Normative Ethical Theories

NORMATIVE ETHICAL THEORIES Objective †¢ Discuss the normative ethical theories L2: Normative Ethical Theories Beliefs about how people should behave can be classified into at least 2 major categories: Teleological theories (Consequentialism) Right actions are those that produce the most or optimize the consequences of one’s choices. Behaviour is ‘ethical’ if it results in desirable behaviour 1. 2. 3. 4. Ethical egoism Ethical elitism Ethical parochialism Ethical universalism Deontological theories (Duty and Rights) Duties are set down as rules which must be followed. Rights are behaviours that a person expects of others.Actions are intrinsically right or wrong regardless of the consequences which they produce. 1. Theological ethics 2. Rationalism 3. Social contract theory Ethical Egoism †¢ Based on the belief that people should act in a way that maximises the ‘good’ of the person making the decision. – For e. g. ethical egoists would not stop to help the victim of a road accident if that would make them late for a dinner reservation. They are not concerned with rules or accepted behaviour but behave in a way which is in their own interest. †¢ Hedonism: Ethical behaviour for hedonist would be that which gratifies a desire for pleasure and minimises pain.Ethical Egoism †¢ Adam Smith: – Advocated the pursuit of maximum self-interest. – Believed that such a policy pursued by individuals would lead to the maximisation of society’s interest. – An invisible hand restrained the individual from behaviour that would damage the interests of society. †¢ Milton’s Friedman’s Restricted Egoism: – â€Å"There is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open nd free competition without decept ion or fraud†. – Suggests that the behaviour of individuals seeking to maximise their selfinterest should be constrained by the law and the conventions of competition and fair play. – Would not allow breaking the law or the violation of accepted codes of behaviour in pursuing self-interest. Ethical elitism †¢ Suggests that society is stratified and that ethical behaviour should maximise the interests of only the top stratum or the elite. Examples: – (a) Sending thousands of soldiers to their deaths in a battle would be ethical behaviour if it improved the general’s reputation, – (b) The dismissal of a ‘mere’ accounts clerk to protect the reputation of the accountant would be regarded as ethical behaviour by a society that subscribed ethical elitism. Ethical parochialism †¢ Assumes that ethical behaviour should protect the interest of the individual’s ‘in-group’. – The ‘in-group’ c ould be the individual’s family, friends, professional associates, religion, gender, etc. Ethical parochialism would regard lying to protect a family member as ethical behaviour. Similarly preferring as employees former students from the employer’s old school. Ethical universalism (John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism) †¢ Suggests that ethical behaviour should be concerned with the good of all people and that individuals are all of equal value. †¢ Any behaviour which pursues the interests of an individual at the expense of others would be unethical. †¢ Mill modified Bentham’s theory. Bentham argued that when individuals seek to maximise their utility, the community’s utility is also maximised.Mill’s greatest happiness principle meant that an individual should not act to maximise personal utility but the utility of the community as a whole. Ethical universalism (John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism) †¢ Moral principle of utilitarianism: Persons ought to act in a way that promotes the maximum net expectable utility, that is, the greatest net benefits or the lowest net costs, for the broadest community affection by their actions. †¢ An extreme example: This theory would accept an individual being killed to save the lives of many others.Although the individual who was killed suffered a considerable loss of utility, the increase in the utility of those who survived more than compensated for that loss. †¢ Mill’s utilitarianism is regarded as the most acceptable of the teleological theories – replaces blatant self-interest. Theological ethics †¢ Relies on religion, where rules must be followed as set down, as established by God. – It is God’s command that we should behave in certain ways. Conforming to God’s rules is ethical. – It provides a powerful set of duties for people. Strictest interpretation: requires compliance with God’s rules rega rdless of the circumstances or consequences. – However, faith or beliefs are not universal, with many different religions and varying degrees of faith with each religion and interpretation. Rationalism Immanuel Kant †¢ Sought a simple maxim based on a reason or rationality that would provide a rule for a general duty which would override all others. He suggested the categorical imperative as a universally valid ethical law, i. e. †¢ Act as if the principle from which you act were to become through your will a universal law of natureImmanuel Kant †¢ First Maxim Note: Categorical imperative – it is absolute and does not allow for any exceptions Maxim – is an implied general principle underlying a particular action. †¢ The categorical imperative is a philosophical formulation of the Christian Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. ’ Thus to decide whether a contemplated action is ethical, the categorical im perative must be applied to that action. For e. g. a person who is about to break a promise must ask, ‘Would I desire a law which says that everybody may break promises if they so choose? If the answer is ‘No’, then the proposed action is unethical. †¢ Act so that you treat humanity whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only Immanuel Kant Second Maxim †¢ People should not be ‘used’ to achieve an end no matter how worthy that end may appear to be. The end does not justify the means. †¢ Kant proposed that applying these maxims to every proposed behaviour would lead to ethical behaviour. †¢ Kant strongly implies that perfect duties are always obliged to be followed such as telling the truth or keeping a promise,William Ross’ Prima Facie Obligation †¢ Ross, in contrast to Kant, refused to accept these duties as absolute or prevailing without exception. †¢ Argues that th ey are prima facie duties which means that they are moral imperatives that should apply most of the time under normal circumstances. †¢ A prima facie obligation is a conditional one that can be superceded by a more important, higher obligation, usually under very exceptional circumstances. William Ross’ Prima Facie Obligation Ross’ Seven Basic Moral Duties on Moral Agents †¢ One ought to keep promises and tell the truth (fidelity). One ought to right the wrongs that one has inflicted on others (reparation). †¢ One ought to distribute goods justly (justice). †¢ One ought to improve the lot of others with respect to virtue, intelligence, and happiness (beneficence). †¢ One ought to improve the lot of others with respect to virtue and intelligence (self-improvement). †¢ One ought to exhibit gratitude when appropriate (gratitude). †¢ One ought to avoid injury to others (non-injury). Social contract theory †¢ Assumes that there is a s ocial contract between the individual and the state which requires both to perform certain duties and gives to both certain rights. A ‘social’ contract is an unwritten agreement based on custom and accepted without dissent. †¢ A failure to perform the duties implied by the social contract would be unethical behaviour. It suggests fairness and equality, and relies on cooperation. – For e. g. by observing the road rules, one surrenders certain personal liberties in the hope of receiving safe road-driving conditions in return. – Another e. g. : If society wishes to receive well organised and skilful professional services, it must be prepared to relinquish a certain degree of autonomy and grant professionals special privileges of autonomy and power in return.

The Heckscher-Ohlin Model

1. The Heckscher-Ohlin model The Heckscher-Ohlin model is a mathematical model of the international trade and its balance. It is established upon the theory of David Ricardo for the competitive advantage and it strives to predict the arrangements of the international trade and production, which are based on the capacity of a given country to trade. Its essence consist in the statement that the countries that produce, will be exporting the goods, which manufacturing use their plentful and cost-competitive factors and will import goods that use the scarce factors of the country. Here we are talking about the factors of production, which are the land, labour and capital. Their abundance or their lack defines in which products the country has a competitive advantage. Meaning that they have advantage for producing those goods, for which the necessary factors and inputs are abundant in the country, therefore it is cheaper to produce them locally and export them instead of importing them. We can give the example of country like Belgium – here the labor and the land factors are not abundant, therefore the goods that require for the production those factors will be imported, because then it will be more cost effective. And vice-versa, because in Belgium there are a lot of engineers, technicians and it is rather well technologically developed country, it will be more advantageous to export goods, which require for their production those abundant factors – for ex. computers, IT etc. 2. Criticism on the H-O model & Leontief Paradox There is much criticism upon that model; therefore I’m going to state the most important of it here: * The little predictive power of that model, which was a critic by Bernstein and Weinstein, who claimed that the H-O model and its factor endowments of each country are not a reliable forecast. * The identical production function – the H-O model postulate that the production functions are corresponding for all the countries that are involved in the international trade. But it’s an unrealistic statement, because even between the most developed countries the competition is determined from various factors like technology etc. * In the H-O model, the capital is by definition assumed as consistent, identical and transferable to any form, since the capital goods may have many forms. There is no explanation how the capital is measured. So all this leads to a controversy around the concept of homogenous capital. * The unemployment factor is excluded from the model, which makes it really unrealistic. * The assumption that all firms are identical, because all the countries have the same production function is another weak point of the model. * The H-O model was supported by politicians, because it gave them an excuse for restriction upon the immigration lows at that time. * Probably the most significant criticism is called the Leontief Paradox. Mr. Wassily Leontief conducted an econometric test in 1954 of the implication of the H-O model in the US. And he found out that nevertheless the US was a country rich on capital it still was exporting mostly goods for the production of which the labor factor was decisive or ‘labor intensive goods’. And they were importing products, produced in countries with abundant capital as well or ‘capital intensive goods’. This paradox proves that the H-O model is not taking into account all of the necessary factors in order to be more accurate and applicable to any given country. 3. Response by H-O The main response was that the model has been further developed and extended in order for it to be more realistic. Thus by taking into consideration new features, factors and variables in the international trade (like tariffs for ex.) the predictive power of the model has been increased. The three scientists that contributed the most for those ameliorations are Paul Samuelson, Ronald Jones, and Jaroslav Vanek.

How can we make India clean Essay

How true these words sound in the present context. There is so much pollution all around us today that normal breathing in itself is the greatest risk to our lives. Pollution has affected our lives so adversely that because of this, millions of people die annually. The way the environment is being polluted today stands testimony to the fact that we are irresponsible occupants of this Earth and by polluting the air; we are meticulously working towards our own destruction. According to the World Health Organisation, about 2.8 million people each year die due to indoor pollution (over 500,000 occur in China alone). These data should act as an eye-opener for all of us. Smoke emitting from industries, factories, vehicles and even cigarettes is a major source of air pollution. It is due to air pollution that a number of diseases have surfaced. There are several respiratory diseases, which affect us adversely. Cigarette smoking is not injurious to the health of only those who smoke cigarett es but also to those who come in contact with the smoke emitted from the cigarettes. What is worse is that most of us understand the ill-effects of pollution, yet we are so indifferent towards our own health that we do not avoid the avoidable. Stoves, LPG and other non-conventional sources of energy should be used for cooking and the bursting of firecrackers should be reduced. Therefore, if we prevent air pollution, we not only keep ourselves healthy but also our historical monuments. Another major source of pollution today is water pollution. Water pollution is the contamination of water by sewage, toxic chemicals, metals, oils, or other substances. Diseases like diarrhoea and dysentery are the ill-effects of polluted water. The wastes that are thrown in the rivers and lakes by us mainly pollute water. It is due to this that the water supplied to us in our homes is impure and consumption of which leads to man) dreaded diseases. The biomedical waste from hospitals is not processed properly and is thrown in nearby rivers. The waste materials from factories and industries are also disposed of in the same manner. Therefore, it leads: to high levels of water pollution. Not only this, people throw dry flower used for puja and other religious functions in rivers due to which water gets badly contaminated and unfit for use. In fact, due to high levels of water po llution, marine animals die an untimely death and are on the verge of extinction today. In a healthy water system, a cycle of natural processed turns wastes into useful or harmless substances. The cycle begins when organisms called aerobic bacteria use the oxygen dissolved in water to digest wastes. This digestion process releases nitrates, phosphates an other nutrients. Algae and aquatic green plants absorb these nutrients. Zooplanktons eat the algae, and fish eat the zooplankton. The fish, in turn, may be eaten by larger fish. These larger animals come in contact with other animals and in turn the process of biological contamination cycle continues. Another form of pollution that threatens our peace today is sound pollution. It is so irksome when music is played at high volumes in parties and vehicles. Today, the levels of sound pollution are so high that the Supreme Court had to intervene and pass orders recently to impose a restriction on the playing of bands and loud music between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. The vehemence of music disturbs students, patients, old and other people we want some rest after a long day’s work. The sound of the bawling horns is a headache in itself. Everybody is in a hurry and therefore, the use of horns is made without much though Horns disrupt pe ace to the extent that these can be heard even in the ‘no-horn’ zones. Although noise does not poll the air, water, or land, but it can cause discomfort and hearing loss human beings and other animals. Soil pollution is also an important mode of pollution. When the ear thin layer of healthy, productive soil is destroyed where food is grown it is called soil erosion. Healthy soil depends on bacteria, fungi, and small animals to break down wastes in the soil and release nutrients. These nutrients help plants grow. Fertilisers and pesticides can limit the ability of soil organisms to process wastes. As a result, farmers who oven fertilizers and pesticides can destroy their soil’s productivity and are causing many diseases to the people. Not only this, even irrigation in dry areas without proper drainage system can lead to water logging in the fields. it can lead to famines because soil pollution will lead to a poor quality of soil, which in turn will lead to poor crops. Therefore, soil pollution is extremely dangerous. It is the responsibility of each and every one of us to control the rising levels of any form of pollution. We must get our vehicles checked regularly and if the smoke emitting from them is higher than the normal lev el, it should be repaired. Use of firecrackers should be minimized and cigarette smoking should be given up. We must take a vow never to throw any waste materials in the rivers or lakes because that water comes back to us as drinking water. We must take an initiative to  prevent others also from doing so. Hospitals must collect their biomedical wastes and dispose of them in a proper manner. Some should be done with the waste materials from factories and industries. Recycling should be made a practice and children should be taught how to recycle simple things in school. This practice will make them to recycle things rather than throw them like garbage. The volume of our music systems should be kept low so that others are not disturbed. Even in parties these should be stopped after some time to avoid noise pollution and inconvenience to others. Thus, only when we decide to do our duty to keep our dear planet clean, we can succeed in controlling pollution. Only then we can make this world’s better place to live for you and for me’.

European Trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

European Trade - Essay Example EU adopted this policy as a commitment to the society. Almost 25% of European Union’s trades with other countries include services. It has its most trade with United States. European Union is the second in the world in terms of investments. But the commercial policy of the Union mainly relates to the goods. The EU entertains trades with those countries that are weaker in terms of trade activities. Ensuring smoother trade with such countries contribute to its economic development. Therefore, the Union also has an important role in World Trade Organization (WTO). The major feature of its trade with third countries is the common tariff and other trade charges being charged by the Union. The commission also had a common foreign policy for its trade governance. The policy has three pillars on which the policy is constituted. The three pillars are Community Pillar, Common foreign and security policy Pillar, Police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters pillar. All the three pillars relates to different aspects. The common tariffs and trade charges has enabled many economically backward countries to participate in the trade activities internationally. The three pillars show that the agreements are formed not only for the trade cooperation but also for cooperation in all matters that are concerned with economic development and eradication of crimes. The Union gives preferences to the economically backward countries. The commission has a foreign and security policy that is the second pillar of the commission. The second pillar entails policies regarding cooperation in defence matters. This helps to have a common union in terms of defence. â€Å"The European Union, together with its Member States, is the largest provider of technical assistance to these countries† (The EU’s relations with Eastern Europe & Central Asia. 2001). European Union is one of largest trading partner of Eastern Europe and

Student's Post 4 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Student's Post 4 - Research Paper Example ts of a vision statement for example correspond to Flint’s definition of a vision statement and therefore offer a basis for reliable analysis (2013). Your analysis of the business to derive its suitable mission and vision statements also identifies your competence and level of rationale. I also concur with your recommendation of a motivational leadership approach because of the organization’s competitive environment that requires empowerment and influence towards competitive advantage. You also demonstrated analytic skills in reviewing the organization’s culture (Dubrin, 2013). I like your approach to communicating the organization’s background information on a table because it simplifies the information. I however believe that analyses of the organization’s approach should have been specific to identify with the scope of the organization’s activities. Your analysis is however general. I also think that your post on the organization’s leadership, human resource management, and culture are more descriptive than analytical. Could you for example consider this approach more analytical? You begin by identifying elements of human resource management such as recruitment, selection, training and rewarding, and then comparing these elements with the organization’s approach to human resource management (Saiyadain,

To What Extent Might the Current Approach to International Carbon Essay

To What Extent Might the Current Approach to International Carbon Reduction be Described as Neo-liberal - Essay Example The present carbon reduction approaches cannot be regarded as purely neo-liberalism since it mostly runs under market mechanisms, but is also impacted by political aspects. â€Å"Neo-liberal† is political-economic restructuring and often is called â€Å"structural adjustment programs† (Russ, 1999). Russ (1999) mentioned that â€Å"neo-liberalism has the features that include privatization, free-market, austerity, and comparative advantage.† Specific to carbon trading aspects, the features of a neo-liberal market should be as follows. First, the transaction of carbon and its related facilities, in addition to resources, should be owned by the private sector or multinational enterprises. Secondly, neo-liberalism means that the price of all factors that are related to carbon transactions should be set by the global market. These factors include market price, salaries of employments, shipping fees, etc. Last but not least, it includes the decreasing of public spendin g. This means that all services related to carbon trading shall be under market conditions and without government â€Å"interference.† The Kyoto Protocol was created for the purpose of carbon reduction emission obligations for industrial countries (Sander, 2010, P7). All the current methods are largely based on the Kyoto Protocol. Annex I countries have a goal to control carbon emissions by a certain amount at the end of the Kyoto Protocol. Thus, it gives these Annex I countries the opportunity to engage in the market of global carbon emissions. In this case, they are able to do transactions with flexible mechanisms through the Kyoto Protocol. These mechanisms include International Emissions Trading (IET), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), and Joint Implementation (JL) (Sander,... This essay declares that the present carbon reduction approaches cannot be regarded as purely neo-liberalism since it mostly runs under market mechanisms, but is also impacted by political aspects. â€Å"Neo-liberal† is political-economic restructuring and often is called â€Å"structural adjustment programs†. Russ mentioned that â€Å"neo-liberalism has the features that include privatization, free-market, austerity, and comparative advantage.† This paper makes a conclusion that specific to carbon trading aspects, the features of a neo-liberal market should be as follows. First, the transaction of carbon and its related facilities, in addition to resources, should be owned by the private sector or multinational enterprises. Secondly, neo-liberalism means that the price of all factors that are related to carbon transactions should be set by the global market. These factors include market price, salaries of employments, shipping fees, etc. Last but not least, it includes the decreasing of public spending. This means that all services related to carbon trading shall be under market conditions and without government â€Å"interference.† Trading among these countries is worth over $100 billion each year. The free market, private sectors, and international trading play essential roles in the global emissions trading scheme. The market of carbon trading effectively helps reduce carbon levels. Meanwhile, there were not any t argets set for developing countries. Fast growing economies in the developing world, such as China, India, Thailand, Egypt, and Iran, have increased their need for emissions trading.

