Addiction and Behavior Essay

Thesis Statement: In this paper, I will try and analyze addiction and the various behaviors that addiction will induce in an individual, and I will also describe the kinds of addiction that an average individual is prone to, and research the efforts that are being made for an addict to try to control his offensive behavior brought on by his addiction. Experts feel and do stress on the fact that addictions and compulsions of any kind stem and originate from an overwhelming feeling of not being in control of one’s life, and a need to gain some form of control over events that seem to be overtaking him or her. Certain addictions, however, possess genetic components, and are generally passed on within the family, where one member may have been addicted or been prone to compulsive behaviors. He may have inadvertently passed on this behavior to the next generation, and in these cases, this vicious cycle would continue. Addictions can be of several kinds. One such compulsion is that of an addiction to drugs or other substances, and another is an obsession for sex. Eating disorders can also qualify as addictions of compulsions, and overspending, gambling and overworking too are obsessive and compulsive disorders. According to experts, â€Å"The power of fantasy is the enduring power of addiction†, wherein an addict may be prone to developing fantasies of having gained a sense of control over his life, because of his addiction. The addict would then be quite unwilling to give up these drug induced fantasies and enter a normal life again, and this can be one of the major problems that an addict may face at the time when he is addicted; no matter what his addiction may be. The addicted individual would more often than not choose to induce mood changes in himself, instead of trying to address the actual causes of the stresses that he is faced with. Take for example an alcoholic; he would prefer to drink and blame the failure of his marriage on his spouse, rather than face the underlying issues behind the failure of his marriage. In this lies the causes and the reasons for his continued addiction to alcohol. Take the example of a money addict. This individual would prefer to binge on a spending spree, rather than face the underlying money issues, and making use of the money to settle his debts. In short, an addict behaves in such a way that he believes with strong conviction that no matter what stresses life may have to throw at him, he would be able to face them all, as long as he has his own addiction to get him through life’s tough situations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (Earll, Steven, 2004) As a result of extensive scientific research done through the years, today one can be reasonably sure that addiction as such can be qualified as a disease that affects one’s brain as well as one’s behaviors. It is interesting to note that in the past, scientists attributed addictive behaviors related to drug and alcohol abuse to the fact that the user lacked in willpower, and that he could, if he wished to, bring an end to his addictions. This was the view that shaped most of society’s responses to addicts; an addict was viewed as a morally flawed individual, who displayed serious moral failing by being unable to control his own behaviors. It is only today that the average individual is able to comprehend the basic fact that addiction may be the result of a combination of different factors, and that it can must be treated as a disease than could cause great harm to one’s health. Scientists today use this vital knowledge to create and develop effective methods of treatment, which would be able to reduce the toll that addiction has on the individual’s family and friends. Today, preventive drug abuse has gained precedence over other forms of treatment, and this has been proven to help addicts get over their addictions with a reasonable amount of success. Drug addiction or abuse as such can be described as a chronic and relapsing disease that affects the brain of the user, despite the user being aware of the fact that such abuse can result in grave consequences for him in the long run. One must remember that the longer an individual is addicted to drugs, the more harmful the impact of the drugs on his brain, and the more harmful his behavior may become. To understand the true nature of addiction, one must first try to understand why people take drugs, and exactly why they become addicted to drugs and other substances. One of the more important and one of the first reasons according to researchers is that an individual starts taking drugs so that he may feel good. Most drugs induce a sense of great pleasure in the individual who has taken them, and more importantly, the user feels a sense of power, self confidence and self assurance that he would never feel in normal life. Perhaps, the sense of power, feelings of relaxation and of intense satisfaction that the drugs have given him induces him to take more, and then some more, until the time when he can no longer control his intake, and at which time he is considered to be addicted. Individuals, who may suffer from feelings of acute anxiety, or from stress related disorders, or from clinical depression, are also prone to use drugs to help them overcome these feelings. Some others may feel that drugs may help them perform better, like for example an athlete, who may take performance enhancing drugs that would help him win. Adolescents may be particularly vulnerable to drug addiction, perhaps because of peer pressure, or simply because ‘others are doing it, why not me?’ the sad fact is that although drugs may offer the user a sense of satisfaction and power at the outset, it is true that as time goes by, the user will feel that he has to take more quantities of the same drug, if he wished to achieve the same feelings of euphoria and pleasure. It is at this time that the user realizes that he would not be able to function without a ‘fix’, at which time he may be considered an ‘addict’. Drug addicts reach a point of time when they pursue the drug as if it were a lifeline, regardless of the behavioral problems that the Drug usage may cause in them, and the trouble that they may be causing others around them, because of the drug usage and addiction. It is at this point of time that drug usage becomes known as drug abuse and addiction, and it is at this point that the addict’s self control becomes severely strained and impaired. Scientists have conducted brain imaging and mapping studies of drug addicts, and the findings show that for addicted individuals, physical changes become evident in the areas of the brain that would normally control judgment, decision making, memory, and even behavior control. These are the changes in the brain that affect the addict’s behaviors, and they may well be able to shed light on the compulsive and the addictive behaviors displayed by an addict. A tragic factor is that an adolescent’s brain continues to develop and grow into adulthood, and when the adolescent uses drugs and becomes addicted to them, then he undergoes dramatic changes in his pre-frontal cortex, that area of the brain that would enable him to assess a particular give situation, make decisions based on his judgment of that situation, and keep his desires and yearnings under control, as any normal adolescent would do. This means that the adolescent would be forced to lose control over a given situation, and submit to the influence of drug addiction on his behavior. Therefore, say experts, introducing drugs or other substances at this stage of development would automatically have a long lasting negative impact on the young person who has become addicted. (Volkow, D Nora (2007)

Hardware used in my created system Essay

The hardware my system will use is a keyboard and mouse for input and it will use a monitor and a printer for output. The actual computer tower itself is obviously required hardware, and includes a hard drive, RAM for process storage, the CPU to run all the processes in the computer and there are other things too. The wage slip is my output product (as well as the leaflet), as it is what I want to get out of my system. The input is the data in the spreadsheet, and the spreadsheet is obviously the store of this data. The process itself is getting the input to the output, and the way we do that is by using mail merge. Mail merge automatically moves the data from where we input it into our wage slip which will be printed, which is our output. Each part of my system needs hardware. The input which is the data requires a keyboard. Storage requires a hard drive, obviously. The process requires a CPU and RAM to function and the output (wage slip) requires a printer & monitor. My system can be described as a number of subsystems. The wage slip is a system in itself, having the spreadsheet as input data and storage, the actual mail merge being the process then the wage slip being your output. But deeper down, the spreadsheet alone is a system, with data entered in as input, the cells storing the data. Then the processes are the formulas manipulating the data, finally giving us wage figures as our outputs from the spreadsheet sub-system. The problem with the hardware I am using is that with a keyboard and mouse, lots of errors can be made, even with validation rules. Someone may type a 7 in hours instead of 8 and then that employee would get underpaid. A better system would be to use a card scanner, fingerprint scanner or barcode scanner with recognition of each employee’s card/fingerprint. A person could scan in when they enter the work place and then rescan back out and then the data of how many hours they had worked could automatically enter into the spreadsheet, therefore making error almost impossible. The problem with this is that there is a larger initial cost for the technology needed over a mouse and keyboard input. There are also completely different systems like using pen and paper†¦ The upside of this is that it’s extremely cheap as no expensive hardware or software is needed. There are many downsides to this system though. First of all, it is very slow, as each wage slip must be written out individually and all calculations have to be done by hand and then written down. Furthermore, lots of errors can be made using pen and paper because the calculations aren’t as consistent as using some kind of computer. Hand writing may be misread on the calculations and then it could make catastrophic mistakes when copying out the calculation results onto the wage slip. Writing each wage slip out would take so much time that it probably wouldn’t even be feasible in this day and age. Automated wage slips overcome this problem Commercial systems are normally very accurate but they’re made for very large scale operations, and so cost a lot of money. Also, our system uses very basic hardware that any computer will have, and can be adapted to the user’s needs.

Design Patterns - Behavioral, Creational, Structural Research Paper

Design Patterns - Behavioral, Creational, Structural - Research Paper Example There are several classifications of design patterns - this essay focus on three designs, including memento for behavioral patterns, singleton for creational patterns and lastly facade for structural patterns. Memento Pattern This is a software design pattern that has the capability of bringing back an object to its initial state. As a pattern, it allows the initial state of an object to be restored without interfering with the rules of encapsulation. This means that the arising object can be designed appropriately, though it can be restored to its original state. Therefore, memento pattern has the ability of restoring the internal state of an object without breaking the encapsulation rules. As a behavioral pattern, Memento indicates the manner through which communication between entities or classes is achieved (Schmidt, 1997). Basically, the design pattern is popular in applications with â€Å"undo’ functionality. Memento pattern has two participants: the caretaker and the o riginator. The originator restores memento to its internal state while the caretaker guarantees memento safekeeping. According to Gamma et al. (1995), memento does not allow access to other objects other than originator. It has two interfaces, including narrow and wide interface. Caretakers only find the narrow interface and pass memento to other objects while the originator finds the wider interface through which it allows access to data that enabling restoration of the initial state. Benefits and drawbacks Memento pattern has chain of responsibilities that offers great flexibility especially when processing an application. In this case, it manages complex events by dividing the responsibilities into simpler elements that allows a set of classes to behave as a whole. However, the flexibility of this pattern is hard to develop, debug and test. This is because the chain becomes extremely complex. In addition, failure to plan for varied forwarding possibilities could result to message s that lack a handler, hence failing to attract any response. Singleton pattern Singleton is a creation design pattern that ensures only one object of a given class is created. It has only one class that is accessible by clients from identifiable access points. The single class must be extensible and the clients should easily use extended instances without alteration to their codes. Therefore, this pattern is particularly useful when a single object is needed to manage actions across a system. Singleton ensures efficiency when creating numerous identical objects and it uses a particular algorithm that requires a single point of control to interact with a resource that cannot be shared. Benefits and drawbacks The singleton pattern exerts control over the instantiation process and therefore this class has the flexibility to change the instantiation process. In addition, singleton pattern ensures that every object accesses the singleton object and preventing other objects from instanti ating their own copies. However, weaknesses associated with singleton pattern includes introduction a global state into the program. It allows uncontrolled access to the program hence being one of the most used patterns. In this regard, programs that are heavily used are difficult to test. This is because it is not possible to test it without testing other

