The Ethics Of Business Ethics - 1586 Words

Business ethics refers to the consideration of moral decisions and responsibilities in the process of operating a business. Business ethics, practiced throughout the deepest layers of a company, become the heart and soul of the company s culture and can mean the difference between success and failure. Values drive behavior and therefore need to be consciously stated, but they also need to be affirmed by actions. Ethical business environments are created with foundations of integrity, accountability and commitment. Personal/Professional Application Integrity is defined as following your moral or ethical convictions and doing the right thing in all circumstances, even if no one is watching you. Having integrity means you are true to yourself and would do nothing that demeans or dishonors you. When employees are asked what they want from leaders it is integrity. Qualities change across culture and time, but what people say they want most in American society is integrity. When people ar e asked to define integrity, the word they mention most frequently is honesty. The leader with integrity always tells the truth as he or she believes it to be. Think about the best leader you have ever had; she or he probably had integrity. First and foremost, people want a leader they can trust. Ask yourself whether you have a reputation for integrity. (Manning 6) Integrity can be broken down into sub components: Honesty- honesty creates an open environment in the workplace and effectiveShow MoreRelatedEthics And Ethics Of Business Ethics1304 Words   |  6 PagesBusiness Ethics Varun Shah University of Texas at Dallas Business Ethics Morals are a crucial part of life. Without having principles one would never be able to distinguish the right from wrong and good from evil. Just as it applies to life in general, ethics is an integral part of doing business as well. When we here the term Business Ethics in our work place, we usually do not take it seriously and brush it off saying ‘it’s just a simple set of basic rules like not cheating and so on’. ThisRead MoreEthics And Ethics Of Business Ethics1624 Words   |  7 Pagesinvestors losing their retirement accounts and many employees lost their jobs (Accounting-Degree.org, 2015). Crane and Matten (2010) argue â€Å"After all, despite many years of business ethics being researched and taught in colleges and universities, ethics problems persist and the public remains sceptical of the ethics of business†. The big problem we face is that ethical standards are declining because of insider trading of stocks and bonds, bribery, falsifying docume nts, deceptive advertising, defectiveRead MoreEthics And Ethics Of Business Ethics1200 Words   |  5 PagesEthics meaning in simple way for average person is what is right from wrong. According to Chris MacDonald (2010)† Ethics† can be defined as the critical, structured examinations of how we should behave - in particular, how we should constrain the pursuit of self-interest when our actions affect others. â€Å"Business ethics is the applied ethics discipline that address the moral features of commercial activity (Business ethics, 2008).Working in ethical way in business has a lot of benefits which can attractRead MoreThe Ethics Of Business Ethics1471 Words   |  6 PagesReview Nowadays, the concern for business ethics is growing rapidly in the business community around the world. Business ethics are focused on the judgment of decisions taken by managers and their behaviors. The issue regarding these judgments is the norms and cultures that shape these judgments. Business ethics are concerned about the issue, how will the issue be solved and how will it move ahead along the transition analysis as well (Carroll, 2014). Business ethics can be addressed at differentRead MoreBusiness Ethics : Ethics And Business943 Words   |  4 Pagesdiscussions in Business is Ethics. Some people believe that the decisions businesses make in interest of the business has no place in ethics and that they are essentially amoral. These businesses believe that their main objective is to simply make a profit and that it does not affect the success of the business. Whereas some businesses believe that they have to take ethics into consideration, in order for their business to be a success. Richard T. De George (1999) states that ethics and business do notRead MoreThe Ethics Of Business Ethics Essay2711 Words   |  11 PagesBusiness Ethics Business ethics is a type of professional ethics or applied ethics which examines moral problems and ethical principles that come up in a corporate environment. It is applied to every aspect of conducting business. According to Milton Friedman, a company has the responsibility to generate as much revenue as it can while still conforming to the basic rules that society has set. These rules include the ones embodied in customs as well as in law. Similarly, Peter Drucker stated thatRead MoreThe Ethics Of Business Ethics Essay1097 Words   |  5 PagesResource A discusses how ethics is crucial in business. There are three key ideas used to understand this. Firstly, making ethically wrong decisions tend to cause more upset than other general mistakes as purposeful unethical actions are not as easily forgiven or forgotten. Secondly, ethics provides businesses with a broader understanding of everything to do with their business. Business ethics is effectively just business it its larger hu man context. Thirdly, being unethical can tarnish the publicRead MoreThe Ethics Of Business Ethics1064 Words   |  5 Pages　　　　Business Ethics Ethics can be viewed as the rules and values that determine goals and actions people should follow when dealing with other human beings. However, business ethics can be defined as moral principles of a business. It examines moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. Generally, it has both normative and descriptive dimensions. Organization practice and career specialization are regarded as normative whereas academics attempting to understand business behaviourRead MoreThe Ethics Of Business Ethics757 Words   |  4 Pagesdeciding what to do in certain situations, ethics is what guides an individual to act in a way that is good, or right. Those involved in business settings apply ethics to business situations, known as business ethics. It is expected of businesses, small and large, to follow business ethics. There is a particular framework businesses are to follow. However, the reoccurring news headlines of poor business ethics prove differently. Poor busine ss ethics include bribery, corporate accounting scandalsRead MoreThe Ethics Of The Business Ethics1431 Words   |  6 Pages BUSINESS ETHICS INTRODUCTION:- Presentation Ethics are exceptionally regular and essential good esteem that helps us to take the right choice where we think that it hard to pick between our own advantages and the correct thing to do. We are going to talk about three sections of morals Behavioral morals, Bounded ethicality and last one is irreconcilable situation. As from the names of these parts of morals, its verging on clarifying the significance of it. It clarifies why great individuals

