Ethical hacking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethical hacking - Essay Example One learner might make an impression on the other or port-filter the other understudy and both people might record the effects. The learners reacted with a lot of energy. After a week there were assorted types of strike from outside sources and the scholars started to archive these and to track down the sources. Significant devices here were tcpdump and tethereal for information catch. We needed each learner to get mindful of the powerlessness of the framework doled out to her/him, and this happened. One commonsense issue was teaching the scholars to give documentation in such a route, to the point that catch documentation gained was not excessively voluminous and troublesome to review. We were, then again, unable to actualize the sum of our objectives and set three characteristics aside for consequent emphasess of the course: (1) giving mysql and ACID to help people examine the information caught, (2) having Snort sent email cautions in regards to specific sorts of endeavors, and (3 ) firewall setup utilizing iptables. The accomplishment of this methodology urged us to take a gander at applying this engineering to the educating of machine systems (Infs6230). Here we embraced a methodology concentrating on subjects: convention stacks, exemplification of information units, and directing disclosure. We needed our people to have the capacity to distinguish and comprehend information units at each level. Critical apparatuses again here were tcpdump and tethereal for information catch. We picked a dynamic scope of directing revelation, starting with the arp reserve and portion steering table (netstat –rn), and continuing through static steering, and element directing (RIP and OSPF, each one recreated by the Quagga suite), to a Cisco 2610 switch. The last venture of embodiment and directing knowledge was building tunnels utilizing Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE). The construction modeling (please see Figure 3.1. - Xen

Discovering america Essay Example for Free

Discovering america Essay Columbus’ discoveries forced the world to change. Bythe end of the thirty year war, European nations were beginning to impose themselves upon the rest of the inhabited world with tremendous repercussions. And a while few people except experts and some government officials knew of the sources and reasons for the changes, nevertheless from 1942 onwards, the influences of the New World were irrevocably present in world history. â€Å" We cannot reckon how great the damage is, since the merchants are taking every day our native, sons of the land and vassals and our relatives, because the thieves and man of bad conscience grab them wishing to have the things and wares of this kingdom which they are ambitious of. † As stated in document 5, this was a negative effect because their land is being taken and they are losing everything that they own. â€Å"Heretics(protestants) are never said to have converted either pagans or Jews to the faith. † In document 6, they are saying that there has never really been any heretics that they have come across, they have had mostly Catholics. Hardly a handful have converted to being Heretics. â€Å"Before the voyages to Peru, one could keep much wealth in a little place , but now that gold and silver have been cheapened by abundance , great chests are required to transport what before could be carried wrapped in a piece of drugget . † In document 11, it is saying that the people could pretty much keep whatever .

harry potter and lord of the rings :: essays research papers

The Hero Quest Pattern in Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter The authors of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter each use the hero quest pattern as a scheduled backdrop of action. The two protagonists, Frodo Baggins and Harry Potter have very similar beginnings. They are introduced as normal boys who find out that they are going to undertake something very great. The two protagonists however, are not alone in their quests. They both have very similar mentors in Gandalf and Dumbledore respectively. Even greater guidance comes from their friends, who are there every step of the way. Each novel uses a reoccurring symbol to show the presence of evil. The two journeys are so epic due in part to the dark and powerful villains that each hero has to battle. The two hero’s Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins are two very ordinary people before discovering what lay in store for them. Harry lived with his aunt and uncle in terrible conditions after his parents were murdered and Frodo lived with his uncle after his parents drowned. Harry learns of his true powers when he is twelve, he someone tells him that he was the one who killed Voldemort "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived"(Rowling). Harry’s parents were murdered but there love for him protected him, and when Voldemort tried to kill him, his spell backfired and nearly killed him. Harry doesn’t find this out until he is twelve years old, old enough to go to wizardry school. In the Lord of the Rings, middle earth can not agree on what to do with the ring. They finally decide to destroy it, but now can not decide who will carry it. Frodo volunteers to carry the ring when all the other races can not agree who will take it. harry potter and lord of the rings :: essays research papers The Hero Quest Pattern in Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter The authors of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter each use the hero quest pattern as a scheduled backdrop of action. The two protagonists, Frodo Baggins and Harry Potter have very similar beginnings. They are introduced as normal boys who find out that they are going to undertake something very great. The two protagonists however, are not alone in their quests. They both have very similar mentors in Gandalf and Dumbledore respectively. Even greater guidance comes from their friends, who are there every step of the way. Each novel uses a reoccurring symbol to show the presence of evil. The two journeys are so epic due in part to the dark and powerful villains that each hero has to battle. The two hero’s Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins are two very ordinary people before discovering what lay in store for them. Harry lived with his aunt and uncle in terrible conditions after his parents were murdered and Frodo lived with his uncle after his parents drowned. Harry learns of his true powers when he is twelve, he someone tells him that he was the one who killed Voldemort "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived"(Rowling). Harry’s parents were murdered but there love for him protected him, and when Voldemort tried to kill him, his spell backfired and nearly killed him. Harry doesn’t find this out until he is twelve years old, old enough to go to wizardry school. In the Lord of the Rings, middle earth can not agree on what to do with the ring. They finally decide to destroy it, but now can not decide who will carry it. Frodo volunteers to carry the ring when all the other races can not agree who will take it.

Life of Cleopatra

One of the well thought-out classic scopes was the life of Cleopatra. She was considered as one of the most famous and influential figures in olden times. Because of the Hollywood film done for her account it was very tough to find which was real and which myth was. Her life was full of scheme and cleverness, and mystery. She was truly a dominant and radiant woman whose places in history, her tools that took her to manage many powerful men in her life and also led her to ultimate demise were her beauty, native allure and appeal.A lover, warrior, mother, enthusiast of all that brought splendor, queen of Nile, and were the account associated to her, but the certain thing was that she was last Pharaoh of Egypt. The life of Cleopatra was influenced the mythological ideas of the most writers as well as Shakespeare. Through her life the substitute ability to Catholic academic doctrine was recognized. As the matter of fact the influence of outside literature and arts were commanding in Rome up to now. And by her impressive history, many writer was trying to dig deeper the reality of her life.And this was the beginning of her epic life. Cleopatra VII Philopator or Cleopatra the destined queen was born in Alexandra the former capital of Egypt 69 years before the birth of Christ. A beautiful baby was the eldest child of Cleopatra VI Tryphaina and Ptolemy XII Auletes Theos Philopator Philadelphos Neo Dionysos also known as Ptolemy XII the reigning pharaoh of that time. At the very young age of nine, Ptolemy her father was allegedly a son of a non-married couple, her father was trying to overcome the trial for his fading supremacy by bribing authoritative Romans.Cleopatra VI was died when they returned to Egypt. Through Roman forces the throne was regained by his father. At 51 BC her 9 years old brother Ptolemy XIII was married to her at the age 18, with the same age together with her brother and husband she became the queen of Egypt by inheriting the ruler ship of her fat her. In the beginning of Cleopatra’s reign all was not so easy due to the fact of her age, many groups were too envious of her cleverness and for ruling the entire Egypt unaided and she had to compete with her enemies, and these were the reasons why she struggled completely.The Romans were conquering city after city, until the ministers pressed Cleopatra out of her command after ruling the Egypt for three years. She moved out of Egypt and lived in Syria and left the throne to her brother alone that she thought agreed with the situation. Because of the circumstances she was too infuriated but didn’t give up. When she learned that Julius Caesar was in Alexandria, Cleopatra planned to go back to her native land in secret to escape from the hand of her brother.To get coalition against her brother Ptolemy XIII and to defend her mother landed from fraud, as what the most accounts told that Cleopatra offered her virgin body and surrendered it in the form of rug, she covered u p herself in an oriental rug and presented it to the general who almost four times of her age . And she got the attention of the Romans general, Julius Caesar fall in love at the first sight to her when the rugs unfold. Her charisma and allure beauty surpassed the influence of Caesar. Ptolemy XIII affirmed warfare against Caesar and his Roman soldiers since he believed that he was deceived.Caesar took controlled of the throne of Alexandria when he defeated Ptolemy XIII in the war. After the battle Caesar due to his loved to Cleopatra he gave back the power to Cleopatra to rule the Egypt alongside with her brother Ptolemy XIV as co-leader. In June 47 BC Cleopatra bore a child and to emphasize that her son was from Caesar she named him Ptolemy XV Caesarion, but Caesar never properly acknowledged fatherhood. In 46 BC General Julius Caesar returned to Rome he brought Cleopatra and his son showing as a prisoner of war because he was already married with Calpurnia.But Cleopatra fought for her privilege; she asserted to be the wife of Caesar that brought him to assassination in 44 BC. After Caesar murdered Cleopatra go back to Egypt, she recognized her son Ptolemy XV Caesarion as her co-monarch regardless of the rumor that she perhaps killed her brother Ptolemy XIV. Rome Empire began to divide upon the death of Julius Caesar, and because of Caesar assassination Cleopatra’s throne was in danger; she collaborated with Marc Antony the subsequently Roman forces governor of the area, an old companion of Caesar.She proved to Marc dramatically and convinced him that she was not guilty about the allegation to her regarding her support to the followers of Julius in Rome, apparently, she got the hold up and captured his interest. Marc left Cleopatra with twin in her womb after he spent the whole winter in Alexandria with her. In the meantime he went to his first wife Fulvia who died in 40 BC. In 37 BC Marc went back to Antioch with Cleopatra and undergone a matrimony of marriage in 36 BC. With the same year a baby boy named Ptolemy Philadelphus was born to them.After they knew that Ptolemy XV was lost controlled his territory including Lebanon which is formerly part of Cyprus, officially Marc renovate to Egypt. After the military victory in 34 BC he tied Cleopatra in Alexandria and recognized Caesarion as the son of Julius Caesar and affirmed the joint rulership of Cleopatra and her son. When the Romans threatened specially Octavian formerly ally of Antony, conceding of country by Marc to Cleopatra was used by Octavian to destroy the trust of the ministers to him.Because of this, the Romans were not happy to their relationship because they considered that the loyalty of Marc was not in the Rome Empire anymore since he gave away the power of ruling Egypt to Cleopatra. In 31 BC Marc Antony lost to Octavian in Battle of Actium because of the misstep pointing to Cleopatra. Cleopatra tried to persuade Octavian to support her offspring to progression of authority but she was unsuccessful to make a deal. Unfortunately, luck was twisted against them. After the defeat of Marc Antony to Octavian and lost all his support he committed suicide and die in the arm of his beautiful wife Cleopatra.Since all of the Roman forces go against Cleopatra she decided to cut off her life by poisoning herself with the use of snake and died in admiration and was the very last Pharaoh of EgyptBIBLIOGRAPHYAnalysis of Four Character of Shakespeare http://www. free-essays. us/dbase/d3/lva130. shtmlAncient Egyptian Pharaohs: http://www. 123helpme. com/view. asp? id=23405Biography and history of Cleopatra http://en. oboulo. com/biography-and-history-of-cleopatra-44856. htmlBiography of Cleopatra http://www. chevroncars. com/learn/famous-people/cleopatraChronology of Cleopatra’s Life http://atrium-media. com/bibliotheca/romanhistory/cleopatrahist. htmlCleopatra – Queen Of Egypt: http://www. 123helpme. com/view. asp? id=58913Cleopatra, Ruler of E gypt http://www. infoplease. com/biography/var/cleopatra. htmlCleopatra’s Wiles http://www. azete. com/preview/58914Greco-Roman Influence in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra http://www. 123HelpMe. com/view. asp? id=16285Isabelle Vignier. The Tragic in Antony and Cleopatra, June 2004 http://www. literature-study-online. com/essays/antony-cleopatra. htmlShakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra http://www. englishessays.org. uk/english-essays/shakespeare-anthony-cleopatra. phpThe Female Pharaoh Cleopatra – History Essay http://www. freeonlineresearchpapers. com/female-pharaoh-cleopatraThe Love Story of Antony and Cleopatra http://www. azete. com/preview/8726The Masks of Anthony and Cleopatra http://www. thefreelibrary. com/The+Masks+of+Anthony+and+Cleopatra-a0161065564The Story of Cleopatra in Ancient Egypt http://www. echeat. com/essay. php? t=30239What are some conflicts and compromises in Cleopatra's life time? http://answers. yahoo. com/question/index? qid=20071227 084535AAGJBCP

