Sunday, December 29, 2019

Satraps of the Persian Empire

Satraps have ruled the various provinces of Persia in different periods for an incredibly long period of time, from the age of the Median Empire, 728 to 559 BCE, through the Buyid Dynasty, 934 to 1062 CE. At different times, satraps territories within Persias empire have stretched from the borders of India in the east to Yemen in the south, and west to Libya. Satraps Under Cyrus the Great Although the Medes seem to be the first people in history to have divided their lands up into provinces, with individual provincial leaders, the system of satrapies really came into its own during the time of the Achaemenid Empire (sometimes known as the Persian Empire), c. 550 to 330 BCE.  Under the Achaemenid Empires founder, Cyrus the Great, Persia was divided into 26 satrapies.  The satraps ruled in the name of the king and paid tribute to the central government. Achaemenid satraps had considerable power.  They owned and administered the land in their provinces, always in the kings name.  They served as the chief judge for their region, adjudicating disputes and decreeing the punishments for various crimes.  Satraps also collected taxes, appointed and removed local officials, and policed the roads and public spaces.   To prevent the satraps from exercising too much power and possibly even challenging the kings authority, each satrap answered to a royal secretary, known as the eye of the king.  In addition, the chief financial officer and the general in charge of troops for each satrapy reported directly to the king, rather than to the satrap.   Expansion and Weakening of the Empire Under Darius the Great, the Achaemenid Empire expanded to 36 satrapies.  Darius regularized the tribute system, assigning each satrapy a standard amount according to its economic potential and population. Despite the controls put in place, as the Achaemenid Empire weakened, the satraps began to exercise more autonomy and local control.  Artaxerxes II (r. 404 - 358 BCE), for example, faced what is known as the Revolt of the Satraps between 372 and 382 BCE, with uprisings in Cappadocia (now in Turkey), Phrygia (also in Turkey), and Armenia. Perhaps most famously, when Alexander the Great  of Macedon suddenly died in 323 BCE, his generals divided up his empire into satrapies. They did this to avoid a succession struggle. Since Alexander did not have an heir; under the satrapy system, each of the Macedonian or Greek generals would have a territory to rule under the Persian title of satrap. The Hellenistic satrapies were much smaller than those of the Persian satrapies, however.  These Diadochi, or successors, ruled their satrapies until one by one they fell between 168 and 30 BCE. When the Persian people threw off Hellenistic rule  and unified once more as the Parthian Empire (247 BCE - 224 CE), they retained the satrapy system. In fact, Parthia was originally a satrapy in northeastern Persia, which went on to conquer most of the neighboring satrapies. The term satrap is derived from the Old Persian kshathrapavan, meaning guardian of the realm. In modern English usage, it can also mean a despotic lesser ruler or a corrupt puppet leader.

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Importance Of Volunteering At Pine Meadow Elementary School

I am volunteering at Pine Meadow Elementary School. I volunteer from 8:30 – 9:50 in the morning every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I am in Ms. Wurzbergers room and she teaches kindergarten class that consists of children ages 5-6. There are 20 children in the classroom with one teacher. One of the kids has a special teacher he walks around with all the time but they are not usually in the classroom. The classroom is set up with 4 tables spread around the room with 5 chairs at each table. There is a separate table away from the student’s tables where you can do one on one work with the kids. The room has one window, a sink near the door and posters hung up around the room. The posters have thing like the alphabet and numbers on†¦show more content†¦B.F. Skinner is not a stage theorist. Skinner’s system is based on operant conditioning. He believes that â€Å" the behavior is followed by a consequence, and the nature of the consequence modifies the organisms tendency to repeat the behavior in the future†. My first example supporting Skinner’s system in based off of Skinner 1. This example starts when the teacher told the kids they can go grab their scissors whenever they were ready for the cutting part of their activity. Ms. Wurzberger noticed one of the kids walking with the sharp part of the scissors in his hand so he cant hurt anyone or himself. The teacher announced to the class saying â€Å" I like how Roger is walking nicely with his scissors and holding them the correct way†. Ms. Wurzberger then continued to give him a point on his point board. When the other surrounding kids saw that he got recognized and got a point on his point board they wanted that so they instantly change the way the were carrying the scissors or slowed down the walking pace. Another example I have for Skinner’s 1st theory is when the kids get called to line up at the door to go to specialists they are expected to s tand straight with their hands to themselves keeping their voices down into a hallway voice. When the teachers says she loves how a certain student is standing in line you will see the others react to that by making sure their posture is good while

Friday, December 13, 2019

Canadian Family Essay Free Essays

Living together, getting married and having children are all the important factors that contribute in creating a family. The Canadian family has, is and will face different types of challenges in the future. Families in Canada have changed as time has progressed. We will write a custom essay sample on Canadian Family Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now In this time period the Canadian family has faced a number of challenges. I believe this is due to the increase in divorce rates, same sex marriage and living together in common law. Depending on the situation within the family, families in Canada have found to be challenged. First of all I would like to bring out probably the most common challenge and factor which is making marriages unsuccessful, that being divorce. The divorce rate in Canadian families is increasing day by day from what it used to be. Divorce leads to a disturbance in one’s family when he/she files for one. The children of the divorced couples are not being raised up normally; moreover they are being raised up living with a single parent or living one week with the mother and one week with the father. The children are not getting the time and love from their parents which they would normally get if their parents lived together. In my opinion a family is a group of people involving a mother, father and their children living together in the same house, so if the parents of the children get divorced it causes that family to break when they no longer live with each other. Back in the day divorce was not that common as it is today, people would get married for life but now a days if couples get into a fight the first option that pops up in their heads is divorce. People nowadays are taking advantage of the divorce laws and are using them more commonly which is leading Canadian families challenged. Another challenge that Canadian families are facing these days is same sex marriage. When a couple of the same sex gets married together they are left with a challenge of having children together. To overcome this challenge most couples take the option of adopting children or having children through surrogacy, and some decide not to bring children in their lives at all. The couples that do decide to adopt children, the children are still not gifted with a mother and a father; moreover they could grow up having two mothers or two fathers. In this situation the children are not being raised up as they would be if they had both a father and a mother. On the other hand when same sex married couples decide not to adopt children and not bring them in their lives at all, this leads to their generation from further expanding. With all due espect to same sex marriage, same sex marriage is a challenge that families in our society are facing in the new era. On the other hand one other challenge that Canadian families are facing these days is the challenge of common law. Common law has become more common in the new world. Couples are moving in, living together, and having children without being married. Couples these days are spending more time living together before marriage than they are after marriage or they are breaking up even before getting to the extent of getting married. Common law mostly involves teen couples living or having children together, this is because teens are less mature and do not know what the responsibility of raising children together is, so often teens tend to break up with each other despite having children. Adults on the other hand tend to live together for years in common law and at some point when they do get married it may not last that long because they know each other’s ups and downs because of all the time they have spent together. In this case common law is another crucial challenge that Canadian families are facing these days. Finally I would like to say Canadian families are continuing to change and face crucial challenges such as, divorce, same sex marriage and common law day by day. Living together, getting married and having children are all important factors that contribute in creating a family. If any one of these crucial factors gets disturbed then it leaves the families faced with challenges. If we fulfil all the factors that contribute in creating a family in the right way then it will leave our families with less of a challenge. How to cite Canadian Family Essay, Essays

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Huck Finn Essay Paper Example For Students

Huck Finn Essay Paper ADD: Active Determined DreamerHuckleberry Finn is not an escapist, but a free spirit who only wants to live deeply disentangled from the bonds of society. An escapist is someone who flees from his/her responsibilities, while a free spirit is a person who knows no boundaries, and cannot be tamed by society. It may appear at first that Huck is an escapist, for he enjoys not having to go to school when living with his father. He escapes from the cabin and his fathers abuse; however, he escapes from his fathers cabin out of the necessity of survival, not because he didnt want to accept responsibilities. Even though Huck did enjoy fishing and relaxing in the sun during his stay with Pap, it wasnt the responsibility that he was escaping, but the rules that society had imposed on him. Huck didnt mind learning new things and being knowledgeable, but he did not like to get dressed up, to have to go to school, to be well behaved and polite, and to learn good manners. I was kind of lazy and jol ly, laying off comfortable all day, smoking and fishingand my clothes got to be all rags and dirt, and I didnt see how Id ever got to like it so well at the widows where you had to wash and eat regularIt was pretty good times up in the woods there, take it all around. (p. 31) Living in the woods is harder work, having to catch food and build fires to stay warm, but Huck doesnt mind work as long as he can do it how he wants to. Huck is always going against society and cannot live by its rules. Society told him it was wrong to help a runaway slave, but when he paddled out to go turn Jim in he just couldnt let himself. He decided that he didnt care what society thought was right, and that staying true to Jim was the best thing to do. I knowed very well I had done wrong, and I see it warnt no use for me to try to learn to do rightThen I thought for a minute, and says to myself hold n; spose youd a done right and give Jim up, wouldve you felt better than what you do now? No says I, Id fe el badWell, then says I, whats the use you learning to do right when its troublesome to do right and aint no trouble to do wrong. (p. 95) His spirit is free and uncorrupted by the prejudices of society. By listening to his heart, Huck makes a good choice. He still takes responsibility for his own actions although not according to the standards put on him, but by those he puts on himself. He is no longer as selfish, as he becomes more mature he learns to respect other peoples feelings and needs. Even though he doesnt want to live in their world, Huck still has feelings for the people he meets and cares for. Traveling down the Mississippi is heaven for a free spirit like Huck. Surviving on their own terms Huck and Jim borrowed vegetables and hunted for meat. We shot a water fowl now and then that got up too early in the morning or didnt go to bed early enough in the evening. Take it all around we lived pretty high. (p.71) Huck is completely satisfied with this life style. He has every thing a free spirit needs; a good companion, enough food and water to comfortably survive, and of course a swift moving river carrying him down the path of life. The huge river is a school for the free spirited. The river is where Huck found out he belongs; there he can be free from societys rules. He can travel along next to the civilized world, stopping and visiting for a while, and then move on before stopping in further down, to get another glimpse of society and learn a little bit more. No one can tell Huck to stay and live in one spot, and no one can tell Huck how to live. In the end, he had become more mature, even though he didnt follow societys traditional standards of the transition from boyhood to manhood. Huck does not graduate from high school or gets his first job, but instead went on an adventure down the Mississippi. This journey gave him a more mature outlook on life that could not be accomplished by sitting in a classroom all day. At the end of his journey, he was faced with having to return to the society he had been free of during his adventure. However, he decided it would be best to leave again, not escaping, but continuing on in life, reaching out for more than what most people settle for. But I reckon I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally shes going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I cant stand it. I been there before. (p. 287)If Huck were alive today, he most likely would have been put in a reform school, diagnosed as ADD, or punished to the point of rebellion. However, Huck did not have to escape from his responsibilities, he merely freed himself from the world in which he did not belong, into one of movement, change and adventure, where he could take on responsibilities in his own free spirited way. 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Thursday, November 28, 2019