Walmart change proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Walmart change proposal - Essay Example So, if I were to intervene, I would give suggestions on the changes that need to be effected in order to resolve these problems. First, the company needs to comply with the wage laws. It should stop exploiting its workers, but pay them at least a minimum wage of $10 per hour. Besides, the company should improve occupational health to the workers. Anyone who works as a seamstress or fabric cutters should be given high quality protective devices like gloves (Ingram; Yue & Rao, 2010). Moreover, the management should not discriminate on employees based on racial prejudices. Lastly, the company should soften its stance and allow its work force to form unions and improve communication with them. So, by supporting outfits like Organization United for Respect (OUR) Wal-Mart, the company would be doing a great thing. I believe that if these changes are properly implemented, the company would have to build a cordial relationship between the management and employees. Thus, it would be in the right path for regaining its reputation, growing and accomplishing its goals. Employee-welfare needs to be reconsidered because they constitute a very significant component of the organization. Without motivating them, nothing can be

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKETS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKETS - Essay Example In a simpler terminology it measures the movement in value of any security with the movement in price of the market as a whole. This factor can be important in establishing a portfolio. There are many types of companies, some operate very closely with the financial institutions and markets while others have different operations e.g. manufacturing. All types of companies make investments. These investments play a huge role in assessing the cost of capital(Intermediate Financial Management). The cost of capital is basically the interest they pay on debt and dividends on stocks. This cost basically depends as explained above on the amount of risk associated. If the risk is low, that is beta for a company is low, its cost of capital will automatically be low. Investors will be willing to invest in it for lower returns and banks will lend on a lower rate. (Similar example can be found in intermediate financial management)We can better comprehend this with an example. Let us assume that Company X makes investments in Gold mines. Each Gold mine has equal probability of giving no gold at all and gold worth ten times its extraction cost. The extraction expenditure for a gold mine; irrespective that it results in gold or not, is $100 for small size mine and $1000 for a large size mine. In the first scenario Company X who is short of money and has just $ 1000 to invest, invests in a large gold mine. Now risk of a loss of the $1000 investment is 50%, which is very high. This will associate a high risk with the company’s future cash flows and investors will require a high return; thus driving its cost of capital up. In the second scenario however Company X decides to invest in ten small gold mines. Although the return is the same but the risk has gone down considerably, because most of the risk has been diversified away. (Intermediate Financial

Marketing Strategies Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Marketing Strategies - Personal Statement Example It also highlights how Phil addresses the gaps that are present in products provided and customer expectations. Table of Content Executive Summary of the Marketing Plan 5 Company Introduction 5 Mission Statement 6 Branding 6 Pricing 8 Distribution Plan 10 Integrated Marketing Communication 11 Customer Satisfaction Plan 11 Marketing strategies 12 SWOT 13 Strength 14 Opportunity 14 Differentiation strategy 15 Be a leader of follower 15 Macro Environmental Issues 16 Significant Business Trends 16 Marketing Plan 17 Reference 21 Executive Summary of the Marketing Plan Phil has been planning to expand its business. Africa is having the maximum demand for electronic goods in the world so Phil has been planning to set up its base in this area. Phil is planning to launch both low as well as medium end phones in this market. Along with providing goods according to the requirement, Phil has been providing variety of services. Effective after sale services and repairs will help in the expansion of the company. The basic market plan is to produce only those goods that are of high demand. Provide good after sale services so that it can gather some loyal customers who would stick to the brand for a long time. The requirements of different markets are different so Phil has carried out an effective research of each product. The aim of the company is to become a market leader in future. The target customers need to be estimated and accordingly the profit and sales plan needs to be prepared. This would invariably help the marketing plan of the company. The marketing plan that it follows in the west is different from what it has been following in Africa as the taste and preferences differ from place to place. It needs to effectively execute its marketing plan for the success of the company. Company Introduction Phil Company Limited was set up on 12th April 2008. It is a private company which deals in manufacturing of electronic goods. Phil Samuel founded this company. The headquar ters of Phil Company Limited is situated in Cambridge, USA. There are two manufacturing sites in Kingston and Jamaica. Phil Company Limited is a manufacturing company in USA. The company is owned by Dick Harry, Phil Samuel along with 8 other partners. The products that the company manufactures consist of television sets, radios, micro waves, cell phones and computer hardware. Phil Company Limited has been in manufacturing business for the last 4 years. Phil Company Limited generally manufactures goods based on the orders from the various retailers existing in the market. The total employee strength of Phil Company Limited stands is about 2000, which include its sites in US and Jamaica. The company has been steadily increasing its market share in both domestic as well as international market because of the company's experience in this sector as well as the company's performance. The company is striving hard to increase its market share. Mission Statement The Mission Statement consist s of the purpose of the organization. The main purpose or mission of the organization is to become the leader in manufacturing as well as marketing the electronic goods not only in USA but throughout the world. The organization is trying to bind in the latest technology which would help in production of advanced electronic products which would carter to the requirements of the people and thus will be successful in its mission of becoming the largest manufacturer of electronic goo

Modern Germany in the span 1648 to the present day Term Paper

Modern Germany in the span 1648 to the present day - Term Paper Example Germany in dealing with its enemies to win a war makes them be the hammers as opposed to the Anvil. For example when France declares war in 1870, the Germans reluctantly places their army under the command of the Prussian King, this act is purely seen as a German cause (Heath pg. 78). After the victory of the war in sedan, Germany achieves unification and in November, the same year a deal is struck resulting into a single state under the Prussian leadership. In the arrangement, William I is extremely reluctant to accept the title of emperor of which Bismarck later convinces him and he proclaims the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles and his s the symbol of French power and Triumphalism. The occurrences of this period are just a form of strategy as later an added twist of the knife comes in when victory is imposed by Bismarck of the Prussian troops through the streets and Germany becomes the hammer once more (Taylor pg. 76-9). The ancient German Reich gets reconstituted into a modern, comp act, national form in which the Reichstag comes back as a form of parliament. A meeting is held in Berlin of all the delegates elected all over the new nation. The Reichstag at this stage is only a legislative body that command very little control over the executive arm of the government. this makes Bismarck be the executive himself more than ever before and by an extent qualifies him as the first imperial chancellor. He commands the whole of the German empire that consists of 4 kingdoms, 5 grand duchies, 13 duchies, principalities and other free cities. This period marks the unification of Germany into a nation of federal in nature and with a strong central control making the story of Prussia be that of Germany (Heath pg. 128). Concisely, this is he period in German History where the country experiences a rise in nationalism in the face of Napoleon’s Conquest. Thereafter, Germany became united under the auspice of Prussia where Australia is left out. The country prospers fur ther through the growth in agricultural sector and an end to serfdom; such developments are followed by a growth of industry and railroads (Taylor pg. 224). The next face in the history of Germany is the duration between 1890 and 1945, which begins by the signing of the Heligoland-Zanzibar Treaty, which made Germany gain control of a strategic Island near its main seaports and gained agreement on its colonial holdings in Africa (Solsten pg. 59). This saw Germany turn its colony, Zanzibar to Britain. It is within the same period that the Rudolf Diesel engine is invented as well as the Kruger telegram sent. For the better part of he century after Bismarck’s fall, a political paralysis is realized in Germany as a result of the political system that he left in place. This is largely attributed to the lack of reforms that existed between the democratic Reichstag, the parliament of the new united Germany, which came in place through an election by universal suffrage, in the mix, is also the parliaments of the individual states (Heath pg. 223). Bernhard Von Bulow, the new Reich Chancellor announces the second proposal for a German fleet in which he expresses his belief on an expansionist German foreign policy. This is because he believed that political expansion was necessary for the sole reason of protecting Germany from other powers. He metaphorically uses, â€Å"the hammer and anvil, phrase as he speaks to his fellow citizens (Taylor pg. 72).

The Dog Days Essay Example for Free

The Dog Days Essay Jasper Jones is an Australian novel written by Craig Silvey, from the opening line Craig Silvey puts the reader right in the action. Jasper Jones is written in the first person from Charlie Bucktin’s point of view, he is a teenage boy living in a country town called Corrigan. The novel starts when Jasper Jones pays Charlie an unexpected visit in the middle of the night. And the novel tells the story of how Charlie’s life changes from that moment on. Charlie’s recollection of events is shared honestly, making the story both tangible and humorous. The font cover of Jasper Jones The novel was short listed for the Miles Franklin award in 2010. Jasper Jones is a page turner a ‘whodunit’. Craig Silvey has created a tightly crafted novel and Jasper’s arrival foreshadows the beginning of the hero’s journey for Charlie. From the opening page Charlie and the reader want to know why, Jasper has come to his room in the middle of the night? The action of the story starts immediately. Charlie is a teenager who has never snuck away from home, the fact that Jasper has sort him out is both thrilling and ominous. Jasper asks Charlie if he is ready! â€Å"What? Ready for what? † Jasper doesn’t give any details, â€Å"I tole you. I need your help, Come on. † Craig Silvey via his characters, raises engaging story questions to keep the reader involved. Charlie is conflicted, he tells us he is excited yet afraid, this inner conflict also adds to the drama of the first chapter, as we also get a sense of who these characters are. The scene is set in the first chapter, Charlie is following Jasper through the town, and like Charlie the reader has no idea where they are headed. Charlie describes where they are, and as he thinks the reader is introduced to the key characters in the town. Every detail raised in the opening chapter is paid off either in the first chapter or by the end of the novel. We learn about Charlie’s dreams and about the social currency of the small-minded Australian town, called Corrigan. Charlie’s thoughts give us important back story. For example they stop out the front of Mad Jack Lionel’s place, which Charlie hopes is not their destination. The reader learns about the local urban myth surrounding Mad Jack Lionel. And how to raise your social status in town- by stealing peaches from Mad Jack’s tree. This back story helps set up the story themes; of truth, courage and coming of age. Jasper Jones, explores dynamic relationships of love, friendship, loyalty and abuse. The characters are strong with a terrific commaraderie between Jeffery and Charlie. It is well worth a look, it’s not just for young adults but for adults who love reading a book that you can’t put down.

Economics of Sport Essay Example for Free

Economics of Sport Essay 1. Introduction: This report will overview and discuss how stakeholders in professional sports can get as much as they want out of the sport, without too much involvement from the government. It will also cover some of the purposes of government-intervention and what they should do to keep the competitive balance intact for the leagues. There will be examples and discussions drawn from clubs and leagues in the European Soccer and also differences between how sports leagues on either sides of the Atlantic ocean works in this matter. The importance of keeping stakeholders happy is the key to on-pitch success. Stakeholders in sport are everybody involved with sport; participants (players/athletes), fans, governing bodies, financial investors and communities at large. 1.1 Background: Since the early stages of the discussion and the involvement of the economics side of the field of sports, Naele (1964) identified professional sports leagues as a different animal than any other competitive industry in the world we know today. The main focus for professional sport leagues is to provide and compromise teams to a highly competitive level where they can produce and sell sporting events to the public (Fort Quirk, 1992). Similar individual teams make up a professional sports league, that all relies to gain the maximum of economic benefits as possible while relying on the opportunity to compete against other teams to produce their outputs; the outcome will be games for the fans to enjoy. Without an organised structure of games and tables, the competitive output would not exist for sports leagues or its fans. Naele (1964) also claims that there is one main difference between a typical competitive business industry and the sports industry. He says that a normal industry gains the most economic and capital benefits while it faces the least amount of competition as possible. Simply put, the businesses are seeking to be the only supplier to the market to become the market leader and in that way earn money. This is not a preferred position for any professional sports league or team, while they rely on other teams and leagues to produce a product of outcome to make a sustainable business out of it. 1.2 Why do clubs either focus on winning or maximising profits? Models often used to discuss how sports leagues tend to behave are primarily the trend if club owners either aims for maximise profits (El-Hodiri Quirk, 1971) or wins (Kà ©senne, 2000). It is seen that the North American major sports leagues and the European leagues supports the assumptions that clubs uses a trade-off point of profit and wins (Atkinson, Stanley, Tschirhart, 1988). The most optimal for leagues and clubs should be to aim towards finding a model that balances the weighted sum of profit and wins (Dietl, Grossmann, Lang, 2011). Therefor we sometimes see teams and leagues that work after gaining profit and economic benefits for survival, and on the other side we see the teams and leagues that works towards winning as their main goal and business objective. Some owners of team are even willing to lose or invest money to build a winning team in the long run (Fort Quirk 2005). 1.3 Where does the government fit in to the market of sports? There are two main reasons why governments intervene in sports: efficiency and equity (Andreff, 2001). Efficiency reports to the allocation of production resources. That involves sharing and allocation of who does what, how will it be done and where it will be produced. In other words, government and state supplies the right people and funding so that sport production from all levels are made as efficient as possible. Equity on the other hand are concerned how the distribution of the market will benefit and gain throughout society (McWha, Smith, Clarke, 2000). Meaning that the government and state joins up to gain the participation and enrolment of sport from youth and grassroots levels so that as many as possible can get the chance of getting involved with sports programs. Government tends to use sports funding to gain a bigger and broader social wellbeing and strengthen national identities while gaining and providing the country with more talent and more competitive power on an in ternational scale (McWha, Smith, Clarke, 2000). Government bodies also ensure that rules are followed and that the regulatory framework for how the organisations operate are followed correctly. 2. Key Issues The sports culture between Europe and America varies a lot. All from regulating, formatting and design and managing are way different from each side of the Atlantic. The way that the American sports leagues are formed is that they are built as independent organisations which has an entry barrier through franchise sales. This means that a new entry to the league is only possible if a current team is for sale of if the league are in a need of open up for expansion (Cain, Louis Haddock, 2005). In Europe they use an open model, which is seen as a hierarchical structure where entry relies fully on a promotion/relegation system (Andreff, 1989). 2.1 European Football Football is by far the world’s most popular sport with over 3.5 billion fans worldwide (Dunning, 1999) The English Barclays Premier League had in the season of 2009-2010 revenues worth of  £2.1 billion, which by then was a record for the league (Conn, 2011). Now a few years later, a new broadcast deal has been signed and together with the worlds most expensive regular tickets prices, the revenues will be worth nearly  £5 million (Pantanella, 2012). With an promising and an substantial uplift of the already massive broadcast deals of the 2013/2014 season, the English Premier League will account for more then the half of the top 20 clubs with the highest revenue of Europe (Bosshardt, Bridge, Hanson, Shaffer, Stenson Thorpe, 2013). From the roots, the clubs throughout Europe is voluntary organisations. But with the new age of media, commercialisation and globalisation; the bigger and the dominant clubs are more seen as business entities with capital, a vision of profit and the responsibility of results for the fans (Boyle Haynes, 2004). According to the Deloitte annually edition of the Football Money League, the Spanish giant Real Madrid became the first European club team to surpass the â‚ ¬500 million (AUD 658 million) revenue threshold in one year during the season of 2011/2012. Second on that list is Barcelona FC with AUD 619 million and third is the English sided Manchester United FC on AUD 508 million (Bosshardt, Bridge, Hanson, Shaffer, Stenson Thorpe, 2013) With this amount of money being shoved in and out of the football organisation in Europe it is hard to see why there would be a need of government intervention other than how the regulations of the sharing of the deals will be spent. The bigger, the better and the more popular the club are, the more fans they will attract and the more TV viewers they will get (Fort Quirk, 2005). In Spain there are no regulations or laws of the distribution of the broadcast revenue at all. They are letting every club negotiate individually with the broadcasters available on the market. Since the season of the Spanish La Liga 2004/2005, there has only been one year when a team (Villareal 07/08) other then Real Madrid and Barcelona clinched the first two spots of the table (List of Champions Sport Soccer Statistic Foundation, 2013). Thanks to this system, the league has almost lost its competitive balance for the rest of the teams of the league while the two dominant teams clinch the best commercial-d eals for the league for themselves and the spots of continental competition. The English Premier League has also been dominated by the classic â€Å"top 4† teams, Chelsea FC, Manchester United FC, Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC. Since the English Football League First Division rebranded itself to the Barclays Premier League in 1992, there has only been one season where a team outside of the former mentioned to become Champions (Blackburn Rovers 94/95), and since then there has only been Leeds United that has been able to steal a top three place in the table from the â€Å"top 4† teams (Past Winners – The Football League, 2013). The sharing of the broadcast rights revenue in England is shared in three parts: 50% are shared equally throughout all 20 clubs, 25% in facility fees and 25% depending how they end up in the league (Premier League Season Review, 2011). With this numbers in mind, the money attracted to certain clubs seen as being more economically viable than others, comes from individual contracts, endorsements and overseas business opportunities and sponsorships, not exclusive from broadcast rights. This is where the problem is. A trend of overseas rich oligopolies taking over ownerships of European clubs has formed an international debate whether the ethics and moral of the competitive balance of the sport. With almost immeasurable amounts of money, a civil person can by the majority of shares of a team and transform it to a name-reputational team with gaining high-value player transfers and offers high wages (Vrooman, 1995). The government and the state bodies around Europe have since 2009 together with UEFA agreed on putting a motion of a so-called Financial Fair Play. It was introduced due to the concern of the heavy spending of a number of professional clubs across Europe, it was hoped that the regulations would eventually lead to a more ‘level playing field’ by preventing clubs with very wealthy owners who make substantial cash gifts to their club from gaining an unfair advantage over other clubs who are run on a more sustainable business model, and in so doing encourage lower levels of spending (UEFA, 2012). 2.2 Other leagues Over the Atlantic Ocean there is a whole other perspective of sports. America has uniquely formed a fundamental culture, where schools and colleges are to be the main resource of forming the professional leagues (Bottenburg, 2010). Leagues in America have the world’s most profitable league; the National Football League (NFL) that alone draws in an annual profit of over one billion Australian dollars (Seepersaud 2010) The American Leagues are seen as the most competitive-balanced leagues in the world, with leagues as the NFL, NHL, MLB and the NBA. In America they use a variety of implements of their formatting of the leagues to make it as fair and as competitive as possible. But the how the competitive balance work in practise varies from eye to eye. As mentioned before, America uses a closed league system. Thanks to that it is possible for them to use a so called draft system, where the lowest ranking team from previous season has the opportunity to choose first in the upcoming draft of young talents from all over the world. NFL, NBA and NHL also implemented salary caps, which give the teams over the league a total amount of money to spend on wages each season so that not one single team is the only one to afford the biggest names. They also have a season concluded with a knockout play-off. This kind of formatting makes the outcome each year impossible to range. Since the commercialisation of the sports imploded America there has only been few back-to-back wins in the professional leagues. There has been some dominance by teams as the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA), New York Yankees (MLB), but other than that the outcome is considerably uncertain from year to year. Not least in the NHL and the NFL. 3. Summary Since most of the European clubs are win-maximised focused teams with the main aim to survive and stay as high up in the league system as possible, the intervention of government and state should be as low as possible. For the participants of the game they really do not need any actions to be taken from the government other than regulating the safety on the pitch with guards and police forces protecting them to unknown elements of danger. They will all get paid, and if they are good enough to seek themselves elsewhere for more lucrative deals, the already government-applied silly-season and the transfer-windows will secure them and the clubs. In America the draft system and college involvement should be enough for the government’s involvement. Since the American sports leagues are working after a cartel linked system to survive and make profits, the salary cap helps younger and inexperienced players to secure wage-deals that suits them in their careers. The fans will always be together and involved with their club unless something drastic will happen. The way that government should intervene to keep fans from all levels satisfy are to maybe try to manage and put pressure on leagues and clubs to keep their gate-tickets as fair and lucrative as possible. With the draft system and the Financial Fair Play, the fans from teams and clubs that have not gained the trophies or cups recently, will be to their advantage in a near future. This will make a higher competitive market for talents and that the spread of players will be wider overall. Community will get help of government involvement of them interact and supply state and government supported facilities by bringing either existing clubs or future franchises to their community. This is a form of politic question that involves tax-money and an overall public demand. As long as the leagues and the teams manage to keep a sustainable competitive balance and a high quality outcome, I do not see why governments should interact and interfere with how the sports leagues are managed today. The Financial Fair Play is too soon to reflect on how it will work out as an outcome for the European football, but we can already see that it has marked its point in countries as Turkey and Spain when UEFA banned Besiktas and Malaga from continental competition due to overspending of their own capacity. The government should work from the community’s perspective; keep a full-on investigation and reporting about drugs and safety of players and athletes. In short, let the leagues and sports manage themselves, because in the end it is all about keeping the most important stakeholders happy and satisfied, the fans.