African History paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

African History paper - Essay Example This is to the effect that the Libyans and Carthaginians are some of the people who sent complimentary embassies to Alexander the Great in 325 BC, while he was in Babylon. The diplomatic relations were imposed upon the people of North Africa through instruments of coercion. Precisely, Alexander the Great had in 324 executed a ruthless punitive expedition in the hills of Luristan, against the Cossaeans. It is this incident that spread fear around North Africa and the rest of the Mediterranean region into capitulation (75). It is also important to note that during the Hellenistic period, after the demise of Alexander the Great, North African kingdoms such as Egypt and Libya became Hellenized, to the point of taking on the Greek culture and language. For this same reason, urban centers in North Africa became Greek-speaking, though the rural areas maintained native traditions. Specifically, in Egypt, Ptolemy I Soter created a strong Hellenistic state that stretched from Cyrene to Syria and South of Nubia. Economically, Alexandria, the then capital of Egypt served as the capital city and the center of Greek culture and commerce. To perpetuate themselves in Egypt, the Ptolemaic kings arrogated themselves the names of Pharaohs, married from elite families in Egypt and had themselves etched in Egyptian fabric and

Quality Management and Business Process Management Essay

Quality Management and Business Process Management - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that scholars like Apel viewed the Characteristic core of the scientific philosophy as the main alternative of modern scientific theory. Habermas’ theory of communication is of the notion that communication patterns are analyzed as well as ideal speeches are of utmost significance. Characteristics of honesty and accuracy provide a way for reflective, rational as well as moral decision making. Top quality management also consists of efforts that are aimed at installing and making a permanent condition in which a given organization continuously aims at improving its ability to deliver products and services of high quality to its clients or customers. The techniques of TQM mostly draw upon previously developed techniques and tools of quality control. This refers to a holistic approach to management to align an organization’s commercial processes with the needs of the customers. It makes use of a systematic approach in an attempt to gradually improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a business while at the same time striving to achieve flexibility, integration with technology as well as innovation. This can actually be referred to as a process optimization procedure. This form of management can positively affect the revenue generation as well as cost. As an approach to management, BPM sees processes as an organization’s strategic assets that must be managed understood as well as improved so as to deliver services and products that are value added. This is the term that is associated with thinkers from the Frankfurt school of critical and social theory like Adorno, Fromm, Marcuse, Horkheimer as well as Habermas. The sole purpose of these is to help us to recognize how dominant ideologies are unjust and uncritically accepted by the majority.

Textual Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Textual Analysis - Essay Example 2- An Increased Number of Immigrants Coming to America: It has been estimated that a America welcomes a huge number of immigrants from all over the world. People come to America to seek better future and to maintain a healthy and good quality of life which is impossible anywhere else in the world. Regardless of any race, gender, religion and color discrimination, the country welcomes and holds a huge number of immigrants and provides them with equal opportunities as compare to their own citizens. Table of Contents: Abstract†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ... The sonnet is engraved on the base of the Statue of Liberty. It was primarily written to raise funds for the base of Statue of Liberty. The poem acknowledges the efforts of immigrants coming to America to attain better future and to enhance their quality of life. It has been known to many people that America is home to many different people with different nationalities who have been living in the country without facing any discrimination from years and years. American society believes in freedom; freedom of speech and expression as well as freedom of life. Unlike many countries, America welcomes immigrants from all over the world and provides them with equal opportunities, similar lifestyle and employment opportunities as the country provides to its own citizens. As a result, due to increased life benefits, people from all over the world prefer coming to America to sustain a better lifestyle and to earn a better living in a respectable society. Textual Analysis: The New Colossus by E mma Lazarus: Treatment: The New Colossus is a beautiful sonnet written by Emma Lazarus in 1883. The basic theme of the sonnet revolves around the great Statue of Liberty and the idea is focused on the concept that how this statue stands tall in welcoming the immigrants from all over the world to America. The sonnet is comprised of 14 lines which can be divided into two parts on the basis of meanings and ideas it holds. Section 1: From the title of the poem, we can tell that Colossus reference is consistent with the Statue of Liberty as other claims it to be with the ancient one in Rhodes. Colossus of Rhodes is the ancient statue in bronze which represents the god â€Å"Helios.† It is considered as one of the ancient seventh wonders of the world. The inconsistency

2004 Starbucks Comprehensive Valuation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

2004 Starbucks Comprehensive Valuation - Essay Example A strategic analysis will review how Starbucks is moving towards achieving the company's mission and vision.The company's objective in the 2004 report of making Starbucks "the most recognized and respected brand in the world, to continue rapid expansion of retail operations and selectively pursue opportunities to leverage the brand through new products andnew channels of distribution" (SCC 13) is almost the same as the 1997 vision and mission, and show that Starbucks remains strategically focused and have clear, measurable targets.One target Starbucks finds achievable (SCC 17) is "to operate 15,000 retail locations in the United States and at least 15,000 stores in International markets." The company had 8,569 stores by October 3, 2004, up by 18.6% from 7,225 in 2003 (SCC 12-13). This is 25.8% of the target and if they continue growing 18.6% a year, they will reach 30,000 by 2012.In 2004, Starbucks tapped high traffic areas by opening drive-thru stores and specialty coffee shops (SCC 13), increased store licensing activities (SCC 14) in the U.S. and abroad, and ventured with Kraft, Jim Beam, Visa, and XM Satellite Radio to leverage brand strength, invent new products, tap new distribution channels, and sell other products like music CDs and specialty teas (SCC 15). Strategically, Starbucks is on the right path as it makes the right moves on the way to achieving its mission and vision. Financial analysis will focus on sales and profit growth and managing financial risks to see if its strategy of increasing stores leads to higher sales and profits. After all, part of their strategy is to leverage their competitive advantage: the unique Starbucks brand of coffee experience that can be enjoyed only in their stores (Schultz 249-254). Financial data (SCC 19-23) showed that as the number of stores grew 18.9%, so did Starbucks's sales (up 29.9%), operating income (up 43.8%), earnings before income tax (up 43.1%), and net earnings after tax (up 46.2%), which proves that increasing the number of stores increased Starbucks's sales and profits. The first part of our financial analysis proves that Starbucks's strategy is sound and consistent: sales and profit growth will generate the capital needed to put up new stores and create the momentum for ever higher sales and profits. There are two reasons for analyzing how Starbucks manages financial risks. Starbucks is a global corporation, doing business outside the U.S. (buying raw materials from and having stores in other countries), so it has to manage risks that can affect sales and profits. Second, its vision is to have the same number of stores in and outside the U.S. Although U.S. stores currently outnumber international stores by 2.5 to 1 (SCC 16) and U.S. revenues account for 85% of net revenues (SCC 20), as the company grows to 30,000 stores, their revenues outside the U.S. will grow and make risk management important. The report (SCC 24-25 and 34-35) shows that Starbucks is managing its foreign currency (exchange rate fluctuations), equity security price (investments in mutual funds, though minimal), and interest rate (investment-grade fixed income instruments, also minimal) risks with the right financial instruments. It also manages other risks like cost of raw materials, product warranties (espresso machines), and off-balance sheet transactions (SCC 24).

Banking; analysing through economics the Spanish banking system Essay

Banking; analysing through economics the Spanish banking system - Essay Example Globalization has brought about the integration of the world markets. In this sense the global market has tended to move towards a perfect and pure market structure as defined in the economic theory; however the exact form of global markets have remained far from the theoretical ideals of perfect and pure. Regardless of the product or service that is being studied; it is noticeable that all of a sudden the information flow has become more rapid, regulatory structures have been oriented more towards free market structures and the movement of capital and permission to access local markets has become freer. This has encouraged national businesses to aim to be global businesses and the global businesses to target national markets. However, the roughness in the control of market shares in the past has tended more towards monopolies but, structures have not stayed the same, these have become, in general, oligopolies. This aspect of globalisation has thus changed the very nature of competit ion and the markets will move forward into a new direction of perfect markets if globalisations are sustained and its true objective is achieved. The Banking industry is no exception. Competition in the banking sector depends largely upon the efficiency with which financial services are produced, the quality of financial service produced and the relative degree of innovation in the sector. (Claaessens and Laeven). This however depends upon how the banking sector competes with each other and what is the nature of the financial markets. This is important because the nature of the markets in the financial sector Banks enable consumers to do essential functions such as saving, investing and storing money or money equivalents.

Debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists Essay

Debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists - Essay Example The formation of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists seemed inevitable from the inception of the Articles of Confederation. Those that favored the ratification of the Articles’ most comprehensive successor, the Constitution, became known as Federalists and consisted mostly of people who lived in cities or engaged in trade, including large landowners. They were supported by merchants, land spectators, and many southern planters who wanted a strong government capable of handling the problems facing the United States both at home and abroad. Opponents of the Constitution were called Anti-Federalists, and consisted of mostly small farmers, especially those that were in debt, who felt that a strong central government was a threat to liberty and too far removed from the people in its representative structure. The Anti-Federalists were also especially opposed to the lack of a bill of rights and the â€Å"necessary and proper† clause that granted Congress the right to carr y out specifically listed powers. Two centuries removed from the debate, though the United States has continued to evolve and devolve at points in its history, the Anti-Federalist concern has been proven correct, specifically in their argument that â€Å"government would be impersonal, unrepresentative, dominated by men of wealth, and oppressive of the poor and working classes† (Bruns, 1986). Questions of state sovereignty led directly to the Civil War, and the issues of class division has created a disparity of wealth and power that continues to grow with each passing year. The population of the United States has also grown apathetic and cynical, accepting the relative ineffectiveness of the federal government as unchangeable. While the populist position of the Anti-Federalists made it the obvious choice for the majority of Americans, the Federalist leadership through such men as Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and

Apperendi V. New Jersey Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Apperendi V. New Jersey - Assignment Example fore in this case was whether the Due Process Clause as contained in the Fourth Amendment of the U.S Constitution that requires that a factual determination to increase a prison term by more that between ten to twenty years be determined by a jury after a proof of beyond reasonable doubt. This case was important to the criminal justice system is that it found it unconstitutional for a legislature to purport to remove from the jury the assessment of the facts which makes an increase in the range of penalties to which a criminal defendant is liable for. It should therefore be clear that the facts have been established by a proof beyond reasonable doubt. The Supreme Court affirmed the rights of an accused to liberty and the following of the due process of law, which guarantees a public and speedy trial, carried out by an impartial jury as well as the application of the standard of proof of beyond reasonable doubt in criminal cases in order to limit error. However, in a dissenting opinion, the honorable judges found that the courts by deciding so had limited the power of the legislatures to define criminal offences and the punishment for them (Reuters, 56). As a prosecutor, my role would be to ensure that criminal cases are proved beyond reasonable doubt, as it is the prosecution that subjects the defendant to the possibility of losing liberty on conviction, which would certainly stigmatize him in the

One Persons Free

One Persons Freedom Fighter Is Another Persons Terrorist Essay Introduction The terrorist attacks in America have since publicized controversial attitudes in understanding and defining terrorism. There is a misconception of terrorism as it was only in actuality brought to light after the attacks in America on 11 September 2001 (Best Nocella, 2004); this has guided many to assume that terrorism arose in light of the 11 September attacks, when actually terrorism did not begin in 2001; nor is it restricted to extremists in the Middle East. Here is where much of the difficulty lies in defining terrorism; thus the now famous quotation, â€Å"One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter’. This essay will look at both the way this phrase can be beneficial and inversely cause issues in the objective to define terrorism. It is apparent that there are objective distinctions that can be made that separate the true terrorist from the true freedom fighter. Regardless of derogatory labels or national political ideology these distinctions do exist. Therefore the aim of this essay will be to critically examine the notion that One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter through examining three existential differences that can help to draw a theoretical line between a freedom fighter and a terrorist. They lie first in tactical theory; second, in sources for motivation; and third, in the discrepancies of the justifications for the actions of each. It is these three distinctions in contrast to the quote’s implied similarities that will assist in achieving an accurate definition of terrorism. To examine the wider processes involving the application of the terrorist label, the Cuban Revolution’s major figure Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara will be used as a framework and a practical source to refer to as the essay unravels the application of a terrorist label in relation to the abovementioned phrase. This somewhat superficial phrase can be useful as it suggests that the motives and the methods used may be separable. Terrorism is merely a phrase. It is tactical choices in which those who chose to employ terror can ideally do so in achieving any cause they desire (Caplan, 2006 pg. 92). Consequently it is indeed possible for any people who are validating themselves as fighting freedom from an unjust authority to make the choice to use terrorism as a tactical choice in achieving their goal. Secondly the phrase advocates that defining terrorism can become a moral issue. The definition depends wholly on the subjective outlook of the efiner. The terrorist label The struggle in defining the terrorist has been apparent throughout history. Scharf (2001) has also made this discovery as he states that the problem of defining terrorism has vexed the international community for years. Conceptual issues are not the only problem in defining terrorism. Labelling actions as terrorism promotes cond emnation of the actors; a definition may therefore reflect ideological or political bias (Silke, 1998). Silke (1998) goes on to suggest that a misleading trend is a result of ‘attribution bias’ and that it has done nothing other than â€Å"taint terrorism with a pathology aura†. Many of the terrorist labels that have been employed over the years are based on community and individual perceptions creating a subjective definition (Jenkin, 2006 Pg. 3). Following the 11 September 2001 attacks, the use of the word terrorism or terrorist has become an offensive label (Ganor, 2002). These labels may lead to further implications for how countries, populations and individuals define terrorism (DeAngelis, 2009). The psychology of terrorism is marked more by theory and opinion as opposed to scientific research. Assisting in DeAngelis findings are many articles implying that many of the individuals who engage in terrorist activity will contest that they are terrorists but rather freedom fighters (Schwartz, Dunkel, ; Waterman, 2009; Whiteley, 2010). This tethering in with the now famous phrase; One persons terrorist is another persons freedom fighter. Before labelling an individual or group of people terrorists or freedom fighters it is important to take into consideration the three differences as apposed to the similarities that the quotation implies: 1. Tactical Choice The first of the three differences is the tactical theory used. The terrorist will employ tactics in order to target civilians (Tavares, 2003 pg. 13). It is however rare for enough civilians to be targeted in order to have any form of physical impact on the states resources. The general aim becomes to separate the greater part of society from its incumbent authorities through the use of fear. Crenshaw (1981, pg: 386) suggests that this is utilized to weaken the powers of authorities that on the contrary result in the terrorist group to be perceived as more powerful. The goal of the terrorists tactics becomes less concrete as they believe that a relatively small attack will result in the overall political goals of their group to be identified. In contrast Ganor (2006) states that freedom fighters do not target civilians however focus their target on armed forces. Their objective then becomes to diminish the militaries resources to the point where the balance of hard power in particular area, shifts into ones own favour leading to the concrete goal of an enemies surrender and capitulation to ones demands (Ganor, 2006). . Sources for Motivation It is stated by most theories that terrorists are motivated by more than just exclusively political goals (Whiteley, 2010). Freedom fighters are motivated by what is encompassed in their name i. e. their quest for liberty; on the other hand terrorists are grounded on a less concrete foundation ranging from a variety of goals, that are not all rationally political. Certain personal goals seem to either misund erstand or directly conflict with the aim of achieving freedom. Jenkins (1983) states that the ultimate terrorist goal is to terrorise in furtherance of an otherwise legitimate political goal rather than just to terrorise; just like when a nation state resorts to war to achieve political goals when diplomacy fails. Jenkins raises a point in relation to the inspiration of terrorist behaviour, stating that learned ideological values are antecedents to terrorist behaviour, not personality defects. The differences in the motivations between a freedom fighter and terrorist are often grounds where the terrorist myths are created. Terrorists justify their actions through exaggerations that consequently result in an inaccurate perception of the world in order to justify their terrorist tactics. The terrorist myth seeks to prove that those who witness terrorism have a misconception of both the world around them and themselves, therefore needing a ‘wake up call’, that of course is in the form of a terrorist attack. This justification will ultimately be to their benefit (Moghaddam , 2006, Pg. 85). This myth is projected to validate what the functions of terrorism are, these include; showing that authorities are impotent, to create a sense of instability in society and to assert the existence of a terrorists power. The goals of a terrorist clearly show that they are less politically focused and more personal; consequently representing less of a fight for freedom and more of a fight to be renown for their power (Whiteley, 2010). In summary of the two abovementioned areas of distinction between a terrorist and a freedom fighter; Senator Jackson was quoted by Benyamin Netanyahus (1985, pg 18) as stating: The idea that one person’s ‘terrorist’ is another’s ‘freedom fighter’ cannot be sanctioned. Freedom fighters or revolutionaries don’t blow up buses containing noncombatants; terrorist murderers do. Freedom fighters don’t set out to capture and slaughter schoolchildren; terrorist murderers do . . . It is a disgrace that democracies would allow the treasured word ‘freedom’ to be associated with acts of terrorists. 3. Justification vs. Legitimacy? Many sources suggest that perception is the main influence and commonly the main issue when it comes to defining terrorism (Sorel, 2003; Gibbs, 1989 Jenkin, 2006). Therefore validation of the actions of both a freedom fighter and a terrorist cannot evolve around general society and how they interpret t errorism to be. Perception becomes a significant issue in determining the legitimacy of the justifications for the actions of both a freedom fighter and a terrorist (Jenkin, 2006). For example a state which is under attack will most likely define the attacks as illegitimate and a form of terrorist activity; conversely those who are attacking the state will define their actions as justified. The difference between the true terrorist and the true freedom fighter appear to pivot around the perceived legitimacy of the motives of each. This social perception of the alleged legitimacy plays a large role on deriving a neutral definition. This becomes difficult due to the aforementioned terrorist label as being pejorative, with the term freedom fighter having positive connotations. The difference in terms between terrorists and freedom fighters seems in many ways to hinge upon the perceived legitimacy of the motives of each. As previously stated, the term ‘terrorist’ is usually pejorative, while the term ‘freedom fighter’ often has positive connotations. It is therefore difficult to derive a neutral definition of legitimacy: it remains a social product (Wardlaw, 1989). Many terrorist organisations only recruit a small amount of discontented individuals who support them; this is done through the prolonged influence of norms. There is a steady shift of certain individuals who are separated from society to an accepted morality of terrorism (Moghaddam, 2006). He goes on to suggests that the support networks utilised by terrorist groups are also discontented, however nearly never consist of sizeable groups of people willing to conduct the terror tactics themselves. Nevertheless it is important to consider that the means of moral and logistical support for individuals like Osama bin Laden has differed significantly from the support for someone like Che Guevara (Whiteley, 2010). Guevara was successful and like other revolutionaries often rallied a large number people relatively quickly, openly and most important effectively. It is therefore credible to state that there is a far wider support base for individuals who are freedom fighters. This is evident through the social product of legitimacy given to them by their supporters. Whiteley (2010) goes on to state that terrorists tend to find themselves in minorities because of the small amount of legitimacy rewarded to them or their cause from other citizens. This perspective is supported by the abovementioned self-interested motives of terrorist and the liberation-seeking motives of freedom fighters. Legitimacy can therefore be summed up by the amount of genuine local support given to a particular group (Whiteley, 2010); consequently true freedom fighters that have legitimate reasons for their existence can recruit members easily while terrorists goals lack legitimacy and consequently result in the recruitment of fewer members. Ernesto Che Guevara Historical Context Ernesto Che Guevara was born into a middle class family in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Argentina on June 14, 1928. He was a Marxist and left Argentina in late 1953 to take part in a communist revolt in Guatemala. Che was an idealist; believing that everyone should be equal and have the same opportunities. Che joined Fidel Castros 26 July movement where guerrilla troops were sailed to Cuba. Landing on 2 December 1956, they were focused on overthrowing Fulgenico Batistas government. In July 1957, Che was assigned command for more than half of Fidel Castros forces as commandant. He led against government forces in the province of Las Villas while growing hatred for Batistas government that grew in size and gained support rapidly. Che sealed victory for Castros forces in December 1958 becoming Castros most trusted advisor leading the international revolution. She soon became the Cuban minister for agriculture; writing a book in 1960 called Guerrilla Warfare to bring about communism throughout the world. Che resigned his posed in Cuba in 1965 and travelled to Africa as well as many other places in order to organise more communist revolts. In 1966 Che surfaced Bolivia where his movement did not grow much support. His movement came to an end on 7 October 1967 when his surviving group members and he were captured and two days later on 9 October 1967 were executed by a Bolivian fighting squad whom were apparently acting on behalf of the CIA whom were training the Bolivian Army (Guevara, 1985). Che Guevara Terrorist or Freedom Fighter After examining the notion of the phrase One persons terrorist is another persons freedom fighter. It has become evident that although the phrase implies that there are similarities between a terrorist and a freedom fighter, it can be concluded that there are many aspects that differentiate the true freedom fighter from the true terrorist. In order to successfully complete the examination of this notion; it is required that a conflict within a terrorist organisation be examined. The debate as to whether Che was a terrorist or a freedom fighter arises. Che came to be one of Latin Americas most feared and most famous professional revolutionary (Gall, 1998). Ches investigation of capitalism, imperialism and socialism and his precise tactical position on guerrilla warfare were concurrent to his views of ethics and political practice. His thoughts were concerned with the revolutionary organizations to oppressed individuals, the affiliation between political agency and objective conditions, the interrelation between revolution and imperialism and the link between personal values and revolutionary action. The question raised is whether Che adopted any terrorist characteristics in his apparent fight for freedom. Yes, through this essay there has been an establishment that a terrorist differs to a freedom fighter however the question arises as to whether it is that easy to differentiate the two when they are applied to an icon from the past. Ches tactical choice was not to target innocent civilians but to build and attack a government that promoted in-equality (Guevara, 1985). Although Che and his supporters killed many, there has not been any academic documentation to suggest that he killed innocent civilians. Anderson (1997) made the following discovery: I have yet to find a single credible source pointing to a case where Che executed an innocent. Those persons executed by Guevara or on his orders were condemned for the usual crimes punishable by death at times of war or in its aftermath: desertion, treason or crimes such as rape, torture or murder. I should add that my research spanned five years, and included anti-Castro Cubans among the Cuban-American exile community in Miami and elsewhere. Che depicted himself as a guerilla fighter and defined a guerilla fighter in his book as: . . . Must have a moral conduct that shows him to be a true priest of the reform to which he aspires. To the stoicism imposed by the difficult conditions of warfare should be added an austerity born of rigid self-control that will prevent a single excess, a single slip, whatever the circumstances. The guerrilla soldier should be an ascetic. The peasant must always be helped technically, economically, morally, and culturally. The guerrilla fighter will be a sort of guiding angel who has fallen into the zone, helping the poor always and bothering the rich as little as possible in the first phases of the war. But this war will continue on its course; contradictions will continuously become sharper; the moment will arrive when many of those who regarded the revolution with certain sympathy at the outset will place themselves in a position diametrically opposed; and they will take the first step into battle against the popular forces. At that moment the guerrilla fighter should act to make himself the standard-bearer of the peoples cause, punishing every betrayal with justice. Private property should acquire in the war zones its social function. For example, excess land and livestock not essential for the maintenance of a wealthy family should pass into the hands of the people and be distributed equitably and justly. (Guevara, 1985) Furthermore, the question of whether Guevaras sources of motivation were of a terrorist kind comes to light. Che was on a quest for freedom and equality. Presently Ches legacy has lived on and people do not remember him for the power he sought to have but for the goal he strived to achieve; Some view Che Guevara as a hero for example, Nelson Mandela referred to him as an inspiration for every human being who loves freedom while Jean Paul Sarte described him as not only an intellectual but also the most complete human being of our age. This was equality and freedom for those who were less fortunate (Compton, 2009) Like a freedom fighter, Che was able to recruit a great deal of support for his movement as he possessed qualities of a true leader. Many perceive Che to have been a great man who has credibility. Because Che was believable, people would in turn believe him. This is because there was a consistency between which Che was and what Che said (Safty, 2002 pg. 112). Despite all the supporting evidence to suggest that Che was a freedom fighter, many do believe that he was a terrorist. Some who were part of the opposing side, who were part of Batsias movement, would have felt that Ches actions were of a terrorist kind. It is important to note however that although Che was a freedom fighter and not a terrorist some people perceived he to be one as their perception was defined differently and they believed that the actions Che was engaging in were of a terrorist kind. Conclusion Ultimately there is a definitive difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter. It cannot be implied that one persons terrorist is another persons freedom fighter. Many philosophers have concluded that terrorist do not have any right to be classified within a freedom fighting definition. The means of a terrorist do not justify the ends. The abovementioned three distinctions between a terrorist and a freedom fighter outlined in the first paragraph clearly show that the two are completely disparate.