Prima facie Duties and Rosss Theory of Right Conduct free essay sample

â€Å"There are other beings in this world whose condition we can make better in respect of virtue, or of intelligence or of pleasure† (Ross). W. D. Ross was a philosopher who developed the Theory of Right Conduct. The seven prima facie duties are central in Ross’s Theory of Right Conduct. The purpose of these duties is to determine what people ought to do in questionable moral situations. â€Å"A prima facie duty is a duty that is binding (obligatory) other things equal, that is, unless it is overridden or trumped by another duty or duties† (Garrett). The purpose of this paper is to explain the prima facie duties and Ross’s Theory of Right Conduct. To further demonstrate the theory it will be applied to a morally controversial case. In order to understand the concept of prima facie duties one must understand each of the seven duties. The first duty is Fidelity, this is the obligation to keep one’s promises and not participate in dishonesty. We will write a custom essay sample on Prima facie Duties and Rosss Theory of Right Conduct or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The second is Reparation, which is the duty to make up for any injuries one has caused others. The next duty is Gratitude, this states that one must show gratitude towards others for their help and if possible return the favor. The fourth duty is Harm Prevention that is the duty to prevent harm to others resulting from causes other than oneself. Next is Beneficence this is the duty to do good to others in order to promote their overall wellbeing. The sixth prima facie duty is Self-Improvement that is literally the duty to act in a way that improves one’s self and promotes one’s own wellbeing. Lastly, Justice is the duty that requires one to act in a way that promotes justice in a just manor. While all of these duties appear to be self explanatory and straightforward it can be difficult to determine when one ought to or ought not to perform an action. Ross’s Theory of Right Conduct helps to clarify when two prima facie duties conflict. Ross’s Theory of Right Conduct is a theory that demonstrates the burden to perform or not perform an action based upon the seven prima facie duties. His theory is broken down into actions that are obligatory, wrong or optional. The theory states that it is obligatory to perform an action (A) to uphold one prima facie duty over another, if (and because) action (A) satisfies the most stringent of the conflicting prima facie duty. To better illustrate this take the case of Mike. Mike promises his friend Sally he will give her a ride to work and is therefore obligated to uphold the prima facie duty of fidelity. However, when Mike is driving to pick her up he sees a car crash on the side of the road. If he does not stop to help the victim of the car crash the victim will die. Now Mike has two conflicting prima facie duties, he has the duty of fidelity toward Sally and the duty of beneficence to the stranger. Ross’s Theory of Right Conduct would favor that he uphold the duty of beneficence because it is a more stringent duty. The second part of Ross’s theory states that it is wrong to perform action (A) if and because it would mean not upholding the more stringent of the conflicting prima facie duties. In the case of the car crash this would mean that it would be wrong for Mike to leave the accident to uphold his duty of fidelity because it is not the more stringent of the two prima facie duties. Lastly, an action is optional if and because one of the two following scenarios are present: If one has no prima facie duties in the situation, or if there are conflicting prima facie duties and one or more favors each action. The main problem with Ross’s Theory of Right Conduct is how does one judge one prima facie duty to be more stringent than another. In the case of conflicting prima facie duties one must rely on moral judgment. This means following one’s own intuition that has been shaped by experiences and obtained knowledge over a period of time. There is no formula or strict principle that can be applied in moral judgment one must rely on their own intuition. In the case of the car accident one can use their own moral judgment to determine that upholding beneficence and saving a life is more important than the duty of fidelity and making sure Sally gets to work on time. In some cases it is not as simple to determine the more stringent prima facie duty. To illustrate the complexity of conflicting prima facie duties we will observe the case of George. George is a recent graduate with a Ph. D. in chemistry who is struggling to find a job. His wife is forced to get a job in order to support their family. As a result of an absent mother and the financial stress on the family the children have been experiencing damaging psychological effects. George is offered a job at a laboratory that researches biological and chemical warfare. He is against accepting the job because he believes that the use of biological and chemical warfare is wrong. However, even if he refuses the job the lab will continue to research biological and chemical warfare. Furthermore, if George does not fill the position it will go to a more experience candidate that will speed up the research process. While George is against the research of biological and chemical warfare, his wife is not morally opposed to the idea of George taking the job. This case has many conflicting prima facie duties in which moral judgment must be applied to determine weather George should accept the job or not. There are several conflicting prima facie duties that apply to this case. The first is the duty of harm-prevention. As previously mentioned this states that one must prevent harm to others from causes other than him/herself. In this case this duty applies to both the prevention of harm to George’s family and the harm as a result of his research on biological and chemical warfare. The next duty is beneficence that is concerned with the promotion of the wellbeing of others that includes his family and the potential victims of his research. Lastly, is the duty of self-improvement, and George’s obligation to improve his own wellbeing. To find a resolution to this case I have evaluated each of the prima facie duties and their conflicts. The duty of harm-prevention is best satisfied if George accepts the job. By not taking the job he is not upholding his duty of harm prevention toward his family because they will continue to suffer. On the other hand by refusing the job he is technically upholding the duty of harm prevention toward the potential victims of his chemical and biological warfare research; however, the position will be filled by a more qualified chemist that would cause more harm than if George were to accept the job. The next prima facie duty is beneficence. If George were to accept the job he would be promoting the wellbeing (health, security, and happiness) of his family; however, much like the duty of harm prevention he would not be promoting the wellbeing of the potential victims of his research. The wellbeing of his family can be promoted if he accepts the job because he will be providing them with financial security that will contribute to their health (psychological and physical), and in turn their overall happiness. Also by accepting the position he can slow the progress of research and lessen the potential effects the research can have on the victims. Lastly, the duty of self-improvement can be satisfied if he accepts the job because he will be promoting his security (financially) and health (psychological and physical) because he will alleviate the stress of unemployment and the effects on himself and his family. After a close examination and factoring the various effects of George’s decision he has a moral obligation to accept the job because it is in the best interest of himself, his family and the potential victims of the research. He will promote the wellbeing of him and his family, as well as lessen the unavoidable negative effects on the victims of the biological and chemical warfare.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Do Colleges Look at Middle School Grades

Do Colleges Look at Middle School Grades SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Should you be worried about a low grade you got in middle school hurting your future college applications? Do middle school grades count for college?With college admissions getting more competitive and students preparing for college earlier and earlier, many people wonder if colleges look at the middle school grades of applicants. Will that C you got in 6th grade math hold you back from getting into your dream school? In this guide, we explain if colleges look at middle school grades, which grades colleges are most interested in, and everything you can do as a middle school student to prepare for the college application process. Do Colleges Look at Middle School Grades? Your middle school grades will not be part of your college application.No college, even a highly-competitive one, is going to be looking at what grades you got in middle school. There are several reasons for this. The main one is that, when you apply to college, your middle school grades will have occurred too long ago to give colleges an accurate idea of the student you are now. If colleges see that you got a D in science when you were 12 years old, that really doesn’t give them any insight into the type of student you are at 17 or 18 when you’re applying to schools. You’ve had years to improve your study habits and master new material, so penalizing you for something that happened years ago would be unfair. Middle school grades simply happened too long ago to be very useful. Additionally, middle school grades are often more subjective than high school grades. One middle school may have a very different grading scale compared to a different school, while some middle school teachers may give everyone A’s while others are much more strict. Things like this can happen in high school too, but it’s more prevalent in middle school, which makes it harder for colleges to compare grades of students who went to different middle schools. Colleges also have plenty of better information to figure out what kind of student you are that they don't need your middle school grades. Colleges ask for a lot of materials when you apply, including your high school transcript, standardized test scores, the extracurriculars you were in, personal statements, and letters of recommendation.This is enough for them to get a good idea of who you are and what type of student you are. Middle school grades wouldn't add any useful information. Which Grades Do Colleges Look At? Which Year of School Is Most Important for College Applications? Colleges won't be looking at your middle school grades, but they will be very interested in all the grades you got in high school. When you apply to colleges, you’ll submit a transcript that includes the grades you got the first three years of high school, and many schools also require you to submit your senior grades once you get them. Colleges will look at every grade you got in high school, so ideally you want your entire high school transcript to be strong.However, there are some grades that are more important to colleges than other grades. Generally colleges care most about the grades you got junior year. These grades are the most important because, when you apply in the fall of your senior year, they’re the most recent grades the college has access to, so they give them the best idea of your current abilities. If you got a few low grades your freshman year but turned around and got high grades the rest of your high school career, colleges will see that maybe you struggled a bit in the beginning, but then you overcame those issues and were able to maintain a high GPA afterward. That gives them confidence you’re on track to be a successful college student. On the other hand, if you began high school with a strong GPA but have gradually gotten lower grades, especially in your junior year, colleges may be more concerned that you’re struggling as classes get more difficult, you’re losing motivation, or both.Having high grades your junior year will give colleges confidence that you can succeed as a student that their school. How important are your grades from other years of high school? Senior year grades are probably the next most important, although some colleges make admissions decisions before your senior grades are out. However, many colleges will ask for your senior grades even after they’ve accepted you, so don’t fall prey to senioritis and start coasting your final year of high school. Sophomore grades are most important after that, then freshman grades. What Can You Do in Middle School to Prepare for College? Even though colleges don’t look at your middle school grades, there's still plenty you can do in middle school to prepare for college. It’s not required to start thinking about college in middle school, but if you’re really motivated, there are several things you can do as a middle schooler to put you in the best spot when it comes time to apply to college. Here are three things to focus on. #1: Get the Best Grades You Can in Your Classes Even though colleges won’t be looking at your middle school grades, you still want to get the best grades you can during those years. Having strong middle school grades increases the chances of you being placed into advanced classes as a high school freshman, which colleges will see. Additionally, by working hard in middle school, you’ll acquire good study and testing habits that you can continue to use in high school, making it easier for you to get high grades in your high school classes.You don’t want to enter high school without knowing how to properly read a chapter in a textbook or study for a big test. Learn these things in middle school so you’ll be as prepared as possible for your high school classes and can start your freshman year off strong. #2: Think About Which Subjects You Enjoy Most You absolutely don’t need to know what you’re going to major in as a middle schooler (most high school students have no idea what they’re going to major in!), but it can definitely be helpful to start thinking about what your favorite subjects are and which of them you’d like to continue taking. If you know that you enjoy, say, math and science classes more than English and social studies classes, once you get to high school you can begin aiming to take more advanced classes in math and science to show colleges that you’re skilled in them. It’s totally fine to change your mind about which classes you plan on taking in high school, but by starting to think about it in middle school, you can be better prepared when it comes time to choose classes in high school. #3: Participate in Different Extracurricular Activities Your middle school grades may not be part of your college application, but extracurriculars you participate in during this time might be! If you’ve been taking piano lessons since you were in 2nd grade or been volunteering at a nursing home since you were 13, you can include that on your college applications as long as you continued those activities through at least part of high school. This means your middle school extracurriculars can show colleges your commitment to an activity, and participating in an extracurricular in middle school can help you get a leadership position in that activity as a high school student. If colleges see that you’ve stuck with an activity since middle school, it’ll show them you’re passionate about it and can really dedicate yourself to an activity.Similarly, obtaining a leadership position in an extracurricular also shows you’re passionate about it and that you have leadership skills (a big plus to colleges). As with tip #2, it’s completely fine to change extracurriculars between middle school and college, but if you’re looking for a way to strengthen your future college applications, sticking with at least one can help. Conclusion: Do Middle School Grades Count for College? Do colleges look at middle school grades? No, your middle school grades occurred too long ago to really give colleges an accurate idea of your current academic abilities. Colleges have many other pieces of information that are much more useful for figuring out which applicants to accept, so they don’t use middle school grades. Which grades do colleges look at? Your high school grades will be very important for your college application, particularly your junior year grades since these give colleges the best idea of what kind of student you are now. Even though your middle school grades won’t be used in the college application process, you can still begin preparing for college applications in middle school by getting high grades (to prepare you for the best high school classes), thinking about which classes you want to continue with in high school and beyond, and participating in extracurriculars you’re interested in and want to continue with in high school. What's Next? Trying to decide where to go to high school? Learn how to compare high schools using SAT or ACT scores. Thinking ahead to your high school grades?Learn the average high school GPA so you know what to aim for. Beginning your college search?Check out our guide on how to choose the best college for you. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Math in Biotechnology field Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Math in Biotechnology field - Assignment Example 3- You are setting up a PCR reaction and the protocol asks you to add 0.9ng of DNA to the reaction. You have a sample of DNA which is 3mg/ml. Describe your approach to adding the same volume in parts per million to the reaction? Be specific, describe your dilutions, how much you will pipette, etc? 4- You are setting up a PCR reaction and the protocol asks you to add 3.0ng of DNA to the reaction. You have a sample of DNA which is 8mg/ml. Describe your approach to adding the same volume in parts per million to the reaction? Be specific, describe your dilutions, how much you will pipette, etc? 5- You are setting up a PCR reaction and the protocol asks you to add 0.6ng of DNA to the reaction. You have a sample of DNA which is 6mg/ml. Describe your approach to adding the same volume in parts per million to the reaction? Be specific, describe your dilutions, how much you will pipette,

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Correctional Institution, Criminology major Essay

Correctional Institution, Criminology major - Essay Example Among them is â€Å"protection from cruel and unusual punishment, including sexual harassment and other sex crimes† (Jacobson 118). To discourage sexual abuse in a prison facility, a correctional manager could take some steps by efficiently using the limited resources at their disposal which may include increasing time deducted on sentences for good behavior. This would encourage prisoners to adhere to prison rules with the hope of early release. The prison manager should practice wise deployment of staff taking in consideration the vulnerable locations and high risk times. Rape is a violent crime, therefore, stopping violent activities reduces chances of rape occurring. A correctional manager should endeavor to stop prison gang membership, activity or recruitment. These gangs encourage violent behaviors and operate on codes of silence. The correctional manager should also develop effective institutional policies and processes. These should provide guidelines on what is to be done in case abuse is reported, suspected, found happening or proven. These policies and procedures should instruct on how to deal with of fenders and victims. They should guarantee swift action and protection for the victim. The correctional manager should also encourage programs that prepare prisoners to live a contributing and law-abiding life after incarceration. These programs may incorporate activities that put the prisoners in controlled contact with the free world. This gives them a hint of free life and encourages them to adhere to rules to avoid longer incarceration and pursue early parole. Rape and other sex crimes in prisons occur due to many reasons. Facilities where prisoners are over-crowded have higher incidences of sexual abuse (Freedman 89). Understaffing of correctional facilities makes it hard to monitor prisoners’ activities. This creates space for indulgence in illegal and unethical

Monday, November 18, 2019

How the Internet has Simplified the Business Transactions Article

How the Internet has Simplified the Business Transactions - Article Example E-commerce has evolved over the past several decades as discussed below in sequence; Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the changing of the business documents in a standard electronic format among business partners through the computer-to-computer. Both the end-user who engage in the demanding of the products and the factory worker who is tasked by supplying the product don’t have fear of the fundamental of technology that operates by capturing the requirement or the route that the signals transmitting demands follow via the Network Edge Soon after the buyer will be notified of the what is required has been recognized on the other end by the seller where he creates the product as demanded and delivery at the required destination and immediately payments are processed. Both the end user of the product and the maker of the product are concerned with demand and supply that is properly focused and the qualitative issues of customer satisfaction, responsiveness, and performance. E-Commerce services may be seen as it faces a list challenge since it is a paperless system, and paperwork documentation has been eliminated. Although creating and maintaining an e-commerce exchange is a complex task because traditional issues of pricing, quality, scheduling, liabilities, warranties, intellectual property, and risk management are all present, but are not visible to the user behind the HTML faà §ade of the Web site. Also, there are e-commerce- specific issues, which add complexity to the process of contract formation, which includes, Operational—defining the inner connections and functions of the exchange; Terms & Conditions—defining the relationship of the parties; a Transparency—defining the user experience.