Hamlet Essay †Misogyny Essay

Misogyny, by definition, is the hatred of women and girls. In Hamlet by William Shakespeare, misogyny affects women in negative ways that both impact how a woman is portrayed along with how these stereotypes and controls influence her actions and ultimately lead to her demise. Gertrude and Ophelia, the only major female characters of this play, are both women who must confront various factors and adverse effects of misogyny. Shakespeare uses the patriarchal system to suggest the effects of men’s misogynistic behavior towards women. The patriarchal system allows men to objectify women by using them as pawns, and gives men the power to control and manipulate women as they please. Shakespeare demonstrates this through the words and actions of Polonius, Ophelia’s father. Firstly, the patriarchal system gives Polonius the power to treat Ophelia like an object and control her actions. Claudius, Gertrude, and Polonius all come together in this scene to make a plan on how to di scover why Hamlet has gone so mad. In their conversation, Polonius says, â€Å"At such a time I’ll loose my daughter to him.† (II.ii.174) Here, the word â€Å"loose† emphasizes the cynical unconcern that he has for his daughter. The use of â€Å"loose† in this context is also a pun. Loose means cow, so Shakespeare uses this line as a metaphor to say that Polonius is soon going to â€Å"loose† his daughter, a cow, to a bull, who is none other than Hamlet. Polonius does this again while talking to Ophelia about how she shouldn’t believe Hamlet’s words or rely on any of his promises because according to Polonius, Hamlet doesn’t truly love Ophelia; he simply has a strong lust for her at the moment. â€Å" Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know, / When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul/ Lends the tongue vows,† Polonius explains. (I.ii.120) Shakespeare uses diction here to emphasize what Polonius thinks of his daughter. â€Å"Springes† are snares to catch fools and a â€Å"woodcock† is a bird that is easily taken. In simple terms, Polonius is comparing Ophelia to this foolish type of bird, saying that she is easy to get and fool. Once again, he compa res her to an animal – objectifying her and bringing her down from her status as a human and woman in society. Shakespeare demonstrates how sexuality is portrayed as something crude and wrong through the actions of Queen Gertrude. Hamlet’s aversion towards his mother’s sexuality upkeeps the idea that sexuality is obscene. Hamlet is absolutely disgusted by his mother and while talking to himself, exclaims: â€Å"O, most wicked speed, to post/ With such dexterity to  incestuous sheets!† (I.ii.158-159) Gertrude’s sexuality makes her inappropriate because she remarried with â€Å"wicked speed.† The word â€Å"wicked† has a negative connotation to it. It implies that Gertrude’s speed in remarrying was bad and evil because she betrayed King Hamlet so quickly and the quickness of her actions makes her seem sexually vulgar. Hamlet is disgusted by the fact that his mother was both quick and agile with becoming incestuous. Furthermore, the idea that sexuality is vulgar is further demonstrated when the ghost of King Hamlet reveals his disgust towards Gertrude’s incest. â€Å"So lust, through to a radiant angel linked, / will state itself in a celestial bed/ And prey on garbage.† (I.v.59-60) Even though sexuality can be pure like a â€Å"radiant angel,† it will glut (â€Å"sate†) and â€Å"prey on garbage.† Shakespeare uses imagery with these words to reveal that Gertrude is garbage and that she is searched for like junk by a scavenger. The word â€Å"sate† shows Gertrude as a gluttonous animal, implying that her sexuality makes her an animal; thus sexuality is vulgar. Shakespeare emphasizes that virginity is essential to a women’s value in society, for it makes her both pure and desirable. Ophelia’s conversations with her brother Laertes and her father Polonius provide evidence that both Laertes and Polonius place a very high value of Ophelia’s sexuality and her obligation to protect her virginity. Laertes and Ophelia have one last conversation before he departs to France. He gives her advice about rejecting lust and desire in order to keep her virginity and thereby make herself honorable. In their conversation with each other, Laertes warns Ophelia to not let herself be seduced and lose her honor by losing her virginity. He says, â€Å"The canker galls the infants of the spring/ Too oft before their buttons be disclosed.† (I.ii.42-43) Shakespeare uses some interesting metaphors in this scene to stress the value of Ophelia’s maidenhood by comparing it to a flower. The phrase â€Å"infants of the spring† im plies both innocence and fertility. This metaphor compares women, in this case Ophelia; to new spring flowers whose buds still haven’t been opened (still virgins). Laertes is saying that Ophelia is still young so she must resist her desires in order to save her virginity; doing so would also save her honor, which is something that is very valued especially for women in society. Polonius also warns Ophelia about the value of her virginity, but  for other reasons. Unlike Laertes, who is more concerned about Ophelia’s happiness and emotional well-being, Polonius is more focused on himself and the respect of his family. He says to her: â€Å"You do not understand yourself so clearly/ As it behooves my daughter and your honor.† (I.ii.102-103) Here, Polonius is saying that Ophelia does not yet understand how to behave in a way that is suitable for someone who is his daughter and who is under his name and household. He is afraid that if Ophelia loses her virginity, she will disgrace the family and hurt his reputation; all in all, he fears that the respect of his family will be damaged. This makes it evident that Shakespeare believed th at along with altering a woman’s reputation and social standing, women’s chastity also affected men’s social standing in society. Seeing that virginity is given such high value, Shakespeare also clearly demonstrates the consequences that a woman experiences by losing her virginity before marriage. He uses Ophelia’s character to illustrate how losing a woman’s virginity causes her to lose relationships with people she loves, her social status and reputation, her sanity, and ultimately, her life. OPHELIA. By Gis and by Saint Charity, Alack, and fie, for shame! Young men will do ’t, if they come to ’t. By Cock, they are to blame. Quoth she, â€Å"Before you tumbled me, You promised me to wed.† He answers: â€Å"So would I ’a’ done, by yonder sun, An thou hadst not come to my bed.† (IV.v.59-67) After losing her father, Ophelia has become insane and is singing this song while reminiscing about the love that she and Hamlet once had. She has been driven to this madness because of her instability after her father is killed and Hamlet leaves her. Slowly everyone she loves is drifting away and she feels that is because she didn’t listen to her father and brother about protecting her virginity before, so now she is suffering the consequences.  In this scene, she is specifically singing about how Hamlet did not keep his promise of marrying her after they had slept together. â€Å"Young men will do’t if they come to’t,/ By cock, they are to blame,† she explains. In other words, she is saying that men will have sex whenever they have the opportunity. With the phrase â€Å"by cock, they are to blame,† she is saying that the â€Å"cock† represents the vulgar corruption of God because they are the ones who take a woman’s virginity. Furt hermore, Hamlet does not want to marry Ophelia anymore because she isn’t a virgin and all men want to marry a woman who is pure and untouched. Ophelia’s madness in this scene expresses how losing her virginity led her to insanity because she was incapable of dealing with losing all of her loved ones. Additionally, she loses any respect that she had, along with her social status, because she has done something that is completely unacceptable for a young woman to do in such a society in that time. All of this ultimately causes Ophelia to take her own life as a way to end the chain reactions of heartbreak and misery that she has had to experience, all because she decided to go and lose her virginity to Hamlet. In conclusion, Shakespeare uses the patriarchal system to suggest men’s ability to manipulate women, and ultimately gives an explanation of the reactions to men’s misogynistic behavior towards women. Common stereotypes of women gravely impact women’s perception of themselves and shape women to fit under certain archetypes in a patriarch-run society. Misogyny destructively affects the fate of â€Å"Woman† and, slowly but surely, leads to the deterioration of her idea of self and identity.