Safety with Armed Guards Patrolling School

Safety with Armed Guards Patrolling School Introduction: There is lots of schools that do not have as much security to protect students and teachers from violence.Having guards on school campus do help but what if the school was on a lockdown because of a shooting on campus. What is the guard going to do? Go up to him like nothing? No. What we need are armed guards. Armed guards will be able to stop the shooting and save peoples lives. Prevention and mitigation. Graves has used U.S. Justice Department grants for classroom door locks that can be secured from inside, plus video cameras and electronic locks for outer entrances. There are a lot of wonderful fire prevention approaches, Graves notes. Wouldnt it be great if we could have the same consideration given to other kinds of threats? Preparedness. Because 95 percent of emergency situations requiring lockdowns happen outside of school buildings, Lincoln County schools have two kinds of lockdown. A partial lockdown occurs when you bring everybody inside and instruction continues. Does your school have a plan for getting students back indoors quickly? Graves asks. We call it reverse evacuation. And you have to announce it because there are almost always some kids outside. A complete lockdown is what happened in Newtown, with school employees working quickly to make sure children were tucked out of sight. Response. During spring break, Lincoln County schools invite police officers onto each school campus for active shooter training, during which they learn the layouts of buildings and practice stopping an assault. Its a useful exercise that, luckily for Lincoln County, has never been tested. Recovery. During this period, the entire school community steps in to provide support. Graves experienced this phase firsthand when she was invited to Newtown after the tragedy there. She visited memorials, hugged people, cried with them and listened as one local man told her that even the shooter was one of ours and we failed him. Schools are still by far the safest places in America. But the events in Newtown have swayed public opinion in ways that earlier shootings did not, and the AFT stands with President Obama, who said in his second inaugural address that our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm. Knowing that our schools will never be safe as long as it remains easy for criminals or the mentally ill to acquire guns. AFT president Randi Weingarten, at the White House in January, commended President Obama and Vice President Biden for their proposals to reduce gun violence and promote safety, including: Banning sales of large ammunition clips; Expanding background checks and cracking down on those who lie on background check Stopping illegal gun trafficking; Banning assault weapons; Enforcing gun laws and investing in research on stopping gun violence; and Investing in mental health services. The first solution, fortifying schools, is unlikely to be effective not simply because it is costly; a determined shooter could surveil and disarm the guards or defeat the metal detectors or other devices. Limiting media coverage might be more effective. At the moment, media coverage of these tragedies is so relentless and invasive that it effectively glorifies the shooter. If the media refused to provide such coverage, or if it were prohibited from doing so, a potential shooter might be discouraged from committing mass murder/suicide because he would realize that he will not get the postmortem fame he craves. The difficulty would be in crafting a law that accomplishes this aim while not unduly infringing on the freedom of the press. The third possibility, repealing the gun-free zone laws, shows the most promise in deterring these horrible crimes, because potential shooters would not know who else might be carrying a gun. The most common objections to allowing licensed adults to carry firearms in schools is the fear that unless such a person is as highly trained as a policeman, he is likely to shoot indiscriminately at the shooter or over childrens heads, and cause even more terror than the original shooter has provoked. Body Paragraph 3: This objection shows both a lack of an ability to prioritize and a lack of understanding of how widespread responsible gun ownership is in the United States. While state laws differ about what constitutes adequate training, the vast majority of those who are licensed to carry do so responsibly. In considering the possibility of allowing concealed carry on our law school campus, one of my colleagues stated that she would never trust her safety to Professor X, an older professor widely known for his staunch support of the Second Amendment and other conservative causes. But if (God forbid) a disgruntled former law student entered the faculty suite hoping to shoot as many faculty members as possible, I would much rather trust to the ability of Professor X (or any other professor or student or even my own skill) to shoot him and not me than on my ability to run, hide in my locked office, or try to tackle the shooter. ost mass shooters are young men or occasionally womenusually teenswho are emotionally unstable and want to exact revenge on society for some harm that they have suffered commit suicide in a blaze of gunfire, and get national media attention for their last act. Their desire to commit suicide indicates that though such shooters may be deranged, they are cognizant of the likely consequences of their acts and are acting accordingly by choosing suicide. Three possible ways of doing this are to: fortify schools with Armed guards and metal detectors as in airports, limit media coverage of mass shootings so that potential shooters recognize that they wont become famous postmortem, or eliminate the gun-free zones and allow licensed parents, teachers, administrators, and adult students to carry their guns into school. Body Paragraph 4: Senetence 1: The first solution, fortifying schools, is unlikely to be effective not simply because it is costly a determined shooter could surveil and disarm the guards or defeat the metal detectors or other devices. Limiting media coverage might be more effective. At the moment, media coverage of these tragedies is so relentless and invasive that it effectively glorifies the shooter. If the media refused to provide such coverage, or if it were prohibited from doing so, a potential shooter might be discouraged from committing mass murder/suicide because he would realize that he will not get the post mortem fame he craves. The difficulty would be in crafting a law that accomplishes this aim while not unduly infringing on the freedom of the press. The third possibility, repealing the gun-free zone laws, shows the most promise in deterring these horrible crimes, because potential shooters would not know who else might be carrying a gun. Conclusion: It cannot be overemphasized that concealed carry has reduced violent crime every time it has been passed and is therefore most likely to reduce the incidence of mass shootings in schools. This could help save Students and teachers lives. Source Citation  (MLA 8th Edition) Nedzel, Nadia E. Concealed carry: the only way to discourage mass school shootings. Academic Questions, vol. 27, no. 4, 2014, p. 429+. Educators Reference Complete, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=PROFsw=wu=j020902v=2.1id=GALE%7CA393875930it=rasid=60ebd55450302f2b54a3e4146bed4a53. Accessed 17 Feb. 2017.