Agency Problem †Essay Free Essays

I partially agree with the statement that managers have a severely limited amount of discretion to pursue actions inconsistent with shareholder wealth maximization. By investing in a company, shareholders aim to maximize their wealth and achieve portfolio diversification. The objective of managers is assumed to be to further these interests by maximizing the firm’s share value. We will write a custom essay sample on Agency Problem – Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now This can be achieved by taking on projects with positive NPV and good management of short-term capital and long-term debt. However, shareholders and managers are assumed to want to maximize their utilities; so this objective may not always be the priority for managers as they may rather prefer to maximize their own wealth or further other personal interests of theirs. This conflict of interest between the two is an example of the principal agent problem. The principal agent problem occurs due to two reasons. The first is the separation of ownership from control – the principal or the shareholders may own a corporation but it is the agent or manager who holds control of it and acts on their behalf. This gives managers the power to do things without necessarily being ‘detected’ by shareholders. The second is that shareholders may not possess the same information as the manager. The manager would have access to management accounting data and financial reports, whereas the shareholders would only receive annual reports, which may be subject to manipulation. Thus asymmetric information also leads to moral hazard and adverse selection problems. The following are areas where the interests of shareholders and managers often conflict: Managers may try to expropriate shareholders’ wealth in a number of ways. They may over consume perks such as using company credit cards for personal expenses, jet planes etc. †¢Empire building: Managers may pursue a suboptimal expansion path for the firm. They may expand the firm at a rationally unfeasible rate in order to increase their own benefits at the cost of shareholders’ wealth. †¢Managers may be more risk ave rse than shareholders who typically hold diversified portfolios. †¢Managers may not have the same motivation as shareholders, likely due to a lack of proper incentives. Managers may window dress financial statements in order to optimize bonuses or justify sub optimal strategies The principal agent problem normally leads to agency costs. This has been identified by Jensen and Meckling(1976) as the sum of: 1. Monitoring costs: Costs incurred by the shareholders when they attempt to monitor or control the actions of managers. 2. Bonding costs: Bonding refers to contracts that bond agents’ performance with principal interests by limiting or restricting the agent’s activity as a result. The cost of this to the manager is the bonding cost. 3. The residual loss: Costs incurred from divergent principal and agent interests despite the use of monitoring and bonding. However the manager’s discretion is quite limited in practice. There are a number of internal and external solutions to agency costs for shareholders. Internal: †¢Well-written contracts ensure that there are fewer opportunities for managers to over consume perks. †¢An external board of directors could be appointed to monitor the efforts and actions of managers. This board would have access to information and considerable legal authority over management. It could thus safeguard information and represent shareholder interests in the company. †¢The board could hire independent accountants to audit the firm’s financial statements. If the managers don’t agree to changes proposed by auditors, the auditors issue a qualified opinion. This signals that managers are trying to hide something, and undermines investor confidence. †¢Compensation packages where the reward to the manager is linked to firm performance. This includes performance related bonuses and the payments of shares and share options. Ambitious, lower managers are a threat to the jobs of inefficient, evading ones. External: †¢The lenders of a company also monitor; a bank for instance would track the assets, earnings and cash flows of the company it provides a loan to. †¢Managerial labor market: Poor managers may not get another job or get a much poorer one. Ultimately the most important indicator to the labor market of managerial performance is share price. †¢Capital Markets – A falling share price increases the threat of a take-over, which can often result in redundancies. More concentrated shareholding by outsiders can lead to monitoring by them and improve managerial performance. However there are a few problems with these solutions though, which make it possible for managers to circumvent them to a small extent. In order to keep the share price high, managers may focus more on short term profitability at the cost of long term profitability. They may use gimmicks to temporarily boost the share price and neglect spending on research, development and H. R. They may also provide sub standard products and cease providing services for old, or relatively less important products in order to reduce costs and make a quick profit. This damages the company’s reputation, reduces its competitiveness in the future and thus affects long-term shareholder value negatively. While block holders may act as external monitoring mechanisms, they can also have private incentives to go along with management decisions, which may be detrimental to firm performance. Writing better contracts may reduce the problem of asymmetric information, but not fully solve it. This is because the design of such contracts is technically infeasible due to various reasons such as the difficulty of foreseeing all future contingencies. Dispersed shareholders often do not exercise the few controlling rights that they have. This leads to a free rider problem where shareholders would prefer to let other shareholders do the task of monitoring as they cannot justify spending on it over the few shares that they each own. In order to resist takeovers, managers may design contracts that compensate them in the event of loss of control due to the takeover. They may also undertake targeted repurchases and devise a poison pill, which changes the fundamental aspects of the corporate rules without the knowledge of shareholders. While incentive schemes such as shares and share options are effective, they are still reactive in the sense that they provide no mechanism for preventing mistakes or opportunistic behavior. Managers may continue to focus mainly on quarterly goals rather than the long term as they are allowed to sell the stocks after exercising their options. By focusing on quarterly performance, managers could boost the stock price and avail higher personal profits on their subsequent sale of stock. Managers may also sell their shares as soon as they are high, leading people to think that they lack confidence in their own operations. This may adversely affect share price. Share options also increase the risk of EPS dilution from an increase in shares outstanding. Managers may often ‘window dress’ financial statements as the company must be seen to perform well in order to improve share valuations. They may report inaccurate information, especially if their short-term rewards outweigh their long term ones such as pensions. It also encourages shareholder approval, and so would lead to less difficult AGM’s. Many managers may hide the true value of assets in order to hide the losses they incurred while buying them. Window dressing also involves managers presenting statistics such that they highlight the perceivably best bits about the company’s performance and avoid emphasis on the worst aspects of the previous year’s business. Other common practices of this include disguising liquidity problems and fraudulent representation of liabilities. This gross misrepresentation of debts has been seen with Enron in the US, where $billions of long-term liabilities were hidden off the balance sheet. Its executive Jeffery Skiller, initiated the use of mark to market accounting, while hoping to meet Wall Street expectations. Enron ultimately became bankrupt while its shareholders suffered huge losses. Despite having model board of directors and a talented audit committee, Enron’s managers were able to make it attract large sums of capital to fund a questionable business model and hype its stock to unsustainable levels. Worldcom, a telecommunications company in the US, inflated profits by disguising expenses as investment in assets and inflated revenues with bogus accounting entries from corporate, unallocated revenue accounts. In mid 2000, its stock price began to decline and CEO Bernard Ebbers persuaded WorldComà ¢â‚¬â„¢s board of directors to provide him corporate loans and guarantees of over $400 million to cover his margin calls on Worldcom stock. The board had hoped that the loans would avert the need for Ebbers to sell the substantial amounts of WorldCom stock that he owned, as this would have further reduced the stock’s price. However, the company ultimately went bankrupt and Ebbers was ousted as CEO in April 2002. The shareholders suffered massive losses as they watched World Com’s stock price plummet from $60 to less than 20 cents. Thus, we can see that while there is room for managers to indulge in personal wealth maximization, it is quite difficult to do so. Usually, the solutions tend to be adequate enough to correct the conflicts, and restrict manager’s discretion. How to cite Agency Problem – Essay, Essays

