Pascal’s Wager Essay

There are many things in this world that we have no means to confirm. This is especially true when we are talking about things that are spiritual in nature, such as the existence of God. While no living person has claimed that he has seen God using the limits of his sight, there is no way to prove otherwise. Since I don’t believe in God, I would surely be in trouble if Pascal’s wager turns out to be correct. He states that it is better to believe in God because there is nothing to lose if God exists. In fact, if it turns out that God does exist, the one who believes will have a reserved slot in heaven. While Pascal has a point, his argument is not in the least bit persuasive. I am an atheist not just because I chose not to believe in God. It’s just that I can’t see the proof of His existence anywhere. I can’t imagine that there is an omnipotent God who watches over all of us. But Pascal’s wager suggests that atheists like me should leave their â€Å"sinful† ways and start believing in God because it is the most logical and beneficial choice. Why should I choose to believe just for that reason? Pascal should have provided tangible evidence of God’s existence and cited other convincing reasons to make me believe in God. Thus, I have to disagree with Pascal’s wager because his argument does not provide sufficient reasons to believe in God. In fact, his reason to believe is childish and shallow. Another reason why I disagree with Pascal is that his wager is flawed in many ways. First, it assumes that God is a rewarding or punishing god when he has no basis to state this. Since nobody has seen God, then nobody can claim that he has seen God award or punish anyone. And if God does turn out to be a rewarding or punishing god, it suggests that reward or punishment would be based on belief alone. It disregards how one spent his life on earth, regardless of whether he believes in God or not. Second, it overlooks the fact that many religions claim that their god is the only god. Therefore, we cannot determine through Pascal’s argument what would happen if there is one true God and we chose the wrong God to believe in.

Busang – a River of Gold

Challenges for Bre-X Minerals in Indonesia Bre-X Minerals Ltd. faced numerous challenges in 1996, largest among them being the potential loss of the majority stake in property that could yield upwards of 100 million ounces of gold. The Indonesian government was threatening to redistribute ownership of Busang, the mining region in which Bre-X had property rights, due to its fear that Bre-X was a short-term player not serious about extracting the gold or a long term commitment in Indonesia. These fears were justified given Bre-X’s small size (it had a net loss of $Cdn. 66,677 in 1995 compared to a net income of $Cdn. 218 million from Barrick Gold Corp. , a potential government-corporate partner) and limited connections within the country (established only in 1993 by exploring in the East Kalimantan rainforest). Another critical challenge faced by Bre-X was the public outcry over a foreign firm taking advantage of Indonesia’s wealth of natural resources. This mineral explo itation resulted in cries for public action to seize the land and deny Bre-X any compensation. Prominent public figures Dr. Amin Rais and Mr. Hartojo Wignjowinoto were most vocal in these demands. This is a classic example of the risk an unprepared company takes on when operating in a country that is transitioning both politically and economically. Over the first half of 1996, analysts predicted increasing success at Busang and as a result, Bre-X’s stock value rose. Indonesia, however, is a mixed economy where the government uses public action to manipulate and influence the private sector with ease. Bre-X’s failure to collaborate with an influential local company from the beginning of its venture led it to the current crisis. The company’s developmental and operational stagnation resulted in increased pressure from the world’s largest mining firms, Barrick included, and the Indonesian government. The Sudjana Proposal: Bre-X Minerals & Barrick Gold Due to the corruption and public action of the Indonesian government and the potential for continued bureaucratic challenges to extracting the gold, Bre-X should accept Minister Sudjana’s proposal to partner with Barrick. The Indonesian government has shown, through its interactions with Bre-X, that it is easily influenced by the demands of President Suharto’s family and by pressures from respected individuals. For example, the Barrick proposal received endorsement from the government only after Barrick hired Suharto’s daughter (Tutut) and encouragement from former U. S. President George Bush and former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Despite making an alliance with PT Panutan Duta in late October, Bre-X was late in recognizing the importance of relationship building in conducting business in Indonesia. With only eight days to negotiate the deal with Barrick, Bre-X does not have time to develop the necessary connections to succeed in Indonesia without a competent partner. Strong property rights are an essential component in any successful market economy. Although Indonesia has regulations regarding mineral exploration and extraction, the government has found ways to manipulate the regulations to best serve its interests. Making it through the various stages of mining approval requires complex paperwork and numerous negotiations with various government offices. Bre-X had navigated this system and received a Contract of Work (CoW) to mine the Southeast Zone. However, after Kuntoro Mangkusubroto declined to revoke Bre-X’s CoW, Sudjana had transferred the processing of CoWs out of Mangkusubroto’s office. This move suggested that Sudjana could manipulate the regulatory structure to revoke Bre-X’s CoW and make it much more difficult for the company to continue exploration or begin mining. Rejecting the Barrick deal proposed by Sudjana would expose Bre-X to future challenges that may prevent them from ever capitalizing on its Busang II claim. However in accepting the Barrick deal, Bre-X stands to lose a large portion of their claim to the future profits from Busang. Bre-X has made large investments to purchase and explore the properties in Borneo and needs to make sufficient earnings to recoup its costs and satisfy its investors. Therefore, Bre-X should use the eight days that they have to reach an agreement with Barrick in which they receive a greater than 22. 5% stake in Busang. Beyond Barrick: Other Roads to Busang One alternative Bre-X could pursue is a different joint venture with either Placer Dome or Tech Corps, which would align Bre-X with a large enough company to develop and operate in Busang. At the same time, Bre-X needs to cultivate their existing relationship with Suharto’s son to give the company an inside track in navigating the corrupt regime. This alternative is attractive for all parties involved because it increases investor confidence and Bre-X’s stake in Busang, allows Placer Dome or Tech Corps to get involved in the project, and increases the government’s claim through Suharto’s inner circle. Another alternative for Bre-X would be a total buy-out by Barrick. This option would result in a substantial capital inflow for the company to pursue its core business model; exploration and partnership. Throughout the company’s history, Walsh has constantly had to seek out investment from a number of sources to successfully operate his business due to its small size. The operations thus far in Busang have been reminiscent of the Australian speculators in the 1980s, and the Indonesian people are again faced with a situation where estimates of total gold reserves are skyrocketing, while little infrastructure development or mining activity has taken place. The national sentiment towards Bre-X and its inability to carry out mining operations on its own, makes a buy-out proposal an attractive alternative whereby Bre-X can pursue new exploration in a friendlier environment.

Business - Does BPR liberate or exploit workers How Assignment

Business - Does BPR liberate or exploit workers How - Assignment Example Champy, have argued that organizations are simply wasting their time by shifting the tasks involved in a process between departments instead of bringing all the tasks under the centralized control of a process control team (12 Manage, 2010) They have argued that the suppliers, distributors and the business partners should be brought under one umbrella in order to execute the process more easily and effectively in quick time. Hammer, a former professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has argued that most of the works done by the organizations are not giving any value to the customers even though the resources were exploited heavily. He argued that the resource utilization must be minimized and the customer value should be increased by organizations as part of the BPR. BPR has shaken the business world in the 90’s and many organizations were started to implement it for raising the effectiveness of their firm. The arrival of BPR has brought lot of controversies also. Critics argued that BPR is misused for exploiting the workers rather than utilizing the resources effectively by organizations. On the other hand proponents argued that BPR liberated workers by making their tasks lot easier. This paper tries to answer the question; Does BPR liberate or exploit workers? How? Muthu et al (1999) has defined BPR as the reengineering of the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in performances such as cost, quality, service and speed (Muthu et al, 1999, p.1). Organizations are currently looking for cost reduction in all the departments without sacrificing the quality of their products. Increased competition has forced them to improve the speed and service extended to the customers and BPR is one way of achieving the above objectives. BPR involve; Business Process Redesign, Business Transformation, or Business

Evidence Based Practices for Hearth Health Essay

Evidence Based Practices for Hearth Health - Essay Example Individual interventions and recommendations for women in the high-risk, intermediate-risk and low-risk categories for CVD have been summarized. Evidence-Based Guidelines for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Women – A Summary of Recommendations for Clinical Practitioners Cardiovascular disease (CVD) in women has been subject to immense research as it is the leading cause of death for women in the US. The number of deaths due to CVD is higher for women than men. A majority of CVD deaths are attributed solely to coronary heart disease, which therefore is the major focus of most research. It is often seen that women with no previous history or recognized symptoms of CVD are often fatally susceptible to it. Most studies conducted with an objective to prevent the incidence of CVD in women highlight the fact that evidence-based practices are extremely vital for effective prevention of CVD. It is essential to take into account the "full range of available evidence" in order to de vise appropriate evidence-based practices for CVD prevention in a "diverse population of women" (Mosca et al., 2004, p. 673). Therefore, in their study, Mosca et al. attempted to develop guidelines for evidence-based practices for the prevention of CVD in women. ... ntion include "lifestyle interventions", "major risk-factor interventions", "preventive drug interventions", "atrial fibrillation/stroke prevention", and "Class III interventions". Lifestyle interventions include several interventions related to cigarette smoking, physical activity, etc. Women must be encouraged to abstain from smoking and also to avoid secondary smoking or environmental tobacco. About 30 minutes of physical activity (moderate intensity) such as brisk walking should be done on all days. Women who have had a recent coronary intervention or chronic angina should get involved in a "comprehensive risk-reduction regimen", which includes cardiac rehabilitation. They must be encouraged to maintain a healthy eating pattern complete with fruits, vegetables, fish, legumes etc, along with protein foods that are low in saturated fat. The intake of trans-fatty acids should be limited. Weight maintenance and reduction should be encouraged and a normal BMI and waist circumference s hould be maintained. Psychosocial factors such as depression, etc. should be regularly monitored and evaluated in women and they must be promptly treated whenever indicated. Supplementation of food intake with omega-3 fatty acids and folic acid is recommended for high-risk women. The interventions for major risk factors include maintenance of normal blood pressure through lifestyle changes, maintenance of an optimal blood pressure, apart from lipids and lipoproteins in blood. When the levels of LDL-C are elevated or in the case of high-risk women, life-style therapy and statin therapy are recommended. In case of women with diabetes, normal HbA1C should be maintained through lifestyle therapy and pharmacotherapy. Preventive drug interventions include the use of aspirin for high and medium

History of Windows Server Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

History of Windows Server - Essay Example A better appreciation of the current server operating system is more possible if the earlier versions before 2003 are included in the appreciation of the Windows servers. The Windows server prototypes were the NT platforms which began with the release of Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1 in 1993 upgraded to Windows NT Server 3.5 in 1994, Windows Server 3.51 in 1995, Windows Server 4.0 in 1996, Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition in 1997, Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server Edition in 1998, and winds up with the Windows 2000 Server Platform (multiple editions) in 2000 where the NT part of the title was completely given up. A discussion of the early Windows server O/S is vital because they form the basis of the more modern versions. In addition, a complete historical perspective will give emphasis to the leaps and bounds by which the 21st Windows servers have progressed. Microsoft introduced its first server operating system with Windows NT version 3.1. This version is a 32-bit system that incorporated Win32 concepts that are MS DOS, Windows, OS/2 and POSIX compatible. It also provided a US Government C-2 security level protection as well as â€Å"portability to different microprocessor architectures, symmetric multiprocessing support, built-in networking capabilities and support for multilingual applications† (Allan p. 15/2). The NY system is usable in Intel microprocessors, MIPS workstations and the DEC Alpha architecture, needs 12 to 16 megabytes of memory to work and requires a 486 processor or better and more powerful microprocessors (Allan p. 15/2). The following year, version 3.5 came out in September, which upgraded the earlier version by reducing the hardware requirements and advancing reliability (Allan p. 15/3). This version was characterized by enhanced speed and greater connectivity to Novell and UNIX, two of Microsoft’s stiff competitors (Long 2008). It was however, version 3.51 that was considered the

Techniques for the Biomedical Sciences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Techniques for the Biomedical Sciences - Essay Example While conducting ELISA tests mild detergents are normally used in washing out the proteins that are not bound to any particular substrate. ELISA has been widely used in pregnancy tests. Chorionic Gonadotrophin is a hormone largely produced by developing placenta during pregnancy. Peptide hormone detection is used in pregnancy tests and many other tests such as abnormally growing cell tumors most importantly the germ cell tumors. Chorionic Gonadotrophin hormone is also useful in man in the determination of cancer of the testicles. 3.A typical graph plotted will assume a sigmoid shape. This is mainly attributed to the wells from column 4 which indicate a yellow color showing positive results. However, there is increased absorption as the concentration increases. Wells that did not contain the serum showed little or no absorbance. For the wells which did not have the substrate indicated the least absorbance. This type of ELISA has been known to require the use antibody pairs which are m atching. In this case, the antibody is first coated in the pate well by an antigen molecule. The next solution known as the analyte is then applied to the well. This is then followed by addition of another antibody layer, which helps in measuring the concentration of the analyte. Capturing and detection of the analyte are possible through the use of polyclonal in sandwich ELISA is variability is allowed. In cases where the enzyme is conjugated to the detecting antibody, the process is known as direct sandwich ELISA. reduce the errors.

Comparative Evaluation of Classical Realism and Classical Liberalism Essay

Comparative Evaluation of Classical Realism and Classical Liberalism - Essay Example As Morgenthau had tried to focus on through his studies and analysis, the power that a state government generally reflects on the state activities are consequences of the interests that the nation holds as a whole (Pashakhanlou, 2009). The classical liberalism on the other hand throws light on the promotion of government power that needs to be limited to highlight the power of the human beings inhabitant in the state. The primary focus of this belief is thus on individuals being able to be liberal in their activities and yet decide their democratic views on their own. The concept is also not associated with any socialism on the part of the individuals. Rather, their freedom and independence in expression of their political views as well as getting involved in political activities are considered significant in the classical liberalism concept (Koeller, 2003). The Reflections and Impacts of Classical Realism and Classical Liberalism on the international politics: Although the concept o f classical realism tried to link between the human behavior and their activities and thus the conflicts and power struggles occurring in the world of politics, yet the concept could not keep up with its implications till the current times. Considering its implications, it has been observed that the concept has been unable to act on some standard while focusing on the international politics as a whole. If it pointed to some facts of the human behavior leading to conflicts, the theory has not been able to relate that fact to the world politics as a whole. Rather, it has been associated to some parts of the world politics or some sections or groups of people. Moreover, the concept has been proved to be inconsistent since it could not explain the different terms in relation... The classical realism is focused on the conflicts, powers and wars prevailing in the political world on an international level and determines how repeatedly such political conflicts occur in the world. The classical realism concept tries to stress on the causes created by human beings that result in the initiation of political conflicts (Pashakhanlou, 2009). On the other hand liberalism is more concerned about the freedom that human beings deserve. This concept brings into focus the need to understand the requirements of the human beings more than the needs of a state (Koeller, 2003). Thus the two concepts are different in their study of the world politics. However, although having different concepts the beliefs are concerned with the humans and the impacts of the international politics on the lives of the common people. The primary difference in the two concepts lies in the fact that realism focuses on what is happening in actual in the international political world. Considering a comparative study on both classical realism and classical liberalism, it can be understood that both the concepts have been different in their views and thoughts. While realism remained concerned with the reality that occurs as a result of the human activities not considering the structural negligence, the liberalism concept focused on the needful measures that human beings required and deserved as against the importance provided to the political parties or the government authorities.

Engineering Disasters Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Engineering Disasters - Essay Example Measures Undertaken to Prevent Future Oil spills ExxonMobil made several changes thereafter to prevent oil spills in future. They are: changed oil tanker routes; strengthening training programs for captains and pilots; alcohol and drug testing procedures for sensitive positions; periodic examination of facilities and transport vessels; improved technology for vessel navigation. The system was deployed in other parts of the world to see that incident of this kind does not happen again (The Valdez Oil Spill 2012). Ethical Considerations in Engineering Catalano (2011) argues that Engineering has been a profession that keeps ethical dimension at the forefront; however, in view of various oil spills that has happened in recent years across the globe, author doubts that ethical responsibilities have not paced with scientific advancements. Author categorically stress that the engineers in this world now must own ethical responsibilities not only to safeguard all of its inhabitants but also our Mother Earth so as to have a secured and safe future for all of us. False Nuclear Alarms False Nuclear Alarms can become a cause of nuclear holocaust and if it happens so then it will be termed as perhaps the biggest engineering disasters of all. Sennott (2001) argues that as per the US government, 1152 false alarms of varying seriousness occurred between 1977 and 1984. This was due to some abnormal information given by warning sensors. The false signaling happens due to various reasons. Satellites can detect the infrared energy that emits from anywhere on the earth's surface. During gulf war, Iraqi Scud missiles were also detected by this satellite system. The author emphasizes that false alarm is in itself not a cause of much concern because they are quite routine now; however, the major threat comes from a second false alarm before the first one has been resolved. Forden et al. (2000) argue that first of the false warning of nuclear attack was noticed on November 9, 1979 by the US system that massive Soviet nuclear strike is on its way. The US defense system was virtu ally making their mind to counter attack through their ballistic missiles. In fact, no attack was initiated by soviet Russia and mistake was discovered soon and global nuclear war was thus, averted. In another incident, on January 25, 1995 Russian radars detected a US Trident nuclear missile. Again, for some reason counter attack was not launched from

Why do people need self esteem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Why do people need self esteem - Essay Example The significance and rationale for having self esteem can be well imagined by these words, â€Å"People with high self esteem know more about themselves.† (Campbell, 1990) Many would agree that positive attitudes about ourselves, our capabilities and accomplishments ideally should arise from our own evaluation of ourselves. Approval, applause and praise from others are enjoyable and it can certainly feel good to be on the receiving end of it, but the appraisal of us by others should not determine our sense of self-worth. individuals sometimes get in a bind trying to feel good about ourselves yet not wanting to come off appearing too conceited to others. It is the very act of needing to take into account how individuals lose genuine self-esteem. Instead, allow yourself to be your own judge of who you are. individuals cannot control how others feel but individuals can control how individuals feel about ourselves. Self-esteem means you can continue to consider yourself as an OK p erson despite being less than perfect. As narrated by DuBois in his article, â€Å"A high level of overall self esteem is generally facilitative of health and well being, but that these benefits can be obscured when maladaptive strategies are relied on to acquire and sustain positive self evaluations.† ... In social acceptability, self esteem is highly valued. Most of success and failures are bound with the interrelationship of our personality and self esteem level it carries. â€Å"We manage our existential terror by creating and putting our faith into a cultural worldview, and through the self-esteem that comes from living up to the standards of this worldview (Pyszczynski, et. al. 2004)†. Besides this, self esteem also has certain connections with level of anxiety and worry faced by an individual. â€Å"People need self-esteem to buffer the anxiety and avoid being paralyzed by it, so they can move forward toward their important goals. To get self-esteem, people must believe in a cultural worldview that specifies standards for what makes a person valuable, and they must believe they satisfy those standards.† (Crocker & Nuer, 2004) Existential terror shatters the personality and psychology of the sufferers badly and adversely. â€Å"The dual components of cultural world view and self-esteem mitigate the effects of existential terror, and that reminders of one’s mortality lead to the need for these psychological structures. This is known as the mortality salience hypothesis† (Pyszczynski et al., 2004) Why Self Esteem necessary for Student? Students make a large portion of population. They remain anxious and ambitious about their performance, competence and results in the examination. This creates a lot of worry and wonder for them. But, if self esteem is at high level, a student may feel relieved. They can achieve the highest goal with their high self esteem. â€Å"Pursuing self-esteem is an effective solution to the problem of anxiety, that it helps people achieve their important

Information Systems in Healthcare Research Paper

Information Systems in Healthcare - Research Paper Example With reference to the context, Kingston Hospital has been considered for this study to evaluate the process of healthcare units in relation to serving their patients. Moreover, the study also intends to describe the technology related functions, advantages and disadvantages. The study will also offer certain solutions to improve the stated functions or processes efficiently in order to competently serve the patients. Describe and Analyze the Chosen Healthcare Facility Kingston Hospital is amongst one of the healthcare units of London which is located in Kingston, New York. It was established on November 27, 1894 and had a two storied wooden infrastructure. Kingston Hospital initially served 56 and gradually expanded with new staffs, patients and technologies over time (Kingston Hospital, 2010). The hospital was initially known by the name of ‘City of Kingston Hospital’ which was later changed to Kingston Hospital. The hospital had the capacity to serve 150 patients. Alth ough, the hospital went through a wide range of developments in terms of their processes and functions, the fundamental vision of the founder to serve the patients as well as the communities with proper and advanced healthcare facilities was still maintained by the hospital officials and the staffs (Kingston Hospital, 2010). ... ls and equipments of operation along with operation unit, diagnostic unit and its relevant system and machines such as computer systems in order to maintain the records of their performances and relative information. However, the process of storing information was known to be done manually previously which not only increased the chances of making errors while recording information but also engaged a considerable amount of time. However, the hospital adopted fresh technologies and services presently for serving their patients and the communities with proper treatments. New technologies were also introduced for the reason of catering to the modern demands and keeping pace with the developments of the global market as well (Kingston Hospital, 2010). Describe Users of the Health Information at this Facility Kinston Hospital engages specialized doctors and physicians including Ophthalmologist, Gastroenterologist, Neurologist, Medical Oncologist, Infectious Disease Specialist, Family Medic ine Doctor, Orthopedic Surgeon, Internist Infectious Disease Specialist, Geriatrician, Dermatologist, Thoracic and Cardiac Surgeon, Pediatrician, Diagnostic Radiologist and Surgeon for the reason of serving the community and the patients (U.S. News & World Report, 2012). Furthermore, the board members of the hospital comprise Thomas Collins, who is known to be the Chairman, Ronald Myers, serves as the vice chairman and Joanne Frederberg holds the position of treasurer in the hospital. Additionally, Ex-Officio Members of the hospital entailed Mark Josefski, Joseph Christiana, Margo McGilvrey and Robert Seidman. Apart from these mentioned names the other members who are believed to play an active role in functioning the hospital are Emeritus, Robert Hansut, Lew Kirschner, Donald Louie, Donna

Academic Achievement of Homeschooled Children Essay Example for Free

Academic Achievement of Homeschooled Children Essay These days many American children are schooled at home, with the number growing more and more per year; however, t the same time home schooling has received less attention than other recent changes in the educational system. It could be argued that home schooling may have a much larger impact on educational system, both in the short and long run. This research will basically provide the home school population, its growth and its characteristics. Also, with the beginning of a discussion of the data sources used in the analysis, this research examines characteristics of home schooled children and their families such as those characteristics most relevant for gauging trends in home schooling. Lastly, there will be talked about implications of home schooling for regular schools and a brief conclusion. Therefore, based on all these researches, I am going to research whether or not home-based education cause higher academic achievement than the institutional schooling in U. S. A. Proposal Methods The researchers will use quantitative research regarding the influence of the educational background of parents on the performance of their home schooled children. The performance of the home schooled children will be quantified in comparison with the public school children with also varying educational backgrounds. Survey method—using will be used in order to obtain the more generalized results of the study. Participants will be contacted first through phone to have permission or consent of being part of the study. This part will also inform the family, especially the parents about the research study that will be conducted. According to Timothy Johnson of University of Illinois at Chicago, having an informed consent of the participants is part of the ethics of conducting researches. (Johnson) If the participants agree on being part of the study, mailed questionnaires will be distributed. The group that I propose to study is 75 homeschooled eleventh (11th) and twelfth (12th) graders. The chosen sample size is a significant number in order to study the influence of the educational background of parents on their homeschooled children since 75 is not much of a high number, making it too pricey or having too much effort given on the study, or not too low of a number. Studies were also made regarding the influence of parents on their homeschooled children, but these studies were more focused on the primary education (Grades 1-4, as indicated in the Literature Review), and not on the high school level. This study will further explore if the influence of parent’ educational background will change if the students are at a higher level of schooling. This study will also be limited on eleventh and twelfth graders. The sample size 75 students will be divided into three groups. Group 1 will consist of children that have been schooled at home by parents that have less than a high school education. Group 2 will consist of children that have been homeschooled by parents that have a high school education. Group 3 will consist of 25 children that have been homeschooled by parents. Additionally, 75 public school children also in eleventh (11th) and twelfth (12th) grade will serve as the control group. Group 4 will consist of children that have been schooled in the public school system and whose parents have less than a high school education. Group 5 will consist of 25 children have been schooled in public school and have parents that have a high school education and Group 6 will consist of 25 children that have been schooled in public school whose parents have a college education. These particular groups were chosen to research two key areas addressed in the research proposal. First the area of whether homeschooled children outperform those that are educated by public school. Second this method will attempt to address if the parents education significantly impacts academic achievement in both groups. Eleventh (11th) and Twelfth (12th) grade students were chosen for this research because they are at the end of their respective high school education and one can better assess their overall education. Obtaining the data necessary to conduct the research will consist identifying the test subjects in home school by contacting a home school association within the target state(s) for a mailing list of parents. A small questionnaire will be sent out to ascertain the educational background of parents with return postage and a request that they mail the questionnaire back. This feedback will be divided into the three groups identified to study. At this point, 25 families will be randomly chosen from each group and contacted by the researcher via telephone. If a family elects not to be part of the study group, another family will be randomly chosen from that category. The researchers will continue to distribute questionnaires on families that fit the criteria, until a response is made. Once a telephone interview with the parents is conducted and they have agreed to participate, a paper assessment will be mailed to the family. A return envelope with postage paid will be sent with the assessment. This assessment will be an ACT/SAT style test addressing the four main academic components: Math, Reading, Science, and English. The child or children will have 24 hours to complete the assessment and return it to either the post office or mailbox so that the return envelope can be stamped for that day. This method will put urgency into the test being completed and sent back and may reduce some forms of cheating. While a computerized test was considered, it may not be possible for all children schooled at home to have computer access so a paper assessment was the most versatile method of data collection. The same process will be conducted for the public school children. Eligible families will be identified by contacting the target state(s) Department of Education. Again, a paper questionnaire will be sent asking for data on the parents’ education and a request to return it. These parents will also be contacted for permission. Once consent is given, the assessment will be sent to the family with the same procedure outlined above. In Groups 1, 2, and 3 we can assess the general academic achievement of children schooled at home. We can also measure, to a degree, how much the parents own education impacts the academic achievements of the child or children. The same is true of Groups 4, 5, and 6. In the case of the latter group, parents’ education may not be relevant however it is necessary for the continuity of the study. In order to obtain accurate results, these assessments should be conducted sometime within the school year after the first quarter of either the eleventh (11th) or (12th) grade. Students should be assessed after being accustomed to their routine learning guidelines in their respective schooling. Respondents will also be assured that they will be guaranteed that their responses will be confidential, as also stated in the Code of Standards of Council of American Survey Research Organizations. (Council of American Survey Research Organizations, 2009) In a working paper written for the U. S. Census Bureau, Kurt Bauman pointed out several characteristics that may determine home school trends (Bauman, 2001). However, the purpose of this study is purely to identify academic achievement within both the home school student group and public school student group. SURVEY QUESTIONS: The survey questions will be divided into three parts: basic information, performance section. These questions will be the same for Groups 1, 2, and 3, and Groups 4, 5, and 6. The first part, as the name says, contains all the basic information about the student and the parents. This part will include the educational background of the parents, the reasons for home schooling, what they know about the regulations regarding home schooling of their state, etc. The questionnaire for those that are homeschooled, in order, will provide this series of questions: name, name of parents, age, grade, educational background of parents, number of years being homeschooled, reason/s of being homeschooled, and organizations that are involved in regarding homeschooling. The questions, on the other hand, of those that are in public schools will be the same of the homeschooled questionnaire, except for the last three questions. The next part on the other hand, will include the academic test that will determine the performance of the student. The students will answer questions on subject matters like Math, Science, Reading and English, in order to at least have a grasp about their overall academic knowledge. ETHICS ON RESEARCH The researchers acknowledge the fact that the study can be a critical matter especially for parents since discrimination, especially on educational backgrounds, might be possible. However, it is also an essential for the researchers to keep in mind the ethics of conducting a research as stated by Thomas Watson. First is that the researchers will give privacy to the respondents, meaning they can willingly say or not say information that they aren’t comfortable with. Second, the researchers will ensure voluntary participation—that is, the researchers will respect if they want to be part of the research or not. Lastly, the researchers will maintain confidentiality and non-attribution. The respondents will remain to be anonymous. (Watson, 1996) References Bauman, Kurt J. , Home Schooling in the United States: Trends and Characteristics, (2001). Retrieved April 13, 2010 from the U. S. Census Bureau website: http://www. census. gov/population/www/documentation/twps0053/twps0053. html Literature Review Academic Achievement of Homeschooled Children Does home-based education cause higher academic achievement than the institutional schooling in California? Early studies as well as the more recent studies illustrate that this is indeed possible, as they examine the academic performances of homeschooled students in different locations and with various independent variables. For instance, Belfield and Levin (2005) showed that homeschooled students have better SAT verbal scores than the non-homeschooled students. Although homeschooled students have higher SAT math scores as well, the gap seems to be greater in the verbal scores (Belfield Levin, 2005). After controlling for 21 independent variables, Belfield and Levin showed that the advantage of homeschooled students over private school students was reduced, but the great gap still exists when the comparison is between homeschooled students and public schools students. Moreover, the scores of the homeschooled students and private school students in SAT are at par with each other, with no group outperforming the other (Belfield Levin, 2005). According to Basham et al. (2007), whether having at least one or no parent as a certified teacher do not significantly matter on the achievement levels of the homeschooled children, although parents who acquired university degree have homeschooled children who outperform significantly those parents who did not earned a degree. However, Bansham illustrate that regardless of these parental backgrounds, homeschooled children all scored between the range of 80 to 90 percent, as opposed to the average score of 63 percent for public school students, who have parents with university degree and average score of 28 percent of public school students who have parents with no degree. Moreover, around 25 percent of homeschooled students have academic performances better than students above their age-level studying either in public or private schools (Bauman, 2002). This can be seen in grade 1 to 4 homeschooled students. All of them perform better compared to the performance of the non-homeschooled students of at least one-grade level higher (McDowell Ray, 2000). When it comes to 8th grade, the homeschooled students have academic performances better than non-homeschooled students at least four grade levels higher. All these evidences illustrate that being homeschooled leads to better academic performances despite the children’s background, which would have played negative roles when the children were not homeschooled (McDowell Ray, 2000). Homeschooling reduce or eliminate altogether the negative effects low family income, low parental educational attainment, large family size, race or ethnicity or even gender would have played if the students were not educated in the home setting (Bansham et al. , 2007, Ray, 2000; Ray Eagleson, 2008). Not having computers or other materials required by formal schools or not having access to public libraries seems not to matter as much for homeschooled students as compared to homeschooled students as well (Bansham et al. , 2007). All these factors do not affect how the children perform academically either. The academic achievements of homeschooled children cannot be generalized. Researchers doubt generalizations because it is difficult to compare homeschooled children and those who are not. However, despite all the doubts of the generalizabilty of the better academic performance of homeschooled children, more and more studies are producing evidence that homeschooled children achieve better performance against their non-homeschooled peers on various types of tests (Basham et al, 2007). The present study will determine if in California, the same findings would emerge. the scores of the homeschooled students and certain Californian private school students in SAT will be examined to test this. Factors such as socio-economic background, gender and ethnicity will also be tested to determine whether each of them will have a significant relationship with the academic achievement of homeschooled students in California. Homeschooling laws depend on the state where the family is residing—whether be it the requirements of the parents, the testing procedure, etc. In a state like Washington, parents are required to have 45 quarter units of college level credit, complete parent qualifying course, an average of an hour a week meeting with a certified teacher, and a qualification to provide home-based teaching instruction by the superintended of the local school district. (Russell, 2008) The case is otherwise different in Michigan since no law requires for parents or teachers to have certain qualifications in order to teach. ( Home School Legal Defense Association, 2009) According to Home School Legal Defense Association, there are already 40 states that adopted the home school regulations. It is also stated in their website that â€Å"Forty-one states do not require home school parents to meet any specific teacher qualifications. The eight states which require only a high school diploma or a GED are: GA, NC, NM, OH, PA, SC, TN, and WV. DC also requires either a high school diploma or GED. (In TN, there is no qualification requirement for grades K-8 if home school is associated with a church-related school). The remaining state has the following qualification requirements: ND requires only a high school diploma or GED, provided that the parent is monitored by a certified teacher for two years. † There are three states who qualify home school teachers to be â€Å"competent† such as CA, KS, and NY. Having less than GED are considered to be competent in those three states. (Home School Legal Defense Association) References Bansham, P. , Merrifield, J. , Hepburn, C. R. (2007). â€Å"Home Schooling: From the Extreme to the Mainstream. Studies in Education Policy. † The Fraser Institute. Retrieved from http://www. netzwerk-bildungsfreiheit. de/pdf/From_the_extreme_to_the_mainstream. pdf Bauman, K. J. (2002). Home schooling in the United States: Trends and Characteristics. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 10(26). Retrieved from http://epaa. asu. edu/epaa/v10n26. html. Belfield, Clive R. and Henry M. Levin (2005). Privatizing Education Choice: Consequences for Parents, Schools and Public Policy. Boulder, C. O. : Paradigm Publishers. McDowell, Susan A. and Brian D. Ray (2000). â€Å"The Home Education Movement in Context, Practice, and Theory. † Peabody Journal of Education, 75(11), 1-7 Ray, B. D. (2000). Home schooling: The ameliorator of negative influences on learning? Peabody Journal of Education, 75(1 2), 71-106. Ray, B. D. , Eagleson, B. K. (2008, August 14). State regulation of homeschooling and homeschoolers’ SAT scores. Journal of Academic Leadership, 6(3). Retrieved from http://www. academicleadership. org/emprical_research/State_Regulation_of_Homeschooling_and_Homeschoolers_SAT_Scores. shtml Bibliography Home School Legal Defense Association. (2009). Home Schooling in the United States: A Legal Analysis. Retrieved April 30, 2010, from Home School Legal Defense Association: http://www. hslda. org/laws/analysis/Michigan. pdf Council of American Survey Research Organizations. (2009). CASRO Code of Standards and Ethics for Survey Research. Retrieved April 29, 2010, from Council of American Survey Research Organizations: http://www. casro. org/codeofstandards. cfm Home School Legal Defense Association. (n. d. ). Summary of Home School Laws in the Fifty States. Retrieved April 29, 2010, from Home School Legal Defense Association: http://www. hslda. org/laws/Summary_of_Laws. pdf Johnson, T. (n. d. ). Ethical Issues in the Conduct of Survey Research. Retrieved April 29, 2010, from College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs: http://www. srl. uic. edu/seminars/ethicsint. htm Russell, L. (2008, June 12). Washington Homeschool Law. Retrieved April 29, 2010, from Suite 101: http://homeschool-regulations. suite101. com/article. cfm/washington_homeschool_law Watson, T. (1996). Survey and Interview Ethics for Data Gatherers and Respondents. Retrieved April 30, 2010, from Independent Job Analysis: http://www. ijoa. org/imta96/paper64. html

Manchester United SWOT Analysis

Manchester United SWOT Analysis It has been argued that Manchester United is one of the best football clubs in the world, who has more than a hundred years history and lots of funs all over the world. According to Benson (2008), since Manchester United was founded in 1878, it has won many final of league champions in the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League. Same as other successful organization, the Manchester United has a good manage team, effective operation and a very strong financial support. Manchester United is not a Plc. Since it was bought by the Glazer family, it is now a private limited company and became the Manchester United Ltd. This report is going to analysis Manchester United Ltd by applying SWOT and PEST analysis. SWOT Analysis (S)trengths Manchester United has the strongest and most valuable brand of any football club, and arguably non national sports club, in the world (Brand Finance, 2009, p. 19). This allows the company to generate massive revenues from commercial sponsorship deals and the sale of merchandise around the world. This brand strength is reflected in the clubs estimated 330 million fans worldwide, which represents around 5% of the worlds population. The level of loyalty engendered by most football clubs implies that this level of support is unlikely to fade in the short term, with only a prolonged period of underperformance on the field causing Manchester Uniteds brand strength to decline. The companys other main strengths are its strong squad playing squad and large stadium. The playing squad has won the Premier League trophy three years in a row, won the 2008 Champions League, and as of the 16th March 2010 is at the top of the Premier League and in the Champions League quarter finals in spite of losing arguably its best player in Cristiano Ronaldo. This shows the strength of the squad and its ability to move forward and continue to bring success and attract revenue (Samuel, 2010). The clubs stadium, Old Trafford, is the largest club stadium in the country, with a capacity of almost 76,000, allowing the club to generate significant match day revenues from ticket sales and refreshments (Premier League, 2009, p. 27). (W)eaknesses The clubs main weakness is its high level of debt. The club has two main sources of debt:  £507 million of bonds at interest rates of around 9%, incurring interest costs of around  £45 million per year, and  £202 of payment in kind loans, with interest rates of 14.25%, which compound onto the capital value of the loans each year (Ducker and Power, 2010). The  £45 million interest payments on the bonds represent almost 50% of the clubs  £91 million cash profit (BBC Sport, 2010), giving an interest cover ratio of just over 2, which indicates the clubs debts are taking up a significant amount of its profits. Indeed, much of the clubs strengths are arguably being countered by this weakness. In addition to this, Manchester Uniteds status as a football club creates a large potential for its revenue to fluctuate sharply based on its on-pitch performances. For example, in the 2008-09 season Manchester United earned 37.8 million Euros from its participation in the Champions League, when it reached the final (euFootball.biz, 2009). If the club fails to match this achievement in future seasons, its revenues will fall. Due to the difficulties in progressing this far in such a major competition, it becomes difficult for the company to project revenues in the future, potentially causing liquidity problems. (O)pportunities The main future opportunity for the club is its ability to obtain greater revenue from its global fan base. The club currently has 330 million fans, and revenue of 327 million Euros per annum, most of which is probably generated within the UK and Europe, from match day and broadcasting revenues (Deloitte, 2010). If the company can obtain just one extra Euro per fan per year, then it could double its revenues and massively increase its profits. The high level of unexploited fans also allows the club to develop its commercial revenue streams, such as sponsorships and partnerships. A recent example of this was the partnership deal signed with Telekom Malysia (Hashim, 2010). If this deal could be replicated in other attractive markets, Manchester United could see another major growth in revenue. (T)hreats There are two main threats to Manchester United. The first is that the interest rates on the payment in kind loans are high and can rise further in the future. This could cause the company to incur significantly higher debt levels in future. Indeed, if the company fails to pay off any of these loans, then by their maturity date they will be valued at over half a billion pounds, effectively doubling the companys total level of debt (Ducker and Power, 2010). This threat is also strongly linked to fan protests against the current owners and the level of debt (BBC, 2010). Whilst these protests have not yet had a notable impact on the clubs financial situation, if the level of debt becomes a greater burden they may lead to fan boycotts, causing reducing revenues and increasing the threat from debt. The other main threat is the pending retirement of manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who is now 68 (Ferguson, 2000, p. 12). Ferguson has managed United for almost 25 years, and has led them to over 30 trophies in this time (ManUtd.com, 2010). Given the importance of continued on-field success to Manchester Uniteds financial situation, it is clear that the company must put a strong succession plan in place to ensure performances and financial results do not suffer when Ferguson decides to retire. PEST (P)olitical The main political factors affecting Manchester United are the English Football Association and the European and global equivalents: UEFA and FIFA. These bodies are responsible for determining how all football clubs can operate, in terms of transferring and signing players and carrying out their on-pitch activities. For Manchester United, of particular concern are proposals concerning the level of debt that clubs are allowed to carry, and the need to balance their books and break even on their football activities (UEFA, 2010). This is of concern because Manchester Uniteds high level of debt could well cause the club to encounter short term financial difficulties in the near future, which could lead to sanctions from UEFA, further increasing the scale and duration of any financial difficulties. (E)conomic As with any business, Manchester Uniteds revenues are likely to be affected by the prevailing economic conditions. In particular, as watching football matches and following football teams is expensive and not necessary for peoples continued economic wellbeing, one might expect that football clubs such as Manchester United would suffer in periods of economic decline. However, in spite of the major economic recession that recently affected the UK, Manchester United has continued to grow its revenues, which reached record levels last year (BBC Sport, 2010). Indeed, had the pound sterling not fallen significantly against the Euro, Manchester United would have had the highest revenue of any football club in Europe in the year to 30th June 2009 (Deloitte, 2010). This of course reveals another important economic factor for Manchester United to consider: given the pounds current weakness against the Euro, buying players will be more difficult as clubs in the Eurozone will have more purchasin g power on the global transfer markets. (S)ocial The main social factor affecting Manchester United is the continued desire for people to watch football, both as a form of entertainment and as a social activity. Whilst previous periods such as the 1980s were affected by football hooliganism, in recent years football has experienced a boom in social interest, leading to large numbers of people becoming fans. This is of benefit to Manchester United who, with the largest fan base and most valuable brand in the world (Brand Finance, 2009), can expect to obtain the lions share of new fans. (T)echnological The main technological factor affecting Manchester United is the rise in the internet and other broadcasting channels. This allows the company to reach a wider range of fans across a wider range of channels, and hence obtain more money from the various global fans who do not live within range of traditional distribution networks or cannot access match broadcasts on their local television networks. Conclusion To conclude, even though Manchester United Ltd has financial problem with its high level debt, but the strengths of this operation team may help to overcome and to turn it become a new opportunity. It is because, factors such as the long history, capability for wining champion, the loyalty of the football team funs or its famous players all can bring some lovely profit in. However, Manchester United Ltd still needs to treat its problem seriously and face their weakness and threats in a right way, or they would lose the honour which was built in the past.

A study into secretive human behavior

A study into secretive human behavior Secretive is human behavior that has generally negative connation which should not be confused with Privacy which generally represents the human trait in which one individual is not ready to share his/her personal information to others. In contrast the secretive behavior is not limited to personal information only. If we look at the relevance of the particular behavior we may find that not only it is associated to individual level behavior but also to the organizational level. Therefore we can say that it has considerable effect in behavior modeling of individual as well as at organizational level. We can also distinguish the effect of this behavior on individual and organizational level. Secretive behavior can be associated to particular personality traits that an individual possesses which can be looked into by different conceptual framework as given in this study. Though the secretive behavior of an individual is always taken in negative sense but when we compare the inherent traits that build up this kind of behavior we may find that secretive behavior arise some positive traits in an individual which is more explained by Johari Window in following precedence. Conceptual Framework According to the study of scholarly articles studied by me I have come upon the definition of secretive behavior as the personality trait of an individual which comprises of hiding some information (that can be relevant or irrelevant) from others either consciously or unconsciously by the virtue of the individual traits that a person possesses. The hiding of the information can be act of introvert nature of a person or a kind of defence mechanism as suggested by Freud Theory. Therefore to analyze the personality traits that mould the secretive behavior I have taken help of Johari Window Framework. Johari Window was developed by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingman (Jo + Hari, Johari) in 1950s which is taken as 2 X 2 window having 4 quadrants or regions. Each quadrant or region depicts the information of an individual as perceived by themselves and by others as well. And hence by knowing the findings one can get a good understanding of themselves and their personalities in a more refined way. Figure 1 depicts the four quadrant of Johari Window from perceivers perspective and from others perspective. Perceived Person Known Unknown Perceiver Known OPEN BLIND Unknown SECRETS UNKNOWN Figure 1: Johari Window Following are the details of all four regions of Joharis Window described in detail: Open Region: When the personality traits or behavior of a person matches with the perspective of others as well, it is called as open region. It is generally that part that you show and share with others. It includes your appearance, team behavior, skills etc. It is generally recommended that people should belong to this region to increase there productivity in an organization. Blind Region: This is the region which includes characteristics that are known to other members in the group but individuals are not aware of that. These are generally the blind spot which should be as low as possible. These include individual behavior like making faces, showing emotions, aggressive nature etc which an individual does not know when they indulge in this type of traits. The aim is to reduce this area as much as possible which can be done by taking feedback from other members in the group to know things that an individual is not aware of. Secret Region: In this region the individual is aware of certain things but the others not. These things or behaviors are generally kept as secrets by the individual. This can be related to the introvert, shy nature of an individual. Another aspect is the avoided area by the individual which can be result from certain behavior that is socially not acceptable or considered as wrong. It can include certain private information that an individual does not want to share or the information that individual did not want to share. This kind of secretive behavior can adversely affect the dynamics of group therefore, it is recommended to reduce this area as much as possible and make the system more transparent. Unknown Region: When the behavior or traits are unknowns to the individual as well as the other team it is classified under this region. This can include talent and other behavior that can be revealed by either the person himself in future or by any other team member. By taking the Joharis window as a framework to analyze the personal traits of an individual one can distinguish that in which region out of the four does it belong and a person if it belongs in 3rd region that is Secret Region the attributes of that person can be best suited to know more about the secretive behavior of an individual at individual level as well as group level. Review of Literature The dictionary definition of secretive is defined as inclined to secrecy or reticence about divulging information; although they knew her whereabouts her friends kept close about it . If we look into literature review of this behavior there is lot of research papers that are presented. Few author presentation and perspective has been presented below: The well known concept of Johari Window1, which is a model of self awareness, personal development, group development and understanding relationship. This concept can be related to MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator)2 Indicator According to Julie D. Lane and Daniel M. Wegner 3, secrecy is a form of intentional deception that is peculiar for two reasons. First, whereas deception involves inducing a belief in another person that one knows to be false, secrecy involves preventing the other from knowing something one believes to be true. The second distinction is that secrecy is something one can do alone in a room. In another perspective Aldert Vrij, Karl Nunkoosing, Beth Paterson, Annerieke Oosterwegel and Stavroula Soukara4, defines the impact on individual behavior which is stated as Secret-holders confided information to those with whom they felt emotionally close; were more reluctant to confide when they kept the secret to avoid disapproval, and more likely to confide when they believed that others would find out about their secrets by paying attention to their (secret-holders) behaviors. Another context in the literature in Sullivans Interpersonal Theory5, which looks into interpersonal relations that modify the individual behavior. Sullivan stated that the personality of human being is shaped by the interpersonal relations that an individual have. More depth on individual aspect of why do people indulge in this kind of behavior is given by Defence Mechanism Theory by Sigmund Freud6. It involves the involvement of an individual in any behavior either unconsciously or by projecting wrong deception to indulge into defence mechanism. Empirical Study Generalization To study the effect of secretive behavior of an individual, I conducted a case study of four people studying in XLRI PMIR programme who knew well each other before coming here. This case study takes the help of Johari window from which I can deduce the understanding of personalities of these individual according to them as well as from the perspective of others. The main aim of doing this case study is to actually study the personality traits of an individual as perceived by him/her and as perceived by others. With the help of this I can categorize people into each of the four windows as described above in Johari Window and with the help of this segregation I can correlate which kind of people generally depict secretive behavior at individual level. Description of Case Study: In the case study I deliberately choose four people who knew each other very well so that the perception of an individual as perceived by others does not depend on just spontaneous interaction. I gave them 55 adjectives that a person can associates with himself/herself or with others. Then I make them to choose 6 adjectives that they think are best to describe about themselves and then I gave same set of adjectives to other three individual and noted down their responses about the same individual from their perspective on the same 6 adjective parameters. The adjectives that I have used are given in Appendices at the end of this report. Wile filling the corresponding personality traits choices one constraint that I follow is I gave only 120 seconds to fill out their responses for themselves and for others also. Since, there can be a possibility that during 120 seconds the individual does not get enough time to think upon the actual important personality traits. To eliminate out this discrepancy, I conducted same set of case study 4 times among the same set of individual but each time the response sheet which contains the set of 55 adjectives was in random order. To further reduce any unwanted deviations I conducted this at different times over a span of 3 days. By doing this an individual does not actually remember the choices that he/she had filled for others in previous trials. Findings of the Study Generalization Based on the case study as described above following are the results obtained for each of the four individual. Figure 2 represents the Adjectives picked by individual for themselves out of the given 55 adjectives. Adjectives associated with personality 1 2 3 4 5 6 Values perceived by Person A   friendly caring   cheerful   energetic   brave   sensible   Values perceived by Person B   independent logical   organized   helpful   caring     modest Values perceived by Person C   sentimental quiet   sensible   observant dignify   wise   Values perceived by Person D   giving happy   helpful   sensible caring   proud   Figure 2: Adjectives picked by individual for themselves out of the given 55 adjectives Figure 3 represents the adjectives associated with each person as perceived by other three persons. In this the frequency of each adjective is shown in () after taking the questionnaire at different point of time. Person A Person B Person C Person D Person A X   friendly(3), bold(2), extrovert(2) bold(3), energetic(2), organized(2)   extrovert(3), powerful(2), responsive(2)   Person B   Caring (4), helpful (3), extrovert(3) X helpful (4), logical (2), modest (2)   logical (2), proud (2), helpful (2)   Person C   extrovert(2), cheerful (2) , happy (2) nervous(3), tense(2), complex(2)   X relaxed(2), ingenious(1), giving(1) Person D   helpful(3), calm(2), modest(2)   giving(2), happy(2), caring(2)   modest(2), organized(2), giving(1) X Figure 3: Adjectives picked by others for specific person. ( ) represents the frequency of that adjective As we can see from the data collected by taking down the personality traits of an individual from perceiver as well as perceived perspective that the individual behavior of Person A ,Person B and Person C matches to a certain extent with the behavior as noted by other members in the group. Moreover, the frequency with which the kind of adjectives appears for both the persons indicates that all of them belong to Region 1 of Johari Window which is Open region. And the adjectives associated with both persons like friendly, organized, brave, responsive, helpful, extrovert etc are in perfect correlation with the qualities that are associated with Region 1 as given by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingman. If we consider the case of Person 3, where the behavior described by himself does not matches with the behaviors as perceived by others, we can say that the Person C belongs to Region 3 or Secret Region of the Johari Window where the behavior are known to the person but are unknown to others. The basic traits that the person think of him is sentimental, quiet, sensible, observant, dignify and wise which is in negative correlation with the behavior given by other like extrovert, happy, relaxed etc. Moreover, the attributes associate with Person 3 which he think of him perfectly correlates with the behavior associated with Region 3 of Johari Window as given by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingman. Therefore, we can say that the individual having personality traits like introvert, quiet, shy, powerful, observant are much more associated to the persons having secretive behavior as compared to the person with the behavior like extrovert, happy, openness etc. Implications of Group Work We can distinguish the effect of this behavior on individual and organizational level which is given as follows: At Individual Level: Impact on Psychological Aspect: When we look into the effect of this kind of behavior on mental functions of human we can see that this type of behavior is generally associated with the people who are reserved, introvert, who does not want to share information. Also we can say that that the type of people who show this kind of behavior have very strong will which make them to hide information from others. Impact on Behavioral Modernity: With the advent of more information channels and competition the secretive nature has been considerably changed from our ancestors. And by comparing with the previous we can say that it has considerably increased. At Organizational level: Impact on Sociological Aspect: Sometimes secretive nature of the organization is more concerned with hiding of some information due to protection of ideas, future plans, information which can affect them severely. Impact on Anthropological Aspect: When an organization does not share proper information with employees, they are actually creating a traditional relations with them which will affect the motivation and performance of there work. Impact on Job Satisfaction Level: Job Satisfaction relates to the content level of an individual with his/her performance. And when an individual thinks that an organization is hiding some relevant information that arise a suspicion which decreases the job satisfaction or this behavior shows the negative correlation with job satisfaction. Contributions to Organizational Behavior I feel that as a part of organizational behavior it is very important to understand the individual behaviors and personality traits. In addition to this it is very much essential to understand and focus on the actual causes behind these behaviors which actually force an individual to indulge in secretive behavior. Therefore I think my study about secretive behavior is very much relevant to organizational behavior. But since my research involves the study the effect of internal personality traits on secretive nature and therefore it will be interesting to see how external effects like situation and society plays an important role in contributing the modification of secretive behavior in an individual. Hence, there is further scope to extend this study in the light of external factors and correlation of these external factors with the internal behavioral trait of an individual. Conclusion According to the study of scholarly articles studied by me I have come upon the definition of secretive behavior as the personality trait of an individual which comprises of hiding some information (that can be relevant or irrelevant) from others either consciously or unconsciously by the virtue of the individual traits that a person possesses. As showed in the case study results given above the personality traits to a greater extent affects the secretive behavior of an individual. For example the individual who are more introvert, shy and reserve tend to show more secretive behavior as compared to the people who are extrovert or outspoken. Even the people who have strong determination are more capable in holding any secret as compared to one who did not have strong will power. Therefore, by studying the Joharis window on different set of people I can say that individual personality traits or internal factors affect the secretive nature very much.

Dammed Dams :: essays research papers

Dammed Dams The basic principle of a dammed dam is to prevent water from being passed. People have been continuing and to build and perfect these structures, not knowing the full intensity of their side effects. If one takes a weighing scale and put the benefits of the damns on one side and the side effects on the other side, the side effects will out weight the benefits 10 times over. One of these dammed dams has been placed on the river Colorado, actually not one but 40 of these dreaded dams. We should actually change the term River to a huge plumbing system. The Colorado River is known as the most controlled and legislated river in the world. In order to satisfy the needs of humans we have created the one of the largest plumbing system in the world so that we can go to our fridge and have a glass of water. The water has been taken from the river and the fridge has bee powered by the hydroelectric generators, which have been installed on the dammed damns. The consequence of these damn has been devastating to the environment. I therefore urge the student government association to organize an environment exposition so we can educate the students of Embry Riddle. These dammed dams have had devastating effects on the ecosystem, which depends on the constant flow of the river to survive. Fish such has salmon and other species have considerably declined due to the fact they cant reach their breeding grounds. There are four fishes which are listed on the endangered species list and for them to be listed on the list it took a law suite!! I mean why does it have to take law suite to acknowledge the critical habitat of these species If one decides to fish on this river one has to keep in mind that most of the water is destined for the fountains in Las Vegas and the swimming pools in California. So I urge the student association to organize a exposition so we may realize that the water the fishes are swimming in is already bought. Where does all this water go? Water the most unique compound on earth, which is required to sustain life by all life forms, is been used to the extent that at our currant progress of water consumption we will have a water war in the next 2 centuries! So where does all this water go?

George Gordon Byron Essay -- George Gordon Byron Essays Biography

George Gordon Byron   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Their are many different opinions on the written works of George Gordon Byron which could include one very big question. Was he a natural born poet or simply a product of abuse and mental illness. His writings may have been more a way to ease his pa and suffering rather than a natural talent. Perhaps his writings were a form of self therapy? Throughout his writings and life history there is much evidence to suggest that his poetry was being greatly influenced by his mental instability. I have l rned much on this great poet and I too believe that his writings were influenced greatly because of the pain and abuse he suffered in his youth. I will attempt to point out the many possibilities to this.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George Gordon Byron was known as Lord Byron during his lifetime. Byron was born in 1788 and died at the early age of thirty-six in the year 1824. His handsome face, riotous living and many love affairs made Byron the most talked-of man of his day. H was known as a romantic, fascinating figure to his fellow Englishmen. In our current century his reputation has dwindled to merely being known as a poet. His childhood was colorful to say the least. There is much evidence to suggest mental instabilit was inherent in his family. Byron was born on Jan.22, 1788 in London. His great-uncle from whom he inherited the title, was known as â€Å"wicked Lord Byron†; his father army officer, was called â€Å"mad Jack† Byron. This wealth and the nick names of the Byron en went back to at least as far a Lord Byron’s’ Grandfather, a Vice Admiral, known as â€Å"Foul Weather Jack†. He was giving this name as he had a reputation of attracting storms. These titles given to his family only adds to the evidence of mental insta lity. Here’s an interesting note: (His family had a long tradition of marrying its cousins, consequently, there were some oddities among their ancestors. Byron’s grandfather â€Å"Foul Weather Jack† hated his sons and spent a great deal of time trying to destroy their estate, Newstead. He hoped to leave nothing for his sons, so he encouraged swarms of crickets o run throughout the house.) (His Life www.edenpr.k12.mn.usephs/ArcadiaWeb)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Born with a clubfoot, he was sensitive about it all his life. When he was just three his father died, leaving the family with nearly nothing to survive on. His parents, Catherine Gordon Byron (of the ... ..., self-sacrificing, and accepting of her ate to the point of victimization. In the early episode, Donna Julia breads somewhat out of this role by being the older (23 years old!) married woman and not the innocent girl. Byron thus somewhat reverses gender roles and has the sexually mature woman take a m e active role in seducing the naive and innocent young man. (Don Juan, Canto I http://citd.scar.untoronto.ca/English/ENGBO2Y/DonJuan.html).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I believe that Lord Byron was expressing is own pain of the sexual abuse he endured b May Grey at school in his earlier childhood in the character Donna Julia. So in my opinion of all I have discovered about this literary poet is that Lord Byron was not born with a talent for writing poetry. He however did write from his own heart. Wh h is what a truly brilliant poet must do. Had he not have been exposed to physical and sexual abuse in his youth. I feel there is a good possibility he would have never written a single poem He would have had a different profession altogether along w h an entirely different life style. The world was blessed with the many poems of Lord Bryon but only through the suffering of another human being.

Does Shakespeare matter? :: essays research papers

In today’s world the quality of the art form called writing is said to be somewhat diminishing, it is important for English literature to keep some studies of classic literature, such as Shakespeare. I think well rounded education must have a strong foundation in both modern and classical literature, for the foundation in classical literature, an in-depth study of Shakespeare’s works would be more than sufficient. Not only was Shakespeare so skilled in his writing that he has become a significant point in the history of literature, but a majority of his works were written on such basic human themes that they will last for all time and must not be forgotten. William Shakespeare has become landmark in English literature. One must be familiar with the early days of English literature in order to comprehend the foundation of much of more modern literature’s basis. Shakespeare’s modern influence is still seen clearly in many ways. The success of Shakespeare’s works helped to set the example for the development of modern dramas and plays. He is also acknowledged for being one of the first writers to use any modern prose in his writings. Another sign of a truly dominant writer is one who finds even the entire existing vocabulary of the language limiting to his creativity. Shakespeare often did, and so on occasion created his own form of grammar and vocabulary, much of which has since become commonly used. Few modern writers have the skill to make new words which stick in the language, or to write in such a way that their words become used centuries later. By using just the right combination of words, or by coming up with just the right image, Shakespeare wrote many passages and entire plays that were so powerful, moving, tragic, comedic, and romantic that many are still being memorized and performed today, almost four centuries later. But the greatness of Shakespeare’s ability lies not so much in the basic themes of his works but in the creativity he used to write these stories of love, power, greed, discrimination, hatred, and tragedy. Therefore there can be no doubt that knowledge of the works of Shakespeare is needed for any education of English literature to be considered complete and well rounded.

HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) Essay

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) causes AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) that disables the immune system.  It was discovered in 1983 .HIV enters the body through the bloodstream and duplicates itself rapidly.  The victim is susceptible to infectious diseases that eventually are fatal (1). Statistically, HIV/AIDS is the number one killer of African-American women ages 25 to 34, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Between 2000 and 2003, they were nineteen times more likely than White females and five times more likely than Hispanic females to contract the disease.  African-American men were seven times more likely than White men and three times the rate of Hispanic men to contract HIV/AIDS (2). In 2008, there is still not a cure for AIDS.  Instead, scientists have discovered drugs that can slow down the progression of the disease. Protease inhibitors (PIs) are antiviral drugs that slow down the spread of HIV (1). The virus produces a protein called protease so that it can replicate itself.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Protease cuts long chains of proteins and enzymes into shorter chains, the first step in the process by which HIV infects a cell† (1).  If this doesn’t happen, replication does not continue. In 1987, AZT was the first anti-HIV medication that was created.   It showed hope and kept people healthier longer.   However, the side effects were very high for men.   Since that time, more HIV medications have evolved.   Antiretroviral therapy usually consists of combinations of nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, or fusion inhibitors, which are prescribed in the later stages of HIV (19). Dual protease inhibitor therapy is also being used clinically (3).  They are also associated with improving morbidity and mortality of HIV-positive persons (5).  Although these drugs are expensive, they have proven to be the most successful therapy in managing HIV.   However, some patients don’t comply 100% with their treatments.   This is largely due to the side effects. Sometimes they make a patient feel worse than the actual disease. The most commonly reported ones are abdominal pain, abnormal bowel movements, diarrhea, fatigue, headache, and nausea.   Children usually develop a skin rash. The more serious side effects are liver problems and pancreatitis.   Some patients have also seen large increase in triglyceride ad cholesterol levels.   Diabetics saw an increase in their blood sugar levels.   Other patients developed diabetes while taking protease inhibitors (16). Presently, nine PIs have been approved for use in the United States and Europe:   amprenavir, atazanavir, fosamprenavir, lopinavir, indinavir, ritonavir, saquinavir, tipranavir, and nelfinavir. Three non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs) are used for treatment of HIV:  nevirapine, delavirdine, and efavirenz (7). Drug treatment selection depends on factors such as drug resistance, tolerability, drug interactions, and effectiveness. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) â€Å"has been proposed so that practitioners may better maintain appropriate plasma concentrations of drugs in their patients by identifying interactions with other medications and assessing medication adherence   (7). Figure 1 shows the structures of these compounds. Fig. 1. Chemical structures of protease inhibitors and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. About 50% of â€Å"treatment-naà ¯ve patients† don’t have continued antiviral response after one year of therapy (18). In some cases, there is a development of drug resistance and metabolic complications.   Also, â€Å"there is increasing evidence that virological treatment failure is correlated with variations in the pharmacokinetic parameters of drugs (20).   This can be due to drug interactions, low bioavailability, and variations in metabolic enzyme activity.   Atazanavir (ATV) has good oral bioavailability and a favorable pharmacokinetics profile (18).   With this in mind, patients can mostly take a once-daily dose. A separate analytical method has been recently published for quantifying ATV in human plasma using solid phase extraction and HPLC with PDA (photodiode array) detection at 201 nm (18).   This method provides excellent separation of ATV from its internal standard, clozapine (CLZ) and the other PIs, thus, obtaining an accurate measurement of the drug (see figure 2). CLZ elutes at 8.9 minutes, and ATV elutes a 24.4 minutes. A 40-ml injection resulted in a recovery yield of 100%. Fig. 2.   Chromatogram of ATV with PIs/NNRTIs (8000 ng/ml) spiked with CLZ Nelfinavir mesylate has been shown in phase III controlled clinical trials to significantly reduce viral load and increase CD4+ cell counts when used with reverse transcriptase inhibitors. It’s prescribed as part of triple drug combination therapy (9). CD4+ are helper T cells.   They are important for immune reconstitution in patients that are receiving antiretroviral therapy (10).   After a large number of these cells are destroyed, AIDS develops (7). Six clinical trials was conducted in the past ten years using 2, 148 HIV-infected children enrolled in the Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group treatment trials (10).   Patient ages varied from 2 to 7 years of age.   The focus was to observe short-term variability of CD4 percentages.   The study found that 49% of patients had CD4 percentages above 25%.   32% of patients had CD4 counts between 15% and 24%; 19% were less than 15%.   Finally, 5.4% had a CD4% of less than 5% (10). In June 2006, Darunavir (DRV) was licensed in the United States.   It is a promising PI that is active against HIV strains that are resistant to the other PIs that currently on the market (17).   It is prescribed in 600-mg doses that are taken twice daily with 100 mg of ritonavir that acts as a booster. Protease inhibitors are associated with unfavorable pharmacokinetics and many side effects such as gastrointestinal disturbances and lipid abnormalities (5).  Four of the most common PIs used are indinavir, ritonavir, saquinavir, and nelfinavir (3).  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Monitoring blood concentration of PIs, which can indicate both therapeutic and toxic levels of the drugs as well as patient noncompliance with the medication, may improve the care of both HIV-infected adults and children† (3). When ritonavir was first introduced, it was given in doses of 600 mg every 12 hours. â€Å"However, patient intolerance of full doses led to its primary use as a pharmacologic enhancer to increase the concentrations in plasma of a second protease inhibitor to improve the convenience of antiretroviral regimens by extending the dosing interval, reducing pill burden, and /or eliminating food-induced reductions in pharmacokinetic exposure† (8).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Researchers used High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to determine concentrations of PIs in blood.  Various methods have been used to study the pharmacokinetics and drug interactions. Interpreting plasma levels can be used to â€Å"individualize drug dosage of antiretrovirals (4). Quality control (QC) procedures must be done to ensure that these methods are accurate and precise.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Such procedures usually include intralaboratory (internal) method validation, intralaboratory QC procedures, and participation in an interlaboratory QC program for antiretroviral drugs† (4). Since the latter hadn’t been done before, it was established so that laboratories can obtain better measurement results of antiretroviral drugs. Nine laboratories participated in the first part of the program.  The first part of the experiment involved the measurement of the protease inhibitors:  indinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir, and saquinavir.  All had a specified purity of 99% or higher.  QC samples were prepared by spiking blank plasma from HIV-negative volunteers with PI standard. The low concentrated standards ranged from 0.087 to 0.15 mg/L while the intermediate concentrated standards contained ranged from 2 to 3 mg/L of all four PIs.  Finally, the high-concentrated standards contained approximately 5 to 11 mg/L of drug.  All drugs were dissolved in methanol following accurate weighings and diluted with blank plasma (4). High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) was used to analyze twelve samples.  All laboratories measuring more than one protease inhibitor used as assay for â€Å"simultaneous determination† (4).  Six laboratories used HPLC/UV and three labs used HPLC-MS/MS. Mass spectrometry detection is often recommended for measurement of low concentration levels.  Also, this type of analysis is usually faster and â€Å"does not require complete resolution of drugs for detection and quantification† (5).  Only five laboratories were able to measure all four PIs.  Three laboratories were not able to determine nelfinavir.  One laboratory only measured indinavir (4). Acceptable accuracy results are between 80% and 120%.  Only indinavir resulted in an acceptable accuracy of 80%.  The remaining PIs had between 36% and 74% accuracy.  These results should encourage laboratories to improve their analytical methods and QC procedures.  Other PIs, such as amprenavir and lopinavir, can be analyzed as well (4). HIV-positive plasma samples are heat inactivated before analysis, approximately 58 °C for 40 minutes, to decrease the risk of infection to the operator.  They may also go through a freeze/thaw cycle. As with the QC study, blank plasma was spiked with seven PIs (indinavir, amprenavir, atazanavir, ritonavir, saquinavir, lopinavir, and nelfnavir) at low, intermediate, and high concentrations measured in ng/ml.  Certain assays only require 100  µl of plasma for analysis.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"This is advantageous when measuring PI concentrations as part of clinical studies as they often necessitate hourly sampling to generate complete PK profiles; therefore less blood can be drawn from the patient† (5).  In addition, seven PIs can be quantified in one assay, but impossible to assay all seven in a single preparation. â€Å"The use of liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) has emerged as the developmental method of choice supporting clinical and pre-clinical pharmacokinetic studies† (13). Recovery for the HPLC-MS/MS methods was above 87% for all seven drugs at all three concentration levels (5).  It was successful in quantifying seven PI concentrations in plasma of HIV positive persons that participated in a run time of nine minutes.  Therefore, the assay may be used for determining PI concentrations in semen, lymphocytes, and cerebrospinal fluid (5). A fast and highly-sensitive LC-MS-MS method was developed that could analyze five protease inhibitors (amprenavir, indinavir, nelfinavir, ritonavir, and saquinavir) in one run using an internal standard.   Sample sizes were small (ng/ml) and run times were approximately 5 minutes.   Recoveries for all five PIs were between 87% and 92%(11). Tipranavir is part of a class of non-peptidic PIs that works against both â€Å"wild-type virus and variants resistant to current PIs†(6).  It also has a high genetic barrier.  Tipranavir is prescribed in a 500-mg dose taken in combination with 200 mg of ritonavir twice daily as part of antiretroviral therapy for patients with HIV-1 strains that are resistant to multiple PIs (6). Fig. 3. Tipranavir chemical structure   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An HPLC-UV method has been validated and is currently applied when monitoring tipranavir (TPV) plasma levels in HIV patients.  Samples were prepared for solid phase extraction (SPE) by conditioning the cartridges with 0.1% phosphoric acid, pH 7.  TPV stock solutions with a concentration of 5 mg/ml were diluted from with 50% methanol. Samples were spiked with TPV at 1.875, 7.5, 18.75, 37.5, 60, and 75  µg/ml in triplicate. QC samples were diluted with blank plasma and phosphate buffer to 5.625, 22.5, and 67.5  µg/ml.  Clozapine was used as the internal standard (6).  5-ml aliquots of blood samples were obtained from HIV infected patients.  The plasma obtained from centrifugation was heated at 60 ° C for one hour in a water bath. TPV in plasma was measured at a UV absorbance of 201 nm with a retention time of 32.2 minutes. Its internal standard, clozapine (CLZ) has a retention time of 8.3 minutes (6). Figure 4 below shows the chromatogram of TPV, its internal standard, and all other PIs and NNRTIs  present.   Figure 5 shows TPV and its internal standard CLZ only. Fig. 4. Chromatogram of plasma control sample of TVP (22.5 mg/ml) spiked with internal standard and all PIs and NNRTIs. Fig. 5. Chromatogram of calibration sample of TVP (37.5 mg/ml) spiked with internal standard CLZ. Isocratic HPLC methods combined with the use of UV and fluorescence detection produces more sensitivity. Amprenavir is a fluorescent compound.   Its internal standard PR25 can also be seen under fluorescence (see figure 6). Fig. 6.   Blank plasma with 100 ng/ml amprenavir and 1000 ng/ml of PR25 seen under fluorescence. In conclusion, much progress has been made in the development of protease inhibitors and other antiretroviral therapy. HPLC with UV detection has been the most commonly used method of analysis.   It is rapid, simple, and highly sensitive.   LC-MS-MS has been noted at the developmental method of choice for clinical and pre-clinical pharmacokinetic studies (13).   More compounds can be analyzed in less time.   Also, they can be used for methods using other human biological matrices. For the majority of protease inhibitors, all side effects are not known. In 2007, darunavir was the new HIV protease inhibitor with eleven other antiretroviral agents on the market.   They can affect patients that have diabetes, liver problems, and hemophilia; their conditions can worsen as a result of taking PIs. Only a patient’s health care provider can determine the best treatment option REFERENCES Nagel, Rob. 2007. Protease Inhibitors. UXL Encyclopedia of Science; [cited 2008 May 8], Available from http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SciRC?ste=1&docnum=cv2644301082. Health Hotline:   HIV and Genital Herpes [cited 2008 May8]; Available from http://www.ebony.com. â€Å"HPLC Assay for Common Protease Inhibitors Developed.†Antiviral Weekly; [cited 2008 May 07; Available from http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SciRC?ste=1&docNum=A60069570. Aarnoutse, Rob E., Verweij-van Wissen, Corrien P.W.G.M., van Ewijk-Beneken Kolmer, Eleonora, W.J., Wuis, Eveline, W., Koopmans, Peter P., Hekster, Yechiel A., and Burger, David, M. 2001. 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Weller, Dennis R., Brundage, Richard C., Balfour, Jr., Henry H., and Vezina, Heather E. An isocratic liquid chromatography method for determining HIV non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor and protease inhibitor concentrations in human plasma; J. of Chrom. B 848:369-373. Sarasa-Nacenta, Maria, Lopez-Pua, Yolanda, Mallolas, Josep, Blanco, Jose’ Luis, Gatell, Jose’ M., and Carne’, Xavier. Simultaneous determination of the HIV-protease inhibitors indinavir, amprenavir, ritonavir, saquinavir and nelfinavir in human plasma by reversed-phase high- performance liquid chromatography; J, of Chrom. B 757:325-332.