Friday, November 15, 2019

Concepts and Features of Game Engines

Concepts and Features of Game Engines Introduction This report will cover almost everything consumers and entry level developers may need to know or be interested to know about game engines, how they work and what theyre used for. This report will cover topics such as the history of game engines, different forms of engines (across multiple platforms), how game engines can be used by the community to create interesting things such as mods, plugins and standalone games. Not only that but I will cover the purposes of using a game engine, the various components involved in the game engine, how they are used and how they have evolved over the past 2-3 decades into what they are today. I will also look at what the future of game engines with technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Graphics Rendering. The history of game engines 1989 Space Rogue Origin Systems The Space Rogue engine, created by Origin Systems, was released in 1989. This was a 3D engine and featured Texture Mapping. An addition that makes surfaces look more realistic or 3D, surfaces that would otherwise be flat, undetailed and dull. 1993 Doom ID Tech The Doom engine was created by ID Tech in 1993. This engine features a hybrid world which consists of 2D sprites in a 3D world. 2D sprites are characters in the game that are 2D and look the same regardless of what angle you are looking at them from. If you walk around them to what should be the back, the characters will rotate to face you. 1994 Storm Keep Storm Keep The Storm Keep engine was created by Storm Keep in 1994. This is a 3D engine in which the key feature was Motion Capture. This is where a person in real life wears a special suit which is hooked up to a computer which tracks movements and then applies them to a 3D model which can then be added to a game. This was used in Storm Keep, but not very well. Since the technologys appearance in Storm Keep, it has been vastly improved and better versions of this can be found in newer games such as FIFA. 1995 Quake Engine ID Tech The Quake Engine was created by ID Tech in 1995. This 3D engine featured multiple important features which can be found in most of the games developed today. These include advanced lighting, for example, shadows and Culling. Culling is the way a game engine only renders whats in sight. For example, if you have a large wall in front of you and behind the wall is some mountains provided the mountains are covered up by this wall, the character would not be able to see the mountains behind the wall. If the wall was removed and nothing else was blocking the view of the mountains, the mountains would be rendered. 1997 Renderware Epic Game The Renderware engine was created by Epic Game and released in 1997. This 3D engine was used in the development of hundreds of PS2 games and could be used across multiple platforms. 1998 Unreal Unreal The Unreal engine was created by Unreal and released in 1998. The first game to be released on this engine was Unreal, followed by Unreal Tournament. This engine was designed for the development of first person shooters, but was later used to develop roleplaying games. This engine also features a map editor. 2001 Cryengine Crytek The Cryengine was created by Crytek and released in 2001. This 3D engine featured pixel shaders, instead of vertex shaders. Pixel shaders result in more detailed textures because instead of taking relatively big portions of a texture and applying colours, like with vertex shaders, pixel shaders split these vertexes into individual pixels and texture each of them individually. As a result of the extra detail pixel shaders provide over vertex shaders, games that run the Cryengine require the user to have an insanely powerful PC to render the world and for the game to be playable. 2006 Frostbite Electronic Arts The Frostbite engine was created by Electronic Arts (or EA) in 2006. This 3D game engine was used in making the Battlefield games and Dragon Age. One of the key features of this engine is the destructible environment. This means that developers have to tools to give players the ability to use explosives or rocket launchers to blow holes in walls which they can then walk through, or collapse buildings with tanks like in Battlefield 4. 2D engines The purpose of a 2D game engine is to quickly and easily enable a developer to make a 2D engine without having to recode the core elements along the way. Examples include: Scripting languages; Artificial intelligence, or bots; Controls; Physics; Among others. Features of 2D game engines include: Scripting languages flash; Visual script dragging and dropping; Artificial intelligence; Physics; Sounds; Automatic scrolling; Built-in controls. Examples of 2D game engines include: Gamemaker; Construct 2D; Unity 2D; Scratch. 2D engines are designed for the development of simple games with basic features such as sprites. This is different to a 3D or mobile game engine as a 2D engine is not being designed with the idea of having the most advanced and capable features or with the idea of developing a simple and portable game which is optimised for smartphones and tablets. In a similar way to certain platforms not being suitable for certain games, certain game engines are not suitable for the development of certain games. For example, it is very easy for a developer to make a 2D game on Gamemaker (2D engine), but the same game would be very difficult to make on UDK (3D engine). However, it is easy to make a 3D game on UDK (3D engine), but it would be difficult to make the same game on Gamemaker (2D engine). 3D engines The purpose of a 3D engine is to quickly and easily enable a developer to make a 3D game without having to recode the core elements along the way. Examples include: Scripting languages; Artificial intelligence, or bots; Controls; Physics; Auto scrolling; XYZ coordinates; Among others. Features of 3D engines include: Scripting languages flash; Visual script dragging and dropping; Artificial intelligence; Physics; Sounds; Automatic Scrolling; Controls; XYZ coordinates; Mesh (i.e. trees, bushes, etc). Examples of 3D game engines include: Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE); Unreal Development Kit (UDK); Quake Engine; Space Rogue; Renderware; Storm Keep Frostbite; Source; Unity; Doom. My favourite game engine of all of them is the Frostbite engine. This is the engine that powers the Battlefield series. I love the way that the destruction component is carried out in this engine. I love the fact that you can collapse buildings with your handheld rocket launcher or hop into a tank and destroy the support beams of a skyscraper. Its also great when youre looking for the edge in a first person shooter, you can grab your explosives and blow a massive hole in a wall which you could then use to snipe out of. I think the destructible environment is definitely one of my favourite features. A 3D game engine is designed to develop a game which has advanced features, one which requires 3D models, terrain, enhanced realism and increasingly a number of other things; such as, artificial intelligence, destruction, physics and sound. 3D engines are different to 2D and mobile engines as a 3D engine is not being designed to be lightweight, simple or portable. 3D engines are designed for developing games which require powerful hardware to run its games. Games developed using a 3D game engine are likely unsuitable for devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets as they have insufficient graphics cards and inadequate cooling solutions. Mobile engines The purpose of a mobile engine is to quickly and easily enable a developer to make a mobile game without having to recode the core elements along the way. Examples include: Scripting languages; Artificial intelligence, or npcs/bots; Physics; Controls; Automatic scrolling. Features of a mobile game engine include: Scripting languages; Artificial intelligence, or npcs/bots; Physics; Controls; Automatic Scrolling; Sounds; Meshes. Examples of mobile game engines include: All Binary Platform Engine; Android Box 2D. Mobile engines are designed for making games which are lightweight, portable and dont require a large amount of processing power to run smoothly. This game engine is designed to make games for platforms such as smartphones and tablets. This type of mobile engine is not suitable for developing 2D or 3D games. This is because these types of games require an engine designed with more features, better optimisations, in some cases, a level editor and more powerful computers. For this reason it would be very difficult for a developer to make a 2D or 3D game using this engine. Similarly, it would be very difficult for a developer to make a mobile game on a more powerful and unsuitable game engine such as Gamemaker (2D engine) and UDK (3D engine). Game mods A game mod is a way in which a 3rd party developer can modify a game. This may be by removing, modifying or adding features or gameplay elements. This is usually done with the hope of enhancing a game, making it more fun or easier to play. Notable examples of game mods include: Garys Mod Garys Mod is a popular sandbox physics game built on the Source engine, originally designed as a game mod for the Valve game, Half Life 2. In 2006, due to the popularity of Garys Mod it was then developed into its own standalone game which is available to download today on Steam. Garys Mod has no objectives, but gives the player a sandbox where players can do as they wish, free of restrictions. DayZ Mod The DayZ Mod was originally developed as a free extension to the popular game Arma 2. The DayZ Mod was a massively multiplayer online post-apocalyptic zombie game. The idea behind it was that players must survive the harsh original world by gathering supplies, ranging from food and clothing, to military equipment such as assault rifles and bullet proof vests. These supplies could then be used to fend off against zombies or other threats to life. The mod was so popular that in 2013, the developers released a full standalone version which was better optimised and used a new game engine altogether. The Stanley Parable The Stanley Parable is a game mod built on the Source engine. The mod was designed as an interactive story modification. The mod features no combat or action-based sequences, but instead the player is able to guide Stanley through a dreamlike environment. The Stanley Parable is available to buy on Steam. Due to the success of game modifications, such as The Stanley Parable, game developers have begun sponsoring teams of game modders in order to promote the development of standalone game modifications for their games. Purposes of game engines A game engine is the core developer tool used in developing computer games. This software is used to more quickly and efficiently enable a developer to create a game for individual or multiple platforms without having to recode core elements and game functionality. For example, the physics component of a game engine is responsible for providing the developer with the tools, or in other words, a reference library of game code which is used to implement physics and other components into their game. So, if the developer wanted to implement a gravity effect after a player jumps and reaches certain height pulling the player back down, the developer could make reference to a chunk of code in the reference library with a single line of code, in a similar way to how a developer would use an API; therefore allowing the developer to implement the physics element without having to unnecessarily recode, in this case, gravity and jumping. Game engines make game development much faster and more efficient as less code is required to carry out a particular function and less time is spent retyping the same code repeatedly. Utilising a game engine can also result in improved game performance on users PCs, as less processing power, memory and hard drive space is required to download, install and run the game code. Game engines are often wrongly confused for being the computer game itself. Game engines are used to make games development easier for programmers and to be adaptable to suit the needs of the developer and the game being developed. A simple explanation of a game engine would be to imagine the setup of a car and its engine. The car body is what you can physically see and the engine is what enables it the car to drive. In this analogy, the computer game is a cars body and the game engine is a cars engine. In a game, the game engine is responsible for driving many of the games core components, such as rendering what you see on screen and implementing other technologies including physics, collision detection and artificial intelligence the most important component being the rendering facility in 2D and 3D engines. A developer will use the design of the game engine (the car engine) to build up the body of the car around it (the game outputted to a display). Car engines can be moved and adapted to suit different car bodies, in a similar way to game engines. There are good examples of game engines, but there are also bad ones. Game engines which are well designed can be truly impressive those who fail to impress, can be quite pathetic. An example of a good and modern game engine would be the Frostbite engine, the Source engine or the RAGE engine. Examples of how poor quality game engines were used to make poor quality games are clearly present in the games, Big Rigs and Sonic Generations. In the Frostbite, Source and RAGE engine, many of the top tier games available to buy in 2015 and beyond, have been and will be developed using these engines; including, Battlefield 4, Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2 and Grand Theft Auto 5. Components including graphics rendering, physics, destruction, artificial intelligence and collision detection were properly implemented which has resulted in these games being hugely popular and fun to play. In Big Rigs and Sonic Generations, the gameplay experience was, for the most part, less than satisfactory. Collision detection and physics being some of the notable examples of where the worst these games have to offer are put on show. Things such as trucks driving up an almost 90 degree mountain and trucks being able to drive through lamp posts and fences (as if they arent there) or Sonic (the hedgehog) swimming through walls, windows and doors. This is a screenshot of bad collision detection in Sonic Generations. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faoPYBN5Gc4. 14/10/15. Sonic can be clearly seen swimming through a window and if you continue to watch the video you will see he is able to walk through walls w/o the game doing anything at all to stop this. This is a screenshot of a truck driving up a cliff face (90 degree angle) very easily and at speed. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6DtVHqyYts. 14/10/15. What can be seen in the video and this screenshot of Big Rigs is completely unrealistic and would not happen in real life. This is an example of poorly designed physics and collision detection in an engine. Components featured the game engine, Frostbite 3, include: Controls; Physics; Sound; Collision detection; Artificial Intelligence; Destruction; Graphics Rendering; Animation; Cinematics; Visual Effects; Scripting languages dragging and dropping; Culling; And more. I would use this game engine in relation to the components listed above as they provide me, the developer, with the ability to create a destructible environment; in which I could use a rocket launcher to blast a whole into a wall which mine and other characters could then walk through. Not only that, but I would also be able to create an environment that looks stunning one with immersive cinematic and visual effects, which are complemented by the impressive sound options offered by this game engine. The development of game engines over the years has aided the development of games significantly. Early developments of the game engine component, Destruction, that can be seen in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loDmdpi0q3g are made to look rubbish in comparison to the incredible destructible environment depicted in this video of Battlefield 4 gameplay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTLRZOcAPnw This is a screenshot of the destruction component from the videos above in Red Faction: This is example of the destruction component from the videos above in Battlefield 4: The first picture, which depicts an early form of the now very well developed game engine component destruction, shows a player with a rocket launcher firing rockets at a wall and blowing a clean whole in the wall with almost no debris left after the explosion. Now, look at the screenshot of the Battlefield 4 gameplay. This shows a tower which has just been hit from the back with a missile collapsing entirely and falling over before smashing into many large pieces of debris. The improvements overtime of how destruction actually works in games is a clear example of how game engines have developed overtime and more specifically the destruction components, to the clear advantage of 2D, 3D and mobile games, such as above. Graphics rendering Graphics rendering is the way in which a game engine loads the environment around you. It does this by taking a wire-frame model and applying different components to the individual vertexes. Textures which have had these components applied to them are known as 3D models. These components include: Shade; Colour; Texture; Reflection; Shadow; And more. We can make a wire frame model 3D using software such as Blender, Cinema 4D and Autodesk Maya. We can then import them into game engines like UDK and import them into a game. This software is very expensive, but there are good deals available, if youre a student. Graphics rendering is used in almost every (good) game available today. There are good examples of graphics rendering, but there are also bad ones. Examples of good and bad include Batman Arkam Knight and Sonic Generations, respectively. This is a screenshot of Batmans cape in the game, Batman Arkam Knight: Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsjmLNZtvxk. 14/10/15. This is a screenshot of Sonic in the game, Sonic Generations: Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN_nnwlmjws. 14/10/15. The graphics rendering that takes place in Batman Arkam Knight is on a whole new level in comparison to the rendering that takes place in Sonic Generations. The screenshot of Batman Arkam Knight shows Batmans cape. This cape is made up of approximately 20 thousand vertexes, in which graphics rendering components are applied to every pixel individually a technology known as pixel shaders. This game is also known to run at a buttery-smooth 60 frames per second. This is incredible considering the immense amount of graphics performance required to render 20 thousand vertexes and then each of the pixels individually, 60 times per second. Most likely, one of the only reasons this is practical to run is because of the optimisation for certain hardware the game developers will have performed. Sonic, on the other hand, is made up of approximately 200 vertexes and runs at a significantly less smooth 30 frames per second. This means that the game which is already significantly less detailed, only runs at 30 frames per second. That means that the graphics processor only has to render 200 vertexes, 30 times a second. In truth, this may sound like a lot, but in comparison to Batman Arkam Knight it doesnt even scratch the surface. One of the reasons it is so complicated designed a game and optimising it to run with computer hardware properly at reasonable frame rates is because, most of the time, especially in sandbox games you dont know what the player is going to do until they do it. So the game has constantly got to render what is in the players view and nothing else. If the game rendered everything all at once, most computers would not be able to run it due to the immense amount of processing power required and if they could, it most likely wouldnt be a very enjoyable or playable experience. Collision detection Collision detection is the component of a game engine which recognises two objects have interacted with each other when they collide and, in most cases, providing a response. An example of this is a player in a first person short being shot in the head which causes the player to die. In some instances, the corpse will have a ragdoll effect (the body will flop to the ground in a random way. Another good example of collision detection is a player that is underwater only having 10 seconds from the time they entered until they drown. In summary, collision detection is interaction and response. This is a screenshot of bad collision detection in Sonic Generations. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faoPYBN5Gc4. 14/10/15. In the screenshot, Sonic can be clearly seen swimming through a window and if you continue to watch the video you will see he is able to walk through walls w/o the game doing anything at all to stop this. This is an example of bad collision detection. This is a screenshot of good collision detection in Fifa 16. Source: http://www.balls.ie/football/the-5-most-significant-changes-to-fifa-16-review. 15/10/15. The screenshot above shows a Football player in Fifa 16 who is about to kick a ball. This is an example of good collision detection. This is because as soon as the players foot makes contact with the ball, the foot doesnt go through the ball it stops on the surface and the ball goes flying across the pitch. This is how collision detection should and does work in Fifa 16. This is, however, not the case in Sonic Generations. When Sonic walks hit the building in Sonic Generations, he should hit the wall and have a sore face not go swimming through as he can be seen doing in the screenshot and videos above. Poor collision detection not only makes the game look broken and unfinished but it can sometimes make the game almost impossible to play. A simple example of collision detection would be to consider the game, Operation. This is when you have to extract bones from the character on your operating table without touching the sides of his insides which would result in a buzzer sound. Artificial intelligence (AI) Artificial intelligence is the component of a game engine which enables developers to make non-playable characters mimic real-life humans or animals in a game. This can be done by using scripting languages and artificial intelligence components of a game engine to implement pathfinders. A pathfinder is the way an npc is made to go from point A to point B, walk back and so on. In Metal Gear Solid 5, artificial intelligence is used to make npcs follow predefined paths and mimic real life humans. The npcs continuously follow their paths on repeat until they detect the presence of a character that should be there. An interesting thing players can do to disguise themselves (and trick the npcs) is by wearing a cardboard box with a picture of a saluting soldier on the side of it and lie still whilst the npcs looking or investigating them. The npc then sees the image of the solider on the side of the box and is made to believe the picture to be a real soldier in the game, before returning to the pathfinder its been set. If the npc does investigate and find that the player is there when they shouldnt be, the npc will engage in combat with the player, usually until the player or npc is dead. This screenshot shows a soldier on a cardboard box being used as a disguise as the enemy. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czS6MZI2ib8. 15/10/15. Other examples of ways the npcs can be tricked is by putting a picture of a naked lady on the side of the box. This causes the npc to come running towards the box believing that the picture is a real lady. At which point, the player can then sneak past or kill the soldier whilst he is distracted. This an example of good collision detection in a game. This screenshot shows a naked lady on the side of a cardboard box being used as a distraction. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czS6MZI2ib8. 15/10/15. An example of bad artificial intelligence is in Mario Kart 64. When you are in a race, once your character is a certain distance ahead of bots youre playing against, they automatically get a speed boost to catch up with you. This doesnt make sense, it is unfair and is a clear example of how artificial intelligence can be very poorly implemented and not very well thought out in games This screenshot shows a Mario Kart game where the player is playing against bots and is in first place. He has just completed a full lap around the bots and as soon as he reaches them, they get a speed boost and suddenly they are all travelling much faster him. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JV-kMYLYCo. 15/10/15. When you compare artificial intelligence in Mario Kart 64 and Metal Gear Solid 5. Metal Gear Solids artificial intelligence is on a completely different level to Mario Karts. In Metal Gear Solid, the AI is well thought out, it makes sense and it performs as advertised. In Mario Kart 64, as soon as youre winning the race by so much the game compensates for the poor driving performance of the bots and gives them a completely unrealistic and quite frankly, ridiculous speed boost advantage. An early example of artificial intelligence and collision detection is Pacman. In Pacman, the ghosts move around in random directions. If the ghosts go within a collision detection box with pacman inside it, the ghosts are then able to see Pacman and then head towards him for a meal. The screenshot below shows a pacman being chased by a ghost in Pacman. Source: https://www.google.com/doodles/30th-anniversary-of-pac-man. 15/10/15. The future of artificial intelligence in game engines is coming to be a reality very fast. Developments of

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Virginity in D. H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gipsy :: Virgin and the Gipsy Essays

Virginity in D. H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gipsy In D. H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gipsy, the character of the gipsy is much easier to define than that of the virgin. Virginity, in this novella, is something very different, and much more comprehensive, than simply lack of sexual experience. We usually associate virginity with purity, but Lawrence associates it much more closely with innocence—innocence and purity being mutually exclusive. Virginity is a state of primary selfishness and absence of control over one’s will. Losing one’s virginity is a process that must be gone through that does not involve an actual sex act, but sexual feeling can empower the will. The common ideas of feminine virginity revolve around a personality that is generally guileless, unmanipulative (at least consciously so), and honest. There is an absence of knowledge and wisdom. Yet, Yvette does seem to be dishonest, manipulative, to have some kind of worldly knowledge, and even is described as â€Å"always wayward, always perverse.† It goes against common reason to think of a virgin as perverse because perversion involves consciousness of normalcy and a decision to act abnormally. To make this distinction and decision involves knowledge. Sexually speaking, a virgin cannot be perverted not only because of lack of opportunity to commit a perverted act, but also because of lack of experience and understanding of a normal sexual encounter. One cannot pervert what is not known. During her first visit to the gipsies (24-29), Yvette comes to understand that she has something in her that the gipsy woman responds to. She knows she is different from the other young people and senses that her difference is powerful. When she perceives the mental penetration of the gipsy woman, she is scared and initially backs away from exposing this difference to those around her and to herself. Yet, her curiosity is piqued and she agrees to hear her fortune in private. This decision seems quite unvirginal because it involves a knowledge of normalcy and difference and a decision to act upon difference. It is â€Å"wayward, perverse† (27). Not only does she seek wisdom, but she makes a decision to hide this wisdom from those around her. This is not innocence or honesty. When Yvette emerges from the caravan she is twice referred to as â€Å"witch-like.† A witch has supernatural and evil powers that she uses to manipulate people. Virginity in D. H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gipsy :: Virgin and the Gipsy Essays Virginity in D. H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gipsy In D. H. Lawrence’s The Virgin and the Gipsy, the character of the gipsy is much easier to define than that of the virgin. Virginity, in this novella, is something very different, and much more comprehensive, than simply lack of sexual experience. We usually associate virginity with purity, but Lawrence associates it much more closely with innocence—innocence and purity being mutually exclusive. Virginity is a state of primary selfishness and absence of control over one’s will. Losing one’s virginity is a process that must be gone through that does not involve an actual sex act, but sexual feeling can empower the will. The common ideas of feminine virginity revolve around a personality that is generally guileless, unmanipulative (at least consciously so), and honest. There is an absence of knowledge and wisdom. Yet, Yvette does seem to be dishonest, manipulative, to have some kind of worldly knowledge, and even is described as â€Å"always wayward, always perverse.† It goes against common reason to think of a virgin as perverse because perversion involves consciousness of normalcy and a decision to act abnormally. To make this distinction and decision involves knowledge. Sexually speaking, a virgin cannot be perverted not only because of lack of opportunity to commit a perverted act, but also because of lack of experience and understanding of a normal sexual encounter. One cannot pervert what is not known. During her first visit to the gipsies (24-29), Yvette comes to understand that she has something in her that the gipsy woman responds to. She knows she is different from the other young people and senses that her difference is powerful. When she perceives the mental penetration of the gipsy woman, she is scared and initially backs away from exposing this difference to those around her and to herself. Yet, her curiosity is piqued and she agrees to hear her fortune in private. This decision seems quite unvirginal because it involves a knowledge of normalcy and difference and a decision to act upon difference. It is â€Å"wayward, perverse† (27). Not only does she seek wisdom, but she makes a decision to hide this wisdom from those around her. This is not innocence or honesty. When Yvette emerges from the caravan she is twice referred to as â€Å"witch-like.† A witch has supernatural and evil powers that she uses to manipulate people.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Native Title Law Reform Australia Essay

Mabo and others v State of Queensland (No.2 (1992) HCA 23, is arguably one of the most famous native title claims in Australian history. This case was the first in Australian history to successfully overturn Terra Nullius and essentially led to the creation of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (‘The Act’). Terra nullius means land belonging to no one or land that has never been subject to sovereignty of any state and is a part of International Law. The majority of Indigenous People view terra nullius in a negative way, as this term had been used as a means for justifying invasion or takeovers of traditional land. The result of terra –nullius on ATSI (Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders) meant that they have suffered countless wrong doings and injustice towards them. ATSI were not seen as official Australian citizens according to the law until 1967. This meant the law offered no protection of basic human rights or land rights resulting in large losses of spiritually significant land. The first case to take legal action over land rights was the 1971 Gove land rights case. The Yolngu people took legal action against Nabalco Mining Company in the Northern territory Supreme Court. The Yolngu people claimed that Nabalco Mining were illegally mining on their land (the Gove peninsula) without approval. However a number of set backs were encountered such as terra nullius not allowing for native title and the Doctrine of Reception which effectively outlined that once a country (in this case Britain) has colonized a territory, that country’s law now automatically applies, overruling any previous laws that were once in place. For the Yolngu people this unfortunately meant that their claim was rejected in 1971 (by Justice Blackburn) as the Australian legal system did not have to abide by Native Yolngu land laws. This caused further cultural divide between the Indigenous customary law and the English legal system. â€Å"Native title is the right of Indigenous people to their traditional land.†(Cambridge Legal Studies, preliminary, pg 98). The English legal system had a very different approach when it came to property rights, Aboriginal Peoples divided land according to the amount of space needed to provide for a large number of people in accordance to how much food there was available in that area, for example clans living near coastal regions  need far less space to find food than a clan living in the outback as food there is few and far between, this is how land was divided. Were in contrast to the English system we see individual property rights Eddie Mabos lifelong battle for social, human and land rights for the Torres Straight People is an admirable one still remembered today as the first successful claim of Native Title and the first overturning of terra nullius. The Doctrine of reception made the challenge of proving traditional ownership even more difficult unlike past cases such as the 1971 Gove land rights case. Murray Island was different Murray Island had distinct borders; it also had a mythical God called Malo (pronounced Mare). Malo is the source of Meriam heritage and culture. Malo can be seen as a form of Common Native Law. Land ownership, responsibilities; religious beliefs and ritual dances were all covered within Malo law providing the groundwork of an affective case against the state of Queensland. Malo has existed for as long as the Island and its Native People and was therefore a valid piece of evidence in both Mabo cases. Eddie Mabo was able to prove that land was passed down from father to son, generation to generation thanks to Malos law and tribal dances. â€Å"Malo, or Bomai, which is his secret and more sacred name, established the laws which decreed that clans must keep to their own paths, ‘swim with their own kind’, sow their lands and conserve the seas. – From Malo – Bomai topic in Mabo – The Native Title Revolution. The affective criterion for achieving justice involves a number of elements each being interdependent of one another and only when used as a whole can are they of any good affect. When assessing the effectiveness of Native Title Law Reform fairness, equality, access and efficiency need to be considered. As fairness has been a large issues of concern for Aboriginal People in the Past, Civil disputes involving Aboriginal land rights certainly begs the questions of who is at fault? When taking legal action for Native Title claims the plaintiff must prove that they owned the land previously and are therefore entitled to claim it. Burden of proof has not been fair in this situation as the Traditional Land was not received lawfully but was taken from underneath them without a leg to stand on. Therefore if this system were to be fair than it should be up to the owners  of the land to prove they came by the land in agreement with Traditional Indigenous Owners. The second issue is equality. Equality is difficult to achieve as the law can lead to injustice if everyone is treated the same. Disadvantaged people may include, Indigenous and Torres Straight Islanders, young, economically disadvantaged and the elderly, the same may be applied to access. And finally efficiency, efficiency means weighing up the cost of achieving a goal for example financial cost, time, and human resources all add up and if the cost outweighs the result than that in some cases can be seen as a negative result. In conclusion steps to repairing past damage and injustice inflicted upon the Aboriginal And Torres Straight Islander People are progressing yet it is still unbelievably difficult for ATSI people to claim any compensation thanks to large disadvantages in all aspects of the law. Resources are costly and access can be difficult for some people in their situation therefore they are still being put second best in the eyes of the law and Justice has not been achieved for the ATSI people meaning that although Native Title Law Reform is a step in the right direction we still have a very long way to go before true equality is reached. Reference list: AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER, 2008 The native title revolution, Australian Government, Canberra, accessed 11 May 2014, . Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Social Justice Reports, 1994-2009 http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/sj_report/ and Native Title Reports, 1994-2009 High Court of Australia – The Wik Peoples v The State of Queensland & Ors; The Thayorre People v The State of Queensland & Ors [1996] HCA 40 (23 December 1996) Mabo – Native Title revolution 2000, Film Australia, Pdf, accessed 11 May 2014, . Social Justice and Human Rights Issues: The Global Perspective, 2010 Charles Sturt University, accessed 11 May 2014, . National Native title Tribunal, 2013 Australian Government, accessed 8 May 2014, . The High Court Recognition of Native Title – The Mabo Judgment and Its Implications, 2012 Treaty Republic, accessed 9 May 2014, .

