dream has issued in something trifling; we are ourselves quite confident and bid you be the same.So send the boy away from your sight to the Persians and his parents† (1. 120). When Astyages sent the boy away to live with his true parents, Harpagus watched him grow into a man, and when Cyrus was a young man, Harpagus sent him a message, suggesting that he overthrow Astyages, for he [Astyages] had ordered Cyrus’ death. Had it not been for himself and the gods, Harpagus argued, Cyrus would have been murdered when he was an infant. In this way, the dream explained by the Magi came to be fulfilled. In Book VII, Xerxes dreams of a man coming to him and reprimanding him for his indecision. Are you changing your mind, Persian, and will not lead your army against Greece after you have bidden the Persians to gather their host? † the man asks Xerxes. â€Å"You will not do well, so to alter your counsel, now will he who stands before you prove forgiving. As you have resolved by day to do, that is the road for you to tread† (1. 153). Thomas Harrison, in his book, Divinity and History: The Religion of Herodotus, argues that misinterpretation of the Oracles was the rule, rather than the exception. Harrison essentially discredits the oracles because they are so ambiguous. Not only do such instances of mistaken interpretation reinforce†¦the fated nature of the eventual outcome, but at the same time they supply their audience with the tools to explain apparent non-fulfillment: the story of Croesus serves to illustrate both the possibility of fulfillment against one’s expectations and†¦that of dormant oracles, long forgotten, being fulfilled nonetheless. † To a point, this makes sense. The Ora cles are constantly, it seems almost intentionally, ambiguous, and the message is almost always misinterpreted, often times to the listener’s detriment.The Oracles and dreams play a crucial role in Herodotus’ The History. The book is driven mostly by reactions to things either heard from an Oracle, or experienced in a dream. Sometimes trying—unsuccessfully—to change what was foretold, and sometimes trying cause what is believed to be the meaning. Fate, however, has run its course. No matter how many times someone tried to change what was prophesied, whatever they did to change it just ended up being the cause of that which was trying to be avoided.

Business Ethics-Written Assignment for Module 2 Essay

1. Shaw and Barry distinguish two different forms of utilitarianism. What are these two forms. Briefly describe each and use examples. Act Utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism are the two different forms of utilitarianism that Shaw and Barry distinguish. Utilitarianism refers to the greatest happiness principle for the most amounts of people. Act utilitarianism â€Å"states that we must ask ourselves what the consequences of a particular act in a particular situation will be for all those affected. If its consequences bring more net good than those of any alternative course of action, then this action is the right one and the one we should perform† (Shaw and Barry, pg.60). I look at this as to mean when choosing between two alternative acts in a situation then the right act is the one that brings the best result or the most happiness, basically the consequences of a single act. Rule utilitarianism â€Å"maintains that the utilitarian standard should be applied not to individual actions but to moral codes as a whole. The principles that make up that code would then be the basis for distinguishing right actions from wrong actions† (Shaw and Barry, pg.77). I look at this to me at measuring the consequences of the act repeated over and over again as if it was a rule whenever there are similar situations. 2. What do economists mean by the â€Å"declining marginal utility of money†? Declining marginal utility of money stated by Shaw and Barry as â€Å"simply means that successive additions to one’s income produce, on average, less happiness or welfare that did earlier additions† (Shaw and Barry, pg.112). I look at this as with every additional dollar or good, the value and happiness declines, the additional dollar or good loses its initial feeling or worth compared to the previous additions. A good example would be someone would really enjoy a piece of chocolate cake, and if offered a second piece they may agree that they would still enjoy it, but not as much as the first piece, and finally given a third piece of chocolate cake, they would be so full from the first two pieces then they wouldn’t be as happy since eating the first piece of chocolate cake. So for every extra piece of chocolate cake there would be less happiness from the previous piece. 3. Robert Nozick presents his entitlement theory as a function of three basic principles. What are these three basic principles? Nozick’s entitlement theory is a theory of justice and how society regulates the distribution of goods, money and property. â€Å"All that matters for Noziak is how people came to have what they have, not the pattern or results of the distribution of goods.† (Shaw and Barry, pg.115) His entitlement theory comprises of three main principles which were: 1. A principle of justice in acquisition – This principle deals with the initial acquisition of holdings. It is an account of how people first come to own common property, what types of things can be held, and so forth. 2. A principle of justice in transfer – This principle explains how one person can acquire holdings from another, including voluntary exchange and gifts. 3. A principle of rectification of injustice – how to deal with holdings that are unjustly acquired or transferred, whether and how much victims can be compensated, how to deal with long past transgressions or injustices done by a government, and so on. What is principle of justice in acquisition? Our book gives us an analogy concerning basketball player, Wilt Chamberlain that was used by Nozick. The idea behind this is that Wilt Chamberlain was a very talent basketball player and people were willing to pay a certain amount of money to see him play. In Wilt Chamberlain’s contact it stated that he would get X amount for each ticket purchased, due to his talent of playing basketball. Over the course of the year he is entitled to a portion of the tickets sold. Wilt Chamberlain become very wealthy as a result of the amount of tickets sold and his contact with the team he played for since his contact stated he get X amount for each ticket purchased. He has every right to become wealthy and acquire money as a result of the free choice of people voluntarily purchasing the basketball tickets to see him play. This is an example of how the money exchanged was rightfully acquired. What is principle of justice in transfer? A good example of justice of transfer would be if a landowner justly owns twenty acres of property and he freely sells ten acres to his neighbor for a specific amount of money. This would be justice of transfer since the landlord is willing to sell the property and his neighbor is willing to purchase and they both agree on the terms. The landowner would now have ten less acres of property but he would be X amount wealthier and his neighbor will now have ten additional acres and X amount less. Both parties agreed on the terms and neither leave worse off than prior to the transaction. What is principle of rectification of injustice? Basically how to restore something to its rightful owner, in case of injustice in either acquisition or transfer. A good example we could use is back giving an example of a football quarterback. The quarterback contact stated that he would get X amount for each ticket purchased. What happens if he is injured at the beginning of the season and doesn’t play any games except for the first three games? Is he still entitlement to the X amount per ticket or just a portion of the total? The contact doesn’t state anything about if he was injured and didn’t play. So should the quarterback be entitlement to the extra money. It may feel injustice since he didn’t play the majority of the games, but since his contact stated that he gets X amount per ticket then he is entitlement to the entire amount. The team doesn’t feel that he should get the entire amount. The team only gives him a portion of the money. The quarterback has the right to rectify and claim the entire amount since his contact doesn’t have a specific clause regarding being injured. He would have legal action to go after the team to pay him the entire amount. 4. Two main features of John Rawls’s theory of distributive justice are particularly important. What are these two features? Describe them. Rawl’s theory of distributive justice have two main features that are described in the textbook (Shaw and Barry, pg.122): 1. Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for all. I see this feature as saying each individual should have the equal rights or opportunities, basically not to restrict or deny the freedom of each person involved. 2. Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions. First, they are to be attached to positions and offices open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity; and second, they are to be to the greatest expected benefit of the least advantaged members of society. I see this feature as saying that there is social and economic inequalities and they may not be wrong or bad. These inequalities shouldn’t benefit the least well off. It doesn’t matter where a person was born into the social ladder. 5. What is the MAXIMIN rule for making decisions? According to our textbook the MAXIMIN rule states â€Å"you should select the alternative under which the worst that could happen to you is better than the worst that could happen to you under any other alternative-that is, you should try to maximize the minimum that you will receive.† (Shaw and Barry, pg.122). Basically it is stating that the rule is if there are more than one choice, the best decision rule is to consider the one with the least worst consequence for the best possible choice. 6. What is the role of the â€Å"veil of ignorance† in Rawls’ theory of distributive justice? According to our textbook the role of the veil of ignorance in Rawl’s theory â€Å"eliminates bias and makes the original position a fair way of choosing principles.† (Shaw and Barry, pg.121). I see at the method for determining the morality of an issue no matter what social role one may play, it is only how one truly considers the morality of a certain position. 7. According to Shaw and Barry, deciding what sort of economic arrangements would best promote human happiness requires the utilitarian to consider many things. What are the five considerations mentioned by Shaw and Barry? The five considerations mentioned in our textbook (Shaw and Barry, pg.111): 1. The type of economic ownership (private, public, mixed). 2. The way of organizing production and distribution in general (pure laissez faire, markets with government planning and regulation, fully centralized planning). 3. The type of authority arrangements within the units of production (worker control versus managerial prerogative. 4. The range and character of material incentives. 5. The nature and extent of social security and welfare provisions.

