Burro Genius Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Burro Genius - Essay Example The one belief they instill in the child is that one should not lose perspective in order to excel or make progress in life. As a little boy aged six, I used to be extremely playful and forgetful at the same time. One day after school, I happened to bump into my toy as I was approaching my room, without thinking twice I dropped my bag, picked my toy and started playing with it. The game became more attractive, and I ended up in the garage, back in the house my little sister came across my bag, started playing with it and ended up messing with my homework. Since I had nobody to blame but myself, it meant I had to inform my mother so that she can go and explain to the teacher for me to get the homework. This situation also applies to Victor’s case, which left the car windows opened, and ended up with a cloth full of feathers. He learned that one does not need to be angry for every mistake one make nor does he need to look for someone blame for not correcting his mistakes for him but, embrace the mistake and work towards ensuring that it does not happen again. By helping me out on explaining to the te acher what happened to my initial homework, my mother instilled the lesson that helped me learn that no one is perfect, and people are not gauged on mistakes they made but how well they progress after the mistake. The thesis of this paragraph is, just like Victor no one is perfect not even parents, but the best thing they do is ensuring that the same mistake does not happen again (Villasenor p56). My mother was doing some work on a computer one night at home, being a mother of two she had to hop from one task to another. Since, my sister was still too young, and she required much attention she had to juggle from looking after her, cooking for all of us as well as finish the work she had on the computer. In the process of juggling, she had to leave the computer open, as I was passing around the house I

Prigogine Investigation Essay Example for Free

Prigogine Investigation Essay The origination and evolution of living organisms is considered by many scientists, due to general laws of nature, especially the second law of thermodynamics. In this paper this idea is explored, taking in account the dissipative structures and Prigogine’s thermodynamics. Introduction The use of thermodynamics in biology has a long history rich in confusion (Morowitz, 92) (Klyce, Brigg, http://www. panspermia. org/seconlaw. htm) The second law of thermodynamics was discovered by Clausius, who coined the term Entropy, which is usually defined as the degree of disorder. In the most general sense, Evolution of life means, growing in ordered combinations from cells, to tissues and organs, to plants and animals, families, communities, and ecosystem. It can be seen that these two terms: evolution and entropy express totally contradictory concepts. According to second law, Entropy of a closed system can never decrease, i. e. dSV ? 0 (Gibbs, 1928). But, in case of evolution, the living systems increasingly go on to complex state of more order, suggesting that entropy in this closed system has decreased. This is the paradox that has baffled both biologists and physicists alike. Hence, an initial theory which both physicists and biologists agreed upon was: life violates the second law of thermodynamics. Evolution of life and Entropy The contradiction can however be explained, by subscribing to one of the two very different schools of thought. Either we can accept that the order that is seen in the evolution and growth biological systems is maintained at the expense of thermodynamic order. That is to say, sustenance in the form of external energy is always provided to the organism from external environment and entropy of this larger system is increasing. Hence, living beings attract negative entropy, in order to compensate for this increase in the entropy, which explains the order. This concept was formed by Schrodinger. There is another explanation, which was proposed by Prof. Ilya Prigogine. According to him, the living organisms function as dissipative structures, i. e. thermodynamically open systems operating in non-equilibrium environment. These have the capacity for self-organization in the face of environmental fluctuations. In other words, they maintain their structure by continuously dissipating energy. Such dissipative structures are permanently in states of non-equilibrium. Ds/dt 0 away from steady state Ds/dt = 0 steady state (Prigogine, 1977) In this case, equilibrium is the state of maximum entropy. A system that is not in equilibrium exhibits a variation of entropy, which is the sum of the variations of entropy due to the internal source of entropy, plus the variation of entropy due to the interaction with the external world. The former is positive, but the latter can be negative. Therefore, total entropy of the system can decrease. Life according to this theory can then be summarized as: An organism lives because it absorbs energy from the external world and processes it to generate an internal state of lower entropy. It can live as long as it can avoid falling in the equilibrium state. According to the second law, only irreversible processes contribute to entropy production. This means the existence of a function in an isolated system which can only increase in time. It follows that the positive time direction is associated with entropy (Prigogine, 1977). Now, biological evolution is hierarchical and can be considered as an irreversible process of the variation of life with respect to the evolutionary time scale. The Law of Temporal Hierarchies makes it possible to identify quasi-closed thermodynamic systems and subsystems within open biological systems (Gladyshev, 2003). This facilitates the study of individual development (ontogenesis) and evolution (phylogenesis) of these subsystems. For instance, it is seen that the specific Gibbs function for the formation of supramolecular structures of biological tissues, G tends towards its minimum in the course of both ontogenesis and phylogenesis. (Gladyshev, 2005) The above model implies that, the mean flow of matter is quasi-stationary and the nature of incoming matter to the system remains practically unchanged. In other words, the supramolecular phase (structure) of the organism evolves against the background of the incoming flow of chemical substances of practically constant composition. This principle of the stability of chemical substances is a thermodynamic principle. Accordingly, the tendency of biological systems during evolution to generate relatively highly stable structures of higher hierarchies leads to the selection of relatively less stable structures of lower hierarchies. This rejuvenates the lower hierarchical structures and causes nearly unbounded evolution of the biological world. (Gladyshev, 2005) Conclusion The findings of hierarchical thermodynamics, specifically supramolecular thermodynamics of quasi-closed systems, confirm the thermodynamic tendency of biological evolution. Additional experiments could refine this model and further verify that second law can be applied in its classical definition to explain the origin and evolution of life References 1. Gladyshev, Georgi P. â€Å"What is Life- A physical chemist’s viewpoint†, 12th Dec. 2005 http://www.panspermia.org/seconlaw.htm

