Brain Structure and Smoking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Brain Structure and Smoking - Essay Example Scientists discovered that a chain smoker suddenly lost all his interest in smoking because he suffered some damage to the brain, which altered the structure of the brain. This led scientists to believe that a brain structure deep in the brain was primarily responsible for the habit of smoking and if this can be treated the habit could be kicked very easily because then the smoker would loose all interest in smoking just as the person mentioned above lost all interest because of the stroke that altered his brain structure. Smoking is one of the highest causes of death which is preventable because most people are hooked to the highly addictive nicotine. This is just one example of how physical activities affect the brain or how the brain affects the activities of human beings, it is very vital to understand that addiction is due to structures in the brain that actually cause the addiction to nicotine, the respective brain structures will also be mentioned in the paper. Most people that are hooked on to smoking say that they want to quit smoking but do not know how to do so; this research would be very helpful in making people realize how they can quit their smoking habits and patterns to lead a much more healthy life. There are manStructures of the Brain There are many structures in the brain that affect the habits of human being, as mentioned before the brain has back up resources so some functions might be carried out by other parts if some damage occurs but if any part does get damaged then some habits are affected because there is not a back up resource for it. The insula in the brain is one such part because researchers have found out that any damage to the insula would cause people to quit smoking, they found this out by studying a man who smoked 40 cigarettes per day and he suffered a deep stroke which altered, to an extent, the brain structure and after the stroke the man felt no need to smoke at all. Smoking also has some affects on the brain which tend to damage the brain but the most damaged areas are those of the parietal and the temporal lobes, as mentioned before these lobes tend to the functions of feel and problem solving, once damage has been done to these lobes the problem solving ability decreases and also lowers t he resolve to quit smoking. There are hereditary causes of smoking as well because in a research it was indicated that there were certain receptors known as 'alpha-4, beta-2' are responsible for the 'head rush' that smokers feel when they smoke and it is believed that parents who smoke may transfer these recipients in large quantities to their children and hence this might be a cause of smoking when they children grow up and it is also thought that the initial smoking habits and patterns reflect those of the parents. The reasons for smoking in teenagers and young adults are mostly peer pressure and academic related concerns that cause them to smoke, the top most reason is not the lack of knowledge because every one knows how smoking is a cause of concern to their health's but the problem lies in how are they informed Are they just told the facts and figures or are they showed, how badly smoking can really hurt them They should be told that peer pressure is a daily phenomenon and also should be told how to

A Discussion of Paulo Freires Banking Concept of Education Essay Example for Free

A Discussion of Paulo Freires Banking Concept of Education Essay Freire implies that teachers are only telling students what to know rather than conversting with them, which explains why Freire insists that â€Å"education is suffering from narration sickness†(Freire 71). This means that he believes that educators only fill student’s minds with information, that the teacher feels is important, without providing the students the meaning and personal relevance that information has. By using this method, the student is oppressed by the teacher and unable to fulfill a complete state of consciousness. I can remember several times in my educational experiences where I have been the â€Å"depository† in Freire’s Banking Concept of Education, but no experience is more relative than my Organic Chemistry class three years ago where I learned that problem-solving education is vastly superior to banking-education because it allows students to acquire true understanding of their world and the ability to reach consciousness. During the summer of 2009, I took a summer semester of Organic Chemistry at University of California Berkeley. When I first entered the lecture hall, there were masses of people fighting for seats and some even resided to sitting on the floor or going into the side room to watch the lecture on television. As soon as the clock hit 9:00 am, five faculty members walked into the room: Professor Francis and four Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs). From the start, Dr. Francis went over the course structure, what it entailed, and how we as students could obtain help. While he was going over the syllabus information, he made one point extremely clear: â€Å"I cannot answer your personal questions during lecture time. If you have questions, please visit me during my office hours or please ask one of the GSIs. † After making that point, he transitioned into his lecture on functional groups; however, I was not following him. I immediately knew that this would be a lecture-only class, and I knew that I would need to write down every single note, diagram, or graph he showed us and memorize it for future examinations. Freire would acclaim that I would become a â€Å"depository† because I would simply allow Professor Francis to deposit his ‘knowledge’ into my mind without further question or thought. I would become a slave, oppressed by the very person who was supposed to free me (Freire 74). Dr. Francis continued in his slide show and a large slide labeled ‘Hydrocarbons’ appeared on the screen, and below the title were several different organic hydrocarbon functional groups, such as alkenes, alkanes, alkynes, benzenes, and toluene. He discussed each hydrocarbon in great depth and showed us students how to recognize them based on their bond sequences and patterns, how they react in the presence of other organic molecules, and how their chemical bonds affect water. After an exhaustive lecture of copying everything he said into my 128 notebook, he announced that we must memorize all of the hydrocarbon groups, and to be able to recognize them for an exam setting. Never once did he explain what what makes them important. I raised my hand at the end of the lecture, and asked him what the application of hydrocarbons are in the ‘real-world’. He replied not to worry about that, and that we needed to be able to recognize them and know how they function chemically, not practically, and why would he take the time to explain how hydrocarbons function? In order for Dr. Francis to keep his job, Freire asserts that, â€Å"the teacher must assume all of his students as ignorant†(Freire 72). This implies that if Dr. Francis had gone straight to the point and explained why hydrocarbons were important in the real world and in a laboratory setting, he wouldn’t have a job. It was his job to pick out extremely detailed and ‘useless’ properties and functionalities of hydrocarbons and make them seem important to us. By continuing to explain and confuse us students, he was able to maintain a shroud of ignorance over the student body, and from this, he justifies his job as absolute. This is what Freire refers to as the â€Å"cycle of ignorance† that continuously allows the teacher to keep his job because society believes that the ignorant students need him for their self-betterment. For the next several weeks, I adhered to Dr. Francis’s ‘Banking Style of Education’, and it worked. I received an A on every exam and test I took because I memorized and accepted the information Dr. Francis gave me without second thought. Freire feels that my total submission to the instructor was the reason for my success because he suggests that â€Å"The more meekly the receptacles permit themselves to be filled, the better students they are†(Freire 72). Freire’s explanation worries me because to know is not to know. Just because I could recognize different functional groups, which in the banking concept would make me a better student, did not mean that I could apply my understanding of organic chemistry to a real life situation because I hadn’t been taught to apply the information to anything at all. My ignorance and inability to grasp the true meanings and concepts of organic chemistry became extremely clear in the laboratory because the lab is where students take all of their knowledge and apply it to solve a problem or set of problems. After the first quarter of the summer semester, the laboratory portion of the course opened. My first assignment was to estimate the bond angles of methane, and at first I had no idea what to do because I had only been instructed to recognize methane and its bonding patters. I was never asked to manipulate the molecule’s properties to gain further understanding, and this caused me to realize that I was flawed because the ‘knowledge’ that I acquired was not mine, but Dr. Francis’ deposits of impractical segments of knowledge. With no idea where to start my laboratory or how to assess the assignment, I asked the Teaching Assistant (TA) for help. She simply replied, â€Å"Think about what you know about methane’s properties, and manipulate your knowledge so you can measure the bond angle. Needless to say, this was not helpful because I had no idea how to apply my knowledge and understanding because I was not taught to. I was simply an object who, according to Freire, â€Å"is in the world,† implying that I was not conscious of my own being and awareness (Freire 78). This is why I allowed Dr. Francis to continue depositing information into me because he posed himself as my liberator, my educator, but he was my oppres sor. By not being able to use and apply my knowledge, my critical consciousness and inner will to understand began to diminish. This is why Freire announces, â€Å"The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world†(Freire 73). Freire implies that students lose the will power, the motivation, to develop awareness when they are force-fed information, so he argues that students must develop this ‘critical consciousness’ themselves through problem solving. This is when I realized that Dr. Francis couldn’t and won’t teach me how to understand what I have learned; I needed to learn how to apply and master the information I was taught by myself, not some other individual. Education is supposed to empower individuals; however, since I was ‘in-the-world’ I let the banking concept oppress me and my true understanding of knowledge. I failed the first Organic Chemistry lab. I didn’t know how to solve the problems and apply my knowledge, nor did I have the willpower to, so I simply gave up. I was incredibly frustrated after the first lab, not because I couldn’t get the right answer, but because I couldn’t apply my knowledge to solve the problem. I spent the next several lectures gathering notes, expanding on them, and making sense of the information; however, I was still unable to understand the information in practical terms. My frustration grew because I felt that all my efforts studying information and memorizing its contents was wasted. How could education provide all of this knowledge that we, as students, are unable to apply? What was the point of education? At the time, I felt education was society’s largest flaw because it wasted the time and severed the creativity students put into it. Freire agrees with me because he argues, â€Å"The capability of banking education is to minimize or annul the students’ creative power†(Freire 73). This implies that Freire agrees that education is flawed because it severs student creativity; although, it does not answer why we must learn meaningless and impractical information obtained in our lives. Freire responds that not everyone will find meaning through their education; however, he believes that people should continue to pursue the parts of education that students find interesting, such as in a higher education setting (Freire 76). I knew most of the information that I obtained in chemistry was impractical for most individuals and even myself in a day-to-day scenario, but chemistry was interesting to me. It was something that I wanted to pursue and gain further understanding of because every piece of information left me wanting more. Giving up and throwing my knowledge away was not an option because I wanted and worked my entire life to make sense of what I learned in this world, and it keeps on changing and reshaping every day. As a last effort, I went to the tutoring help desk at the university to get help, so I could understand my information and knowledge and apply it to the lab. I was assigned a tutor, Kevin, and he brought me and two other students into a small concealed 1010 room with a large foldup table in the middle. We all sat down and Kevin asked us what we needed help with. The other students didn’t look like they were forced to be there and kept quiet, so I took the opportunity to obtain help. I told him that â€Å"I have a hard time applying the lecture notes in the lab. † Kevin explained that my situation was very typical because the lectures and exams were based on memorization where the labs relied on the interaction between what you know and how to solve the problem. He brought out an organic chemistry book and questioned, â€Å"Why is water polar? I immediately responded that water is polar because the oxygen atom has more elections than the hydrogen atoms at any one time giving the hydrogen molecules a positive charge and the oxygen a negative charge. Kevin told me that I was right, but this occurred due to the extreme differences in electronegativity. We continued to solve problems together and critique one another on our answers, and from this he was teaching me and I was teaching him. Freire would call this interaction, â€Å"problem-solving-education† because â€Å"The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students†(Freire 80). This implies that both teacher and student work together to solve problems, and by doing so, they gain a greater understanding of the topic. This is exactly what Kevin and I were doing because we were teaching each other and able to create a more significant understanding and meaning of chemistry that allowed me to visualize a topic and solve it logistically instead of memorizing the topic and solving it formulaically. This is why Freire belives that â€Å"the conditions under which knowledge at the level of the doxa is superseded by true knowledge, at the level of the logos†(Freire 81). Freire’s text implies that common knowledge and understanding (doxa) can be transformed into true mastery of the subject and reason (logos). Since Keven and I were taking basic information and each giving it new meaning in our problem-solving tutoring sessions, I was able to acquire a true mastery and understanding of chemistry. Working with Kevin several times a week gave me a true understanding and relation of chemistry, which allowed me to pass my lab course with an A. Overcoming the problems of the banking-concept and learning the problem-solving method changed my life forever. I took the problem-solving method that I learned with Kevin and applied it with other students, colleagues, professors, and friends, so I could continue to problem solve and gain true understanding of knowledge throughout my life. Problem-solving education continues to be vastly superior to banking-education because in addition to learning and understanding information, problem-solving-education forces individuals to retain information they acquire so they can apply for future use. Since I was able to take knowledge and apply my understanding of it, Freire would conclude this type of understanding as â€Å"being with the world†(Freire 78). Being with-the-world means that the individual is conscious of their surroundings and is able to fully interact in the world they are in. Instead of being an object or vessel, the individual is able to make conscious decisions and interpret the world as they see it. This induces self-freedom and liberation in a person because when a person learns something, they retain that information forever and no human being in the world can take that information away. It also provides a mental salvation because if the physical realm is too harsh to live in, those who have mastered problem-solving and acquired pure consciousness can escape from their physical realm into their consciousness where they have stored all of their memories, techniques, and information, and no person can get to them besides themselves.

The Relationship Between Mass And Acceleration

The Relationship Between Mass And Acceleration Mass is a property of matter equal to the measure of an objects resistance to changes in either the speed or direction of its motion. The mass of an object is not dependent on gravity and therefore is different from but proportional to its weight. Speed is the time rate of change of position of a body without regard to direction. Linear speed is commonly measured in such units as meters per second, miles per hour, or feet per second. Velocity represents speed but according to the bodies direction. We can calculate from a distance time graph with dy/dx.    Acceleration describes the time rate the velocity is changing at. The relationship between acceleration and velocity is like the relationship between velocity and displacement. Acceleration is a vector quantity. For uniform velocity, a = 0. If a is a non-zero constant, the object is said to be uniformly accelerated. The average acceleration of an object is defined as: Average acceleration = change in velocity / time taken In my investigation, I will aim to find the relationship between mass and acceleration. Method I will do this be setting up an apparatus which will measure the rate of acceleration. First, I will set up a height of 15cm and length of 227cm ramp. At this height, I do not have to apply a force to the trolley to accelerate the trolley because it will be able to slide down due to the force of gravity. This way, the force of gravity can be kept constant. Then, I will use a ticker machine and ticker tape to measure the rate of acceleration. I will stick the ticker tape into a trolley of 850g and let it fall. Each 10 mark on the ticker tape represents 0.2 seconds so I will cut the ticker tape in strips of 10 marks. By plotting the strips onto a graph, it would tell us the speed in which the trolley travelled. From this, we can calculate the acceleration of the trolley: Acceleration = final velocity initial velocity =    D v   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Time  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     t I used a ticker machine to calculate the rate of acceleration because it would show the rate in which acceleration changes. If we just timed how long it takes for the trolley to reach the end of the trolley, it would only give us the average acceleration. It would not be possible to measure the change in acceleration. I chose 15cm height ramp because from our preliminary results we found the marks on the ticker tape appeared most clearly at this height. Previously, the height of the ramp was 43cm and it was too high of the marks to appear clearly and because of this, my results werent as accurate. The average angle of the ramp was 3.87  ÃƒÅ'Ã…  . I chose this angle because I found from preliminary results that if the angle is too high, the marks on the ticker tape would not print accurately. Before, the average angle was 10.7  ÃƒÅ'Ã…   and we found it difficult to read the ticker tape. I clamped the ramp in place because this way, the height of the ramp is less prone to change so it acceleration will only be affected by the mass of the trolley. This will make our results more accurate. I added 400g of mass each time because from preliminary tests, I found that the ranges of the results were too close to each other to see a correlation when we added 100g each time. So to make the results more clear to see if mass affects acceleration, I decided to add more weights. This way, there would be a greater difference in the results and it would be clearer to distinguish a correlation. I chose a trolley of 850g because the trolley was light weight and the wheels were fairly smooth. Because it was light weight it would be easier to add mass on and be less affected by friction. Because the wheels were smooth, the frictional force would be less. This will make our results more accurate. To keep my investigation fair, I will only change one factor- the trolleys mass. I will keep everything else the same such as the height of the ramp and the ramp itself because these factors would affect the results if theyre are not kept the same. Prediction I predict that the mass of the trolley will not affect the rate of acceleration. This is because according to Galileos laws of motion, all bodies accelerate at the same rate regardless of their size or mass. For example, the fact that a feather falls slower than a steel ball is due to amount of air resistance that a feather experiences (a lot) versus a steel ball (very little). Also according to Newtons second law, the acceleration and gravitational force of a body is directly proportional to each other. He adds to Galileos law of motion by saying everything falls at the rate of 9.8m/s. He calculates this by: (F=force, m=mass of Earth (), a=acceleration, r=radius of Earth, G=gravitational constant (6.7-10†¾Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ¥Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ ¶Ã‚ ¥ Nm ²/kg ²), g=gravitational force) If F=ma and F=gm ma=gm So you can cancel m to get a=g Factors which affects the rate of acceleration: Friction would affect the rate of acceleration because it increases the reluctant force by griping on the wheels and increasing the time it takes for the wheels to turn. Sometimes this can be good because it makes cars easier to manoeuvre. To show that friction affects the acceleration, we could carry out the same experiment, but instead of changing the mass, we would add different materials to the ramp. This would show us how surface area affects acceleration. The gradient in which the body is travelling would also affect the acceleration because some of the force would go into the other direction instead of going down so it experiences more drag. This would increase the time it takes for the body to fall. We can show this in our experiment by increasing the angle of the ramp instead of mass. The shape of the body will also affect its acceleration because the more wide it is the more air resistance/ drag it will have. Air resistance slows down an object because it opposes a force in the opposite direct to gravity, so the force of gravity is less. We can show this by changing the size of the surface area of the trolley but keeping mass the same. Results Average Acceleration From the graph, we can see that generally, as the mass increases, so does the acceleration. Theres a steep liner gradient from 850g-1650g, and acceleration increased by 4.82ms†¾Ã‚ ². Even though the actual results shows a decrease in acceleration between 1650g-2100 by 0.53 ms†¾Ã‚ ², the line of best fit tells us it is actually increasing. Overall, acceleration increased by 0.2m/s†¾Ã‚ ² every 100g that was added. Average Speed The average speed shows as the mass increased, so does its speed. There is a liner gradient between 850g-1250, and the speed increased by 1.7cm/s. From 250g-2050g, the speed decreases by 0.75cm/s ². However, from 2050g-2450g, the speed increases again by 0.66cm/s ². Overall, although it decreases, the line of best fit shows that it increases greatly from 850g-1250, then the line starts levelling out from 1250g-1450g. Accuracy Rating The accuracy rating generally shows that as the mass increases, the level of accuracy also increases. This graph shows the higher the number of accuracy, the lower the level of accuracy. There is a huge fall in the number of accuracy rating between 850g-2050. It went from 38.67 to 29, a difference of 9.67. From 850g-2050g, the number of accuracy kept decreasing and overall, it decreased by 14.3. However, from 2050g-2450g, it increased by 2. This may be because as mass increases, the bigger the friction is on the wheels. The larger the friction the better the wheels can grip on the surface so travels more accurately and is less likely to skid. This tells us, the results of acceleration and speed for 850g is very likely to be an outlier because the level of accuracy is very low. Comparison: When we compare the results of the average acceleration to its speed, we can see its directly proportional because as the acceleration increased, so did the speed. This is because acceleration shows how speed changes. When we compare the level of accuracy to the acceleration and speed, it tells us the results for 850g is very likely to be anomalie and possibly 1250g as well. If that were true, the graphs would show that there is no connection an objects mass to its acceleration. This would prove Galileos law of motion and Newtons second law that the rate of acceleration is constant and is not affected by size or mass. However, our experiment does prove their theories are correct because our experiment shows that the less resultant forces oppose to gravity (more friction in this case), the faster the body accelerates and does not depend on its mass. Evaluation I believe my experiment went fairly well because I felt I could justify the reasons why I obtained these results and although I have some anomalies, most of the results were fairly accurate. However, there were some flaws in my experiment such as: I found it hard to set off the trolley at the position on the ramp each time because it was not marked clearly. I did not wipe/grease the ramp after each experiment, doing this would have make the friction of the ramp more consistent When I plotted the strips of ticker tape on the graph, I did not line them accurately on the squares. This made some of my results inaccurate. Improvements To improve my experiment, I would have made the height of the ramp lower because it would experience more friction for the wheels to grip on. I would have also used trolleys with different masses but the same density. This way, drag/air resistance be more likely to be the same so there would only be one factor affecting the results. This would make out results more accurate. To obtained accurate results, we can perform this experiment in a vacuum. This is because in a vacuum, you would not experience any resultant force as you do in Earth so you could accurately calculate acceleration. However, we can only experience a vacuum in space. In earth, to decrease resultant forces, we can carry out this experiment in: Under water High altitude Air tight conditions

Effects of The Pleistocene Epoch on Colorado Essay -- Glaciers Nature

Effects of The Pleistocene Epoch on Colorado INTRODUCTION Glaciers are an integral part of the world’s climate. In fact, as Richard Armstrong of the University of Colorado says, â€Å"Glaciers are key indicators in monitoring and detecting climate change† (Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, 2003, p. 1). Not only are they an important part of monitoring current climate, they can hold many keys to the past. Glaciers are in fact, â€Å"a source of paleoclimate data†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Meier and Dyurgerov, 1980, p. 37). This paleoclimate data can give geologists information on the conditions that were present at the time of the glaciers birth, as well as the approximate age. This has an important role in the geologic time scale of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. These Glaciers played a role in the carving of the present day Rocky Mountains in Colorado, which will be the primary focus of this paper. In addition, glacial formations will be discussed to give the reader background information and the future of the Glaciers in Colorado will close this paper. GLACIER FORMATION AND TYPES A good description of a glacier is given by Jim Wickwire in his book â€Å"Addicted to Danger.† In it he says, â€Å"A glacier is not a fixed, solid thing. It flows like a river, with currents, some parts smooth, others rough† (Wickwire, 1998, p. 1). This happens to go along with Webster’s definition, in that a glacier must be moving, either because of gravity or because it’s spreading out underneath itself due to additional accumulations. (Meeriam-Webster, 2000, p. 493). Glaciers can be classified into many categories. First they are divided into either Alpine or Continental. Alpine glaciers are those that are found in mountainous regions and Continental, such as Greenland,... ...K.W. Porter: Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, Denver, CO, p. 165-173. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (10th Ed): 2000, Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, Springfield, Massachusetts, p 493. Plummer, C.C., McGeary, D., and Carlson, D.H., 2003, Physical geology (10th Ed.): McGraw-Hill, Boston, 580 p. Ã…Å"ibrava, V., Bowmen, D.Q., and Richmond, G.M, 1986, Quaternary glaciations in the northern hemisphere; report of the International Geological Correlation Programme, Project 24 (International Union of Geological Sciences and UNESCO): Pergamon Press, Oxford, New York, 514 p. University of Colorado, Boulder, August 11, 2003, NASA funds Colorado University at Boulder study of changes in Earth’s glacier systems in Ascribe Science News Service: pNa, p 1. Wickwire, J., and Bullitt, D., 1998, Addicted to danger: Pocket Books, New York, 332 p.

Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen and Letters to Alice- Fay Weldon Essay

An examination of Jane Austen’s 1813 social satire Pride and Prejudice, and the reading of Fay Weldon’s 1984 epistolary text Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen, allows understanding of Austen’s novel to be moulded and then shifted. Pride and Prejudice is a novel of manners, focusing on marriage, Pride, Prejudice and Social Class which are projected through the characters, gentry-class setting and Austen’s authorial comment. Austen’s purpose was to portray the world of the gentry class, and satirise some aspects of her society and praise others. Weldon’s purpose is to encourage an understanding of the value of literature for individuals and society. She models Austen’s writing to demonstrate her argument and in so doing she gives a heightened understanding of values in Austen’s context. She reviews Austen’s society, providing an explanation of social conventions such as marriage, social stratification and women. Aunt Fay’s opinions allow readers to reshape their understanding of events and characters in Pride and Prejudice. Her conclusions allow the reader to draw connections between our contemporary society and Austen’s context, which then enables us to reshape our original understanding of Pride and Prejudice and our own context. Through Letters to Alice, Weldon discusses the importance in the value of literature. This is displayed through use of the imperative ‘you must read†. Her observing of literature linking to the transcendence of time is examined when adopting the metaphor of the city of invention, which educates the readers of what good literature is and the solid foundations that make it withstand time. Aunt Fay says â€Å"Through reading literature we learn about the way people thought and how they lived, the ways we are different and the things we share†, suggesting an implicit link to Austen’s work. Weldon writes that good literature has the ability to â€Å"transcend time and reach readers across centuries†. She demonstrates that the characters Austen created, are still relevant in modern society. The universal themes of faults and failings such as prejudice are seen in both texts, as they were been written for moral guidance purposes. Austen uses her novel to suggest how people should behave. She condemns snobbery, pride and prejudice. For example, Austen uses the character transformation between Elizabeth and Darcy and rewards them with happiness. Through Mary, Austen uses authorial comment on pride by saying â€Å"human nature is particularly prone to it†¦a  person may be proud without being vain†. Weldon’s character Aunt Fay is comparable to Jane Austen, as she teaches her niece Alice to read, be appreciative of her world and develop empathy for those who are less fortunate. Through Aunt Fay’s didacticism, the readers see a changing Alice, similarly to Elizabeth Bennet’s character transformation in Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth has to overcome her initial judgements of Mr Darcy in order to gain a heightened understanding of herself. For example, after the first brief encounter with Darcy â€Å"she remained with no very cordial feelings towards him†. She is left believing he is arrogant and the most disagreeable man. However she learns from her wrongness when she begins to understand his character and his motives. This is similar to Alice’s experience, as she is taught to reshape her opinionated first impressions of Jane Austen and the Professors wife. Alice comes to understand, through Aunt Fay’s letters, that she has taken her life and educational opportunities for granted and should not make judgements of Unlovable when only based on her Professor’s opinion. Marriage is the primary concern of Austen’s novel. The immense importance of which is referred to by Mrs Bennet â€Å"If I can but see one of my daughters happily settled at Netherfield, and all the others equally well married, I have nothing to wish for†. The plot follows Mrs Bennet’s desperation in having her five daughters married to men who have inherited a substantial fortune. The novel reflects Austen’s context where marriage was a result of seeing profitable prospects rather than love. This is exemplified through Mrs Bennet’s comment â€Å"A single man of a large fortune†¦what a fine thing for our girls!† Marriage benefited the couple in both wealth and social status. Austen utilises a variety of marriages to contrast and show preference to the uniting of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy who have love and respect, and have had to overcome initial personal judgements of each other. Elizabeth Bennet, who has to reassess her prejudice and Mr Darcy, who has to overcome his pride. They become the most affluent and respected couple in the novel. The idea of entailment ensured the family fortune was inherited by the men, which meant women had limited inheritance rights. This is the main incentive for Mrs Bennet having her children married to men with a substantial fortune, as when Mr Bennet dies, the family will be left poor. This is augmented through Weldon who expresses empathy towards Mrs Bennet, and says â€Å"life was not rosy† whether women married or not. This helps to reshape the  understanding of marriage gained in Austen’s novel, as it was previously believed that marriage lead to a better lifestyle for women. Fay Weldon connects the idea of marriage by linking the two generations, and interpreting the changing facets of matrimony. In Jane Austen’s period, marriage was a necessity rather than a commodity. Alice, the representative for the contemporary context, perceives marriage as an â€Å"outmoded institution†. Alice views Austen’s novel as â€Å"boring, petty and irrelevant†, as her context believes love should be factored into marriage. Fay Weldon connects the generations by justifying aspects that have remained the same or have changed. She highlights the harsh realities of married women in Jane Austen’s patriarchal world. For example, she writes â€Å"men could beat you if they saw fit†. Weldon describes Austen’s contextual ideas on marriage through Aunt Fay who attempts to help her niece Alice, a rebellious university student, understand the necessity for marriage in Austen’s context. She uses the metaphor â€Å"To marry was a great prize. It was a woman’s aim†¦No wonder Mrs Bennet driven half mad by anxiety, knowing they would be unprovided for when her husband died†. This helps the readers to reshape their understanding of Mrs Bennet. In Pride and Prejudice, Austen satirises and condemns her character for her obsession with finding suitable partners for her unmarried daughters. However, Aunt Fay’s didactic attempt on using empathy is expressed through Mrs Bennet, who is described as â€Å"politeness warred with desperation†. Weldon details the unions between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy to be unlikely, given their differences in social standing. This is reinforced by Aunt Fay reminding Alice, â€Å"Novels are illusion not reality†. This perspective on matrimony takes the reader back to Pride and Prejudice and reinforces Charlotte’s pragmatic perspective â€Å"Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance†. Aunt Fay recognises that some unions have not changed from Austen’s period. There are women who still marry for survival. For example, the importation of Asian wives links to the marriage between Charlotte and Mr Collins, as she â€Å"found happiness, inspite of marrying for all the wrong reasons†. To heighten the readers understanding of marriage in Pride and Prejudice, she says â€Å"is the stuff of our women’s magazines, but it was the stuff of their life, their very existence.† This is Weldon reinforcing the idea of necessity for marriage for women of Austen’s context. It helps Alice to overcome her initial  thoughts on marriage in Pride and Prejudice. In Pride and Prejudice, social class overrides all other emotions such love and happiness. Mr Darcy is the central character who defines the upper class of Regency England. Mr Wickham uses bitter verbal irony to describe Darcy, noting â€Å"He was to be above all company, in having been unworth y to be compared†. Austen defies her conventional ideas on social stratification through the eccentric unions of matrimony between Elizabeth and Darcy or Jane and Bingley. These marriages occur, despite the authorative Lady Catherine saying â€Å"â€Å"Your alliance will be a disgrace, you name will never be mentioned by any of us†. This allows the readers to see that Austen had created Elizabeth Bennet, to break through her society’s rigid values. This is linked to Weldon’s comment â€Å"Jane Austen likes to see the division between nobility and gentry broken down†, as the division had been created when Elizabeth married Darcy. Fay Weldon uses social stratification to connect the gap between Austen’s society and the modern world. She contemporises Austen’s text by having the didactic Aunt Fay write to Alice explaining â€Å"â€Å"the gentry thought well of themselves, and liked to despise the nobility for their rackety ways, and were despised by them, in turn for being worthy and boring†. In this, Weldon suggests that people of both societies were limited by social boundaries. Through Weldon’s text, Aunt Fay attempts to make the readers feel empathy through the explanation of stratified women’s lives â€Å"Women were born poor, and stayed poor, and lived well only by their husbands’ favour.† Weldon’s use of stratification, like Austen’s, is used for didactic purposes. She writes â€Å"human nature does not change over the centuries†, indicating that snobbery, pride, prejudice and criticism, which Austen satirised in Pride and Prejudice, are still relevant in modern society. For example, Caroline Bingley’s criticism of the middle class is similar to criticism aimed at writers, deriving from the readers who do not understand the difficulty of writing well. Austen believes women should have options and opinions. Her character Elizabeth is independent, witty and judgemental. She defies social conventions and is used as a model for achieving Austen’s purpose, and in return, is rewarded with love. There was also the idea of accomplished women being more suitable to men. Women who were well educated in the art of music, literature and languages, were thought to be accomplished and therefore more attractive to a suitor. Miss Bingley states, using  accumulation â€Å"A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word†. In Pride and Prejudice, the Bennet sisters did not attend school and were only trained in accomplishment. This juxtaposes with Alice’s lifestyle, as she is eligible to attend university on a different continent to further her education. An example of this is when Aunt Fay plants the idea â€Å"why don’t you go to UCLA and write?† This helps people understand the limitations of women in Pride and Prejudice and justify the difference between the ideas of a successful woman in both contexts. Fay Weldon defines women’s lives in Austen’s context and compares it to modern society. She models Austen’s life for Alice to gain a heightened understanding of the difficulties women faced to defy social conventions. She demonstrates this by using the metaphor â€Å"It takes grea t courage to swim against the stream of communal ideas†. In this, Weldon is depicting the complications for Austen to see her world and reprimand its values on marriage, social class and women, whilst providing an alternative perspective. Weldon describes the limitations for female writers as they were expected to â€Å"be tender, flatter, deceive†¦never let anybody guess that you have a mind of your own†. Female writers were discouraged from inventing and were only allowed to write about their world. Aunt Fay’s brief explanation of the female writers contrasts with contemporary society, with Aunt Fay being the example. With the ability of travel and freely express her opinions, she is able to write without concern of her work being unpublished because of contemporary values. Unlike Austen, she is being paid and recognised for the texts she writes. Fay Weldon uses didacticism to develop an empathetic link to women in Austen’s context by detailing to Alice â€Å"by your standards it was a horrible time to liveâ₠¬ . For example, she gives statistical evidence of childbirth â€Å"childbirth was primitive†¦there was no analgesics†¦your chances of dying were†¦one in two†. In this, Aunt Fay highlights that Alice should not take being autonomous for granted. This is delineated through Aunt Fay expressing â€Å"You do not know little Alice, how recent or lucky you are†. A close study of Jane Austen’s 1813 social satire Pride and Prejudice and the 1984 epistolary text Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon, allows us to draw connections between the two texts and for our original understanding of Austen’s text to be shaped and shifted. Austen uses the main themes in Pride  and Prejudice, such as Marriage, social class and Pride, to express her approval or disapproval of her societies’ attitudes. Weldon’s text is used for didactic purposes to encourage an understanding of the value of literature, for which she uses Austenâ₠¬â„¢s writing to project her ideas. She reviews Austen’s context by providing an explanation of social conventions such as marriage, social stratification and women.

What does Banduras study of Aggression tell us about development Essays

What does Banduras study of Aggression tell us about development Essays What does Banduras study of Aggression tell us about development Paper What does Banduras study of Aggression tell us about development Paper * Banduras research suggested that we learn our behaviour from our social environment. * Bandura used this research to develop his Social Learning Theory. This theory sets out one way in which children develop their behaviour as they grow older. * The theory (SLT) suggests that we can learn from role models or significant others, simply by observing their behaviour no reinforcement is needed. The role model must be someone who is of high social status for that individual an adult, teacher, popstar, or older peer. This person is seen as successful and worthy of copying. * Bandura found that children will model their behaviour on an adult role model. The model acted in an aggressive way (and showed the same types of aggression imitation) than children who had observed a non-aggressive model. This was only true of children who observed the same sex role model, which suggests that females are not significant others for boys. * These findings would suggest that a childs development can be easily shaped into any form of behaviour. According to this theory, a child could develop anti-social or pro-social behaviour by observation. * One other finding was that the children who observed the non-aggressive model also showed some aggression (non-imitative aggression). This would suggest that they had either learned to be aggressive in some previous situation or that aggressive play was innate (built-in). What does Banduras Study tell us about early childhood experiences? This study tells us the following: * That we can learn from our social environment at the age of 37-69 months. * We learn from role models or significant others who are of high social status or significance to us. In this study it was an adult (male and female) * It would suggest that we only have to see something once for it to influence our behaviour. * It would suggest that we as children are very vulnerable to outside influences and that our behaviour can be shaped for good (pro-social) or bad (anti-social) by those around us. * His findings for the power of the same sex role models suggest that Males influence boys and females influence girls. * Thus for a child to develop in a way which would make them pro-social, the child would need to be surrounded by pro-social models. * The study does not tell us anything about free-will (can we make our own judgements). Comment on the Generalisability of the findings from Banduras study (sampling) * The study was of 72 children with a mean age of 52 months, ranging from 37-69 months and 36 boys and 36 girls were in the sample. * A matched pair design was then used with 24 children in each of the 3 conditions. * The question remains, were these children representative?.. * The sample is relatively small, especially when it is broken down into 3 groups. This might mean that there was a likelihood of biases in the sample or that not all types of children would be included in the group. * The children were volunteers (self-selected sample). The danger with this type of sample is that subjects who volunteer or who belong to families who volunteer them may have some personality characteristic or may be from a social group or location which is not representative of children as a whole. * The children were from the USA. Would the findings have been the same for all cultures. Some cultures have a norm of non-violence (Amish People) where as the USA is a very violent society (ethno-centrism). The study was done in (1961) are the findings still generalisable to children today? How could you make sample more generalisable? * Bigger (more representative) * Random (less likely patterns of bias) * Variety Cultures (more representative) * Variety of locations (more representative) * Variety of age ranges (more representative) * Are the finding representative of all ages? How did Bandura investigate development / How has development been investigated. * Bandura used an experiment to investigate child development. * The experiment was lab-based (Procedures + Conditions standard) * The study had 2 experimental conditions and control groups. * Subjects were allocated to groups following a matched pair design. * The IV was whether the subjects observed aggression or non-aggressive play. * The DV was the level of aggressive play which was imitative. * Bandura collected the data by observation. * So Bandura used scientific methods to investigate development. What does Banduras study tell us about the influence of other people on our behaviour the nature/nurture debate. * Bandura constructed his theory of Social Learning (Social Learning Theory) * His experiments with aggression and the bobo doll form a key piece of evidence which supports this model/theory. * The theory is a social determinism in that it only recognises that our behaviour is the product of our social environment. There is not reference to free-will or individuality. * We learn our behaviour by observation of significant to us (Peers, Parents, teachers, media, sports stars). * We are also much more likely to model ourselves on same sex role models. * Thus the main findings of Banduras study would support the nurturist view of human behaviour. * However, the findings are with young children, would adults be influenced in the same way it is unlikely. * Some children showed non-imitative aggression this might suggest that they were innately aggressive (nature) * Problems of generalisability. What are the implications for society of Banduras study? * Banduras study showed how simple it is for young children 52 months (37-69months) average age to learn from another person. * From the research it would suggest that that person must be an adult and of the same sex. * The study showed that even an anti-social behaviour can be learned in this way. * These findings would suggest that as a society we must take great care about the examples we set our children and great care over who we set-up as role models for children. * Parents need to be aware of the power of role models on young children. The media has a very important role as there are many potential role models on TV and films which children watch. The media has a very important role as there are many potential role models on TV and films which children watch. The media must put forward pro-social role models for children. So must the world of sport. Children must not watch films etc after the 9.00 OClock watershed. Video games should be made less aggressive so that children do not model their behaviour on anti-social characters. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Banduras study. Strengths: * Was an experiment which used scientific methods it could, therefore, show a cause and effect relationship and the results are of a high status. * The study was lab-based so that Bandura and his colleagues could control all extraneous variables and standardise conditions for all of the subjects as necessary. Also easy to repeat. * The study used a matched pair design so that any comparisons made between groups would be based on groups of subjects who were much the same in terms of their aggression levels. * Bandura used a control group which could act as a point of comparison or as a base-line to measure the other group against. * Bandura used observations of subjects so that actual behaviour was measured and not recorded / reported behaviour such as in questionnaires. * Bandura also used a team of observers and checked the inter-observer reliability with a correlation test. The result was .90 very high. This showed that observers were collecting data in the same way. * Bandura standardised the role models by showing the role model on a film rather than in real life where each performance could be slightly different ? much harder to check imitative aggression levels. (later experiments) Weaknesses: * The lab may have low ecological validity. * The behaviour may not have been natural because of experimental demand. (they guessed that the experimenter wanted them to be aggressive). * The sample was relatively small and may have been unrepresentative of wider populations. * The sample was made-up of volunteers. There may have been biased in some way because volunteers or their parents might have some personality characteristic which makes them prone to modelling behaviour. * The sample were children from the USA. A very violent society. Are the findings biased or representative of other cultures. * The use of a bobo doll was artificial. Children are bound to play in an aggressive manner with such a toy it is designed to do so. Would the children do the same in a real life situation with a real person. * Ethics: Bandura may have harmed children by teaching them to play aggressively and an adult playing aggressively may have frightened some children.

The War of 18121 essays

The War of 18121 essays The War of 1812 was a conflict between the nations of Great Britain and The United States. This was a war fought over the rights of non-combatant, neutral nations. Issues of this conflict included impressment, rights to limit the navigation of soverign nations, and how a nation could cope if these rights were violated. In the late 1700s and early 1800s there were a series of conflicts between Great Britain and France. Both of these countries trampled the rights of non-combatants during the conflict. For example, Britain forbade any American ship to sail to a port in the Napolianic Empire. Likewise, the French government reciprocated with similar laws against ports within the British Empire. Due to very harsh conditions on those serving in the British Naval Service, many men deserted. This forced the British to turn to the practice of impressment. This is a process by which the British effectively abducted servicemen to fill their ranks. The British argument was that many of their men deserted and began serving in the American Merchant Marine. This, in their opinion, justified them in boarding American ships, and abducting their crew. At one point, British impressment led to the Chesepeak Incident. During this incident, when the American frigate refused to be boarded, it was In order to deal with these maters, the American authorities tried several peaceful interventions. In order to prevent confrontations, the Embargo and Non-Intercourse Acts were passed. These acts were in accordence with both British and French wishes. However through all of these steps, the disrespect of American soverignty continued. After exhusting all peacful options, the Americans entered the War of 1812 with great hopes for a successful ...

Success as told by fashion icon John Varvatos

Success as told by fashion icon John Varvatos Much of the professional advice on the internet focuses on finding the courage to start something. While its importance shouldn’t be understated, starting is only half of the equation. It’s the other half that separates the dreamers from the doers. The ability to execute a vision is the difference, and there’s nobody better to explain that than fashion icon John Varvatos. [Source: Daily Fuel]

Strategic Management Unit 5 DB SA Final Week Essay

Strategic Management Unit 5 DB SA Final Week - Essay Example These differences could be due to misunderstanding and inability to tolerate each other’s weaknesses. Examples are the merger between Alcatel with Lucent and Daimler with Chrysler which were brought down by disagreement on approaches of various strategies and language barrier. According to Sherman (2011), acquisition of other companies also needs proper strategies and adequate information about the company that is to be acquired to make sure that they have complete knowledge of how the company they plan to acquire is doing and what problems are facing that particular company. This then ensures that when a company is acquired the business will not collapse at some point. The successful acquisition of Google on Picasa and Where 2 must have been due to adequate research before acquiring the two. Acquisition can also fail when a company goes head on to acquire a certain businesses without identifying and establishing its nature and its problems well Sherman, (2011). The presented template shows well how acquisition fails when Microsoft failed on acquiring Danger Company without full knowledge of its internal problems. It also failed to establish the compatibility of the Place Ware Place before it went on to acquire

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 12

Research Paper Example It is relevant during investigations where one dies of poisoning. Referred to as the inventor of forensic toxicology as he studied asphyxiation, exhumation as well as bodies decomposition. He designed reliable techniques to enhance his treatise to detect arsenic poison. He developed Anthropometry between 1893 and 1914 hence referred to as the father of criminal identification. He used the principle of distinctness of individuals exact measurement of their body, and that such sum of measurement leads to characteristic formula of a particular individual A provision is permitting officer to conduct a check with no warrant on an arrestee (Mena 76). Conducted in arrestees jurisdictional area on polices security, interference with evident and preventing hiding. A significant Supreme Court ruling that police was not restricted by Fourth Amendment to stop and frisk a person even there is no probable cause to arrest so long as the police is satisfied with a probable

Exploring The Dark Side. Review of hacker sites Essay

Exploring The Dark Side. Review of hacker sites - Essay Example Indeed, as Gold (2001) argues, there is an overriding tendency to perceive of all hackers as intent on the accessing otherwise private information for the purpose of criminal use and profit. Certainly, a not insignificant percentage of hacks into corporate databases is motivated by precisely such an intent but an equally significant percentage is motivated by the intent to expose security flaws. The intent to expose, as Gold (2001) contends, is not accompanied by an underlying criminal or financial motivation but simply by the determination to prove that the security systems which companies have invested large amounts of money in are, indeed, flawed and easily penetrated by professional hackers. Interestingly, the four sites mentioned appear to evidence Gold's (2001) argument. The technical information provided in these sites can be interpreted as hacking guidance information but, more significantly, it directs attention to existent security flaws and data vulnerability. In its announcement of a four-day hacker conference, the Cult of the Dead cow effectively evidences that hackers have a constructive role to play in the securitization of information. For example, the mentioned conference announcement is accompanied by a call for papers on network penetration, malware generation and, importantly, network security. The implication here is that hackers are actively involved in the study of network security flaws, aspects of network vulnerability and information warfare strategies, as based on existent flawed security and suggest strategies for the resolution of these weaknesses and vulnerabilities. As may have been deduced from the preceding paragraph, Cult of the Dead Cow may be perceived of as a positive contribution to information assurance and the fact that this statement may be extended to embrace professional hacker communities per se, is established through a review of I Hack Stuff. The latter site is extremely informative because it establishes the extent to which data and networks are vulnerable by illustrating how supposedly sensitive and extremely secure information, such as administrator login information, customer lists and websites' member databases, including passwords, may all be accessed through a google search. I Hack Stuff provides a long list of the google search terms that one needs to enter in order to access this information and upon experimenting with it, I discovered that the information is valid. Certainly, the information which I Hack Stuff provides may be interpreted as an immediate and intolerable ethical violation insofar as it directs novices, or experimenters, towards the location of information which allows for the successful hacking of supposedly secure websites. Taken from another perspective, however, such information may be interpreted as a constructive contribution to data and information assurance. It exposes security flaws and

Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman - Essay Example This gives Wal-Mart the benefit of huge economies of scale, which they enlarge to lower prices. Because of the size of the retailer, this puts Wal-Mart into a position of a monopsonist extracting rents from their suppliers, and then acting as a near monopolist in the final retail goods market. A few companies such as Dial do over a quarter of their commerce with Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart dictates the terms, and those suppliers that wish to stay in the game, comply with the mandates (Martin Vander Weyer, 2006). The Arkansas-based sequence, founded by Sam Walton in 1962, is not just the chief private-sector boss and the major holder of trade market share. Its cheap plan, so all-encompassing that additional stores follow suit still when they are not straight contestant, plays a main role in holding down US price rises; its persistent demand for short prices from suppliers has been a main driver in the sell abroad of US developed jobs to China and elsewhere (Michael C. Keith, 2004). According to the expert analysis the impact of that cost on American grocery bills and consumption behavior, on the financial system of Chile and on the biology of a far-away corner of the soothing polluted by manufacturing amounts of fish foodstuff and faeces, is what Fishman calls the "Wal-Mart effect". It is, in his sight, neither completely bad nor entirely high-quality but it is very, extremely big. Wal-Mart is a power in America's financial life to a far extra important degree than its adjacent British equal, Tesco, over here (Pallabi Gogoi, 2007). Charles Fishman neatly sums up the monopsonistic power Wal-Mart has over its suppliers: No doubt, when it reaches bottomless within the operations of the companies that provide it and changes not merely what they sell, but also modify how those products are wrap up and obtainable, what the lives of the plant workers who make those products are similar to it even from time to time modify the countries where those factories are situated. 450 of Wal-Mart's suppliers have opened up offices in Bentonville, Arkansas, to be close to Wal-Mart's headquarters. These suppliers tout that if they didn't open up an office near Wal-Mart, their competitors would. That's Wal-Mart's effect on suppliers. Suppliers try to make themselves as pliant and accessible as possible for the retail giant. The Wal-Mart squeeze is a well known phenomenon to suppliers. Each year, for consumer products that don't change, Wal-Mart will approach their suppliers and say, this is what you sold us the product for last year, this is what we can get it for from a competitor, and this is what it will cost if we use our private label. Wal-Mart looks to drop the prices of products by 5% a year, every year.3 Wal-Mart's pressure to produce products cheaply has many suppliers going overseas, which reduces some companies from firms that designed, produced, and packaged their own products simply to importers of products (Theresa Howard, 2006). Negative Effects There are other serious repercussions to these lowest possible price points. Wal-Mart's constant

Critically evaluate the extent to which 'law-making' by non state Essay

Critically evaluate the extent to which 'law-making' by non state actors undermines the idea of sovereignity in the system of globalized governance through law - Essay Example macy deficit in global governance is to propose measures designed to ‘inject the voice of individual citizens into the exclusively state-based structures.’ 1In the case of domestic law, certain factors such as constitutional provisions of that state can serve a as framework for making the laws. The international law-making bodies such as the United Nations, codification bodies, diplomatic conferences, courts and NGOs are continually abrogating or amending the international laws and these subtle changes in International Law are not as observable as Domestic Law. The role of constitutional courts is to be the ‘custodian of deliberative democracy’2. While certain principles of International Law are binding to a state, some of them are non-binding. â€Å"International society is an open society in the sense that it constantly interacts with domestic societies and its openness to domesticate societies is increasing.†3 The value of an International law is greatly dependant on how a state perceives it to be. If a state deems a particular international law to be illegitimate, then the law would most probably be ineffective. Modern democracies ‘are not populist but Constitutional’. 4 Therefore, the law-making body such as the UN tries to ensure that the laws are more open and nations participate in the law making process. The international laws are also made keeping in mind the universality of the law and the speed at which the laws are to be implemented. â€Å"More fundamentally, interstate as well as intrastate conflicts often have been clashes between differing societal and international normative orders- between a status quo order and a rival new order- and thus between the competing entitlements and rights that the antagonists each claim are inalienable under these respective contending orders.†5 International law is a body of laws which bind nation states together to global standards and values. International law can be broadly categorized into three

Child-rearing practices the Hispanic and West Indies cultures Research Paper

Child-rearing practices the Hispanic and West Indies cultures - Research Paper Example The paper tells that culture and personality cannot exist without each other and they work to balance and define different societies. By defining the different societies it means that the society will have its codes and practices that define it and so it will be defined as a culture. The similarities and differences in the two cultures will be established in terms of kinship and the familial relationship and upbringing, division of labor and how the two cultures handle the issue as a whole, the roles of the males and females in the society, economic organizations and political organizations of the societies in two cultures. The Hispanic culture is found in many societies in America and other parts of the world mainly due to the Spanish influence and the use of the language in many parts of the world. In America, it is spoken in many countries as the national languages in countries like Mexico and Argentina. The formal and local setups of the people in the different societies that are Hispanic differ greatly due to the geographical disparity and so our focus will be on the overall differences and similarities. Anthropologists have argued that we gain intelligence and ability to learn from the way the early environment impacts on our lives. In fact, he proposes that everything an adult will do is a function of the dynamic interaction between the person’s perceptions of the environment that s/he is living in.

Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman - Essay Example This gives Wal-Mart the benefit of huge economies of scale, which they enlarge to lower prices. Because of the size of the retailer, this puts Wal-Mart into a position of a monopsonist extracting rents from their suppliers, and then acting as a near monopolist in the final retail goods market. A few companies such as Dial do over a quarter of their commerce with Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart dictates the terms, and those suppliers that wish to stay in the game, comply with the mandates (Martin Vander Weyer, 2006). The Arkansas-based sequence, founded by Sam Walton in 1962, is not just the chief private-sector boss and the major holder of trade market share. Its cheap plan, so all-encompassing that additional stores follow suit still when they are not straight contestant, plays a main role in holding down US price rises; its persistent demand for short prices from suppliers has been a main driver in the sell abroad of US developed jobs to China and elsewhere (Michael C. Keith, 2004). According to the expert analysis the impact of that cost on American grocery bills and consumption behavior, on the financial system of Chile and on the biology of a far-away corner of the soothing polluted by manufacturing amounts of fish foodstuff and faeces, is what Fishman calls the "Wal-Mart effect". It is, in his sight, neither completely bad nor entirely high-quality but it is very, extremely big. Wal-Mart is a power in America's financial life to a far extra important degree than its adjacent British equal, Tesco, over here (Pallabi Gogoi, 2007). Charles Fishman neatly sums up the monopsonistic power Wal-Mart has over its suppliers: No doubt, when it reaches bottomless within the operations of the companies that provide it and changes not merely what they sell, but also modify how those products are wrap up and obtainable, what the lives of the plant workers who make those products are similar to it even from time to time modify the countries where those factories are situated. 450 of Wal-Mart's suppliers have opened up offices in Bentonville, Arkansas, to be close to Wal-Mart's headquarters. These suppliers tout that if they didn't open up an office near Wal-Mart, their competitors would. That's Wal-Mart's effect on suppliers. Suppliers try to make themselves as pliant and accessible as possible for the retail giant. The Wal-Mart squeeze is a well known phenomenon to suppliers. Each year, for consumer products that don't change, Wal-Mart will approach their suppliers and say, this is what you sold us the product for last year, this is what we can get it for from a competitor, and this is what it will cost if we use our private label. Wal-Mart looks to drop the prices of products by 5% a year, every year.3 Wal-Mart's pressure to produce products cheaply has many suppliers going overseas, which reduces some companies from firms that designed, produced, and packaged their own products simply to importers of products (Theresa Howard, 2006). Negative Effects There are other serious repercussions to these lowest possible price points. Wal-Mart's constant

Child-rearing practices the Hispanic and West Indies cultures Research Paper

Child-rearing practices the Hispanic and West Indies cultures - Research Paper Example The paper tells that culture and personality cannot exist without each other and they work to balance and define different societies. By defining the different societies it means that the society will have its codes and practices that define it and so it will be defined as a culture. The similarities and differences in the two cultures will be established in terms of kinship and the familial relationship and upbringing, division of labor and how the two cultures handle the issue as a whole, the roles of the males and females in the society, economic organizations and political organizations of the societies in two cultures. The Hispanic culture is found in many societies in America and other parts of the world mainly due to the Spanish influence and the use of the language in many parts of the world. In America, it is spoken in many countries as the national languages in countries like Mexico and Argentina. The formal and local setups of the people in the different societies that are Hispanic differ greatly due to the geographical disparity and so our focus will be on the overall differences and similarities. Anthropologists have argued that we gain intelligence and ability to learn from the way the early environment impacts on our lives. In fact, he proposes that everything an adult will do is a function of the dynamic interaction between the person’s perceptions of the environment that s/he is living in.

A Quality Leader Essay Example for Free

A Quality Leader Essay Dr. Karoru Ishikawa is one of the world’s idolized leaders in quality control. His famous quote† Through total quality control with the participation of all employees, including the president, any company can create better products (or service) at a lower cost, increase sales, improve profit and make the company into a better organization ( Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa) . Ishikawa joined the Union of Japanese Scientist and Engineers, a quality research group back in 1949. The Japanese was concerned about their industry sector since it was known that American manufacturing was producing cheap toys and defective cameras. This group took on the responsibility of Japan’s quality-improvement; that was when Ishikawa took the initiative to build on Feigenbaum’s concept of total quality and promoted greater involvement by all employees, from the top management to the front-line staff, by reducing reliance on quality professionals and quality departments. He advocated collecting and analyzing factual data using simple visual tools, statistical techniques, and teamwork as the foundations for implementing total quality. Like others, Ishikawa believed that quality begins with the customer and therefore, understanding customers’ needs is the basis for improvement, and that complaints should be actively sought. (Evans, 2010 pg 110) Background Kaoru Ishikawa was born in 1915 in Tokyo. He graduated from Tokyo University in 1939 with a degree in Applied Chemistry. In his brief tour in the military as a Naval Technical Officer In charge of 600 workers to construct a factory he quoted â€Å"This experience he says was invaluable to Quality Control activities later on. †, (Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa) He worked for Nissan Liquid Fuel Company from 1941-1947 before he was appointed associate Professor of the University of Tokyo. In 1949 He joined the Union of Japanese Scientist and Engineers because he wanted to change the way people thought about work and help management improve the quality of their product. In 1970 Dr. Ishikawa started conducting quality control training seminars. Around 1978 Dr. Ishikawa became the President of Musashi Institute of Technology. Upon Ishikawa’s 1989 death, Dr. Juran delivered this message: â€Å"There is so much to be learned by studying how Dr. Ishikawa managed to accomplish so much during a single lifetime. In my observation, he did so by applying his natural gifts in an exemplary way. He was dedicated to serving society rather than serving himself. His manner was modest, and this elicited the cooperation of others. † (Dr. Joseph M. Juran) Primary work and significant accomplishments Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa accomplishments have include helping thousands of companies, like IBM, Bridgestone, and Komatsu, to turn out higher quality products at considerable lower costs. His book,†What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese Way†, Prentice Hall, Inc. was a best seller in business books. He has been awarded the Deming Prize and the Nihon Keizai Press Prize, the Industrial Standardization Prize for his writings on Quality Control, and the Grant Award in 1971 from the American Society for Quality Control for his education programmer on Quality Control. Process Improvement Japan, 2012). His creation of the fishbone diagram, the user can see all possible root causes of process imperfections. There are many other accomplishments that Dr. Ishikawa has made, which you can find in books and online. These were deserving awards due to his unselfish work ethics and have truly made him a quality genius. Conclusion Through total quality control a company of any type can stay in business, make products at lower cost, and endure great productivity from its workers. Dr Ishikawa wanted to change the way workers and management do business. Quality should start with the customer and it can be done using his writings, fishbone diagram, and other tools like control charts, run charts, histogram, scatter diagram, Pareto charts, and flowcharts. His knowledge was needed in a time when people wanted a product that will last and was supported by the company who makes it. His many accomplishments and strong work ethics influenced many companies to change and many of those companies are still in business today. Dr. Ishikawa is truly a leader in quality control.

Sociological Approaches To Health And Ill Health

Sociological Approaches To Health And Ill Health In this assignment I will look at the different sociological perspectives on health and ill health as well as the different definitions of it. Defining health is really difficult as there are many different views. There have been many criticisms of the defining of health. The definition of health has changed over the years. For example In Mauritania; a small country in N.W. Africa, obesity is considered a sign of beauty. Girls are force-fed so that they grow up with that obesity look. In the western country obesity is seen as ill health, unattractive and associated with negative stereotypes. Obesity is still seen as a sign of wealth and well-being in many parts of Africa. Functionalist Approach The functionalist approach on health and ill health derives from Talcott Pearson. Talcott saw ill health as a threat to society and believed that good health was essential in order for society to be still functioning. He said that ill health affects our ability to work and perform our roles in society. For that reason he said that for a person to be considered sick there are several expectation to be met. He called the expectations the sick role which indicated how people are supposed to be like when they are ill and how they should be thinking. The sick role divides into two groups; the rights and the obligations. Rights; The sick person is free from any social roles. For example work, or school, they should be allowed to take the day off in order to get back to normal The sick person is not responsible for their condition Obligations; The person should seek for medical assistance. For example going to the doctors to get checked up and get treatment The person should not like being sick. For example the person should not fake being sick just because they get attention as well as getting a day off their normal duties. However the sick role backfires sometimes as people tend to lose patience with the sick person or deny that they are sick for reasons such as liking the role. For example family, they may show sympathy at the beginning but after a while they lose patience with the sick person and assume he/she is seeking attention or is a hypochondriac. Marxist Feminist Approach Marxist approach believes that the health and social care service care services are provided just to help the bourgeoisies gain profit. The Marxist believe that the health and social care of the service users should be maintained in order for them to quickly get back to work so that they can make profit for the bourgeoisies. In order to maintain the social hierarchy the government purposely ignores the selling of products which can harm ones body for example, cigarettes, tobacco etc. In the modern world I believe the hierarchy is shaped into a pyramid with a few elite at the top controlling and manipulating those below which allows the rich to always be the rich and the poor to be the poor giving no chance for movement in the hierarchy. Feminist writers believe that the medical profession and pharmaceutical industries have given a low priority to developing male contraceptive pills which have fewer harmful side effects compared to contraceptives used by women. This shows that society is exploiting women and increase anxiety and stress for women there by suppressing their abilities and making life outside of family harder so that women resume their position as a housewife. For example a women experiencing depression or nausea at her workplace will perform badly therefore in comparison to males who are performing better and getting better result she will seem inferior .This clearly shows how society and its medications are purposely full of side effects to marginalise women, so that the males will be more dominant. While Marxist and Socialist Feminist argue that women are not receiving the same medications as males. Women have two roles, also known as double day which signifies two roles women have to undertake. First of all as a housewife, taking care of her domestic duties, and the other as a worker/employer. Sociologist Doyal suggests that it is the fact that women have two roles in society, that they getting sick. Personally I believe it is due to the medication we receive as women, which could otherwise be given to men with far less side effects. It is the due to the lack of consideration and its need for male dominance that women are sick. Even now in this modern day the definition of health is not clear. There are two opposing theories one being that health means the absence of disease the other being not only an absence of disease but also a state of physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being. The negative concept is the absence of disease which would mean that the person needs to be diagnose with a disease in order to be unhealthy. However the positive definition which is provided by the World Health Organization (WHO)in 1974;not merely an absence of disease but also a state of physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being means that you dont have to be diagnosed with a disease you could be mentally ill ,physically, spiritually ,socially, emotionally, or intellectually. So therefore the health and social care sectors usually take a holistic assessment in order to address the needs of the whole person rather than single issues. (Btec level 3 health and social care book 3). Sociologist Mildred Blaxter carried a large survey and then identified three definitions to health and well-being; One positive definition; regarding health as being fit Two being a negative definition; Regarding health as being free from pain or discomfort And lastly a functional definition; regarding health in terms of being able to perform certain, day-to-day tasks Concepts of ill health Clinical Iceberg One concept of health is Clinical Iceberg this is a term used to describe unreported illness. The statistics produced by the government and the doctors have a 94% off unreported illness missing from the statistics. For example Lyme Disease is one of the highest unreported illnesses that is unreported. A survey last month for the Everyman Male Cancer Campaign suggested that nearly twice as many men as women had not visited their GP in the past year. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8154200.stm last accessed 22/10/12 18:02) (http://www.anh-usa.org/lymedisease/ last accessed 27/12/12 )So therefore this could be one of the reason why there are so many unreported illness because men do need see a doctor because the try and live up to the saying of men dont cry and they are tough so this leads them to think that if they do go to the doctors that they are weak. Impairment Impairment is the restrictions to our day-to-day activities caused by physical or mental dysfunctions for example Down syndrome; a learning difficultly. Disability Disability is seen by Tom Shakespeare as restrictions that arise for a person with impairments because society does not take into account the needs of people with impairment for example someone in a wheel chair not having ramps in buildings or someone deaf not having hearing aids available. However some people may refer this to disabling environment which suggests an environment where facilities for the impairments are not available for people to take full part in social life.

Juvenile Delinquency Essay examples -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Juvenile delinquents, or youth that have been convicted of a crime, seem to be the norm these days. Citizens, families, and poliy makers want new programs and policies within the juvenile justice system. Researchers have found that the family structure can be a precursor to delinquent behavior, and families do not have the control or blance that they once did. As such, mew measures need to be implemented to help these families in crisis. Rehabilitation of the family unit is the answer, say many, not punishment. In response to this, new ideas have formed to rehabilitate the family unit, but first, the family structures that are precursors to delinquent behavior must be identified. â€Å"Family Life, Delinquency, and Crime: A Policymaker’s Guide,†compiled by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, introduces us to the theory that the family structure is a precursor to delinquent behavior. The authors and research contributors cite various family â€Å"dysfunctions† that contribute to delinquent behavior. Some of the family dysfunctions that the authors focus on are; parental criminality, parental interaction, parental supervision, and single-parent families. Parental criminality plays an important role in relation to delinquency, but based upon the stdies reviewed, poor parenting appears to be among the most powerful predictors of juvnile dleinquency. A good parent/child relationship has a positive impact on desistance from delinquent behavior. Two researchers, West and Farrington, sum it up by concluding in their research that, â€Å"the fact that delinquency is transmitted from one generation to the next is indisputabl e.† (West and Farrington, 1973, p.109) They also conclude that poor parenting is linked with delinquent behavior. Parental interaction and supervision, or lack of, also contributes to delinquent behavior. The authors are unequivocal in their beliefs and studies that children that have parents who do not interact with them, or supervise them are much more likely to become juvenile delinquents. Parents need to teach their children morals and values, and when there is a lack of parental interaction and supervision these morals are not being taught. Researchers also suggest that there is a direct relationship between single-parent families and delinquency. Most researchers agree that the trauma of separation fro... ...  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   4. Please use the space provided below to tell us how the FIP could better serve the needs of families. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Memasyarakatkan Alkitab atau meng(al)kitabkan masyarakat? :: essays research papers

Memasyarakatkan Alkitab atau meng(al)kitabkan masyarakat? Tantangan dan Kesempatan bagi metode BGA dalam konteks kelisanan dan keberaksaraan Makalah ini disajikan dalam salah satu sesi dalam pelatihan Tim Pelayanan Proyek Philadelphia (TP3) pada tanggal 26 Juli 2004, di Wisma Anugerah, Cisarua, Bogor. Pengantar Makalah ini merupakan bentuk konkretisasi dari refleksi saya berdasarkan berbagai pergumulan berteologi serta pengalaman melayani dalam pembinaan BGA serta berdasarkan karya sehari-hari sebagai anggota staf penerbitan Yayasan PPA. Sebelumnya saya pernah menyusun dan menyajikan beberapa renungan dan makalah yang telah saya sajikan dalam berbagai pertemuan internal PPA. Perkembangan serta perubahan pemikiran saya setelah saat-saat tersebut kini tertuang dalam makalah ini.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Melalui judul dari makalah ini, saya ingin menunjukkan bahwa masih ada beberapa kebijakan, pemikiran, dasar ideologis-teologis dll. yang berkaitan dengan metode BGA, yang masih perlu diperjelas. Judul dari makalah ini menyiratkan salah satu dari beberapa pilihan yang harus diambil: memasyarakatkan Alkitab atau justru meng(al)kitabkan masyarakat. Tujuan makalah ini adalah untuk mengajak kita memikirkan pertanyaan-pertanyaan seperti ini, serta pendapat saya tentang jawaban-jawabannya bagi pertanyaan-pertanyaan tersebut. Mencari udang di balik batu: Konteks keberaksaraan, kelisanan, dan kemajemukan media dalam gaya hidup orang Indonesia Ada banyak istilah yang digunakan orang untuk menjelaskan kemampuan seseorang untuk membaca dan menulis. Ada yang menggunakan istilah melek huruf, keaksaraan, keberaksaraan dll. Dalam makalah ini, saya akan menggunakan istilah  ¡Ã‚ ®keberaksaraan ¡Ã‚ ¯ untuk menunjuk kondisi masyarakat yang secara umum didasarkan pada kemampuan membaca dan menulis, dan  ¡Ã‚ ®melek huruf ¡Ã‚ ¯ untuk kondisi seseorang. Untuk kondisi seseorang yang tidak mampu membaca dan menulis saya menggunakan istilah  ¡Ã‚ ®buta huruf ¡Ã‚ ¯, sementara  ¡Ã‚ ®kelisanan ¡Ã‚ ¯ menunjuk kepada kondisi masyarakat yang lebih didominasi oleh ujaran verbal ketimbang teks tertulis. Saya juga ingin memperjelas makna dari satu istilah yang saya gunakan dalam makalah ini. Mengikuti definisi yang digunakan oleh UNESCO,  ¡Ã‚ ®buku ¡Ã‚ ¯ atau  ¡Ã‚ ®kitab ¡Ã‚ ¯ adalah bahan cetak yang terdiri dari 49 halaman atau lebih, tidak termasuk halaman sampulnya. Menurut Susenas/Statistik Pendidikan, proporsi penduduk buta huruf usia 10 tahun ke atas adalah sebagai berikut: Jenis Kelamin  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kota  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Desa  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Kota dan Desa Pria  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3.76  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  10.32  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  7.52 Wanita  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9.44  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  20.17  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  15.54 Pria dan Wanita  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  6.63  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  15.53  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  11.55 Beda Wanita Pria  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5.68  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  9.85  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  8.02 Angka ini bisa kita bandingkan dengan tabel keberaksaraan penduduk dunia menurut wilayahnya yang ada di bawah ini. Secara sekilas, kelihatannya taraf keberaksaraan penduduk Indonesia, termasuk umat Kristen di dalamnya, telah mencapai angka yang cukup menggembirakan. Kita dapat mengandaikan bahwa penduduk Indonesia beragama Kristen (yang pada tahun 2000, demikian menurut LP3ES, berjumlah 17.954.977 jiwa atau 8,92% dari keseluruhan jumlah penduduk ) juga memiliki persentase keberaksaraan yang kurang lebih sama dengan komponen penduduk Indonesia lainnya. Bila angka-angka ini benar, maka kelihatannya tersedia ladang yang cukup besar bagi pelayanan pencetakan Alkitab serta literatur penyertanya (sekitar 15 juta jiwa orang Kristen yang dikategorikan tidak buta huruf).

Hrm in Cooperative Banks in India Essay

The world of work is rapidly changing. As a part of organization, Human Resource Management (HRM) must be prepared to deal with effects of changing world of work. Business today doesn’t have national boundaries – it reaches around the world. In the competitive environment, employees of any business organization are the key factor for deciding the success of the firm, in general, and cooperatives in particular.Indian cooperative banking movement has passed through hundred years of its existence. At the same time, human resources management has been a neglected field in cooperative banks over a period of time and poor image of cooperative bank employees in the society affects their morale. Only recently has there been a greater recognition of this function.This paper an attempt has been made to analyze the practices of human resource management and the challenges faced in recruitment and retention of efficient personnel for managing the complex affairs of cooperative bank s. INTRODUCTION: The world of work is rapidly changing. As a part of organization, Human Resource Management (HRM) must be prepared to deal with effects of changing world of work. Business today doesn’t have national boundaries – it reaches around the world. The rise of multinational corporations places new requirements on human resource managers. The HR department needs to ensure that the appropriate mix of employees in terms of knowledge, skills and cultural adaptability is available to handle global assignments. In order to meet this goal, the organizations must train individuals to meet the challenges of globalization. The employees must have working knowledge of the language and culture of the host country.Human Resource Management (HRM) must also develop mechanisms that will help multicultural individuals work together. As background, language, custom or age differences become more prevalent, there are indications that employee conflict will increase. HRM would be required to trai n management to be more flexible in its practices. Because tomorrow’s workers will come in different  colors, nationalities and so on. They must be groomed in order to take risks, think innovatively, and handle new problems. In the competitive environment, employees of any business organization are the key factor for deciding the success of the firm, in general, and cooperatives in particular. It is understood that cooperative banks approach human resource management (HRM) from the wrong perspective and their financial performance suffers as a result. Instead of focusing on how to execute strategy through the performance of the employees in many cooperative banks, the first priority is cost control and the focus often begins with the HR function. Indian cooperative banking movement has passed through hundred years of its existence. At the same time, human resources management has been a neglected field in cooperative banks over a period of time and poor image of cooperative bank employees in the society affects their morale. Only recently has there been a greater recognition of this function. In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyze the practices of human resource management and the challenges faced in recruitment and retention of efficient personnel for managing the complex affairs of cooperative banks. NEED FOR HRM: World over, the technology driven channels such as, ATM, net banking and mobile banking have reduced walk-in-customers at the bank branches. However, in India, it is observed that the customers still find it difficult to use these technology based channels and they are more comfortable in traditional banking over the counter personally to ensure error – free and risk –free banking service. While struggling to provide better and efficient service at the counters, the staff is also confronted with various regulatory norms to mitigate risks in operations. This clearly establishes that employees of cooperative banks play a vital role in managing not only the ‘transaction’ of a customer but also future long-term relationship with them. HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES: Although all co operative banks have policies the manner in which they are documented and presented to employees varies considerably. Other than the practices explicitly required by law, there are no specific rules on how to document and implement the principles and practices by co  operative banks.Therefore the form substance and tone of cooperative banks’ policies and procedures are totally within their activities. This discreation presents both a challenge and opportunity for a cooperative institution.The challenge is deciding among almost infinite choices on how to define structure, implement and communicate the banks rules of operation. As for the opportunity a sound and appropriate set of policies will lay the groundwork to support the cooperative banks business objectives, provide employees with the necessary guidance and achieve the desired organizational culture. In practice, there is no specific written document of HR policies in many cooperative banks. It is neither necessary nor desirable to have every rule and practice documented, but it is advisable to take the time to formalize the important ones. In addition having certain policies in writing – such as rules prohibiting unlawful discrimination and harassment may save an organization a lot of time and money in the event of a law suit. There is no uniformity in the provisions of State Cooperative Acts. Barring a few states which have promulgated parallel State Cooperative Acts, the acts in other states have restrictive provisions which affect autonomous functioning of cooperatives. Further there is no specific HRD policy as such and recruitment of staff is not based on merit and competence. The Cooperative Act rules and bye- laws were created to protect the cooperative bank from certain nefarious activities prevalent in the market and also save it from the people who have vested interests. These hamper the autonomous growth of these institutions. One important had factor to be noted is that though the cooperative banks come under the financial discipline of the RBI, NABARD and the Apex Bank, they enjoy autonomy in personnel matters. The cooperative banks should be committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) policies that provide a healthy work environment, free of discrimination and harassment of any kind. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION: Once the human resource planning is complete, the next step is to acquire personnel necessary to ensure the continued operation of the organization. In the absence of scientific recruitment and selection procedures, the management of any organization may fail to select the right man with the right skills for development, doing the right job, in the  right environment. Moreover, the employees must have faith in the system of recruitment and selection. Recruitment provides the opportunity to cater to changing needs of people by either repositioning current employees or injecting fresh blood into the organizational veins There are three modes of recruitment in the cooperative banks, namely a) By direct recruitment b) By taking persons on deputation from Government or from sister cooperative institutions management towards employing women in their institutions. c) By promotion The main sources of recruitment is newspaper advertisement but in cooperative organization, information in respect of vacant posts is conveyed through the system of circular to the State Employment Exchange which receives a restricted distribution. Thus, in the absence of a wide publicity of vacant posts, the service in cooperative banks is easily available to the persons known to the top and middle executives Internal promotion can be a good practice if merit is not sacrificed. Similarly, recruiting like-minded people can accrue in the future. With the significant increase in the become a bad practice if it leads to organizational behaviour where diversity is resented. Cooperative banks typically apply precise and rigorous guidelines to admit members but do not show the same commitment when it comes to recruiting people, despite the fact that hiring decision involves enormous costs when one takes into account the recruitment costs, training costs, salary and benefit over the tenure of employee and replacement cost. Deputation of government officers to hold the key posts in cooperative banks is a widely prevalent practice. This practice is consequent upon the dependence of cooperative banks on the government for financial and managerial assistance. The practice of deputation affects the bank.employees in certain respects, particularly, the promotion prospects at the higher echelons. The informal discussion with the employees of cooperative banks in Tamil Nadu revealed that they are not in favour deputation of officers by government. Further, the cooperative banks, unlike commercial banks, have local identity and the image and have strong banks with local community. Cooperative banks prefer to recruit local candidate particularly for managerial cadre post due to the fact that they are well-adjusted to the local environment. A drawback of cooperatives banks is  that they are not able to attract professionally qualified candidate because of the poor salary structure. The only way to attract professionals would be when compensation needs to be internally consistent and externally competitive. It is observed that the in-take of women at both clerical and officer level in cooperative banks is quite insignificant. The reason for lower share of women work-force as compared with their male counterparts might be due to lack of trained women in the field of cooperation and also the attitude of the At present, the pace of recruitment in Indian cooperative banking sector has slowed down and for a long time, there has been almost negligible recruitment. The recruitment of persons in cooperative banks assumes special importance because, apart from being competent on the special jobs, they must also be well versed in human dealings and public relations. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT: Designing and implementing effective training and development systems is a particular challenge because all the costs are borne in the present, while all the benefits will complexity and magnitude of banking service especially in view of the task undertaken by the cooperative banks for the socio-economic development in urban, semi-urban and rural areas, the need of the training has been greatly felt. Realizing the significance of training, the cooperative training institutions established at different levels are imparting training to the employees of cooperative banks. The outcome of the training to any type of organization includes increased productivity of employees, heightened morale, reduced supervision, and increased organizational stability and flexibility. Poor quality training or a focus on the wrong development areas will be a total waste of time and money. It leaves the organization in no better position than if there had been no training at all Cooperative banks provide tr aining for many reasons: 1.To teach the employees perform in their initial job assignment. 2. To improve the current performance of employees who may not be working as effectively as desired 3. To prepare employees for future promotions or for upcoming changes in design, processes and technology in their present jobs. The operational structure and administrative set-up  established for training of personnel in cooperative banks in India is inter co-ordinated and divided into three cadres viz., Senior, Middle and Junior. The National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), the national level apex organization and State Cooperative Unions (SCUS), the state level apex organizations are responsible for making adequate arrangements for cooperative training. Though training is principally the responsibility of National Council for Cooperative Training (NCCT) and State Cooperative Unions, there are certain other institutions such as College of Agricultural Banking (CAB), Bankers’ Institute of Rural Development (BIRD), International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), International Labour Organization (ILO), National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) which have training arr angements for employees of cooperative banks. The major problems found in cooperative banks are lack of knowledge of funds management resulting in acceptance of high cost deposits and their disposition in low return uses. Another problem is lack of expertise in lending, observing capital adequacy, investment in government securities, managing non performing assets (NPAs), and other newer international rules imposed by the RBI and NABARD. In India, most persons in the cooperative banking sector feel that somehow if one can get a job he/she can automatically manage the affairs of the bank. Most of the training programmes organized by the cooperative training institutions impart only theoretical knowledge of the subject. Cooperative banks are localized expansion programme. Before organizing trade unions institutions with poor funds and some of the technical courses offered by the national training institutions are high cost oriented. Language is another problem. National or state level institutions offer their training programme in common language i.e. English and majority of the cooperative bank employees are not able follow and understand the concept. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL: Performance appraisal is a systematic approach to tracking individual performance against the targeted objectives of the organization and identifying strength and opportunities for improvement. It involves more than giving an annual performance review. While a periodic formal review may be part of the performance appraisal process, good performance management is an ongoing process, a once-ayear event.In cooperative banks, probationer’s  performance has been monitored and appraised informally. Clerical employees’ diaries, entries to the service register and review of work done periodically are the methods used for appraisal of probationers. However, appraisal is not implemented seriously for permanent employees. All the employees are in favour of introduction of performance appraisal though there is no systematic appraisal followed, right now. Generally, the cooperative banks in India are able to get self appraisal form from their employees. Each individual employee has to submit a self appraisal to the immediate superior in the prescribed format. Unlike commercial banks, cooperative banks, especially urban cooperative banks which are classified as Grade I and II by RBI, are eligible to get increments to their employees whereas the Grade III and IV banks as classified weak banks and the employees of these banks are not able to get any increments in their salary Cooperative banks have not used any sophisticated methods to evaluate their employees’ performance. This is the major reason for poor performance of employees in cooperative banks. PROMOTION: As per cooperative society rules in force, provisions have been made for promotion on the grounds of merits and ability of the employees, their seniority being taken into account only when merit and ability are approximately equal. Recognition of employees is the most important instrument for motivating and increasing performance. No organization, has been able to attract and retain key people in the long run by throwing money at them. Recognition and rewards are important. Introduction of mergers and acquisitions process between and among cooperative banks have created focus on competencies that enable employees to self-manage work in teams, think globally, boldly, and unconventionally and deploy the power of intuition and emotional intelligence. Once the employees are promoted to higher levels, improvement of their competencies is an urgent need. Employees’ competencies are the knowledge, skills, abilities, personality and characteristics that serve as the foundation for employees’ behaviour. Competencies are a foundational drive of employees as well as organization success because they only represent potential employees’ performance. COMPENSATION: One of the most important issues before the cooperative banks in India is compensation in these banks vary. The salary structure of cooperative banks was different from bank to bank even for the same cadre and salary structure of cooperative banks was not uniform. Thus, seniority has accounted for the compensation administration. A remuneration system based on the skill and ability of workers is important. But the cooperative banks cannot attract the talented and motivated personnel unless they establish their image of model employee because an organization which cannot pay its personnel adequately has no right to exist in the competitive world. The salary structure in the cooperative banking sector is not as attractive as in public and private sector banks. An adequate and sound salary structure together with other working conditions is the sine qua non for the organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Therefore, pay and other reward strategies should revolve not only around business goals but also around the employee’s needs and aspirations, such as the opportunity to work on challenging assignments, flexible work options, work transfer to take care of personal emergencies and opportunities for training and higher studies. Most important ingredient of HRM is reward and compensation, which at present does not have any linkage to skills and performance. There is an urgent need to have the system of reward and compensation in place that will attract, recognize and retain the talent in cooperative banks on the lines comparable with other banks, particularly banks in private sector. EMPLOYER EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP: A harmonious employer-employee relationship is essential for the effective functioning of the cooperative banks. Since cooperative organizations consist of groups of human beings, each of whom is activated by varying motives, no cooperative administration can fulfill its obligations if it is not supported wholeheartedly by the employee at all levels. The challenge for the banks is to encourage people to unleash their power of thinking and apply it to their daily work. The employer should always encourage the employees to bring out their fullest talent for the success of the institution. Mere encouragement to generate new ideas is not enough. When people make genuine attempts to implement their ideas and fail, they need to be encouraged, not discouraged, to try further. Otherwise, they  will never bother to think and try again; they will merely follow their mangers. Success can only be achieved if staff feel they are being treated correctly by the bank and fully understand the bank’s objectives and rational for their achievement. It is essential, therefore, that management develops an employee relations climate which facilitates these attitudes without reducing management’s ability to manage the business†. The conflict between employer and employee or among the employees is inevitable in any organization. Some amount of conflict is not only desirable, it’s also necessary. Without a broad range of ideas presented by persons with diverse backgrounds, experiences and points of view, innovation is virtually impossible. Conflict can also present an opportunity for personal growth. When the managers learn the skills to work out differences and to develop approaches that take into account the needs of others, it will become more effective. There is a need to develop ‘healthy’ conflict between the management and employees as not all organizational conflicts are undesirable. There is a classic management delusion that employees readily approach the higher management when they are dissatisfied with the decision of their immediate supervisor. The reality is that employees are generally apprehensive of upsetting their day-to-day relationship with their manager whose decision is most likely to be upheld anyway for the sake of managerial unity. Unfortunately, those who question the manager are often labeled as whingers and even though the company policy might be to seek frank employee feedback, the practice might shut them up from speaking out openly. When whingers turn as whistle blowers and expose the management practice in public, it might be too late for the management to prevent the potential damage to its images Executives must set standards at the top. If middle managers feel disrespected, attracted or stifled by senior management, chances are that they will pass this negative attitude down to the employees they supervise. Since a positive relationship with the immediate supervisor is a very important element of job satisfaction, retention should be regarded as an important yardstick in measuring effectiveness. CONCLUSION: Compared with all other management functions, human resource  management in cooperative banks is more sensitive, personalized, context-dependent and cannot be managed through a set of predefined techniques. HR and strategic tool for competitive advantage. In fact, it is difficult first achieving employee satisfaction. Thus, employee satisfaction is a prerequisite to customer satisfaction. Effective organization depends on having the right system of HR policies and practices in place to recruit, select, develop, appraise, compensate and place, promote or send away employees. Based on a careful analysis of the needs of the business, cooperative banks must prioritize their choices around workforce engagement. Successful HRM requires that the banks practice a sound management philosophy that respects human dignity and diversity and are committed to the growth of employees, believe in the value of employee’s contribution and involve them in decision – making and share the wealth equitably and fairly.