Appearance and Staging of The Relapse; or Virtue in Danger

Appearance and Staging of The Relapse; or Virtue in Danger In John Vanbrugh’s The Relapse; or Virtue in Danger, Act I, scene i. plays a crucial role in establishing the theme of appearance versus reality. Because this play is a continuation of Colley Cibber’s Love’s Last Shift, it is imperative that the first scene of the opening act has the ability to stand on its own. Therefore, in order to exude the themes of duplicity and manipulation, deceit and denial, it is essential that the casted actor and actress know not only how to act, but how to act within an act. In addition, by focusing specifically on the tone and the word choices Vanbrugh utilizes for the dialogue between Loveless and Amanda in the opening scene, the audience can readily detect the ultimate fate of the couple’s marriage. Lastly, by choosing the perfect setting for which the opening scene occurs and by directing the physical movements and facial expressions desired from the actors, the new rendition of Vanbrugh’s The Relapse will not only be a success, but will enable the audience to develop a deeper understanding of the characters and the motivations behind their actions in less than 150 lines. As the curtains open, the lights should be affixed upon a handsome looking man in his late twenties. Wearing clothing not as royal as the king or as disheveled as a beggar, this man must have an uncomfortable look in his appearance, not fitting in the role he is playing. Similarly, surrounded by shelves and shelves of thickly bound novels, the man should be sitting in an armchair with a novel in his hand, but his eyes shifting from one object to the other. Immediately, the appearance and the setting of the opening scene should radiate a sense of discomfort and unsuitableness. Assuming that a majority of the audience has not seen Cibber’s Love’s Last Shift, Loveless, husband to Amanda, must not appear to be the fully unkempt rake from the inception or the fully refined and reformed gentleman at the end. By allowing the setting and the initial perception of the actor to become the foundation of The Relapse, there is room for growing validity in the actors’ verbal exchanges. As Loveless opens with a soliloquy, he declares, â€Å"How true is that philosophy which says / Our heaven is seated in our minds† (I. i. 1-2)! With the help of the uncomfortable manifestation in which Loveless displays through his actions and speech, the audience can infer that Loveless is not only sitting in a room he is not fully accustomed to, but he is also partaking in something he has rarely done before, reading. Furthermore, Loveless betrays him desires to the audience by revealing to the audience of â€Å"all the roving pleasures of [his] youth/ (Where nights and days seemed all consumed in joy,/ Where the false face of luxury / Displayed such charms† (I. i. 3-6). Unconscious of his vulnerability to the audience, Loveless is mentally and emotionally reflecting on â€Å"the raging flame of wild destructive lust† while verbally seeking innocence by deeming his thoughts as â€Å"a warm pleasing fire of lawful love† (I. i. 15-16). By showi ng the contradictions between what he says and how he feels as well as emphasizing the inability to blend with his surroundings, the audience can see that Loveless is trying to talk himself out of what he loves. As the title of the play will suggest, Loveless has already relapsed in his mind and his heart. In fact, the reality is that Loveless does not find the life of â€Å"moment’s peace† to be exhilarating and prefers to engage his mind â€Å"musing on [his] happy state / and full of grateful thoughts† (I. i. 9, 20-21). The language of the opening scene is vital because it reveals both Loveless’s actions and his habitual nature. In addition, by manipulating the setting and the dress of the actor with the character’s dialogue, the scene takes full advantage of the character’s natural role as a rake. When Amanda walks on stage, she should bring no surprises or excitement. Although the actress playing Amanda should be young, in her early twenties, and attractive, she cannot be exceedingly beautiful. In addition, the actress playing Amanda should have a calm gait and plain, simple attire. By doing so, no new feelings are incited for Loveless, allowing their marriage to appear monotonous and habitual. In the exchange between the married couple, the word â€Å"heaven† is repeated over five times, disclosing to the audience that their love may extend beyond reality. There is a play on appearance versus reality in this exchange; although the perfect and divine nature of heaven is used to delineate the relationship between Loveless and Amanda (appearance), religion itself is detached from their relationship (reality). In addition, when Amanda enters the stage to meet Loveless, there should not be an interruption to Loveless’s thoughts. He verbally tells Amanda â€Å"You find me musing on [his] happy state / And full of grateful thoughts to Heaven and you† but his thoughts have not departed from â€Å"roving pleasures† (I. i. 20-21, 2). Similarly, when Loveless woos Amanda by saying â€Å"The largest boons that Heaven thinks fit to grant / To things it has decreed shall crawl on earth / Are in the gift of women formed like you,† the actor must act with deceit, almost imagining that the person he is wooing is not Amanda, but one of the â€Å"wild destructive lust† (I. i. 28-30). In order for the relationship to appear duplicitous and manipulative, both the actor and the actress must exaggerate their movements and speech. Every time the word heaven is used, the actors should be exaggerating their physical interactions with each other by drawing themselves closer to each other, climaxing when Amanda says, â€Å"There let [their love] grow forever† (I. i. 39). Unfortunately, the downhill deterioration of Amanda and Loveless’s marriage begins all too soon after the farfetched exchanges of Heaven granting them forever growing love. Amanda should be slowly pulling away from Loveless’s caress as she comments, â€Å"’Twere all the heaven I’d ask. / But we are clad in black mortality, / And the dark curtain of eternal night / At last must drop between us† (I. i. 42-45). Amanda seems to acknowledge in the futility of their relationship by disclosing the inevitability of â€Å"that mournful separation† (I. i. 47). Because Loveless is the deceiver, the actor who plays his role must be able to be simultaneously sarcastic, yet charming. Amanda, on the other hand, is intelligent yet insecure. Therefore, the actress playing her role must not be domineering and self-righteous, but must possess both intelligence and a sense of fear and self-denial when questioning her husband’s faithfulness. From the once seemingly affectionate and loving exchange between a husband and a wife now surfaces the harsh reality of a relationship built upon â€Å"rocks of reason† (I. i. 55). Also, within this conversation, there needs to be focus on Amanda’s ability to manipulate as well, though her manipulation result in sorrow and grief. Amanda’s utilization of guilt is a weapon of her manipulation. After claiming the certainty of a division between them, Amanda must look away from Loveless sorrowfully as she says, â€Å"Perhaps that pain may only be my lot;† but turn to him once more with the slightest tone of accusation saying, â€Å"You possibly may be exempted from it: Men find out softer ways to quench their fires† (I. i. 50-53). By questioning Loveless’s constancy simply by generalizing men as having the ability to find another female replacement, Amanda, in effect, is able to extract from Loveless the foundation of his love for her: â€Å"You’ll f ind ‘tis built upon a steady basis / The rock of reason now supports my love† (I. i.54-55). If logic and reasoning are the only means by which Loveless is married to Amanda, then the truth has been revealed and there is no more hope for this marriage. In addition, knowing that the character Amanda plays is that of a submissive wife, she does not have any power or control over Loveless. In fact, Amanda’s fears are made so transparent for the audience that sympathy is aroused toward her while condescension and contempt for Loveless. Therefore, the actress must reveal her truest self exposing to the audience her love for Loveless and her fears of his infidelity in their marriage. As Amanda confesses with parallel statements of, â€Å"I know its false insinuating pleasures; / I know the force of its delusions; / I know the strength of its attacks; / I know the weak defence of nature; / I know you are a man – and I – a wife,† her voice must be crying out in desperation, her body becoming weaker and weaker after each â€Å"I know† (I. i. 65-70), her knees touching the ground as she accepts her position as the subservient wife. Loveless, on the other hand, is roused to his feet in anger upon hearing h is wife’s fears and confession that she â€Å"is uneasy at your going to stay so long in Town† (I. i. 65). The role of the authoritative and the submissive can be portrayed by the actor and actress’s bodily physique. Amanda must have a fragile and innocent appeal to her; Loveless should appear arrogant and self-righteous. The words Loveless uses in response to Amanda include banish, traitors, arms, destructions, roving, bankrupt; these words show the harshness and coldness Loveless feels toward his wife. On stage, Loveless must rise in anger, his speech becoming more agitated, as he defends himself by saying â€Å"I have never thrown one roving thought that way† (I. i. 89). The actor must also be standing over the actress, exuding a sense of authority and power in the hands of a man. Knowing from the very beginning that the character, Loveless, does not belong in the countryside, there also needs to be a sense of urgency in his speech that reveals his desire to leave ‘Town’ and go to London as well. Ultimately, Loveless once again betrays his inner desires for sex with other women with his air of pride. Although he uses â€Å"honest conscience [as his] witness to never have thought of other women, his rhetoric are all indicative of sex as he references to â€Å"old cast mistress† and his â€Å"former boon companions† (I. i. 108). What appears to be honest conscience is in reality a mere reflection of Loveless’s inner desires. Towards the end of this act, Vanbrugh uses short, staccato lines in the back to back exchange between the couple; Loveless and Amanda are both engaged in an unbridled rage and ruthless contempt has been made exceptionally clear in the language structure. Throughout the argument, the two actors should be facing each other at a short distance away. Although the argument is tense, the actor playing Loveless must stand firm in his belief that Amanda’s distrusts of his faithfulness are wrong. In order to portray the anger on stage, not only must this exchange happen in rapid succession between Amanda and Loveless, they need to physically exaggerate their bodily movements to show anger and frustration. Although Loveless will remain cold-hearted even when the act ends, Amanda’s voice must be brought to a whimper after Loveless screams, â€Å"Fie, fie, Amanda! It is not kind thus to distrust me† (I. i. 127). Whereas Loveless’s fears are founded on distrust, Amanda ’s are â€Å"founded on [her] love† (I. i. 128). There is a collision of faithfulness and infidelity, love and deceit. As the act concludes, Amanda’s last lines, â€Å"’Twould be a weakness in my tongue / my prudence could not answer / If I should press you farther with my fears; / I’ll therefore trouble you no longer with ‘em,† depict her ultimate surrender to her husband’s infidelity (I. i. 136-140). Unable to persuade Loveless to stay with her in the countryside, Vanbrugh limits the female voice in communication to man, suggesting that the only hope for Amanda now is in a higher power of God. The first act of John Vanbrugh’s The Relapse; or Virtue in Danger is extraordinarily powerful in its ability to disclose characters’ motives and inner desires to the audience. In addition, not only is this opening scene captivating, it does not rely on luxurious staging or lighting. Because this play has a focus on appearance versus reality, through the means of dress and setting, the audience is able to acknowledge the ways in which the actors manipulate and deceive. From setting the stage to appear unfitting for Loveless to clothing Amanda in a simple night gown, the audience is able to detect the incompatibility of the married couple. Relying on the actors’ tone and body movements to betray their own selves, the audience can see through the actors’ deceits and self-denial. Ultimately, it is through the careful and well thought-out intertwining of the script and the acting that will determine the success of The Relapse.