J.S.Mills One Very Simple Principle: An Analysis

J.S.Mills One Very Simple Principle: An Analysis How simple is J.S.Mills one very simple principle? In and of itself, the principle is entirely simple – it takes barely a line to be stated, and is easily understood. â€Å"The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection† (Mill,1869: pg 9). He goes on to explain exactly what he means, but that single line encapsulates the principle itself, without requiring additional clarification. Subsequent lines do not in any way contradict this statement, they merely emphasise. The principle by itself being simple, however, does not mean that its implications and ramifications are so straightforward; it may seem clear, but logical absurdities can be found – can paternalistic interference be justified when, for example, the member of mankind has no knowledge of how dangerous his activities are? The classic example is that of the bridge, which appears to be intact, but will collapse if a man steps on it. A direct an d literal reading of Mill’s principle would forbid anyone from interfering when a man unknowingly took a step onto this bridge – such an interpretation would not, however, be fair either to Mill or to the unfortunately ill-informed member of society. The principle is therefore simple to state, but not so simple to understand. It has its subtleties, and must be considered, rather than straightforwardly accepted. Before continuing, it is important to note what it is Mill is meaning with the word ‘freedom’ – referring to it without an accepted definition would at best be confusing, and far worse could potentially lead to a highly misleading understanding. Mill’s use of the word is value free. That is not to say that he has no morals, merely that when he writes, ‘freedom’ is not judged. It consists merely of the ability to act following one’s own desires. If one can follow these desires, one is free. If one cannot, he is not. There is no further weighting given to whatever those actions may be, whether they are buying a newspaper or committing murder – all that matters when it comes to ‘freedom’ is whether or not a person with the desire to carry out an action is permitted to do so (Scanlan, 1958: pg 198). Mill’s writings were concerned with power over the individual, but not merely with the legislative power of the state; he was deeply concerned with the moral force that society was capable of exercising over the individual. It was not merely the capacity of an over powerful government or monarch about which he wrote. The capacity for the tyranny of the majority over the individual also concerned him deeply. For this reason it is perhaps surprising that he installed caveats immediately after his principle; a man’s own good was a valid reason â€Å"for remonstrating with him, or reasoning, or persuading, or entreating† (Mill: pg 9). This level of input that Mill considered acceptable under such circumstances perhaps goes a long way towards mitigating the lack of any compulsive interference that he was willing to accept – in his eyes, a sufficiently great force of remonstration represented an almost compulsive effect due to societal forces, against which he f requently railed. Even though his principle would ban any actual compulsion, consideration of Mill’s normal arguing position reveals that he was prepared to permit events in the interests of protective paternalism which he typically considered to be undue influence over others. The interplay between state, society and the individual is a leitmotif of Mill’s writings, and merely because the theory he states forbids the state from carrying out an act does not mean that he does not feel it should be permitted; indeed, in this scenario when not only does he not forbid societal interaction, but positively encourages intervention of a kind suggests that he was willing to allow society to attempt to morally force people down a route which was less harmful to the individual concerned. The principle itself remains simple, but the context in which it is framed is significantly more complex. Joel Feinberg concludes that the state has a right to prevent self-regarding harmful conduct only when it is substantially non voluntary or when temporary intervention is necessary to establish whether it is voluntary or not. (quoted in Arneson, 1980: pg 470). In the example of the bridge referenced earlier, an ill informed member of the public stepping on a bridge which would collapse under their weight could not be said to be acting voluntarily; the state would be well within its rights in such a scenario under Mill’s logic to station a guard patrolling the area, to leap in and tackle such ill-informed people, stopping them from involuntarily taking the fatal step. If, however, they are running towards the bridge and shouting about how they know it will kill them, his logic would forbid the guard from taking any direct action. Whatever we feel about this compulsion to allow people to harm themselves if they so choose, it is a basic tenet of liberalism, that people know what the best for themselves is, and that interfering in their desire to pursue their own good in their own way is intrinsically wrong. This can, however, be harder to test than it would originally appear; what if the person is, for example, mentally ill? Indeed, if a person wishes to take an act which can obviously further their good but contains in it some degree of harm, or pain, we can easily understand both why a person, or state, would want to interfere and why they should be prevented from doing so. Yet if a person states that they wish to follow a course of action that will bring them no obvious benefit, and yet will clearly generate a great deal of harm, at what point should the state step in to take action? Is a mental assessment to determine their sanity unjust interference? After all, if a person is mentally unstable, surely they cannot truly be said to be acting of their own free will. Informed consent means more than merely knowing what the risks are, it means understanding what the consequences mean. Furthermore, Mill’s principle divides matters crucially into two areas: the personal and the public. Even if all the questions relating to the private are answered satisfactorily, the questions relating to public actions are somewhat greater: when a man acts, it will typically affect others, however mildly. If the impact of these effects is to infringe upon the rights or happiness of others, then the state and the people are justified, under Mill’s logic, in interfering with their actions. So what about the guard on the bridge – compelled to allow the suicidal to continue running, and then forced to witness their deaths? Could it be said that in order to prevent this mental anguish, the runner should be prevented from acting? Mill gives great consideration to various potential actions later in On Liberty, showing how his simple principle can be interpreted and used. The guard can of course turn away, and in Mill’s time such considerations would not have be en given much thought, so long before modern ideas about mental health. It is a question that would have been interesting to see Mill’s actual argument, but we must make do with merely applying his principle in order to find his likely answer ourselves. It is unlikely he would have wishes it to have an impact on the consideration of the action – after all, if it did then any serious act could be prevented simply by placing somebody there who would be injured by watching it. It is highly unlikely he would have even momentarily entertained this massive curtailment of individual liberty. There is not necessarily any need to over-think Mill’s principle by inventing wild circumstances and asking whether or not his decisions would still apply. Mill’s â€Å"one very simple principle† is, at the point of statement, very simple indeed; the only circumstances in which mankind may interfere in the liberty of another is in the interest of protecting harm to others. No action may be taken solely due to the apparent interests of the person whose liberty would be interfered with. This ban on paternalism assumes a high degree of freedom and responsibility, and more than that, in order to be applied simply it seems to assume a very high degree of knowledge, and to discount the possibility of mental illness at least that which cannot easily be tested. Feinberg attempts to account for this with his assertion that actions may be interfered with when a person is not acting voluntarily, or when it is not clear that they are acting voluntarily, and this is an appealing idea; when the hypothetical person is heading for the equally hypothetical damaged bridge, failure to ascertain whether or not they know that stepping on it w ill lead to death cannot be rectified after the fact. Interfering in their liberty whilst those checks are made may be odious, but it is merely temporary, and need not be seen as an infringement of Mill’s principle. Overall, the principle itself is indeed very simple; it is merely application in certain fringe circumstances which has any need to become anything to the contrary. References John Stuart Mill, On Liberty 4th Ed. Longman, Roberts Green, London, 1869 Richard J. Arneson, Mill versus Paternalism, in Ethics, Vol. 90, No. 4. (Jul., 1980), pp. 470-489. James Bogen; Daniel M. FarrelL, Freedom and Happiness in Mills Defence of Liberty in The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 113. (Oct., 1978), pp. 325-338. Clark W. Bouton, John Stuart Mill: On Liberty and History in The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 3. (Sep., 1965), pp. 569-578. D. G. Brown, Mill on Liberty and Morality in The Philosophical Review, Vol. 81, No. 2. (Apr., 1972), pp. 133-158. Robert W. Hoag, Happiness and Freedom: Recent Work on John Stuart Mill in Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 15, No. 2. (Spring, 1986), pp. 188-199. David Lyons, Human Rights and the General Welfare in Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 6, No. 2. (Winter, 1977), pp. 113-129. James P. Scanlan, J. S. Mill and the Definition of Freedom in Ethics, Vol. 68, No. 3. (Apr., 1958), pp. 194-206. J. Salwyn Schapiro, John Stuart Mill, Pioneer of Democratic Liberalism in England in Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 4, No. 2. (Apr., 1943), pp. 127-160. C. L. Ten, Mill and Liberty in Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 30, No. 1. (Jan. Mar., 1969), pp. 47-68.