Black Vs White Essay Research Paper Black free essay sample

Black Vs. White Essay, Research Paper Black vs. White How can a author have a character make the reader feel warm interior when reading about them, or experience choler and disgust towards the character? A manner is the usage of visible radiation and dark imagination. Imagery is a really of import facet of composing used to portray a state of affairs or character as more existent or to expose their personality. Charles Dickens uses imagination in his book Oliver Twist to expose his characters as good, light or bad, dark. This type of imagination makes the reader experience more comfy when reading about the good characters while experiencing uncomfortableness toward the bad characters. Dickens uses visible radiation and dark imagination in his book Oliver Twist to do the reader like or dislike the character, make the character # 8217 ; s image more graphic, and excessively do the reader image the characters in their heads. Oliver the chief character in the book is displayed as a good, light character. When he is being described the room lightens up there is a batch of brightness portrayed in his image. # 8220 ; Oh! that # 8217 ; s the male child, is it? # 8221 ; said the mortician: raising the taper above his caput, to acquire a better position of Oliver. # 8220 ; Mrs. Sowerberry, will you hold the goodness to come here a minute, my beloved? # 8221 ; ( Dickens 52 ) . This quotation mark makes the reader image Oliver radiance from the candle flame. The reader feels that Oliver is a warm character and most people feel consolation with him and bask reading about him. Another quotation mark that illustrates the immature male child # 8217 ; s bright character is # 8220 ; For a long clip, Oliver remained motionless in this attitude. The taper was firing low in the socket when he rose to his pess. Having gazed carefully round him, and listened intently, he gently undid the fasteners of the door, and lo oked abroad. # 8221 ; ( 77 ) . Dickens makes the reader commiseration the orphan in this quotation mark. It makes the reader image a hapless male child with a taper hardly illuming up his face, it makes the reader feel sorry for Oliver but yet still portray him as good. Dickens with these quotation marks early in the book has set the tone for Oliver being portrayed as a good character. On the bad side, Dickens uses darkness and shadow to do the reader frisson at the idea of some characters. The reader will subconsciously experience uncomfortableness when reading about the bad characters and their dark ways. Most of the bad characters are selfish and avaricious looking after lone themselves. An illustration of a quotation mark used to do a reader feel non at easiness is # 8220 ; With the piece of staff of life in his manus, and the small brown-cloth parish cap on his caput, Oliver was so led away by Mr. Bumble from the wretched place where one sort word or expression had neer lighted the somberness of his baby years. # 8221 ; ( 32 ) The quotation mark makes the reader experience the realisation of walking off into the darkness of a alone unkind childhood. Dickens so uses this quotation mark to portray two characters as bad at the same clip # 8220 ; The mortician, who had merely put up the shutters of his store, was doing some entries in his day-book by the visibl e radiation of a most appropriate blue taper, when Mr. Bumble entered. # 8221 ; ( 52 ) . The candle combustion is really blue giving the reader an uncomfortable feeling about the room. The mortician merely put up frissons, which means the room is dark because it blocks out the outside visible radiation. The taper besides gets blue when Mr. Bumble walks in giving the reader a bad feeling about him excessively. Dickens enforces the usage of dark imagination in this quotation mark by stating # 8220 ; a really appropriate blue taper # 8221 ; by stating this Dickens is stressing the darkness of the room. When reading about these characters the reader will dislike and non experience comfy with the characters. Another version of light imagination is the figure of a assisting manus. Person making out to assist one in demand makes a reader feel really warm interior and Li ke the character. A bright face with a warm manus is an image that everyone can visualize as good. Mr. Brownlow is that assisting manus in this book, he helps Oliver and invites him to remain in his place because he sees that Oliver’s life was traveling down hill. â€Å"He shortly fell into a soft drowse, from which he was awakened by the visible radiation of a taper: which, being brought near the bed, showed him a gentleman with a really big and loud-ticking gold ticker in his manus, who felt his pulsation, and said he was a great trade better.† ( 109 ) This quotation mark makes the reader makes the reader feel comfy with Mr. Brownlow by demoing him assisting Oliver out and being sort at the same clip demoing a taper illuming up his face doing him be seen as bright and good. However, a quotation mark can besides do the character seem selfless and like a male parent â€Å"Very good, † replied Mr. Brownlow smiling, â€Å"but no uncertainty they will convey that a bout for themselves in the fulness of clip, and if we step in to prevent them, it seems to me that we shall be executing a really Quixotic act, in direct resistance to our ain interest- or at least to Oliver’s, which is the same thing.† ( 370 ) The quotation mark makes Mr. Brownlow seem like a loving, altruistic parent. Light imagination can be used to do a character seem as a benevolent male parent figure. The character that is displayed in the book as the darkest adult male in the universe is Bill Sikes. Dickens uses really dark imagination to depict him. The reader feels highly uncomfortable and much disfavor for this character. All characters in the book disfavor him and at the terminal of the book he is the character that pays the ultimate monetary value. Dickens describes him in really dark glooming state of affairss, # 8220 ; In the vague parlor of a low public-house, in the filthiest portion of Little Saffron Hill ; a dark and glooming lair, where a aflare gas-light burnt all twenty-four hours in the winter-time ; and where no beam of Sun of all time shone in the summer: there sat, dwelling over a small pewter step and a little glass, strongly impregnated with the odor of spirits, a adult male in a velveteen coat, drab trunkss, half boots and stockings, who even by that dim light no experient agent of constabulary would hold hesitated to recognize as Mr. William Sikes. # 8221 ; ( 138 ) Merely this one exceptionally long quotation mark makes the reader experience much disgust towards Bill Sikes, and makes the reader want something to go on to him to finish the narrative. A reader can experience hate towards a character from his attitude by being able to associate the character with an animate being or person they know such as this quotation mark # 8220 ; Dogs are non by and large disposed to avenge hurts inflicted upon them by their Masterss ; but Mr. Sikes # 8217 ; s Canis familiaris, holding mistakes of pique in common with his proprietor, and labouring, possibly at this minute, under a powerful sense of hurt, made no more ado but at one time fixed his dentitions in one of the half-boots. # 8221 ; ( 138 ) The quotation mark shows the affects of Bill Sikes attitude in his Canis familiaris demoing an outside illustration of how atrocious Bill Sikes truly is. The usage of dark imagination affects the reader # 8217 ; s emotions to the extent of detestin g the fictional character. Devils did good in utilizing light and dark imagination in his book Oliver Twist to do the reader like or dislike the character, make the character # 8217 ; s image more graphic, and excessively do the reader image the characters in their heads. It created the consequence that caused the reader to either experience consolation or uncomfortableness with each character. The usage of the visible radiation and dark imagination set the tone for every action the character took in the book thenceforth because the imagination left the standing image in the readers caput of either a bright colorful good face or a dark gloomy evil face. Dickens proved that the usage of visible radiation and dark imagination is a really effectual manner to compose a book and do the characters last everlastingly in the readers mind. 324

The five types of supporting materials are narrati Essays - RTT

The five types of supporting materials are narrative, examples, definitions, testimony, facts, and statistics. Narratives describe events in a dramatic way, appealing to audience members' emotions. An example would be a story you tell that happens in your everyday life or something that you've been through or are going through. Well-known cultural, societal and group narratives appeal deeply to held beliefs and values. Examples are illustrations or cases that represent a larger group of things. For example, me telling you that this is an example of an example will help you get a better understanding. Definitions explain or describe what something is. An example of definition would be the definition of speech is the expression of or the ability to express thoughts and feelings by articulate sounds. Testimony is relying on an individual's or group's opinions related to a particular topic. An example would expect testimony, sources the audience will perceive as highly qualified. Facts, observations you make based on your experiences. Statistics are numerical data or information. An example of a fact is dinosaurs are real, but we were around to see them, but the left behind evidence prove they were here. An example of statistics is 1, and 8 women will get breast cancer. To find this, you can go to Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Essay Sample on American Foreign Policy from 1950 to 1961

Essay Sample on American Foreign Policy from 1950 to 1961 The way leading to Arab-Israeli tension was very complicated. It was the outcome of the old empires decline and the promotion of others. Trying to rephrase the idea of Bruce Robelett Konilholm in his work The origins of the Cold War in the Near East, I could say that the struggle for power in the Arab World as an important forefront in the region, was a contributing factor to the development of the Cold War, since the regions components are bound to each other by physical and abstract realities. I argue that the spiral of conflicting policies between the great powers towards countries of the Northern Tier (1) and Baghdad Pacts (2), as well to others such as Egypt, contributed to the formation of fundamentally confrontational rapport between the United States and the Soviet Union, a rapport outlined in the terms Cold War. Examining it from the post-war great powers point of views, Bruce Kunilholm further shows that this very rapport put an end to the historical rivalries between Britain and Russia over the region and opened the way to new kind of conflicts, their actors are an ideological foundation called the Soviet Union versus the insatiable United States. While continuing this line of thought my area of concern will narrow down to US-Egypts relation up to 1961, the date marking the end of the United Arab Republic (UAR). I will try to answer a central question: How far was the American foreign policy objective in dealing with Cairos file from the early 1950s to 1961? I will try to highlight Eisenhower Doctrine forged Northern Tier: British made alliance gathering Greece. Turkey and Iran. Its main objective was containing the Soviet expansion over the Middle East. Baghdad Pact: It is also called the Central Treaty Organisation or Middle East Treaty Organisation. It was made up of Turkey, Pakistan, and Iran. It was also an anti-Soviet alliance. especially for the Middle East. Bearing in mind Arab cause, I will try to answer if the US was a friend, an enemy or neutral power to Arabs. Since unlike conventional wars, the Cold War has no definite beginning. Important to my cause, I will briefly shed the light on the period covering WWII and its aftermath. My immediate need before answering my central questions is a working definition for both phrases Cold War and Pan-Arabism. Yezid Sayigh and Avi Shlaim generate three principle features to the understanding of the first phrase: bipolarity, nuclear weapons, and ideology. International arena in post WWII was bipolar as, it was determined by two considerable weights; the United States and the Soviet Union. Such a system had resulted in mutual suspicion, antagonism and dividing Europe and much of the world into rival spheres of influences (Sayigh, 1997). Both of them further explain that nuclear weapons generated fear and danger into this system temperate by contrasting policies. What was obvious also is nuclear diplomacy was influencing super powers decision making. Finally they explain that ideological confrontation was an additional feature of the Cold War. It was a mark of loyalty to one of the super powers. Giving the definition of the term Cold War, I will try to depict the meaning of Pan-Arabism. In fact it was Arab nationalistic wave concentrating on two main axes: Arab Unity Project, and freeing Arab World from foreign control in general, and Zionist colonization in particular. It regarded Arabhood as the main stamp. Worth noting is that Pan-Arabism was generated by Ottoman Empire’s oppression against non-Turks subjects, among whom where were Arabs. The coming of Colonel Jamal Abd-Ennasser heading the Free Officers group taking power in Egypt in 1952, gave Pan-Arabism a strong push to the forefront of international arena. Arab determination to eliminate the state of Israel was also engulfing western interest mainly when they closed the communist bloc. Committing itself since the late 1940, in favour of Israels survival, the United States had had to intervene in this confrontation. It had also to save its interest to be lost in the regions turmoil. Therefore, Washington introduced Truman Doctrine and upheld it by Eisenhower one. I will try to more illustrate these guidelines. Meanwhile I will try to answer these questions: If Pan-Arabism was not associated with socialism as many circles described it, would the United States fairly solve Arab problem especially the Arab-Israeli conflict? In other words, if there were no Soviet threat on the region, would America be a fair power in the Middle East? Would it, for example, at least be neutral? Pushing further my idea, if there is no Soviet threat and Israel does not exist, would the US leave the region free in choosing its own agenda and implementing it? Would it respect its sovereignty?