Functional Role of Neurogenesis in Humans

Functional Role of Neurogenesis in Humans Self-renewing stem-like cells in the adult hippocampus have captured the imagination of neuroscientists and clinicians for decades. Unfortunately, there have been relatively few studies investigating the functional role of AHN in humans. Throughout this thesis, I have described a number of studies in which we undertook the challenge of identifying indirect correlates of AHN in humans as well as elucidating the functional role of adult-born granule cells in everyday memory. We accomplished this by assessing various lifestyle- and blood-based factors known to influence neurogenesis from the animal literature and comparing these factors to behavioural performance on tasks which tested the proposed roles for AHN in learning and memory. There has been much speculation regading the functional role of neurogenesis in humans. Computational modellers and theorists have proposed several distinct roles for AHN in cognition based on what is known of their location in the brain, functional connectivity with surrounding regions and physiological poperties. Some have proposed that the constant turnover of newborn cells in the hippocampus would allow memory storage for novel events, while avoiding interference with older memories, a computational process termed pattern separation (Becker et al., 2005; Chambers and Conroy, 2007; Appleby and Wiskott, 2009; Becker et al., 2009; Weisz and Argibay, 2009; Aimone and Gage, 2011). However, events occurring close together in time may be subject to enhanced interference because the same population of cells would be firing in response to each event encountered. This process of increasing interference between events occurring close together in time is referred to as pattern integration (A imone et al., 2006). Indeed, some studies have shown paradoxical improvements in working memory tasks following ablation of neurogenesis (Saxe et al., 2007). However, working memory circuits outside of the hippocampus may be responsible for such improvements. Across short timescales, the majority of behavioural evidence from rodents has actually demonstrated that the role for neurogenesis in cognition, although seemingly widespread, converges on one function in particular. The formation of context-shock associations is impaired in animals lacking neurogenesis (Saxe et al., 2006; Winocur et al., 2006; Imayoshi et al., 2008; Warner-Schmidt et al., 2008; Wojtowicz et al., 2008; Hernandez-Rabaza et al., 2009; Ko et al., 2009; Guo et al., 2011; Nakashiba et al., 2012; Pan et al., 2012b), especially when the shock is relatively weak or training paradigm relatively short (Drew et al., 2010; Pan et al., 2012a, 2013). Animals lacking neurogenesis are also impaired at discriminating between o verlapping odor pairs (Luu et al., 2012) or between nearby, but not far apart spatial locations (Clelland et al., 2009). In contrast, upregualting neurogenesis via aerobic exercise or genetic manipulation has been shown to increase AHN and leads to enhanced behavioural pattern separation or CFC performance (Creer et al., 2010; Sahay et al., 2011; Kohman et al., 2012). While it seems like a wide-variety of tasks require adult-born granule cells, many, if not all of these tasks require overcoming interference. All of these tasks require the animal to form separate representations of similar stimuli, regardless of whether the stimuli are different contexts, objects, spatial locations or odours. This is why I say that AHN is required for a wide-variety, yet specific set of memory tasks. The behavioural requirements of tasks shown to depend on neurogenesis have differed substantially, but the psychological construct shown to rely on AHN has been fairly consistent. Neurogenesis may further help separate similar events occurring over longer time periods (Becker, 2005; Aimone et al., 2006; Becker and Wojtowicz, 2007). A distinct pool of newborn neurons would help to add a degree of contextual novelty to similar events that are separated by a sufficient amount of time. Without new cells being added to the hippocampal network, the same populations of cells would end up reperesenting multiple different memories, leading to catastrophic interference (Wiskott et al., 2006). This account of the role for neurogenesis in learning and memory has generally been reffered to as the memory retention hypothesis throughout this thesis. In contrast, others have proposed that the addition of newborn cells to the hippocampus would result in existing connections being altered in such a way that information is lost (Feng et al., 2001; Deisseroth et al., 2004; Frankland et al., 2013). This account of the role for neurogenesis in learning and memory has generally been referred to as the memory clearance hypothesis throughout this thesis. Behavioural evidence from non-human animal studies has supported the memory retention hypothesis, especially for spatial or context-rich memories. For instance, rodents with ablated neurogenesis display marked deficits in remembering the platform locaton following MWM training across long, but not short timescales (Snyder et al., 2005; Deng et al., 2009; Jessberger et al., 2009; Kitamura et al., 2009; Inokuchi, 2011; Pan et al., 2012a, 2012b, 2013). In contrast, some studies have shown impaired long-term retention of fear memories in younger mice with relatively high rates of neurogenesis compared to their older counterparts (Akers et al., 2012). When older mice had wheel-running- or antidepressant drug-induced enhancement of neurogenesis, they were impaired on tests of remote memory compared to control mice (Akers et al., 2014). Therefore, it would seem that behavioural evidence from rodents has also supported the memory clearance hypothesis. The persistence or clearance of memories as a result of ongoing neural turnover in the DG may depend on the type of memory. There is evidence to suggest that spatial memories are always dependent on the hippocampus (Snyder et al., 2005; Deng et al., 2009; Jessberger et al., 2009). For these memories that are permanently hippocampal-dependent, AHN may help keep overlapping events disctinct from one another, thereby promoting long-term retention of the original memory. On the other hand, fear memories may be supported by regions outside of the hippocampus (Kitamura et al., 2009). Thus, for those memories that can be supported by extrahippocampal structures, AHN may accelerate the process of systems consolidation (Kitamura et al., 2009), shifting the dependence of the memory from the hippocampus to neocortical regions (McClelland et al., 1995; Squire and Alvarez, 1995; Maviel et al., 2004; Squire and Bayley, 2007). While animal studies have provided val uable clues as to the importance of AHN in learning and memory, it has nonetheless become apparent that studying the functional role of neurogenesis directly in humans is the critical next step that must be taken in order to alleviate some of the confusion generated in non-human animal studies. In the set of studies that comprise this thesis, we have demonstrated that change in aerobic capacity following chronic physical activity correlates with change in performance on a putatively neurogenesis-dependent visual pattern separation task. On the other hand, stress and depression scores had opposing effects on behavioural pattern separation performance. Importantly, neither exercise response nor depression scores predicted performance on other trial types within the BPS-O, repeated or novel items, nor the visuo-spatial CANTAB ® PAL task. We have also shown that lower stress and depression scores are associated with improved visual object recognition on repeated items following a two-week delay from the study phase. Further, on two-week delayed retention tests, participants scored near chance at identifying lures as â€Å"similar†, regardless of stress and depression levels. Interestingly, they more often misclassified these items as â€Å"new†, as opposed to â €Å"old†. Our results provide indirect evidence from human participants that AHN is important for pattern separation across shorter delays, while contributing to the persistence of memories for repeated items across extended time intervals. Future studies could explicitly test the memory clearance hypothesis in humans by measuring recognition memory across longer timescales with a pro-neurogenic intervention, such as long-term exercise, in between study and test. Pattern separation and memory retention (or clearance) may be coexisting phenomena. The addition of immature neurons to the hippocampus may at first bias the network towards pattern separation, as opposed to pattern completion, thereby reducing interference between events (Yassa and Reagh, 2013). In turn, the amount of pattern separation may decide what information will be subject to reconsolidation and what information will be cleared (Yassa and Reagh, 2013). Reconsolidation is the process whereby an existing memory becomes susceptible to change. If an event is considered similar, but not the same as, a previously stored event then the original memory may be modified to accommodate the discrepent information. Thus, the constant addition of adult-born neurons to the hippocampus may serve as a means of adding contextual information to existing memories. However, the original memory may be altered so drastically during reconsolidation that it is no longer accessible (essentially cleare d), depending on the amount of interference between the original memory and the novel event. Indeed, a number of computational models predict that the addition of newborn neurons to an existing circuit would hinder retrieval of previously stored memories (Deisseroth et al., 2004; Weisz and Argibay, 2009, 2012). On the other hand, if two events are considered one in the same, then information may be strengthened, although more generalized in nature. As these adult-born neurons that once contributed to pattern integration or pattern separation continue to mature and establish new synaptic connections with the pre-existing circuitry, they may destabilize previously established memories in the hippocampus, leading to the loss of previously stored information (Josselyn and Frankland, 2012; Frankland et al., 2013; Yassa and Reagh, 2013). In turn, the clearance of older memories would make room for new ones and the newborn neurons would become part of the physical storage site for new memo ries (Josselyn and Frankland, 2012). Thus, both processes may be beneficial in their own way. Whether or not memory clearance is a benefit or detriment to memory performance really depends on the relative importance of information is being cleared. Correlates of Neurogenesis in Humans and Animals Neurogenesis is down-regulated in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders, so being able to characterize AHN in vivo is critical for better disease prevention and/or treatment. Unfortunately, there is no way to non-invasively quantify newborn cells in the living human hippocampus. Therefore, it has been difficult to improve our understanding of how neurogenesis influences the onset or recovery from certain disorders associated with downregulated neurogenesis, such as depression. In addition, we cannot assess the specific contribution of newborn neurons to learning and memory.

Artificial Intelligence :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Artificial Intelligence "My name is Dorothy," said the girl, "and I am going to the Emerald City, to ask the Oz to send me back to Kansas."   "Where is the Emerald City?" he enquired; "and who is Oz?"   "Why, don't you know?" she returned in surprise.   "No, indeed; I don't know anything. You see, I am stuffed, so I have no brains at all," he answered, sadly.   "Oh," said Dorothy; "I'm awfully sorry for you."   "Do you think," he asked, "If I go to the Emerald City with you, that the great Oz would give me some brains?"   "I cannot tell you," she returned; "but you may come with me, if you like. If Oz will not give you any brains you will be no worse off than you are now."   -L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful World of Oz1 As Dorothy and the Scarecrow begin their search for a "brain," we can catch a glimpse of an issue that has been bouncing around our culture for centuries: can man make a machine think? While Baum's story does not focus on the Scarecrow as the possibility of a thinking machine, he does raise the question of whether a human brain is necessary for thinking. This question of the brainÕs vitality is first exposed to our culture with what many literary critics feel is the birth of Science Fiction, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  Ã‚   Frankenstein is the story of dead body parts being brought to life through the use of electricity. After witnessing the creature's action readers are left asking if the human brain is sufficient for thinking or if there is more to thinking than a brain? Other Science Fiction writers took this to a different level and "created" the robot, a non-human thinking machine. Frankenstein is on the cusp of humans and non-humans and the beginning of the debate of what it means to artificially think. These imagined ideas caused others to think about making these ideas a reality. Marvin Minsky, one of the original scientists involved in establishing artificial intelligence, cites Science Fiction as one of his major motivators to enter the world of AI. It was not until the summer of 1956 that scientists felt that it might be possible to write non-fiction accounts of robots at some point in the near future.  Ã‚   During the summer of 1956 at Dartmouth College, scholars, who would later be considered the founding fathers of

The Ebonics Controversy Essay -- Education Language Speaking Essays

The Ebonics Controversey What is the controversy over Ebonics about? The Internet offers diverse views on the Ebonics topic. Ebonics entered the lime light in December of 1996. The television and news media have made the issue unclear and have left many people wondering what the recent controversey over Ebonics entails. Long after the "six o'clock news" has comfused and abandoned the public on the issue of Ebonics, the Internet is alive with commentary. Sampled together, the pages present a social mood, conscience, or lack thereof. Depending on the page you visit, you will learn that the answers for the above question are mixed, jaded and sometimes very opinionated. The term "Ebonics" is the most recently coined name for a speech pattern that has been around for several hundred years. Synonyms for Ebonics include, but are not limited to, Black English, Black Vernacular, African American Vernacular English (AAVE),"Jive," "Rappin," even the derogatory term of "Nigger Talk"(Shabaz). The words "language" and"dialect" are ambiguous and often interchanged when they should not be, because of the confusion they can elicit. For my own use of the terms, I draw on the commonly available reference book, Webster's New World Dictionary. I will use the word "language" to signify " the vocal sounds, words, and the ways of combining them, common to a particular nation." When the term "dialect" is used, it is to signify "any form of speech considered as deviating from a real or imaginary standard speech [or language]". The use of these two words as interchangeable has led to much confusion, particularly in the case of the Oakland Unified School District 's resolution. Through its use of the word "language", in reference to Ebonics,... ...us/AmendRes9697-006.html]. (4/12/97). Kephart,R. "Views of linguists and anthropologists on the Ebonics issue (Part 1)." [http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~rickford/ebonics/LingAnthro1.html] (3/7/97). Labov,W. [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~labov/L102/Ebonics_test.html]. (4/9/97). Labov, W. "Can Reading Failure Be Reversed? A Linguistic Approach to the Question." [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/RFR.html]. (4/9/97). Landrum-Brown, J. "Black English." [http://www.west.net/~joyland/BlkEng.html]. (3/7/97). "Original Board Resolution." [http://www.emich.edu~/linguist.issues.html/8-53.html#1]. (2/17/97). Royko, M. "When you talk Ebonics, words just get in the way." Chicago Tribune. [http://www.chicago.tribune.com/news/ebonics/ebon3.htm]. (4/9/97). Shabazz, A. "All Our Fault Now!." [http://www.afronet.com/COLUMN/ARCHIVES/121296malik.html.] (3/7/97).

The film Stigmata & the Challenge of Conceptualizing Women as Spiritual Agents :: Free Essays Online

The film Stigmata & the Challenge of Conceptualizing Women as Spiritual Agents The history of Western religion has, for the most part been a history of men's religious stories, practices, and writings. It is quite rare and exceptional to find accounts of religion or practicing groups that place women's experiences at the center. Books, films, and various other cultural products bear this out by demonstrating a stubborn lack of attention to women's religious experiences. At first glance, the movie Stigmata seems like a film that defies this generalization. The movie, starring Patricia Arquette, places a female protagonist and her mystical experiences with Christ at the center of the plot. The woman is modeled after a great figure in the Catholic tradition, St. Francis, and hers is seemingly the story around which the entire movie is structured. Though this apparently unusual use of a woman's direct experience with God seems on an immediate level to be very transgressive, however, the film ends up being even more hegemonic, in a sense because of the way in which it subtly reinforces normative notions of the male-centeredness of supernatural experiences of God in the Catholic tradition. In this paper I will look at how Stigmata represents sex and gender roles in the Catholic church and in secular America and of how it uses women's sexuality and assumptions about women's lack of spiritual agency to ultimately undermine the legitimacy of authentic feminine experience with the Christian God. I will argue that the movie's emphasis on very structuralist notions of good and evil, man and woman, pure and impure, inevitably sets up a system in which a female's religious authority will be lost. A patriarchal tradition, as the Catholic church most certainly represents, must always scramble to accommodate the abnormality of a woman experiencing a direct link with God. The unwillingness to imagine a situation in which a character like that of Patricia Arquette's character, Frankie, would have a legitimate direct experience with God is a common one throughout the Western (and Western-occupied) world. The emphasis on only granting legitimacy to the written word in the Western rel igious tradition has always created an environment of hostility to women's non-discursive religious experiences. This paper will also look at how the religious conflicts between the Western patriarchal tradition and female members of a non-Western religious tradition (specifically a group of Ngarrindjeri women) have unfolded and at how such conflicts are similar to the conflict that is represented between Frankie and the priests who would control her in Stigmata.

Olympian Destiny vs. Personal Choice Essay

An Analytical Essay on the Tragedy of Oedipus in Sophocles’ â€Å"Oedipus the King† Debates on whether men control their fates or whether their fates are already dictated by another force are not new and has definitely not ended. Still, even if arguments on the subject has been exhaustingly discussed, there is still no conclusion formed of whether humanity really make their own choices or if there is a greater or heavenly force which deprives humanity of that choice. Such circumstance is depicted in Oedipus the King, one of the trilogies in a famous Greek tragedian’s plays. Sophocles, who is known to be one of the pioneers of tragedies (as a drama) in the world, writes of the sad and terrible fate of Oedipus who is the ruler of Thebes after he saves the people of Thebes from a â€Å"monster†. The play revolves around a prophecy that Oedipus wants to kill his own father and make his own mother as a wife. This leads to this essay’s purpose which is to discuss on whether Oedipus was destined to have such end or whether he was the one who actually made his own fate. In Oedipus the King, trouble brews in Thebes as the people are in pandemonium over a sickness that spreads over the city. Oedipus who is the present ruler of the city after defeating the Sphinx asks help from an oracle to decipher why Thebes if suffering such fate. The oracle reveals that Olympus is angry over the murder of Thebes’ past King and the city can only be restored to its proper order when the King’s murderer has been caught. This rather ominous scene sets the play in motion as the court of Thebes starts to investigate and prod on who is the possible murderer of the dead King. Through much explanation, interrogation and prodding, it is found out that it is Oedipus himself who has killed the King, making the prophecy of Apollo true—that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his own mother. Because Thebes needs to be saved and because Creon cries out for Oedipus to respect the desires of Olympus, Oedipus willingly exiles himself from Thebes and eventually (in the next and last part of the trilogy, Oedipus at Colonus) dies alone. The trilogy that Sophocles has written is known to be the Oedipus plays even if one of the plays played out with the King already dead. However, it is quite evident that in all the plays, Oedipus plays an important part because his fate serves as background of all the plays and his fate becomes a catalyst for all the other scenes in the plot. This fate that brings down such grief to Oedipus and his family is connected to Apollo’s prophecy that was predicted by an oracle in Delphi. Oedipus recounts this prophecy when he talks to Jocasta, his queen and wife (and unbeknownst to him, his mother) over the reason why he self-exiled himself from Corinth: And so I went in secret off to Delphi. / I didn’t tell my mother or my father. Apollo sent me back without an answer, / so I didn’t learn what I had come to find. But when he spoke he uttered monstrous things, / strange terrors and horrific miseries— it was my fate to defile my mother’s bed, / to bring forth to men a human family that people could not bear to look upon, / to murder the father who engendered me. (Sophocles 945-954) This excerpt points to the fact that it is Apollo who passed the knowledge of the prophecy and Oedipus is well aware of the said prophecy. Thus, it would seem that the fate of Oedipus is already determined but there is a possibility that although he made unconscious and innocent choices and decisions, Oedipus is still well aware that all the things that he will do leads to something greater and sadder. This something greater and sadder is his tragic fate that would result in the death of his own father and would result in an immoral relationship with his own mother. This premise neither proves nor negates whether Oedipus’s life was created out of the decisions, actions and choices he made or whether his life was already created by another force for him. Both arguments may be correct but the other holds more weight based on the text itself. With regards to the tragedy of Oedipus’ fate created by his own choice, it can be shown in how the Chorus of the play described Oedipus that he was a man who had his own power from his mental strength which resulted in his ability to be very cunning: You residents of Thebes, our native land, / look on this man, this Oedipus, the one who understood that celebrated riddle. / He was the most powerful of men. All citizens who witnessed this man’s wealth / were envious. Now what a surging tide of terrible disaster sweeps around him. (Sophocles 1805–1811) The Chorus described Oedipus as having feats that he alone did without the help of any other force or power—this would of course show that Oedipus’ total worth as a character and individual was not just created by the Olympian gods alone. Oedipus also had a hand in the making of his own totality as a person. Thus, his characteristics which lead to his â€Å"crimes† were the culmination of all these characteristics. For example, he is cunning and that is why he was able to defeat his father in battle and he was able to solve the Sphinx’s riddle. Because of these two circumstances, he killed his father and he won the queen of the city who is his mother. Apollo merely prophesised Oedipus’ fate—the sun god did not provide the weapon which would kill Oedipus nor did he provide the answer to the riddle. Thus, Oedipus was able to the things he has done based on his own judgement and discernment as a person. On the other hand, the premise that Oedipus is the victim of the tragedy of fate manufactured by the Olympian gods still holds more weight compared to whether he is a victim of his own misplaced judgements and actions. This can be proven by the following lines delivered by the Chorus of the play: In everything / our loftiest traditions consecrate, those laws engendered in the heavenly skies, / whose only father is Olympus. They were not born from mortal men, / nor will they sleep and be forgotten. In them lives an ageless mighty god. (Sophocles 1034-1040) The lines explain that men’s laws and the traditions that they exalt, whether good or bad and advantageous or remiss, is created by the heavens. Therefore, men are but putty in the hands of the gods and goddesses of Olympus. Whatever human beings do, it is determined already by the hands of the gods. If this supposition is correct, it just means that Oedipus’ entire life was created by the gods and it is up to the gods on how his life will end; even if the Queen Jocasta believes otherwise: â€Å"Fear? What should a man fear? It’s all chance, chance rules our lives. Not a man on earth can see a day ahead, groping through the dark. Better to live at random, best we can† (Sophocles 1068–1078). When the queen declared such judgement, she was not able to consider that even if chance rules humanity’s lives; chance is also something which the heavens also control. Though men make decisions in certain circumstances, those circumstances were also created by pre-determined fate: Oedipus had to be there at the exact same time his father was at the crossroads; Oedipus had to take the path going to Thebes; Oedipus had to solve the riddle by the Sphinx, etc. Thus, although Oedipus can make his own decisions which lead to his tragic fate, his tragic fate was already determined by his hands not his own. It was determined, based on the Greek mythologies, by the Fates. Works Cited Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. Ontario: General Publishing, Ltd. , 1991.

Life History of Voc Essay

I am going to speak about the great Indian freedom fighter ‘Kappalottiya Tamilian’ V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. He popularly known by his initials V.O.C was one of the most prominent lawyers in 19th century British India. Chidambaram Pillai’s rebellious attitude and his courage to act against the British government, the English stripped the title of barrister associated with his name. It was his brave nature that won V.O.C the name ‘Kappalottiya Tamilian’ in Tamil Nadu, which translates to ‘The Tamil Helmsman’ in English. V.O.Chidambaram Pillai was born on 5 September 1872 in Ottapidaram, Tuticorin district of Tamil NaduState of India, the eldest son of lawyer Olaganathan Pillai and Paramayee Ammal. V. O. Chidambaram Pillai enrolled in schools in his native Ottapidaram and nearby Tirunelveli. V.O.C started working in the Ottapidaram district administrative office after the end of his school education. It was only a few years later that he enrolled in law school and completed law studies to become a lawyer like his father Olaganathan Pillai. V. O. Chidambaram Pillai entered into active politics in the year 1905 by becoming a member of the Indian National Congress. The Swadeshi movement in India was already at its hilt during this time and leaders like Lala Lajpat Rai and Bal Gangadhar Tilak were trying their best to put an end to British Imperial coercion of trade. After joining the Indian National Congress, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai wholeheartedly immersed himself into Swadeshi work to secure independence for India. Part of his Swadeshi work was to put an end to the monopoly of British shipping in the coasts of Ceylon. Inspired by freedom fighter Ramakrishnananda, he set up the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company on November 12, 1906. V.O.C’s ships started regular services between Tuticorin and Colombo. His shipping company was not only a commercial venture, it was also the first comprehensive shipping service set up by an Indian in British India. V O Chidambaram Pillai was the author of a couple of novels; he translated several James Allen works in Tamil and made compilations of important Tamil works like the Thirukural and the Tolkappiam. V O Chidambaram Pillai spent such an impoverished lifestyle after he was released from prison that Justice Wallace who sentenced V O C to prison restored his bar license. But V O C was never successful in repaying his debts and lived in poverty till the end of his life on November 18, 1936. V O Chidambaram Pillai breathed his last at the Indian National Congress office in Tuticorin. Vallinayagam Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai is remembered as one of the most important figures in India’s struggle for independence. He is much loved and celebrated in the Tamil Nadu society till today.

Dramatic Tension in “The Royal Hunt of the Sun” Essay

How does Shaffer create and use dramatic tension in â€Å"The Royal Hunt of the Sun† and to what effect? The Royal Hunt of the Sun is a gripping play about the journey of the Spanish army sent to conquer Peru, and the unlikely friendships that are formed. Shaffer creates dramatic tension with a number of techniques such as the use of Martin to narrate the story to the audience, a unique and powerful use of sounds, and the use of symbolic props and duologue scenes that create dramatic irony. He also employs a number of methods to show the contrasts and similarities of religion, culture and philosophy between the Inca and Spanish armies. Shaffer initially uses Martin’s narration to foreshadow the ensuing disastrous events. Old Martin generates the audience’s attention at the very start of the play by saying â€Å"This story is about ruin.† This creates dramatic irony and suggests a treacherous and threatening atmosphere. In â€Å"The Mime of the Great Ascent† Old Martin speaks about the tribulation the army faced â€Å"†¦we crept forward like blind men, the sweat freezing on our faces† in order to gain the sympathy of the audience. Old Martin’s emotions are showed in different ways throughout the play, â€Å"Look at the warrior where he struts†¦ salvation in his new spurs. One of the knights at last.† Here Shaffer uses Old Martin’s cynicism and bitterness to exaggerate the loss of Young Martin’s innocence and childhood and gain the empathy of the audience. As the story unfolds, the reason for Old Martin’s pessimism becomes clear to the audience, â€Å"I went out into the night†¦ and dropped my first tears as a man†¦ Devotion never came again.† Here Shaffer uses Old Martin’s reflection on his past as a window through which the audience can see how Martin’s broken youth shaped him as a man, and uses realism to involve then in the action onstage, creating suspense. Shaffer makes use of stage directions, which play a big part in revealing the symbolism of the performance, and creating dramatic tension. The use of â€Å"Tropical bid cries† throughout the play creates a dangerous and threatening atmosphere, and hints at the power Atahuallpa has over Peru and the Spanish army. During the climb of the Spanish Army to reach the city, Shaffer uses  Ã¢â‚¬Å"an eerie, cold music made from the thin whine of huge saws.† This creates an unnerving atmosphere, putting the audience on edge. Symbolic props also play a large part in creating contrasting moods throughout the performance. â€Å"Four black crucifixes, sharpened to resemble swords† are placed on the back wall, criticizing the hypocrisy of the church, and the use of religion as a pretext for killing whilst representing the conflicted and violent theme. During the course of the play, Shaffer uses the imagery of the â€Å"golden sun† which is placed at the back of the stage. â€Å"Diego†¦ drives his halberd into a slot in one of the rays.† This symbolizes the destruction of the Inca empire, and once again sound is used to create tension when â€Å"The sun gives a deep groan, like the sound of a great animal being wounded.† Here the personification of the sun creates sympathy and compassion amongst the audience. Peter Shaffer uses scenes of duologue between the main characters to give the audience an insight into the relationships between them, and create dramatic irony. During the play there are moments where Pizarro is alone with Young Martin, and speaks to him in confidence; here the audience is encouraged to sympathize with the characters’ predicaments and anxieties. When Pizarro warns Young Martin that the Army is â€Å"Nothing but years of Us against Them† the audience becomes aware of the extreme differences in their opinions and views, which creates great tension and unrest between the characters. Shaffer enables Pizarro to freely suggest the extent of is own greed and betrayal during his duologue scenes with Martin, â€Å"if the time ever came for you to harry me, I’d rip you too, easy as look at you.† Here Shaffer creates more tension, causing the audience to question Pizarro’s loyalty to Martin, whilst hinting at the slightly more malevolent and spiteful side to Pizarro. The duologue scenes between Pizarro and Atahuallpa allow the audience to see the fragile and personal characteristics of the otherwise powerful, dominant male figures. At first Atahuallpa shows his lack of distrust in Pizarro when proclaiming him dishonest â€Å"you have no swear to give†. Atahuallpa takes a leap of faith and trusts his captor, to the surprise of the audience, creating an uneasy and nervous atmosphere. â€Å"You make me laugh! (In sudden wonder) You make me laugh!† It is at this point in the play that Pizarro realizes he has formed a genuine friendship  with Atahuallpa, and the audience feels the tension rise once again as Pizarro is forced to decide the fate of Atahuallpa. A main theme of the play is the contrast between the Inca and Spanish cultures. Atahuallpa is nearly always shown sitting high up in front of the golden sun, showing his power and authority, whereas the Spaniards wore heavy, clumsy clothing, which symbolizes their awkwardness in the foreign land, and their ignorance of other cultures. Domingo says â€Å"God-dammed place. I’m starting to rust.† This could indicate of the immorality and true objectives of their journey. The Spanish consider Atahuallpa to be â€Å"just one savage† when in fact he is the core of the Inca society, this is shown throughout the play. Atahuallpa finds it difficult to understand the Spanish way of life as the Incan religion and society was built on concepts and simplicity rather than material wealth and gain, creating tension. Despite many differences, both religions believe in a supreme being who would rise from the dead. Until Pizarro met Atahuallpa, he had lost faith in all conventional religion, and exclaimed, â€Å"I’m going to die! And the thought of that dark has rotted everything for me.† Atahuallpa gave him a new sense of belonging and introduced him to the Inca religion, â€Å"Believe in me. I will give a word and fill you with joy.† Pizarro found this concept very attractive and was instantly fascinated by Atahuallpa. This creates tension and increases the audience’s interest in the story. The great contrasts between the two cultures and the similarities between the two men create a sense of mystery and rising tension as the story continues, this is greatened by the audience’s knowledge that Pizarro will have to kill Atahuallpa. Shaffer uses stages directions, imagery, sound and narration to create an ongoing sense of tension throughout the play, it is extremely effective. I particularly enjoy his use of duologue scenes to create tension and allow the audience to gain an insight into the story.

Explanatory Essay on Horticulture

The world would not be the same without these people and these labor-Intensive positions wouldn't be nearly as unofficial without the application of Horticultural practices. Horticulture has been the heart of humanity since the dawn of civilization, what else could bring people to depend on each other than the essentials of life, food and water. Horticulture has always provided food and water to the masses from the first hunter-gatherers to today's corn farmers.These examples are very different from each other but embody the same values. Some common entry-level jobs in the Horticulture industry that will be available to me after graduating are lawn care specialist, golf course attendant, landscaper, city and county work, and greenhouse attendant. There are countless more entry-level positions available I just named a few of the popular choices. Other than the satisfaction of providing a fruitful service to society Horticulture can help you grow on personal levels.Providing you with a n active lifestyle that pays dividends, Horticulture is a healthy way to make money. A horticulturist will have learned patience and developed a higher value of time management while on the lob. The study also gives me the tools to provide food for myself and someday my family. Never will I completely depend on others to nourish me. In conclusion between the sheer amounts of career opportunities along with personal growth I see nothing but positive outcomes from acquiring an Associates Degree in Landscape, Plant, and Turf Management.In Just two short years I will have an education I can trust to provide me with a comfortable Income, the knowledge to feed my community, and the ability to beautify the world around me using material provided by the earth. Whether In times of trouble or prosperity there will be a need for Horticulturists. The Green Industry will never disappear, but only become more chemical, with advances In science and medicine ever on the horizon the need for me and students like myself to be providing material will never cease.With rolling world populations a steady food supply and dwindling natural settings have never been more Important. Word Count: 424 Words Explanatory Essay on Horticulture By onionskin career or a great backup plan to your primary career choice. Most Jobs in the Green Industry are relatively concrete positions within society such as farmers, landscapers, without these people and these labor-intensive positions wouldn't be nearly as ACH other but embody the same values. Some common entry-level Jobs in the attendant.There are countless more entry-level positions available I Just named a job. The study also gives me the tools to provide food for myself and someday my an education I can trust to provide me with a comfortable income, the knowledge to provided by the earth. Whether in times of trouble or prosperity there will be a need technical, with advances in science and medicine ever on the horizon the need for me and stud ents like myself to be providing material will never cease. With rising been more important.

The Most Important Factors Of Transforming Gateshead Holdings Essay

The Most Important Factors Of Transforming Gateshead Holdings - Essay Example The workers were sorted into teams and assigned responsibilities accordingly. Workers were also offered rewards for putting in best efforts towards fulfilling their responsibilities. This helped in motivating the staff, a critical component in today's business context. Motives help in providing a reason for the staff to act in a more efficient manner. On the other hand lack of motivation can actually result in distorting the working environment. The five elements of 5S included Sort, Set, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. Once the workforce realizes that the management is indeed quite serious about sustaining the business the long term, they too start connecting their future with the efficient functioning of the company. During the years prior to 1999, no positive motivation was in sight for the workers. The lack of any positive motivation by the managers often results in automatic provisioning of negative motivation. But the 5S adopted by management helped in changing this attitude. From the year 1995 to 1998 the staff turnover ratio is consistently on an increase. Workers appear to have given up and considering it a sinking  ship the workers getting opportunities elsewhere thought it fit to leave at the first available opportunity. This is reflected in the incremental percentage of staff turnover. This leads to an increase in costs as once a set of trained staff leaves, a new process for recruiting is required to be taken up. The new incumbents take some time to familiarise themselves with the work and working environment. This affects the production levels and efficiency of the respective departments. In 1999, it appears in the initial months, the percentage of staff turnover had been on the rise, but after the motivation thoughts and positive signals sent in by Geoff, this trend stopped.

Business Intelligence Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Intelligence Analysis - Assignment Example WEKA is the preferred software tool for the classification. This is because the software can mine useful information from the data by providing an algorithm for coming up with accurate prediction models. The objective of the business intelligence analysis is to equip learners with business skills that will help them in relating services, applications, and the technologies so that they can manage and analyse data so that the data is transformed into useful information that is critical to sound decision making. The Business intelligence processes are used to evaluate business processes and to optimise them so that they are in line with the objectives of the business. The objectives can be operational that impact the business on daily basis, or even tactical that will have impacts on short term basis like marketing or even strategic goals that will have long term effect like improving the revenues. Business intelligence is therefore a critical element in the decision making process. This is because the process analyses data that is, orders, inventory and points of sales. From these data the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are calculated that is, the measure of the strategic performanc e of the business. KPI is important in the monitoring of the organisation’s performance and for decision making. The main objective is to extract business intelligence that is crucial in shaping the organisation’s operations to the strategic and tactical objectives of the business. This is only possible when the transactional data is integrated in the data warehouse to be analysed by the BI performance managers. The course seeks to equip learners with the ability to convert the integrated, but raw warehouse data into useful information that can be used to determine accurately how the business performed in contrast to its objectives and predictions. This application generates business knowledge that is very important for

Finite element method Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Finite element method - Essay Example Consequently every computer program based on finite element analysis technique has some shortcomings because of the unresolved errors. Another important reason behind the errors which occur in the results is the incorrect operation of the software program by the user and mishandling of the data. The users of these software programs commit frequent mistakes in the selection of right type of program for analysis. There is a wide variety of possible mistakes which a user can make while using these software programs. These mistakes include the choosing an incorrect element, using a poor mesh, ignoring the key mechanical properties of members such as yielding and buckling, inputting incorrect end conditions is also one of the most frequent mistakes that the users make. There is always a difference between the actual behaviour of the structure and the simulated behaviour in computers. A computer program cannot replicate the actual behaviour of the structure, no matter how expensive it is and how efficient it is in its working and display of results. The outlook of computer programs, the innovation and the quality achieved in the graphical display have successfully concealed the inefficiencies in the operation. The users are satisfied with the graphical display of the interface and the way the results are presented and blindly rely on the results obtained from these programs. The finite element method of analysis has created unmatched possibilities in analytic process; however it is not the best option to use in all cases. At times, there are other easier and more accurate approaches to solve problems; computation of stresses using simple flexural formulas instead of three-dimensional finite element analysis is one such example. There are situations when experimental results are required to find out the material properties involved in analysis, in