Friday, November 8, 2019

Employment Law Essay

Employment Law Essay Free Online Research Papers The purpose of this report is to investigate an exact, theoretical employment situation encountered and to include the information regarding employment conflicts, questions, grievances, lawsuits, etc., in terms of how the situation was handled or resolved. Employment situations are a constant issue every day in any organization; it is how you handle them both legally and professionally that counts. Situation In this circumstance, an employee that is new to office politics was constantly making insulting and racial remarks. The remarks the employee was making were not deliberately insulting or racial, the employee did made the remarks ignorantly. The employee would make remarks such as â€Å"well, all the people who live in that neighborhood are white and rich† and â€Å"old people should not drive. Anyone over the age of 50 should be restricted from driving. They always cut me off. Forget it if they are Asian, it doesn’t matter what their age is.† These comments are against the diversity policy at the company the employee is employed. More than a few other employees had made other remarks in regards to comments made about African Americans and Asians from the employee. Several employees brought it to the attention of the employee’s manager to address. Federal Employment Laws The employee is in violation of federal laws that protect employees regarding insulting or racially remarks. According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is illegal to harass someone because of the persons race or color, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth and national origin including membership in a Native American tribe (Cheeseman, 2007). The Civil Rights Act is not just for employers but employees as well. When the employee was confronted about the situation, they said that the person he said these things to was agreeing with him. The situation was brought to the employee’s attention that it was not that particular employee that complained, rather a group of people who overheard this. Of course, this upset the employee stating that the other employees were eavesdropping and should not have been listening to his conversations. The manager had to remind the employee of the laws pertaining to harassment and that it did not matter if he had said it directly or i ndirectly to the offended employees. The Effectiveness of the Law The employee had received training in diversity and had completed a required tutorial on workplace harassment. The law is very clear in respect to workplace harassment and the employee was reprimanded appropriately. As he questioned his actions and what exactly he had done, the law provided very specific answers. When reminded of his tutorials, he abdicated that he had done wrong and accepted the consequences. Actions Required by Law Appropriate action is required by law. Once information is gathered it must be concluded as to whether or not some form of discrimination or harassment occurred. It is up to the company to decide how to punish the employee if a decision has been made for punishment. A discipline measure might be termination of the employee because in some cases of harassment and discrimination termination could be an option. Any employee can make a complaint to the Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which would help with a discrimination case (Cheeseman, 2007). Contract Employees Contract employees working on behalf of the organization are as legally obligated to follow all employment laws and are as protected as full-time employees. If the contract employee was the offender, immediate dismissal could occur as long as it did not conflict with the contract between them and the organization. Most contracts have a clause which includes HR policies and procedures and what the contract employee is required or not required to do or to abide by. For example, a temporary employee is a contract employee. If they are harassed by a full-time employee, the temporary agency may act on their behalf and file a complaint against the employee and the organization. The same is true if the situation was reversed. If a contract or temporary employee violates employment laws, the organization may bring charges again the individual or the organization in which the contract employee is contracted from. The harasser can be the victims supervisor, manager, or coworker. An employer ma y even be liable for harassment by a nonemployee (such as a vendor or customer), depending on the circumstances (Findlaw.com, 2008). Unions According to San Francisco lawyer, Michael Mortimer (2006) labor law and employment law are not the same. Labor Law refers to state and federal laws related to organized labor, labor unions, union contracts, grievance procedures and a federal regulating body called the National Labor Relations Board (Cheeseman, 2007). Employment laws and labor laws are different. Employment laws usually only deal with matters that are nonunion. Many state and federal laws pertain equally to all unions (Mortimer, 2006). Conclusion In order to answer this question appropriately, the manager would have to consult the contract in which the employee or employees are under. As noted above, most union contracts have specifics in their contract related to discrimination and/or harassment; however, in this situation, most likely the employees would not have to go through the union to file a complaint against the offender; however, the offender would have certain protections in relation to his contract. References Brown, S. Sessions, J. (2005). Employee Attitudes, Earnings and Fixed-Term Contracts: International Evidence. Review of World Economics, 141(2), 296-317. Retrieved December 22, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1569666441). Cheeseman, H. R. (2007). The legal environment of business and online commerce. [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-text].Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Retrieved December 8, 2008, from University of Phoenix, rEsource, BUS415, Business Law Course Website Find Law website. (2008). Griggs v. Duke Power Company. Retrieved December 9, 2008, from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=USvol=401invol=424 Mortimer, M., 2006. Employment Law and Labor Law. Employlaw.com retrieved May 19, 2008 from: employlaw.com/hoffa.ht Research Papers on Employment Law EssayExempt vs Non-Exempt EmployeesThe Legal ProcessWhat are Stock OptionsThe Equal Rights AmendmentEthics in Business EssayGap Analysis: Lester ElectronicsJean-Jaques Rousseau EmileConflict Resolution TacticsInternational PaperDeontological Teleological Theories

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Writing a KILLER LinkedIn Profile The Essay Experts First Interview

Writing a KILLER LinkedIn Profile The Essay Experts First Interview When I first launched The Essay Expert 10 years ago, I quickly realized that LinkedIn was going to be important. But I only got as far as â€Å"I think I need to have a LinkedIn profile if I’m going to be a business owner.† I had no idea at the time that the LinkedIn platform would become my focus and the bread and butter of The Essay Expert. Soon, I was making connections. One of them, a marketing expert, suggested that I do LinkedIn profile reviews for free. â€Å"Free?† my non-marketing brain protested. But since I knew pretty much nothing about marketing at the time, I trusted him. Thus, LinkedIn profile reviews from The Essay Expert were born. I got an overwhelming response and completed 25 free reviews in no time; soon I was offering 25 reviews for $25. Those went like hotcakes too. One of the first connections I made through LinkedIn caught wind of my budding LinkedIn expertise and referred me to Ellen Ingraham, a fellow Yale alumna. Ellen connected me with Carol Ross of what was then Networking Naturally. Carol invited me to do my first-ever recorded interview. The title, created by Carol, was †¦ drumroll please †¦ â€Å"Writing a KILLER LinkedIn Profile.† Great title, Carol! For this week’s blog, I dug up that interview. It’s an oldie but a goodie! Amazingly, just about all the advice in the interview is still applicable today. Like how to attract recruiters, get good recommendations, and stay active on LinkedIn. So today I’m sharing that first interview. You are now privileged to have a window into the beginnings of The Essay Expert’s speaking career. I’m a little less polished and confident than I am now in my speaking appearances, and I say a few more â€Å"y’knows† and â€Å"ums† than I do now. But there’s something nice about the relaxed and conversational tone of the interview. And the advice is spot on. Here it is!! document.createElement('audio'); https://theessayexpert.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/17511753154230-001.mp3 The rest is history. Through doing all those LinkedIn reviews mentioned above, I learned a ton about what worked and did not work on LinkedIn, and I started blogging about it. Eventually I had enough material to write a book. What did I choose for the title of that book? The title of that first successful teleseminar, almost verbatim. That’s how How to Write a KILLER LinkedIn Profile was born. I suppose the lesson in all this is to say yes to things. Yes to people’s advice and to opportunities that come your way. I did that and it helped me become a best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and successful businesswoman. Ten years later, I’m still speaking and still offering LinkedIn Profile Reviews (for $75 each now). And I have not forgotten that first teleseminar where I got my start! If youre interested in a personal, 20-minute review of your LinkedIn profile, click here to learn more about my LinkedIn Review Special. I look forward to helping you craft a KILLER LinkedIn profile!

Monday, November 4, 2019

Systematic review and metaanalysis Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Systematic review and metaanalysis - Thesis Example Uman (2011) further goes on to appreciate the fact that systematic review and meta-analysis have the same stages and outlines the eight steps that are similar in nature when employing the two methods in reviewing any given studies. Uman (2011) concurs with O’Rourke (2007) that the distinction between the two terms is ambiguous in a way. However, both point the description and definition of the two terms based on the historical background upon which they were founded. They go on to acknowledge the similarity in the steps as well as the fact that meta-analysis is a step in systematic review. It is critical for scholars to understand the historical, premises, and pitfalls of systematic reviews and meta-analysis in addition to the methods of conducting meta-analysis. O’Rourke (2007) traces systematic reviews and meta-analysis back to the 17th Century when a French Mathematician named Blaise Pascal came up with methods of dealing with the games of chances that were involved in gambling. He further asserts that this was the time when the quantitative approaches were applied in the field of science acknowledging the various observations that started to emerge. As he points out, the mathematical approaches now allowed the astronomers to compare and merge various observations. O’Rourke (2007) goes on to point the contributions of Laplace and Gauss in the development of the systematic reviews and meta-analysis. This could then be the turning point in the 20th Century when statisticians merged the idea in addressing the questions of similar caliber that arose from clinical results. He appreciates the role played by British statistician Karl Pearson who was able to combine various observations from different clinical trials. Pearson did th is by regrouping study observations into larger groups while considering the small groups too (ORourke, 2007). Additionally, the author states that the reasoning Pearson had was not very clear

Friday, November 1, 2019

Chinese Communist Party Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chinese Communist Party - Essay Example This country has several more amazing features. The land contains nearly 9.57 million square kilometers of which mountains occupy about one-third, numerous liquid flowing paths where one measures nearly three thousand miles called the Yangtze, and steppe as well as deserts. Not to forget a dazzling 1.3 billion inhabitants (Farah 124-129). The country went through horrible times during which Chinese citizens were suffering of starvation, anguish, and the outcome was death upon innocent beings. The main cause of this ordeal was a man who contributed to the change of the Republic of China. This intelligent but mad communist brought the concept of Communism to the third largest country of the world and that is no other than Mao Zedong (a great fan of Marx theory of communism) or rather say:" scientific socialism".(Wikipedia: free encyclopedia) Although under a totally different concept of living, China is a well respected and a highly productive industrial nation. Forty-eight million representatives make up the* CCP 1today. The CCP functions in a completely different way because authority does not only control politics, but also it reaches deep into the lives of the Chinese (Farah 220). Many reside in agricultural sections where food and crops are produced. Work-strength depends on human and animal force, but nowadays farmers are able to purchase efficient tools (Farah 221). Since its founding in 1921, the Chinese Communist Party gradually expanded its guiding principles to incorporate the philosophical musings of Russia's Vladimir Lenin as well as homegrown revolutionaries Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. The party has traveled a long ideological path from its Marxist roots to its present struggle to maintain its relevance in China's modern and increasingly capitalistic society. Now the whole world looks at it as a country whose scale dwarfs the United States-1.3 billion people, four times America's population. For more than a hundred years it was dreams of this magnitude that fascinated small groups of American missionaries and businessmen-1 billion souls to save; 2 billion armpits to deodorize-but it never amounted to anything. China was very big, but very poor, all that has changed totally. But now the very size and scale that seemed so alluring is beginning to look ominous. And Americans are wondering whether the "China threat" is nightmarishly real. China is now the world's largest producer of coal, steel and cement, the second largest consumer of energy and the third largest importer of oil, which is why gas prices are soaring. China's exports to the United States have grown by 1,600 percent over the past 15 years, and U.S. exports to China have grown by 415 percent. All these figures are so thrilling to here. At the height of the Industrial Revolution, Britain was called "the workshop of the world." That title surely belongs to China today. It manufactures two thirds of the world's copiers, microwave ovens, DVD players and shoes. China's rise is no longer a prediction. It is a fact. It is already the world's fastest-growing

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Research design and data analysis, discussions and recommendations Paper

Design and data analysis, discussions and recommendations - Research Paper Example Likewise, the findings indicate there is no significant difference between the customers’ rank and the dependent variables (food quality, hotel staff service quality, and room quality). Management should accept the two null hypothesis statements. 1. Ramada took several steps to define the research questions. First, the researchers focused on different services offered by the company. The first group of services focused on customer’s criticism of the menu variety. Next, the questions veered towards the customer’s valued received in exchange for the amount paid. Third, the question veered towards determining if the customers’ liked the service promptness. Fourth, the question zeroed in on Ramada’s service quality. Fifth, the service focused on the resort’s food quality. Last, the questions veered towards the beverage quality served in the Ramada resorts. Further, management has to answer some questions. The questions focused on the hiring of the right resort employees. Next, management had to answer questions pertaining to the enhancement of the current training of employees. Training is one of management’s secret ingredients to increasing the current and future customers’ loyalty. Management must answer queries in the area of increasing the current motivation practices. Motivation increases the customer’s eagerness to return to Reamada resorts. Management must ensure all questions are answered by espousing the importance of hiring and training employees who will pamper each clients from check-in to check-out. The process was appropriate. Focusing on hiring the best employees will ensure better customer service. Training the best employees will ensure higher quality service quality. Motivation will ensure employees will continue to excel in all their individual tasks and responsibilities. 2. The secondary data played a vital part in the exploring part of the research (Craig 25). The

Monday, October 28, 2019

Social Implications of Business Ethics Essay Example for Free

Social Implications of Business Ethics Essay In this task I will be looking at various business practices in any area of activity and explain how those actions have an effect on society as a whole, the areas of activity I will be discussing in this report are: Ethics in finance, e.g. bribery Ethics in human resource management e.g. discrimination Ethics in production, e.g. animal testing Ethics in sales and marketing, e.g. spamming Ethics in intellectual property, e.g. software privacy I will also be investigating how my chosen business Timberland considers these issues and addresses them. The Timberland company was set up in 1955 by the Swartz family. Originally a shoe store based in Abington, Massachusetts the small family business has grown into one of the most easily recognisable brands of modern times. Since its inception in 1955, be it either under the Abington shoe company brand name or under the Timberland company brand name, one thing has remained the same, its business Code of Ethics Charter. Timberland Code of Ethics Charter Timberland has a site dedicated to their beliefs of ethics and explains what is expected of their employees and what consumers should expect from Timberland as a business regarding ethics. Their mission statement reads, We believe the honest and ethical conduct of our employees is an essential prerequisite to our success as a company. There is a direct relationship between the code of conduct of the company and the employees, and the attainment of our corporate missions and goals. Maintaining the highest standard of ethical behaviour is consistent with our core values of Humanity, Humility, Integrity and Excellence. Area of Activity: Ethics in Finance In regards to ethics, when most people think of ethics they think of various scandals and illegal trading which appears to be ever present in the news such as insider trading, bribery, lobbying and executive pay. Some of the more recent unethical actions which have happened are the MPs expenses scandal which occurred in mid 2009 and the banking crisis which started in late 2008. This is a concern for ethics as individuals want to know who they are doing business with and if they can trust them, for example If a business is accused of being unethical because they bribed a member of parliament in order to gain an unfair advantage over competitors so they could evade paying a certain amount of tax or VAT then not only are they giving themselves a bad name but they are also ruining the reputation of their business associates and partners who may decide they no longer wish to provide their service to that business in order to save their own credibility. NEED TO WRITE AN INTRODUCTION EXPLAINING WHY THIS AREA IS A CONCERN FOR ETHICS.CHECK YOUR NOTES! There are several key areas where ethics can be questioned in terms of finance and these include: * Insider trading is the illegal trading, buying or selling of corporate stock based on information received which has not been made public and is supposed to remain confidential; insider trading is a common law broken by employees. The Timberland Company set up its Code of Ethics Charter to provide assurance to its customers but also to provide guidelines to employees so that they can clearly understand what is expected of them from the business. The Timberland Code of Ethics Charter clearly states that the securities laws set up within the business strictly prohibits insider trading and tells employees what to do if they are in doubt as to what information can be shared and what to do if they are in any doubt as to what information can be shared and what information must remain private. Employees and directors may not trade in or even recommend company stock whilst in possession of any information. Timberlands insider trading policy applies to all employees and directors. * Bribery is a form of corruption in which an individual or business may offer a payment or gift to a person in a position of trust in order to gain an unfair advantage over other competitors. On the 20th of July 2010 the UK ministry of Justice announced that a new, modern and comprehensive bribery act will be brought into force in April 2011. The new act replaces the existing legislation known as the Prevention of Corruptions Act of 1889 1916. The Timberland Companys general principles, Code of Ethics Charter and compliance guidelines state their policy on bribery is that they are not permitted in any circumstances and that they believe a bribe can be anything from a simple gift or an undercover payment. Their general principles also state that any individuals suspected of accepting or being involved in bribery in anyway will be held accountable in a court of law and will be dealt with by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. BRIBERY NEED TO DISCUSS * Executive pay is the financial compensation paid to an executive official within an organisation, most executives would receive their basic salary along with added incentives such as share options, annual bonuses, salary rises and pension schemes. Many employees in a business may feel disheartened by the gulf in salary between them and their chief executive, especially in the middle of a recession as the public are being made more and more aware of the bonuses many executives are receiving whilst other employees are being made redundant. Many people regard this to be unethical as it is taking money away from a bunch of employees and putting it into the pocket of one executive who may not even work as hard as the individuals who may be regarded as below them in the hierarchal structure of the business. Recent news reports suggest that the new chief executive of the bank Barclays Bob Diamond is in line to receive a bonus of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½8million despite only being in the job for just 9 days, the story so far has caused outrage amongst Barclays employees who feel the money should be given to existing employees or pumped back into the economy. The Timberland Company dont currently have any publicly viewable policies or corporate guidelines regarding executive pay. EXECUTIVE PAY NEED TO DISCUSS * Lobbying is a form of corruption when a business will use personal contacts, peer pressure, public pressure or political action in order to persuade a politician to make a decision which will benefit the business. Currently lobbying is not illegal which means it is easy for big multi national organisations to get away with changing legislation to benefit them but affected their competitors if they have the right connections to the right people in power. The Timberland Companys policy on lobbying is that no director, executive, officer or manager has the authority to breach or violate any government law in any country that Timberland operates in, nor may they engage in any activity that involves benefiting one individual party whilst others dont have the opportunity to. LOBBYING NEED TO DISCUSS Area of Activity: Ethics in Human Resource Management Human resource management is the management of the workforce of a business to ensure sufficient staff levels with the right skills that are properly motivated and equally rewarded. The human resource department is one of the key elements in Timberlands organisational structure, without it the business would be an inefficient, unproductive business which manufactured sub standard products. The human resource department in the Timberland Company is responsible for overseeing a variety of issues such as contract of employment violations and employee problems and queries. The human resource department of Timberland recently put into place the Fair and Equal Treatment Policy. The policy was designed to promote fairness in the workplace. The code clearly states that no factory employee be disciplined through corporal punishment, harassed, abused or run the risk of employee retribution on the basis of expressing grievances predicted on the violations of basic human rights. To promote equality, Timberlands code prohibits status discrimination based upon race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion or for any other reason. When a candidate is applying for a job and is invited for an interview it is important that Timberland act ethically and treat every individual candidate fairly and equally, they must not discriminate against any candidate in any way, shape or form regarding their age, race, colour, ethnicity, sex, religion or political views. In order to remain as ethical as possible Timberland should look to tweak their recruitment process so that they can ensure no individual candidates will feel targeted throughout the recruitment process and that all the personal information gathered from the candidates remains as confidential as possible. Many employers give applicants various tick boxes to fill in on their application forms, the only answer which appears on every question that candidates can tick is the answer would rather not to say. This cuts down on discrimination as employers can not make pre judgements on any candidates based on the information received in their application which may help the candidate to be successful at their attempt to get the job. To date Timberland has yet to be accused of discrimination, this is due to the high levels of transparency within the business an Timberlands attempts to broaden consumers awareness of what Timberland is trying to achieve as a business and what it is planning corporately. One of the most growing concerns amongst employees is workplace surveillance through CCTV footage, internet activity and email monitoring. Many businesses now offer their own dedicated email service which allows employees to communicate with one another through email rather than passing memos to one another. Although this may seem like the business is offering something positive to the employees, many believe there is a hidden agenda behind it. The administrators who monitor the email service can also go through the individual emails of every employee registered to the service and can view every email without the employee even knowing. Many people argue that this is an invasion of privacy and that employers shouldnt be allowed to pay attention to every aspect of the employees working life however employers argue that it is up to the employee if they wish to work in that environment and it is not a requirement for the employee to sign up for the email service and should not use the email service for personal use. Some businesses tend to overstep the boundaries and may do things which may not seem ethically correct such as firing employees for matters that did not happen during working hours or do not affect the business. An example of this is when 16 year old Kimberly Swann was dismissed from her post at Ivell Marketing Logistics after three weeks of employment for describing her office job as boring on the social networking site Facebook. Steve Ivell of Ivell Marketing Logistics said the decision was made to dismiss Kimberly because she had shown disrespect to her employer and her dissatisfaction undermined her relationship with the business which made it untenable. Many people agreed with Kimberly Swanns response to the statement made by her former employer that she shouldnt be persecuted for a throw away comment made after a tiring day at the office for a 16 year old. Ms. Swann believes that what her former employer did was unethical and she shouldnt have been dismissed for something which happened out of work hours and was written on her personal page whilst in her own time on her personal computer. You also need to discuss the ethical concerns that some have in regards to recruitment. What must Timberland ensure they do to ensure fairness in recruitment (use you unit 13 notes, e.g. same interviews questions, balanced interview panel, etc.) Has Timberland been accused of discrimination in recruitment? If not, include a business which has! You also need to discuss the concerns some have about the increasing level of workplace surveillance why are people concerned? Use the Facebook example we discussed in class! Area of Activity: Ethics in Production The production process involves transferring a range of inputs into the outputs desired by the target market. The production process requires two main resources; the transforming resources and the transformed resources. Transforming resources include the building where the product is manufactured, machinery, computers and employees. The transformed resources are the raw materials which compose the end product. To make sure that their production process is ethical a business must look at a range of issues such as: * Genetically modified food Many food producing companies in the US have come under heavy criticism for modifying their products without informing customers. One of the more recent cases was Monsanto An agricultural company which helps farmers develop new technology and produce better quality crop was charged by the California Northern District Court with for producing low quality crop which was to be distributed to countries which forbid the growing of genetically modified crops. Although no charges were ever made against the company, it was a wake up call to other businesses that their practices are being closely monitored and scrutinised. However they argue that in order to protect the food from insects, parasites, weed and unfriendly bacteria it must be genetically modified so that they arent attracted to it in anyway. By keeping the insects away there will be more crop which means more money for the farmers however many people believe this is an unethical tactic used by farmers to get as much money as possible and that the GM food could contain harmful viruses or diseases. you need to tell me what it is and why some believe it is unethical * Product testing on animals Many people believes this to be the biggest argument regarding ethics believing that it is wrong for businesses to use defenceless animals who do not share the same genes and DNA as humans to test their products on. A counter argument to this statement is that in order for scientists to find cures to medical diseases there must be some way for them to be able to test the products without using illegal methods such as trialling them on humans. One of the strongest and most controversial arguments raised from this topic is that why do people believe it to be wrong to test cosmetic products on animals but not medical products which could potentially hurt or even kill them. Timberland have issued numerous press releases stating that they in no way support animal testing nor do they practice it themselves and that 80% of raw materials they use for their products is recycled with plans to use recycled materials 100% on all of their products by 2014. you need to explain what it means, why some are against it and why some people do not mind. * Planned Obsolescence Planned Obsolescence is when a business deliberately design a product which can be sold to the public with a few flaws and can be improved in an upgraded model which will be sold again to the public at a later stage. An example of this is Apples iphone. The first iphone was released on the 29th of June 2007. The original model could ring, send and receive text messages, send and receive email messages, browse the internet with a wifi connection and users could download custom applications. One of the flaws of the original model was the camera didnt have a flash and the internet wasnt fast enough when users didnt have access to a wifi connection. The iphone 3g was then released a year later to succeed the original iphone, the difference between the two models was that now users could access the internet almost anywhere thanks to the 3g connectivity but the camera still lacked flash, optical zoom, auto focus and didnt support video recording. Apple have released a new and improved model of the iphone annually since the launch of their first iphone and released the iphone 4 on the 24th of June 2010. The fourth instalment of the apple iphone was now fully equipped to do everything users could ask for ranging from the internet issues to a new and improved 5 mega pixel camera which supported HD video recording, had digital zoom and had an LED flash. you need to explain what it means with an example, why some are against it and why some people do not mind. * Environmental ethics some questions are raised about how ethical products are produced in terms of the environment. The Timberland Company take this seriously and have introduced the Green index in 2007, a unique calculating tool which can measure the impact manufacturing their boots has on the environment and allows customers to see the carbon footprint Timberland creates. In 2008 Timberland expanded the Green Index programme to include the carbon footprint created from the entire range of Timberland products. Area of Activity: Ethics in Sales and Marketing Businesses such as Timberland manufacture a variety of products and are constantly updating them in order to keep the attention of their audience and maintain its market share. Sometimes a business may decide to use unethical methods to help boost sales and raise the company profile. Some of the unethical techniques a business may use include slandering other businesses or even providing false information when promoting and selling products. In 2001 the supermarket Tesco was charged by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) for misleading its customers. Tesco mislead its customers on price comparisons, comparing the prices of rival business Sainsburys with its own prices however the prices shown for Tesco products were all on a discounted promotion at the time but were not at Sainsburys. However, the main types of unethical activities in terms of sales and marketing are: * Product Placement Sometimes a business may decide to place their product in a television programme or in a movie, this is known as subliminal advertising . It is the easiest way for businesses to expose their products to customers without their knowledge. However it can be expensive, some producers may charge the business more than à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½1million for their product to be in front of the camera for just a few seconds or even mentioned as part of the dialogue in a script for just one sentence in the entire film. Some consumers believe this to be unethical as people who pay money to go to the cinema do not wish to view a hidden advertisement during their film and have no choice but to sit and watch throughout the entire film. People who watch television at home may not like watching adverts and would rather flick through different channels whilst waiting for their original programme to come back on than sit and watch four minutes of advertising. Whilst agreeing the terms and conditions for TV licensing one of the key points the BBC agreed to was to no advertising and no product placement so rather than advertising products at the end of a programme, the BBC will just advertise its own upcoming programmes and its programmes rather than referring to or showing the brand name of a product such as mobile phone, they will just show the phone itself with the brand name hidden. Timberland have used product placement in various television programmes and films such as in the heist film TAKERS. All of the actors involved in robbing from the bank never mentioned any brands of the clothes they were wearing but were constantly referring to their Timberland boots and how they were the best for the job. The Timberland Company have confirmed that they did agree to the actors mentioning their product but did not ask them to continually mention them to get the viewers attention. People may still view this as unethical as although it was the film producers who approached Timberland, they still had the option of rejecting the offer. GOOD CRITIQUE! * Greenwashing Green washing can be defined as the act of misleading consumers or being untruthful about the environmental practices of a company, or the environmental benefits of a product or service. A business may choose to use this technique in order to attract more customers and appeal to a wider market. The Timberland Company have a full website dedicated to explaining its views on ethics and have set out four pillars which are updated annually and analysed regularly to ensure all targets are met. If any of these were found to be incorrect, this would be an example of green-washing. * Spamming in business this is where a company may often send various newsletters and promotional emails to somebody who has never signed up to the newsletters and often do not wish to receive the newsletters and updates because of the volume of emails being received. Businesses that do use this method often use a false email address which can not be replied to or blocked. Many businesses say they only use this method to gain the attention of potential customers and promote their products and services. Many people believe this is unethical as the recipient of the spam email has not agreed to receive the junk email and have no alternative but to ignore and delete all emails which they suspect to be junk or spam that clog up their email account. Spam emails are regarded as a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 as the only way a business can obtain the email addresses of customers is through purchasing them from other businesses with the consumers consent. Area of Activity: Ethics in intellectual property Intellectual property law gives people the rights to their own creations such as ideas, concepts, videos or music sounds. The most common way people protect their intellectual property is through copyrights, patents and trademarks. Ethical issues which arise from intellectual property are: * Counterfeiting A counterfeit is a forged copy of a product or brand name with the intent to deceiving people. The counterfeiter copies the original idea of a product or service and alters it slightly to either pass it off as their own or to deceive people into believing it is genuine. Tesco have been accused on numerous occasions of selling counterfeit versions of products from top designers such as Tommy Hilfiger and have faced numerous court cases and legal action. * Piracy Piracy is the unauthorised copying and distributing of a product. Reproducing a product without the consent of its original creator is illegal and can lead to a large fine and a jail sentence. An example of piracy sharing is online peer to peer programs such as Limewire. For years Limewire was used by millions of people to share illegal products with one another rather than obtaining them legally which caused many people to lose money such as musicians, film producers, computer programmers. Eventually enough evidence was put together to charge the creators of Limewire who were subsequently fined, jailed and had their peer to peer sharing software shut down permanently. Piracy is a growing concern and is becoming a losing battle for prosecutors as many websites which stream illegally sourced movies and songs are being shut down and are back live again under a similar name on a new server within an hour. Implications If a business chooses to ignore the ethical concerns of its customers then they are giving themselves a negative image and gain negative publicity and bad press which will cause them to lose money and drive away customers. Every business must make sure it listens to and takes into consideration the different corporate and environmental implications in order to ensure their popularity is maintained and attract more customers. Corporate implications are to do with the day to day running of a business looking at the corporate social responsibility policies, employee hiring and firing, consumer protection and managing suppliers. The Timberland Company have a clear Code of Ethics Charter which is available to all employees, investors, potential customers, potential investors and general members of the public. Their charter was set up to show employees and partners and future partners what Timberland is trying to achieve ethically as a business. Environmental implications are ethical issues which affect the environment such as pollution, recycling, using renewable sources and water conservation. Timberland have become very environmentally ethical since 2006 and have created a whole new line of products created solely from recycled products using renewable energy. Timberland also has a website detailing their four pillars which they have built their organisational structure around, the four pillars are : Energy : Becoming carbon neutral Products : Design products for recyclability Workplaces : Fair, safe and non-discriminatory workplaces Service : Community greening Conclusion In conclusion I believe that in order for a business to be truly ethical it must take into consideration all environmental and corporate implications and analyse their business practices before truly declaring themselves as an ethical business. 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