A Study Of Anatomy And Psychology Essay Example for Free

A Study Of Anatomy And Psychology Essay ? The procedure in lifting the leg to climb a stair is a complex one which involves a huge amount of technology inter-transfer between the brain and the eventual skeletal muscle. There is initiation of the movement at the brain which is transmitted via specialized white fibre tracts to the hip flexors via the intermediate spinal cord, involving a very complex mechanism at the cellular level   The initiation of the   process is at the motor cortex (Ms I) of the brain. The primary motor area is located at the precentral gyrus of the frontal lobe. The area controlling the motion of the lower limbs lies towards the superior surface of the brain. Within this area lies the cell body of the primary neuron. These neurons are known as upper motor neurons (UMN). These UMNs receive modulating impulse from the inputs from the cerebellum and the basal ganglia via the extrapyramidal pathways. These tracts modulate the gross movement initiated at the frontal cortex. In turn these areas are modulated by afferent signals from ascending spino cerebellar, and spino-thalamic pathways. The complex the signal initiated at the nucleus of the cell body is transmitted electronically via the axon of the myelinated neuron via the mode of salutatory conduction. The myelin sheath which surrounds the axon of nerves that involve fast transport, breaks at intermediate regions known as Nodes of Ranvier. The electrical impulse moves in   a jumping manner at these nodes nerve transmission as a neural impulse, generated by the formation of a nerve action potential. Like all excitable tissue, nerves maintain a resting membrane potential that is the difference of voltage across the membrane of the neuron. In neurons this value is   – 70 mV. This voltage difference is maintained by the Na/K pump on the membranes. This impulse generated at the axon hillock is transmitted via the depolarizing phase which allows sodium ions ingress into cells via opening of the Na channels. This entry of Na in one portion allows activation of other Na channels, causing depolarization of the adjacent region of the neuron. Subsequently repolarization occurs via the opening of K channels, which restores the membrane potential. Thus this process continues which allows the transmission of impulse. Many such nerves together descend as the descending cortico spinal tract in the pyramidal system, which travels through the midbrain into the spinal cord, decussating at the level of midbrain( 90% of the fibres decussating and forming the lateral spinothalamic tract) and again at the level of spinal cord ( the other 10%, forming the anterior spinothalamic tract) . It is the former which is responsible for the lower limb movements. The cortico-spinal tract travels in the anterior horn cell of the spinal cord till the lumbar level where they synapse with the spinal ventral root neuron (lower motor neuron). A single post-synaptic neuron receives signals from many neurons. At the axon terminal, the propagation of impulses leads to release of neurotransmitters, which are stored in specialized vesicles. The released Ach diffuses into the synaptic cleft and binds with receptors on the post synaptic membrane to produce excitatory post synaptic potentials. This leads to generation and propagation of impulse in nerves which are destined to innervate the neuro-muscular junction. At the neuro-muscular junction, Ach is released, which diffuses into the synovial cleft and binds to receptors in the motor end plate, and triggers a muscle action potential. The released Ach is destroyed by the acetylcholinestrase. At the level of the sarcolemma of the muscles, the muscle AP travels along T-tubules, opening Ca release channels in the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Ca binds to troponin-tropomysin complex, which releases the myosin heads, these then bind to the actin thin filaments, and draws them closer to the M line. Meanwhile bringing the Z disc closer. This leads to muscle fibre contraction. This is a self propagating sequence eventually leading to the contraction of ilio-psoas muscle, which causes the flexion of thigh on the pelvis. Each nerve fibre innervates many musle fibres ( about 150). This is   the motor unit. The greater the number of motor units recruited by the nerve action potential, the greater the force of contraction of the muscles. In the spinal cord, nerve impulse travels along the lumbar plexus (L1-L5) to innervate the iliopsoas ( hip flexion- ilio-inguinal nerve), biceps femors, semitendinosus and semimembranosus ( knee flexion – sciatic nerve), ankle flexors ( EHl, EDL, TA – tibial nerve), leading to the person climbing the step. This excitatory impulse is also associated with the production of inhibitory action potential ( hyperpolarizing impulse) in the antagonists (eg the glutei, which must relax to allow flexors to act. In the event of raising of the upper limb above the head, to lift a book, the impulse travels along the cortico spinal tract till the level of the cervical cord to synapse with the lower motor neurons of the brachial plexus ( C3-T1). From here the nerve impulses travel to shoulder elevators ( supraspinatus, deltoid, trapezius, and latissimus dorsi)- posterior cord ), elbow extensor ( triceps and anconeus – radial nerve) wrist extensor ( ECRL, ECRB – radial nerve), finger flexors ( FDS, FDP – median nerve and the ulnar nerve)   and the intrinsics – ulnar nerve and the median nerve) A Study Of Anatomy And Psychology. (2017, Mar 25).

Asthma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Asthma - Essay Example 1). This disease often manifests through various patient-specific triggers, the most common of which include airborne allergens like dust mites, cockroaches, cat or dog dander and irritants like tobacco smoke (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute â€Å"Lung Diseases†). Asthma is a chronic disease and it can attack any time especially when the patient is exposed to any of the triggers. However, as compared to other chronic lung diseases, asthma is reversible. No treatment for the disease is yet available; nevertheless, it is considered a controllable disease (Schiffman, et.al., p. 1). With early treatment, the chances of controlling this disease are good and with proper treatment, asthmatic patients can actually have fewer and less severe attacks; however without treatment and with more frequent asthma bouts, asthma patients can die from the disease (Schiffman, et.al., p. 1). In the United States and other western nations, reports of increased incidence of this disease have been revealed. Scientists and researchers claim that factors which may have contributed to this increase may include: decreased exposure to infection which has made our immune system more sensitive to infection; more people spending more time indoors where exposure to mold and dust is higher; increased air pollution; sedate lifestyle and increased percentage of obese individuals (Shiffman, et.al., p. 1). Asthma also has a major impact on society as it is the disease which causes work and school absences more than any other disease; it is also the most common cause of emergency department visits and hospitalizations and it costs the US economy about $13 billion each year (Schiffman, et.al., p. 1). Aside from the triggers previously mentioned above, the following are also considered risk factors for asthma: family history of asthma; frequent incidents of respiratory infections as a child; exposure to second hand smoke;

It has been said that modern developments such as ABC are sometimes Essay - 1

It has been said that modern developments such as ABC are sometimes implemented because they are fashionable and not because they provide extra information to management. (Discuss the above statement) - Essay Example Job costing is another modern development, where the management gets information concerning the costs for each job order, their specifications and scope. Contract costing is yet another development that provides the management with information concerning heavy expenditure which takes a long period of time (Brimson, J. A. 1991). Historically, most of the companies placed their focus on the creation of value rather than investing in assets and organization. The dramatic development of companies led to the realization of the need to have practical accounting systems. The development of the ABC system has led to a positive change in productivity by espousing the identification of inefficient products, the allocation of more profits on resources, and cost reduction (Gosselin, M. 2005). However, most firms are experiencing problems ascribed to the implementation of ABC and in extreme cases; the implementation of the system fails to work out. For instance, in highly developed countries, some of the companies fail to grow and became stagnant owing to the use of ABC. Most companies that carry out a cost-benefit analysis on the use of ABC discontinue the implementation of the system since it is costly. The management should get constant updates on a company’s cost performance (Grieco, P. L., & Pilachowski, M. 1995). In using ABC system, some of the overhead costs are difficult to separate and the allocation of the cost on a product unit poses difficulties. An example of such an overhead cost is the Chief Executive Officer’s salary; this does not provide the management with appropriate reports on costs (Hansen, D. R., & Mowen, M. M. 2000). The ABC method allocates business costs to its products on a proportionate basis or based on assumptions. This translates into the generation of inaccurate reports on costs by the management. Affording the management accurate information

Immortal Characteristics in the Iliad and the Aeneid Essay Example for Free

Immortal Characteristics in the Iliad and the Aeneid Essay Although written in two distinct eras, The Aeneid and The Iliad offer views of the Trojan War, which have been studied for centuries.   The Iliad, written by Homer in 750-650 BCE, portrays the tale from the Greek point of view.   Sometimes thought to have been a mythic person himself, the telling of The Iliad is attributed to him nonetheless.   The story, written originally in ancient Greek, speaks from an omniscient narrator who can share all details encountered in the main character, Achilles, involvement in the war. Achilles has refused to fight in retribution for Agamemnon stealing his war prize, Briseis.   The Aeneid, on the other hand, is known to have come from the Roman poet, Virgil.   Although the main character, Aeneas, tells portions of the story, Virgil himself narrates the majority of the tale.   Aeneas is traveling to Italy to build a race of Romans.   Juno, who is still angry with the Trojans, sets Aeneas off course and the story begins with a recounting of the war itself. In the way the tales themselves offer varying illuminations on the same setting in Greece, the Gods portrayed share differing characteristics.   In The Iliad, Zeus stands as the king of the Gods.   He refuses to take sides in this war of men, although his favor moves to the Trojan side after Achilles’ mother begs him to intervene.   We find Zeus bothered by the request.   He is involved with domestic disputes already with his wife, Hera, and is reluctant to do any further damage to his solitude.   â€Å"Here is trouble.   You drive me into open war with Hera sooner or later: she will be at me, scolding all day long. Even as matters stand she never rests from badgering me before the gods: I take the Trojan side in battle, so she says,† (Homer, I.593-599).   He does go on to promise he will do as she has asked, although the reader can sense his foreboding in doing so.   His foresight is strong though, as Hera’s reaction is as he said it would be – biting and harsh.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"Who is it this time, schemer?   Who has your ear?   How fond are you of secret plans, of taking decisions privately,† (Homer, I.620-622).   Zeus is portrayed as a beaten God, one who is verbally assaulted by his own wife and appears to be weary of her scorn. One can sense the laughter as the words are written, the hidden personalities that are so similar to common man. Jupiter, however, does not worry over what he will go through personally in order to grant the wish of the goddess who has appealed to him.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"With the serenity that calms the weather, and lightly kissed his daughter.   Then he said: No need to be afraid, Cytherea.   Your children’s destiny has not been changed,† (Virgil, I.345-348).   Jupiter has granted what she sought, and promises that her progeny will found the great kingdom of Rome, named after one of the twin sons to come from Aeneas.    The reader can already discern favoritism for the Romans by this issuance of Jupiter.   He is not a hen-pecked God as Zeus is, although Jupiter’s wife is not a timid creature.   Much like Hera, she is vastly upset and carried a grave distaste for the Trojans.   Jupiter, however, feels Juno will eventually relax.   â€Å"Juno, indeed, whose bitterness now fills with fear and torment sea and earth and sky, will mend her ways, and favor them as I do, Lords of the World, the toga-bearing Romans,† (Virgil, I.376-379). The reader gets the sense that the Greek Gods as told of by Homer are seen as folly.   Zeus is not the almighty master, as one would suspect the king of the Gods to be.   He is stuck between caring for his subjects, the minor Gods, and listening to the gripes and complaints of his wife, the telling is almost comical.   Virgil, however, tells the origination of a great race of people, his own Romans.   The Jupiter is patient and assured of the greatness to come.   His caring ways with his daughter and sincere belief that all will be as he said indicate his power and greatness, showing him to be a true King of the Gods. The physical separation between God and mortal man is great.   In the eleventh book of The Iliad, we find Zeus directly interfering with the battle on hand.   â€Å"Now Zeus, the son of Kronos roused an uproar along his host, and sprinkled bloody dew from highest heaven, being resolved that day to crowd great warriors in to the undergloom,† (Homer, XI,58-61).   The battle between Greek and Trojan forces allowed yet another display of Zeus’ great power over man. Zeus demonstrates this power while protecting Hector. â€Å"Hector moved forward with his round-faced shield.   As from night clouds a baleful summer star will blaze into the clear, then fade in cloud, so Hector shone in front or became hidden when he harangued the rear ranks – his whole form in bronze aflash like lightening of father Zeus,† (Homer, XI.67-72).   The soldiers recognize the ability of Hector to shadow himself as the protection of the Gods.   Zeus’ otherworldly display of power and support for the Trojan cause signifies the justness of their cause, yet as we already know, his might is not good enough.   Troy will lose the battle and the God is not all-powerful in the end. The Aeneid however, shows the true power and wisdom of Jupiter is not only just, but up to the task as well.   Aeneas will reach his destination, and Rome will become the great power it is meant to be.   Jupiter sees that Aeneas has fallen sedentary with his love for Dido and remains with her rather than fulfilling his duty as Jupiter told him.  Ã‚   The scourge of the earth is not brought down on his head to force him off the island.   The all-powerful Jupiter simply sends a messenger, Mercury.   â€Å"From bright Mount Olympus he that rules the Gods and turns the earth and heaven by his power – he and no other sent me to you, told me to bring this message on the running winds: what have you in mind?   †¦the land of Rome are due,† (Virgil, IV.365-375). Aeneas is reminded of his family fortune and honor, which are on the line.   True to his word and loyal to his God, Aeneas leaves Dido to fend for herself.   Her misery and subsequent suicide are not given any thought by Jupiter, the mission is at hand and the great Roman peoples are far more important than a single female.   â€Å"Beating her lovely breast three times, four times, and tearing her golden hair, ‘Oh Jupiter! will this man go, will he have mocked my kingdom, stranger than he is and was,’† (Virgil, IV.816-820)?   Jupiter pays her no mind; the Roman Empire is at stake.   Again, it is in silent action, verbal mandates that Jupiter issues his power.   He is not forced to resort to mortal measures to ensure his will is done. Zeus is portrayed as the mover, the God who has to physically partake in things to get anything accomplished.   The stronger God of the two, Jupiter, simply asks and gets what he wants.   The fear of retribution is fierce amongst not only the people, but also the Gods.   He does not take pity on the fallen as Zeus does.   In terms of masculine strength, Jupiter is by far the strongest.   Of course, such an amazing group of warriors, philosophers and artisans could never have come from so slovenly a King as Zeus. As the war wages on in The Iliad, Zeus is once again shown to be a weaker form than the mighty Jupiter.   Achilles has lost his best friend, Patroclus, in battle. Heartbroken, he vows to return to the battle immediately to slay Hector in revenge.   Although Zeus has long since gone to help the Achaeans in fighting this war, â€Å"Zeus took pity on them, saying quickly to Athena: Daughter, you seem to have left your fighting man alone.   Should one suppose you care no more for Achilles?   The he sits, before the curving prows, and grieves for his dear friend. The other soldiers flock to meat; he thirsts and hungers.   Come, infuse him sweet nectar and ambrosia, that an empty belly may not weaken him,† (Homer, XIX.374-382). Athena then goes off to give the poor warriors some nourishment so they may fight bravely in their final battles.   His heart still belongs to the losing side.   We see his weakness again with the interference into the battle.   In calling the Gods to Mount Olympus, Zeus tells them, â€Å"You know what plan I have in mind and why I called you, why you are here. Men on both sides may perish, still they are near my heart.   And yet, by heaven, here I stay at ease upon a ridge.   I’ll have an ample view here.   But you others, go into action, side with the men of Troy or with Achaeans, as each has a mind to,† (Homer XX.22-29).   Zeus lazily tells the other Gods that the people are dying and it breaks his heart.   However, he will sit on the mountaintop and watch the spectacle.   They should go down and help whichever side they feel is just, but he will just watch.   Homer again makes fun of the God.   He is a couch potato during the war he was powerless to stop in the first place.   His wife is constantly meddling in the affairs of state, and Zeus will not step in to act according to his heart. Jupiter does not have this problem toward the end of The Aeneid.   When fighting has broken out in Italy and the great Romans are fighting amongst themselves, Jupiter is asked his opinion.   He responds in a regal and self-assured manner.   When he opens his mouth to speak, all of the earth responds in kind. â€Å"The almighty father then, chief power of the world, began to speak, and as he spoke the great halls of the Gods fell silent, and earth quaked, and silence reigned in the highest air, the west-winds went to rest, the deep sea stilled his waters to calm,† (Virgil, X.137-142).   He has decided that fate will serve each man his own plate.   Jupiter no longer condones divine intervention.   This surprises virtually everyone present, as they have interfered in these matters right from the start.   Yet, the King of the Gods has spoken and it cannot be any other way.   â€Å"He took oath nodding, making all Olympus tremble at his nod.   There was an end of speaking.   Jupiter form his golden throne arose, and lords of heaven on either hand escorted him to the threshold of his hall,† (Virgil, X.160-164). Although the King of the Gods in each depiction of the Trojan wars and its eventual outcomes acted in extremely different ways, the act remains that they were in control the entire time.   The main protagonists for each tale are not afforded this same luxury.   In The Iliad, Achilles never has control over his bloodlust for Agamemnon.   His search for glory and the switching of sides is beyond his control so to speak.   The usurping of his prize from the war damaged his pride and it is the sole driving force for him.   When his best friend is killed, he appears to have devised a higher purpose for his rage, yet the reader notes he is still guided for his own gratification throughout. Aeneas, blindly does as he is bid to do.   He leaves his heart behind when he leaves Dido on the island.   Jupiter is not concerned with the trivial matters before him, and concerns himself only with the Roman creation.   Aeneas cannot simply believe that Dido will eventually understand what he must do, unlike Jupiter feelings for Juno.   The foresight the Gods portray separate them greatly from humanity, making the people seem as though they are simply pieces of a chess game, there for the amusement of creatures bored with eternity. Although Homer pokes fun at the God from the past and uses the tale to tell of the heroism of the Greek people, he fails to place his own God at the forefront as a just and caring ruler.   Virgil at least shows the God of the Romans as one who delights in the magnificence of the race. Physically the gods are far superior to the men they control, but in the case of Zeus, he is far from being above the simple human frailty of emotion.   Homer instills a sense of commonality between the people and their God, one in which the playing field is an equal one.   The Gods are affected by this war almost as much as the people are.   When interfering in the matters of men, the Gods are shaken to the core in some instances, harmed in others, and heartbroken other times still. For Virgil, the people end on the positive note.   The great anti-hero is dead, and the true hero does not turn out to be Aeneas, but the Romans themselves.   The reader sees throughout the epic poem, that Virgil had them in mind all along.   The creation myth of the great empire seeks to solidify their place in the world and by showing that that creation came from a just and powerful authority he accomplishes just that. Works Cited Homer.   The Iliad. Trs. Robert Fagles.   New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1998. Virgil. The Aeneid. Trs. W.F. Jackson Knight. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 2006.