Organisational Behaviour Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Organisational Behaviour - Coursework Example Siemens adopts the following organizational structure and culture as compared to other organization. Divisional structure-it configures the organization and breaks down the organization into various divisions which are self-contained. In order to increase the flexibility within an organization, employees responsible for a certain type of products are placed in divisional structure (Argyris C. , 2005). The company adopts this divisional structure since it delegates authority to each group which in turn increases the morale of the employees. There is also more flexibility in coordinating various divisions  thus  leading to efficiency especially when there is change in the market. Matrix structure- this type of structure groups the employees by both the product and the functions. It focuses on the use of teams so as to complete certain work. Since Siemens Company produces different products, it allows different departments to share information more easily and also allows specializat ion that can increase knowledge in a certain segment. Hierarchy-Community Phenotype Model of Organizational Structure-unlike other organizations, Siemens confers to its employees a sense of belonging where everyone is made to be part of the organization. With the evolution of technology and dynamism in the market, firms do not just exist to make only profits, but it also has some other responsibilities to the community and other stakeholders. This phenotype structure combines both informal and formal hierarchal society participation therefore viewing an organization as influencing and also being influenced by the environment (Argyris C. a., 2009). The relationship between an organization’s structure and culture and its impact on the performance of the organization Organizational structure and culture depends on how different activities are allocated, coordinated and supervised. It also determines on how an organization performs and operates its duties. Good organizational str ucture delegates authority to employees and improves employees’ efficiency and morale. Organizational culture outlines the way in which employees interact with one another and the way tasks are to be done within the organization. The cultural paradigm of Siemens consists of several values, beliefs, rituals and symbols that direct the operating styles of the employees within the organization. As in the structure and culture adopted by Siemens Company, collaborative structure offers a decentralized workforce with incorporates different units to work together for achievement of the intended objectives Organizational structure and culture have different impacts on the motivational level and performance of employees within the organization (Bennis, 2002). In most cases, employees put more efforts to achieve the goals of the organization if they consider themselves as part of the organizational structure and culture. Diverse cultures and structure operating within a company can hav e an effect on the way employees are performing their duties. Effective organizational culture enhances clear and open communication which in turn increases the organizational effectiveness. Great organization culture allows knowledge sharing within the organization which improves personal development of employees therefore

Is Freedom of Speech Really Free Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Is Freedom of Speech Really Free - Essay Example Kersch (2003, p.2) writes that, â€Å"American’s belief that freedom of speech is part of their national birthright, a birthright that sets the United States above other nations, has been a constant throughout U.S. history, as many foreign visitors have observed. But the scope of that freedom has shifted radically over the course of U.S. history.† This is a very sad and eye-opening statement which can better be understood after reading the following incident. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, delivered a speech recently in Washington, D.C. regarding the disappointment she was having in foreign leaders about respecting people’s freedom. Ray McGovern, who was a former CIA employee and a peace activist, attempted to make a protest against Hillary’s speech. He was put to silence after guards grabbed him; pulled him off cruelly; abused and double-cuffed him with metal handcuffs; and put him in jail, bleeding. Ray was abused because he opened his mouth while the Secretary of State was strongly assuring the citizens about the freedom of expression, in her speech. Ray shouted, â€Å"So, this is America?† while the cops dragged him away. The video footage can be seen on YouTube and the report by O’Connor (2011) can be read online. Is this the freedom of speech that our politicians guarantee us when they take our votes? This is nothing other than mere hypocrisy. Brad O’Leary’s book, Shut Up America!: The End of Free Speech, (2009) has beautifully explained that restrictions on freedom of thought and expression is very dangerous for our sustainability as a nation. He writes that, â€Å"In the 2008, Presidential Election, Congress issued no complaints about the content of television and print coverage of the race for the White House. But today’s congressional leaders want to punish talk radio for its critical coverage of television and print media bias† (p. ix). He asserts that today we do not enjoy f ree expression of ideas. A specific agenda is always forced on us making us believe that we are so unenlightened and provincial that we cannot understand our own good. They make us believe that we are not smart enough to be able to understand the difference between biased ideas and agendas and we cannot sort out things ourselves. We are told that we cannot form good opinions without their support, so we have to adopt their ideas and perspective to survive freely. â€Å"This group sees Americans as petulant children who refuse to eat their vegetables, and their solution is to forcefeed us what we clearly and definitely have rejected†, asserts O’Leary. A University of Florida student named Andrew Meyer asked some questions of Senator John Kerry in 2007 during a forum. He was constantly and excitedly trying to ask Kerry why he approved the 2004 election even after numerous reports of disenfranchisement of black voters and pre-prepared electronic-voting machines. Meyer was thought of being impolite and obnoxious. The police attacked him and eventually forced him to submit after Tasering him (FOXNews, 2007). Tasering means applying electric shock by means of a weapon which is used by police to control suspects. In the YouTube video, Meyer can be heard howling with pain, "Don't Tase me, bro, don't Tase me". What does this incident tell us about the freedom of speech? Is it really free? Certainly not. We can no more raise our voices. We cannot ask questions of our officials. We cannot say that we are not satisfied. We

How can retail banks in UK restore customer confidence and improve Dissertation

How can retail banks in UK restore customer confidence and improve customer satisfaction after the financial cri - Dissertation Example action and customer confidence. It gathers the multiple determinants of such problems based on several surveys involving about 10,000 respondents made of mostly customers of banks or households, some bank Branch Managers, and some bank employees. What will provide a way to improve customer satisfaction and customer confidence must be the creative initiative of all the UK Retail Banks. Since, it has been recovering from the economic crisis (in terms of profitability) while its customers do not enjoy the results of that recovery, the UK Retail Banks should identify the specific needs of customers, comply with FSA regulations, and offer customers a way to be a part of the economic recovery. That is aside from doing their services properly. After all, it was discovered that the customers were not the cause of decline in the economic variables. Speculations and lack of knowledge concerning the risks involved in the Capital Market were found to be the root cause of the most recent recessio n. Unfortunately, it appeared that the customers were the people castigated for the economic decline, while the banks that speculated were bailed out by government funds. Credit became hard to find for customers of banks. Terms and conditions became difficult to accept. Now the banks are recovering while the general public are still struggling to be treated fairly by the banks. How to revive customer satisfaction can be answered by the provision of the needed products and services for customers who need them in order to grow or be revived economically. There are many determinants of customer satisfaction. All of them point to one thing. Be concerned with the peoples’ needs and supply their needs properly. Chapter I Introduction In order to revive the UK economy during the recession period in 2008, the Bank of England implemented Quantitative Easing for its monetary policy effective 2009. In the month of March 2009, ?75 billion was added to the money supply when BoE printed ca sh to purchase Gilts (government bonds). This was followed by ?50 billion in May 2009; another ?50 billion in August 2009; and the final ?23 billion in November 2009. These amounts were anticipated to reach the households eventually so that the consumer spending would increase and the market was supposed to be revived. (BoE, 2009) Unfortunately, the money got stuck in the banks (Inmam, P. 2011). The appended Figure 1 shows how the velocity of transfer from banks to the corporations, SMEs, and households turned out to be very slow. When BoE researched for the reason why, it was reported that the banks had to rebuild its liquidity first with the total of ?200 billion released.

Leadership Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leadership - Personal Statement Example Manifestation of maladaptive motivation arises when organizations possess high tendency of tolerating violent behavior. Managers of the organization can assist by practicing and maintaining the ethical environment at workplace so that the organizational culture reflects ethical culture along with highly motivated employees. â€Å"Leaders need to have a degree of confidence to make tough decision, but their self-images are often seriously distorted.† (p. 54) Self-image refers to the image which a person holds for himself. Many researches in psychology have highlighted the importance of Self-image in one’s personal and professional life. For an effective leadership, it is vital to possess a positive and optimistic self-image. Leaders must have the faith and confidence in their decisions. For that, it is necessary to have enough brainstorming done before taking any tough decision. All the pros and cons must be analyzed carefully, maximum number of managers must be involved in the final decision to avoid any uncertain situation and bring the desired goals into reality. Sharing information with reliable employees also lightens the burden of managers. Smart managers understand this fact that confidence has a considerable impact on their decision making and ultimately on the profitability of the company. â€Å"Successful leaders see hard times as positive high points of their lives. In contrast, less successful leaders are defeated and discouraged by similar events.† (p. 99) Not only leaders, even every individual person gets stronger after facing hardships in life. Every pain and harm serves with a lesson. Successful leaders don’t get themselves caught up in any problem. They tend to keep on striving for better results in future. They believe that failure creates new opportunities for them in contrast to that, fearful and less successful leaders get discouraged by these types of events. It is often said that; â€Å"Hardships test Leaderâ €™s true strength†. When things are good, leaders demonstrate leadership qualities, but when things go wrong many leaders get apprehensive and go astray. That’s the right time to test and judge a leader. The true way of measuring a person is to see how they perform in difficult times. In my mind, leaders are than remembered for their leadership traits in that tough time, and not because of their wins and losses. â€Å"Clearly virtuous leaders are other-centered, not self-centered (p.170)." Through decades, it has been observed that a good leader is more concerned about others than their own self. Recent example that supports this statement is Steve Jobs. Despite of being diagnosed with cancer, he gave his optimum efforts to satisfy and please Apple’s customers and to increase the profitability of his company. Under the reign of Steve Jobs, the stock price of Apple’s share grew around 9000%. It shows the importance of selflessness of a leader. This typ e of leadership style is known as Servant Leadership. Presence of such leadership inspires not only the employees but the customers as well. The strength of this style of leadership is that it values, respects and motivates employees who are reporting to them. It forces people away from domineering and self-serving leadership, hence when everyone reaches their full potential, the overall performance of the company gets better. â€Å"Limiting leadership solely to good leadership ignores the reality that a

Hospitality Industry Placement Subject Assignment

Hospitality Industry Placement Subject - Assignment Example During my tenure within the workplace for the past 1 year, my prime aim has been to ensure friendly along with competent food and beverage related service which leaves up to the expectations of the guests at this well-acclaimed restaurant. The Chinese restaurant i.e. Iron Chef in situated in Cabramata, NSW Australia. I had obtained the scope of performing the assigned job role during the course of doing Bachelor of Business major in hospitality (2012-2013). Within the course I have come across, a number of concepts such as customer relations, systems and procedures, human resource responsibilities along with health & safety. Subsequently, the provided learning experience during placement has facilitated me to attain hands on experience regarding these academic notions. With these understandings, the report is being submitted with an aim to integrate the real workplace experience with the academic learning. 2. Description of the Organisation Iron Chef Chinese Seafood Restaurant is a p opular seafood restaurant in Australia. It delivers around 200 varieties of dishes to the customers (Iron Chef, n.d.). It has different luxury private dining rooms, each with unique themes and styles. Each room is decorated and is constructed with art audio and visual facilities. In this restaurant, all the offered dishes are very delicious and attract a lot of guests who are primarily seafood lovers. The offered delicious foods come in a variety of flavours. The restaurant also offers the facility to arrange certain occasions such as wedding, and birthday party among others (Iron Chef, n.d.). Despite the fact that the restaurant offers an exclusive location for the guests with high quality seafood,... It has been observed that Iron Chef is one of the leading Chinese Seafood and eco-friendly restaurants of Australia which offers special dishes for the Chinese people but it also offers certain local dishes for the residents of Australia. All the dishes of Iron Chef are delicious and the rooms of the restaurant are well-furnished and decorated, moreover it also has some luxury facilities. Despite the fact that the restaurant has been quite successful to meet the ever-evolving challenges in the Australian marketplace, it needs to focus on ensuring a greater visibility of the restaurant amid the global consumers. Iron Chef can provide greater focus on marketing and promotional activities to draw major consumer base. In addition, it also needs to render greater emphasis on training and development activities of its managerial level and supervisory level employees. Another factor which needs to be considered is inventory management which could enable Iron Chef to minimise its overall ope rational expenses by a considerable extent.

Financial market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Financial market - Essay Example In many economic set-ups or regional corporations that have a central bank, the main task of the bank is to ensure that each member’s rate has a considerable level of stability in the pricing of basic commodities by reducing interest rates. Other tasks include the ability of the central bank to act as a central reserve for the currency of the jurisdiction or country and to produce the legal tender used by the same country. Central banks perform several functions. They provide settlement services to large-value payments, act as lenders for the last resort, play a role to oversee banks for the sake of financial stability and monetary policy implementation. These jobs and their operations mode have repeatedly been redefined in order to decide on one specific financial and monetary crisis. In fact, all main stages in central bank functions shaping have been responses to financial and monetary crises. The Composition interpretation and the analysis of these crises are necessary to understand the functions that central banks need to implement and incarnate for a monetary economy to flourish. The origin of central banks as bankers’ banks was in 19th century England. Two conflicting theoretical conceptions of money, the banking principle and the currency principle, implied totally different roles of central banks. The central banks function is to put into effect convertibility of its bills into gold and to be flexible. Such flexibility is more consistent with the principle of banking, whereby money is a debt that financial intermediaries issue as the counterpart to their credit operations. Thus, it is the way of payments of debts issued by competing banks, payment between banks call for a superior bank to settle interbank transactions. This is mainly the role of the money given out by the central bank, money that is designed as legal tender for all debts. Nevertheless, the law cannot impose the trust of the economic agents in central bank money. It is

The Kite Runner Essay Example for Free

The Kite Runner Essay During the late 70s early 80s there was a strong disagreement between races in Afghanistan. In particular the Pashtun and the Hazarah. Two forms of the same religion but with only 1 difference. The Pashtun were higher up in the community than the Hazarah. The Pashtun were considered clean and fit to rule because they were primarily of pure descent unlike the Hazarah (Pashtun encyclopedia Britannica page 2). The Hazarah were looked down upon because they are usually of mixed families and were considered below the Pashtun (joshuaproject. net page 1-3). ?As the higher ups the Pashtun were wealthier and had more friends in the higher up chain of command in the Afghani government. They had servants who were normally Hazarah. The Hazarah were lower in class and used their labor to make a living by becoming servants to the Pashtun. Like Hassan was to Amir and Baba. ?Amir the main character and novel narrator is of the Pashtun religion and because of this he is accustomed to having the things he wants handed to him on a silver platter. The only things Amir feels deprived of is a deep connection both emotionally and figuratively with his father Baba. He blames it on himself because he is so different than Baba in so many ways. He also feels responsible for the death of his mother who died during Amir’s birth (muse. jhu. edu page 1-5) ? Hassan who is Amir’s best friend is of the Hazarah religion and is a lower class than Amir and the Pashtun. Amir overlooks this fact and is a loyal friend to Hassan until Hassan gets raped and Amir didn’t do anything to stop it or help him. After Hassan gets raped something changed in Amir. He began to feel guilty and his guilt began eating away at him. He became a total jerk to Hassan and Hassan had no idea why (Hazara encyclopedia Britannica page 1-3). ?Some of Amir’s guilt is directed towards Hassan who receives Baba’s affection instead of Amir. Amir feels that Hassan (a Hazarah and one of his family’s servants) is beneath him and shouldn’t be getting Baba’s affection as much as he is. ?Baba sees Amir as a coward when he is a boy. Amir lets Hassan fight all his battles for him which is why in my opinion Hassan gets more of the affection from Baba. Baba wishes that Amir would learn to fight his own battles from Hassan and ultimately grow a backbone and become more of a man that Baba wants him to become. Although its hard to see in some parts of the novel, religion is always present. Whether it be the beginning of the novel where Amir and Hassan are flying kites or it be at the middle where Amir and Baba are traveling to America. Once in America Baba and Amir began to bond more and ultimately become as close as they wanted to be for a very long time. Baba falls ill after Amir graduates from college. Baba’s last great act before his death is he (on Amir’s behalf) asks for an Afghani general’s daughter’s hand in marriage. Amir then marries her right before Baba’s death. After Baba’s death Amir focuses on his writing the stories he came up with. Once his first novel gets published he gets a call from Baba’s friend back in Afghanistan and he asks Amir to come back to the land of his childhood and take care of him. Amir agrees and travels back to Afghanistan (the kite runner page 194). Once back he meets Baba’s friend and he learns that Hassan wrote him a letter shortly before his murder at the hands of the Taliban. Amir learns that Hassan was actually his brother and that Hassan had a son that got sent away to an orphanage after his murder and it became Amir’s duty to go and find Hassan’s son. ?As Amir takes on the challenge of tracking down Hassan’s son he travels all over Afghanistan until he finally finds where the boy is. Amir talks to the man who took Hassan’s son and saw that he was using the boy for his own entertainment by attaching bells to his hands and feet and made him dance. (the kite runner page 278) The reason why the man is making Hassan’s son dance it to assert his authority and put the Hazarah boy in his place below the man who now is his guardian before Amir gets ahold of him (Hazarah encyclopedia Britannica page 1).

Techniques to Increase Student Enrolment

Techniques to Increase Student Enrolment International Student Recruitment at University of Wales (Positioning, Target Market, Services  and Advantages) ABSTRACT: The higher education market globally is becoming increasingly dynamic and competitive. Options for students have increased at a dramatic rate. The education industry is regarded no less then any other business, prospecting and attracting students from around the world. Consequently, we can say with utmost confidence that it is misleading to separate the word marketing from education industry. Students have been over loaded with information due to globalization, and realize that to survive in this competitive market, they need to equip themselves with the best knowledge. INTRODUCTION: The university once established can serve as an efficient self recruitment tool for students. Universities have been spending so much on recruitment activities but not on the right track. It is essential for universities to help, identify and clarify what their name in particular means and how it is different from other alternatives.  The role of a university is to widen horizons and challenge existing paradigms. This university will pursue these goals in their more traditional sense. However, the uniqueness of the institution means that special focus will be placed upon widening the horizons of its students and raising their own confidence to achieve their full potential.   The title of the University underscores our commitment to the region within which its campuses are located whilst reaffirming its responsibility, as a university, to the wider academic and international community. Mazarrol (1998) suggested that higher education is a considerable marketable service and it possess all the necessary characteristics of services identified earlier by Zeithaml et al (1985). Among the characteristics, difficulty in marketing intangibility of services prevails more in education industry as it is difficult to define (Mazzarol, 1998). Marketing of educational institutions in UK started in 1980’s (Brown and Oplatka, 2006) and due to increasing competitive environment, nationally and internationally, universities are sensing the need to market themselves aggressively and after careful situational analysis, they carefully need to adapt strategies to effectively position their in the mind of students (Ivy, 2001). Higher education has become a positional good in the sense that students, parents and employers view some institutions as offering better social life and future prospects and vice versa, institutes seek for the best students (Hirsch, 1976; Maringe, 2006).   University of Wales is already enormously diverse on any number of dimensions, including ethnicity and nationality. The University celebrates this diversity and looks further to widen its international reputation and appeal. Any firm, no matter which business they are in, works in vacuum. You need to observe actively which environment you are working in, considering all the external factors which might influence your business. Competitors, especially, have a massive impact on company’s profitability. Rivalry among existing competitors takes the familiar form of jockeying for a better position, pushing companies to adapt tactics such as price cuts, product innovation etc in order to have competitive advantage. All these devices one way or the other, affect the overall profitability of the firm. BACKGROUND: University of Wales is s a confederal  Pontypridd. It also accredits courses abroad and has over 100,000 students. The Chancellor of the University of Wales is  Archbishop of Wales, Dr. Barry Morgan. The Vice-Chancellor is Professor Marc Clement The University was composed of  Privy Council  to change its name to the University of Wales, Newpo Cardiff University and the University Of Wales College Of Medicine (UWCM) merged on  2005  to study other subjects are awarded Cardiff University degrees The University has a clear mission as a regional institution which aims to extend opportunity and widen participation in further and higher education and, to that end, commits itself primarily to teaching and learning rather than research. It is a relatively large institution, with some 31,000 registered students in 1996 97, of whom 65 per cent were studying part-time, 64 per cent were women and 59 per cent were aged over 25. 48 per cent of students described themselves as non-white. 11 per cent of students were from non-UK EU countries, and 22 per cent were from countries outside the EU. An important feature of the University is that some 22 per cent of its students are seeking further education qualifications, for which the University is not the awarding body, and for which it bears no formal responsibility for the standards of the awards. Similarly, many of the vocationally-based undergraduate and postgraduate programmed are accredited by professional or statutory bodies, whose standards and quality criteria the University is obliged to meet. In some of these cases, however, the University itself has been accredited by the awarding body (for BTEC courses, for example) and thus has effective sole control of quality and standards. A further important feature of the University is the strength of commitment of its staff to the institutional mission. We were constantly struck by the way in which this permeated many of our meetings with staff at all levels, from the Vice-Chancellor to the most junior support staff. The mission is ambitious: given the remarkable variety of the student body, the University has set itself a very demanding objective in seeking to provide higher and further educational opportunities which are comparable in standard of outcome, as well as quality of experience, with the generality of higher education institutions in the UK. It is a tribute to the Universitys staff that its mission remains a source of inspiration despite the difficulties that many of them have experienced in recent years. Briefs of Aims and Objectives: Research Aim: University of Wales  was established long time back providing services to facilitate students in attaining better education at different levels. It is facing fierce competition from other universities in London. Preliminary research has indicated that students fail to make associations about the positioning about key benefits of the University over its competitors and cannot identify a unified identity. Therefore, the University clearly needs to position itself against competitors in order to remain attractive in the domestic and international market. Research Objectives: In order to satisfy the aim for which this research is being undertaken, following objectives need to be accomplished which will lead to provide us the clear view of current position of  University of Wales. To systematically collect data from current students about perception of University in relation to their competitors. To identify the needs and expectations of students from the University. To identify the current positioning of  University of Wales. To critically analyze the findings about current positioning. Depending on the analysis, to reinforce the current image of its brand. OR, to re-position the  University of Wales  image. Finding developments necessary for university to make in order to meet gaps in provision. Key Words:  Positioning; Target Market, Service; Higher Education; Research Question: Q1) what are the perceptions of students about the  University of Wales  in relation to competitors? Q2) what is the current positioning of the  University of Wales? Hypothesis Perception HO1:  University of Wales  has no effect on perception of students. H11:  University of Wales  has positive effect on student’s perception. Positioning H02:  University of Wales  has no effect on to attracting students. H12:  University of Wales  has positive effects on attracting students. Research Methodology: In order to accomplish the end objectives for which this research is being conducted, both qualitative and quantitative techniques will be used, which are discussed further. Data collection, both primary and secondary has been divided into two phases. Phase 1 constitutes exploratory research aiming to look for secondary data from different sources as well as qualitative method of conducting focus groups in order to gather primary data necessary for the next step. Phase 2 accompanies quantitative techniques in the form of survey to gather finalized results to be analyzed. Data Collection (Phase 1): Exploratory research is investigation informal studies to provide background information. It is not intended to provide conclusive evidence from which to follow a concrete direction, rather it provides a basis that subsequent research will be a requirement to achieve final results. The basic purpose behind exploratory research is to exhaust inexpensive readily available data which may help to prevent mistakes like rushing into expensive detailed surveys (Zikmund, 1997). Exploratory research can be conducted using various techniques. For our research objectives, and considering the mind in limitations, the most suitable are secondary data and focus groups. Secondary Data:  Also termed as holistic data previously collected for some project other than the one at hand. It is relatively inexpensive and readily available, but we need to make sure it is consistent with the problem definition as they are not designed for the purpose to serve research needs (Zikmund, 1997). External sources where we can gather secondary data for this research includes Libraries (Huge source of information including databases, books and periodicals, journal articles) British Library,  University of Wales  library , EBSCO database, Emerald Management full text database, Athens DA Resources etc. The Internet (Provides secondary data, authenticity is a bit doubtful but in many cases huge information can be acquired). Focus Groups:  The second step of phase 1 is conducting focus group which is a qualitative method of data gathering. It is an unstructured, free flowing interview with a small group of people. Focus groups are not rigidly structured; rather they are of a flexible discussion format. The moderator introduces the topic to the participants who in turn carry out the discussion and as this discussion progresses, new topics emerge. It freely allows the participants to truly reflect their feelings and emotions in their own words (Zikmund, 1997). The role of the moderator is to ensure that all members participate in the session and none dominates it. Though focus groups are the least expensive ways of gathering information; it should be kept in mind that data gathered from focus groups only provide qualitative information. Another limitation to them is that since the members are not selected scientifically, they may not truly reflect the opinions of the whole population at large. However, t he exploratory information collected through focus groups can be a basis for further scientific research. We will be conducting two focus groups of 6 students each. One group will contain a random sample from the international students and other from the domestic students. The objective of the focus groups is to generate further insights about students and the factors they might feel important to them in their ultimate decision of selecting a University. We may or may not come up with factors other than discussed earlier. There is no scientific method to analyze qualitative data. Therefore recording of the whole focus group discussion will be carried out which will help to reduce any risk of biases. Face expressions is a short coming, and it solely based on moderators interpretation. Data Collection (Phase 2): The second phase of collecting data is by gathering quantitative data by asking respondents to fill in the finalized self administered questionnaire. We have selected a sample size of 200 students purely based on judgment and keeping in mind the limitations of the study. However, if further we might feel that the sample size is not justified; further alterations may be carried out. Non probability sampling technique is one in which sample is selected on personal judgment or experience and the probability of any member from the population is not known and within that framework, we will be using Quota Sampling (Zikmund, 1997). Quota sampling is a procedure which ensures that all the sub groups present in the population will represent the sample to the extent on the desire of investigator. A logical drawback of quota sample is it tends to select people which are easily available therefore careful supervision is required in order to gather a true representative sample of the population. Obviously, the logic for using quota sampling for questionnaires is that we want student representing  University of Wales  from different geographical backgrounds and level of education to be part of the sample. Quota allocation is explained below: Total Sample = 200 100 International Students 100 Domestic Students 50 Post Graduate Students 50 Graduate Students 50 Post Graduate Students 50 Graduate Students 10 Students from each geographic division America’s Asia Europe Australia Africa’s 10 Students from each geographic division America’s Asia Europe Australia Africa’s Data Analysis: The number of questions in the final questionnaire is not known as yet since they will depend on the findings from the primary data from focus groups. However, a few sample questions are listed below (not necessarily the part of final questionnaire): Q: The achievements of the institution for you? Q: The  University of Wales  avenues for religious practices? Q: Stable political economy of the host country is important? The most appropriate technique for measuring the attitude of students’ for this research is through Likert scale which is a type on an ordinal scale. It is a bipolar attitude measurement technique most widely used which allows respondents to rate how strongly they agree or disagree with these carefully constructed statement. Therefore, for our research we will construct a 5 point Likert Scale ranging from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree and weights are assigned to answers accordingly. An example is shown below: Q: The achievements of the institution for you? Each dimension as mentioned will contain certain questions which will reflect the attitude towards the overall dimension. Therefore in order to achieve this, we will use the method of cross-tabulation. It is a technique for organizing data by groups, categories or classes facilitating comparison between them). For individual question, calculation of confidence interval will be conducted using the t distribution. This will help us in finding out attitude of students that how many respond favorably or unfavorably to a certain question. The results will be measured and analyzed with the help of most extensively used statistical software called SPSS. Once data is input, immediate reports are generated and there is no probability of human calculation error. Conclusion: The aspect of positioning university brands in students mind is an increasingly growing phenomenon and now a pre requisite for institutions to effectively compete in domestic and international markets. Options for students have proliferated at a progressive rate. Globalization and competitive employment environment at the same time have lead students to treat education as a return on investment in order to safeguard their careers. The research will help the  University of Wales  establish a unique position in relation to its competitor which is favorable to students. By doing so, it can develop an enhanced image and also attract more students for a higher market share. Also, as mentioned before there are not many studies providing positioning dimensions for universities. Therefore, our exploratory research might lead us to come up with additional dimensions which can be helpful for universities in future to use as a base for positioning strategy. Once a positioning strategy has been identified and adopted by  University of Wales  based on this research, future research may be conducted about its validity and may serve as a case study for future work. References: Aaker, D. A. Shansby, G. J (1982), ‘Positioning Your Product’  Business Horizon, May/Jun, 56-62. Blankson, C. and Kalafatis S. (1999), ‘Issues and challenges in the positioning of service brands: a review’,  Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol. 8, No 2, p 106 -118 Brown, J., Oplatka, I., (2006) ‘Universities in a competitive global marketplace: A systematic review of the literature on higher education marketing’, International Journal of Public Sector Management,  Vol. 19/4, 316-338 Cowell. D., (1989), ‘The Marketing of Services’, Heinemann, London. Gray. J, Fam. S, Llanes. A, (2003), ‘Branding Universities in Asian Markets’,  Journal of Product and Brand Management’, Vol. 12, No 2, p 108-120. Hirsch, R. (1976), ‘Social Limits to Growth, Harvard University Press’, Cambridge, MA Hooley, G.; Broderick, A.; Moller, K. (1998),  Ã¢â‚¬ËœCompetitive positioning and the resource-based view of the firm’,  Journal of Strategic Marketing, June, Vol. 6 Issue 2, p97-115 Ivy, J. (2001), â€Å"Higher education institution image: a correspondence analysis approach†,  International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 276-82 James, R., Baldwin, G. and McInnis. C, (1999), ‘Which University? The Factors Influencing Choices of Prospective  Undergraduates’, Evaluation and Investigations Programme, Higher Education Division, Australia. Kalafatis S., Tsogas M., and Blankson C., (2000), ‘Positioning Strategies in Business Markets’,  Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Vol. 5, No 6, p 416-437. Kotler, P. (2000), ‘Marketing management’, 10th ed., London: Prentice Hall Levitt T., (1981), ‘Marketing Intangible Products and Products Intangible’,  Harvard Business Review, May-June, p 94- 102 Maringe. F, (2006), ‘University and course choice Implications for positioning, recruitment and Marketing’,  International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp. 466-479 Mazzarol T., (1998), ‘Critical success factors for international education Marketing’,  International Journal of Educational Management, 12/4, 163–175 Naude P., and Ivy J., (1999) ‘The Marketing Strategies of Universities of in the United Kingdom’,  The International Journal of Educational Management, 13/3, p 126-134 Nguyen N. and Leblanc G. (2001), ‘Image and reputation of higher education institutions in students’ retention decisions’,  International Journal of Educational Management,  Volume 15, Issue 6, p 303 – 311 Porter, M. E. (1996), ‘What is Strategy?’  Harvard Business Review,  Nov-Dec, p61-78 Ries, A., Trout, J. (1986), ‘The Battle for your Mind’,  McGraw-Hill, Singapore Sekaran, U. (2003), ‘Research Methods for Business: A skill building approach’, John Wiley Sons, USA. University for Jobs (2007), extracted from University of Surrey Mission statement, available at: www.surrey.ac.uk (accessed 20 May 2007).

Do It Publicly :: social issues

Do It Publicly With talk shows ruling day-time television, people are left with little choice but to watch this humiliating form of entertainment. Turn the television on in the afternoon and you will find a large variety of talk shows to choose from. "Maybe we have become a nation addicted to hearing our neighbors' seamy personal problems"(You 40). Personally, I feel it is both the lack of choice and the attraction to other peoples problems. Many of the topics on talk shows are degrading to our society. If person came to America for the first time and watched television, they would probably see a talk show. The model a talk show would give of American society is horrifying. For example, a common talk show topic is teens having multiple sex partners at young ages. However, not all teens are sexually active at such a young age. For this reason talk shows are misleading not only to foreigners but to children and young adults who are learning about morals and our society. In a letter to the corporate CEO's distributing these programs, William Bennett and Senator Joseph Lieberman asked: "Would you want your young children to view a program showcasing the sexual adventures of a 14-year-old girl who married her 71-year-old foster father"(Flint and Wharton). To those who do not tune into these shows this discription may sound like an exaggeration; however, it is not. This is exactly the type of topics on some shows. Not only are half the shows ridiculous with topics of deceit, revenge and "extreme behavior", but some of them are false(Flint and Wharton). On the Jerry Springer Show a Canadian comedy troupe went on the show and created a story. The story was that one of the men had an affair with his baby-sitter. After the show appeared on television, the troupe members went to the press saying how they deceived the program and its audience(You 52). Some people will do anything to be on television. Some shows trick people into situations. The Jenny Jones show has had several episode entitled "Secret Crush". In these episode secret admirers are revealed to her guests. In some cases her guests are displeased with their secret admirer. I can remember one episode that I watched. A woman was surprised by a man who had a secret crush on her. She was very disturbed when she realized who he was. Do It Publicly :: social issues Do It Publicly With talk shows ruling day-time television, people are left with little choice but to watch this humiliating form of entertainment. Turn the television on in the afternoon and you will find a large variety of talk shows to choose from. "Maybe we have become a nation addicted to hearing our neighbors' seamy personal problems"(You 40). Personally, I feel it is both the lack of choice and the attraction to other peoples problems. Many of the topics on talk shows are degrading to our society. If person came to America for the first time and watched television, they would probably see a talk show. The model a talk show would give of American society is horrifying. For example, a common talk show topic is teens having multiple sex partners at young ages. However, not all teens are sexually active at such a young age. For this reason talk shows are misleading not only to foreigners but to children and young adults who are learning about morals and our society. In a letter to the corporate CEO's distributing these programs, William Bennett and Senator Joseph Lieberman asked: "Would you want your young children to view a program showcasing the sexual adventures of a 14-year-old girl who married her 71-year-old foster father"(Flint and Wharton). To those who do not tune into these shows this discription may sound like an exaggeration; however, it is not. This is exactly the type of topics on some shows. Not only are half the shows ridiculous with topics of deceit, revenge and "extreme behavior", but some of them are false(Flint and Wharton). On the Jerry Springer Show a Canadian comedy troupe went on the show and created a story. The story was that one of the men had an affair with his baby-sitter. After the show appeared on television, the troupe members went to the press saying how they deceived the program and its audience(You 52). Some people will do anything to be on television. Some shows trick people into situations. The Jenny Jones show has had several episode entitled "Secret Crush". In these episode secret admirers are revealed to her guests. In some cases her guests are displeased with their secret admirer. I can remember one episode that I watched. A woman was surprised by a man who had a secret crush on her. She was very disturbed when she realized who he was.

Wedding Speech Delivered by the Groom -- Wedding Toasts Roasts Speeche

Wedding Speech Delivered by the Groom I’ll have to keep this speech short because of my shins . . . Nicola has threatened to kick them I go on too long. The humor here is that you think I’m joking. I’d like to start by thanking you all on behalf of my wife and I, for sharing our special day. Thank you all for your kind wishes, cards and presents. I can’t wait to see how many stick on shower radios we get, and exactly how you wrap a wheelbarrow! Nicola and I have been worrying about this day for weeks and it means a great deal to us that you managed to make it. We hope you are all having a great time. Thank you to Barry and Marilyn for making this day possible. Without their help and support, none of us would be here today. I have to thank them both for bringing up such a beautiful and intelligent daughter, I’ll leave you to argue over which trait comes from who. Thank you t...

Witnessing the Unwitnessable :: Essays Papers

Witnessing the Unwitnessable Against a black canvas glimmer countless particles of light. Some assert themselves as tiny pinpricks while others pool into swirls of color on the ebony backdrop. A cursory glance at these speckles might discern them as nothing but randomness, but a closer examination reveals a certain sense of artistic unity. Their palette is simple – shades of black, white, yellow, blue, red, orange – while their details are elegant. A whirl of gold dances nears a splotch of sapphire; a daub of dainty pink resembles a rose; drops of ivory encircle a void like a pearl necklace; lacy, white tendrils reach toward a spray of amber. These descriptions might hint at a painting, but in this case, the image in question has no artist – it is a photograph of deep space produced by the Hubble Space Telescope known as the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Taken of a random patch of sky no larger than a grain of sand over a period of three months, this photograph contains an estim ated 10,000 galaxies, each of them billions of years old. This single, tiny frame has captured the profound immensities and beautiful harmony of the universe in an image that defies comprehension. The blackness of the night sky belies the menagerie of color and light hidden from our eyes. Many cosmological objects are too faint to be seen, many emit wavelengths of light our eyes do not know how to respond to, and many (the far side of the moon, for example) are impossible to behold from Earth’s surface. Astrophotography, which will here be broadly defined as â€Å"the capturing of all images of space,† provides a keyhole through which we may view celestial spectacles we would never normally see. Photons, particles of light, are often the only evidence we have of the existence of the vast majority of the objects in the universe. By committing these photons to photographic plates or pixels, astrophotographers capture an imprint testifying that whatever emitted them exists somewhere in the infinity. Seizing photons gives us the power to transform a remote and unimaginable galaxy into a real and tangible photograph. Even more important, viewing astr ophotography raises questions about the fundamental nature of both ourselves and the universe.

Ideologically Correct Science Essay

The book â€Å"Science and Ideology: A Comparative History† by Mark Walker seeks to give a comparative history of ideology and science in the 20th century. Chapter 3, â€Å"Ideologically Correct Science,† is considered to be one of the strongest chapters of the work. Conventionally, scholars have taken the cases of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union as typical examples in studying the relationship between ideology and science. However, in Chapter 3 of the book, Gordin, Grunden, Walker, and Wang expand conventional analysis to include the cases of France, Japan, the United States, and China. The purpose is to arrive at an examination of how science functioned in different countries under different ideological regimes. â€Å"Ideologically correct science† is defined as the â€Å"attempts by the state (or at least some representatives of, or forces within the state) to not only use science, but also transform it into a more ideologically accepted form, both with regard to scientific content and institutions† (Gordin, 2003, p. 35). Science is studied in relation to ideology because it is generally assumed that science is influenced by the political environment. However, how this relationship takes place in specific circumstances is not clearly known (Gordin, 2003). Some examples cited by Gordin et al. that demonstrate the call for an ideologically correct science under different types of regime include the Jacobins indicating the need for a democratic and not aristocratic science in the French Revolution, The Bolsheviks calling for a Marxist and not a bourgeoisie science in the Soviet Union, and the Red Guards highlighting a people’s science during Mao’s Cultural Revolution, to name a few (Gordin, 2003). Gordin et al. proceed to cite different cases that demonstrate the interplay of science and ideology. They examine the state of science amid political and social upheavals in France, Japan, Soviet Union, the United States, and China. The different examples clearly have similarities and differences, and several conclusions were made. First, science is not determined by ideology, nor is it entirely not influenced by ideology. Second, there is no regime that has attempted to invariably enforce on its scientists an ideologically correct science. A part of the regime or certain individuals might have attempted to do so, but they do not represent the entirety of the political system. Furthermore, there are certainly other reasons for the attempt apart from the goal to enforce an ideologically correct science. Third, not one ideology, not even democracy, was successful in imposing its ideological standards to its scientists. According to Gordin et al. communist governments might appear to have been more imposing, but in fact, they were even more flexible and practical at times (Gordin, 2003). Evidently, there are similarities and differences in the relationship between science and ideology in the examined cases, but bottom line is, no political system has shown itself to be better or worse at harnessing science. This is because scientists frequently respond to the pressures they face from the government by sim ply cooperating with the regime instead of resisting or attempting to transform it. In summary, Gordin et al. ’s â€Å"Ideologically Correct Science† in Walker’s â€Å"Science and Ideology: A Comparative History† presents a relevant examination of science and ideology as earlier works mostly focused on Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union only. The analysis, although sacrificing depth over breadth, gives an expanded view through the use of different cases and regimes where the relationship can be more closely examined. Second, the careful analysis helps us arrive at a thorough understanding of the issue. While we assume that science should generally be uninfluenced by any factor, more so by political and ideological ones, it is certain that we agree, to some extent, that it is influenced and shaped by ideology through the imposition of its standards and requirements. The essay of Gordin et al. helped clarify that the relationship between the two is not simplistic as it seems. In fact, their interaction can best be described as complex and subtle. Finally, the essay is well organized as it gives a brief introduction of the topic before citing the individual cases and finally presenting the conclusions of the work. Overall, it is a must-read for individuals interested in the relationship between ideology and science in the 20th century, particularly on how science is shaped under different ideologies in different countries.

Week 1 Knowledge Check

Knowledge Check Week 1The material presented below is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all you need to know in the content area. Rather it is a starting point for building your knowledge and skills. Additional study materials are recommended in each area below to help you master the material. Personalized Study Guide Results: Score: 12 / 12 Concepts Mastery Questions Pricing Decisions 100% Market Systems 100% Market Equilibrium 100% Concept: Pricing Decisions Mastery 100% Questions 1 . Revenue increases when †¢ A. roducer surplus increases Correct : Producer surplus is the difference between the minimum price the producer is willing to receive and what they actually receive. The surplus is their profit, and the larger the surplus, the greater their profit on the good. When it decreases, the producer receives a price closer to the minimum acceptable. The consumer surplus measures what the consumer is willing to pay and that price’s difference from the market price. The closer to the market price, the higher the consumer surplus, as consumers are spending ess than they are willing to, and the less spent, the lower the revenue will be for the good. Materials †¢ Producer Surplus 2 . An increase in the price of an inelastic goods †¢ C. increases revenues Correct : Inelastic goods are necessities that consumers continue to purchase even when the price increases. This increases the revenue, as more is paid for each good. The percentage change in price increases faster than the change in quantity, which may remain constant. When more is paid for a good or a service, revenue increases. Materials †¢ Price Elasticity and the Total-Revenue Curve Inelastic Demand 3 . Price elasticity of Demand increases whe †¢ C. people become more price sensitive over time Correct : Price elasticity of demand measures the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price. Price elasticity is either inelastic or elastic. As the price elasticity of demand coefficient rises, price elasticity becomes more elastic. A low price elasticity coefficient relates to an item that has very few substitutes, which causes people to be less sensitive to a change in price, such as in gasoline or medicine (inelastic demand, Ed

Library vs. Internet

COMPUTERIZED LIBRARY SYSTEM: Foreign Study Chapter I Project Overview Introduction Nowadays, in a highly technological society, human productivity is made more efficient through the development of electronic gadgets. Now, with the advent of such modernization in education, one way to globalize the process of research is to realize that technology is advancing at an incredibly fast pace. Computers are not confined to being used for entertainment but its role in education is also vast. Library is derived from the old French term â€Å"librairie† which means â€Å"a collection of books. † Reading materials in school are stored in libraries.Library is a place in which books and related materials are kept for use but not for sale. It is also organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution or a private individual. In addition, it is a place in which we get information in any format and from many sources. The librarian has to keep the room neat so that it is conducive for learning. The librarian is also the person who is liable for monitoring all the books that are borrowed and returned by the borrowers. http://www. studymode. com/essays/Computerized-Library-System-427957. html Local Studies About Library System- A Sample ThesisLibrary systems, comparisons and contrasts. For the children of today, going to the library,  searching  through the card catalogue to look for books on topics they need to research on is quite archaic! However, many of us still remember how time consuming this was. The kids of today certainly have it easy. Imagine getting all the information you need with one-click of your mouse!?! An  integrated library system  (ILS), also known as a  library management system  (LMS), is an  enterprise resource planning  system for a  library, used to track items owned, orders made, bills paid, and patrons who have borrowed.An ILS usually comprises a  relational database, software to interact with that datab ase, and two  graphical user interfaces  (one for patrons, one for staff). Most ILSes separate software functions into discrete programs called modules, each of them integrated with a unified interface. Examples  of modules might include:  §Ã‚  Ã‚  acquisitions (ordering, receiving, and  invoicing  materials)  §Ã‚  Ã‚  cataloging  (classifying and indexing materials)  §Ã‚  Ã‚  circulation (lending materials to patrons and receiving them back)  §Ã‚  Ã‚  serials  (tracking  magazine and  newspaper  holdings)  §Ã‚  Ã‚  the  OPAC  (public interface for users)Each patron and item has a unique ID in the database that allows the ILS to track its activity. Larger libraries use an ILS to order and acquire, receive and invoice, catalog, circulate, track and shelve materials. Smaller libraries, such as those in private homes or  non-profit organizations  (like churches or synagogues, for instance), often forgo the expense and maintenance required to run an ILS, and instead use a library computer system. (Wikipedia) Automation of the catalog saves the labor involved in re-sorting the card catalog, keeping it up-to-date with respect to the collection, etc.Other tasks which are now automated include checking-out and checking-in books, generating statistics and reports, acquisitions and subscriptions, indexing journal articles and linking to them, as well as  tracking  interlibrary loans. Since the late 1980s,  windowing systems  and multi-tasking have allowed the integration of business functions. Instead of having to open up separate applications, library staff could now use a single application with multiple functional modules.As the  Internet  grew, ILS vendors offered more functionality related to computer networks. As of 2009  major ILS systems offer web-based portals where library users can log in to view their account, renew their books, and authenticate themselves for access to  online databases. (Wikipedia) In r ecent years some libraries have turned to major open source ILSs such as  Koha  and  Evergreen. Common reasons noted were to avoid vendor lock in, avoid license fees, and participate in software development. Librarytechnology. rg does an annual survey of over 1,500 libraries and noted in 2008 2%[3]  of those surveyed used open source ILS, in 2009 the number increased to 8%[4]  and in 2010(most recent year available) 12%[5]  of the libraries polled had adopted open source ILSs. (Wikipedia) Read more:  http://ivythesis. typepad. com/term_paper_topics/2011/06/local-studies-about-library-system-a-sample-thesis. html#ixzz2DsPW4UYZ http://ivythesis. typepad. com/term_paper_topics/2011/06/local-studies-about-library-system-a-sample-thesis. html Library: foreign literatureThe network libraries now have autonomous library systems (TINLIB version 280 of IME) with reciprocal access to each others catalogs via the PHnet. Training on site and in UK has been provided by IME to the s taff of the network. Staff expertise on the use of all the modules of TINLIB running on UNIX has been brought to a level where the staff can now confidently train others and maintain the system. Online support via the Internet is also provided by IME upon request. The choice of a common library system was decided by the technical committee of the network libraries to have a uniform platform, training programs, import profiles, etc. cross the network and for ease in establishing a user group/systems administration group. TINLIB was chosen because it met the systems specifications prepared by the technical working group, and had favorable references from users. Additional features which gave it an edge over other systems is its utilization of hypertext techniques, client-server architecture, and ability to import and export data from any of the databases existing in the network libraries. The library directors and heads are under tremendous pressure to continue and expand the networke d services.Four of the services which need to be implemented immediately are:          1) the creation of a union catalog for books, audio-visual, serials and Filipiniana articles and researches;          2) access to CD-ROM abstracts and indexes and full text journals and references from any site on the network, subject to copyright and licensing agreement with suppliers and publishers;          3) development of networking navigation tools and training programs; and          4) building of sufficient monetary resources and/or commitment of university officials to allocating sufficient funds for the maintenance of the network. ) transforming the College of Science library into a National Science Library and Information Center to widen the scope of its services http://www. studymode. com/essays/Library-Foreign-Literature-906068. html

Subtypes of Schizophrenia

Paranoid Type People with paranoid type of schizophrenia suffered from delusions and hallucinations (mostly auditory), but they can speak logically and give appropriate emotional responses since their cognitive skills and affect are intact. These patients may have delusions and hallucinations characterized by themes of grandeur or persecution, i.e. thinking themselves as famous persons or being persecuted, so these usually make them less likely to get social support. Disorganized Type People with disorganized schizophrenia perform disrupted speech and behavior. They may jump from topic to topic suddenly in their speech and this make their conversation illogical. Sometimes they show blunt affected or inappropriate emotional responses, for example, they may cry after listening to a joke. If they also experienced delusions and hallucinations, these false thinking and perception will appear to be fragmented and disorganized. Catatonic Type People with catatonic type of schizophrenia will hold their bodies in specific positions for a long time. If someone tries to change their rigid gestures, they will keep their bodies in the original positions again and this is called waxy flexibility. In contract to waxy flexibility, sometimes they are excessively active. They may also display odd bodily mannerisms and facial expressions and often mimic the words or movements of others. Undifferentiated Type People with undifferentiated type of schizophrenia suffered from the major symptoms of the disorder, but they do not fit neatly into the three subtypes mentioned above. Residual Type People with residual type of schizophrenia have had at least one episode of schizophrenia but they no longer display major schizophrenic symptoms. They may experience residual or ‘leftover’ symptoms, such as negative belief, social withdrawal, bizarre thoughts, inactivity and flat affect. Other Psychotic Disorders People with other psychotic disorders may display similar symptoms as schizophrenia but these symptoms do not fit neatly into the diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia. Other psychotic disorders include the following categories. Schizophreniform Disorder Some people have suffered from the symptom of schizophrenia for a few months, and after treatment, the symptoms disappear for no apparent reason. This type of disorder was classified as schizophreniform disorder. Schizoaffective Disorder The patients with schizophrenic symptoms and also mood disorders are diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder. Delusional Disorder This type of patients suffered from no other symptoms of schizophrenia except delusion, and their delusions are not realistic. These delusions are not due to organic factors such as brain seizures. Brief Psychotic Disorder Patients with brief psychotic disorder suffered from one or more positive symptoms, or disorganized speech or behavior lasting 1 month or less. The patients then regain the ability of functioning in daily living. This disorder can be triggered by severe life stressors suddenly. Shared Psychotic Disorder (Folie a Deux) People suffered from shared psychotic disorder because they are influenced by schizophrenic delusional patients who have very close relationship with them. They experienced delusions which are originated from these delusional individuals with similar themes and nature.

Examining Local Solutions Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Examining Local Solutions - Research Paper Example In regard to Toronto city, these sites are considered to be the contaminated sites, which appear to be so because of previous land-use activities, which among other things involves, waste disposal and manufacturing (Adkin 65). This problem has been extensive in Toronto due to gradual, but steady increase of industries in the urban center. Due to this fact, there have been efforts to transfer industries in the outcasts of the city. As a result, there have been vacant industry sites, which poses a great threat to environmental and health hazards to city dwellers. In light with these deliberations, it is apparent that the effort to develop the brown fields in Toronto is for the good course of solving some underlying problems associated wit h these sites. Some of these sites risks safety of people living around these areas. For example, it is obvious that some of these sites contain empty or uncovered construction grounds, which poses a risk of people being hurt as they pass by these sit es. The most at risk are children who are fond of playing in such grounds. Due to constructions that took place before the sites have been vacated, it is apparent that such constructions interferes with landscapes. This may cause soil erosion, and which consequently may lead to formation of gullies and eventually land slides (Todd 28). Abandoned sites also pose a threat of health hazards to people leaving in the neighborhood. For example, these sites may contain bushy grounds, which can attract hiding sites for mosquitoes. The sites may also contain grounds that act as mosquito breeding grounds. Mosquitoes cause malaria, which a fatal disease. It is also argued that people tend to stigmatize such sites. They consider them unpleasant for human beings, thus stigmatizing them. However, if these sites can effectively be developed, they can benefit both the government and people living around these areas. For example, if there could be measures to rehabilitate or develop these sites, the government can earn some revenue from them (Tomalty Para 6). Some of the ways through which government can develop these sites is through constructing social amenities, which can help improve the lives of the city dwellers. The government can also set up various government offices which can be used to facilitate government operation within the city. This would reduce congestion of some offices in the city, this enhancement of service delivery to the citizens. The private sector can also be allowed to develop these sites. This can allow the government to collect taxes from such developments, thus earning some revenue (Melissa and Erica Para 3). Additionally or alternatively, these sites can be put under greening programs. This involves planting of trees and other vegetation which help preserve the environment. Since the city is filled with much of carbon emissions mostly emanating from automobile, making such sites go green would help solve the problem of carbon emission. Vegetation helps absolve carbon dioxide and in return produces oxygen, which is healthy for human beings. Rationale for possible solutions The issue of brown fields affects people in the surrounding and the whole society in one way or another. Therefore, it is apparent that civil society involvement would be the best option in the effort to develop and solve problems associated with these sites (Heynen, Kaika and Swyngedouw 53). This is arguably true because when these