Henri Matisse:Goldfish :: essays research papers

Henri Matisse: Goldfish Henri Emoile Matisse, born in 1869, is regarded as one of the â€Å"great formative figures in 20th-century art†, as well as the leader of the Fauve group. Fauvism is defined as â€Å"an early-20th-century movement in painting begun by a group of French artists and marked by the use of bold, often distorted forms and vivid colors.† Matisse was associated with this group due to his use of vivid colors, as well as his unusual style of presenting objects. Many critics at this time called him, as well as other artists with similar styles, â€Å"a disgrace for art and therefore called them 'The Fauves'. The Fauves means 'Wild Beasts', a name that the artists of the group accepted with pride.† The main goals of the artists in this movement were to break away from the rigid Impressionist movement, and begin using bolder colors, as well as their own interpretations of shapes. The work of Matisse is based on the principals and possibilities of 'leaving out'. The human min d can fill in what is missing in the painting, like dimension, details and plastical forms. The Fauves expressed their feelings of joy for life and joy for art and painting. Fauvism paved the way for future styles of art, and was considered radical in the early 20th century. Henri Emoile Matisse was born in Le Cateau in northern France on December 31, 1869. The son of a middle class family, his first career was in the law field. However, an appendicitis attack in 1890 rendered him bedridden, and with much time on his hands, he began to study the art of painting. To help alleviate his boredom, his mother bought him a paint box, and thus began his new passion: painting. In 1893, the work of Matisse was noticed by Gustav Moreau, (1826-1898) French painter, who developed a distinctive style in the Symbolist mode. Matisse displayed his work for the first time in 1896 at the ‘Salon de la Societe Nationale’. In 1903, Matisse was exposed to the pointillist paintings of Henri Edmond Cross and Paul Signac. Pointillism was a late 19th-century method of painting, consisting of depositing small dots or strokes of pure color on the canvas. Seen from a distance, these â€Å"points† blend and give the effect of a different color and heightened lumino sity. The style, a development of impressionist color theories, was originated by the French painters Georges Seurat and Paul Signac.

Sex Offender Laws and Wrongful Convictions Essay -- Argumentative Ess

Sex Offender Laws and Wrongful Convictions The laws for sex offenders should be changed for many reasons. This is a very controversial subject, and tempers flare easily and often for good reason. Due to the plethora of opinions on this subject it is hard to determine what is right and what is wrong. The very same government sending teenagers to school together as a group and teaching them about safe sex is the same government that is bringing charges against them for practicing sex. Not only that but they are labeling them as sex offenders for the rest of their lives. How confusing this must be to the young people of America today. So many young people are finding this out the hard way by being accused of a sex offense for being with a person of their own age group, their peers. Consensual sex by teenagers experimenting is an activity that is labeled by most states as sexual assault, statutory rape and/or child sexual abuse. This felony crime, in most states, is also accompanied by registering as a sex offender for the rest of a person’s life if convicted. Growing up in the 60’s, it was common and acceptable for a sixteen year old to date a nineteen or twenty year old. It is a good thing these laws were not in effect then, because most of the young people being accused today would have never been born. Their parents would either still be in jail or unable to afford to have children due to the fact that a registered sex offender cannot find decent paying employment. â€Å"No one will hire a person labeled a sex offender no matter what the situation, clearly a violation of human rights.† (Laurie Peterson July 27th 2007) Federal legislation expanded the release of criminal records reports under the fair credit reporting... ... and Hayley Mitchell Haugen. Detroit: Green haven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. "Age of Consent Laws Must Be Reviewed and Revised." Age of Consent. Ed. Olivia Ferguson and Hayley Mitchell Haugen. Detroit: Green haven Press, 2010. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Cayenne B. "Jessica’s Law." U. N. I. O. N. - HOME PAGE. Web. 04 Dec. 2010. . Sex Offenses American Law Yearbook 2007) Detroit: Gale 2008 180-181 Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context Web 1 Dec. 2010. Document URL http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage "Shred Your Sex Offender Map - Forbes.com." Forbes.com - Business News, Financial News, Stock Market Analysis, Technology & Global Headline News. Web. 04 Dec. 2010. .

The Taming of the Shrew Katherine :: Taming Shrew Essays

The Taming of the Shrew Katherine In William Shakespeare's play, The Taming of the Shrew, the shrew played by Katherine, had a terrible outlook on life and just about everything else. Her negativity was caused by her younger, more beautiful sister Bianca. Bianca wanted to get married. She had all of the men's hearts, Katherine had none. If Katherine got married then Bianca could get married. She truly was a shrew who needed to be tamed. Petruchio came to Padua. Petruchio could tame Katherine for the right amount of money. Before Petruchio's arrival, Katherine, the terriable, untamed shrew, caused problems with everyone. All that knew her hated her. She felt very jealous of her beautiful sister Bianca, because of her suitors and her beauty. Katherine tries to start fights with Bianca all of the time. She even hit Bianca. No one wanted to marry Katherine until Petruchio arrives in Padua to find a wife. "I come to wives it wealthy in Padua; If wealthy, then happily in Padua" (ShakespeareIii76-77). He and one of Bianca's suitors, Luciento had a conversation. As a joke, Luciento mentioned to Petruchio marry Katherine. Petruchio though of the profit and thought it could be great. "Petruchio can have no illusions about the fabled shrew, Katherine, for others are quick to tell him quite frankly what to expect"(Vaughn27). Petruchio and Katherine's father meet and decide that Petruchio will get twenty-thousand crowns if he weds Katherine. Petruchio and Katherine meet and they do not start off on the best of terms. But Petruchio decides they should get married anyway and he sets a date. Petruchio then leaves to get ready for the wedding . The wedding day arrives and Petruchio arrives at the wedding in ridiculous clothing and drunk. During the ceremony he hits the priest. During their own reception Petruchio demands that they shall leave, now the taming begins. Now the taming begins. Once they leave the wedding and are en route to Petruchio's home in Verona, Kate has to ride a burrow through the rain while Petruchio rides a horse. During their trip back many bad things happen to Kate. When they arrive at Petruchio's home Katherine could not fufill her needs of sleep and food with Petruchio's excuses of the food not being good enough and the bed not being good enough for her.

Are there differences in the forms of Christianity and Judaism that are dominant in both the East and the West?

I would like to disagree with the statement that there are differences in the forms of Christianity and Judaism that are dominant in both the East and the West. Religion is a ritualistic institution. The rules, belief systems and also the goals of each specific religion are agreed upon and standardized across the globe. Whatever differences are seen between each are simply variations that come as a result of culture. There are cultural differences inherent between every nation. The difference is not a result of religion changing forms but of people having different ethnic traditions and cultural backgrounds.These alter religion only in the fringes, in the aspects where the most basic and core functions of the said religion are not applicable. For example, languages used in different Christian churches are different. This can result in a slightly different message but in the end there is only one core message: Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior. Judaism, a stricter religious form tha n Christianity, is much the same in the West and in the East. Again, the difference lies only in the cultural difference and the developmental changes that occur as a result of being in different places.However, the skeleton, the framework, of the religion still holds true and thus I believe that there are no specific differences between Eastern and Western versions of religion except for cultural factors which cannot be helped and which do not affect the basic essence of religion Comment on James Otis’ response: I agree that the underlying values and traditions of teachings of religions like Christianity are essentially the same across the West and the East. The presentation of Otis’ ideas, however, seems to be confusing in that they try to tie up the different religions with one another.The problem is not the differences between religions but rather the difference between the practice of these religions in the West and in the East. I also disagree with the fact that slavery, self-preservation, and becoming a free nation are reasons for watered down versions of morality in the West. There are many nations in the East that were colonized by Western powers. Being colonies, most of the natives in these countries were subjected to statuses much like slaves in the East and were also at the receiving end of a strife for self-preservation and freedom.Following the logic of slavery, self preservation and free nationhood in the West, morals in the East should also have been watered down. This reasoning, therefore, does not hold and there is no reason to believe that these are the reasons for the differences of practice in Western and Eastern versions of Christianity and Judaism. It is a matter of culture and tradition and not of issues of nationhood and the like. QUESTION # 2 Response: I don’t think it’s fair that there should be a comparison of importance of people’s lives. However, in my opinion, Alexander the Great was able to con tribute the most to the development of Asia.Although he was a conqueror and although he subjugated different nations of Asia, he was also what I would consider to be the first instrument of globalization. He did not only encourage the interaction of cultures but he also established a unifying language as well as a unifying currency between the lands he conquered. Alexander the great encouraged the mingling of cultures between the West and the East. Debates still continue today to on whether Alexander wanted to better the world or whether he simply wanted to rule it. Either way, his legacy in Asia is indubitable.He was able to found at least 70 cities in both Asia and Africa. Alexander also established many trade routes in order to establish better economic flows between East and West which enriched both sides. Of the three men, I also believe that Marco Polo was able to affect the development of Asia the least. This is because all he was really known to have done was to travel and d ocument his travel along the Silk Road to China. I am not undermining the efforts of Marco Polo but in comparison with Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan’s contributions to Asia, he can easily be said to have contributed the least to the history of Asia.I believe that if it hadn’t been Marco Polo, someone traveling along the Silk Road would have eventually documented it too and it would have been their book that would have increased curiosity and interest in Asia. Marco Polo was by no means the first traveler along the Silk Road. However, he was the author of the most well-known book about travel to China. As a result, he has held a position of esteem in history. However, the efforts of Alexander the Great and of Genghis Khan in developing Asia far outstrip that of Marco Polo’s thus my belief that he has the least important role in the development and progress of Asia.Comment on Patrick Carter’s response: Genghis Khan was not only a conqueror bent on im proving military skills and on expanding the territory of his kingdom. Many negative impressions of Genghis Khan and his Mongolian Horde persist until today. However, it’s also true that he left many positive legacies for Asia. For one, he was responsible for the cohesion of the Silk Road. This allowed for the creation of better lines of communication and trade between the West and the East. Also, he was much like Alexander in that he tolerated different religions. This would explain why the religions of China persisted even after the Mongols ruled there.Genghis Khan was a strong leader who passed on his belief systems and passion to the Mongol rulers who came after him. Although Carter is right in saying that Marco Polo’s travels and writings increased knowledge about the East, this knowledge was only highly significant to those in the West. Development of Asia was not dependent on having the Western society learn more about Eastern customs and practices. Thus althoug h Genghis Khan was a military man with violent tendencies, I still believe that he was more able to enhance the growth of Asia as opposed to Marco Polo. QUESTION # 3 Response:The Mughal Dynasty was the ruling power over India around 1526-1720 while the Ming Dynasty ruled China during 1368-1644. The two dynasties overlapped chronologically and in terms of their contributions to both India and China, there have also been many similarities. Some of the major architectural works in both countries were created during these periods. The Taj Mahal and the Forbidden City are two of the most popular, although definitely not the only, structures from the Mughal and Ming Dynasty. Both dynasties showed a flourishing of the arts. Literature, music, and language grew and developed during both dynasties.Trade and economy also developed during both dynasties. In the Mughal dynasty, but not in the Ming dynasty, religion also flourished as the Mughal emperors were tolerant of different religious syst ems. With regards to economics, development was also different in form. In the Mughal dynasty, trade flourished thanks to the trade routes established to the Arabic and Turkish lands. In the Ming dynasty, on the other hand, economy flourished as a result of an imposition of higher taxes on richer individuals and redistribution of wealth and land to the poorer citizens.The Mughal dynasty was also able to adapt a new form of government, one that was centralized. This was not previously practiced in India. The Ming dynasty, on the other hand, simply adopted the form of government taken by the past dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty. In my opinion, both dynasties were able to contribute much to their respective countries. However, I also believe that the Mughal Dynasty contributed more to the present day life of India as opposed to the Ming Dynasty.Centralized government, tolerance for religion and the architectural works created during the Mughal Dynasty continue to permeate the lifestyle of th e citizens of India today. Also, the legacy of the Mughal Dynasty were unique to them. No dynasty before them were able to inspire such radical and important changes in India. The Ming Dynasty, on the other hand, was not the only dynasty to encourage the flourishing of arts in China. Its economic reforms were also not radically astounding that they changed the way of life of the Chinese up to this day. This is not to say that the legacy of the Ming Dynasty is irrelevant.It is simply an argument that it was not a greater cause of change in China as compared to the Mughal Dynasty’s effects on India. The Forbidden City, one of the greatest architectural works during that time, also had counterparts in past dynasties such as the Great Wall and the Great Canal. Visuals and literary works were also equally distributed across dynasties. It is my belief, therefore, that the Mughal Dynasty was able to contribute more to India. Comment on Shane Coursey’s response: Simply enumera ting the different aspects of both dynasties does not serve the purpose the response was supposed to have.It is not clear from this response in what ways both dynasties are similar and in what ways they are different. Yes, both dynasties are great in their own right but there is still a point of comparison with regards to which was able to contribute more to their respective countries. A dynasty, being a ruling power in a given country, is unique to that country and will therefore have striking differences from other dynasties within the same country and across dynasties of different countries. This should be the main thrust of the response.An analysis of which of the two dynasties was able to give more to either India or China. It is not a discussion of what these dynasties brought but rather, it is a discussion of how one fared in comparison to the other. In my opinion, India’s Mughal Dynasty fared better than China’s Ming Dynasty. This is seen when one dissects the aspects of both dynasties. There are clear differences both in economy and style of government. In terms of art and literature, both flourished but when placed in the context of the past Chinese dynasties, the Ming dynasty was not unique in this flourishing of the arts.Thus the Mughal Dynasty was able to contribute more to present-day India and its culture as opposed to the Ming Dynasty and present-day China. QUESTION # 4 Response: China, Korea, and Japan are thre Asian countries that are inextricably linked in terms of cultural roots. There are those that claim that all three nations are derived from an early form of Mongolian ancestry as the Mongols were very much scattered across Asia in the earlier parts of history. However, all three nations would also claim to have religious origins, believing themselves to have descended from gods, thus rejecting what common ancestor they might all have had.In terms of culture, however, it is very clear that both Japan and Korea have Chinese roots. Japan’s link with China may be explained by the fact that it was once colonized by mainland China during its early history. As a result, Japanese today are seen to utilize Chinese characters in their Japanese alphabet. Some games in Japan have Chinese origins. An example would be the Japanese game called Go which was actually derived from the Chinese board game Wei Ch’i. Korea, on the other hand, may be linked to China due to its proximity. The colonization of Korea by Japan may have also been a bridge for cultural transfer.There have also been numerous Chinese immigrants to Korea over time which may also explain the Chinese roots that Korea has today. Evidence of Korea’s link to China is the meditative practice of Son which was derived from the Chinese meditation of Chan. On another note, this also has a version in Japan which is called Zen. Despite similarities between the three countries, the differences between them remain clear. Because of Japan†™s isolation from the outside world, they were able to develop a unique culture separate from China and Korea. China’s long uninterrupted history has also assured it a unique identity.Korea, on the other hand presents a unique mixture of Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian culture based on the unique history of Korea, itself. Today, all three countries are on tenuous grounds with regard to their relationships. However, South Korea and China would seem to be more aligned as agreements between the two countries are under discussion. Japan and China, however, are finding it hard to look eye to eye in many issues as they have numerous controversies regarding economics, politics, and even technology. Comment on Nhia Francis’ response: The response failed to address the link between Korea and China.Although the relationship of China and Japan is clearer, there are links between Korea and China. How did the exchange in cultures occur? What mechanisms brought about the belief th at Japan and Korea have Chinese roots? Is it in terms of ancestry or is it simply because of the closeness of the cultures they exhibit? I agree that many of the cultural practices of Japan have derivations from China. However, does this indicate that Japan has Chinese roots? Or does it simply mean that their cultures are similar? Also, the relationship of the three countries today should be analyzed.

Current State of Technology Essay

Apparently, the business establishment is currently using the traditional manual system of sales service processing. That of which includes an everyday set of recording and as an old practice it is unreliable because if someone forgets to write orders/sold products it can affect the outcome of the records. Considering that it is a small line of business, technically speaking there is a less need of those requirements. The problem arises when recently, one of the staff of the water station misplaced the records of the sales. Over time, they notice that the current manual system they’re using is not that reliable. In order to help the establishment to have a reliable and hassle free way of recording the sales, we recommended to the establishment to use POS system (Point of sales) to have easier recording of services. In this system, the establishment can record the sales every day, print daily reports and have a secure and easy to access data. After the installment of the system, we would continuously monitor the system and the establishment in order to maintain the quality of the system. The usual practice was to record the sales everyday on a sheet of paper based on the orders/item being bought in the store. In a regular day, staff record every item that are being bought in the store then it will be submitted to the owner. So, based on the above information, it would take a certain amount of time and effort for the system to be developed and become useful resolution for the company’s current problem. The Owners demanded a reliable and hassle free way of recording their sales everyday;

Advertisements are a Waste of Resources

In a competitive economy, companies seek to persuade consumers to buy their products or to avail their services. It is impractical to think that companies should only stock their warehouses and wait for consumers to come knocking on their doors. If this is what businesses did, there would be an economic waste in terms of products being produced but not being bought.The critics of advertising attack the form of competition it provokes by saying it results in duplication and waste. It is equivalent to an arms race in the sense that a certain pattern might exist within an industry or sector concerning the extent of advertising. So if one competitor increases the extent to which it advertisers, others feel it is necessary that they do the same or at the very least engage in some form of advertising in order to maintain its market share or face the prospect of losing it.The advertisement rates during the Indian Premier League (IPL) season 6 might be an example to some advocates who believ e advertising is a waste of resources. In this case, the resource alluded to is money. A ten-second advertisement spot cost between Rs 4-4.5 lakhs, while the associate sponsors of the event PepsiCo and Vodafone shelled something between Rs 40-60 crores each.These are nothing short of extortionate rates but companies must be having evidence to show that such rates are justified. It should however make marketers ask themselves an important question. Should they spend money on making a brand promise through advertising, or should they focus on keeping their brand promise by means of delivering what consumers want. However, although competition in advertising involves such waste, it is also a driver of innovation and setting new benchmarks. Competition is vital as it far outweighs its negatives with its positives and is a necessary requisite of a successful economy.There are some companies that literally manage to survive by spending almost nothing on advertising. Zara uses this strateg y and does it by employing a strong in-store experience and keeping their shelves stocked with the latest fashion through quick production methods. One might say Zara is more focused on keeping their brand promise. Marketers would agree that advertisements should not be made simply to create a buzz, but to help in the generation of sales.An important point to consider is the brand life cycle, as the role played by advertising depends on it. A new brand may find advertising a very important function so as to target potential consumers. At this stage, brand recognition is critical and advertising is the only way to build it when there are new products or services to offer. A mature brand on the other hand might want to further its reach through advertising or may even be trying to bounce back from a recent decline in sales.But is advertising a waste of resources? To answer this question, it must be kept in mind that advertising doesn’t exist in a vacuum.It has to be considered as one of the alternatives available in the marketing of products and services.The decision doesn’t lie at the extreme end of whether to advertise or do nothing, but is rather to either engage in advertising or in some other form of sales effort. It is one part of the marketing effort which includes packaging, servicing, direct selling, pricing and is generally undertaken when it can justify being the most effective and economical method to appeal to customers.It is a vital function if you consider its reach and ability to communicate with all potential customers and is therefore used widely by many companies. If a company decides to substitute advertising with another method that might prove to be less efficient, it would result in economic waste. The use of resources for advertising to differentiate products from competitors would not always mean that its use has been diverted. On the other hand and quite frequently, it denotes the use of resources that would otherwise be i dle and thus avoids the waste that comes with such idleness.

Imprisonment In This Way For The Gas English Literature Essay

Imprisonment: it can take many signifiers, traditional imprisonment in a penitentiary, a non actual signifier of feeling imprisoned by being impoverished, and the actual signifier, a concentration cantonment. But the signifier that is rather misunderstood and undertaken is imprisonment in literature. Imprisonment in literature can germinate and stem out so many different ways. You could depict the life of a concentration cantonment victim, to a immature male child trapped by his parents in his place, or a immature adult male populating up in trees. This signifier of imprisonment is the most unostentatious signifier of seeing imprisonment, although many plants of literature show us how their characters are imprisoned. Its dry how a adult male sitting in a prison will read a fresh, or aggregation of short narratives, who might non be in the same state of affairs as him, but understand what is traveling on to him, that imprisoned supporter. Tadeusz Borowski and Italo Calvino have master fully incorporated and portrayed the motive and subject of imprisonment into their plants This Way For The Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen and Baron In The Trees severally, along with enticing and elaborate enunciation, their plants make for great literature. This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman, is written by a Polish Holocaust subsister Tadeusz Borowski, and is the rubric piece and first narrative of his aggregation of short narratives. Borowski was non one of the Jews, but a poet who suffered from depression. For this ground, the Nazis had sufficient ground to confine him at Auschwitz and Dachau because he was considered a political captive. Borowski ‘s positions toward his fellow captives and the Nazis were reasonably different than usually seen by concentration cantonment subsisters, chiefly because he was non Judaic. Harmonizing to Karen Bernarda, â€Å" it was n't that Borowski ‘s viewed his captivity in any more positive footings than the Jews with who he was imprisoned with, but he does non look to be able to divide the captives and the Nazis into scoundrels and victims. † In the narrative, This Way For The Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, the storyteller Tadek, has become a member of a group called â€Å" Can ada † , which was responsible for rummaging through the Jews single properties in hunt of any concealed hoarded wealths they can salvage. Tadek, nevertheless, does in fact know that most or all these people coming off the trains are traveling to be sent to the gas Chamberss, and yet decides non state them this. During this clip, nevertheless, Tadek feels profound indignity about his occupation, but he besides believes the Jews are the 1s responsible for their imprisonment in the concentration cantonments, and besides feels it was the heartsick Jews who have destined him to experience ashamed of himself. Borowski says, â€Å" [ aˆÂ ¦ ] I am ferocious, merely ferocious with these people-furious because I must be here because of them. I feel no commiseration. I am non regretful they ‘re traveling to the gas chamber. Curse them all! I could throw myself at them, crush them with my fists. ( Borowski 116 ) † The unjust statement that Tadek is seeking to demo is that even the concentration cantonment captives who worked for the Nazis suffered every bit much as the Jews did, even though they were a*llowed to last. Bu*t they were besides forced to wo*rk for the Nazis which was, for Borowski, even more dehumanizing than being allowed to decease. Captive workers were forced to transport dead Jews to the crematory, every bit good as informant countless other sickening and ugly Acts of the Apostless. Not merely is Tadek imprisoned physically, he is imprisoned mentally every bit good. Just the sheer fact that person is running your life, and non allowing you do your ain determinations or picks, makes you experience as though you are an captive slave. If you were non mentally capable of taking this into consideration it was really improbable that you would hold survived in the Holocaust. It took a great trade of mental and physical strength to acquire through the imprisonment techniques of the Na zi government. Set in the peaceable vale of Ombrosa during the period of rational and societal agitation, Italo Calvino ‘s The Baron in the Trees relates the narrative of Cosimo Piovasco di Rondo , along with Cosimo ‘s brother Biagio, whom is the storyteller, provides the history and long standing tenseness of their household. Cosimo ‘s male parent, Baron Arminio, married the General of the War of Succession, Corradina. The Baron, who is â€Å" half-mad with a malicious run † , seems to mistreat his kids continuously ; and while Corradina is contending in the war on horseback it finally causes the kids to run rampantly, go brainsick, and finally non listen to their male parent. One twenty-four hours, when the Baron invites the Courts of France to tiffin at midday, Battista arrives with her new Gallic culinary art repast, snails. When Arminio forces Cosimo to eat the snails, it comes evident to Cosimo and the reader that he can no longer manage his male parent ‘s maltr eatment and shouting. Fling from the tabular array and ramping out of the house, Cosimo uses his ability to mount up a unrecorded oak tree in the backyard. In contrast to This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman, Cosimo escaped the imprisonment and rough jokes of his male parent in order to populate a better life. However, Cosimo was come ining into another captive life style, one in the trees. Bing that Cosimo is imprisoned in the trees, he is deprived of the points, pleasances, and chances that lie merely beneath him on the land, This would take one to the idea that your pick will pin down you, whether it be an experiential pick or non. Your pick will take to a different way, a way that has an unpredictable hereafter. Possibly an captive life style is merely inevitable. Possibly with every determination you make you are come ining more and more into the imprisonment of your ain life. Unknowing what will go on in the hereafter, Cosimo jumps out of the trees and into the hot air b alloon, he now becomes imprisoned within that hot air balloon for an unknown sum of clip. Harmonizing to Jessica Page Morrell, â€Å" Whatever your themes-abandonment, loneliness, anarchy, justness, the dangers of seduction-the scene can heighten these constructs. † In This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentleman, Tadeusz Borowski provides the grotesque, inhumane, scene of the Holocaust in order to supply a double penetration to the life of the Judaic and non-Jewish captives in the concentration cantonments. Borowski gives us a brief thought of how stray these cantonments were, and how he himself was isolated. Morrell states that â€Å" geographics and conditions are used most frequently as devices for isolation, † and being that these concentration cantonments were so far from any type of civilisation it is an first-class scene and topographic point for the short narratives. Right off Borowski starts his first short narrative with, â€Å" All of us walk around naked. The delousing is eventually over, and our stripy suits are back from the armored combat vehi cles of Cyclone B solution [ aˆÂ ¦ ] the heat is intolerable. The cantonment has been sealed off tight ( Borowski 29 ) . † This is a premier illustration of how scene enhanced the subject of imprisonment all while demoing the inhumane and unethical patterns used by the Nazis. The scene of Baron In The Trees is unvaried throughout the novel, but the chief scene would be in the trees. From the trees, Cosimo explained to his brother, he could see the Earth more visibly. Free from the dull modus operandi of an earthbound being, the Baron had antic escapades with plagiarists, adult females and undercover agents, and still had clip to read, and survey. Cosimo ‘s imprisonment, was non bad at all times, he got to bask some of the pleasance that people on the land have the award of making. The scene of Baron In The Trees non merely enhances the subject of the novel, but it besides develops a sense of topographic point that plays â€Å" an synergistic facet of the fictional novel that saturates temper and intending all while doing the reader rely on ocular and centripetal mentions ( Morrell 171 ) . † Harmonizing to the Merriam-Webster dictionary imprisonment agencies, to set in or as if in prison ; confine, and literature means inventive or originative authorship. When put together, the thoughts are implausible ; the writer takes the reader into a whole other universe. This Way For The Gas, Ladies and Gentelmen and Baron in The Trees, are two first-class plants of literature which portray the imprisonment of their several characters finely. Word Count: 1,454

STUDY OF DIGITAL FILTER SHARPENING Dissertation

STUDY OF DIGITAL FILTER SHARPENING - Dissertation Example This dissertation tells that in the engineer’s daily work on dealing with Digital Signal Processing (DSP) for clients, he is often faced with several challenges that hinder the successful implementation of his task. The challenges come in diverse forms but one of such common challenges in the engineer dealing with digital signal processing has to do with system specification problems. These system specification failures often cause symmetric FIR filters in the entire software being used in the work not to function or work as it should. In a situation like this, most experts suggest a reduction in passband ripple or the increase in stopband attenuation. The fact of the situation however remains that the engineer is not always privileged to have access to any filter design software at his disposal to enable the reduction of passband ripple or the increment of the stopband attenuation. The latter scenario always happens and most engineers are always confused and limited in ideas. It is for typical situations like this that the researcher has put this research work together to serve as a catalyst for coming out with workable interventions that can be fallen upon in hard times such as the one described in the scenario. Though the researcher admits that the problem may be confronting and highly frustrating, it comes with a number of solutions, one of which is the practice of making do with the existing filter and sharpening it. This therefore brings to the floor, the issue of digital filter sharpening in handling system specification failure cases in basic engineering. ... It is against this background that the ASKAP Project (2009) mentions some expected specifications for the DSP system specifications. Among the specifications is the fact that the DSP system should be in a position to handle computed load of not less than 1 peta (1015) operations for each given second. Simultaneously, there should be a continuous flow of data at a rate of 70 Tera (1012) bits per second. In the event of all these, the practice of filtering is not eliminated. In fact, one of the major operations of the DSP system has always remained the â€Å"digitizing, filtering and beamforming of the data from the individual phased array feeds† (ASKAP Project, 2009). Anything less of the specified rate of performance calls for a reinforcement, which in the case of this research work is going to be the sharpening of available filters. Statement of the Problem The problem at hand has to do with the persistent failure in system requirements and specification for working on digita l signal processing (DSP) at a time when an engineer may not have access to filter design software to reduce passband ripple or increase stopband attenuation. It has been hypothesized through preliminary literature research that there could exist a number of interventions to handle the situation. Among the interventions however, the problem will be tackled from a perspective where the original symmetric FIR filters that was at the disposal of the engineer would be fallen on by sharpening it to get the systems back to functionality. Filter sharpening has been used for a number of complex digital signal processing; especially digital filter sharpening. Ultimately, digital