Cheating Behavior and Students Morality

Cheating Behavior and Students Morality Cheating is a widespread, increasing in its prevalence, and perhaps the most unpleasant aspects of teaching and learning. The result of the study in higher education suggests that cheating only occurs if there is an opportunity to cheat and it is possible for teachers to eliminate cheating without creating a scandal. Hashtag: #YgsKopyaSkandal? (YGS Cheating Scandal) Cheating Behavior and Students’ Morality Kohlberg’s model of moral reasoning suggests that motivation for learning change from childhood to adulthood thus those with higher levels of moral reason cheat less. However, study shows that students level of moral reasoning were not associated with cheating. In fact, students with low-level moral reasoning tend to obey school authority thus normally do not cheat while older students with higher levels of moral reasoning often rationalize cheating as situational demands. LEARNING MORAL VALUES IN COLLEGE MOVIES Results of studies on cheating behavior suggest that external factors have a greater influence on older students cheating behavior than internal factors or perception of right and wrong. Moreover, although many college students do perceive cheating as wrong, most of them believed that such act is a normal  part of life and plainly accept cheating a part of their college experience. However, close monitoring tends to thwart cheating in older students with more mature reasoning. Similarly, smaller class size appears to discourage cheating while students with clear knowledge of what constitute cheating usually are not involved in such immoral act. For instance, study shows that students who willingly provided test answers to peers are mostly unaware that it was cheating. Environmental factors such as teacher intervention can greatly reduce the occurrence of cheating and avoid dramatic cheating scandal similar to #YgsKopyaSkandal? For instance, large universities tend to respond to student cheating by instigating scandalous actions rather than protecting the interest of parents and students and preserving academic integrity through prevention and classroom reforms. For instance, directly teaching students of what constitutes cheating and greater emphasis on mastery of tasks rather than grades are beneficial classroom reforms. Preserving Academic Integrity without a  Scandal Cheating is a widespread, increasing in its prevalence, and perhaps the most unpleasant aspects of teaching and learning. The result of the study in higher education suggests that cheating only occurs if there is an opportunity to cheat and it is possible for teachers to eliminate cheating without creating a scandal. The literature has demonstrated that majority of students perceived cheating as an acceptable behavior and youths of all ages are likely to engage in some form of cheating. Cheating is an academic crime but there can be serious legal consequences if a teacher falsely accuses a student of cheating. The most effective approach a teacher can adopt therefore is to prevent cheating by establishing cheating policies and strictly enforcing them. Primarily, a teacher on the first day of class has the opportunity to state his or her position about cheating clearly and why school considers such act as a crime. It is also helpful to explain its consequence using relevant situations such as the fact that since many of them will be competing with other people for jobs in the near future, a person who cheats and gets  illicit high grades from it is literally cheating everyone out of a job. Teaching styles that promote cheating such as grading on a curve and covering too much material on a single examination should be avoided. The reason is that students often cheat when the stakes are high and consequences are low. Moreover, research shows that likelihood of cheating is strongly linked to the quality of teacher-student relationship and students’ level of respect for the teacher.

New School Program in Seattle

New School Program in Seattle The USA has been an example of a democratic society where people have equal rights and opportunities. However, the US equality has often been questioned. Admittedly, there can be no equality in a segregated society. The Civil Rights Movement is regarded as a successful campaign.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on New School Program in Seattle specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Though, segregation is still in many areas (or rather most areas) in the USA. Rosenthal and Mayo (2012) claim that a new Seattle school plan contributes to the increase in segregated areas in the city and its suburbs. Clearly, such racial groups as African Americans will not be able to pay for buses to attend schools in better areas (noteworthy, these schools are also considered to be better than those in poorer areas). These children will have fewer educational opportunities and this will inevitably lead to fewer job opportunities for them in futur e. Therefore, it is possible to note that the new school plan can negatively affect development of the city as it will contribute to development of a highly segregated society. To consider the impact of the new school program, it is necessary to take a closer look at such theoretical perspective as urban ecology. This theoretical perspective helps better understand the processes and trends existing in the city (Crowder, n.d., p. 3). According to this perspective, some social groups tend to dominate certain areas. Historically, more well-to-do areas have been dominated by the white population, while poorer areas have been populated by African Americans. In this respect, it is obvious that it is vital for African American young population to have an opportunity to leave the poorer neighborhoods. Young African Americans can go to better schools in other areas so that they have more educational opportunities in future. Admittedly, schools in more prosperous neighborhoods tend to provide better educational services and students of these schools often enter colleges and/or universities, and this, in its turn, helps them get better jobs. Nonetheless, the new program deprives children and young people from poorer neighborhoods of such educational opportunities (Rosenthal Mayo, 2012). Population of poorer neighborhoods can become confined to their neighborhoods as, obviously, they are unable to pay extra money for transport. In the end, this program will become one of the major factors contributing to residential segregation, i.e. distribution of certain social groups into separate areas (Lecture 9, p.1). Salaries, real estate prices, educational opportunities are some of the factors that affect residential segregation. It may seem that diversity is no longer one of the priorities of officials.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More On balance, it is possible to note that the new school program in Seattle can have a number of negative effects. Unfortunately, segregation still persists in the American society and such programs can contribute to further development of a segregated society. Admittedly, financial difficulties the city is facing should be taken into account and it is possible to economize. However, it is unacceptable to try to economize at the expense of those who have even more financial constraints. The program can deprive many students coming from poorer neighborhoods of their chance to succeed in life. This program can also contribute to creation of the society where well-to-do areas enjoy prosperity while poorer neighborhoods are struggling with such problems as violence and crime. It is time to face the problem and start diminishing residential segregation in the state and nationwide. Reference List Crowder, K. (n.d.). Soc201A Lecture 3: Theoretical perspectives on urban change. Lecture 9: Residential segregation. Rosenthal, B .M. Mayo, J. (2012, August 20).6 Seattle schools have become whiter as new assignment plan changes racial balance. The Seattle Times. Retrieved from http://old.seattletimes.com/html/education/2018958662_schoolsegregation16m.html

ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) - Statistics Definition

ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) - Statistics Definition Many times when we study a group, we are really comparing two populations. Depending upon the parameter of this group we are interested in and the conditions we are dealing with, there are several techniques available. Statistical inference procedures that concern the comparison of two populations cannot usually be applied to three or more populations. To study more than two populations at once, we need different types of statistical tools. Analysis of variance, or ANOVA, is a technique from statistical interference that allows us to deal with several populations. Comparison of Means To see what problems arise and why we need ANOVA, we will consider an example. Suppose we are trying to determine if the mean weights of green, red, blue and orange MM candies are different from each other. We will state the mean weights for each of these populations, ÃŽ ¼1, ÃŽ ¼2, ÃŽ ¼3 ÃŽ ¼4 and respectively. We may use the appropriate hypothesis test several times, and test C(4,2), or six different null hypotheses: H0: ÃŽ ¼1 ÃŽ ¼2 to check if the mean weight of the population of the red candies is different than the mean weight of the population of the blue candies.H0: ÃŽ ¼2 ÃŽ ¼3 to check if the mean weight of the population of the blue candies is different than the mean weight of the population of the green candies.H0: ÃŽ ¼3 ÃŽ ¼4 to check if the mean weight of the population of the green candies is different than the mean weight of the population of the orange candies.H0: ÃŽ ¼4 ÃŽ ¼1 to check if the mean weight of the population of the orange candies is different than the mean weight of the population of the red candies.H0: ÃŽ ¼1 ÃŽ ¼3 to check if the mean weight of the population of the red candies is different than the mean weight of the population of the green candies.H0: ÃŽ ¼2 ÃŽ ¼4 to check if the mean weight of the population of the blue candies is different than the mean weight of the population of the orange candies. There are many problems with this kind of analysis. We will have six p-values. Even though we may test each at a 95% level of confidence, our confidence in the overall process is less than this because probabilities multiply: .95 x .95 x .95 x .95 x .95 x .95 is approximately .74, or an 74% level of confidence. Thus the probability of a type I error has increased. At a more fundamental level, we cannot compare these four parameters as a whole by comparing them two at a time. The means of the red and blue MMs may be significant, with the mean weight of red being relatively larger than the mean weight of the blue. However, when we consider the mean weights of all four kinds of candy, there may not be a significant difference. Analysis of Variance To deal with situations in which we need to make multiple comparisons we use ANOVA. This test allows us to consider the parameters of several populations at once, without getting into some of the problems that confront us by conducting hypothesis tests on two parameters at a time. To conduct ANOVA with the MM example above, we would test the null hypothesis H0:ÃŽ ¼1 ÃŽ ¼2 ÃŽ ¼3 ÃŽ ¼4. This states that there is no difference between the mean weights of the red, blue and green MMs. The alternative hypothesis is that there is some difference between the mean weights of the red, blue, green and orange MMs. This hypothesis is really a combination of several statements Ha: The mean weight of the population of red candies is not equal to the mean weight of the population of blue candies, ORThe mean weight of the population of blue candies is not equal to the mean weight of the population of green candies, ORThe mean weight of the population of green candies is not equal to the mean weight of the population of orange candies, ORThe mean weight of the population of green candies is not equal to the mean weight of the population of red candies, ORThe mean weight of the population of blue candies is not equal to the mean weight of the population of orange candies, ORThe mean weight of the population of blue candies is not equal to the mean weight of the population of red candies. In this particular instance, in order to obtain our p-value, we would utilize a probability distribution known as the F-distribution. Calculations involving the ANOVA F test can be done by hand, but are typically computed with statistical software. Multiple Comparisons What separates ANOVA from other statistical techniques is that it is used to make multiple comparisons. This is common throughout statistics, as there are many times where we want to compare more than just two groups. Typically an overall test suggests that there is some sort of difference between the parameters we are studying. We then follow this test with some other analysis to decide which parameter differs.

Purposes and Practices of Liberal Art Colleges Essay

Purposes and Practices of Liberal Art Colleges - Essay Example The greatest philosopher, Socrates too believed that the most important knowledge that a person should learn is â€Å"how best to live†. Moreover, the goal of education should be to â€Å"know what you can; and even more importantly, to know what you do not know.† In other words, the more you gain knowledge, the more you can gain knowledge and this is what a liberal arts education aims to do. This method of education truly follows the philosophy of Socrates. Indeed in today’s modern world, a liberal arts education has become essential as it provides teachings in varied fields that groom individuals to face and handle the intricacy, diversity and transformations of life in the best possible ways. Developing effective academic and practical aptitudes such as communication, logical and crisis management skills, profound feelings of social responsibility, and a demonstrated proficiency to utilize knowledge and skills in realism and thereby, creating a well rounded pe rsonality has always been the main purpose of education in liberal arts colleges. In this paper, we shall discuss both the pros and cons of teachings in liberal art colleges simultaneously establishing the fact that â€Å"the purpose of a liberal arts college is to provide a student with knowledge, not only of his/her intended profession, but knowledge of many different professions to create a well rounded person.† ... As Socrates, the greatest teacher of all times, had preached that the primary aim of education should be to enhance the understanding of his students rather than merely defining theories since it develops the power of critical thinking in the students. Moreover, such an education leads the students towards knowledge and turns them into a well rounded person (Plato n.pag). By a well rounded person, we mean a person who is an expert not only in his field but varied fields, has the aptitude of thinking critically, solving problems analytically, making independent decisions, and comprehending new ideas. In addition, a person who has understood the art of living, has gained wisdom and developed into a good human being and this is what a liberal arts education aims to do. In The Republic, the Greek philosopher, Plato has emphasized that a well rounded education should include the study of mathematics, poetry, astronomy and poetry. Although our fields of study have broadened vastly since hi s days, his basic message is still the motivation behind the practice of liberal arts education. Plato always advocated his students to value logic and order, ideals, and beauty. Even though the subjects of science, literature, government, history and societies were added by the teachers in recent times, the main motto of liberal education still remained the same. It was intended to develop the power of critical analysis in an individual, so important for achieving wisdom and virtue (Plato &Biase n.pag). Furthermore, a liberal arts education aims to make students creative thinkers as well as problem solvers by providing them with a background in several fields states Harrer. Students in this type of colleges

International Economics and Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International Economics and Law - Essay Example 100. One individual claimed to have caught flu even after using the medication; however, the company refused to pay him claiming that the offer had been made worldwide; therefore, it ceased to be an offer. Nevertheless, this offer was valid and the manufacturer owed the patient ?100 (formation of a contract, S8). Another characteristic of a contract is that it must be specific, in that, vagueness is not acceptable. In the United Kingdom, contracts are part of life. Contracts are inclusive of a promise and there is a legal duty that arises from such a promise. For instance, in the sale of property, a buyer has the obligation of paying the agreed amount whilst the seller’s obligation lies in transferring the title of the property sold to a buyer. The third element involving a contract is the remedy for breach of duty; an offer, consideration, and acceptance are considered as part of any contract. In case one party breaches his/duty in the contract, the other party or the aggriev ed party has the right for remedy. In addition, there must be an offer accompanied by a reasonable consideration, which must be accepted or rejected by the offeree of the contract. According to Ross (2009), in the United Kingdom, contract formation can be made on paper and online. ... The seller may accept that offer by selling the item to the customer; however, he may reject the offer if an agreement is not reached. Nevertheless, due to technological advancement, most contracts in the United Kingdom are done online; however, the elements of a contact must be involved. In Switzerland, formation of a contract does not require formalities of any kind. A contract can be concluded orally by showing the will to enter into a contract. The Swiss law however requires an individual to be above the age of 18years and above in order to engage in a contract; that is, any party to the contract must be at the age of majority and must have the legitimate capacity to enter into a contract. However, making a void contract in Swiss has the consequences of impossibility, such that, such a contract that defies the rule of contract formation cannot be executed or they can never be legally binding. Illegality is also an element of void contracts, whereby, contacts are declared null by the courts, hence forcing the partnerships to be dissolved (Dessemontet, 2004, p.111). According to Bucher (N.d, p.105), Swiss law recognizes the freedom of contracts, such as, an individual has the freedom to conclude a contract with a partner of his choice, and the freedom to establish the conditions of a contract. The similarity between UK and Swiss in terms of contract formation lies in the fact that the contract elements of consensus, offer, and acceptance apply in both countries. The contract formed must be valid; however, when some terms are acceptable, then the contract will be declared void. In addition, there is no limitation when choosing a contract partner. Question 2: The WTO Doha Round: Describe the agenda and status as well as the

Che Guevara Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Che Guevara - Essay Example Revolution is a struggle and plea for freedom. Men such as Che Guevara throughout history have fought as well as triumphed and lost revolutions that shaped our lives now. The battle has been very inhuman and many soldiers shed blood and lost their lives in these battles. War and the revolution have this implication of having to use force and power over those who are weak and oppressed. To describe a specific type of creative production created by human, it is called Art. Che made use of art in order to revolt against the tyranny of the existing administration. Aesthetic value is a characteristic of every artwork. There should be a sense of beauty and pleasantness with the product of the human. Art has several purposes. It can be for human expression, a part of a ritual or to symbolize a feeling or idea. The definition of art can be vague and it cannot be limited by a specific meaning. Human creativity is the main driving force of art. Some people may think that art is just a piece of work that has no significant purpose but to fill our aesthetic needs.

Global Financialization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Global Financialization - Essay Example In fact, massive inflows of capital followed by sharp and sudden reversals of capital flow result in crises of exchange rates that have characterized developing and emerging nations (Stiglitz 1081). The macroeconomic troubles stirred by volatile flows of capital have been acutely felt in developing and emerging countries such as Turkey and Argentina in 2001 and the late 90s South East Asia financial crisis, which were all related to flow of capital. These countries suffered from sharp declines in real GDP. A particular reason that leads to rates of exchange having such a significant effect is because, in liberalization and financialization of global markets, it is profitable to be involved in interest arbitrage, which means that one borrows from a specific currency and lends or invests in other currencies, also referred to as carrying trade (Rodrik 1). For example, if interest rates of the Turkish Lira were higher compared to those of the Euro, taking rates of exchange to be stable, it tempts to borrow in Euro credit and then invest or even lend in Turkish Lira. This implies that liabilities, as well as assets, will be in currencies of different countries. Therefore, abrupt realignments in rates of exchange could end up having disastrous effects on the balance sheets of banks or organizations. In addition, capital flow liberalization also lets developing nations accrue current account deficits for a longer time, and at a higher level than they could be during the reign of the Bretton Woods organizations. Financial globalization and liberalization have led to an increase of potential difference in development among countries if the global market financial markets retain their stability and calmness. The revaluation, typically, of financial markets has been accompanied by abrupt reversals of capital flow, as well as crises in exchange rates, all of which show that global financialization is not good for developing countries (Rodrik 1). Governments play a crucial role in the evolution of global financialization, as well as its effects on individual countries and their development. All governments at national level possess a specific responsibility to ensure security and stability of the domestic financial, banking, and monetary systems, which are vital to any economy’s functions. The vulnerable nature of financial and banking systems to crises, failure of markets and instability has virtually produced regulatory authorities and central banks that are aimed at protecting their social interests, as well as for the mediation of their countries’ interactions with international financial markets (Doyran 32). Effective stability and functioning of the financial and monetary systems have become a fundamental requirement as far as development is concerned, which is only achievable via the effective actions of nations.

International Baccalaureate (IB) Vs. The Traditional High School Research Paper

International Baccalaureate (IB) Vs. The Traditional High School Curriculum - Research Paper Example International Baccalaureate offers three programmes to students who are between the age of 3 and 19. It has led to increase in the quality of education that many students get worldwide (Mathews & Hill, 2005). Most of the IB institution are privately own. On the other hand, traditional schools are public schools that started long time ago. The government built traditional schools to ensure that many students went to school despite the economic backgrounds of their families (Reese, 2005). However, International Baccalaureate (IB) can be compared with the traditional high school curriculum in very many areas. Comparing IB and traditional schools is very hard especially when one is trying to see which one of them is better. This will only depends on what someone is looking for in the field of education. IB programs’ main aim is to foster critical thinking and to make student to understand worldly with the aim of learning to work globally. Students are taught to develop intellectual, emotional and social skills that they can apply in their working environments. Therefore, schools that provide good traditional education are also able to provide the same skills to their students. IB education offers three programs to their students between the age of 3 and 19.

Global Financialization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Global Financialization - Essay Example In fact, massive inflows of capital followed by sharp and sudden reversals of capital flow result in crises of exchange rates that have characterized developing and emerging nations (Stiglitz 1081). The macroeconomic troubles stirred by volatile flows of capital have been acutely felt in developing and emerging countries such as Turkey and Argentina in 2001 and the late 90s South East Asia financial crisis, which were all related to flow of capital. These countries suffered from sharp declines in real GDP. A particular reason that leads to rates of exchange having such a significant effect is because, in liberalization and financialization of global markets, it is profitable to be involved in interest arbitrage, which means that one borrows from a specific currency and lends or invests in other currencies, also referred to as carrying trade (Rodrik 1). For example, if interest rates of the Turkish Lira were higher compared to those of the Euro, taking rates of exchange to be stable, it tempts to borrow in Euro credit and then invest or even lend in Turkish Lira. This implies that liabilities, as well as assets, will be in currencies of different countries. Therefore, abrupt realignments in rates of exchange could end up having disastrous effects on the balance sheets of banks or organizations. In addition, capital flow liberalization also lets developing nations accrue current account deficits for a longer time, and at a higher level than they could be during the reign of the Bretton Woods organizations. Financial globalization and liberalization have led to an increase of potential difference in development among countries if the global market financial markets retain their stability and calmness. The revaluation, typically, of financial markets has been accompanied by abrupt reversals of capital flow, as well as crises in exchange rates, all of which show that global financialization is not good for developing countries (Rodrik 1). Governments play a crucial role in the evolution of global financialization, as well as its effects on individual countries and their development. All governments at national level possess a specific responsibility to ensure security and stability of the domestic financial, banking, and monetary systems, which are vital to any economy’s functions. The vulnerable nature of financial and banking systems to crises, failure of markets and instability has virtually produced regulatory authorities and central banks that are aimed at protecting their social interests, as well as for the mediation of their countries’ interactions with international financial markets (Doyran 32). Effective stability and functioning of the financial and monetary systems have become a fundamental requirement as far as development is concerned, which is only achievable via the effective actions of nations.

Occupational health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Occupational health - Essay Example The injured will also be assisted in getting full compensation claims. The principle used in quick and major accidents is determining the hazards that should be corrected. Investigation report The information in the investigation report documents the findings of the investigation is as outlined below: Employee’s name There should be a brief description of the employee injured in the accident. Information about the employer should be provided as well. Date of accident and time should also be included in the report. The information provided will assist in confirming whether the information provided by the victim is genuine or not. Job title and department: Information concerning job title and department will assist in claiming insurance. The insurance company has to verify that such a person worked for a certain company in a certain department. Supervisor or lead personnel: The supervisor and management in a company are responsible for the safety of the workers failure to which they can be sued on legal grounds of neglect. As such, they should be included in an investigation report. Witnesses: Since the investigators are not able to investigate the scene of the accident immediately after occurrence of the accidents, witnesses act as a primary source of information. Brief description of the accident or incident: The victim should be able to offer information about what occurred. However, more effort should be put in trying to gather more information especially from witnesses. Body part affected: The victim should state which body part was affected when the vehicle hit him/her. This will enable proper compensation to be issued to the victim. Reason for seeking root cause The employer should be experienced enough to realize when accidents are caused by unsafe conditions. As such, attempts to find the human errors that were the causes of the accident should commence according to Filtzer, (2002). First of all, it is necessarily to examine a link of events or un derlying factors that may have led to the accident. Some of the questions asked by the employer include distraction, was the employee distracted so as to be hit by the vehicle?, Safe work procedure should always be followed, if not, there should be a reason why, Were safety devices in the vehicle in order during the time of the accident and whether the worker was trained? The employer should also contact the insurance firm after identifying the causes, report the findings and develop the appropriate corrective action according to Granger, (2010). The insurance should also evaluate the effectiveness of the plan and also implement it. Four possible root Causes of Accidents Accidents can be caused by task of personal factors. While some causes may be immediate, others are underlying such as in the case when management systems fail. Distraction Distraction falls under task factors. The behavior of the employee is best known to the employer according to Henry, (1837). The distraction of an employee is visible to the employer. As such, the employee should be the judge whether the distraction of an employee would have been the cause of the accident. The employer should also know the effects of the distraction experienced around the work area. There are some employees that have devastating effects when they are distracted and usually cause major accidents. Other task related factors include

Frog and the Nightingale Essay Example for Free

Frog and the Nightingale Essay The book is widely regarded as a classic in India since its first publication in 1946, and provides a broad view of Indian history, philosophy and culture, as viewed from the eyes of a liberal Indian fighting for the independence of his country. In The Discovery of India, Nehru argued that India was a historic nation with a right to sovereignty. (Calhoun, Craig, Nations Matter: Culture, History and the Cosmopolitan Dream, Routledge. In this book, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru tries to study the history of India starting from the Indus Valley Civilization, and then covers the countrys history from the arrival of the Aryans to government under the British Empire. He says that India in the past was country which lived in harmony and peace, but the entry of society evils had a very bad effect on people. The effect of these various people on Indian culture and their incorporation into Indian society is examined. This book also analyses in depth the philosophy of Indian life. This book was dedicated to the Prisoners of Ahmednagar jail. The book became the basis of the 53-episode Indian television series Bharat Ki Khoj, first broadcast in 1988. PREFACE OF THE BOOK BY JAWAHARLAL NEHRU:- This book was written by Jawaharlal Nehru in Ahmadnagar Fort prison during the five months, April to September 1944. Some of his colleagues in prison were good enough to read the manuscript and make a number of valuable suggestions. On revising the book in prison he took advantage of these suggestions and made some additions. No one, he need hardly add, is responsible for what he has written or necessarily agrees with it. But he expresses my deep gratitude to his fellow-prisoners in Ahmadnagar Fort for the innumerable talks and discussions they had, which helped him greatly to clear his own mind about various aspects of Indian history and culture. Prison is not a pleasant place to live in even for a short period, much less for long years. But it was a privilege for me to live in close contact with men of outstanding ability and culture and a wide human outlook which even the passions of the moment did not obscure. His eleven companions in Ahmadnagar Fort were an interesting cross-section of India and represented in their several ways not only politics but Indian scholarship, old and new, and various aspects of present-day India. Nearly all the principal living Indian languages, as well as the classical languages which have powerfully influenced India in the past and present, were represented and the standard was often that of high scholarship. Among the classical languages were Sanskrit and Pali, Arabic and Persian; the modern languages were Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Sindhi and Oriya. Jawaharlal Nehru had all this wealth to draw upon and the only limitation was his own capacity to profit by it. Though he was grateful to all his companions, he specially mentioned a few names;Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, whose vast erudition invariably delighted me but sometimes also rather overwhelmed me, Govind Ballabh Pant, Narendra Deva and M. Asaf Ali. The book remains as written in prison with no additions or changes, except for the postscript at the end. He doesnt know how other authors feel about their writings, but always he had a strange sensation when he read something that he had written some time previously. That sensation is heightened when the writing had been done in the close and abnormal atmosphere of prison and the subsequent reading has taken place outside. He could recognize it of course, but not wholly; it seems almost that he was reading some familiar piece written by another, who was near to him and yet who was different. Perhaps that is the measure of the change that had taken place in Jawaharlal Nehru So he has felt about this book also. It is his and not wholly his, as he is constituted today; it represents rather some past self of his which has already joined that long succession of other selves that existed for a while and faded away, leaving only a memory behind . Life in the Jail During his stay in the jail as a prisoner, he talked about the ruins that were there but were covered up by soil or have collapsed. He talks about a courageous, beautiful lady, named Chandbibi, who fought against akbar to protect the fort(where he was staying as prisoner). But at the end she was killed by her own army man. He asks himself that what is his ancestral gift? he discovers that, India is his ancestral gift. It is in his blood. he is the ancesteor of victories and defeats of the past kings, brave works of human from the earliest past to now. He is the heir of all these. A few of his chapters which tell about Jawaharlal Nehru’s life in prison and the various changes in India Time in Prison : The Urge to Action Time seems to change its nature in prison. The present hardly exists, for there is an absence of feeling and sensation which might separate it from the dead past. Even news of the active, living and dying world outside has a certain dream-like un-reality, an immobility and an unchangeableness as of the past. The outer objective time ceases to be, the inner and subjective sense remains, but at a lower level, except when thought pulls it out of the present and experiences a kind of reality in the past or in the future. We live, as Auguste Comte said, dead mens lives, encased in our pasts, but this is especially so in prison where we try to find some sustenance for our starved and locked-up emotions in memory of the past or fancies of the future. There is a stillness and everlastingness about the past; it changes not and has a touch of eternity, like a painted picture or a statue in bronze or marble. Unaffected by the storms and upheavals of the present, it maintains its dignity and repose and tempts the troubled spirit and the tortured mind to seek shelter in its vaulted catacombs. There is peace there and security, and one may even sense a spiritual quality. But it is not life, unless we can find the vital links between it and the present with all its conflicts and problems. It is a kind of art for arts sake, without the passion and the urge to action which are the very stuff of life. Without that passion and urge, there is a gradual oozing out of hope and vitality, a settling down on lower levels of existence, a slow merging into non-existence. We become prisoners of the past and some part of its immobility sticks to us. This passage of the mind is all the easier in prison where action is denied and we become slaves to the routine of jail-life. Yet the past is ever with us and all that we are and that we have comes from the past. We are its products and we live im-mersed in it. Not to understand it and feel it as something living within us is not to understand the present. To combine it with the present and extend it to the future, to break from it where it cannot be so united, to make of all this the pulsating and vibrat-ing material for thought and action—that is life. Any vital action springs from the depths of the being. All the long past of the individual and even of the race has prepared the background for that psychological moment of action. All the racial memories, influences of heredity and environment and training, subconscious urges, thoughts and dreams and actions from infancy and childhood onwards, in their curious and tremendous mix-up, inevitably drive to that new action, which again becomes yet another factor influencing the future. Influencing the future, partly determining it, possibly even largely determining it, and yet, surely, it is not all determinism. Whether there is any such thing as human freedom in the philosophic sense or whether there is only an automatic deter-minism, I do not know. A very great deal appears certainly to be determined by the past complex of events which bear down and often overwhelm the individual. Possibly even the inner urge that he experiences, that apparent exercise of free will, is itself conditioned. As Schopenhauer says, a man can do what he will, but not will as he will. A belief in an absolute deter-minism seems to me to lead inevitably to complete inaction, to death in life. All my sense of life rebels against it, though of course that very rebellion may itself have been conditioned by previous events Lifes Philosophy:- The ideals and objectives of yesterday were still the ideals of to-day, but they had lost some of their lustre and, even as one seemed to go towards them, they lost the shining beauty which had warmed the heart and vitalized the body. Evil triumphed often enough, but what was far worse was the coarsening and distortion of what had seemed so right. Was human nature so essentially bad that it would take ages of training, through suffering and misfortune, before it could behave reasonably and raise man above that creature of lust and violence and deceit that he now was? And, meanwhile, was every effort to change it radically in the present or the near future doomed to failure? Ends and means: were they tied up inseparably, acting and reacting on each other, the wrong means distorting and some-times even destroying the end in view? But the right means might well be beyond the capacity of infirm and selfish human nature. What then was one to do? Not to act was a complete con-fession of failure and a submission to evil; to act meant often enough a compromise with some form of that evil, with all the untoward consequences that such compromises result in. Science does not tell us much, or for the matter of that any-thing about the purpose of life. It is now widening its boun-daries and it may invade the so-called invisible world before long and help us to understand this purpose of life in its widest sense, or at least give us some glimpses which illumine the pro-blem of human existence. The old controversy between science and religion takes a new form—the application of the scientific method to emotional and religious experiences. Some vague or more precise philosophy of life we all have, though most of us accept unthinkingly the general attitude which is characteristic of our generation and environment. Most of us accept also certain metaphysical conceptions as part of the faith in which we have grown up. How amazing is this spirit of man! In spite of innumerable failings, man, throughout the ages, has sacrificed his life and all he held dear for an ideal, for truth, for faith, for country and honour. That ideal may change, but that capacity for self-sacrifice continues, and, because of that, much may be forgiven to man, and it is impossible to lose hope for him. In the midst of disaster, he has not lost his dignity or his faith in the values he cherished. Plaything of natures mighty forces, less than a speck of dust in this vast universe, he has hurled defiance at the elemental powers, and with his mind, cradle of revolution, sought to master them. Whatever gods there be, there is something godlike in man, as there is also something of the devil in him. The future is dark, uncertain. But we can see part of the way leading to it and can tread it with firm steps, remembering that nothing that can happen is likely to overcome the spirit of man which has survived so many perils; remembering also that life, for all its ills, has joy and beauty, and that we can always wander; if we know how to, in the enchanted woods of nature. Indias Strength and Weaknesses:- The search for the sources of Indias strength and for her deterioration and decay is long and intricate. Yet the recent causes of that decay are obvious enough. She fell behind in the march of technique, and Europe, which had long been backward in many matters, took the lead in technical progress. Behind this technical progress was the spirit of science and a bubling life and spirit which displayed itself in many activities and in ad-venturous voyages of discovery. New techniques gave military strength to the countries of western Europe, and it was easy for them to spread out and dominate the East. That is the story not only of India, but of almost the whole of Asia. Why this should have happened so is more difficult to unravel, for India was not lacking in mental alertness and technical skill in earlier times. One senses a progressive deterioration during centuries. The urge to life and endeavour becomes less, the crea-tive spirit fades away and gives place to the imitative. Where triumphant and rebellious thought had tried to pierce the my-steries of nature and the universe, the wordy commentator comes with his glosses and long explanations. Magnificent art and sculpture give way to meticulous carving of intricate detail without nobility of conception or design. The vigour and rich-ness of language, powerful yet simple, are followed by highly ornate and complex literary forms. The urge to adventure and the overflowing life which led to vast schemes of distant coloni-zation and the transplantation of Indian culture in far lands: all these fade away and a narrow orthodoxy taboos even the crossing of the high seas. A rational spirit of inquiry, so evident in earlier times, which might well have led to the further growth of science, is replaced by irrationalism and a blind idolatory of the past. Indian life becomes a sluggish stream, living in the past, moving slowly through the accumulations of dead centuries. The heavy burden of the past crushes it and a kind of coma seizes it. It is not surprising that in this condition of mental stupor and physical weariness India should have deteriorated and remained rigid and immobile, while other parts of the world marched ahead. Every people and every nation has some such belief or myth of national destiny and perhaps it is partly true in each case. Being an Indian I am myself influenced by this reality or myth about India, and I feel that anything that had the power to mould hundreds of generations, without a break, must have drawn its enduring vitality from some deep well of strength, and have had the capacity to renew that vitality from age to age. No people, no races remain unchanged. Continually they are mixing with others and slowly changing; they may appear to die almost and then rise again as a new people or just a variation of the old. There may be a definite break between the old people and the new, or vital links of thought and ideals may join them. History has numerous instances of old and well-established civilizations fading away or being ended suddenly, and vigor-ous new cultures taking their place. Is it some vital energy, sonic inner source of strength that gives life to a civilization or a people, without which all effort is ineffective, like the vain attempt of an aged person to plav the part of a youth? Behind the past quarter of a centurys struggle for Indias independence and all our conflicts with British authority, lay in my mind, and that of many others, the desire to revitalize India. We felt that through action and self-imposed suffering and sacri-fice, through voluntarily facing risk and danger, through refusal to submit to what we considered evil and wrong, would we re-charge the battery of Indias spirit and waken her from her long slumber. Though we came into conflict continually with the British Government in India, our eyes were always turned towards our own people. Political advantage had value only in so far as it helped in that fundamental purpose of ours. Because of this govern-ing motive, frequently we acted as no politician, moving in the narrow sphere of politics only, would have done, and foreign and Indian critics expressed surprise at the folly and intransigence of our ways. Whether we were foolish or not, the historians of the future will judge. We aimed high and looked far. Probably we were often foolish, from the point of view of opportunist politics, but at no time did we forget that our main purpose was to raise the whole level of the Indian people, psychologically and spiritually and also, of course, politically and economically. It was the building up of that real inner strength of the people that we were after, knowing that the rest would inevitably follow. We had to wipe out some generations of shameful subservience and timid submission to an arrogant alien authority. Epilogue of the book:- Jawaharlal Nehru has covered a thousand hand-written pages with a jumble of ideas in his mind. He travelled in the past and peeped into the future and sometimes tried to balance himself on that point of intersection of the timeless with time. His life has been full of happenings in the world and the war has advanced rapidly towards a triumphant conclusion,so far as military victories go. In his own country also much has happened of which he could be only a distant spectator, and waves of unhappiness have sometimes temporarily swept over me and passed on. Because of this business of thinking and trying to give some expression to his thoughts, he has drawn myself away from the piercing edge of the present and moved along the wider expanses of the past and the future. The discovery of India—what had he discovered? It was presumptuous of him to imagine that he could unveil India and find out what India is to-day and what it was in the long past. To-day India is four hundred million separate individual men and women, each differing from the other, each living in a private universe of though and feeling. If this is so in the present, how much more difficult is it to grasp that multitudinous past of innumerable successions of human beings. Yet something has bound them together and binds them still. India is a geographical and economic entity, a cultural unity amidst diversity, a bundle of contradictions held together by strong but invisible threads.

General Happiness Equation Using Econometric Models Of Panel Data Methods Philosophy Essay

General Happiness Equation Using Econometric Models Of Panel Data Methods Philosophy Essay This study presents a general happiness equation using econometric models of panel data methods. The model tries to observe and estimate the relationship between income and happiness after controlling for other factors. With advanced methods, we also test for the presence of personality bias and whether it correlates with income. Finally, we provide some analysis of our estimation results and briefly discuss alternative approaches in the literature. Introduction Empirical research on human happiness have only recently in the last few decades received serious attention from both economists and non-economists. The lack of national-level representative survey data and the difficulty to apply econometric techniques were the stumbling blocks for further research in the past. With the establishments of national socio-economic panel surveys as well as technological advancements that gave birth to neat econometric software packages, the literature experienced a surge in the amount of research as well as the popularity drawn to these works. Things began to look brighter and brighter, and as a result came the birth of a new field called happiness economics. What happiness economists typically try to do is to estimate what they call happiness equations. Using econometric techniques, they could test for a causal link between income and happiness. After controlling for other factors that can cause happiness (eg. education, marital status, disability, unemployment etc.), early work which used simple cross sectional methods suggest a positive and statistically significant correlation. To run Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions on cross sectional data sounds decent, but is in actual fact highly inadequate. What if happiness is also caused by another factor that is unobservable in the data, such as personality? Could it be that ones happiness strongly depends on who he is as a person? On face value, it seems plausible or at least interesting to suggest that peoples capacity to be happy vary from individual to individual. Perhaps some people are born extrovert and optimistic, and as a result tend to be happier than others even if they have less income than them. Then simple OLS will suffer from an omitted variable bias problem, which causes one or more of its classical assumptions to be violated and hence estimates to be biased. To solve this problem of unobserved heterogeneity bias, we can use panel data and propose a fixed effects model. We can run a pooled OLS regression on panel data, but it would still be susceptible to the omitted variable bias problem. Firstly, we can think of the personality variable as a time-constant effect. By exploiting the nature of panel data, which follows the same individual over time, we can eliminate this unobserved time-constant effect by doing some transformation on the data. The simplest way is to perform first-differencing. Namely, we take observations on an individual for two time periods and we calculate the differences. Then we run an OLS regression on these transformed values. In effect, we have removed all unobserved time-constant variables not only limited to personality. Maybe an individuals thumbprints or DNA may be correlated with happiness, we do not know for sure. But the elegance of first-differencing makes it sure that we remove all nuisance unobserved time -constant variables that disturb our primary goal. Through transforming the data in such a way that we are now dealing with relative rather than absolute values, we have also mitigated the problem of heterogeneous scaling in subjective responses. Every individual have their own perception on the happiness score. A score of 7 may be others score of 6, and so on. This would make interpersonal (cross-sectional) comparisons meaningless, and is part of the reason why in the past empirical work on this literature have been viewed with scepticism by many economists. By reasonably assuming that a persons metric or perception is time-invariant, this issue is dealt with in a fixed effects model. There are other advanced transformation techniques that uses data on multiple time periods. One technique performs a time-demeaning transformation on the data. Again, all unobserved time-constant variables will be eliminated. But for details presented later, OLS regression on these transformed values provides more efficient estimators than on the first-differenced values for our purposes. Estimators that result from this method are called fixed effects (FE) estimators. While the fixed effects model allows for arbitrary correlation between the explanatory variables and the unobserved time-constant effect, a random effects model explicitly assumes that there is no such correlation. Estimation on this model is typically done by transforming the data using a method of quasi-demeaning, and then a Generalised Least Squares (GLS) regression is run on the transformed values. The resulting estimators are called random effects (RE) estimators. How these techniques are performed as well as the intuition behind them is explained with technical detail in Section 3. Why we may want to use a random effects model over a fixed effects model is because we may believe that personality has no effect on any of the independent variables, including income. If this is true, then using FE estimators will result in relatively inefficient estimates than RE estimators. But intuitively, personality is likely to be correlated with the ability to make money, and thus income. Studies have shown that happy people tend to earn more in general (eg. see Lyubomirsky et al. 2005). If this were true, simple pooled OLS methods will lead to inaccurate estimates where the effect of income on happiness will be overstated or biased upwards. The fixed effects model allows for this correlation, and is thus more widely accepted in the literature to fit the data better. Lastly, can we test for this assumption? Is the unobserved time-constant variable correlated with any of the explanatory variables? Which model fits the data better? We can do what is called a Hausman test, which tests for statistically significant differences in the coefficients on the time-varying explanatory variables between fixed effects and random effects. The intuition and decision rule on which model to accept will be described in detail later. For comparison, we present the results for pooled OLS, FE and RE estimations together. Although this approach is one of the most popular one in the literature when it comes to estimating happiness equations, there are other alternatives ways. Powdthavee (2009)s work was quite similar to this study, but in addition he used a method of instrumental variables (IV) which involved using another variable to instrument for income. Happiness equations may suffer from the problem of simultaneity, whereby the causal link between happiness and income runs both ways. To address this, he used data on the proportion of household members whose payslip has been shown to the interviewer as the instrument for income. He reasoned that household income is bound to be measured more accurately with a higher proportion of household members showing their payslip. With this direct correlation, as well as reasonably assuming that this proportion has little correlation with happiness, it would allow for an estimation based on an exogenous income effect. Besides his work, other work (eg. Frijters et al. 2004, Gardner Oswald 2007) has attempted to address the endogeneity effect more directly using different types of exogeneous income effects. Another line of thinking interprets the happiness scores as ordinal rather than cardinal. Here, simple OLS estimation would be inadequate. One solution to this would be to use ordered latent response models. Winkelmann (2004) was one example of this in which he performed an ordered probit regression with multiple random effects on subjective well-being data in Germany. To date, there is no statistical software package that could implement a fixed effects ordered probit regression. An alternative to this would be to convert the happiness scoring scale into a (0,1) dummy, thereby roughly cutting the sample into half, and then estimate by conditional logit regression, as attempted by Winkelmann Winkelmann (1998) and later Powdthavee (2009). However, their work combined with Ferrer-i-Carbonell Frijters (2004) seems to suggest that it makes no difference qualitatively whether to assume cardinality or ordinality on the happiness scores. There is no one perfect model that can address all the problems. We believe that the FE RE approach, not only simple, is also elegant and easier to understand. Coefficient estimates can be interpreted easily and the approach also addresses the most important of problems in the estimation, especially that of unobserved heterogeneity bias. Although bias in happiness equations come from many different sources, it is our belief that this source is one of the major ones and is easily removed using simple techniques. Data We use data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), a widely used data source for empirical studies in the UK. The BHPS surveys a nationally representative sample of the UK population aged 16 and above. The survey interviews both individual respondents and households as a whole every year in waves since 1991. To date has been 18 waves in total. Survey questions are comprehensive and they include income, marital status, employment status, health, opinions on social attitudes and so on. The data set is also an unbalanced panel; there is entry into and exit from the panel. Data can be obtained through the UK Data Archive website. Our dependent variable, happiness, uses data on the question of individual life satisfaction. From Wave 6 onwards, the survey included a question which asks respondents to rate how satisfied they are with their lives from a rating of 1 (very dissatisfied) to 7 (very satisfied). This question is strategically located at the end of the survey after respondents had been asked about their household and individual responses in order to avoid any framing effects of a particular event dominating responses to the LS question. For ease of representation, we now refer to happiness as life satisfaction (LS). For income, we use data on the total household net income, deflated by consumer price index and equivalised using the Modified-OECD equivalence scale. The initial value is worked out through responses in the Household Finance section which includes question on sources and amount of incomes received in a year. Inflation would seriously distort our estimation and so is accounted for. Equivalisation involves dividing the total household net income by a value worked out according to an equivalence scale. For example, a household with two adults would have their total household income divided by 1.5. The more adults are there in the household, the higher this value would be. Children would add relatively less to the value than adults. This method would provide an equivalent household income variable, which would account for the fact that different household sizes enjoy different standards of living on the same level of income per household member. Due to economies of scale in consumption, a household with three adults would typically have needs more than triple than that of a single member household. Equivalisation would make comparisons between households a lot fairer or more accurate. Lastly, we use the log form. We use data on the years 2002-2006 (Waves 12-16). There are in total [unconfirmed] respondents with [unconfirmed] observations that have nonmissing information on LS. Descriptive statistics are provided in the Appendix section. Econometric Method We denote as our dependent variable. We have explanatory (binary and non-binary) variables which includes income, employment status, marital status and so on. There are respondents , where . A simple pooled cross-section model would look like (1) where the first subscript denotes the cross-sectional units, the second denotes the time period and the third denotes the explanatory variables. As mentioned earlier, this simple model does not address the issue of unobserved heterogeneity bias. To see why, we can view the unobserved variables affecting the dependent variable, or the error, as consisting of two parts; a time-constant (the heterogeneity bias) and time-varying component. (2) Thus if we regress by simple pooled OLS, we obtain (3) Here one of the key assumptions for OLS estimation to be unbiased has been violated, since the error term is correlated with . The above model is called a fixed effects model. The variable captures all unobserved, time-constant factors that affect . In our analysis, personality falls under this variable. is the idiosyncratic error that represents other unobserved factors that change over time and affect . The simplest method to eliminate is as follows. First, we write the equation for two years as By subtracting the equation on the first period from the second, we obtain (4) where denotes the change from to . In effect, we have transformed the model in such a way that we are only dealing with relative rather than absolute values. This technique is called first-differencing. We can then proceed to estimate the equation at (4) via OLS. Essentially, the error term here is no longer correlated with , as the time-constant effect has been differenced away or minused out of the equation. However this is only the case if and only if the strict exogeneity assumption holds. This assumption requires that the idiosyncratic error at each time, is uncorrelated with the explanatory variables in every time period. If this holds, then OLS estimation will be unbiased. A more popular transformation technique in the literature is the time-demeaning method. Again, we begin from equation (3), and using (2) we rewrite it as (5) Then we perform the following transformation. First, we average (5) over time, giving (6) where and so on. Next, we subtract (6) from (5) for every time period, giving or (7) where is the time-demeaned value of LS, and so on. Essentially again, has disappeared from the equation. With these new, transformed values, we can then use standard OLS estimation. Conditions for unbiasedness remain the same as in the first-differencing method, including the strict exogeneity assumption. As mentioned earlier, the resulting estimators are called FE estimators. In our analysis, we decided to use FE over first-differencing. It is important to state why we do this. The reasoning is as follows. When , their estimation is fundamentally the same. When , both estimations are still unbiased (and in fact consistent), but they differ in terms of relative efficiency. The crucial point to note here is the degree of serial correlation between the idiosyncratic errors, . When there is no serial correlation, FE is more efficient than first-differencing. We have confidence that we have included sufficient controls for other factors in our happiness equation, so that whatever that is left in the error term should be minimal and serially uncorrelated. In addition, FE is safer in the sense that if the strict exogeneity assumption is somehow violated, the bias tends to zero at the rate whereas the bias in first-differencing does not depend on T. With multiple time periods, FE can exploit this fact and be better than first-differencing. Another reason why FE i s more popular is that it is easier to implement in standard statistical software packages, and is even more so when we have an unbalanced panel. With multiple time periods, the first-differencing transformation requires more computation and is less elegant overall than FE. As mentioned earlier, if is uncorrelated with each explanatory variable in every time period, the transformation in FE will lead to inefficient estimators. We can use a random effects model to address this. We begin from (5), writing it as (8) with an intercept explicitly included. This is so that, without loss of generality, we can make the assumption that has zero mean. The other fundamental assumption is that is uncorrelated with each explanatory variable at every time period, or (9) With (9), the equation at (8) is called a random effects model. If the assumption at (9) holds, even simple cross section OLS estimation will provide us with consistent results. With multiple time periods, pooled OLS can be even better and also still achieve consistency. However, because is in the composite error from (2), then the are serially correlated across time. The correlation between two time periods will be (10) where and . This correlation can be quite substantial, and thus causes standard errors in pooled OLS estimation to be incorrect. To solve this problem, we can use the method of Generalized Least Squares (GLS). First, we transform the data in a way that eliminates serial correlation in the errors. We define a constant as . (11) Then in a similar way to the FE transformation, we quasi-demean the data for each variable, or, (12) where is the quasi-demeaned value of LS, and so on. takes a value between zero and one. As mentioned earlier, estimations on these values produce RE estimators. This transformation basically subtracts a fraction of the time average. That fraction, from (11), depends on , and . We can see here that FE and pooled OLS are in fact a special cases of RE; in FE, and in pooled OLS, . In a way, measures how much of the unobserved effect is kept in the error term. Now that the errors are serially uncorrelated, we can proceed by feasible GLS estimation. This will give us consistent estimators with large N and fixed T, which is suitable for our data set. To summarize, if we believe that personality is an unobserved heterogeneous factor affecting LS then pooled OLS will give us biased estimators. To address this issue, we can use a fixed effects or random effects model. In the former case, we prefer the FE transformation over first-differencing. The choice between FE and RE depends on whether this factor is also correlated with one of our explanatory variables. We think that personality may be correlated with income. If so, then we use the transformation in FE to completely remove it. If this factor is uncorrelated with all explanatory variables at all time periods, then we do a transformation in RE to partially remove it as a complete removal will lead to inefficient estimates. In this scenario, RE is still better or more efficient than pooled OLS because of the serial correlation problem. An additional characteristic that RE has over FE is that RE allows for time-constant explanatory variables in the regression equation. Remember in FE that every variable is time-demeaned; so variables like gender (does not vary) as well as age (varies very little) will not provide us with useful information. In RE, these variables are only quasi-demeaned, so we can still include these variables in our estimation. Estimation Results We produce results for estimation by pooled OLS, FE and RE. Besides our key explanatory income variable, other control variables are included in the regression. They are gender, age, marital status,

How To Die Essay -- Psychology

Death has always been part of human culture. It’s viewed in all kinds of manners, ranging from the worst enemy to a welcome liberator. In today’s society, death and the culture of death expand ever so quickly as people live longer on more advanced medicine, and thus die older and weaker. Of course, eventually everyone will face the prospect of taking their last breaths. Therefore it becomes necessary to give serious thought about how we choose to die in an intensifying plethora of options. Some believe in fighting until the disease wins with the best technology and best treatments without regard to cost. Others believe that after a certain age, or certain period of â€Å"extreme treatments†, the ill should accept their fate and die with â€Å"dignity†, off the machines and any radical treatments. Few physicians recommend the second option, because they are expected to do everything humanely possible to keep patients alive. With a range of increasing medic al technology, it’s only become easier to do so. However, the effectiveness and relative comfort of these new remedies are another question entirely. Renouncing the desperate fighting philosophy, the hospice institution takes the issue of dying in a different perspective. Hospice supports a submissive approach to dying, allowing the patient to experience a natural, dignified death without painful or bizarre treatments. Many times, spiritual and emotional counseling to the patient and his or her family is also offered. How to end a normal life seems to rest on how much people want to defy death. The point of disconnect occurs when people have to decide which is nobler: a courageous fight, or a graceful acceptance. We generally want to live as long as we possibly can, but can the way we end ... ...is-the-quality-of-life-it-gives-the-patient.html>. "Right-to-die Statement: Tony Nicklinson Says Stroke Left 'no Dignity or Privacy'" The Guardian. Ed. Press Association. Guardian News and Media, 12 Mar. 2012. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. . Siamak, MD, Nabili T. "MedicineNet.com." MedicineNet. Ed. Melissa C. Stà ¶ppler, MD. MedicineNet, Inc. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. . Steven, Reinberg. "Medicare Costs for Cancer Treatment Soar." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 10 June 2008. Web. 02 Apr. 2012. . Williams, Mary E. "Hospice Care Benefits The Terminally Ill." Terminal Illness: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 2001. 17-26. Print.

Abstract of Judgement & Decision Making Topics

Reading 1. 3 (Jackall, R. (1988)) : Looking Up and Looking Around In every corporation the crux of a manager’s charisma is his decision making prowess. Though there is an abundance of scientific theories and myths related to decision making, generally decisions are made in a highly rationalized context. A manager would prefer taking decisions that are based on well-formulated and generally agreed upon strategies rather than evaluating all the possible solutions to the problem in hand and then taking a well reasoned decision. In contrast, managers are highly uncomfortable when faced with situations in which there are no specific procedures. Managers vouch for their own safety, safety in terms of reputation and therefore tend to look around and see what others opinions are, the perspective of their superiors. In situations where their reputation is at stake, or huge sums of money involved, or even the company’s goodwill is at stake managers tend to hesitate and wait for an opinion not due to lack of experience but due to fear of failure. Another aspect why managers tend to look around is the accusation or blame time after a problem occurs because there is no means to track down responsibility. As a result of bureaucratic structure higher authorities can easily sneak out of such situations leaving the subordinates hung out to dry. A negative aspect in an organization would be milking a plant which is generally performed by a top level authority in order to maximize gains. The negative aspect in this is of course the organisation bears the brunt of it, moreover at the end of it all, the person assigned the charge of the milked plant eventually becomes the scapegoat. Another aspect is that if focus remains on short term profit it may not be the key to lasting achievements though it may be profitable for a short duration. Likewise individuals look out for their own interests instead of the organisations when there are immediate personal benefits. Experience: In my experience this occasion has occurred a number of times when my manager tends to avoid the risky or rather sticky situations. As a newly appointed sales engineer in a trading firm my manager used to pass on a number of sales quotations to me for processing and finalizing the deal. Since I was fresh to the field of sales I didn’t realize that he was forwarding me these sales orders just because those orders were from clients who weren’t credible enough. Though I managed to get a couple of orders, two of the orders went kaput in terms of payment for which I was held responsible. My manager washed his hands of me accusing me with not consulting him before I plunged to seal the deal. Though on the other profitable orders he too had a take on the credit but the blame only fell on me. Reading 4. 3 (Wildavsky, A. , and Dake, K. (1990)): Theories of Risk Perception: Who Fears What and Why? This article mainly focuses on the outlook of different kinds of people, outlook such as the perception of risk of different products and practices, the diverse effect of a particular practice or event on these different groups, the intensity of the effect on these groups and the varying concerns on an individual basis to a diverse range of risks so as to understand the patterns of risk perception. Fundamentally an individual perceives a hazard as a risk with greater anxiety if his wellbeing is likely to be in danger. If the hazard doesn’t seem to affect him or his beliefs in any way it wouldn’t be of any concern to him though it might be of ample concern to someone else who will be directly affected. By classifying people on the basis of social relations such as hierarchical, egalitarian and individualist, along with the cultural biases that support them, turned out to be the best way to account for the perception of risk. It was found that people who support egalitarianism would be more inclined to risk taking individually but as a social group would be more risk averse, whereas those who favour hierarchy tend to be the opposite. An individualist would be risk taking when it comes to technology as they see an opportunity for growth. These observations were in respect to technology and environment but in terms of personality structure there is no evidence as to variation in risk perception. In spite of these observations one cannot presume that risk taking is preferred by cultures of individualism and hierarchy neither can one presume that egalitarians are always risk averse this is because as risks pertaining to technology and environment are feared by egalitarians in a similar way social deviance is feared by hierarchists and the risk of war is feared by individualists. In conclusion, depending on the object of attention risk perception also varies. Experience: During my tenure in a shipping company as a procurement executive I had once the task to procure water pump for eight ships. Since this was a high priority requirement and involved huge costs I made sure I had researched the market well and decided on a particular brand (Grundfos) even though there was another pump (Davey) that perfectly suited our requirements. The reason was that Davey’s technical support was really bad. So I forwarded the research report to my MD who called for me and told me to go ahead with the purchase of the Davey pump telling me that it was profitable and worthwhile to get our own technicians trained since we could use more of their pumps. To me it seemed like a big risk especially since it involved a huge cost but to him it didn’t seem a risk at all. Reading 6. 1 (Lindblom, C. E. (1959)): The Science of â€Å"Muddling Through† The author compares and contrasts two different approaches to policy making – Rational comprehensive method (Root) and the Successive limited comparisons (Branch) and explains why branch method is a better approach in formulating policies. The root method starts from the fundamentals, improving on the past only if included in a theory. This method cannot be used for complex problems simply because the facts needed require a gigantic compilation of observations. Whereas the branch method continually springs up from the present situation in a step by step manner, varying in small degrees and is more appropriate for complex problems because facts requirements are small and are relevant to the policy. In the root method, initially values or objectives have to be clarified before the alternative policies are examined. Disagreement is unavoidable even when objectives are clearly stated. Another difficulty is ranking of conflicting values since objectives may not have the same relative values. Whereas in the branch method values and policies are selected simultaneously and only incremental values are focussed on making it simpler. Secondly, in the root method, ends are initially chosen in a means-end relationship and means are then developed whereas in branch method means as well as ends are simultaneously chosen. Thirdly, in the root method decisions are termed â€Å"good† if an objective is achieved even when the decision hasn’t been described. In the case of branch method where the objectives are defined only by the incremental values it is still possible to determine if the policy achieved the desired objective. Again in the root method it is impossible to take all factors into consideration due to limitations unless the complex problem is simplified whereas the branch method by limiting the policy comparisons to relevant ones only differing slightly from the current policy the problem is simplified. Finally policy is made and re-made endlessly in the branch method. Nevertheless, branch method does have its disadvantages but is far superior for decision making in complex problems. Experience: In a new start up firm generally new policies are made often or even old ones are amended. During my work as a business development manager in a newly start up firm, I along with another colleague had the major task to formulate policies for my division. We decided to put together basic policies related to our past experience from similar jobs. This served as the base to us and the other employees of the division. There were revisions to these base policies only when there was a need to amend it because it wasn’t working for us or when some mishap happened and a new policy was inevitable. But the fact was that the new policies didn’t vary from the old policies in such a large manner. So it wasn’t difficult for the employees to get accustomed to the new policy. And slowly we managed to put together a solid set of policies. Reading 7. 1 (McIntyre, R. M. & Salas, E. (1995)): Measuring and Managing For Team Performance: Emerging Principles From Complex Environments The author of this chapter focuses on a fairly neglected but critical aspect namely teamwork that develops as teams mature over a period of time. The base for this research was military teams but due to the similarities between military and any organisation the findings can be extended to teams in an organisation too. The model formed for this research was The Team Evolution and Maturation (TEAM) Research Paradigm. The TEAM paradigm program observed and measured a number of tactical decision-making teams. Interviews were conducted, data instruments and self-report questionnaire were developed and employed to assist in the research. The data analysed were scanned for evidence of behavioural trends that characterized team performance and the results were presented. Teamwork is the interactive behaviour between members of a team but depending on circumstance may include technical activities. Teamwork consists of four major factors-performance monitoring, feedback, closed-loop communication, back-up behaviour and also performance norms such as team’s self awareness and supporting interdependence among team-mates. Also effective teams modify their behaviour depending on the situation and do change over a period of time. Another category that led to a better understanding of team performance was Team leadership. A team leader must be able to serve as models of teamwork in order to maintain the team’s effectiveness by engaging in teamwork and improving the team performance, being prepared technically, by listening and benefiting from the knowledge of team members, accepting and providing feedback but at the same time being cautious about his leadership style and the respect he commands. The role of each individual team member was also important in this context. Team members should be individually competent so that effective team work can take place but at the same time be aware of the tasks of his team-mate. Also, a team member must not be dependent on an outstanding team member by evading responsibility. Experience: During my career in a software company a team was formed for every project. The team was formed depending on the requirement of the particular phase of the project, budget and duration. The team members were selected based on their experience. Meetings were conducted with the project managers on an individual basis as well as a team. New ideas as well as difficulties faced by each team member were noted. Another method employed by the company was the team appraisal form in which team members rated their team mates in different tasks. At the completion of the project too a review of the performance of the team as well as the project manager was conducted. For the next project the outcomes of these reviews were specially taken into consideration to form another team. What I observed was as a team our performance improved and tasks were completed with less difficulty among team members. Reading 5. 3 (Parkin (2000)): Expert Judgment This reading discusses about how the conceptualization of information can help in retaining information for longer periods of time and achieving expertise. It also classifies the characteristics of an expert and finally whether experts are better judges in their own domain. The short term memory in human beings can only absorb and process few chunks of memory and that too for a short period of time whereas to remember data for a longer period it is necessary to put them in long term memory. Some recent findings have shown that in order to support the short-term memory, experts developed their long term memory thereby overcoming the limited capacity of the short term memory. But again the storage capacity isn’t what makes a difference between a novice and an expert. It is the ability of an expert to visualize and analyse as well as reason the patterns and data in such a way that it provides room for more planning that differentiates him from an amateur. In order to have this ability of an expert, practice seems to be the only solution. Again being an expert in problem solving in a particular domain is not the only skill required by an expert but good planning skill too is critical. By deciding on the right methods and goals based on past experiences experts are more successful in predicting likely outcomes. Thus in order to facilitate quick retrieval of information from the long term memory it is necessary to conceptualize the largely disaggregated data that one acquires during education and training. Through a continuous series of trial, error and reliable feedback, information gets stored in memory and readily available. But in spite of these characteristics experts may not be better judges also in their own domains. An expert’s decision would differ from another one based on his knowledge and experience. But again agreement cannot be the only criteria to judge an expert. Experience: During my career as a computer engineer I had done multiple projects. But I remember one of the projects in the early days of my career which was a fairly complex one. It was a complex one only because in spite of learning that programming language in my undergraduate course and also having been rained for it in the company I had to struggle through the coding because I hadn’t practised it actually. But the irony was that the project manager was quite an expert at it and had an extensive knowledge in that programming language despite the fact that this language came into actual practice long after his graduation. I later came to know that he had successfully completed a number of projects using this program ming language. Thus practice and definitely the multiple projects he executed got him to this level of expertise. Reference 1. UTS November 2002, ‘Judgment and Decision making’, CN2118 Lectures & Reading Material.