Their Eyes Were Watching God Essay -- Character Analysis, Janie

Speech is arguably the primary source of communication for humanity, enabling us to experience and share life with one other through our words. However, we see a different path of life in Janie, the main character in the book Their Eyes Were Watching God. Janie’s character evolves with using control of silence to her benefit, helping her find what she has always struggled to have: Individuality and independence. The relationships Janie has with her three husbands revolve around three versions of silence, while in pursuit of what she calls her â€Å"pear tree†, her true love. Logan forces silence from Janie which becomes an oppressor; Joe exploits Janie’s silence and uses it as a manipulator; and Janie’s only true love, Tea Cake, allows Janie to control silence, which becomes her liberator. In the book Their Eyes Were Watching God, silence is manifest as an evolving source of empowerment and identity for Janie, in that her character is molded not only by her speech but, more importantly, by her silence. In Janie’s journey to find herself, she initially has limited control of her own life, being forced into marriage by Nanny. Nanny wants what she feels is best for Janie, wishing for her to have security and protection. This marriage provides the perfect solution in Nanny’s eyes; Nanny promises Janie that all will go well with her marriage even though it may not seem so at the time. Janie reluctantly agrees, but soon realizes that Logan does not have her best interest at heart, causing her to quickly tire of him. Soon after Nanny’s death, the reader sees Logan change entirely. He commands Janie by ordering her around, expecting her to do whatever he demands of her. With Janie being a child, she is somewhat helpless to defend herself ... ...of love the reader sees from Tea Cake is his rescuing Janie from the dog attack. This unravels the mystery, revealing that Tea Cake does really love Janie; he is her pear blossom on her pear tree. Hurston successfully uses speech and silence to create a fascinating story about a young woman who grows up to find her individuality and in the end, her pear blossom. Logan, Joe, and Tea Cake all play an integral part in Janie becoming the strong, independent woman she is, ultimately allowing her to break the chain of abuse suffered by her mother and grandmother. Silence is the barrier in Janie’s life that she endures; through the suffering, Janie emerges to honor the struggles in her life, transformed into a woman who is beautiful, mature, and strong. Janie is rewarded with peace and happiness that her life now offers, with the pear tree that is forever hers to embrace.

