Is Sex Education Necessary in School

Is Sex Education Necessary in School? By: Zainul Jum’ah Introducing sex education in the schools of India is an important issue. A 2007 ministry of women and child development study shows that over 50 percent of children are sexually abused. Sex is still considered a taboo in India. Parents feel embarrassed to talk openly with their children in this regard. Due to the ignorance of sex education they fall victim to AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Many NGOs are trying to create awareness on AIDS.Sex education can help people to take decisions regarding health and sexuality. It is high time for sex-education to the introduced in schools for the benefit of the youth of the country. Introducing sex-education in the schools of India is an important issue. Recommendations of the National curriculum frame work 2000 focus on cultivating a proper understanding of sex related issues with special focus on teenage pregnancies, drug addiction and adolescent education. A 2007 M inistry of women and child development study shows that over 50 percent of our children are sexually abused.In half of these cases, the abuse is perpetrated by persons in positions of trust and a majority of the children do not report it due to fear. Sex education has become a debatable issue. Many people feel that these kind of delicate issues should be left to the parents. Parents feel embarrassed to talk openly with their children in this regard. Sex is still considered a taboo in the Indian society. It is considered that teaching our children about their sexuality can break down pre-existing notions of modesty and tear the moral fabric of our society.But with the alarming increase of AIDS, unwanted / unplanned / unwed pregnancies and other diseases related to sex, it is important that sex-education should be given importance in schools and colleges. Physical and mental changes in children start appearing with puberty. Sexual development begins much earlier than that. Many childr en find it strange or difficult to cope up with the changes. They grow up with curiosity stamped on their minds. So it is very important to provide them sex education.It makes growing children aware of the various changes taking place in their bodies and prepare them for responsible adulthood. Surveys indicate that on an average, every urban student watches television for two hours daily. The foreign television channels, the vulgar scenes shown in Indian cinema and video albums create a negative impact on them. The movie and serials on the small screen stimulate the younger generation sexually. Thus in the absence of sound knowledge about sex they commit mistakes which result in unwanted pregnancies, HIV positive cases and other sexually transmitted diseases.In India 15 percent of the HIV/AIDS patients are actually children under 15 years of age. Sex education can help people to take decisions regarding health and sexuality. Teaching children about sex in classroom would encourage t hem to view it as a natural, normal and healthy part of life. Sex education should be introduced in schools and colleges. If children and youngsters learn about sex in scientific and objective way, they would be more careful before indulging in sex secretly. At least they would be careful to take precautions so as to avoid pregnancies and diseases.India, and most Asian countries, also fell behind Western countries on their level of confidence on how to protect themselves from HIV-AIDS (75. 3 percent), and even lower on level of confidence on how to avoid pregnancy (73 percent). Parents, in India, are known to hide their affection towards each other, in front of their children. The children grow up to believe that love is a taboo and it is perverse to display one's affection in public. Parents should understand the psyche of their children. Parents should initiate their children in the meaning of love. The love they display for their children. y giving gifts, sharing and caring for t hem, should also be shown for each other by behaving like perfectly normal friends. Parents should talk with their children more often to give them the feeling of security in the family. This could make the children open up their problems and help the parents root out the cause. Interaction with the friends of their children also would give an idea about their background and the minds of the younger lot. The parents should take in their children as confidants and warm them against developing friendships with immoral friends.There has been a rise in incidents of physical abuse to children. According to a WHO study over 50 percent children have faced one or more forms of sexual abuse. Children fall victim to the advances of elders. According to a survey, 50 percent children are abused by people known to them. They keep silent and live with the trauma throughout their lives. Sex education can supply our young people with the tools to report and resist abusive behaviors, and provide the m with a forum for expressing their fears and feelings honestly and openly.In a world, full of exploitation, children are the most vulnerable section of our society. They need to be taught the difference between gentle touch and bad touch in order to protect themselves from various forms of child abuse. Many psychologists have argued that sex education has the potential to liberate us from socially organized sexual oppression. In addition it helps adolescents come to healthy terms with their sexual identities and overcome feelings of guilt shame. During the period of adolescence children begin to see the world in a mature way.Many NGOs have introduced training programs on AIDS and HIV awareness. They should be encouraged and the schools and colleges should co-operate with them to give the desired result. Schools life remains an integral part of every child's development. Along with the academic subjects, sex-education should be given equal importance. Trained teachers, psychologists and medical consultants should deal with the subject. While imparting sex-education the boys and girls should be divided into two groups (one for boys and other for girls).They should be taught separately. This way the lady teachers should teach girls and male teachers should teach boys. Children will not feel embarrassed. They will freely clarify their doubts and queries. Due care should be taken about the contents of the subject. This should be decided by a team of doctors and psychologists of the respective field. It is high time for sex-education to be introduced in the educational curriculum. Sex education in schools would dispel many of the myths prevalent among school children. It will create a liberal thinking among youth.

Microeconomics

Question 1) With examples give 5 reasons why the study of microeconomics is important. Microeconomics is a field of economic study that focuses on how an individual's behaviour and decisions affect the supply and demand for goods and services. For the purpose of microeconomics, the actions of individuals, households and businesses are crucial, unlike the study of macroeconomics, which focuses on national and international economic trends. Despite the differences between the two fields, however, micro-level trends and the study of microeconomics are considered the basis of modern macroeconomics.Macroeconomics is concerned with the big picture, for example, the national economy and gross domestic product. By contrast, microeconomics is concerned with the small picture and focuses on theories of supply and demand. Firstly, microeconomics is very important in business, especially when it comes to a new business. Entrepreneurs create businesses by purchasing and utilizing factors of produ ction. In order to estimate the potential return on investment (ROI) of those factors of production, entrepreneurs must have a basic knowledge of microeconomic concepts such as supply, demand, cost and profit.Without the basics of microeconomics, it is impossible to know how much a particular good can be sold for in a particular area. Furthermore, without microeconomic basics on costs and earnings, it is impossible to estimate ROI, thus will lead to poor financial investments. Microeconomics is very useful in business decision making. It helps business to achieve maximum production with the given amount of resources. Business firms can make decisions in demand analysis, cost analysis and methods of calculating prices.Second, marketing people must have a basic understanding of microeconomics so that they can set prices for products and decide in which markets to sell those products. For example, with an understanding of microeconomics, a computer company marketing manager can advise the CEO to start allowing instalment payments in case of an economic downturn, thus recovering business from customers hit hard by the recession. A marketing manager without a sense of economics might not realize that such options are available. Third, microeconomics is important when it comes to management.Managers must understand the concept of return on investment (ROI) when setting salaries for new hires, as employees are supposed to generate profits for the company. Managers must also have an understanding of microeconomics when making general budget decisions. A project shouldn't be given a budget that exceeds what the project is expected to produce in future earnings. These kinds of decisions are based on the microeconomic concepts of cost, revenue and profit. Fourth, Finance and Accounting also requires the understandings of microeconomics.Finance people probably use microeconomics more than anyone else in business. Financial analysts use microeconomic and macroeconomic theo ries in order to forecast the future value of financial assets. For example, gold, stocks, bonds and other investments. A securities analyst might use microeconomic data to determine the change in income of people in a given country, then use the microeconomic concept of â€Å"price elasticity of demand† for the responsiveness of consumer demand to changes in consumer income and to determine whether the price of a given asset will rise or fall in that country.Accountants use financial ratios that are derived from microeconomics. Lastly, the understanding of microeconomic is needed to provide tools for economic policies. Microeconomic helps to impose tax rates by analyzing the demand and supply factors. It also helps to determine the government policies on the resource allocation and pricing. Government also make policies to control the prices of goods by using the theory of price ceiling and price floor. By understanding microeconomics, we can examine the implications and eff ectiveness of the government policies. Question 2) Define â€Å"ceteris paribus â€Å".Explain why the device of ceteris paribus is so important in economics. Ceteris Paribus is a Latin phrase that translates approximately to â€Å"holding other things constant† and is usually rendered in English as â€Å"all other things being equal†. In Economics the term â€Å"Ceteris Paribus† is used quite often to assume all other factors to remain the same, while analysing the relationship between any two variables. For example, when discussing the laws of supply and demand, one could say that if demand for a given product outweighs supply, ceteris paribus, prices will rise.Here, the use of â€Å"ceteris paribus† is simply saying that as long as all other factors that could affect the outcome such as the existence of a substitute product remain constant, prices will increase in this situation. One of the disciplines in which ceteris paribus are most widely used is economics, in which they are employed to simplify the formulation and description of economic outcomes and the theoretical relationship of cause and effect. When using ceteris paribus in economics, assume all other variables except those under immediate consideration are held constant.For example, it can be predicted that if the price of beef increases, ceteris paribus, the quantity of beef demanded by buyers will decrease. In this example, the clause is used to operationally describe everything surrounding the relationship between both the price and the quantity demanded of an ordinary good. This operational description intentionally ignores both known and unknown factors that may also influence the relationship between price and quantity demanded, and thus to assume ceteris paribus is to assume away any interference with the given example.Such factors that would be intentionally ignored include the relative change in price of substitute goods like the price of beef vs. chicken, t he level of risk dislikes among buyers like the fear of mad cow disease, and the level of overall demand for a good regardless of its current price level like a societal shift toward vegetarianism. If we try to establish the relationship between demand and price, there may be other variables which may also influence demand besides price. The influence of other factors may invalidate the hypothesis that quantity demanded of a commodity is inversely related to its price.If rise in price takes place along with an increasing in income or a change technology, then the effect of price change may not be the same. However, the assumption that the other variables are unchanged will eliminate the interrupting influences of other variables. Ceteris Paribus is important in economics as it is an assumption which we are bound to make when there are complexities in the reality. It is necessary for the sake of convenience. The limitations of human intelligence and capacity compel us to make this as sumption.Besides, without the assumption we cannot reach on economic relations, sequences and conclusions. In fact, there are large numbers of variables interacting simultaneously at a given time. If our analysis has to be accurate we may have to examine two variables at a time which makes it inevitable to assume other variables to remain unchanged. For the ceteris paribus assumption, let’s take for example by assuming an economist examines a model explaining the relationship between the price and quantity purchased of Coca-Cola. The theory is â€Å"if the price increases, then the quantity of Coca-Cola decreases, ceteris paribus. Now assume the process of Coca-Cola was observed to increased one summer and some people actually bought more, not less. Based on this real-world observation, you would declare the theory is wrong but actually the economist responds that this is a reasoning pitfall because the model is valid based on the assumption of ceteris paribus, and your obse rvation gives no reason to reject the model. The reason the model appeared flawed is because another factor which is a sharp rise in the temperature. The rise in temperature caused people to buy more Coca-Cola in spite of its higher price.If the temperature and all other factors were held constant as the price of Coca-Cola rises, then people indeed would buy less Coca-Cola, as the model predicts. Therefore, the assumption that the other variables are unchanged will eliminate the interrupting influences of other variables. As a conclusion, ceteris paribus is important as it enhances our understandings towards the theoretical relationship of cause and effect as we can analyse the relationship between two variable without having any other variable influencing the results.The assumption of Ceteris Paribus eliminates the influence of other factors which may get in the way of establishing a scientific statement regarding the behaviour of economic variables. References Question 1 reference : Importance of microeconomics, http://www. slideshare. net/tribhuwan64/presentation-on-importance-of-microecon omics Importance of microeconomics, http://www. ehow. com/info_8301181_importance-microeconomics-business. html Question 2 reference: Microeconomics for Today, books. google. com. my/books? isbn=0538469447 Basic Tools in Economics, http://wikieducator. org/Basic_Tools_in_Economic_Analysis Microeconomics Question 1) With examples give 5 reasons why the study of microeconomics is important. Microeconomics is a field of economic study that focuses on how an individual's behaviour and decisions affect the supply and demand for goods and services. For the purpose of microeconomics, the actions of individuals, households and businesses are crucial, unlike the study of macroeconomics, which focuses on national and international economic trends. Despite the differences between the two fields, however, micro-level trends and the study of microeconomics are considered the basis of modern macroeconomics.Macroeconomics is concerned with the big picture, for example, the national economy and gross domestic product. By contrast, microeconomics is concerned with the small picture and focuses on theories of supply and demand. Firstly, microeconomics is very important in business, especially when it comes to a new business. Entrepreneurs create businesses by purchasing and utilizing factors of produ ction. In order to estimate the potential return on investment (ROI) of those factors of production, entrepreneurs must have a basic knowledge of microeconomic concepts such as supply, demand, cost and profit.Without the basics of microeconomics, it is impossible to know how much a particular good can be sold for in a particular area. Furthermore, without microeconomic basics on costs and earnings, it is impossible to estimate ROI, thus will lead to poor financial investments. Microeconomics is very useful in business decision making. It helps business to achieve maximum production with the given amount of resources. Business firms can make decisions in demand analysis, cost analysis and methods of calculating prices.Second, marketing people must have a basic understanding of microeconomics so that they can set prices for products and decide in which markets to sell those products. For example, with an understanding of microeconomics, a computer company marketing manager can advise the CEO to start allowing instalment payments in case of an economic downturn, thus recovering business from customers hit hard by the recession. A marketing manager without a sense of economics might not realize that such options are available. Third, microeconomics is important when it comes to management.Managers must understand the concept of return on investment (ROI) when setting salaries for new hires, as employees are supposed to generate profits for the company. Managers must also have an understanding of microeconomics when making general budget decisions. A project shouldn't be given a budget that exceeds what the project is expected to produce in future earnings. These kinds of decisions are based on the microeconomic concepts of cost, revenue and profit. Fourth, Finance and Accounting also requires the understandings of microeconomics.Finance people probably use microeconomics more than anyone else in business. Financial analysts use microeconomic and macroeconomic theo ries in order to forecast the future value of financial assets. For example, gold, stocks, bonds and other investments. A securities analyst might use microeconomic data to determine the change in income of people in a given country, then use the microeconomic concept of â€Å"price elasticity of demand† for the responsiveness of consumer demand to changes in consumer income and to determine whether the price of a given asset will rise or fall in that country.Accountants use financial ratios that are derived from microeconomics. Lastly, the understanding of microeconomic is needed to provide tools for economic policies. Microeconomic helps to impose tax rates by analyzing the demand and supply factors. It also helps to determine the government policies on the resource allocation and pricing. Government also make policies to control the prices of goods by using the theory of price ceiling and price floor. By understanding microeconomics, we can examine the implications and eff ectiveness of the government policies. Question 2) Define â€Å"ceteris paribus â€Å".Explain why the device of ceteris paribus is so important in economics. Ceteris Paribus is a Latin phrase that translates approximately to â€Å"holding other things constant† and is usually rendered in English as â€Å"all other things being equal†. In Economics the term â€Å"Ceteris Paribus† is used quite often to assume all other factors to remain the same, while analysing the relationship between any two variables. For example, when discussing the laws of supply and demand, one could say that if demand for a given product outweighs supply, ceteris paribus, prices will rise.Here, the use of â€Å"ceteris paribus† is simply saying that as long as all other factors that could affect the outcome such as the existence of a substitute product remain constant, prices will increase in this situation. One of the disciplines in which ceteris paribus are most widely used is economics, in which they are employed to simplify the formulation and description of economic outcomes and the theoretical relationship of cause and effect. When using ceteris paribus in economics, assume all other variables except those under immediate consideration are held constant.For example, it can be predicted that if the price of beef increases, ceteris paribus, the quantity of beef demanded by buyers will decrease. In this example, the clause is used to operationally describe everything surrounding the relationship between both the price and the quantity demanded of an ordinary good. This operational description intentionally ignores both known and unknown factors that may also influence the relationship between price and quantity demanded, and thus to assume ceteris paribus is to assume away any interference with the given example.Such factors that would be intentionally ignored include the relative change in price of substitute goods like the price of beef vs. chicken, t he level of risk dislikes among buyers like the fear of mad cow disease, and the level of overall demand for a good regardless of its current price level like a societal shift toward vegetarianism. If we try to establish the relationship between demand and price, there may be other variables which may also influence demand besides price. The influence of other factors may invalidate the hypothesis that quantity demanded of a commodity is inversely related to its price.If rise in price takes place along with an increasing in income or a change technology, then the effect of price change may not be the same. However, the assumption that the other variables are unchanged will eliminate the interrupting influences of other variables. Ceteris Paribus is important in economics as it is an assumption which we are bound to make when there are complexities in the reality. It is necessary for the sake of convenience. The limitations of human intelligence and capacity compel us to make this as sumption.Besides, without the assumption we cannot reach on economic relations, sequences and conclusions. In fact, there are large numbers of variables interacting simultaneously at a given time. If our analysis has to be accurate we may have to examine two variables at a time which makes it inevitable to assume other variables to remain unchanged. For the ceteris paribus assumption, let’s take for example by assuming an economist examines a model explaining the relationship between the price and quantity purchased of Coca-Cola. The theory is â€Å"if the price increases, then the quantity of Coca-Cola decreases, ceteris paribus. Now assume the process of Coca-Cola was observed to increased one summer and some people actually bought more, not less. Based on this real-world observation, you would declare the theory is wrong but actually the economist responds that this is a reasoning pitfall because the model is valid based on the assumption of ceteris paribus, and your obse rvation gives no reason to reject the model. The reason the model appeared flawed is because another factor which is a sharp rise in the temperature. The rise in temperature caused people to buy more Coca-Cola in spite of its higher price.If the temperature and all other factors were held constant as the price of Coca-Cola rises, then people indeed would buy less Coca-Cola, as the model predicts. Therefore, the assumption that the other variables are unchanged will eliminate the interrupting influences of other variables. As a conclusion, ceteris paribus is important as it enhances our understandings towards the theoretical relationship of cause and effect as we can analyse the relationship between two variable without having any other variable influencing the results.The assumption of Ceteris Paribus eliminates the influence of other factors which may get in the way of establishing a scientific statement regarding the behaviour of economic variables. References Question 1 reference : Importance of microeconomics, http://www. slideshare. net/tribhuwan64/presentation-on-importance-of-microecon omics Importance of microeconomics, http://www. ehow. com/info_8301181_importance-microeconomics-business. html Question 2 reference: Microeconomics for Today, books. google. com. my/books? isbn=0538469447 Basic Tools in Economics, http://wikieducator. org/Basic_Tools_in_Economic_Analysis

William Connor Case Study for Cruise Industry Essay

William Connor Case Study for Cruise Industry - Essay Example This "William Connor Case Study for Cruise Industry" essay describes the dissimilarities flanked by the proponents and adversaries of approach, in so as to a conversation is based on why planning is much maligned by its opponents. Strategic organization has usually been portrayed as rotating approximately the separate stages of formulation, accomplishment, and manages, approved out in approximately cascade ladder for ships. These are three stepladder of the intended move toward to plan involves an official procedure to approach configuration: problem consciousness, the growth of explanations and the assortment of an answer (Forbes and Fletcher, 2000). In the similar background, Marlo (2000) indicate a intended approach encompass of a announcement of detailed and spoken meaning, holders with official gearshift (Boisot, M., and Child, J, 2004, 600-628). Jauch and Osborn (1991) observations with his understanding that towards a triumphant outcome of the approach, a firm arrangement is essential for an association. Hence all choices complete from the top organization can be approved out all through the association, with the â€Å"populace† persuaded and act in ways that are predictable to create attractive consequences ad hoc to the diagram. Therefore, strategy-making power rests with top organization, consigns a federal power in an association. In vision of the onward looking natural earth of a intended approach, Mazzolini (1988) experiential that goals or purpose fulfillments are the dangerous ending of the approach.

Exchange Rates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Exchange Rates - Essay Example For instance, let’s say goods are sold by a vendor in United Kingdom to a customer in United States on the first of January, and the customer has promised to make a payment in the next three months. In this case, the risk in question is that the price of dollar to the pound may change over the time period. This change may be on either side, resulting in an exchange gain to one party and loss to the other. Transaction risk often occurs in cases of sales/purchase of goods on credit with payment to be made at a later date, upon receipt of dividend from foreign investments and from borrowing and/or investing in foreign currencies. Transaction risk can be protected against by the use of various hedging instrument (DAVID WINSTONE, 1995). The other kind of risk that we discussed above is translation risk. It occurs when a company has various subsidiaries abroad and needs to consolidate its financial position for reporting purposes. It is pretty much possible that the various currencies in question (that of the subsidiary’s country and the home country) might not be performing well in relation to the host county’s currency and therefore show a very deteriorating position on the consolidated financial statements (PRACHI DEUSKAR, 2007). The best way to counter the impact of translation risk is to get involved in balance sheet hedging. The best way of doing so is making the foreign assets and liabilities equal so as to cut down the impact of any change that might occur in the exchange rates. The third and final case of currency risk mentioned above is economic risk. This risk overall affects the value of the firm in question. It refers to how the change in exchange rates affects the competitiveness of a business on an international scale. To make it simpler to understand, it’s not only the appreciation -or depreciation of a foreign currency to the home currency that affects a company’s operations, but also how a

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Strategic management practise - Assignment Example The purpose of this report is to conduct a strategic audit of a real-life organization and on the basis of strategic issues being faced by the organization, the goals, actions and key elements of performance management system to develop strategy are discussed in this organizational context. The report has four major sections, wherein the first section, the strategic issues are identified by employing a strategic audit. The strategic analysis is performed with the help of some strategic tools, such as PESTEL Analysis, SWOT Analysis, and Porter’s five forces model. Then to address these issues, the goals are set in the context of the organization in the second section. Thirdly, the actions are recommended which the organization should take. A strategy statement is also summarized in this regard. In the last section, the key elements of the performance management system are elaborated, which are important to develop the strategy for the organization. To address the purpose of the report, FedEx Corporation is selected. The FedEx Corporation was originated in 1971 by Frederick Smith, where its previous name was Federal Express, centered in Little Rock, Arkansas, and headquartered in Memphis, Tenn. The founder’s business visions have been esteemed all over the years, who always concentrated on providing superior customer services than rivals. During the start of the company, after fronting a number of funding problems, the company struggled and strived for its survival. The company entered into the initial public offerings in 1998, and its renowned itself as the name of FedEx Corporation in 2000 (FedEx Co., 2014). The FedEx Corporation is involved in delivery and shipping services mainly, and also it has developed a portfolio of business. It delivers different services to the different segments of the customers, which are business consulting services or support solutions, logistics services, e-commerce, and mainly

DB2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

DB2 - Essay Example The walls of this building are light colored. This building was constructed to replace the temple of the goddess Athena (Boardman, 1996). The look and feel of the building represent the religious and mythical feeling typical to Greek Art. The The Roman Arch of Constantine is in fact a symbol of victory for the Romans. Constantine won the battle of Milvian bridge in 312 CE and this building was constructed as a triumphal arch of Romans. It is one of the latest existing arches which fall in this category (Henderson and Beard, 2001). Both of these pieces of art are objective and represent a great achievement or cultural attitude of the time of construction. The Arch is a typical rectangular building which has sharp edges. The Greek Temple building is also rectangular but it is more aesthetically pleasing. The first building represents a very important religious aspect of Greeks. The Greeks believed in goddess of Athena and to make her happy, they replaced the earlier temple with this ne wer and grander one. It represents the closeness of Greeks with their gods and mythology. The artists who have worked on this piece of art have tried to convey the religious aspects of Greek life and have done that successfully. The second building is a symbol of victory (Henderson and Beard, 2001). It has the specific toughness. The look of this building can be easily related to a grand military victory.

Developing leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Developing leadership - Essay Example e had to switch from functional work teams to cross-functional, market-based virtual teams in order to better integrate functions that are important for customer responsiveness. ICT advances have offered new opportunities to build and lead virtual teams in the travel industry. These teams consist of workers who are located far from one another, possess unique skills, and must cooperate and collaborate to complete important tasks in the organisation. In the establishment, maintenance and support of virtual teams in this industry, leaders face various challenges including building cohesion, trust and team identity, and ensuring employees are not isolated (Sobel & Reilly, 2010: p39). They also face challenges in the selection of team members with the right interpersonal and technical abilities and skills needed work in the virtual environment, as well as in the evaluation of their performance. Virtual organisations pose unique challenges for leaders in the travel industry, including cultural issues, setup and maintenance costs, lack of trust between team members, and isolation of team members. These challenges could result in productivity problems and communication issues. Virtual organisation leadership demands a new approach, requiring the evaluation of disadvantages and advantages of non-traditional operations, as well as leadership competencies needed to manage at a virtual level (Camarinha-Matos et al., 2012: p40). In travel organisations facing growth and resource restrictions, which involve organisational evolution to a virtual environment of a cross-functional nature, being an agent for change, and interpersonal skills are crucial leadership skills. Failure to lead the organisation through the virtual working challenges and to adopt a new structure of the organisation poses significant risk to the organisation. The complexities facing leadership in the virtual org anisation are supported by research, which suggests various challenges contributing as social

Thoreau Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Thoreau - Essay Example Thoreau questions the power of majority stating that the decision of majority does not necessarily ensure superior wit or justice. In the same way, it will be a fallacy if any one thinks that individual choices are inferior to the decision of majority. Regardless of the utmost virtue, governmental decisions are often subjected to the interest of majority groups. Thoreau was influenced by the social conditions in which slavery had been the major characteristic. Yet his convictions are of great relevance today as the modern democracies like the United States, UK, and India have been testing this ‘game of right and wrong’ (voting) for decades. The political settlements in these multicultural nations have become a sort of ‘betting’ as Thoreau envisaged because representation is the inevitable, perhaps the sole strategy for minority groups to negotiate their privileges with majority. It is believed that democratic representation will help control the majority by promoting a win-win atmosphere. Moreover, important decisions could only be taken after detailed discussion and debate. Minority groups are given chances to achieve their goals and to limit the interests of other groups as well. In contrast, though minority groups and other weaker sections are given constitutional backup for proportional representation in legislation, justice has always been left to the choice of majority. Thoreau suggests that people should not allow government to weaken their conscience. He also states that if any one hold back one’s conscience in favor of law, the person is badly serving the state. Moreover, the power of majority might curtail the freedom and rights of other communities. Therefore, he believes that a wise man can not leave the right to the mercy of chances. Leaving the justice to the choice of majority is highly irresponsible act that can bring ultimate

EN102 Exam 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

EN102 Exam 3 - Essay Example Social networking through the Internet is rapidly gaining attention from the public. This has potentially changed people’s lifestyle including purchasing habits. The ability of social media to form virtual networks is an opportunity to enhance the effectiveness of advertising and to gain more consumers. The chance for interaction in most virtual communities is helpful to marketing improvement if businesses avail this kind of advertisement. Wood and Solomon (2009) contend that virtual communities are influential in examining the "differences in consumer perception of virtual and real-life recommendation sources" (p. 66) and would offer companies a practical look on what the consumers need. Social media offers an extensive marketing for the products and services of various companies considering the internet’s speed in disseminating information, while companies are able to keep track on the level of customer satisfaction through online interaction of virtual communities. Social media, amidst its disadvantages, is undeniably a useful tool in adapting to new age consumers’ preferences and needs. The onset of modern technology changes the trends of various aspects in the society, including marketing. The cost-efficiency of using social media to introduce the product to virtual communities is helpful in the development of the business’s market and profit. With a suitable brand online strategy, the business is introduced to the social media users. An advantage that social media has that other forms of marketing does not have is the chance to listen to a direct feedback and the chance to know what the consumers like or dislike about the product. If taken as a constructive criticism in the part of the management, such comments can be an opportunity to develop their products and services. Based on the information discussed at the previous parts of this paper, three

The Stroop Effect Essay Example for Free

The Stroop Effect Essay The aim of the study was to investigate the extent that automatic tasks have an effect on the speed of saying the words. It was assumed that participants will take significantly longer to say colour words in a different colour to what the word is on a word list then when the colour word is in the same colour because reading a word has become an automatic process. The method of this study used a repeated measures and matched pairs design and involved giving participants a selection of six lists; three inconsistent with colour and the word and three consistently worded. The sampling method was opportunity sampling taken from a sampling body of 16-19 year old students at Richmond Upon Thames College. Results were tested using the Wilcoxon matched pairs signed ranks test; this showed that there is a significant difference in the mean time taken to say the inconsistent list in comparison to the consistent list. However, environmental factors such as the noise of the surroundings have not been taken into account adding a major limitation to this study. Introduction The topic area I am going to study is attention, looking more specifically into automatic processing. Automatic processing is a concept in the area of attention that states that some tasks can be processed without the awareness of the person and dont interfere with the ability to process other tasks, for example someone who can type and talk to someone at the same time. This person can type without thinking about it; it has become an automatic process. Schiffrin and Schneider (1977) pioneered research in this area. They found that automatic processes are inflexible and hard to change i. e. once they are learnt it is difficult to alter them. Norman and Schallice (1986) argue that automatic tasks are preformed through schemas (a way of organising and storing knowledge, creates a framework for future understanding) and that when an action is preformed the relevant schema has to be used and the other, similar schema controlled using contention scheduling to stop similar schemas being activated. An example of this is if someone goes into a kitchen to make tea then the other schemas relevant to the kitchen, for example a toast making schema must be controlled using contention scheduling. Norman and Schallice also identified a supervisory attentional system which is when someone is controlling themselves consciously to override an automatic process. An example of this is when someone usually leaves their house and turns left to go to college but due to an appointment they have to turn right. Stroop (1935) also conducted research into automatic processes. He gave participants two lists and asked them to say the name of the colour the words were printed in one list was colour words in the same colour and the second was colour words in a different colour. Stroop found that when the colour words were in different colours the participant would take longer to read the colour of the word this is because the automatic process of reading is completed faster then the controlled process of identifying the colour. This research is being conducted to identify if it applied to students as because they are studying they may be more aware of the colour or the tasks at hand they in a performance mode. Aim: To investigate the effects of two similar tasks i. e. reading different coloured words on the speed of saying the words. Hypothesis-directional: Participants will take significantly longer to say colour words in a different colour to what the word is on a word list then when the colour word is in the same colour. Hypothesis-null: There will be no difference in the time taken for participants to say colour words in a different colour to what the word is on a word list then when the colour word is in the same colour. Methods Design The research will be carried out in a repeated measures design; participants will be exposed to both the conditions, each variable will be tested on the participant three times. This design however, suffers from order effects; once a participant has finished one list they will be ready or rehearsed for the next ergo be better at the next list. With this in mind, this research will be counter balanced, for example if participant A reads list 1 first then participant B will read list 2 first and so on. To ensure more valid results the participant will receive three lists from the inconsistent condition and three lists from the consistent condition. Investigator effects will be avoided by creating a set of standardised instructions; this will ensure that the researchers do not treat each participant differently creating less demand characteristics. This research could be considered unethical as the participant doesnt know what they are doing but this will be dealt with by a debriefing; after the experiment the participant will be told what the experiment is for the lack of informed consent will only cause minimal psychological harm. The hypothesis will only be accepted if the results show a level of significance over 5%; this has been chosen to make the results more generalisable and to avoid anomalies.

Implications of the TRAPPIST-1 Discovery

Implications of the TRAPPIST-1 Discovery The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life in the Universe and the Implications of the TRAPPIST-1 Discovery Abstract Despite the absence of any discovery of life beyond the Earth in the Solar System, or communication in the form of radio signals from beyond the Solar System, humankinds quest to answer the question whether there is life elsewhere in the Universe continues apace. The answer to the question could be tantalizingly close now with some ambitious missions being planned in the Solar System to try and find life itself, and surveys of unprecedented scale being conducted with space and terrestrial telescopes to identify potentially habitable exoplanets showing evidence for the existence of life. One such survey (the TRAPPIST survey) led to the discovery of a nearby solar system with a dwarf star at its centre, and in February this year the existence of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the star was confirmed, with at least three lying in the habitable zone. Studies are continuing to see if there is evidence for the existence of life on any of these planets, with profound astronomical implica tions. This dissertation considers the question of what is life, before reviewing the history and future of the search for extra-terrestrial life in the Universe. The techniques employed and the results from the TRAPPIST survey are reviewed and the implications of the follow-on studies that are now planned are discussed. It concludes by considering the question whether humankind will ever encounter intelligent life in the Universe.      Ã‚   Thomas Zurbuchen Associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA speaking at the press briefing about the TRAPPIST-1 exoplanets in February 2017 The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life in the Universe Contents 1.Introduction 2.What is Life? 3.Pre-requisites for Life 5.History of the Search for Life Beyond Earth Works Cited References The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Life in the Universe Introduction Despite the absence of any discovery of life beyond the Earth in the Solar System, or communication in the form of radio signals from beyond the Solar System, humankinds quest to answer the question whether there is life elsewhere in the Universe continues apace. Exobiology the search for life or for evidence of it has been stimulated by the extraordinary success of missions to planets and other bodies in the Solar System and the rapid advances that have been made in telescope technology in recent decades. The answer to the question could be tantalizingly close now with some ambitious missions being planned in the Solar System to try and find life itself, and surveys of unprecedented scale being conducted with space and terrestrial telescopes to identify potentially habitable exoplanets showing evidence for the existence of life. One such survey (the TRAPPIST survey) led to the discovery of a nearby solar system with a dwarf star at its centre, and in February this year the existence of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the star was confirmed, with at least three lying in the habitable zone. Studies are continuing to see if there is evidence for the existence of life on any of these planets, with profound astronomical implications. This dissertation considers the question of what is life, before reviewing the history and future of the search for extra-terrestrial life in the Universe. The techniques employed and the results from the TRAPPIST survey are reviewed and the implications of the follow-on studies that are now planned are discussed. It concludes by considering the question whether humankind will ever encounter intelligent life in the Universe. What is Life? Is there life elsewhere in the universe? Before setting out to answer that question we need to understand what we mean by life. In popular culture extra-terrestrial life is usually characterised by intelligent humanoid creatures with whom mankind can interact and communicate, but one only has to look at the diversity of life on Earth to appreciate that there are countless life forms, each unique and a product of the environment it inhabits. Nor can all life forms on Earth necessarily be described as intelligent, perhaps as defined by the Oxford Concise Dictionary: The ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills. It is reasonable to assume that an ability to communicate is essential if a species is to be described as intelligent, but intelligence is not a pre-requisite for the development of life. There are many scientific definitions of life, such as that offered by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary; An organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction. This definition is helpful but it does not explicitly recognise that the ability to evolve, particularly in a changing environment, is vital for the development of sustainable life. Mankind has expended considerable effort over the millennia trying to understand the cosmos. The ancients saw it as a place inhabited by the gods, but as astronomy developed, and with it our understanding of the Solar System and the Universe, we began to ask the question, Are we alone?, or perhaps more precisely, Are there others out there like us? Perhaps the question we have been seeking to answer should really have been in two parts; Is there life elsewhere in the universe, and if so is it intelligent and would we be able to interact with it in some way? Pre-requisites for Life Earth is the only place where it is possible today to study living things and fossils to understand life, its evolution and the habitats where it can thrive. On Earth life is found in many extreme environments including; around volcanic vents on the mid-ocean ridges; in deeply-buried porous sedimentary rocks (Bruckner, 2017); permanently in caves; in glacier ice (Edwards, 2014); in thermal springs; in the stratosphere (Major, 2016) and in naturally toxic environments that would be poisonous to most other life forms. Despite the abundance of life on the surface of the Earth it has been suggested that there may even be more life below the surface than there is above (Cox, 2013). Figure 1: Colony of Deepsea Tube Worms and other fauna at the Galapagos Rift. (Photo: NOAA 2011 Galapagos Rift Expedition) Figure 2: A loach, a permanent cave-dwelling fish that crawls out of the water to feed on bacteria growing on damp rocks. (Photo: Dantà © Fenolio) All terrestrial life exhibits metabolism, which is a chemical process to harvest energy from the environment to maintain the living state of the cells that make up an organism. Metabolism involves moving and breaking down nutrients in order to produce energy to synthesize new proteins, nucleic acids etc. that are essential to sustain life (Dr Ananya Mandal, 2013). All terrestrial life is based on the carbon atom, which can form chemical bonds to create the long and complex organic molecules that are the essential building blocks for life (Freeman, 2011). All terrestrial life is also reliant on liquid water as the medium within which the metabolic process occurs. Without liquid water there can be no metabolism and therefore no life, as demonstrated by the Atacama Desert the driest place on Earth where there is no evidence for the existence of any living organisms (Cox, 2013). It is generally accepted that the pre-requisites for life are; Access to nutrients that contain the chemical elements necessary for life; An energy source that can be harvested directly or indirectly; and Liquid water. Given that all elements occur throughout the Universe, as do stars that emit energy in the form of photons, the most obvious place to look for extra-terrestrial life is on the surface of planets where there is likely to be liquid water. In any solar system there will be a region around the star within which the temperature is such that water will exist as a liquid. This is known as the Habitable Zone. The distance of the habitable zone from the star and its extent will be a function of the spectral type (and therefore mass) of the star and can be estimated using the Inverse Square Law, assuming the existence of an atmosphere with sufficient density to prevent sublimation of the water. The figure below shows the extent of the habitable zone for various star masses, with the Solar System planets and the exoplanets orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581 superimposed. Figure 3: The habitable zone as a function of stellar mass and distance from the star (Chester Harman, Planets: PHL at UPR Arecibo, NASA/JPL/APL/Arizona) Another potential habitat for life is on the moons of large planets with elliptical orbits are subjected to tidal heating caused by tidal friction. Orbital and rotational energy is dissipated as heat in the crust of the moon, in some cases melting the ice and forming an ocean beneath the ice crust. Two known examples of this in the Solar System are Jupiters moon Europa and Saturns moon Enceladus. It is postulated that life could also