Law of Obligations 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Law of Obligations 1 - Essay Example "an agreement giving rise to obligations which are enforced or recognised by the law. The factor which distinguishes contractual from other legal obligations is that they are based on the agreement of contracting parties". (Trietel 2003) "An expression of willingness to contract made with an intention (actual or apparent)that it shall become binding on the offerer as soon as it is accepted by the person to whom it is addressed..and an acceptance "is a final and unqualified acceptance of the terms of an offer."(Cracknel 2001).Because of the interaction of the offer and its acceptance a validly enforceable contract between Andrew and Billy has been formed. Next, as the facts of the question state, right before Billy delivered the equipment Andrew changed his mind to having wireless enabled computers, and not the wired ones specified in the contract. He asked Billy to let him have the more expensive, wireless enabled computers rather than the ones they had agreed upon. The question which arises at this point is whether Billy can subsequently claim the extra 500. The courts are likely to view this 500 discount within the realm of the traditional definition of consideration , bearing the detriment/benefit dichotomy (Cracknell 2001).Consideration has been defined as " either some right ,interest ,profit, or benefit accruing to the one party or some forbearance ,detriment ,loss or responsibility given suffered or undertaken by the other".1 Andrew has offered Billy a practical monetary benefit which amounts to sufficient consideration to "close the deal"2. The court will not concern itself with the value of the consideration i.e. "consideration must be sufficient but not necessarily adequate"3.Therefore Billy cannot challenge the price of this transaction as it is up to him to go London as often as he likes and use the internet there for free at his caf. The waiver of fee in the internet caf is a monetary advantage no matter how inadequate it may seem in business terms and the courts will uphold this arrangement. Therefore in my opinion Billy will not be able to claim this 500 discount. The Claim for 2000 Although Billy will not able to claim the 500 discount , but when Andrew asks Billy to accept 8,000 instead of 10,000 in full settlement, this becomes a case of breach of contract. The payment of 10000 was an express term of the contract and by his refusal to pay he is breaching the contract. This means there is a breach of contract because Billy has performed his part of the contract and Andrew is avoiding his performance i.e. the payment of 10000.Therefore Billy will be able to repudiate the contract and get back his equipment as well as damages for any depreciation in the value of the equipment as well as any wasted expenditure.4 However Andrew has not totally refused payment. He is offering a partial amount of the payment in settlement of the debt because he feels that he will have financial difficulties. Billy accepts this money fearing that Andrew is going bankrupt. The acceptance should technically mean that he should not be allowed to claim back his 2000 .In this regard I would

Mental Imagery Vividness Essay Example for Free

Mental Imagery Vividness Essay Abstract This review examined the hypothesis that mental imagery vividness can be used as a predictor of hallucinatory experience. Earlier studies provided supporting evidences to this hypothesis, showing hallucinating population has higher mental imagery vividness comparing to nonhallucianting population. However, as a result of varied operationalization and measurements of mental imagery, contradicting results abound, showing no significant difference of mental imagery vividness between halluciantors and nonhallucinators. No clear evidences can be used to determine whether the hypothesis is valid or not so far. On the other hand, development of neurological studies provided a new perspective for looking into the relationship between mental imagery and the experience of hallucination. Keywords: mental imagery vividness, hallucination, schizophrenia Mental Imagery Vividness as a Predictor of Hallucination: A Literature Review Mental imagery, as defined by Finke (1989), is an experience significantly resembling that of perceiving, but it occurs in the absence of an adequate physical stimulus. It exists in all of the seven sensory modalities, such as visual, auditory, and olfactory (Thomas, 1999). Mental imagery is believed to be in close relationship with some core psychological mechanisms such as perception and memory, and holding its unique role in contributing to cognitive performance (Kosslyn, 1994). For example, evidences suggested that visual imagery ability predicts visuospatial memory performance (Kail, 1997). Hallucination is an experience that largely resembles mental imagery, because of its perceptual nature as well as absence of appropriate stimuli (Sack, Van de Ven, Etschenberg, Schatz, Linden, 2005). Nevertheless, the two distinguish from each other by the individual’s ability of voluntary control, as well a s his/her ability to determine the source of the experience. Specifically, mental imagery is generally regarded as being actively generated and can be intentionally controlled, while hallucination is most times beyond intention and control. The operator of mental imagery is usually aware of its internal source, while not necessarily so hallucinator. (Bentall, 1990). Hallucination, especially the form of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH), is an important hallmark of schizophrenia (Wible, 2009). AVH is the perception of voices in the absence of sensory input. AVH has distinct clinical significance, as it affects about 70% of patients with schizophrenia (Sartorius et al., 1978; Silbersweig Stern, 1996). Furthermore, there have been increasing evidences supporting that hallucination is not a rare case in non-clinical population, either. It is now believed to exist on a spectrum from comparably innocuous forms in non-clinical population to a more pathological manifestation in schizophrenics (see review by Bentall, 1990). Because of its significant implication in psychopathology, continuous work has been going on to find out the risk factors and predictors for hallucination. The relationship between mental imagery and hallucination has interested researchers for long because of their shared features. Among all the characteristics of mental imagery that are potentially related with hallucination, vividness has been most substantively examined. This review summarized theories and empirical evidences for the relationship between mental imagery vividness and hallucination. Although still in its budding stage, relevant neurological evidences were also examined. Theoretical Models Vividness of mental imagery can be defined as the degree of perceptual detail experienced when having a mental image (Oertel et al., 2009). It has been associated with hallucination and schizophrenia for decades. In 1883, Galton suggested that increased vividness of mental imagery might be associated with hallucinatory experiences (as cited in Aleman, Bocker, de Haan, 1999). Later in the 20th century, West (1962) and Horowitz (1975) proposed separate models suggesting that hallucinations were mental images derived from internal source, but mistakenly attributed to external source. More specifically, the model suggested that vividness of perception was typically higher than that of mental imagery. As vividness of mental imagery increased, it became more difficult for the individual to decide its source as internal or external, and eventually these images could grow into hallucinatory. This model suggested that mental imagery and hallucination shared fundamental features and were possibly on the same continuum. Johnson and Raye (1981) supported the importance of imagery vividness, stating that memories from internal and external sources could usually be differentiated by comparing the amount of sensory, contextual and semantic attributes of events. Mintz and Alpert (1972) developed their model relevant to mental imagery vividness as well. They proposed that vividness of imagery was not the only factor contributing to hallucination. According to their argument, increased vividness of imagery, and impaired reality testing, referring to the ability to recognize the distortions in one’s own perception, are necessary but not sufficient prerequisites to generation of hallucination. Bentall (1990) summarized predecessors’ work and introduced the concept of â€Å"reality discrimination† – the idea that â€Å"hallucinators mistake their own inte rnal, mental, or private events for external, publicly observable events†. They stated that one type of information used in the reality discrimination process was the amount of sensory information present in conscious: rich sensory information implied a perception being experiences, while poor sensory information implied a mental imagery. Following this argument, individuals who have the propensity to construct images rich in sensory details are more likely to experience their internal imagery as a perception experience, and thus resulting in hallucination. Barrett (1993) provided empirical evidences in support of the above hypothesis, yet he also pointed out some questions of the model. He argued that it was unclear where the locus of the imagery effects was. The imagery vividness discrepancy between individuals with and without hallucinations could be the result of either storage or retrieval difference of sensory information. Specifically, it could be that hallucinators were able to store more abundant sensory information than nonhallucinators; and it could also be that hallucinators were better at retrieving sensory information than nonhallucinators, with same storage capacity. Despite of some questioning opinions, there are very limited direct theoretical dissents or alternative models. Holt (1972) is one of the very few that he argued that hallucination and mental imagery involved independent systems and should not correlate with each other. However, this is not saying that the hypotheses of mental imagery vividness and hallucination have not been subject to scrutinize. A large amount of researchers have attempted to verify or disprove these hypotheses through empirical evidences. Below is an incomplete summary of the empirical studies that are relevant. Empirical Evidences Evidences in Support Mintz and Alpert (1972) provided empirical evidences in support of their own hypothesis. Their study found that auditory hallucinating schizophrenics had a significantly higher vividness of auditory mental imagery comparing to non-hallucinating controls. They also identified an impaired ability to assess the accuracy of auditory perceptions in hallucinating schizophrenics. Similar results were presented by other studies. Barrett (1993) found that nonclinical subjects with hallucinations had higher vividness of mental imagery, and at the same time, had lower control of these images comparing to nonclinical subjects without hallucinations. Barrett’s (1993) study differed from that of Mintz and Alpert (1972) in the sense that he assessed mental imagery vividness on all seven sensory modalities, with one single factor emerged after factor analysis – general imagery vividness factor. In another study by Bocker (2000), no group difference in perceptual acuity was identified between the schizophrenia group and the normal controls, suggesting perceptual degradation is not a reason for hallucination. For the hallucinating schizophrenia patients, the vividness for visual imagery was significantly lower than control, while that for auditory imagery was not. Although the decreased visual mental imagery contradicted with earlier studies, the relatively high auditory mental imagery ability suggested the possibility that auditory imagery for hallucinating patients was more percept-like and thus harder to differentiate, which is in line with the fact that most of the patients experienced hallucinations in auditory modality. Evidences in Contradiction Brett and Starker (1977) found no significant difference of auditory mental imagery vividness between hallucinating schizophrenics, nonhallucinating schizophrenics medical patients with no history of psychiatric problems. Starker and Jolin (1982) also found no significantly different vividness strength of auditory mental imagery between schizophrenics, possible schizophrenics, or nonschizophrenic psychiatrics, nor between schizophrenic subgroups of currently hallucinatory, previously hallucinatory, or nonhallucinatory. In fact, Starker and Jolin (1982) suggested that hallucinating schizophrenics might actually have less vivid auditory imagery than schizophrenics who had never hallucinated. Aleman et al.’s (1999) study revealed interesting results. In their study, hallucinating subjects reported higher imagery vividness than nonhallucinating controls when subjective (self-report) scales were used to measure vividness. However, the pattern was reversed (i.e. hallucinating subjects demonstrated lower mental imagery vividness) when objective measure was used. Van de Ven and Merckelbach (2003) examined the mental imagery vividness and fantasy proneness in non-clinical population with and without hallucination experiences. They found that although subjects with hallucination scored higher on mental imagery vividness than subjects without such experiences, their imagery vividness was highly correlated with their fantasy proneness. Further analysis indicated that hallucination experience was better predicted by fantasy proneness, comparing to mental imagery vividness. Sack and his colleagues (2005) incorporated in their study measures sensitive to cognitive capacity, in order to rule it out as a confounding variable. Their results showed that paranoid schizophrenics reported higher vividness of mental imagery in comparison to age- and sex-matched healthy controls, controlling for general intelligence and psychomotor speed of the subjects. More importantly, the higher imagery vividness of paranoid schizophrenics was not statistically dependent of the patients’ individual psychopathology, including the presence of hallucinations. The authors thus argued that mental imagery could be an independent trait marker of schizophrenia, and it operated on a separate system with hallucination for schizophrenics. Sack and colleagues (2005) also found that patient group performed worse on tasks that require involvement of mental imagery processes, which could indicate an impaired overall mental imagery ability. However, this performance deficit could be attributed to general cognitive capacity deficit. In comparison, Doninger, Silipo, Rabinowics, Snodgrass and Javitt (2001) conducted a study with a task that was more purely targeted at mental imagery ability without time constraint. Their results also revealed worse performance from schizophrenia patients comparing to healthy controls. Results of these studied implied the possibility that group difference in vividness of mental imagery is not due to an enhancement of mental imagery abilities, but to altered information processing. Oertel and colleagues (2009) conducted a further study to address the question that whether vividness of mental imagery is a trait marker of the schizophrenia spectrum (i.e. including non-clinical population with schizophrenia-like traits – schizotypy) that is independent of presence of hallucination. Subjects include schizphrenia patients, first-degree relatives of schizophrenics, as well as high- and low-schizotypy healthy controls. Results showed significantly higher mental imagery vividness across all modalities in schizophrenics, first-degree relatives, as well as high-schizotypy controls comparing to low-schizotypy controls, with cognitive abilities controlled. In replication of Sack et al.’s work, this study also revealed that the vividness of mental imagery and hallucinations were independent of each other. Results also indicated that first-degree relatives obtained highest score in vividness, and high-schizotypy controls’ score did not differ significantly from that of schizophrenia patients. The results strengthened Sack et al.’s (2005) argument that vivid imagery is a trait marker of schizotypyrather, and could be related to the genetic liability to develop schizophrenia. However, longitudinal studies including premorbid data are required for further investigation. Bell and Halligan (2010) repeated Oertel et al.’s study on high- and low-schizotypy population with a larger sample size, yet with a different measure of schizotypy and a specific assessment of visual mental imagery. Their results revealed no significant difference on visual mental imagery vividness between the two groups. Explanation for Results Variation Although large variations exist across different studies, it is not justified to say whether the hypothesis of high mental imagery vividness predicts hallucination has been rejected or not. The main reason for failing to do so is that procedures, especially the measures of mental imagery, of these studies varies a lot, thus leaving considerable space for alternative explanations. Specifically, some of the measures were subjective scale (i.e. self-report), while some of the measures were objective (i.e. behavioral tasks). On the other hand, some of the measures assess mental imagery vividness of a single sensory modality, while some of them assess mental imagery vividness as a whole across all seven sensory modalities. S ubjective Measure vs. Objective Measure of Mental Imagery Kosslyn, Brunn, Cave and Wallach (1984) had presented an insignificant relation between performance on an objective task of visual imagery acuity and a self-report imagery vividness measure, indicating that subjective and objective measures of imagery vividness may not be necessarily measuring the same constructs and/or processes. Aleman et al. (1999) pointed out that objective and subjective mental imagery measures could yield contradictory results within the normal population. This distinction could be true for clinical population as well. For example, Mintz and Alpert (1972) utilized subjective measures (suggestion paradigms or self-report measures) and obtained the finding of an association between increased mental imagery and hallucinations, while Bocker et al. (2000) used a more objective mental imagery task, resulting in insignificant difference of mental imagery performance between patients and controls. Aleman et al. (1999), who generated contradicting results of subjective and objective measures in one study, summarized the disadvantages of subjective and objective measures. For subjective measures, the process of introspection is involved, which is an ability varied across individuals, and can be especially impaired in hallucinating and/or schizophrenia populations. Also, the effect of social demand could influence a subject’s self-report, depending on how the concept of mental imagery vividness is interpreted. Subject’s idiosyncratic definition of imagery vividness also heavily impact his/her self-report. For objective measures, tasks are not real-life resembling, which can fail to evaluate one’s true capacity in daily life. In addition, commonly used objective measures fail to purely target at the vividness of mental imagery alone, other processes such as conceptualization and reasoning are in effect as well. In addition, the contents of cued mental images could largely vary across individuals. Standardized scoring procedure fail to take into account these confounding processes and experiences, indicating that high imagery vividness does not guarantee a high score as it is designed to, and vice versa. General Mental Imagery vs. Single Sensory Modality Mental Imagery Barrett (1993) introduced the idea of general imagery vividness factor. If that is a valid factor, then measurement of general mental imagery vividness and measurement of single sensory modality imagery vividness could be more different than the mere part-whole relationship. Mintz and Alpert (1972) measured auditory imagery vividness only, and Barrett (1993) measured general mental imagery vividness. These two studies both resulted in significant difference of imagery vividness between halluciantors and controls. However, Brett and Starker (1977) and Starker and Jolin (1982) both measured auditory only imagery vividness and resulted in no significant difference between hallucinators and controls. In addition, in replication of Oertel’s (2009) study, Bell and Halligan (2010) changed the general imagery vividness measure to a visual-specific mental imagery measure, and their results differed from that of Oertel et al.. Bell and Halligan (2010) proposed that vividness per se might not be modality specific, and this argument is in line with the modality-independent salience dysregulation theories of psychosis and the psychosis continuum (Murray, Lappin, Di Forti., 2008). Neurological Evidence Despite of the fact that neurological evidences for mental imagery and hallucination experiences did not start to bloom until late 20th century (Linden et al., 2010) and that there is no specific neurological evidence for mental imagery vividness’s relationship with hallucination, this session is included as it provides new perspectives on how experiences of mental imagery and hallucination overlap. Evidences from earlier studies suggested that imagery and hallucinations were associated with overlapping neural networks (Allen, Laroi, McGuire, Aleman, 2008). McGuire et al. (1995) and Shergill et al. (2001) found that auditory mental imagery and auditory hallucination were involved with overlaps in fronto temporal language circuits. In terms of the main difference between hallucination and mental imagery – voluntary controllability, Linden et al. (2011) speculated that it was generated from the altered forward model of sensory productions. Forward model (Wolpert, Ghahramani, Jordan, 1995) stated that perceptual consequences were predicted upon known actions, and the prediction in turn influenced the actual experience of the self-generated action. The forward model could be in effect in speech production. According to it, self-generated speech is subject to prediction of resulted sensory experience. This hypothesis was partially supported by Linden et al.’s (2011) study. They found that the voice-selective area on the banks of superior temporal sulcus (STS) was consistently activated during auditory hallucination and voluntary auditory mental imagery. This area had been regarded as reacting to external sensory stimulation only, but it was later speculated of having been monitoring the self-generated speech in mental imagery and hallucination. Linden et al. (2011) identified in their study that the monitoring and modulating functioning of relevant auditory regions were disturbed in nonclinical hallucinators, resulting in the likelihood of attributing internally generated speech to external sources. These budding evidences suggested that hallucination and mental imagery indeed share fundamental neural networks and do not operate on completely distinctive systems. However, detailed examinations of the activity of these neural networks in terms of different features of mental imagery and hallucination, as well as differed neural system contributing to their differences are still in need. Conclusion Mental imagery vividness has interested researchers for long because of their potential relationship with the experience of hallucination. However, empirical studies have resulted in contradicting results. Earlier studies proposed that increased vividness of mental imagery is a predictor of hallucination, and they have found that higher mental imagery vividness was related with hallucination experiences. Nevertheless, many of the later replications with various methodological modifications failed to reproduce any significant relationship. Because of the variations of measurement of mental imagery vividness, it is hard to decide whether the hypothesis of the relationship between mental imagery vividness and hallucination can be rejected or not. The development of neuroscience based study methods provided a new perspective of testing the hypothesis. Current neurological studies have focused on neural activity comparison between general mental imagery process and hallucination experience. More specific studies targeting at features of mental imagery and hallucination are needed to provide a higher-level understanding of the relationship between the two experiences. Reference Aleman, A., Bocker, K.B.E., de Haan, E.H.F. (1999). Disposition towards hallucinations and subjective versus objective vividness of imagery in normal subjects. Personality and Individual Differences, 27, 707-714. Allen, P., Laroi, F., McGuire, P., Aleman, A. (2008). The hallucinating brain: a review of structural and functional neuroimaging studies of hallucinations. Neuroscience Biobehavioral Reviews, 32, 175-191. Barrett, T.R. (1993). Verbal hallucinations in normals, II: Self-reported imagery vividness. Personality and Individual Differences, 15, 61-67. Barrett, T. R., Etheridge, J. B. (1992). Verbal hallucinations in normals, I: People who hear ‘voices’. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 6, 379-387. Bell, V., Halligan, P. W. (2009, April). Additional data on whether vividness of visual mental imagery is linked to schizotypal traits in a non-clinical population [Letter to the editor]. Psychiatry Research, 178, 568-569. Bentall, R.P. (1990). The illusion of reality: A review and integration of psychological research on hallucinations. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 82-95. Bocker, K. B. E., Hijman, R., Kahn, R.S., de Haan, E. H. F. (2000). Perception, mental imagery and reality discrimination in hallucinating and non-hallucinating schizo phrenic patients. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 39, 397-406. Brett, E. A., Starker, S. (1977). Auditory imagery and hallucinations. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 164, 394–400. Doninger, G.M., Silipo, G., Rabinowics, E.F., Snodgrass, J.G., Javitt, D.C. (2001). Impaired sensory processing as a basis for object-recognition deficits in schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 1818-1826. Finke, R.A. (1989). Principles of mental imagery. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Holt, R. R. (1972). On the nature and generality of mental imagery. In P. W. Sheehan (Ed.), The function and nature of imagery. New York, NY: Academic Press. Horowitz, M. (1975). Hallucinations: An information processing approach. In R. K. Siegel, L. J. West (Eds.), Hallucinations: Behavior, Experience and Theory (pp.163-196.95). New York, NY: Wiley. Johnson, M. K., Raye, C. L. (1981). Reality monitoring. Psychological Review, 88, 67-85. Kail, R. (1997). Processing time, imagery, and spati al memory. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 64, 67-78. Kosslyn, S.M. (1994). Image and brain: the resolution of the imagery debate. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Kosslyn, S. M., Brunn, J., Cave, K. R., Wallach, R. W. (1984). Individual differences in mental imagery ability: A computational analysis. Cognition, 18, 195-243. Linden, D. E. J., Thornton, K., Kuswanto, C. N., Johnston, S. J., Jackson, M. C. (2011). The brain’s voices: Comparing nonclinical auditory hallucinations and imagery. Cerebral Cortex, 21, 330–337. McGuire, P., Silbersweig, D., Murray, R., David, A., Frackowiak, R. Frith C. (1996). Functional anatomy of inner speech and auditory verbal imagery. 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McGuire, P. (2001). A functional study of auditory verbal imagery. Psychological Medicine, 31, 241-253. Silbersweig, D., Stern, E. (1996). Functional neuroimaging of hallucinations in schizophrenia: toward an integration of bottomup and top-down approaches. Molecular Psychiatry, 1, 367-375. Starker, S., Jolin, A. (1982). Imagery and hallucination in schizophrenic patients. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 170, 448-451. Thomas, N. J. T. (1999). Are theories of imagery theories of imagination? An active perception approach to conscious mental content. Cognitive Science, 23, 207-245. Van de Ven, V., Merckelbach, H. (2003). The role of schizotypy, mental imagery, and fantasy proneness in hallucinatory reports of undergraduate students. P ersonality and Individual Differences, 35, 889–896. West, L. J. (Ed.). (1962). A general theory of hallucinations and dreams. New York, NY: Grune Stratton. Wible, C. G., Lee, K., Molina, I., Hashimoto, R., Preus, A. P., Roach, B. J., Ford, J. 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1984 Vs Brave New World :: compare contrast

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm each make commentary regarding the governing of society. Each story involves a so called perfect society, or Utopia. The people are given what they want, only to discover it wasn’t really what they desired. It seems that both authors are telling us their idea of what’s wrong with society, and how extreme these wrongs could become if we government to think for us. The way in which each story gives its warning is different. I will explore this. Throughout the novel Winston tries to avoid the control o Big Brother, by committing many almost illegal crimes, such as keeping a diary or sneaking around with Julia, his mistress. Winston is eventually caught, and tortured by "the Party" for his crimes, until he is ‘restored’ and learns to love big brother. 1984 contains a warning about the future. Though not specifically about computers, since it was finished in 1948 "Big Brother" can be viewed as playing the role of a computer. The way big Brother, and tele - screens work can be linked to the commanding control computers have over society today. With the increasing amount of electronic business and the accelerated expansion of the Net the amount of personal information raging from tax file numbers to favourite colours available on line is aiding increasing governmental desire for a paperless world where you can be eliminated, monitored, or altered with the tap of a key. Although many similarities exist between Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World and George Orwell's 1984, the works books though they deal with similar topics, are more dissimilar than alike. A Brave New World is a novel about the struggle of Bernard Marx, who rejects the tenants of his society when he discovers that he is not truly happy. 1984 is the story of Winston who finds forbidden love within the hypocrisy of his society. In both cases, the main character is in quiet rebellion against his government which is eventually found to be in vain. Huxley wrote A Brave New World in the third person so that the reader could be allotted a more comprehensive view of the activities he presents. His characters are shallow and cartoon-like in order to better reflect the society in which they are entrapped. In this society traditional notions of love and what ideally should come out of it have long been disregarded and are now despised, "Mother, monogamy, romance.

Heart: Definition and Life Essay

What is your definition of success? Before you can achieve success, you need to define what success means to you. Unless you have a clear vision of what success is to you, you cannot work towards it. Success means different things to different people. For some, monetary reward is a measure of success. Yet others have multiple definition of success. 1. The Different Areas They measure it across a few areas. It can be career, health, spiritual, emotional, time or financial. As an example, one can be successful in one’s career but not emotionally. Of course, this list isn’t exhaustive – so you can add areas that are relevant to you. To find your own definition of success you need to dig deep within yourself and question your values in life. What are your strengths andweaknesses? What are the things that are important to you? By answering these questions you can then come closer to your own definition of success. Be aware that this can be a long process. You may not get the answers so quickly. But it is alright. Define your measure of success, one at a time. Let’s take your career as an example. What would your definition of success be for your career? To make the managerial level by a specified time? Then dig deep to see what are your own strengths and weaknesses. Which would help you achieve it. Which of your weakness is a barrier, and does it go against your values? For me, I value time with my family. However, my work requires me to work late nights and long hours. I will need to adjust my own definition of success. Which would take priority? 2. It Is A Journey When defining your success, remember this important thing. Success is a journey. It has multiple peaks and not one ultimate pinnacle. One success builds on another. Setbacks and mistake will also help you build success. At different periods of your life, success is defined differently. In our career, at a more junior level, your success can be defined by exceeding your job requirements or getting a promotion. Or success can be defined in a few respects. They can be: 1. Your relationship with your boss; 2. Your relationship with your peers; 3. Your dealing with other departments; and 4. Your learning curve. You may add other areas as you move up the corporate ladder. One of my definitions of success in my career at this point – is the number of staff I mentor to higher levels within my industry. When they achieve a certain level of skills and knowledge and are respected by clients, business partners and industry peers – I have achieved some amount of success as far as my career is concerned. Therapists Spill: My Definition of Success By MARGARITA TARTAKOVSKY, M.S. In the fall, clinician Joyce Marter and her husband hosted their friends for a dinner party at their Chicago home. Among the couples — all in their 40s with school-aged kids — conversation turned to the adventures of parenting and the tricky stage of adolescence. This sparked a dialogue about how they gauge success. Marter’s knee-jerk reaction was to say that success excludes dicey circumstances such as driving under the influence or dropping out of school. â€Å"Thankfully, I quickly regrouped from this position of fear-based and judgmental thinking and realized I do not truly believe any of those experiences or other life challenges mean somebody has failed or is not successful,† she said. Hardships make us human and give us the opportunity to grow, she said. None of us is perfect or remains unscathed in life. Marter’s guests offered myriad definitions, everything from education to prosperity to resiliency to health to happiness. So what is succes s? What does being a success look like? Below, Marter and other clinicians spill their views on success. According to Marter, also owner of the counseling practice Urban Balance, success is authenticity and mindfulness. Success is to live life openly, authentically, and lovingly in a way that is aligned with the highest good of self and others. Furthermore, when one is mindfully rooted in the present moment and engaged in relationships and work that promote a loving growth of human consciousness, one is joyous and prosperous. And so, this is my wish for myself, my children and for all humankind. Christina G. Hibbert, Psy.D, a clinical psychologist and postpartummental health expert, summarized success in three words: faith, love and joy. To be successful in my work means that I am able to touch others’ lives, to help them know they are not alone, and to impart some bit of joy or wisdom that will leave them better than before. To be successful in my family means to love — to listen, to say I’m sorry when I’m wrong, to encourage, uplift, and to always strive to give the best of my time, talents, and heart. To be successful as a human being means to continually examine myself, my motives, and my works; to connect spiritually, listen to what my Creator has in mind for me, and trust the process — to be open to learning and improving, and willing to share myself and serve gladly. I guess overall, for me, success = faith, love, and joy (my three-word motto) — striving to do and be my personal best in work, family, and as a human being, forgiving myself when I’m not, picking myself back up, and diligently pressing forward again. For Deborah Serani, Psy.D, a clinical psychologist and author of the book Living with Depression, success lies in the everyday, in the journey from setting a goal to realizing it. For me, success is when I set a realistic goal, enjoy the journey as it unfolds and dwell in the momentary satisfaction when it all comes together. From cooking a new recipe, to learning a new yoga pose or taking a challenge that stretches my comfort zone, it’s the entire experience that offers me a sense of well-being. Success can be found in little things and big things. The key is to enjoy the ride once you set out on your material or existential destination. Ryan Howes, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and author of the blog â€Å"In Therapy,† also prefers to focus on the flight, instead of the landing. I try (really, really try!) to view life as a journey rather than a series of goals to be attained. I always feel less stressed and better able to focus on today when I’m in that mindset. With that framework, I try to view success as something to which I aspire rather than a goal with a finish line. For me, success is achieving a healthy balance between the most important areas of my life. These include family and social relationships, occupational pursuits, hobbies, diet, exercise, rest, my spiritual life, and the continued pursuit of self-understanding. I don’t think I’ve achieved this balance yet, as I only seem to maintain focus on one or two areas at a time. I may never find a way to keep all these plates spinning at once, but I will try for the rest of my life! Jeffrey Sumber, M.A., a psychotherapist, author and teacher, described success as a triumph over trials and fear. Success is overcoming challenges internal and external that at one time felt impossible or overbearing but with hard work and discipline I was able to rise above the fear or anxiety. For most people success is a shifting concept, which transforms over time. It’s been for John Duffy, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist and author of the book The Available Parent: Radical Optimism for Raising Teens and Tweens. Today, his view includes being of service to others and being satisfied with his life. My definition of success has shifted greatly over the years. I used to think I had to accomplish something that others deemed â€Å"great† in order to consider myself successful. Today, I find success in happiness, kindness, and helpfulness. I find success in loving, connected, available relationships, in my family and elsewhere in my life, including my relationship with myself. In order to feel fully successful, I feel I need to continue to find new ways to reach out to others and give of myself. Finally, I don’t think I could ever feel successful without a degree of happiness, contentment and humor. Success has many faces. The definition just depends on who you ask. And that’s the magic of success: You get to figure out what it looks like for you. Subject: Mentoring tips on definition of success In the next message to the electronic community I will ask participants how they define â€Å"success† for themselves. Here are examples of how this question was answered by a group of successful teens and adults with disabilities. These responses might provide some inspiration as you interact with the teens in our community. To me, having a successful life is being able to do things independently for myself and not always have someone there to do things for me. It’s achieving my goals on my own terms and at my own pace. (high school student with a mobility impairment) Success is a relative term. If you achieve what you want to and are happy, then I think that is success. It could be applied to life in general or to individual tasks in life. (college student with a mobility impairment) My definition of success is achieving personal goals, whatever they may be. Some goals are considered small by some people and enormous by others. What matters is that they are personal; each individual has his/her own formula for personal success. (college student who is deaf) I remember what my high school voice teacher told the class as we prepared for our senior solo. She said, â€Å"Success comes in CANS, and failure comes in CAN’TS.† (speech language pathologist who is blind) Succeeding is accomplishing my dreams. However slowly I am moving toward that, to some degree I am succeeding. (high school student who is blind) Even though you might not have obtained that set goal, you are successful if you tried your best. (college student with a brain injury) To me, success is being able to do whatever it takes to lead a productive life. (young person who is blind) Success? That’s an easy one. BE HAPPY. (high school student with a learning disability) What’s Your Definition of Success? ————————————————- Success is a tricky sucker to define, isn’t it? Society as a whole tends to judge success by status and material wealth, but I think we both know that’s utter bollocks. I’ve worked with some fabulously wealthy yet unhappy people and you cannot ever really define an unhappy person as a successful one. My Definition Of Success If asked me for my definition of success it would simply have been, â€Å"somebody who is happy†. As happiness is at the top of everybody’s wish list, then by default it must define an element of success when an individual achieves it. Last week I was working through the core values process with client, Courtney Townley. One of the most crucial elements of a value elicitation is understanding what the client means by the words they give me. Too many values are open to interpretation and may mean different things to different people. So to presume that just because I think success equals happiness that other people must think the same is arrogant and stupid, which isn’t a good combination for a Life Coach. One of Courtney’s values was unsurprisingly enough ‘success’. I asked her what she meant by the word and she was really struggling to come up with an answer. We did the values exercise anyway, but I asked her to think about what success meant to her and to e-mail me the answer so I could get a better understanding of what we were aiming for. Her response was awesome and makes my job very worthwhile. I immediately asked her if I could include it in a blog post and she graciously agreed. Courtney’s Definition Of Success â€Å"Tim, You probably thought I forgot my homework assignment? I didn’t. I chewed on the question all week: †what does success mean to me?† I wrestled with the question a lot, found it intriguing and much more complex than I initially though it would be. First, I answered the question that success to me is living a balanced life full of happiness, but as I dug deeper I didn’t like that answer so much for two reasons. 1. I do believe that happiness is ultimately a choice regardless of the situation. 2. Some of the most rewarding/successful experiences of my life happened at a time when my life was completely unbalanced. So I chewed and chewed some more. Finally I was able to digest this better: I define success as listening to that subtle voice within, what I perceive to be my truth talking, and obeying by saying YES†¦ despite the sacrifice, hard work or difficulty that may result. I feel most successful when I honor my authenticity (which is probably why is it one of my top values). On the other hand, I feel most unsuccessful when I am a slave to someone else’s agenda or working to build someone else’s dream rather than my own†¦which is probably why I have been self-employed for the past 8 years. I feel most successful when I am honest about who I am (the good, the bad and the ugly)†¦.talented and powerful and at the same time fearful and imperfect, and charging forward without getting too caught up in any one characteristic of myself, and without being too attached to the outcome of what I set out to do. I do it because my heart told me to do it, I don’t do it because I am certain of where it will lead me, which is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. You said to me last week that everyone has fear, but because some people have confronted their fear more often, it seems that it is more natural for them to move into action without getting paralyzed by the fear. That was a huge â€Å"Ah-Ha† moment for me†¦..success is making a HABIT out of acknowledging the fear and resistance, but moving forward despite it. Success is saying YES to my journey, YES to my life’s adventure, YES to my heart’s song and knowing full well that does not mean it will always be comfortable, balanced, easy or pain free, but I do know it will be RICH and REWARDING and SIGNIFICANT beyond measure for me. I know if it is all of those things for me, my truth will also touch others, which will build even more success! To feel successful I know I need (based an my history of success) to dig both feet in deeply to my endeavors, be fully committed to my choices and finish what I start. Hope that gives you a little insight:) Courtney† Is she kidding me? It gave me a huge amount of insight into what makes Courtney tick. It’s one of the most important answers that you can figure out. Right now. How do you personally define success? For you. Take into account all of your current responsibilities, your strengths, your trials, your season of life and your dreams†¦ Whether it is defining your success as a parent or a business owner or anything in-between, I think we could avoid so much heartache, disappointment, sense of failure and the chronic epidemic of comparisons if we realistically answered this one question for ourselves.

How Entrepreneurs Impact an Economy

Introduction As economies continue to integrate due to globalisation and formally closed economies like India and China march toward total liberalisation, entrepreneurship is on the increase. A close analysis of developed and industrialised economies indicates a common denominator that stands out amongst all of them, which is the important role played by entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs in such economies.This phenomenon has proved to us that if an economy is to develop fully, entrepreneurship should be allowed to flourish. Therefore it is the objective of this paper to critically analyse the impact of entrepreneurs in any given economy. In this paper the writer will identify and discuss the many benefits afforded to an economy through entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship and the disadvantages of the same and draw conclusions on the overall impact of the entrepreneurs. InnovationIndividuals often resort to entrepreneurship for one of the following reasons, because they find a market n iche and have the solution to profit from such niche, because they have been unable to find suitable employment or a suitable means of income and therefore have resorted to using their creativity to generate an income for themselves, or because they have the technological know-how and the financial resources (or able to source all of the above) necessary to generate income by satisfying a need in the marketplace.Irrespective of which of the above led an individual to become an entrepreneur it is clear that innovation and creativity is the driving factor and therefore it can be stated that the biggest impact of entrepreneurs to an economy is the innovative contribution that they make. Job Creation As stated in the previous section one of the main reasons that individuals tend to become entrepreneurs is because they are unable to find suitable jobs.As a result, by being enterprising, creative and finding a market niche, not only are they able to generate an income for themselves but a lso to employ other individuals in their business operations. Therefore one of the most positive impacts that entrepreneurs make on an economy is job creation and the reduction of unemployment levels within that economy. In developed countries we see that almost 40 – 50% of the workforce are employed in small and medium scale business enterprises that were started up by very enterprising individuals.Likewise in countries like India we see that millions of women have been able to pull their families out of poverty through self employment and entrepreneurship that has been made possible by different Non Governmental Organisations and due to the availability of such resources through micro finance etc. Africa is another good example of small scale entrepreneurs helping to reduce poverty and help many avoid destitution. Therefore based on everything that has been stated above it is apparent that entrepreneurs can cause a great degree of impact on an economy through job creation a nd income generation.Increased Competition Another positive impact of entrepreneurship on an economy is the increasing level of competition in that economy as new entrepreneurs join the fray in existing domestic markets. While one may venture to say that this will only lead to market saturation, the upside of such a phenomenon is that it causes all the players in the market to re-evaluate their operational capabilities, increase value addition, lower costs and become more efficient.Thus it can be stated that competition reduces likelihood of monopolies and oligopolies in the marketplace and is beneficial to the customer and the economy as a whole. Increased Productivity One of the advantages of increased competition in an economy is that individuals and firms continue to source methods that can better improve their operations, use resources more efficiently and most importantly reduce costs while adding value. All this often results in an increase in productivity in an economy and a increase in the gross domestic product (GDP), which is indeed a benefit for the economy.While opponents tend to state that when productivity increases the unemployment can often increase, thus reducing the positive impacts, it is the opinion of the writer that increased productivity which can then lead to increased unemployment will then cause more individuals to be creative, find niche markets, become entrepreneurs and begin generating more employment opportunities, thus re-inventing the wheel and driving the economy forward.New Markets As stated in the previous section increased competition in the marketplace can cause saturation and as a result many entrepreneurs maybe driven to seek new markets for their products and services or adapt market penetration tactics.Either way such a phenomena of increased competition, which ultimately causes individuals to look for new markets can be considered as a positive impact on the economy and therefore entrepreneurs can be considered to pla y a very important role in the economy. As integration of economies continues due to globalisation entrepreneurs often tend to look for markets that are outside of their domestic sphere thus generating foreign revenue and increasing the prosperity of the economy as a whole.While this maybe a very simplistic explanation of the impact that entrepreneurs make on an economy, it is also safe to say that the employment generation, increased competition, market expansion, market penetration and sourcing new markets all result in income generation that ultimately help an economy to become more prosperous, draw millions out of poverty and generate funds for social welfare activities that ultimately uplift the living standards of its citizenry.Negative Impacts of Entrepreneurs The single largest negative impact of entrepreneurs on an economy is the plundering of resources, which can have a disastrous affect on the environment. While such negative impacts are mitigated to some extent in develo ped economies due to the enforcement of environmental protection standards and regulations, this is not the case in developing economies.Further entrepreneurship requires a certain degree of business knowledge and know how, without which entrepreneurial ventures can often fail, which can also cause many financial hardship that in extreme cases can even lead to destitution. Social Entrepreneurship Today we see the realm of social entrepreneurship growing exponentially which is a very positive sign and has helped to draw millions out of poverty, decrease unemployment, decrease the number of people dependent on social welfare and all in all uplift the living standards and quality of life of millions.Further social entrepreneurship initiatives are also often seen as ‘green initiatives’ that take into consideration the impact on the natural environment and therefore strives to keep this at a minimum, thus increasing awareness about such issues, avoiding plundering of natural resources and conserving the environment wherever possible. Therefore it can be stated that the negative impacts of entrepreneurs on an economy can be mitigated to some extent through social entrepreneurship. ConclusionBased on everything that has been discussed above it is apparent that the positive impacts of entrepreneurs on an economy, far outweigh the negative impacts. Job creation, reduction in unemployment levels, increased competition, opening new markets, increasing productivity, foreign income generation and poverty alleviation are some of the positive impacts that entrepreneurs have on an economy. However this is not to say that there are no negative impacts such as the wastage and plundering of resources, yet taken as a whole it is apparent that the entrepreneurs positively impact an economy.

Workers Organization in the Late 1870s

Workers Organization in the Late 1870s Workers organization in the late 1870’s can also be referred to as labor history. This describes the history of labor that happened in the United States. Labor federations and unions evolved, split and merged in the 1870’s due to various factors. Solidarity was the main theme, individual rights and democracy.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Workers Organization in the Late 1870’s specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Early Unions Most trade unions were formed after the Civil War. The National Labor Union was the first to be formed. There were also strikes by women who worked in bad conditions in shops. They earned 1.25$ or 2$ per week. The weavers bought their thread and needles from their proprietor. There were also fines for being â€Å"few minutes late† when reporting to work. They also carried their treadle machines and if they protested, this resulted in dismissal. Often whole families wou ld work from daytime till midnight and this resulted in some illness due to dust accumulation on the tables and floors. Others worked in cold weather caused by leaking of shops from openings on the roofs. This caused women to strike and the Daughters of Liberty was formed. In 1871, they later named themselves the United Tailoresses of New York (Boark et al., 2008). They formed strikes and they succeeded in some. Order of the Knights of St. Crispin It was formed in 1867 and had 50 000 members in 1870. There was Daughters of St. Crispin which was founded in 1870. The aim of this union was to fight against the encroachment of machinery in the shoe making industry but they failed because the machines that were introduced were easy to operate. They produced more and better quality shoes than hand sewed shoes. The machines were also operated by unskilled and semi- skilled workers. Railroad Brotherhoods There was rapid growth of railroad systems in 1870. Unions sprang up and they included Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and the order of Railway Conductors. The main goals of these brotherhoods were to build medical packages and insurance policies for their members. They were centers for airing workers’ grievances. They were successful in that, they secured the Adamson Act; a law that enabled them â€Å"10 hours pay for an eight hour day† (Boark et al., 2008). They also nationalized railroads after World War 1.Advertising Looking for essay on history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Knights of Labor It was formed in 1869. It was influential, effective and regional. It accepted all laborers and producers. Terence Powderly was the leader and had political and education agenda for the group. The union was successful in that it involved women, sports, families, educational projects and leisure activities for its members. It preached cooperation and ha rmony among producers. In 1885, the union made railroad workers to win a victory over Southwestern Railway system. This was after a strike. They also tried to coordinate 1400 strikes in the country with over 600,000 workers. The strikes were either violent confrontations or peaceful (Boark et al., 2008). The workers came from coal mining, railroads and the McCormick Reaper Factory in Chicago. Afterwards, the union collapsed largely because they could not handle too much. Many knights transferred to less radical unions like the American Federation of Labor and railroad brotherhoods. American Federation of Labor It was founded in 1881 by Samuel Gompers. It had different unions. The unions’ goals included, â€Å"a national eight hour day, exclusion of foreign contract workers† and prohibited child labor. They also encouraged trade unions formation. The American Federation had success in obtaining favorable legislation but it did not have success in chartering or organizin g new unions (Boark et al., 2008). It supported the proposal of the national Labor Day holiday on every first Monday of September. It also limited its membership to wage workers unlike the Knights of Labor which welcomed non-wage workers. The Knights disappeared but AFL continued to grow even in the 19th Century. The members were primarily both skilled and unskilled workers, and African-Americans. Women were excluded since they saw that they worked for smaller wages. Conclusion There were other strikes that continued in the late1890’s and 1900 like Pullman strike. It occurred due to a reduction of wages by the Pullman Palace Car Company following an economic depression in 1890. The workers joined the American Railway Union which was led by Eugene V. Debs (Boark et al., 2008).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Workers Organization in the Late 1870’s specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This union supported th e Pullman strike by refusing to switch cars that belonged to Pullman onto trains. 125, 000 workers on 29 railroads quitted their jobs instead of handling Pullman cars. The strike was interfered by United States Marshal and 2,000 United States Army troops. Some strikers were killed, others wounded and property damaged. This led to disintegration of the American Railway Union. Some workers organizations of the 1870’s were successful and others were not. This depended on their goals. For instance, Order of the Knights of St. Crispin was unsuccessful because their aims were to fight against the introductions of machines in factories. They saw that the machines would replace them. The machines were easy to operate and produced more shoes hence their strikes failed. Other unions succeeded like Railroad Brotherhoods due to better management, solidarity and worked in harmony. References Boark, J. L. et al. (2008). The American Promise: A Compact History. 4th Ed. Bedford: St. Martinâ €™s.

Free Essays on The Reinforcement Of Authority

The Reinforcement of Authority Some might argue that Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Man" presents the viewpoint of a deist. Others might claim that the poem fails to exhibit Christian concepts of good and evil, especially since the poet concludes his first epistle with the seemingly unchristian claim that "WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT." Yet, Pope's arguments actually reflect a traditional Christian perspective, which can be verified by comparing his poem with New Testament teachings. Like the writers of the New Testament, particularly the apostle Paul, Pope claims that pride and envy leads man to question the justice of God, and he insists that men submit to God, remaining content with their lot in life. First of all, the new science of Newton and the Enlightenment states, â€Å"The physical world could be understood through the ability of human reason to discern immutable mathematical laws that governed it.† In a political sense, many people claimed they had divine right and it was just accepted. So how in a bodily planet can we understand this? We must use reason to contemplate the facts. There are no mathematical laws to rule this and so we can rule this out. This would be right according to many philosophes because it didn’t violate natural laws, but not the deist. In the presence of the social classes, the new science reinforced the idea of a â€Å"machine like universe.† The traditional ways of mankind was changed and the presence of evil was included. Men claim that God's creation is imperfect because they mistakenly believe that everything was created specifically for them. Pope admits that, "if the great end be human Happiness, then Nature deviates" (I. 1. 149-150). He does not believe, however, that God created the world solely for man's happiness. Pride persuades men to consider their present felicity the core purpose of creation. "If Man alone engross not Heav'n's high care," (I. l. 119), if his pride is not satisfied by... Free Essays on The Reinforcement Of Authority Free Essays on The Reinforcement Of Authority The Reinforcement of Authority Some might argue that Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Man" presents the viewpoint of a deist. Others might claim that the poem fails to exhibit Christian concepts of good and evil, especially since the poet concludes his first epistle with the seemingly unchristian claim that "WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT." Yet, Pope's arguments actually reflect a traditional Christian perspective, which can be verified by comparing his poem with New Testament teachings. Like the writers of the New Testament, particularly the apostle Paul, Pope claims that pride and envy leads man to question the justice of God, and he insists that men submit to God, remaining content with their lot in life. First of all, the new science of Newton and the Enlightenment states, â€Å"The physical world could be understood through the ability of human reason to discern immutable mathematical laws that governed it.† In a political sense, many people claimed they had divine right and it was just accepted. So how in a bodily planet can we understand this? We must use reason to contemplate the facts. There are no mathematical laws to rule this and so we can rule this out. This would be right according to many philosophes because it didn’t violate natural laws, but not the deist. In the presence of the social classes, the new science reinforced the idea of a â€Å"machine like universe.† The traditional ways of mankind was changed and the presence of evil was included. Men claim that God's creation is imperfect because they mistakenly believe that everything was created specifically for them. Pope admits that, "if the great end be human Happiness, then Nature deviates" (I. 1. 149-150). He does not believe, however, that God created the world solely for man's happiness. Pride persuades men to consider their present felicity the core purpose of creation. "If Man alone engross not Heav'n's high care," (I. l. 119), if his pride is not satisfied by...

How to Write Your Graduate School Admissions Essay

How to Write Your Graduate School Admissions Essay The admissions essay is often the least well-understood part of the graduate school application yet it is critical to your admissions success. The graduate admissions essay or personal statement is your chance to distinguish yourself  from other applicants and let the admissions committee know you apart from your GPA and GRE scores. Your admissions essay can be the deciding factor in whether you are accepted or rejected by a graduate school. Therefore, it is necessary that you write an essay that is honest, interesting, and well organized. How well you structure and organize your application essay can determine your fate. A well-written essay tells the admissions committee that you have the capacity to write coherently, think logically, and do well in grad school. Format your essay to include an introduction, a body, and a concluding paragraph. Essays are often written in response to prompts posed by the grad school. Regardless, organization is key to your success. Introduction: The introduction is the most important part of the essay, especially the first sentence. The first sentence introduces your essay and a bad introduction, in person or in writing, is detrimental to your admissions chances.The first sentence should be unique and compelling, possibly thought provoking or attention-grabbing.First sentences may explain your desire to study the subject of interest or discuss the motivation that influenced your desire to study the subject of interest. State it in a creative manner.The sentences following the first sentence should provide a brief explanation that supports the claim stated in the first sentence.Your goal for the introduction is to entice the reader to continue beyond the first paragraph. The Body: The body includes several paragraphs that provide detailed evidence to support the statements made in the introductory paragraph.Each paragraph should have a transition, which starts each paragraph with a topic statement that will be the theme of that paragraph. This gives the reader a heads up of whats to come. Transitions connect paragraphs to preceding paragraphs, enabling the essay to flow smoothly.Each paragraph should have a resolution, which ends each paragraph with a meaningful sentence that provides a transition to the next paragraph.Experiences, accomplishments or any other evidence that can support your claims should be included in the body. Future goals should also be mentioned in the body.A short summary of your educational background can be discussed in the 1st paragraph of the body.Personal experiences and the reasons for wanting to attend the school can be discussed in the 2nd paragraph.Do not simply repeat what was stated in the application.The last paragraph can exp lain why you are a good match for the program. Conclusion: The conclusion is the last paragraph of the essay.State the key points mentioned in the body, such as your experiences or accomplishments, that explain your interest in the subject. State it in a conclusive and brief manner.Convey your fit to the specific graduate program and field. Your essay should include detail, be personal, and specific. The purpose of the graduate admissions essay is to show the admission committee what makes you unique and different from other applicants. Your job is to display your distinct personality and provide evidence that confirms your passion, desire, and, especially, fit for the subject and the program.

Decision making and problem solving concepts and principles Research Paper

Decision making and problem solving concepts and principles - Research Paper Example Principles and concepts create a plat form whereby solutions and remedies to problems are attained and are a basic requirement to enhance fairness in decision making and problem solving (Metcalfe, 2014). Another principle is that decision making should be a continuous process which is usually a five step process. The five steps involve defining a problem or situation, analyzing the problem, finding the alternative courses of action, analyzing the different alternatives and finally selecting the best alternative and solving the problem. The principles and concepts are applied in law, during decision making and problem solving. The decision making process is applied, whereby five steps are followed. The first step is the definition of a problem. The step involves identifying the problem, listing down the causes and what led to the problem. The second step is analyzing the problem, whereby the current problem is analyzed on the basis of what led to the specific problem and the criteria to evaluate the problem is outlined. The third stage involves coming up with alternatives that may be applied in solving the problem. Different alternatives are derived at this stage and information relating to them is analyzed. The alternatives are then evaluated using the information (Alvord, 2010). The fourth stage involves analyzing the alternatives. The result of this stage is the coming up with the best alternative to be applied in problem solving. The final stage is selecting and implementing of the best alternative. This alternative is then applied for the purpose of solving the problem (Alvord, 2010). In addition to the process, decision making in the law profession calls for other principles that include being purpose driven, since the decision making is usually aimed at achieving some goals and objectives, being inclusive in that it involves the participation of all the involved parties, for

Online courses and traditional courses Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Online courses and traditional courses - Essay Example Ideally, there are various online educational methods, which are relevantly effective to well-organized, mature, motivated, and self-disciplined students with perfect time management skills. This is an argumentative essay on online courses and traditional courses. Body Merits and Demerits of Traditional Courses The traditional courses have various merits that include the presence of networking opportunities. Indeed, as students meet face-to-face, they develop contacts that will lead to more networking opportunities. Moreover, students in traditional universities have the opportunity of using the campus facilities that may include libraries, stadiums, gyms, student’s unions that work to the benefit of the student. In addition, this form of education creates a discovery experience where international students mature, embrace diversity, and grow socially. Most, assuredly, the direct interaction with lecturers and fellow students ensures that the student gets quality education thr ough discussions and availability of instructions (Sorrentino, 2011). Furthermore, traditional education compels students to abide with the set rules and regulations as well as following timetables. This has long-term benefits where such students become organized, law-abiding citizens, and creates a rational society. However, there are many demerits attached to traditional a course that makes one to reconsider the idea of enrolling in traditional university. For instance, traditional courses are very expensive as compared to online courses. Indeed, traditional course will require a student to pay tuition fees and other additional fees that may include transport fees, accommodation fees, costs for food, and recreational fees. As such, for poor families, affording quality traditional education becomes a huge challenge especially where there are no government subsidies or social welfare assistance. Indeed, there is a high likelihood of schooling abandonment due to lack of fees to tradi tional courses. At the same time, traditional courses are so stationary and immobile since students follow a set program, assessment measures, set timetables, and set rules and regulations that are not flexible (Sorrentino, 2011). This inflexibility sometimes annoys and stresses students leading to poor performance and school abandonment. As such, this may lead to serious scheduling challenges where students must travel and attend classes despite transport problems or commitments to other activities. Indeed, for students pursuing higher education and working at the same time, traditional courses may limit their success. Additionally, the immobility requires all resources and activities to congest in one room. At the same time, traditional courses may bear aspects of limited personal attention especially where colleges and universities admit so many students in one program. This leads to poor quality of education as the lecturer-student interaction becomes ineffective. With this, we can argue that traditional courses are not entirely effective. Indeed, if we consider the merits of online courses, we would seemingly prefer the latter. Effectiveness of Online courses Actually, there is rampant growth of online enrollment in the modern education system. This resulted from the global recession that led to poor economic status leading to inability to further education in traditional courses. In addition, the growth in technology and flexibility of

Technologies and Citizens Privacy Research Paper

Technologies and Citizens Privacy - Research Paper Example With doing away of paper based services people store their data in computers. Spy software and network sniffing programs that are readily available in the Internet have aided people in violating other people privacy. People, thus, need to be able to protect their network securities and computers from any form of intrusion. This calls for risk management when it comes to people’s personal information (Lindsay & Thomson, 2005). The government and business agencies need to find new ways and means that can protect people’s identity and privacy when delivering or offering services. Form a citizen’s point of view, it is clear that online and other forms of digital transactions are vulnerable to breach of securities (Davenport, 2006). Citizens lack proper knowledge to understand what happens when their identity is stored in the online government systems and other businesses. Through the use of spy software, a person can be tracked wherever and whenever he or she uses cr edit cards. There is the need for citizens to be educated on how to protect their personal information (Davenport, 2006). Advantages and Disadvantages of the Public Being Able to Access Information All forms of technological developments do come with their own issues biased on both the negative and positive sides. The issue of technology has brought the Internet age which has been having great importance in human lives and by so doing being able to enhance human interaction and business operations (Bhunia, 2006). However, the issue of insecurity has as well been experienced and which is in need of tentative analysis towards curbing all the issues of insecurity which comes as a result. The issue of network security is something which has been given the necessary concern and establishment by nations as well as organizations. Due to this kind of development, the network security is able to change the focus of security groups or security blueprint over the past few years. With the publi c is able to access information, there is a need to audit the systems that host the information. There are few things that an information security auditor needs to be previewed before carrying out an audit of the information security data centers. The auditor needs to be well informed about the organization and how it conducts its sensitive business activities (Lindsay & Thomson, 2005). This will immensely help when it comes to performing a data or information center assessment. Every organization should have a data center and its main objective should be to align the data center actions with the goals of the organization. At the same time it should be able to preserve the safety and integrity of the public data and information in the data centers. Prior to conducting the audit process, the following are some of the things that an information security auditor needs to do: meet with the IT management and carry out a review of its department organizational structure, conduct a review of the job description of all the employees at the data center, know all the application and operating systems in use at the data centers, review the data centers emergency recovery plans, and evaluate the IT departments or organizations policies and procedures when it comes to handling their data centers (Davenport, 2006). Protecting Information The issue of netw

Methods for Establishing Component Priorities Assignment

Methods for Establishing Component Priorities - Assignment Example On the other hand, BIA scenarios and components also form an important way of establishing component priorities during business impact analysis (Roebuck, 2011). For example, an analysis of what happens in different scenarios may be used to provide essential data on the nature of threats faced and the possible impacts or scenarios in the event of an emergency such as data security lapse. Financial and service impact of components not being available is another aspect of business impact analysis that can also be used as a method of establishing component priorities. This is particularly because the financial and service impact analysis can provide details and information related to the potential financial consequences or monetary impacts of a given component. Lastly, recovery time frameworks are critically significant in addressing the recovery time requirements including the maximum time that the business can tolerate when certain business functions are absent, in order to help the coordinators in the identification of the most critical, short term, medium term as well as long-term intervention measures that need to be undertaken. Business enterprises revisit the common business operations and processes while developing business impact analyses. At the initial stage, the business first discusses the critical business operations through the creation of a set constituting every operational area of the business together with the SME associated with each area (Barnes, 2001). The role of the SMEs is to brainstorm then generate a set of questions to pose to other areas followed by a compilation of the results.  

Environmental Quality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Environmental Quality - Essay Example te continues to warm, there will be important ramifications for our planet’s ecosystems, human health, agricultural production, precipitation and glacial retreat. While unanimity on the causes of global warming does not exist, there are arguably many causes of this phenomenon, both natural and human made. For some, global warming has been going on for centuries and is a natural property of the earth. Natural causes of global warming include methane gas which is released from the earth’s arctic tundra and wetlands. As a greenhouse gas, methane traps heat in the atmosphere of the earth. As the effects of global warming are being witnessed across the planet, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is acting to address this important issue. The following will explore climate change and global warming and demonstrate how the EPA is working to combat this important challenge (BBC, 2002). From a human-made perspective, there are many things that we humans do that contribute to global warming. The EPA states that the greenhouse effect is caused by the presence in the earth’s atmosphere of certain gases which transmit energy to the surface of the Earth and temporarily absorb heat, which retards the loss of energy to space. The greenhouse effect is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are an important cause of global warming and in the United States about 40% of all carbon dioxide emissions are the result of burning fossil fuels to generate electricity. Accordingly coal is accounts for approximately 93% of all emissions for the purpose of electricity generations. Power plants emit carbon dioxide as does the burning of coal. Carbon dioxide is also emitted from cars and the burning of gasoline to fuel our cars. Accordingly, the United States of America is the largest global consumer of oil, consuming 20 .4 million barrels per day. It is estimated that 33% of all US carbon dioxide

Support Services and Mainstream Schools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Support Services and Mainstream Schools - Essay Example This isolation needs to be overcome if LEAs are to make progress with their main challenge, which is to raise educational standards. Strategies to aid this improvement include Educational Development Plans, LEA inspections and Best Value (Ainscow et al., 1999). The guidance in the code states that all children with SEN should be enabled to reach their full potential, to be fully included in their school communities, and be enabled to make a successful transition to adult life. For most, the mainstream school setting is suitable to help them to attain all of these goals, and it is only in severe cases that they would be better helped in a specialist school setting. The code recommends that schools take an approach in which the match the provision of specialist support to the individual child's SEN (DfES, 2001). Support services must work to the Code of Practice for SEN, but they go about doing this is in different ways, using various methods to achieve the goals laid out in the Code. There is some debate as to how successful these support services are at doing that, and much discussion as to what makes some services more successful than others. Ainscow et al. Ainscow et al. (1999) found in their study conducted on various stakeholders, that the availability of support teams was seen as being important to the effective practice of inclusion. However even though some of the LEAs which were surveyed thought that classroom assistants were central to gaining inclusion, others speculated that they in fact caused a new degree of segregation. An Ofsted report in 2005 found also that support and outreach services were successful in promoting inclusion and improving performance of pupils with special educational needs, and they found that this was because in the most effective support services, all staff were fully committed to inclusion, which came across in their work. The members of the support service which they found most useful were those who brought new knowledge or skills that were not already present in the school. A previous Ofsted report (2004) on a limited number of LEAs across the country found that some of the most useful Support services were those that provided training to raise staff awareness of SENs and to give training on pupils' personal and social development. Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is one area in which the mainstream schools successfully utilise support services to ensure that the education provision lives up to the SEN Code of Practice. The SEN and Inclusion Support Services (SENISS) is part of Education Leeds, who work with Leeds City Council to supply Support services to the schools within the Leeds and surrounding areas. As with all support services, their aims are to remove barriers to learning and inclusion, and promote the achievement of pupils with SEN. They go about doing this by providing support on two levels: on the school-based level, and on the individual level of each pupil. The service also tries to enhance the capacity of the school to become self-managing in terms of SEN, by providing training on legislation and SEN policy and issues. The service also

Environmental Quality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Environmental Quality - Essay Example te continues to warm, there will be important ramifications for our planet’s ecosystems, human health, agricultural production, precipitation and glacial retreat. While unanimity on the causes of global warming does not exist, there are arguably many causes of this phenomenon, both natural and human made. For some, global warming has been going on for centuries and is a natural property of the earth. Natural causes of global warming include methane gas which is released from the earth’s arctic tundra and wetlands. As a greenhouse gas, methane traps heat in the atmosphere of the earth. As the effects of global warming are being witnessed across the planet, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is acting to address this important issue. The following will explore climate change and global warming and demonstrate how the EPA is working to combat this important challenge (BBC, 2002). From a human-made perspective, there are many things that we humans do that contribute to global warming. The EPA states that the greenhouse effect is caused by the presence in the earth’s atmosphere of certain gases which transmit energy to the surface of the Earth and temporarily absorb heat, which retards the loss of energy to space. The greenhouse effect is caused by the emission of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are an important cause of global warming and in the United States about 40% of all carbon dioxide emissions are the result of burning fossil fuels to generate electricity. Accordingly coal is accounts for approximately 93% of all emissions for the purpose of electricity generations. Power plants emit carbon dioxide as does the burning of coal. Carbon dioxide is also emitted from cars and the burning of gasoline to fuel our cars. Accordingly, the United States of America is the largest global consumer of oil, consuming 20 .4 million barrels per day. It is estimated that 33% of all US carbon dioxide

Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 11

Leadership - Essay Example Reluctant leaders are normally endowed with leadership skills and with proper training and mentorship, reluctant leaders turn out to be very strong and competent leaders; as the author of this article states, reluctant leaders have skills to be excellent managers but can’t imagine themselves succeeding in a leadership role. Arrogant leaders refer to the category of people who, though they have insecurities just like the reluctant leaders, they however believe that they are strong and competent leaders. The arrogant leaders compensate for their insecurities through convincing themvelves that they are competent leaders; unlike the reluctant leaders who manifest low self-esteem, the arrogant leaders manifest strong self-confidence and self-conviction in their capabilities as leaders. The arrogant leaders are normally ambitious self-marketers; for this reason, arrogant leaders are mainly promoted to positions of leadership by many organisations, unlike the reluctant leaders who do not showcase their leadership skills. Unlike the reluctant leaders, the arrogant leaders lack natural leadership skills and for this reason, arrogant leaders can wreak havoc in the groups or the teams that they are leading. This is because arrogant leaders are not humble and they believe that they know all they need to know in le adership and in relating with the people they lead. For this reason, transforming arrogant leaders into competent leaders is a challenging task that requires the arrogant leaders to be helped to recognize their own weaknesses and limitations, so that they can be humble enough to learn more about leadership so as to be able to relate better with the people they lead. Unknown leaders refer to a category of leaders who are quite competent leaders and they are also ambitious, but they have a weakness in forming relationships with other people; unknown leaders are cautious and they form relationships with other people more slowly and tentatively than other

Swot South Beauty Essay Example for Free

Swot South Beauty Essay A SWOT Analysis is a tool that identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. This basic, straightforward model assesses what an organization can and cannot do as well as its potential opportunities and threats. The method of the SWOT analysis is to take the information from an environmental analysis and separate it into internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external issues (opportunities and threats). Once it is completed, SWOT analysis determines what may assist the firm in accomplishing its objectives, and what obstacles must be overcome or minimized to achieve the desired results. Strengths * Brand Strategy and positioning. The Group’s branding strategy focuses on brand differentiation to cater a wide range of customers. The newest brand of the group, SUBU focuses on innovative healthy food for younger and more fashionable office workers, the LAN Club is the luxury brand that targets the upper-class dining segment of successful businesspeople aged over 45 years, and South Beauty, the Group’s flagship brand that targets upper-middle class segment of businesspeople aged from 30 to 45 years. No competitor in the Chinese restaurant market has such brand format. Almost all of them operate their single brands without clear brand positioning so their brand image is quite inferior to the Group’s. * Consistent brand identities. The company has built consistent brand identities by launching some outdoor and print advertisement. The company also explore cooperation with certain international airlines, including Air France and KLM Royal Dutch airlines, to provide business travelers flying between China and Europe with South Beauty-branded Chinese dishes. * Innovation. The company is regarded as an innovative company, with 55 percent annual growth. The South Beauty restaurant also introduced several innovations and improvements with regard to traditional Sichuan food, not only in terms of new raw materials, but also the process of preparing the dishes and the customer experience. The Group developed a range of innovations with regard to Sichuan cuisine but also added certain Cantonese cuisine and other flavors to its menu. One of the group’s biggest and most ambitious innovations is the combination of Chinese and Western cuisine that breaks with tradition and creates original new flavors. It is the first Chinese restaurant to offer Chinese food in a western style, and the first to mix food presentation with artistic views. * Differentiation in cuisine. Some of the factors that make the Group’s cuisine different from others are the strict requirements placed on raw ingredients, the innovation on traditional cuisine, the exacting criteria placed on a dish’s nutritional value, and the strong emphasis on the visual appeal of each dish. * Location and Pricing. The Group’s restaurants are located in top-notch office buildings in key cities. Meals are also expensively priced to cover costs, but because of the brand’s reputation and image, consumers are willing to pay the high prices. This combination of high-end location and high pricing were helpful in developing the upper-middle class brand image. * Interior decoration and ambience. Each South Beauty restaurant had a different decor, designed by well-known artists in the field. It is Zhang Lan’s belief that people should come to the restaurant not only for the food but also for the ambience. * IT applications. Advanced IT applications enhanced the image of the restaurant and improve efficiency. For example, the Group built its own CRM system to record customer information and use that information to provide tailor-made services and make promotional communications. These IT applications give the Group an edge because they are quite innovative for the traditional Chinese catering industry as most restaurants remain committed to their old ways of operating their businesses. * People management. Zhang Lang was a firm believer that a dedicated workforce could overcome challenges pertaining to financial capital and market potential, so the Group strove to apply performance management techniques with regard to the management team. It also worked with a consulting firm to design a new people management system to motivate the staff. The group also initiated a large-scale training program for the staff. * Synergies. The use of the company’s central management to achieve synergies has caused the South Beauty Group to develop functional management expertise at its head office with a view to coordinating the management of its restaurants, all of this helps brainstorm ways to differentiate the Group from its competitors to capture market share. * Expansion. South Beauty Group is not only looking to expand further in China ut is also looking for an international presence. * Right target group. Because of the booming economy in China, the business meals had more potential than the other segments because they could absorb higher prices. These business-people were not satisfied with simple eating and drinking- they required more in terms of the restaurant’s environment or ambiance. These businesspeople are the target consumers of the South Beauty Group. * Leader in the niche market of high-end Chinese dinner: South Beauty’s share was more than 7%  Weaknesses * Ranking in the high-end Chinese dinner segment. Among the top 100 restaurant companies in China in 2007, 10 were in this segment, with the leader being Shanghai Jingiang (ranked 4) and Beijing Shunfeng (Ranked 18). South Beauty’s ranking was 72. * Poor diversity on types of cuisine. The high-ranked competitors focused on various Chinese cuisines, but South Beauty only focused on Sichuan cuisine, so it could not compete with these restaurants in terms of cuisine. * Fake Restaurants and inability to protect its brand. The most crucial issue for South Beauty was that of restaurants claiming to be South Beauty franchisees. In 2005, there were at least 16 â€Å"fake† restaurants in cities South Beauty has not penetrated. The imposters used the same Chinese name as South Beauty with one or two additional Chinese characters to attract innocent customers and provided them with poor service and atmosphere. The unhappy customers however, complained to the â€Å"real† South Beauty. This hurts the brand image and reputation of the Group. * Authenticity of Sichuan food. In cities with higher incomes (where South Beauty’s target customers are mainly located), consumers had more choices of restaurants and made selections based on word of mouth. 63 percent of consumers obtained restaurant information from word-of-mouth publicity, so while a restaurant review web site state that South Beauty promoted â€Å"Refined or Improved Sichuan Food†, in other places, such as Chengdu, the birth place of Sichuan food, customers were of the opinion that the Sichuan food offered by South Beauty was not as spicy as the original cuisine. Other did not view South Beauty as a genuine Sichuan food restaurant. If consumers were looking for authentic Sichuan food, after hearing these opinions on the street, they were more likely to pick another restaurant. * Inability to do things in a standardized way to cut down costs and improve efficiency. The management team did not halt their efforts to improve the Group’s operational efficiency through standardization, which was also the foundation for scaling up. * Minimal market share in the Chinese Restaurant Market. The market share in South Beauty in the total industry was less than 0. 1 percent. Opportunities * Expansion. The Group is seeking to expand its operations from the existing 20 restaurants in China to a total of 100 worldwide (35 in China and 65 in the international market) over the next three years. * Standardization. The standardization of the process of preparing the dishes is a big opportunity to increase efficiency and quality. * Entry into new businesses. The Group wants to diversify into business of partially cooked frozen foods for retail outlets and airline catering. The Group’s market share in the Chinese dinner category was an estimated 2 percent in 2006. There is great to room to increase this market share. * Ability to invest heavily in various elements, interior decorating being one of them. No competitor is able to invest so heavily. * Cuisine diversity. South Beauty only offers Sichuan cuisine. While a typical Chinese restaurant offers one or two cuisines, expa nding into more than 2 different cuisines could give the Group a source of differentiation. * Becoming an international brand. According to Zhang Lan â€Å" (†¦) Now is the time to expand. We have met success in China, and now we wish to build an international brand, which will have a presence in New York, Paris, London, Milan, Geneva, Tokyo and other important international cities of the world. † it is projected that the Group will have 30 restaurants in short term and 100 outlets in the next three years, of which 35 restaurants would be located in China and 65 in the international market in cooperation with strategic partners in Tokyo, New York, and other cities. Threats * Some competitors of South Beauty have been able to overcome the obstacle of production and prepare Chinese dishes in a standardized way faster than South Beauty, so they are able to cut down costs and realize bigger profits. * Belief among certain consumers that the Sichuan food that South Beauty serves is not authentic because this can cause consumers to search for more â€Å"authentic† options in competitors. * â€Å"Fake† South Beauty restaurants. They make the brand look bad and downsize the brand’s reputation and positioning. * With such large ideas for expansion, if the capital needed is not raised, this could pose a threat not only for future expansion but also for future growth in China. * Operational efficiency that needs to improve: the management team did not halt their efforts to improve the Group’s operational efficiency through standardization, which was also the foundation for scaling up. Each South Beauty restaurant carried 380 items on the main menu. Raw materials depended on local suppliers, and the quality of each dish relied on the experience of the chef. Although there was a team with three main chefs at the head office to develop new dishes and control the quality, the process of standardization is still in its beginning phase. If standardization is not achieved soon, the Group may lose some of its market share to competitors that do achieve it soon because they will be able to cut down costs that will translate into cheaper prices.