Customer Lifetime Value Essay

Marketing Engineering for Excel is a Microsoft Excel add-in. The software runs from within Microsoft Excel and only with data contained in an Excel spreadsheet. After installing the software, simply open Microsoft Excel. A new menu appears, called â€Å"MEï€ ´XL.† This tutorial refers to the â€Å"MEï€ ´XL/Customer Lifetime Value† submenu. Overview Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) represents a metric of a customer’s value to the organization over the entire span of that customer’s relationship with a firm. Short-term sales influence CLV, but so do overall customer satisfaction, the churn rate in the segment, and the costs to acquire a new customer and retain an existing customer. The CLV approach helps firms answer such questions as: How much is my customer base â€Å"worth†? Taking into account observed churn rates, how many of the currently active customers will still be active in a few years? How much is a customer worth, depending on the segment to which he or she belongs? If acquiring a new customer costs $150, after how many periods can we recoup this investment? Customer lifetime value analysis considers your database at a segment level, using the answers you provide to the following questions: How many segments do you have in your database, and how many customers per segment? For a given period, how much is a customer worth, on average, in each segment (margins and costs)? What is the likelihood that a customer in segment A will switch to segment B during the next period? Getting Started A CLV analysis allows you to use your own data directly or a template preformatted by the MEXL software. The next section explains how to create an easy-to-use template to enter your own data. If you want to run a CLV analysis immediately, open the example file â€Å"OfficeStar Data (CLV).xls† and jump to â€Å"Step 3: Running analysis† (p. 4). By default, the example files install in â€Å"My Documents/My Marketing Engineering/.† Step 1 Creating a template Using the interactive assistant In Excel, if you click on MEï€ ´XL ï  § CUSTOMER LIFETIME VALUE ï  § CREATE TEMPLATE, a dialog box appears. This box represents the first step in creating a template to run the CLV analysis software. The first dialog box prompts you to use an interactive assistant. Unless you are already familiar with the methodology, you should select â€Å"yes.† Listing segments The first step of the template generation process requires you to label and list the segments that you want taken into account. Enter the names of segments to which a customer can belong. Press ENTER or click the â€Å"Add to list† button to add it to the â€Å"List of Segments.† Note that a segment of â€Å"lost customers† always appears in your list. This segment has the following properties: There is no activity by these customers (margins and costs equal 0). It entails an absorbing relationship state. As soon as a customer reaches this segment, he or she stays there forever. In other words, there is 100% chance the customer stays in that segment in the next period, and all other transition probabilities will be equal to 0%. After entering all your segments (at least one), click the OK button to proceed to the next step of the template creation process. Clicking on the OK button generates a template. Not using the interactive assistant You may skip this intermediary step and create a blank template. When you are prompted to use the interactive assistant, just click â€Å"no.† The following dialog box appears: When you click OK, you generate a new blank spreadsheet. You must enter the segment labels manually in the spreadsheet. In this example, if you update the names of the segments in cells B6, B7, and B8, the names of the segments automatically update in the other cells of the spreadsheet. Entering your data In this tutorial, we use the example file â€Å"OfficeStar Data (CLV).xls,† which in the default conditions appear in â€Å"My Documents/My Marketing Engineering/.† To view a proper data format, open that spreadsheet in Excel. A snapshot is reproduced below. A typical CLV analysis spreadsheet contains: Number of customers per segment. As of today, how many customers does the company have in each segment? Gross margins, or the average margins that the company expects from a customer over each period (e.g., year, quarter), on the basis of the segment to which this customer belongs during that period. In the OfficeStar example, a customer who belongs to the â€Å"Warm Customer† segment should generate $15 of gross margins on average during the next period (e.g., first quarter). Marketing costs, or how much money the company plans to spend per customer during the next period, according to the segment to which this customer belongs at the beginning of the period. Typically, active customers are followed more closely, receive more attention (e.g., direct marketing solicitations, sales representatives visits), and cost more to the firm. Transition matrix, which summarizes the likelihood a customer will switch segments during each period. This matrix should be read horizontally, and each line sums to 100% (because all customers appear in some segment). In the OfficeStar example, an active customer has a 75% likelihood of remaining in the same segment and a 25% chance of switching to the warm customer segment. A customer’s behavior during the previous period determines into which segment that customer is classified, and his or her segment membership then determines the marketing dollars the company should allocate to that customer in the next period. In the OfficeStar example, a customer who belongs to the â€Å"Active Customer† segment generates $90 of gross margins per period (e.g., quarter). Step 3 Running analyses After entering your data in the Excel spreadsheet using the appropriate format, click on MEï€ ´XL ï  § CUSTOMER LIFETIME VALUE ï  § RUN ANALYSIS. The dialog box that appears indicates the next steps required to perform a CLV analysis of your data. CUSTOMER LIFETIME VALUE – V130522 5/10 Number of periods: Specify the number of periods for which you want a detailed CLV analysis. Note that this choice does NOT affect the CLV computations, because the value of a customer always gets estimated over an infinite time horizon (though as time passes and discount rates apply, future revenues have less relative impact). The number of periods affects only the level of output. Discount factor: Indicate the discount rate to apply for the value of a dollar spent or received in the future as compared to the current period. A discount rate of 15% means that $100 profit in the next period is only â€Å"worth† $85 in today’s dollars. A greater discount factor reduces the impact of future revenues on CLV computations and thus focuses on shortterm  profits. You should increase the discount rate for turbulent or rapidly evolving markets, in which conditions change rapidly and future revenues therefore are highly uncertain. Setting: Select either Transactional or Contractual depending on the nature of the product or service you are modelling. Contractual models imply the existence of a contract between the transacting parties (e.g., a mobile phone contract between the provider and consumer). Contractual relationships imply continuous transactions and a known end to the contract. Transactional models imply discrete transactions with no implied end to the relationship. For use with our CLV model, the impact of this setting will affect the first period of the analysis. A Contractual setting implies no loss/gain in first month (since the customer is under contract) while the Transactional setting will reflect loss/gain in the first month. The discount factor gets applied after each period, regardless of how you define a period. If you define a period as a quarter, a discount factor of 15% translates into an effective yearly discount rate of almost 48% (15% discount rate applied four times per year). Remember to take this multiplicative effect into account when selecting an appropriate discount factor. After selecting these options, you must select the cells containing the data. First, the software asks for ranges of the current segment sizes and profits and costs for each segment, including a row dedicated to permanently lost  customers. If you use a template generated by Marketing Engineering for Excel, it has already pre-selected the cell ranges. Second, the software asks for a square range that shows the likelihood that a customer in each segment (row) will switch to each segment (column) in the following period. The newly generated spreadsheet contains the results of your CLV analysis. Step 4 Interpreting the results Customer lifetime value The last column of the CLV table outputs the expected CLV of a customer who currently belongs to a given segment, determined by summing the stream of all future gross margins, minus all future marketing costs, and taking into account both the discount factor and the likelihood of customers switching from one segment to another. These figures also appear in the â€Å"Lifetime Value† chart, shown below. A customer with a negative CLV actually means a loss of money for your firm. Number of customers per segment The next table (and chart) shows how many customers will be in each segment at each period of time in the future. The time horizon displayed on the chart matches the number of periods you specified in the â€Å"Run Analysis† options. