Thursday, October 31, 2019
Effects of the Light Wavelengths Pea Germination Essay
Effects of the Light Wavelengths Pea Germination - Essay Example The difference in light wavelength is possible by use of light filter papers that will only select required wavelength. The experiment done and that forms the basis of this paper is a reflective of the phenomenon. Five pots were used to grow the pea in different light wavelength and then the masses of the pea in the different pots taken. The plants were then placed in an oven (80 degrees centigrade) and the masses of the dry weight of the pea observed and weighed. The results of the experiment show the different activities of the light wavelength on chlorophyll element of the plant, which is responsible for the absorption of light for photosynthesis. Introduction The main aim of the experiment is to ascertain the portion of the light spectrum that is absorbed the most in the leaves by chlorophyll. Apparently, it is known that the light wavelengths are best absorbed at the red and blue region (Toole, Toole, & Toole 1999, p. 132). The light wavelengths are measured in units called Nano meters (nm). In this case, the light wavelengths are best-absorbed 670nm and 500nm in the red and blue region respectively (Mauseth, & Mauseth 2009, p.92). It is therefore hypothesized that much growth occurred in the pots with the red and blue wavelength. Plants grown in the green wavelength environment are therefore expected to poorly perform since they are poorly absorbed to facilitate the process of photosynthesis. At this point of light wavelength absorption, the chlorophyll a and b are responsible for the absorption. There are other accessory pigments that helps absorb light wavelengths that do not fall within the active wavelength. An example of these acce ssory pigments the carotenoid.... There are other accessory pigments that helps absorb light wavelengths that do not fall within the active wavelength. An example of these accessory pigments the carotenoid (Mauseth, & Mauseth 2009, p. 98). The diagram below shows the absorption of light wavelength in the spectrum by the chlorophyll. (McDonald 2003, p. 116) Methodology Since the aim of the experiment was to establish the effects of the light wave length on germination of the pea plant, several batches of the plant were taken and simultaneously grown in the different light wavelengths. These included the red light, the green light, white light and the rest grown in the dark. The white light in this case was used as the control for the experiment. After germination of the pea, a close and careful observation of the seedlings was done and the salient features noted. In the batches of the pea that were grown in the different light wavelength, Vertical heights of the five tallest seedlings were taken and the average taken. Precision was taken to ensure that the measurement reflects the accurate length of the seedlings-measurement was started at the vermiculite/soil level. The seedlings in the white pot whose average was found were then taken out of the pot. The process was done carefully to ensure that no disturbances were caused on the roots of the plant. Any vermiculite/soil that was left on the roots were also carefully removed. A labeled piece of red paper was then placed in the tare key to set the zero balance, this was particularly important in ensuring that the precise weight of the seedlings was recorded. The five seedlings from each of the pots with the peculiar wavelength were taken through the procedure and finally weighed and the units recorded-this was regarded as taking the wet
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
The monetary financial system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
The monetary financial system - Essay Example However, these investments have a downside risk of underperformance and lack of control etc. There are two types of collective investments: open ended investments and closed ended investments. In the open ended investments the number of shares or units is not fixed and the fund can issue unlimited amount of shares/units. However, as the name suggests, in closed ended investments the number of shares or units issued is fixed. The unit trust and investment trust are examples of collective investment institutions with certain notable differences which are explained as follows.à à ââ¬ËAn investment in unit trusts is a method whereby a small investor can form part of the share market without being directly involved.ââ¬â¢ (Swart, 2007, p.153) ââ¬ËIn contrast to unit trust, investment trusts are public limited companies whose business is the investment of funds in financial assets.ââ¬â¢ (Buckle and Thompson, 1992, p.125) à Both the unit trust and the investment trusts ar e pooled investments that aim towards diversification of risk for the investor. The individual investor benefits from the knowledge and expertise of the trust managers for which the trust charges fees to its unit holders in the form of annual charges. Financial institutions and intermediaries play an important role in the management of the unit and investment trusts. ... à The unit trusts have been more popular in the past with investors preferring open ended units as opposed to closed ended in the case of investment trusts. Investment trusts are allowed to borrow for investment, however, this facility is not present with the unit trusts. Unit trust is managed by a trustee where the investment trust is a company listed on the exchange. In terms of pricing, unit trusts are always valued on their net asset value (NAV) whereas investment trust can trade both at a premium or discount to their NAV. à Thus demand and supply forces have no consequences on the unit trust but affect the prices of the investment. The unit trust issues unit which are not tradable to the third party whereas due to the listing on the stock exchange, investment trustsââ¬â¢ units are tradable. In terms of the fee structure, the investment trust charges as lower as compared to the unit trust. à Thus, with the above mentioned similarities and differences, it is up to the i nvestorsââ¬â¢ analysis and nature to choose between unit trust and investment trust. à 2. Firms could raise long term finance issuing shares and bonds. Evaluate the pros and cons of each? Companies need to generate funds on long term basis in order to operate in the market. The two basic options for raising equity from the market are: bonds and shares. The bond is a long term debt instrument with fixed interest payments issued by the issuer or the borrower of the funds which can be the government or any company. The bondholders are entitled to the fixed interest payments along with the return of their principle. They do not hold the right to own the company and are the first ones to be paid off at the time of bankruptcy. When the company issues shares for
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Meaning And Importance Of Intellectual Property Philosophy Essay
Meaning And Importance Of Intellectual Property Philosophy Essay Intellect is the power of the mind, the power of mind to think and imagine and innovate. Intellectual property is that kind of property which is a thought by ones mind. It is the property over certain ideas of the mind. Certain creations of mind are recognised as special creations and they can be protected through law. There is a different branch of law known as intellectual property law which deals with the legal aspect of intellectual property. Intellectual property is basically an intangible asset as it cannot be seen or touch but its affects can be felt. Artistic works, musical works, discoveries etc come under the scanner of intellectual property laws. These can be discovered by anyone, but the first one to discover them usually gets to have a legal right over his findings. Copyrights, trademarks, patents and trade secrets are some common types of intellectual property rights that one may resort to legally protect ones discoveries or thoughts. The term of intellectual property i s not very old and it has come to the surface in the 19th century itself. It was in the late of the 20th century when finally the word intellectual property gained importance in the world. It gained the most acknowledgement and importance firstly in the United States of America. Intellectual property owners with the help of intellectual property rights benefit from their intellectual property by earning monetary gains from it. Such property provides financial incentives to them. As the economic conditions of the world have become better more and more emphasis on intellectual property rights is being given these days. Especially in developed countries like U.S.A. and U.K. intellectual property plays a major role in the overall economy of these countries. As large as two thirds of the total assets of these countries can be traced back to nothing more than intellectual property i.e. intangible assets. Not only this, a recent study has found that businesses which have intellectual properties as their assets were earning more revenues than companies which did not have any intellectual property. Some economists suggest that strengthening the intellectual property system directly benefits the overall economic conditions of enterprises. Intellectual property rights are usually applicable to goods and services which can usually be used by one and all. This implies that even though a person may claim to have an intellectual property right on any given good, this will not stop or hinder any other person from using such goods. Intellectual property recognises the efforts of an individual. For example we can say that a certain individual formulated a given scientific formulae and he got intellectual property rights over that formulae. Even in such a condition anyone and everyone who wishes to use that scientific formulae for an experiment is allowed to use it, the creators intellectual property rights do not and cannot bar him from using that formulae. Moreover economists also agree that patents and copyrights do not create monopolies they just simply act as rewards for people who have discovered new things. They only facilitate monetary rewards for the discoverers as remuneration for their efforts but in no possible way do intellectual property rights create monopolies. Although intellectual property has gained a lot of importance around the world, but it has never stayed out of controversies and it has always been criticised by many. Some go up to the level and claim that the term intellectual property itself is meaningless and creates confusion and is of no use at all. Some economists believe that copyrights and patents are harming the concept of a free world where anyone and everyone have equal rights to do business. Some people believe that intellectual property rights harm public interests. The intellectual property laws need to expand more and diversify more in order to gain importance and credit. WHAT IS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY EXACTLY? Intellectual Property more commonly known just as IP is nothing more than the creations of a mind of an individual. These create various inventions, names, images, design etc. Intellectual property is usually sub-divided into two categories: Industrial intellectual property and Copyrights. Industrial intellectual property includes acts like inventions, trademarks and industrial discoveries etc. Copyrights may include works of art and literature. These may be poems and novels and plays etc. Any kind of innovation by an individual or a group can be called as their intellectual property. Even traditional discoveries by local communities are their intellectual property. But since these practices are traditional so most of the times they are not given the status of being intellectual property. We need to understand that most of the things around us have an origin and at some point of time in the history they must have been invented. Anyone who was involved in inventing that device or article can claim that object to be his or her intellectual property. Intellectual property rights have a huge impact on international trade and indigenous trade. In todays modern world intellectual property and its rights have become more important. With the invention of internet and as the world has become more and more dependent on using internet the chances of ideas being stolen and being misused have become higher and higher. Due to this people who invent or discover anything new have to get them patented or copyrighted as soon as possible. Misuse of ideas generated by other persons has become one of the most common crimes of these days and the only sufferers are the inventors and discoverers. Ideas are becoming a more and more important aspect of trade in the modern world. All kinds of high technology products in the market today are born out of great ideas of individuals. Invention, research, design these are the pillars over which new discoveries are being made today. Intellectual property rights have added a lot of intrinsic value to all kinds of products. For example in the clothes industry a particular brand name is nothing but intellectual property, a brand name is an intangible asset. But clothes sell because it has a brand name, so here we see and understand that how intellectual property adds value to products. Creators of various products and services and people who have various ideas have the right to protect their ideas and similarly they have the right to share their ideas with others too. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD: The importance of intellectual property and their rights varies in different parts of the world. Various law enforcement agencies around the world give different levels of importance to intellectual property. Intellectual property now a day has become more and more important and almost all the countries who depend on international trade are taking some interest in intellectual property and its related rights. It has been found by a study that intellectual property rights are a reason of stress and tension amongst countries who indulge in international trade. It becomes difficult for inter-country trade to take place smoothly if there are a lot of intellectual property rights which are present. Moreover the indigenous industrialists and other people who have innovated are harmed if their intellectual property rights are completely abolished. Therefore it is a must for the countries to strike a balance between the two. In the new century common intellectual property rights are being formed by various countries in order to get over hindrances and problems of trade. This is seen as a positive step by all and it is almost assured that this step will benefit the international step positively. The TRIPSs agreement of the world trade organisation is one such step which defines the level of intellectual property rights a given member can enforce and this has helped in narrowing the gap in international trade. This agreement defines basically the minimum level of intellectual property protection that a government can give to its citizens and it also defines the maximum level of intellectual property protection which may be provided by a member country. The countries must form their intellectual property rights and laws in such a manner that a balance is struck between long term benefits and the short term losses that a countrys citizens may need to pay. Society will benefit if intellectual property rights encourage protection up to only a limit and such rights are given in special cases only. But the concerned governments should also ensure that some basic level of protection for intellectual property must also exist and they should be properly applied and the peoples right must be protected properly. (Intellectual property: Protection and Enforcement) WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO PROTECT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY? Issues regarding intellectual property are growing by the day. There are a lot of talks going on related to intellectual property rights these days. Most of the times, these issues are given more attention. The aspect of protecting intellectual property has become more important these days than it should be. It is demanding far too much attention that it deserves in reality. We need to understand the basics and look into the fact that why in the first place was intellectual property rights formed. We need to understand what role do such rights play in todays world. We come at a conclusion that protecting intellectual property rights of individuals and groups and companies is a basic social requirement. It is a need of any society to have its intellectual property rights protected more than anything else. COPYRIGHTS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB: Protecting intellectual property plays an important role in the overall development of the nation on the grounds of economy, society etc. Copyrights are one of the most important forms of intellectual property rights. Copyrights are nothing but an assurance to people that they are allowed to reap the fruits of their hard work and they will get the credit that is due to them for inventing something new. As we know that social intellectual property rights also play in intrinsic part in the social development of any society. Copyrights in particular are used more while protecting social intellectual property. Artists and creators protect their intellectual property with the help of copyrights. Now a daze a new concept of piracy has developed in the modern world. Piracy is the unofficial use of copyrighted material. Movies and songs around the world are being pirated on a very wide scale. Songs and movies are copyrights of their producers and they have the right to earn money whenever someone is using them, due to piracy the work of art and hard work is being distributed around the world without the producers getting any money from it. This is the reason why downloading pirated movies and songs have become illegal in countries like United States of America, United Kingdom, and Australia etc. Cyber crimes are one of the main threats to intellectual property. The most common source of damaging intellectual property in the 21st century is through the internet. But it must be noted here that most of the count ries in the world still have no laws against cyber crimes and now laws to protect intellectual property from being misused through the internet. It must be also noted that by the turn of the 21st century the intellectual property rights had also become rigid in many countries which were applying them since the 1980s and 90s. It had almost become impossible for people to enter into many fields because they had become so rigid, and companies which were already in a given field had got patented and copyrighted almost anything and everything that could be researched in that field. There were many areas of business which were being dominated by large production houses and such production houses had virtually created their monopoly with the help of misusing the intellectual property rights. The areas in which patent can be taken are being cut down and existing patents and copyrights which are basically being misused are also being taken away. We must realise that striking a balance when it comes to intellectual property rights is becoming very important. More than often we are finding that such intellectual property rights are misu sed by the rich and powerful rather than being used to protect their interests. They use such rights in order to prevent others from progressing and not to prevent their own property being misused. (Intellectual Property-Rights and Wrongs) Governments should also realise that not only is striking a balance important to protect the society but its also important when it comes to international trade. SHARING MATERIAL: The debate on whether to share or not the copyrighted material is a never ending one. There are a thousand views and no one can be said to be the perfect one. As the 21st century has dawned in people have discovered various methods of sharing material. A new term called peer to peer (P2P) sharing has developed. Peer to peer sharing is happening on an unimaginable scale over the internet every second. Most of it is happening for free and the content it involves is usually copyrighted. Keeping aside the arguments and debates sharing material should depend on whether the owner of the material has realised his cost out of the article and his profit out of it, if yes, then the material should be shared otherwise no. This is the simplest and the most affective argument related to sharing which experts have. CONCLUSION: As we conclude this report we find out that intellectual property the concept itself is not very old. This concept was formed somewhere in the late 19th century. Although it has gained huge popularity only in the 1970s and after that it is continuously increasing. Intellectual property itself could be defined as new ideas and techniques, and new discoveries etc. Intellectual property is an intangible asset. As the concept of intellectual property has gained importance even the concept of intellectual property protection has also gained importance. Countries like England, U.S.A., and Australia are more stringent while applying intellectual property protection. Developing and under-developed countries have less protection to provide to intellectual property. Intellectual property has become a very important part of many businesses and industries in developed countries. Intellectual property is very important and all nations should have laws to protect intellectual property. All nations must duly recognise the intellectual properties of their individuals. We must understand that intellectual property despite being intangible is very important. Economists all around the world have agreed that intellectual property adds huge value to subjects. As the concept of intellectual property has grown so has the criticism around it grown. People believe that the concepts of intellectual property and its protection only create confusions and complications in trade and it is hardly useful at all. With the 21st century knocking on our doors intellectual property protection has become very important as there are many ways now that one can have his intellectual property misused and abused. With the development of internet and its vast usage all throughout the world, crimes related to misuse of intellectual property have grown. Articles, pieces of art like movies and songs which are copyrighted to protect the rights of their producers are being openly misused on the internet through piracy. Last but not the least in order to improve the international trade and in order to ensure long term development of society, countries need to strike a balance on how to protect the peoples intellectual property. The laws should not be too lenient neither should they be too stringent.
Friday, October 25, 2019
Economy :: essays research papers
Economics and Location There are several factors that influence the growth and distribution of a particular regions primary industries. These primary industries, are necessary for an economy to grow. Without a primary industry, which could also be called natural resources, secondary, tertiary and quaternary industries would struggle in a country (excluding Japan etc.). These factors also affect where people live. If you were at a warm place, near the coast, it is a lot more populated, than interior America. This population, affects your labor and markets. With a good geography, cash crops may be able to grow in the region developing a farm industry. There are several factors that affect a region’s natural resources. These factors are landscape features, temperature and precipitation. Landscape features affect the economy. Some landscape features that range all over the United States are tundra and mountains. If you were describe the Arctic Coastal Plain, you would have to mention the permafrost. In t he Pacific ranges and coastal lowlands, the soil is rich and fertile. The soil in a region determine if you’re able to grow cash crops or nothing. The temperature of a region affects the economy. In a place that is warm and humid, certain crops, will be able to grow in that region. The temperature can also affect the settlement patterns of people. Larger populations tend to settle in a place with a high temperature. To get an precise picture of an area’s climate, two temperatures are required. These are the average temperatures of the months January and July. There are three factors that affect the this result. The closer you are to the equator, usually the warmer it is. This is because the sun rays are more concentrated and direct the closer you are to the equator. The more direct the sun’s rays are, the greater heating ability. During the winter, oceans maintain much more heat than land, and release this heat slowly. Land near an ocean, is warmer than land not ne ar an ocean because the ocean retains the heat. When the sun shines, the heat bounces off, but can’t reach the atmosphere. The heat in the air comes from the warm surface, so air closer to the ground is usually warmer. As altitude increases, air temperature decreases. This decline in air temperature is known as the lapse rate. Precipitation can also affect the economy. In a place that is humid, certain crops, will be able to grow in that region.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Character biography Tom: the glass menagerie
Tom can be described as a tortured soul, living with his mother and bachelors sister in a cramped apartment in SST Louis. From a young age, Tom is forced into the role of being the man of the house as his father abandons the family. One can say that this is the cause of Tom's deep resentment towards his life. He has to work long hours in a warehouse to pay the bills and take care of his nagging mother and sister.Tom's true dreams are to become a writer and he writes poetry in his spare time, this is what eventually gets him fired from his Job. Tom has complex relationships with both his family members. Although he always fights with his mother, we see that he does love her. Maybe so much that he can't stand her. Tom is softer towards his sister Laura, whom although is older, does not act like it. Tom finds himself trapped in an apartment and in a life he does not want.He finds an escape by going to the movies in which he lives vicariously through. In the movies he finds the adventure , thrill and excitement that his own life Is lacking In. We see Tom's selfishness when he doesn't pay for the electricity bill but instead uses the money for his own escape. Tom is torn between his loyalty to himself, his life, hopes and dreams; and his loyalty to his family, his own flesh and blood. In the end he Is loyal to himself, Just like his father.Tom almost uses the abandonment of his father as an excuse to do the same as if it is a genetic thing. Tom Is a complex and 3-delusional character In that he Isn't wholly good or wholly bad either, like all human beings. He truly does care for his family and especially his sister as he feels guilt and remorse for leaving her. But he also realizes that he will never truly experience life If he stays and neither will they. Therefore though his departure maybe he does not only set himself free, but his family as well.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
What advantage does Zara gain against the competition by having a very responsive supply chain?
Q. What advantage does Zara gain against the competition by having a very responsive supply chain? A. In an industry where the customer demand is unpredictable, Zara having a responsive supply chain has enabled it to enjoy greater customer turnover due to its 5 to 6 weeks cycle time leading to more profits as mostly the products are then sold at full price. Moreover being responsive has also enabled Zara to reduce its inventories and also the forecast error. Q. Why has Inditex chosen to have both in-house manufacturing and outsourced manufacturing? Why has Inditex maintained manufacturing capacity in Europe even though manufacturing in Asia is much cheaper? A. To be responsive in the rapid changing world, Inditex opted for both outsourced manufacturing, for the production of products with predictable demand, and in-house manufacturing, for the production of products with highly uncertain demand. Inditex has maintained large fraction of manufacturing capacity in Portugal and Spain (Europe) despite the higher cost there because this allows Zara to respond quickly to changing fashion trends in Europe. Q. Why does Zara source products with uncertain demand from local manufacturers and products with predictable demand from Asian manufacturers? A. Zaraââ¬â¢s main competitive advantage is responsiveness and to retain it Zara source products with uncertain demand from local manufacturers because local manufacturers offer fast and flexible sourcing and such products are to be delivered quick instead of at low-cost (with greater lead time as it is manufactured in Asia). Whereas products with predictable demand are sourced from Asian manufacturers because outsourcing is cheaper that is products are manufactured at a low-cost. Q. Why is Zara building a new distribution centre as its sales grow? Is it better to have the new distribution centre near the existing one or at a completely different location? A. New distribution centre (DC) is being built by Zara in response to the increase in sales because the stock turnover is increasing and in order to cater the growth of sales and avoid any declination in it due to mismanagement of stock availability and customersââ¬â¢ demand. Q. What advantage does Zara gain from replenishing its stores twice a week compared to a less frequent schedule? How does the frequency of replenishment affect the design of its distribution system? A. Frequent replenishment allows Zara to match supply and demand more effectively than the competitors. The frequency of replenishment affect the design of its distribution system in a way that the more frequent the replenishment will take place, the more responsive and up to date the distribution system will be while on the other hand delayed replenishment will also make the distribution system delayed and slow with respect to customerââ¬â¢s demand. Q. What information infrastructure does Zara need in order to operate its production, distribution, and retail network effectively? A. In order to operate the production, distribution and retail network effectively, Zara should have an information infrastructure which is highly responsive and provides timely and accurate information that helps in better decision making as well as planning and forecasting. TOYOTA: A GLOBAL AUTO MANUFACTURER Q. Where s hould the plants be located and what degree of flexibility should be built into each? What capacity should each plant have? A. The location of the plants should be such that it complements the assembly plants and maximum profitability of Toyota. Plants operating locally can be cost prohibitive, while plants that operate globally can only reduce the interest in local markets. Logically, Toyota should apply the ââ¬Å"global complementationâ⬠strategy to turn plants, and locate plants in areas that minimize costs (currency exchange, transportation, inventory holding, etc). This will allow them to achieve local/regional agility and remain flexible enough to supply non-local factories/assembly plants however necessary. The capacity of the plant should not exceed the projected demand for local / regional manufacturing sites / assembly plants that each plant will be part of supply. The ability to adequately supply factories is essential, and each plant must be designed with the ability to supply factories in the region. Q. Should plants be able to produce for all markets or only specific contingency markets? A. It depends upon the location and production capacity of each plant. Furthermore, since Toyota follows the strategy of global complementation, plants must be able to supply at least one more market/region than itââ¬â¢s normally responsible for supplying. Depending on the requirements of global parts, it may be appropriate for plants to be able to supply to all markets. But in the case that markets are so differentiated that the ability for a plant to provide global supply is cost prohibitive, then a specific contingency market should be designated for each regional plant. A plant in a certain region should only serve markets in that specific region; otherwise costs will inevitably go up. Q. How should markets be allocated to plants and how frequently should this allocation be revised? A. The allocation of markets to plants should be as efficient as possible. The standard allocation should be optimized during the planning phase. However, as markets mature, currency rates fluctuate, and demand changes, it is possible that an adjusted allocation will provide more efficiency and higher returns for Toyota. For this reason allocation should be adjusted when necessary, reviewed either annually or bi-annually, and optimized to increase efficiency and take advantage of the part plants flexibility. Q. What kind of flexibility should be built into the distribution system? A. The distribution system should closely monitor the flexibility of the global complementation strategy. The regional distribution should be optimized between the factories and supply of parts. However, when adjustments are made to the allocation, it will be necessary for cost-effective distribution to occur between plants and factories to non-local markets. Q. How should this flexible investment be valued? A. The flexible investment should be highly valued as this will lead Toyota to capture the demand and the income of non-local markets where the local cost, demand, etc declines. The flexible production and distribution will prevent idle facilities and reduced profits during economic downturns. And moreover, through the integration of flexible production and distribution, supply chain of Toyota will have greater access to markets and has the potential to capture greater value. Q. What actions may be taken during product design to facilitate this flexibility? A. There should be uniformity between global products which will provide the most cost effective means to facilitate flexibility between local plants and factories. During the product design, engineers must prepare the elements that maximize both the uniformity and meet local needs. This flexibility will help the plants and factories looking for the pieces to produce for non local markets and reducing dependencies and vulnerabilities of operating in specific local markets.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Wilson Murder Trial, Huntsville 1992
Wilson Murder Trial, Huntsville 1992 At almost exactly 9:30pm on the evening of May 22, 1992, Huntsville police were notified by the 911 dispatcher of a possible burglary in progress with an injured victim at the scene. The location was Boulder Circle, an affluent neighborhood nestled among the mountains overlooking Huntsville, Alabama. Murder Within minutes of arriving on the scene, police discovered the body of a male, identified as Jack Wilson, lying in the upstairs hallway. He had been brutally murdered, apparently with a baseball bat that was found lying nearby. Homicide detectives began searching every square inch of the house and grounds and a police dog was brought in to sniff out possible evidence the police might overlook. As they began the tedious task of trying to determine what had happened, none of them realized they were about to become involved in the most notorious murder case in Huntsvilles history. The Scene By talking to neighbors and reconstructing the events, the police determined that Wilson had left his office around 4 p.m. He changed clothes and went outside to his front yard where neighbors reported seeing him using a baseball bat to drive a campaign sign in the ground. This was at approximately 4:30 p.m. Apparently, he then took a stepladder from the garage and carried it to the upstairs hallway where he removed a smoke detector from the ceiling. It was later found lying on the bed, disassembled. At this point, police theorized Wilson was surprised by someone who was already in the house. The unknown assailant grabbed the baseball bat and began beating the doctor. After the doctor collapsed to the floor, the assailant stabbed him twice with a knife. Though the crime had originally been reported as a possible burglary, it had none of the typical signs. There were no open drawers, ransacked closets and overturned furniture usual in most burglary cases. The whole case was beginning to look more like an ââ¬Å"inside job.â⬠Suspects The widow, Betty Wilson, was too distraught at the time to be questioned, but later investigation revealed she had lunch with her husband that day around 12 p.m. After he returned to his medical office, she spent much of the day shopping in preparation for a trip they planned for the next morning. Later that evening, after attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, she returned home at about 9:30, where she discovered her husbandââ¬â¢s body. She went to a neighbors home and they called 911. By using credit card receipts and eyewitnesses, the police were able to verify Betty Wilsonââ¬â¢s whereabouts for the whole day, except for one 30-minute period at around 2:30 p.m., and between 5 and 5:30 p.m. Other family members were checked out but they all appeared to have alibis. Break in the Case The first break for the investigators came when the Shelby County Sheriffs Office passed on a tip they had received the week before. A woman had called, concerned about a friend of hers: James White, whom while drunk, had talked about killing a doctor in Huntsville. The whole story was garbled, but what emerged was that White was supposed to be infatuated with a lady by the name of Peggy Lowe, who had recruited him to murder her twin sisters husband in Huntsville. The lady admitted that she doubted the story. ââ¬Å"White liked to talk big when he was drinking and lately he had been drunk almost all the time.â⬠Never the less she decided to pass it on to the police. After the Huntsville Police learned of the tip it took only minutes to establish that Peggy Lowe was Betty Wilsonââ¬â¢s twin sister. Investigators decided it was time to pay Mr. White a visit. Follow Up James Dennison White was a 42-year-old Vietnam veteran who had a history of mental disorders and antisocial behavior caused largely by drug and alcohol abuse. He had been in a number of mental institutions as well as serving time in jail. While serving time for selling drugs he escaped and was captured almost a year later in Arkansas, where he was involved in kidnapping a man and his wife. One of his last mental evaluations described him as suffering from delusions and unable to separate fact from fantasy. At first, as White was being questioned by the detectives, he denied everything. Slowly, as the evening and night grew longer he began to contradict himself, spinning a web of half-truths, lies, and fantasies. He denied knowing Peggy Lowe, then admitting it. He denied knowing Betty Wilson, then said he was going to do some work for her. Gradually a pattern emerged. As he would get caught in one contradiction, he would admit it but deny everything else. The detectives were used to this type of behavior though- almost every criminal they interrogated did the same thing. They understood from experience that it was going to be a long drawn out process in getting White to tell the truth. The Truth Finally, just as the sun was peeking over the horizon, White broke down. Though it would take another several months, and numerous different confessions to get him to tell the whole story, he basically confessed to being hired by Peggy Lowe and Betty Wilson to kill Dr. Jack Wilson. He claimed to have met Peggy Lowe at the elementary school where she worked and where he had done some carpentry work. After he did some work at her house, according to White, Mrs. Lowe became infatuated with him and spent hours talking to him on the phone. Gradually she began to talk about her husband and hint that she would like to see him killed. A short time later, though, she dropped the subject of her husband and began talking about her sister who wanted to hire a ââ¬Å"hitâ⬠man. White pretended to play along, saying he knew someone who would do it for $20,000. Mrs. Lowe told him that was too expensive; her sister was almost broke. Finally, they agreed on a price of $5,000 of which Mrs. Lowe gave him half, in small bills, in a plastic bag. Gradually, as his story evolved, it included phone calls between him and the sisters, the twins giving him a gun, a trip to Guntersville to pick up expense money inside a library book and meeting Mrs. Wilson in Huntsville to get more expense money. On the day of the murder, he claimed Mrs. Wilson met him in the parking lot of a nearby shopping center and drove him to her home where he waited for two hours until Dr. Wilson arrived home. He was not armed at the time. He stated later that he had not liked guns ever since Vietnam. Instead, he carried a long rope. White said that although he remembered struggling with Wilson over the baseball bat, he did not remember killing the doctor. After the murder, Mrs. Wilson returned to the house, picked him up and drove him back to his truck at the shopping center. He then drove back to Vincent and went out drinking that night with his brother. To prove his story he led the police to his home where a gun was found that was registered to Mrs. Wils on and a book from the Huntsville Public Library. White was unsure about dates, times and specific events but the detectives expected that. It would take time to sort the whole story out but in the meantime where was enough evidence to arrest the twin sisters. A source close to the case described White after he was brought back to Huntsville, as being in ââ¬Å"physical agony, almost climbing the walls and begging to be given his medicine.â⬠The medicine, supposedly Lithium, was withheld because it was in a different bottle than what it came in and White did not have a prescription for it. Arrest The news of Betty Wilsonââ¬â¢s arrest for the murder of her husband exploded like a bombshell in Huntsville. Not only was she a well-known socialite, but her husbandââ¬â¢s estate was rumored to be worth almost six million dollars. Adding fuel to the flames was the report that she had helped host a fundraiser for a popular political figure the night before the murder. Huntsville is a small town, especially during political seasons, where rumors and gossip can be passed around so quickly that the daily newspaper is already dated when it hits the streets. By piercing the juicy tidbits of gossip together a portrait of a cold-blooded murderess began to take shape. She was rumored to have always been a ââ¬Å"gold diggerâ⬠and has been heard cursing her husband. Most of the talk, however, centered on her alleged numerous sexual encounters. When the news media caught up with the story they pursued it with a vengeance. Reporters seemed to be competing against one another to see who could come up with the juiciest story. Newspapers, magazines and television shows from all across the country began following the story the whole affair also took on political overtones as members of the D.A.ââ¬â¢s office and the sheriffââ¬â¢s office began leaking information to the press and trying to use the case for political advantage. The case became even more political when the D.A. agreed to a controversial plea bargain for White, which would give him life, with parole possible in 7 years, in exchange for helping convict the sisters. Pundits later claimed the plea bargain spelled the end of the D.A.s political career. Murder Charge At the hearing, the prosecution successfully argued that because Betty Wilson was a beneficiary to her husbands will and the fact she had sexual affair was enough to prove the motive. A tape-recorded confession of James White provided the evidence. After a brief hearing, both sisters were ordered to stand trial for murder. Peggy Lowe was granted bond and released after her neighbors in Vincent put their homes up for security. Betty Wilson was denied bond and remained in the Madison County jail until her trial. A short time later family members of Dr. Wilson filed suit to deny Betty Wilson access to his estate. Despite the posturing going on from all sides, many legal analysts began to doubt if the prosecution really had enough to build a case on. There was no one who ever saw James White and Betty Wilson together at any time and there was no physical evidence linking White to the crime scene. Also, a major headache for both sides was Whites constantly changing stories. He would describe events one day and have a completely different version the following week. New Information Perhaps James White was sitting in his cell thinking about the same thing because suddenly he recalled a fact that he had not remembered before. He had changed clothes in the house and placed them in a plastic bag, along with the rope and knife, and hid them under a rock a few feet from the swimming pool. The bag was supposed to be the same one he received the money from Mrs. Lowe in. Officials later explained the clothes not being found during the initial search by saying the police dog had an allergy. Although the clothes and bag were found exactly where White said they would be, the forensic people were never able to establish if they had been bloodstained, or if they actually belonged to White. The clothes were to become one of the biggest mysteries of the case. No one seriously believed the clothes had been missed during the initial search. Privately, even members of the Huntsville Police expressed skepticism. Many people believed that White had gotten someone to place the clothes there in an attempt to bolster his credibility and escape the electric chair. By this time the case of the Evil Twins had captured national attention. The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times and People Magazine ran lengthy articles and television tabloid shows such as Hard Copy and Inside Edition ran features stories. When two national television networks expressed an interest in making a movie, agents descended on Huntsville buying the movie rights from most of the people involved. Trial As summer wore on, even the most impartial observers began to take sides. Never in the history of Huntsville had a case generated so much controversy and news coverage. Because of the publicity, the judge ordered the trial moved to Tuscaloosa. When the trial finally began, the case boiled down to one simple question. Who was telling the truth? The prosecution argues it was a murder for hire. The defense claimed the fact that White did not carry a weapon with him made the story unbelievable.The prosecution argued Whites testimony was credible. The defense argued he had changed his confessions so many times it was unbelievable and he had fitted his testimony to fit the prosecutions case in order to escape a possible death sentence.The prosecution argued Whites testimony was collaborated by records of phone calls and the library. The defense argued there was another explanation.The prosecution argued the gun was given to White by Betty Wilson and Peggy Lowe. The defense claimed he stole the gun and offered the fact that the empty box the gun came in, along with shells, was found in the home afterward.The prosecution offered a witness who claimed to have seen James White and Betty Wilson near the murder scene within thirty minutes of one another. The defense argued the witness was not credible because she had been unable to pi ck White out of a lineup. The prosecution claimed the timeline proved their case. The defense argued the timeline did not fit.The prosecution offered a witness who claimed Mrs. Wilson had talked about wanting to kill her husband. The defense argued the story was not credible because it had happened almost 6 years earlier and the woman had continued to be friends with Mrs. Wilson.The defense offered a witness who stated she had received a message from Dr. Wilson on her answering machine after the alleged time of death. The prosecution argued the call could have been made earlier. Regardless of the hard evidence, everyone agreed that a central theme of the prosecutionââ¬â¢s case was to paint Betty Wilson as a cold and immoral woman who wanted her husband dead. To prove this the prosecution paraded a stream of witnesses who testified about hearing her curse and belittle her husband. Other witnesses testified to having knowledge of Mrs. Wilson taking men to her home for sexual liaisons. Perhaps the most dramatic part of the trial came when a black former city employee took the stand and told of having relations with Mrs. Wilson. Although the prosecution denied playing the racism card, observers of the trial all agreed it had the same effect. The case went to the jury at 12:28 on Tuesday, March 2, 1993. After deliberating the rest of the day and much of the following day the jury returned with a guilty verdict. Jurors later revealed that the deciding factor in their decision was the telephone records. Betty Wilson was sentenced to life imprisonment, without parole. Aftermath Six months later, Peggy Lowe stood trial for her alleged part in the murder for hire. Much of the evidence was almost a repeat of her sisterââ¬â¢s trial, with the same witnesses and the same testimony. New to the case, however, was testimony by expert witnesses who stated that two people may have been involved in the murder. Citing the lack of blood splatters on the walls, the experts theorized the murder probably occurred some other place than the hallway and was caused by something other than a baseball bat. For the defense, the most crucial moment probably occurred when White testified that Betty Wilson picked him up at the murder scene between 6 and 6:30 p.m. on the day in question. This was an hour later than he had previously testified. If the jurors believed Whiteââ¬â¢s story, it would have been impossible for Mrs. Wilson to have participated. The biggest difference in the trials, however, were the people being tried. While Mrs. Wilson seemed to be the reincarnate of everything evil, her sister portrayed the image of a virtuous and compassionate church-going woman who was constantly helping people less fortunate. Though it had been difficult to get people to testify in Betty Wilsonââ¬â¢s behalf, Mrs. Loweââ¬â¢s jurors heard a steady parade of witnesses extolling her virtues. The jury deliberated for only two hours and eleven minutes before finding Peggy Lowe not guilty. The jurors cited James Whiteââ¬â¢s lack of credibility as the major factor. The prosecutor explained the verdict by saying he was ââ¬Å"fighting God.â⬠Although Peggy Lowe can never be tried again, the fact remains that it is impossible for one sister to be innocent and the other guilty. Betty Wilson is serving life without parole at the Julia Tutwiler prison in Wetumpka, Alabama. She works in the sewing department and spends her free time writing her supporters. Her case is being appealed. James White is serving a life sentence at an institution in Springville, Alabama, where he is attending trade school and receiving counseling for drug and alcohol abuse. In 1994, he recanted his story of the twinsââ¬â¢ involvement but later took the Fifth Amendment when questioned about it in court. He will be eligible for parole in the year 2000.
Monday, October 21, 2019
Ahmed Sékou Touré Biography
Ahmed Sà ©kou Tourà © Biography Ahmed Sà ©kou Tourà © (born January 9, 1922, died March 26, 1984)à was one of the foremost figures in the struggle for West African independence, the first President of Guinea, and a leading Pan-African. He was initially considered a moderate Islamic African leaderà but became one of Africas most oppressive Big Men. Early Life Ahmed Sà ©kou Tourà ©s was born in Faranah, centralà Guinà ©e Franà §aise (French Guinea, now the Republic of Guinea), near the source of the River Niger. His parents were poor, uneducated peasant farmers, though he claimed to be a direct descendant of Samory Tourà © (aka Samori Ture), the regions 19th-century anti-colonialist military leader, who had been based in Faranah for a while. Tourà ©s family were Muslim, and he was initially educated at the Koranic School in Faranah, before transferring to a school in Kissidougou. In 1936 he moved on to a French technical college, the Ecole Georges Poiret, in Conakry, but was expelled after less than a year for initiating a food strike. Over the next few years, Sà ©kou Tourà © passed through a series of menial jobs, while attempting to complete his education through correspondence courses. His lack of formal education was an issue throughout his life, and his lack of qualifications left him suspicious of anyone who had attended tertiary education. Entering Politics In 1940 Ahmed Sà ©kou Tourà © obtained a post as aà clerk for theà Compagnie du Niger Franà §ais while also working to complete an examination course which would allow him to join the Post and Telecommunications Department (Postes, Tà ©là ©graphes et Tà ©là ©phones) of colonys French administration. In 1941 he joined the post office and started to take an interest in labor movements, encouraging his fellow workers to hold a successful two-month long strike (the first in French West Africa). In 1945 Sà ©kou Tourà © formed French Guineas first trade union, the Post and Telecommunications Workers Union, becoming its general-secretary the following year. He affiliated the postal workers union to the French labor federation, the Confà ©dà ©ration Gà ©nà ©rale du Travail (CGT, General Confederation of Labor) which was in turn affiliated to the French Communist party. He also set up French Gunieas first trade union center: the Federation of Workers Unions of Guinea. In 1946 Sà ©kou Tourà © attended a CGT congress in Paris, before moving to the Treasury Department, where he became the general-secretary of the Treasury Workers Union. In October that year, he attended a West African congress in Bamako, Mali, where he became one of the founding members of the Rassemblement Dà ©mocratique Africain (RDA, African Democratic Rally) along with Fà ©lix Houphouà «t-Boigny of Cà ´te dIvoire. The RDA was a Pan-Africanist party which looked towards independence for French colonies in West Africa. He founded the Parti Dà ©mocratique de Guinà ©e (PDG, Democratic Party of Guinea), the local affiliate of the RDA in Guinea. Trade Unions in West Africa Ahmed Sà ©kou Tourà © was dismissed from the treasury department for his political activities, and in 1947 was briefly sent to prison by the French colonial administration. He decided to devote his time to developing workers movements in Guinea and to campaign for independence. In 1948 he became the secretary-general of the CGT for French West Africa, and in 1952 Sà ©kou Tourà © became secretary-general of the PDG. In 1953 Sà ©kou Tourà © called a general strike which lasted for two months. The government capitulated. He campaigned during the strike for unity between ethnic groups, opposing the tribalism which the French authorities were promulgating, and was explicitly anti-colonial in his approach. Sà ©kou Tourà © was elected to the territorial assembly in 1953 but failed to win the election for the seat in the Assemblà ©e Constituante, the French National Assembly, after conspicuous vote-tampering by the French administration in Guinea. Two years later he became mayor of Conakry, Guineas capital. With such a high political profile, Sà ©kou Tourà © was finally elected as the Guinean delegate to the French National Assembly in 1956. Furthering his political credentials, Sà ©kou Tourà © led a break by Guineas trade unions from the CGT, and formed the Confà ©dà ©ration Gà ©nà ©rale du Travail Africaine (CGTA, General Confederation of African Labor). A renewed relationship between the leadership of the CGTA and CGT the following year led to the creation of the Union Gà ©nà ©rale des Travailleurs dAfrique Noire (UGTAN, General Union of Black African Laborers), a pan-African movement which became an important player in the struggle for West African independence. Independence and One-Party State The Democratic Party of Guinea won the plebiscite elections in 1958 and rejected membership in the proposed French Community.à Ahmed Sà ©kou Tourà © became the first president of the independent republic of Guinea on October 2, 1958. However, the state was a one-party socialist dictatorship with restrictions on human rights and suppression of political opposition.à Sà ©kou Tourà © promoted mostly his own Malinke ethnic group rather than maintaining his cross-ethnic nationalism ethic. He drove more than a million people into exile to escape his prison camps. An estimated 50,000 people were killed in concentration camps, including the notorious Camp Boiro Guard Barracks. Death and Legacy He diedà March 26, 1984, in Cleveland, Ohio, where he had been sent for cardiac treatment after becoming ill in Saudi Arabia. A coup detat by the armed forces on April 5, 1984, installed a military junta that denouncedà Sà ©kou Tourà © as a bloody and ruthless dictator. They released about 1,000 political prisoners and installedà Lansana Contà ©Ã as president. The country was not to have a truly free and fair election until 2010, and politics remain troubled.
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Using the French Expletive Connard in Conversation
Using the French Expletive Connard in Conversation The French noun connardà (pronounced kuh-nar) is an informal term commonly used as an expletive. Loosely translated, it means idiot or jerk, although most people understand it to mean something more obscene. As with all slang, its important to understand what youre saying before you go using it in everyday conversation. You and your friends may toss around expletives like connardà knowing that youre joking. But you probably wouldnt want to use such language in a formal situation or in front of strangers. Translation and Usage A more direct translation ofà connardà would be ahole or any number of variations on the f-word. A French person searching for a synonym might choose imbà ©cileà orà crà ©tin.à There is alsoà a feminine version:à une connarde / une connasseà for cow. Examples of Usage Here are a few examples for context. To be clear, we are not recommending using this term. But it will be useful to understand it because it can be overheard on the streets of any French city or town. Cest un vrai connard ! Hes a real jerk!Tu es leà connardà de lautre nuit.à Casse-toi ! Youre the [expletive] from the other night. Get away!Et je suppose que le saleà connardà veut quelque chose en à ©change.à à And I assume the dirtyà [expletive] wants something in return.Ecoute, tu devenais un incroyableà connard. à Listen, you were becoming/being an unbelievable jerk.Babe Ruth à ©tait unà connard, mais le baseball reste gà ©nial.à à Babe Ruth wasà [expletive], but baseballs stillà beautiful.Tu peux pas me parler, espà ¨ce deà connard.à You cant talk to me, you son of anà [expletive].Cest pas toi qui poseà la question,à connard.à à Youre not asking the question,à [expletive].Vandalisme, arme blanche : Ten prends pour six mois,à connard.à Vandalism, deadly weapon. You get six months in lockup,à [expletive].Ouai, ben, soul ou sobre, tes toujours unà connard.à à Yeah, well, drunk or sober, youre still an [expletive].
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Project planning exercise Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Project planning exercise - Coursework Example However, on the table the timing is not indicated as it is counted as no work is done on that particular day. Free float is one day. This because the earliest time to complete the activity is day two and the earliest time to start the preceding action is day 3.So they there is an extra fee day floating for the workers to relax for the next activity. In activity C, the latest time to start the activity is day four, the earliest time to start the activity is day four. In this case, the total float is one day. However, the free float is three days. It is a minimal time that the workers would require to embark on activity D. The action begins on day six of the scheduled time. The earliest time to purchase the kits is day five because the workers are free on that particular day. The latest time to buy the tools would be on day six when the activity begins. The total floating time would then be one day. On the other hand, free float only one day before embarking on the purchase of the furniture. Free float is only one day because the activity is not very exhausting so the workers would need minimal time to relax. This activity begins on day eight, and it is required that by day thirteenth, all the activities scheduled for that day is finished. The total float time for the activity is just one day. Free float five days. It is because the earliest time expected to complete the business would be day twelve and the earliest time to start the action would be day seven. This action starts on day thirteenth and is expected to be done by day eighteenth. The total float time one day, free float is five days because the earliest time to begin the activity is day twelve and the earliest time expected to be finished the activity is day seventeen. The activity is expected to be done within seven days. The earliest time to start the activity is day seventeen and the earliest time to finish the activity is day
Friday, October 18, 2019
Viewing Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Viewing Art - Essay Example The majority of the art produced by Soviet artists was created to support the ideals of the government and make their communism present in every part of the culture, especially the visual arts. Soviet art of the period consisted of pictures of workers farming, working in factories, or similar actions. In one way, it was good because they pictured women working alongside men which reinforced the idea of equality, but there is very little difference between the characters. They all look the same, which reinforces the Soviet idea that a person was only as valuable as their work to the state (ââ¬Å"Into the 20th Centuryâ⬠). Examples of art used to oppress people are not limited to despotic foreign countries. Sometimes art can be used to reinforce social customs that are discriminatory or racist. The American film Birth of a Nation has been credited with justifying racism and discrimination against African Americans in the America south. The movie tells a fictional account of the fo unding of the Ku Klux Klan and how it was started to protect good white southerners against the black Union soldiers after the American Civil War. Birth of a Nation expressed a mythology about the southern United States and its identity that was not true and justified the use of violence and mistreatment of African Americans. In fact, the movie has been credited with reviving the Ku Klux Klan, which by then had already become inactive (Armstrong). Visual art was also used before the American Civil War to promote an idea of how the south was and to cover up the cruelty of slavery. Many landscape paintings of southern plantations did not picture slaves, instead focusing on the beautiful buildings and crops of the owners. Other landscape artists did paint African slaves into their pictures, but sometimes pictured them working happily alongside white workers. These representations perpetuated an idea of the American south as a peaceful, prosperous part of a country, whose slave owners w ere kind and whose slaves were happy (Mack). With all the time that people spend looking at art and interacting with it, we do not step back enough to wonder about what a piece of art or a piece of graphic design is saying to us. Most of the time, we simply respond. A good deal of art created in modern society is designed to get people to do things: to click on a banner, to buy something, to inspire feelings of patriotism or anger. Advertisers depend on the fact that the viewing public will not really step back and evaluate how an advertisement is trying to manipulate them and that they will just respond and click, or buy something, or vote a certain way. Claude Monetââ¬â¢s painting ââ¬Å"Regate a Argenteuilâ⬠is a masterpiece that communicates more than the simple coercive ideas behind Soviet art and art in advertising. Monetââ¬â¢s impressionism was about replicating the experience of seeing something commonplace, rather than the realistic reproduction of grand and hero ic or mythological events as was popular in the 19th century. This painting, in particular, is not a realistic rendering of sailboats on the river Seine. The We Museum website calls it a ââ¬Å"bold simplificationâ⬠in which Monet was trying to capture the mood of boots sailing on a beautiful day (Pioch). Monet attempted, in this painting, to communicate that mood and his understanding that
Medical equipment lifecycle ( Medical Equipment & Technology Services Essay - 1
Medical equipment lifecycle ( Medical Equipment & Technology Services Management) - Essay Example The technology life cycle of a medical component initiates in the design and acquisition phase, by means of the acceptance process. The technology life cycle of the medical component extends through its application in the clinical environment . Subsequently, it reaches the obsolescence phase where it is replaced and discarded after reaching its maximum life utility. The acquisition, approval and obsolescence of a medical technology occurs only once in its useful life (Chan, 2003, p. 13). The optimal application of technology incorporates a number of occupations and can occur over a variety of instances. This optimal application of medical technology can be deconstructed into two sub cycles. These sub cycles are the acquisition and application sub cycle. The acquisition sub cycle consists of the following events: Technology evaluation- Technology evaluation is a classification of policy study which reviews the short term and long term outcomes which are societal, ethical, legal and economic. These aspects constitute the comprehensive evaluation of the technology (Banta, 2009, p. 8). The gold criteria for clinical research assessment of novel medical technology is historically recognized as the Randomized Control Trial (RCT) (NHTSA, n.d.). A primary tenet of technology evaluation is ââ¬Å"buying smart, not cheapâ⬠(University of Boston Massachusetts, 2010, p 9). In the technology evaluation, the following details are delineated: Guiding adaptation and application in medical equipment technology goes hand in hand. The important factor in being successful is carrying out a comprehensive and thorough planning procedure (NSBA, n.d.). Efficient technology designs are directed towards applications, instead of technology. The technology should be based on inputs and not results (See, n.d.). A new medical technology equipment system
Stefko, Salem Witchcraft Trials Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Stefko, Salem Witchcraft Trials - Essay Example The first to be tried were Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. The girls attended the trials and experienced fits and convulsions as each of the accused was questioned. Tituba had been beaten by Parris for practicing the craft and confessed to being a witch. She implicated the other two women. Tituba also said that the three of them were not the only practitioners and there was a coven in Massachusetts that was lead by a tall man with white hair. This led to witch hunts and further trials. Ministers and district justices asked the girls to name more witches and they obliged. More people were falsely accused and arrested. Ann Putman Jr. and her mother accused Martha Corey of being a witch. They did not like this woman and this was what they did to vent their dislike. Later, Martha's husband, eighty- year old husband, Giles, was accused of being a wizard and a sorcerer. At the time the hysteria began, no trials could be held in the commonwealth until a new charter was in place. In May 1692, Sir William Phips, the newly appointed royal governor, arrived with a new charter. He did not want to be involved with the witchcraft problem, so he created a Court of Oyer and Terminer to try the accused witches. Lt. Governor William Stoughton served as chief justice and eight other judges presided at the trials. The men were highly respected in the colony. Some were biased because they had sent those accused witches to prison and believed that those who were in jail were, in reality, witches.The trials began in June. The girls had accused the "witches" of attacking them in the form of specters. There were tests to determine if the accused were witches. One was when the girls would collapse when the accused was told to look at Them. Another was when the girls were "cured" of their afflictions by touching the accused.The trials were swift and some of those who w ere found guilty were sentenced to death by hanging. The sentences were carried out within days after the sentence was pronounced.Giles Corey refused to acknowledge that the court had the power to try him. He was sentenced to the punishment of having a board placed on top of his body, then rocks placed on top of it. He was killed by the weight of the rocks.Eventually, Tituba was released from jail, and then sold as a slave to pay for the expenses of being imprisoned. The Salem witchcraft trials were the last major trials in the world. There had been other outbreaks of such hysteria in Europe prior to these trials. The Salem trials were "mild affairs compared to the hideous persecutions of Europe." (Cohen, 19)The largest witchcraft trials in the New World and one of the last events of the hysteria of witchcraft were in Salem, Massachusetts. Those who were the most afflicted by the alleged witches were young girls whose "'child's play'
Thursday, October 17, 2019
The course Academic Communication in the English language Essay - 61
The course Academic Communication in the English language - Essay Example The three essays that I wrote during this course was a challenge because the style of writing taught in the English Second Language program differed to a great extent from the writing that I was introduced to in this course. Going through the Academic Communication cures taught me a lot of useful concepts in the English language. Most importantly, Academic Communication cures program has taught me how to write a research paper, how to write an argumentation research, and how to link my ideas with the topic that I focus on. Because of Academic Communication cures, I feel that my ability to deliver effective research papers has improved. Looking back, I struggled so much to write my ideas and points in a cohesive and appropriate manner in my first essay. In fact, because of frequent mistakes, I cannot remember the number of mistakes I made in that first essay at the beginning of this course. However, by week two, we had already discussed so much on plagiarism, APA style and citation ru les and much more. We had also read an article titled, ââ¬Å"An Enviroââ¬â¢s Case for Seal Hunt,â⬠to help us in research writing which helped in avoiding plagiarism in writing. I also learned about argumentative writing which allows writers to show their opinion and thoughts.Writers can use many sources to support their arguments. I have learned how to support a logical argument in a perfect manner. I faced challenges analyzing the work of another author so as to clarify and perfect my ideas.
Prison Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Prison Culture - Essay Example The inmate subculture shows the lives of inmates but it varies from one prison institution to another (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2009). Being deviants in society, the inmate subculture is often not in accordance with the values of society and is opposed to institutional rules. What may be regarded as deviant behavior and unacceptable in the free world is encouraged and rewarded inside prison walls (Clemmer, 1940) There are two theories that explain the formation of an inmate subculture (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2009). The first is the deprivation theory which states that the inmate culture is formed in response to the deprivations in prison life. The deprivations experienced by inmates are those of deprivation of liberty, autonomy and security, deprivation from the use of goods and services, and deprivation of heterosexual relationships (Sykes, 1958). The other theory is the importation theory which maintains that the inmates bring with them their subculture from the outside world. There ar e different types of inmate subculture as discussed by Irwin and Cressey (1962).
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
The course Academic Communication in the English language Essay - 61
The course Academic Communication in the English language - Essay Example The three essays that I wrote during this course was a challenge because the style of writing taught in the English Second Language program differed to a great extent from the writing that I was introduced to in this course. Going through the Academic Communication cures taught me a lot of useful concepts in the English language. Most importantly, Academic Communication cures program has taught me how to write a research paper, how to write an argumentation research, and how to link my ideas with the topic that I focus on. Because of Academic Communication cures, I feel that my ability to deliver effective research papers has improved. Looking back, I struggled so much to write my ideas and points in a cohesive and appropriate manner in my first essay. In fact, because of frequent mistakes, I cannot remember the number of mistakes I made in that first essay at the beginning of this course. However, by week two, we had already discussed so much on plagiarism, APA style and citation ru les and much more. We had also read an article titled, ââ¬Å"An Enviroââ¬â¢s Case for Seal Hunt,â⬠to help us in research writing which helped in avoiding plagiarism in writing. I also learned about argumentative writing which allows writers to show their opinion and thoughts.Writers can use many sources to support their arguments. I have learned how to support a logical argument in a perfect manner. I faced challenges analyzing the work of another author so as to clarify and perfect my ideas.
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Bible vs. Mythology Essay Example for Free
Bible vs. Mythology Essay There are many similarities and differences between Greek Mythology and The Bible. Whether itââ¬â¢s the creation of man and women, or the universe, stories have been told throughout time and some can be alike and others completely different. There are people that have gathered, translated and recorded all of these events for us now to learn about. Whether a person believes it is true or not is up to them but if a God is real how come the stories between these two different beliefs can be so similar. A strong similarity is the creation of man and the universe. However the Greek Myths and the Bible have many differences when it comes to how and why everything happened. A comparison between these two is the creation of the universe. In Genesis 1:1 it states that ââ¬Å"the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the watersâ⬠(Genesis 1:2). Then throughout seven days, God created light, the sky, the sea, plants, stars, birds, animals that live in water, livestock, and finally mankind to rule over all the others. Everything starts off as a dark, empty void much like in the Greek Myths. In Mythology there was a lot of chaos to begin until Tethis the first mother mated with an endless river to create Gaia, Tartarus, and Eros. After that, Gaia (Mother Earth) mated with Ouranos (the sky) and created the Titans. The Greek Godââ¬â¢s created all the living beings on Earth because they were bored and had nothing else to do. Unlike God it did not take seven days to create all. The Greek Godââ¬â¢s would just think of something and it would happen. Prometheus was given the task to mold the animals from clay and Epimetheus gave them their unique abilities. In the Bible, whatever Adam called the animal was what it was named. With humans however, it took many tries for mankind to be created and with both the Bible and Mythology, there was a flood to wipe out everything. In the creation of men, both in the Bible and Myths, he was created from the earth. In the Bible man was formed from dust and God breathed life into him. When humans became so corrupted, God sent a flood to kill everything on earth. He spared Noah and his family along with seven pairs of every animal on Earth to repopulate once the flood had passed. There are two versionsà from which men were created in Greek Mythology. Homerââ¬â¢s version is that man was molded from clay by Prometheus but was not given any special power because Epimetheus forgot about them. Hesiodââ¬â¢s version was that of a series of races: gold, silver, bronze, heroes, and iron. The time of the golden men was when Kronos ruled and everything was an easy, perfect paradise until they vanished. Silver was under Zeusââ¬â¢ rule when man had a short maturity and horrible old age. They were arrogant and disappeared under the earth. During the bronze era of man there was constant warfare until Zeus sends a flood to kill all of mankind. After that, the heroes followed, a time of mighty mortals who battled monsters and had a peaceful afterlife. Finally the era of the iron man, a balance towards fighting and attitude to the Gods. This time is also the time of the creation of women. Nowadays people donââ¬â¢t see women as evil but in the Bible and Mythââ¬â¢s women are defined as ââ¬Å"beautiful and evil creaturesâ⬠(Gods and Goddesses). The first woman, Eve, was created from the rib of Adam so women are the flesh and blood of man. Adam and Eve are the first humans in the Bible and at first all is serene and happy that is until Eve eats from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The serpent tricks her into eating the fruit and Eve shares it with Adam. Because of this Eve is evil for sharing the knowledge to Adam and leveling with God. In Greek Mythology, Prometheus and Epimetheus warn their children Deucalion and Pyrrha about the impending flood. They build an ark on which they survive and reach Mount Parnassus. That is where they consult the goddess Themis on how to repopulate the Earth. Deucalion was told: ââ¬Å"You and your wife are to veil your heads, and as you walk from my sanctuary, throw behind you the bones of your motherâ⬠(Waterfield, Robin). So Deucalion and Pyrrha threw behind them rocks, the bones of Gaia and the rocks that Pyrrha threw formed women and the rocks Deucalion threw formed men. Another version on the creation of women is the story of Pandora and her box. Prometheus as the God of mankind is always looking out for them. He tricks Zeus into choosing the worthless offering and gives humans the better portion. As punishment Zeus takes fire from humans but Prometheus steals it back. Outraged, Zeus asks Hephaestus to forge a woman. Athena and Aphrodite taught her womanly skills, grace, and allure. Hermes gave her a cunning mind and a thieving temperament. Pandoraà was sent down to Earth with a box in which all the horrible things in the world were inside. Eventually her curiosity got the best of her and Pandora opened the box unleashing all the evils into the world. This is why women are seen as beautiful and evil. Although people might think that these two subjects seem totally unrelated. They have much more in common than thought possible. This is only scratching the surface of the enormity of the comparisons between these two subjects. The main idea may be the same of a lot of these but there are many different versions separating the Bible from Greek Mythology. Works Cited Gods and Goddesses. AE Television Networks The History Channel, 2001. DVD Waterfield, Robin, and Kathryn Waterfield. The Greek Myths: Stories of the Greek Gods and Heroes Vividly Retold. London: Quercus, 2011. Print. The Bible
Monday, October 14, 2019
Gassendis Objection To Descartes Argument
Gassendis Objection To Descartes Argument Gassendis objections to Descartes ontological argument for the existence of God are based, as many philosophical arguments are, on minor details within the Meditations. The objections for our purposes should be constrained to the first and second Meditations, as it is those that are most concerned with arguing for Gods existence. Gassendis objections are not quite enough to be considered strong enough to refute the argument laid out with care by Descartes. By identifying what the specific objections are and then comparing them to the arguments made by Descartes in terms of reason, blind faith and even simple assumption, we can determine that Descartes original arguments for the existence of God are stronger than Gassendis objections to them. In the first Meditation, Descartes argues that he knows he is alert and thinking because if not, that would prove the existence of a deceiving God and, since God does not deceive (by definition), would not lie to him about being alert and awake. Gassendis objection to this is that rather than assuming everything he has learned from birth is a suspect, Descartes should assume that everything he has learned from birth is believable and rule out things as they are disproven, not as they are proven, so as not to need to thinking of God as deceiving or to believe in an evil Spirit that deceives man. There are two problems that indicate that Gassendis argument is more powerful. One is that since Descartes cannot disprove God, he cannot prove him either, and the other is that Gassendi is correct, logically, in choosing to see something/someone who created all life in the best possible light first without automatically believing the worst. Specifically, Gassendi states that wouldnt it have b een more in accord with philosophical openness and the love of truth simply to state the facts candidly and straightforwardly? In the second Meditation, Descartes has argued that we should believe nothing until there has been some indication that it is true and exists by God. Without this indication, it may very well not exist whatsoever. He states that this holds even for the truths of faith: we shouldnt decide to believe them until we have perceived some convincing reason for thinking that they have indeed been revealed by God. Gassendis objection to this argument for the existence of God, that we would believe nothing if we did not believe it came from God himself, is that he believes he is thinking and alert, that his existence is made up of a Mind (at this point), so therefore he must believe that without having credible proof that God gave him that thinking. Thomas Aquinas gives us five ways to determine whether there is a God. The fourth way, the gradation of being argument, is paraphrased as follows. In order to call something hotter, one must understand what the hottest thing can possibly be. In the instance of genus of animals, the original of the genus is the uttermost or cause of all that genus and is therefore the ideal of it. Therefore man must be less than his original creator, or the ideal of the genus, which is assumed to be God, the perfect being, in whose image we are made. Objections to this argument can vary. One of the more obvious ones is that Darwin and, consequently, hundreds of other scientists have determined that with the survival of the fittest and evolutionary theories, the original of a genus is not the ideal. In fact, the original is soon replaced with an evolutionary improvement and soon dies out because of this competition. Using Aquinas reasoning with these facts in mind, the original and creator of the human genus is dead and sub-par, lesser than the man of today rather than the ultimate man. This is, in fact, an anti-God line of reasoning with this added knowledge. The fifth of these ways is the intelligence, design argument. In this argument, to paraphrase, bodies work toward a goal that we do not understand, and most natural things lack knowledge. In the case of an arrow, for instance, the direction of the arrow is being directed by intelligence in the form of the archer. Therefore so too humans are directed to the goal our natural bodies are working toward by a being we call God. Though this argument is one of the more popular arguments for the existence of God, Aquinas has inadvertently made a mistake in his reasoning. He claims that natural beings do not hold knowledge of their own. However, he gives humans intelligence in his example with the arrow if an archer is intelligent he can direct an arrow to hit a target. Why, then, does the archer not possess the intelligence Aquinas says is given him by God to find his own goal, his own target, so to speak. The issue lies in the claim of intelligence. Most natural things do not possess knowledge, including humans. However humans are the intelligence it takes to direct an arrow and simultaneously lacking the intelligence needed to reach the humans target, which according to Aquinas can only be accomplished by another intelligent being assumed to be God. The objection that can be raised is that either humans are or are not, as natural beings, intelligent beings. If we are intelligent beings, we can find our own path to our target without the guiding force that is assumed to be God. If we are not intelligent beings, we are not knowledgeable enough to direct an arrow to its target. With either option the argument for design in the five arguments for the existence of God by Aquinas falls apart with little picking at the seams. In conclusion, Descartes arguments for the existence of God are not better than Gassendis objections to them, but in fact neither one has good enough arguments to be called strong. Aquinas is hardly different, having dissected two of his five arguments for the existence of God with formidable objections and different lines of reasoning.
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Fossil Fuels Effects on the Environment :: Environment Ecology Ecological Impact Essays
Our world as it stands today is a truly magnificent place, amazing technological advances have been made over the years that have helped form a truly advanced place. However in order to achieve these technical advancements we need power. Many years ago the only power we needed or used was the power created with our own bodies, but as our society grew both larger and more intelligent we had to turn to other sources- the most obvious of those sources being fossil fuels. These almost ââ¬Å"magicalâ⬠resource including coal, natural gas, and petroleum, from millions of years ago, seemed the perfect solution to all our energy needs. Unfortunately we now realize that these resources have a very strong impact on the environment in the form of conventional pollution, and what could be even more severe greenhouse effect. There is a severe environmental impact in all stages of fossil fuel use including: recovery, transportation, preparation/ refining, and storage- not only the end use(the actual combustion) that most people think of. When recovering coal from the earth there are three major issues: The destruction of topsoil, acidic water runoff, and land subsidies. Some recovery issues with petroleum include drilling on land and offshore, gushers, and accidents. The transportation of fossil fuels can be a very risky proposition, with risk of oil pollution of the seas and accidents during routine operations. Petroleum transportation was brought to the forefront with the Exxon Valdez accident. The preparation/refining stage can produce sludge from coal cleaning plants and air/water pollution from petroleum refining. The storage of gasoline in underground tanks at your local gas station can be risky because those tanks have been known to leak. Almost all fossil fuel use is by combustion, the final stage of of fossil fuel. It produces waste products due to impurities in the fuel, especially particulates and various gases such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. These waste products may affect our environment and people, in harmful ways (ââ¬Å"Byâ⬠). These oxides created during combustion combine with moisture in the air to form sulfuric acid, carbonic acid, and nitric acid. When it rains or snows, these acids are brought to Earth in what is called acid rain (Britannica ). Fossil Fuels' Effects on the Environment :: Environment Ecology Ecological Impact Essays Our world as it stands today is a truly magnificent place, amazing technological advances have been made over the years that have helped form a truly advanced place. However in order to achieve these technical advancements we need power. Many years ago the only power we needed or used was the power created with our own bodies, but as our society grew both larger and more intelligent we had to turn to other sources- the most obvious of those sources being fossil fuels. These almost ââ¬Å"magicalâ⬠resource including coal, natural gas, and petroleum, from millions of years ago, seemed the perfect solution to all our energy needs. Unfortunately we now realize that these resources have a very strong impact on the environment in the form of conventional pollution, and what could be even more severe greenhouse effect. There is a severe environmental impact in all stages of fossil fuel use including: recovery, transportation, preparation/ refining, and storage- not only the end use(the actual combustion) that most people think of. When recovering coal from the earth there are three major issues: The destruction of topsoil, acidic water runoff, and land subsidies. Some recovery issues with petroleum include drilling on land and offshore, gushers, and accidents. The transportation of fossil fuels can be a very risky proposition, with risk of oil pollution of the seas and accidents during routine operations. Petroleum transportation was brought to the forefront with the Exxon Valdez accident. The preparation/refining stage can produce sludge from coal cleaning plants and air/water pollution from petroleum refining. The storage of gasoline in underground tanks at your local gas station can be risky because those tanks have been known to leak. Almost all fossil fuel use is by combustion, the final stage of of fossil fuel. It produces waste products due to impurities in the fuel, especially particulates and various gases such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. These waste products may affect our environment and people, in harmful ways (ââ¬Å"Byâ⬠). These oxides created during combustion combine with moisture in the air to form sulfuric acid, carbonic acid, and nitric acid. When it rains or snows, these acids are brought to Earth in what is called acid rain (Britannica ).
Saturday, October 12, 2019
B. F. Skinner Essays -- essays research papers
B. F. Skinner Burris Frederic Skinner was born on March 20th, 1904 in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania. His mother, Grace M. Burrhus, was a stenographer and a secretary, in a law office and later in a railroad chief executive's office. His father, William A. Skinner, was an attorney, who studied law with another local attorney at a New York Law School. Skinner's parents were both good students. His father had bought several sets of books, so there was a lot of reading material their children. Skinner said that his parents never used physical punishment, except for the time they washed his mouth out with soap for bad language. (Ulrich, 1997) B. F. Skinner was very adventurous child. He lead a 300 mile canoe trip down the Susquehanna River when he was only 13 years old. He was a natural inventor and he loved build things. One of his inventions included a device that automatically reminded him to hang up his pajamas in the morning. He played the saxophone in a jazz band during high school and played piano until his failing eyesight made it hard for him to read the music. In college, he was very independent, and sometimes even a prankster. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1926 and later received his P.h.D. in psychology at Harvard University. (Ulrich, 1997) John B. Watson John Broadus Watson was born in Greenville, South Carolina on January 9th 1878. He went to college at Furman University and the University of Chicago. Watson created "Psychological behaviorism" in 1912. He told the world about his theory of behaviorism in a 1913 paper entitled ``Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It.'' In the paper he described Behaviorism as the part of psychology that shows behavior as "a series of observable movements in time and space". (Turner, 1997) He rejected both conscious and unconscious mental activities and defined behavior as a response to a stimulus. A few of John B. Watson's literary works include the following books and papers: Animal Education, Behavior, Psychology from the Standpoint of a Behaviorist, Behaviorism, and Psychological Care of Infant and Child. (Turner, 1997) Along with his own theories of behaviorism, Skinner developed the theory of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is based on the idea that "we behave the way we do because this kind of behavior has ... ...duces the stimulus."(Skinner, 1938) For Skinner's Behaviorism Page 7 example, Skinners cat tries to remove his flea collar because it irritates his sensitive skin. Skinner removes the collar from the cat as a form of negative reinforcement. (Skinner, 1938) In his time, B. F. Skinner attempted to make a lot of changes in modern psychology. Made people didn't agree with his changes because he didn't think that psychology had to do with feels or emotions. He felt that psychology had suffered in the past because it tried to explain human behavior in terms of feelings and states of mind. Skinner thought that psychology had wasted a lot of time making theories about the mind and personality. He suggested that psychology should only deal with behavior that is "observable in the world in which it occurs." (Henderson, 1990) In conclusion, B. F. Skinner was a very intelligent man that viewed behavior as "a response to a stimulus." Though he may have based his theories mostly on animal testing and he many have even portrayed man as a being without feelings, creativity, or morality, he was truly great and saw behaviorism like no one had seen it before. (Skinner, 1938)
Friday, October 11, 2019
Developing the Leader in You Essay
Abstract Aristotleââ¬â¢s philosophy on leadership states, ââ¬Å"Men make themselves leaders by performing acts of leadershipâ⬠. This paper is written to bring forth a better understanding of leadership development. Following the understanding, will be an explanation of key factors that are salient to leadership, and why it must be covered. Great insight will be brought forth in elaborating on ââ¬Ëcollaborationââ¬â¢ as the key to developing great leaders. Life experiences will certainly have an impact on how effectively a leader develops good character, and how experiences can hinder and strengthen a leaderââ¬â¢s ability to motivate others and create company growth. Flexibility and adaptability in spite of any circumstance can be the factor to make or break a situation, in coming toward the end of this paper it can be said that learning about continuous change can be deemed as extremely valuable in their leadership career in knowing how to bend when the wind blows. Finally, a lesson in lifeâ⬠¦ itââ¬â¢s not a fairytale, learning to accept failures and successes alike. The Leader in You The most important factorsâ⬠¦ Leadership principles can be taught to the masses, although behaviors in a great leader is a learned trait; acquired over time. The crucial word in leadership is ââ¬Å"trustworthinessâ⬠, a behavior that Cam, Caldwell, et al. (2010) state is associated with an individualââ¬â¢s perception regarding image, knowledge, and development style is of utmost importance (p. 500). Developing the leader within entails evolving through experimentation as a person learns new innovative approaches to solutions and problems. In time, new challenges arise that once seemed insurmountable, are now a part of the pragmatic approach that defines a leaders leadership style and strategic ability to overcome. To reach this stage in leadership empowers an individual, and reaffirms the persons ability to exert the skills to make informed decisions. This also means that the leader is in no way influenced by anyone in what to say or do; guiding and directing is the mark of an effective leader. The leaderââ¬â¢s most effective tool is to constantly develop themselves; never stop learning. The most important characteristics of an effective leader are: to have their own identity, having openness to change, have self-respect, make good choices, be sincere and authentic, maintain a sense of humor, be willing to make mistakes-admit and learn from them, have an appreciation for cultural differences, genuinely care about others, maintain effective interpersonal communication skills, receive meaning and purpose from their work, be passionate about their work, and maintain healthy boundaries. Realize that no leader is perfect, and may not have all of these qualitiesâ⬠¦ Although, should strive to be well-rounded for the sake of the people they are mentoring, and themselves. Truth be told, the key or ticket to accomplishing the most vexing challengesââ¬âcollaboration. Collaboration is the key to developing great leaders A collaborative relationship is based on mutual reciprocation of which is intended to assist each other in personal growth and development toward new levels of understanding to improve each others lives. In this section of the paper, the question that should be asked is, ââ¬Å"What type of leader does a person want to be known forâ⬠¦and how do they wish to be perceived by the people they are developing?â⬠This question has many answers, although to streamline it, the leader should be known for being innovative, results-oriented, and having a collaborative leadership style. This means that the leader will creatively expand the proverbial ââ¬Ëpieââ¬â¢ into equal sections, and bringing in different talents and abilities to work together to solve a problem. One of the advantages of working together is that everyone is enthusiastic, motivating each other, and willing to implement the group plan because they developed it. There is organizational empowerment that comes with collaborative work like this, it is a win/win for a company and the leader due to the fact that within these groups there is always an opportunity to: train new leaders, get broader substantive results, and assist subordinates to bond; learning that two or more heads are better than one in accomplishing projects. Bali (2011) states that,â⬠leadership is less about what we do and more about what we becomeââ¬âand in the processââ¬âhow we influence and learn from those around us.â⬠(p.11) People who aspire to become leaders, must know their strengths and weaknesses in order to develop either a stronger competence in the area they are weak in, or challenge themselves in areas where their strengths excel; this shows subordinates that you are not above personal self development and will encourage others to do the same. Competence is never enough for a great leader; it demands integrity and good moral character which influences the next generation of leaders. Leadership and good character Competence without integrity and character is worthless. A leader may know how to perform the job and lead the people to accomplish tasks, although without character they may cut corners if you will, and not always ââ¬Ëdo the right thingââ¬â¢. This behavior is detrimental to a companyââ¬â¢s future, and those of the people under them. A leader with good character, integrity, and competence is steadfast and can be counted on to do the right thing, build a companyââ¬â¢s reputation to be strong and unyielding, and establishes a foundation of trust with everyone involved. The purpose that character and integrity serves has to do with the specific times when their leadership road gets ââ¬Ërockyââ¬â¢, and at the edge of failureâ⬠¦ Time and time again it is seen in the media that people ââ¬Ëfallââ¬â¢ from great heights within an organization, and instead of strategizing accordingly, their lack of integrity and character lead them to corruption, and sacrificing the ir reputations and principles for ââ¬Ëimmediateââ¬â¢ satisfaction due to their selfish need for self gratification. What is interestingly true, is that the leader who does have a strong-steadfast foundation within them, leads the organization in a smooth, effective, and successful manner so much so that because they have avoided potential threats a company may faceâ⬠¦ most of the time they will not receive the credit due them because there wasnââ¬â¢t any catastrophe to see. This leader is defined as having intrinsic motivation in their leadership style that states they are internally motivated with their passion and vision to reach their goals instead of using external motivation like money and rewards. Eubanks et al. (2012), state that organizations should proactively develop leadersââ¬â¢ sensemaking skills so that they can better understand and enact ethical decisions (p. 2). A great leader is able adapt to change for the betterment of a companyââ¬â¢s future endeavors and growth, and is perhaps the single most important leadership competency. Having to bend when the wind blowsâ⬠¦ Flexibility and adaptability to changeâ⬠¦ It helps a leader understand that they have control over their destinies in spite of the current circumstances and they can change it all by the choices they make in the present that affect the future; learning from the past in order to press forward. Leaders know that major change is hard enough, but continuous change is much harder. What is meant by this is that most companies have a strategy that works and they stick to it, and then establish a system that ensures it will always work for them. Most companies will find that when the bottom line is not being met, they place as much as much effort as they can to try and reboot or resuscitate a system doomed to fail because they have not established long term back up plans. So what is left, is a company in a position where stagnation is festering. In order to improve, great leaders will recognize they have to change and adapt to new innovative ways so that the company can work its way out of stagnation and into a position of growth; reinventing the structure of the company forcing stabilization. Mastery in this level of leadership involves someone who is seasoned enough to know that through many experiences throughout their carrier, it is flexibility and adaptability that is the core driving a company to new heights. A company knows that the value within doesnââ¬â¢t come from the people filling in positions, but the skills they bring to the table that make a company thrive! It is because of these skilled individuals that an effective leader can motivate and guide people to reach their potential and achieve tougher and challenging goals; especially in uncertain times (Nixon et al., 2012, p. 208). Leadership is a fine art, where hope, aspirations, and innovation are the catalysts that bring forth new approaches from different perspectives which lift the constraints of old practices that hinder the progress of a company. The flip-side to great leadership is that things donââ¬â¢t always turn out the way they are suppose to, and the results can be anything but a fairytale! Leadership, anything but a fairytale! Reality is the last thing that would ever be discussed in a fairytale, much less the detrimental repercussions of the characters actions. Nearly everyoneââ¬â¢s world begins with parents reading their child fairytales, and their impressionable minds continue to believe that life will go on this smoothly. Although the underlying reason is to give everyone hope, imagination, and to strive for that happinessââ¬âin the business world, and leadership positionsâ⬠¦ people are being set up for failure; high expectations are great, as long as they arenââ¬â¢t unrealistic. Penner (2009) states, ââ¬Å"The problem arises when we benchmark our lives with these greats. We find that in the real world life is generally not perfect, that we do have to work hard at what we do and sometimes we are not successful.â⬠(p.2). Innovative minds come from creative thinking outside the box, which does come from fairytales, but have to be used constructively. Steve Jobs, leader in technology, will be the first to tell you, ââ¬ËPeople who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are usually the ones that do.â⬠Conclusion Throughout this paper, I have expressed my thoughts on the development of leadership and effects on a company, collaborative relationships, adaptability and change, why good character in leadership is important, and the most important factors in leadershipâ⬠¦ This paper is full of valuable insight for those who plan on enhancing their careers in their current field of leadership, or those whose future career may depend on the knowledge. Leadership is a gift, one that directly affects the lives of others, in developing the skills for future leadership positions. In finishing this paper, one can conclude that leadership traits can influence the success and failure of a company, and mentorship of one or many individuals. References Bali, V. (2011). Leadership lessons from everyday life. Leader to Leader, 60, 7-11. Caldwell, C., Hayes, L.A., & Long, D.T. (2010). Leadership, trustworthiness, and ethical stewardship. Journal of Business Ethics, 96(4), 497-512. doi: 10.1007/s10551-010-0489-y Eubanks, D.L., Brown, A.D., & Yberna, S. (2012). Leadership, identity, and ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 107(1), 1-3. doi: 10.1007/s10551-012-1295-5. Nixon, P., Harrington, M., & Parker, D. (2012). Leadership performance is significant to project success or failure: a critical analysis. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 61(2), 204-216. doi: 10.1108/17410401211194699 Penner, D.S. (2009). Leadership: Facing the fairytale. Journal of Applied Christian Leadership, 3(1), 7-10.
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