No Way Out Essay -- Literary Analysis

The short story, The Chrysanthemums, by John Steinbeck, is a fascinating tale that involves the life of a beautiful, yet misunderstood, women as she battles with the prolonged sting of isolation. After years of captivity on a farm, Elisa finds it difficult to feel like a free woman. As a result, Elisa becomes guarded and closed-off to even her husband. Despite her masculine persona, Elisa lets her shielded exterior down when an opportunity to escape presents itself. Trapped in the confines of her farm, Elisa creates a kind of â€Å"intimate relationship† with her cherished chrysanthemums as a way to keep her sanity (French 64). Through the cunning use of symbolism, and the forces of human nature combined with the female limitations of the time, Steinbeck enhances the idea that happiness cannot fit between the bars of a cage. Steinbeck first enriches the feeling of despondency with the clever use of symbolism. The story opens with a detailed description of the Salinas Valley. Here, Steinbeck relates the valley to a â€Å"closed pot,† which suggests Elisa’s inability to escape. Furthermore, Steinbeck describes that even though there is sunlight nearby, the Salinas Valley sees none. As sunlight is often associated with happiness, the implication here is that while others are happy, Elisa is not. To further the use of symbolic reference, Steinbeck relates Elisa to the hopeful farmers in the area. Farmers believe that rain is imminent due to the southwest wind that sweeps through the valley. Unfortunately, the encumbering fog repudiates any chance of this happening. Like the false hope that torments the farmers, Elisa is burdened by an illusion that happiness still might come for her. Also, Elisa’s garden is surrounded by a wire fence for pr... ...ed to demonstrate how contentment and confinement do not coincide with one another. Works Cited French, Warren. John Steinbeck's Fiction Revisited. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1994. Print. Beach, Joseph Warren. American fiction, 1920-1940. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1941. Print "John Steinbeck (1902-1968)." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Joseph Palmisano. Vol. 77. Detroit: Thomson Gale, 2005. 228-297. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. Glendale Community College. 15 April 2012 "The Chrysanthemums by John Steinbeck." Short Story Criticism. Ed. Anja Barnard and Anna Sheets-Nesbitt. Vol. 37. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. 320-363. Literature Criticism Online. Gale. Glendale Community College. 16 April 2012

Gilgamesh: Women’s Sexuality Essay

In the epic poem â€Å"Gilgamesh,† the main character was two-thirds God and one-third human. Gilgamesh presented himself with a god like mentality. His power was neither gained nor deserved. He’s a selfish leader who held his power by striking fear into the hearts of those forced to succumb to him. The gods created Enkidu, a man so fearful and threatening, to bring down and end Gilgamesh’s reign of terror; but the outcome was least expected. They became great friends and companions. Though in text, Gilgamesh and Enkidu are the ones with all of the spoken power, it is the women characters that exert their power over man having a major influence on their decisions. The women set the stage for us to see how even the most powerful of gods are controllable by something as simple and human as the sexuality of a woman. One empowering female in this poem is Shamhat, the temple prostitute. She was sent from the temple of Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, to seduce Enkidu. She is told, â€Å"Now use your love-arts. Strip off your robe and lie here naked, with your legs apart. Stir up his lust when he approaches, touch him, excite him, take his breath with your kisses, show him what a woman is† (p. 78). When Shamhat presents herself to Enkidu, he could not resist her. It was said that she tamed the wild animal. She then taught him her ways of civilized humans and he left behind all that he knew. This shows that the power of a woman’s sexuality is only natural to man, and can over power even their greatest desires in life. The goddess of love and war, Ishtar, is another example of woman’s power taking a toll on man. When Ishtar laid eyes on Gilgamesh, she was drawn to him, asking him to be her groom and marry her. Gilgamesh declined her offer because he heard of her ways with men and how she manipulated and exploited them. Ishtar became outraged with him and so, called on her father, Anu, to release the â€Å"Bull of Heaven† and punish Gilgamesh. Anu mentioned to her that it was her own fault for provoking him. Ishtar warns him, â€Å"If you refuse to give me the Bull of Heaven I will break in the doors of hell and smash the bolts; there will be confusion of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall bring up the dead to eat food like the living; and the hosts of the dead will outnumber the living† (p. 32). Anu obeys her requests and sent the beast down, only for it to be defeated by both Gilgamesh and Enkidu. Ishtar is not threatened by their survival and victory, yet she then threatens them again. By displaying her rage and anger accumulated from rejection by man, she proves just how much power she truly has over man. She was feared by Anu and received what she asked. Women not only use their sexuality for lust and sex, but also show men that they are not inferior to them, they can be just as frightening and powerful. In the epic poem â€Å"Gilgamesh† there was a significant influence in gender roles. Even though men were considered to be the wisest and most powerful of humans, the two women Ishtar and Shamhat, had the power to influence Gilgamesh, Enkidu and even Anu, the father of Ishtar, in their own ways. These two women are not seen as objects of man, but as two empowering women exerting their power over man.

B. F. Skinner and Albert Bandura

B. F Skinner came up with Skinner’s theory of personality. According to the theory, differences in individual behavior are as a result of different kinds of learning experience different people encounter. Some of the behavior pattern may be learned through direct experience (direct reinforcement) while others are through observational or sensational learning. Reinforcement plays a major role in shaping the expression of the learned behavior. Reinforcement takes three shapes. Direct reinforcement involves social approval or disapproval and tangible rewards.Vicarious reinforcement involves observing someone receive a reward or punishment for behavior similar to his/her own behavior. Self administered reinforcement is whereby a person evaluates his/her own performance with self honor or criticism (Zillman and Bryant 2001). Therefore, a given behavior in a specific situation will bank on the likely result. According to Bandura social cognitive theory, behaviorism is based on the c oncept that development is cultured and is subjective to environmental factors.1). The theory put more stress in the fact that environment, behavior and cognition work together and hence wield important influence among each other (Travers 2001). In personality development, Albert Bandura came to a conclusion that environment causes behavior while on the other hand behavior causes environment. This factor led to Bandura’s idea of reciprocal determination and had a belief that an action of an individual and the action of his environment are linked together. According to his theory, personality development comes as a result of relations between environment, psychological process and behavior of an individual (Travers 2001).2). Discuss the similarities between each theorist’s ideas of personality Theories by B. F Skinner and Albert Bandura played a great role in the environmentalist point of view of development. The two theories are similar in stating that the environment shape learning and the behavior of an individual from childhood stage to adulthood stage (Travers 2001). Both theories recognize the significance of reinforcement in learning and behavior. In both case, motivation is embedded and reinforced by the consequences and so one can easily learn if he/she values the consequences and also one can be reinforced vicariously.In both the theory, the individual is at the center stage of determining his/her behavior. In skinner theory, self administered reinforcement play a major role in self criticism or honor and so he/she can decide on what behavior to adopt without influence from another party. This fact is the same as in Albert Bandura theory of personality where an individual has self regulatory mechanism which provide for the potential for self directed change and for the capability of one influencing his own behavior (Zillman and Bryant 2001). This is inclined to self observation, self decision and self-reaction.3) Discuss the differences between the theorists’ ideas of personality (include any reasoning for the differences—personal history B. F. Skinner theory of personality differ with Albert Bandura social cognitive theory in that it specified that a behavior was only as a reaction of environmental stimuli while social cognitive theory state that behavior of an individual can be modified by external stimuli while putting into consideration the fact that learning can take place through copying. Albert Bandura also state that learning also take a cognitive perspective.Skinner theory of personality provides room for operant conditioning while Bandura social cognitive theory does not. In Skinner theory of personality, the behavior is influenced by the environment and it is a one way tier while in Albert Bandura social cognitive theory, the behavior of an individual is influenced by the environment while at the same time, the environment is influenced by the individual behavior and so it is a two way tier . 4) Discuss each theorist’s ideas concerning the role of society in the development of personality and any developmental stagesAlbert Bandura’s idea about the role of society concerning the development of personality and any developmental stage in cognitivism, behavior is guided by cognitions about the world. The cognitive theories are personality theories which stress on cognitive processes like thinking and offering judgment. Bandura’s theory further draws the importance of modeling through the social cognitive theory, in that as a result of direct training of an individual in the society or conditioning (for instance through reinforcement a child is subjected to such as punishment) models behavior hence development of personality (Travers 2001).Through the influence of the society, an individual learns several issues from childhood which help in development of personality. Through this idea of social learning, the role played by role models in development of personality becomes very significant. B. F. Skinner also gives a perspective of personality development that is based on learning through others in the society.Skinner (Quoted in Travers 2001: 156) also further notes that the adolescent stage of human development requires that the positive behaviors exhibited by the adolescents since adolescents are more vigorous in repeating the behavior for which they have obtained reinforcement.Reference List: Travers, F. , John, (2001). â€Å"Human growth and development through the lifespan† Jones & Bartlett Publishers Zillman, D. and Bryant, J. (2001). â€Å"Media effects: Advances in theory and research 2nd Edition,† NJ Lawrence Erlbaum; Hillsdale:

Pros and Cons of Massive Open Online Courses

Pros and Cons of Massive Open Online Courses Post-secondary schools of all kinds- expensive, elite colleges, state universities, and community colleges- are flirting with the idea of MOOCs, massive open online courses, where tens of thousands of students can take the same class simultaneously. Is this the future of college? Nathan Heller wrote about the phenomenon in the May 20, 2013, issue of The New Yorker in Laptop U. I recommend you find a copy or subscribe online for the full article, but Ill share with you here what I gleaned as the pros and cons of MOOCs from Hellers article. What Is a MOOC? The short answer is that a MOOC is an online video of a college lecture. The M stands for massive because there is no limit to the number of students who can enroll from anywhere in the world. Anant Agarwal is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, and president of edX, a non-profit MOOC company owned jointly MIT and Harvard. In 2011, he launched a forerunner called MITx (Open Courseware), hoping to get 10 times the usual number of classroom students in his spring-semester circuits-and-electronics course, about 1,500. In the first few hours of posting the course, he told Heller, he had 10,000 students sign up from all over the world. The ultimate enrollment was 150,000. Massive. The Pros MOOCs are controversial. Some say they are the future of higher education. Others see them as the eventual downfall of it. Here are the pros Heller found in his research. MOOCs: Are free. Right now, most MOOCs are free or nearly free, a definite plus for the student. This is likely to change as universities look for ways to defray the high cost of creating MOOCs.Provide a solution to overcrowding. According to Heller, 85% of Californias community colleges have course waiting lists. A bill in the California Senate seeks to require the state’s public colleges to give credit for approved online courses.Force professors to improve lectures. Because the best MOOCs are short, usually an hour at the most, addressing a single topic, professors are forced to examine every bit of material as well as their teaching methods.Create a dynamic archive. Thats what Gregory Nagy, professor of classical Greek literature at Harvard, calls it. Actors, musicians, and standup comedians record their best performances for broadcast and posterity, Heller writes; why shouldnt college teachers do the same? He cites Vladimir Nabokov as once suggesting that his lessons at Cornell be recorded and played each term, freeing him for other activities. Are designed to ensure that students keep up. MOOCs are real college courses, complete with tests and grades. They are filled with multiple choice questions and discussions that test comprehension. Nagy sees these questions as almost as good as essays because, as Heller writes, the online testing mechanism explains the right response when students miss an answer, and it lets them see the reasoning behind the correct choice when theyre right.The online testing process helped Nagy redesign his classroom course. He told Heller, Our ambition is actually to make the Harvard experience now closer to the MOOC experience.Bring people together from all over the world. Heller quotes Drew Gilpin Faust, Harvard president, regarding her thoughts on a new MOOC, Science Cooking, that teaches chemistry and physics in the kitchen, I just have the vision in my mind of people cooking all over the globe together. It’s kind of nice.Allow teachers to make the most of classroom time in blended clas ses. In what is called a flipped classroom, teachers send students home with assignments to listen to or watch a recorded lecture, or read it, and return to the classroom for more valuable discussion time or other interactive learning. Offer interesting business opportunities. Several new MOOC companies launched in 2012: edX  by Harvard and MIT; Coursera, a Standford company; and Udacity, which focuses on science and tech. The Cons The controversy surrounding MOOCs includes some pretty strong concerns about how they will shape the future of higher education. Here are some of the cons from Hellers research. MOOCs: Could cause teachers to become nothing more than glorified teaching assistants. Heller writes that Michael J. Sandel, a Harvard justice professor, wrote in a letter of protest, The thought of the exact same social justice course being taught in various philosophy departments across the country is downright scary.Make discussion a challenge. It’s impossible to facilitate meaningful conversation in a classroom with 150,000 students. There are electronic alternatives: message boards, forums, chat rooms, etc., but the intimacy of face-to-face communication is lost, emotions often misunderstood. This is a particular challenge for humanities courses. Heller writes, When three great scholars teach a poem in three ways, it isnt inefficiency. It is the premise on which all humanistic inquiry is based.Grading papers is impossible. Even with the help of graduate students, grading tens of thousands of essays or research papers is daunting, to say the least. Heller reports that edX is deve loping software to grade papers, software that gives students immediate feedback, allowing them to make revisions. Harvards Faust isnt completely on board. Heller quotes her as saying, I think they are ill-equipped to consider irony, elegance, and†¦I don’t know how you get a computer to decide if there’s something there it hasn’t been programmed to see. Make it easier for students to drop out. Heller reports that when MOOCs are strictly online, not a blended experience with some classroom time, dropout rates are typically more than 90%.Intellectual property and financial details are issues. Who owns an online course when the professor who creates it moves to another university? Who gets paid for teaching and/or creating online courses? These are issues that MOOC companies will need to work out in the upcoming years.Miss the magic. Peter J. Burgard is a professor of German at Harvard. He has decided not to participate in online courses because he believes the college experience comes from sitting in preferably small groups having genuine human interactions, really digging into and exploring a knotty topic- a difficult image, a fascinating text, whatever. Thats exciting. There’s a chemistry to it that simply cannot be replicated online.Will shrink faculties, eventually eliminating them. Heller writes that Burgard sees MOOCs as destroyers of traditional higher education. Who needs professors when a school can hire an adjunct to manage a MOOC class? Fewer professors will mean fewer Ph.D.s granted, smaller graduate programs, fewer fields, and subfields taught, the eventual death of entire bodies of knowledge. David W. Wills, professor of religious history at Amherst, agrees with Burgard. Heller writes that Wills worries about academia falling under hierarchical thrall to a few star professors. He quotes Wills, Its like higher education has discovered the megachurch. MOOCs will most definitely be the source of many conversations and debates in the near future. Watch for related articles coming soon.

Challenges That the Company Faces Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Challenges That the Company Faces - Essay Example This study stresses that  the company believes in innovating new types of products and services. Apple sells its products and services in different parts of the world. The company deals in electronic equipment industry. It is one of the strongest players in this industry. As per market capitalization Apple Inc became largest public trading company in 2014. In the electronic equipment industry new products and services are continuously developing. The companies in this industry use advanced technologies for developing innovative products. Apple wants to provide best experience to its customers by incorporating modern technology in its business and products.From this discussion it is clear that  Apple uses MR and MC for deciding the amount of goods it requires to produce. When the company thinks that MR is greater than MC then it produces one extra unit of output for getting additional revenue at a lower cost. But if the additional unit incurs more cost than the revenue it generate s, then the company prefers not to produce the extra unit of output (Hoag & Hoag, 2006). This condition arises when MR is less than MC. When MR=MC the company feels satisfied because at that stage it earns maximum amount of profit. This basic rule of profit maximization is followed by Apple. This profit maximization theory helps the firm in creating its strong position in the monopolistic market.  Apple Inc operates its business in different parts of the world and in various markets.

Hobbes and Rousseau's Depiction of the state of nature and human Essay

Hobbes and Rousseau's Depiction of the state of nature and human nature - Essay Example The state ought to protect the lives of its citizens. The people who elected them into power should not live in fear of their lives. They should enjoy peace and stability. With these, the law of conservation of motion Hobbes tries to tell us that human beings are constantly looking for something in life. â€Å"Life itself is but Motion, and can never be without Desire† (129-130). What he is saying is that human beings are never satisfied; they always want more and more each moment ( Rousseau and. Their search for felicity is what causes human beings to be at war with each other. When death becomes a fear, there is creation of the state. Furthermore, Hobbes argues that human beings are equal in respect to the nature. They have equal skills and power. Moreover, according to Hobbes, human beings are by nature made equal, in a sense that the human’s possess are equal in terms of skills and power. â€Å"The weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest, either by secret machination or confederacy with others† (Hobbes and Helena 183). According to Hobbes theory morality has no room because, in a state of nature there are no unjust acts. He goes ahead to say that human beings rational behavior causes them to attack others and make them obey the law of nature only when surrounded by others and sure that they are obeying the law too. By this he means that human beings are self-centered in nature and fear is what makes them to reason (Hobbes and Helena 5) In Rousseau’s state of nature, human beings are like savages, their dealings are first dogged by instant and basic requirements food, sexual satisfaction, and sleep and fear only hunger and pain. The force of self-preservation and pity drives the savage man. To him human beings are naturally affected by others’ human beings’ sufferance, in other words they have â€Å"an innate repugnance a fellow creature suffers†