exist below the surface of Jupiters moon Io where there is plentiful heat to keep any water that was trapped in a liquid state, and where living organisms would be protected from Jupiters radiation (Choi, 2010). The Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth and Elsewhere Through the study of living organisms the pre-requisites for life are reasonably well understood, as is the evolutionary process through inter alia the study of fossils. However, to answer the question of how life came to be established on Earth it is also necessary to look beyond the Earth for clues. The elements that make up organic molecules are very abundant in the Universe and are known to originate from non-biological processes (e.g. volcanic activity on Mars (Carnegie Instution, 2012)) and there is a lot of evidence to suggest organic molecules are widespread in the galaxy, e.g.: Iso-propyl cyanide has been detected by examining microwave emission lines in inter-stellar clouds in the Milky Way (BBC, 2014). Organic molecules have been detected using spectral analysis in the tails of comets. The Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko also detected organic molecules (ESA, 2016). Organic molecules have also been found in certain types of meteorite collected on Earth. Carbonaceous chondrites are rare meteorites that have not melted at any stage of their life so are thought to pre-date the Solar System. They contain substantial amounts of carbon, including complex organic compounds and occasionally amino acids, and up to 20% water (Freeman, 2011). In the early Solar System comets and meteorides were very numerous and according to the Panspermia Hypothesis they seeded the Universe with simple life forms that got trapped in ejecta thrown into space when collisions occurred between planets and moons. This theory was given credence when living bacteria was found in a sealed camera recovered and brought back to Earth by the Apollo 12 astronauts from the Surveyor 3 spacecraft. Surveyor 3 had been on the lunar surface for three years. Another possibility is that organic molecules were formed on Earth, as hypothesised by Oparin and Haldane (Oparin, 1924). In 1952 Miller and Urey conducted their famous laboratory experiment which simulated conditions on early Earth. They mixed water, ammonia, methane and hydrogen in an atmosphere of water vapour, through which electric sparks were fired regularly to simulate lightening. At the end of the experiment they discovered that amino acids had indeed formed, giving credence to this hypothesis (Miller, 1953). Figure 4: The Miller-Uray apparatus Once all the right ingredients were present something kick-started life on Earth, and/or elsewhere in the Universe if the Panspermia Hypothesis is right. It is not possible today to conclude how life originated on Earth, but in any event the fossil record shows that the first simple living organisms appeared on Earth around 3.8 billion years ago, and so began the process of evolution producing the incredible diversity of life on Earth today. Whether life was kick-started on Earth or arrived from elsewhere is arguably one of the most important factors influencing the possible distribution of extra-terrestrial life, and is discussed again in Section xx. History of the Search for Life Beyond Earth NASA was established by an act of the US Congress in 1958, mainly in response to the launch by the Soviet Union of Sputnik 1. Most of its efforts were initially concentrated on the development of manned and unmanned space flight, but in the 1970s exploration of the Solar System using scientific probes began, driven to a large extent by the search for life beyond Earth. NASA began a broad-based effort to learn how to look for the presence both ancient and current of life beyond Earth, giving birth to a new science which became known as Exobiology. The fundamental questions that NASA set out to answer were; What is needed for life to thrive? How does life evolve? Where else in the Universe could it have evolved? How do we find it? In time it was acknowledged that to help answer these questions the detailed study of life on Earth was necessary to understand the origins and evolution of life and the habitats where it is found. The scope of exobiology expanded and it became known as Astrobiology (Freeman, 2011). During the 1960s a number of European countries started to get involved in space exploration, eventually clubbing together to form the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1975, bringing more resources to the exploration effort. The Search for Evidence of Intelligent Life In 1959 Guiseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison observed that if intelligent extra-terrestrial life had been attempting to communicate it would probably have been doing so using radio waves transmitted at the wavelength of neutral hydrogen (21.1 cm), which is in a region of the radio spectrum dubbed the water hole due to its proximity to the hydrogen and hydroxyl radical spectral line. These radio waves do not experience diminution when they travel through the interstellar medium or through the Earths atmosphere and they argued that it should therefore be possible to detect such signals with terrestrial radio telescopes because (Cocconi Morrison, 1959). In 1960 Dr Frank Drake used the radio telescope at the National Astronomy Observatory in West Virginia to search for four months for radio signals with a wavelength of 21.1 cm emanating from the vicinity of nearby stars Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti (Drake, 1961). He failed to detect any signals but this heralded the beginning of SETI (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). Since the 1980s there has been an international collaborative effort to detect meaningful signals across an increasingly wide range of wavelengths, but although occasional signals have been detected they have not been sustained or repeated, which suggests they were not produced by an intelligent life form seeking to communicate. Notwithstanding this, the search continues. The Search for Suitable Habitats and Evidence for the Existence of Life Aristotle was the first to observe life in snow as a snow algal bloom. These occur as algae produce reddish-pink blooms (watermelon snow) as seen in this sample of Svalbard snow. The reddish-pink pigments are a microbial sunscreen, protecting the algae from UV radiation. Photo credit: Dr Arwyn Edwards (Edwards, 2014) Drake Stars w/ mass > 1.5o unlikely to support life humans took 4bn + yrs Small stars long life but low temp, planets have to be close but then gravity locked v. low POS based on current understanding = sun-like star- low rate of formation; 1:10 w/ habitable zone Implications of Trappist-1 results and historical assumptions The Probability of There Being Extra-Terrestrial Life in the Universe The Drake Equation The Drake equation is: N = Rà ¢Ã‹â€ - à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ fp à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ ne à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ fà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã¢â‚¬Å" à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ fi à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ fc à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ L where: N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible (i.e. which are on our current past light cone); and R* = the average rate of star formation in our galaxy fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets fl = the fraction of planets that could support life that actually develop life at some point fi = the fraction of planets with life that actually go on to develop intelligent life (civilizations) fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space No table of figures entries found. 2. Prof BBC. (2014). Complex organic molecule found in interstellar space. Bruckner, M. (2017). Endoliths-Microbes Living within Rocks. Microbial Life. Carnegie Instution. (2012). Organic carbon from Mars, but not biological. Science Daily. Cox, P. B. (2013). Wonders of the Solar System. Dr Ananya Mandal, M. (2013). What is Metabolism? Edwards, D. A. (2014). Glacier Ecosystems. Antarctic Glaciers. ESA. (2016). Rosettas comet contains ingredients for life. Freeman, R. (2011). Universe Ninth Edition. J. Mayo Greenberg, C. X.-G. (1992). The seeding of life by comets. Advances in Space Research. Major, J. (2016). Hunting for High Life: What Lives in Earths Stratosphere? Universe Today. Oparin, A. I. (1924). The Origin Of Life. The Oxford Concise Dictionary. (n.d.).   Ã‚   http://www.news-medical.net/life-sciences/What-is-Metabolism.aspx https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120524143450.htm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia https://history.nasa.gov/factsheet.htm https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/about/history-of-astrobiology/ http://www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/ESA_history/History_of_Europe_in_space Ken Rice : The Detection and Characterization of Extrasolar Planets; Published: 19 September 2014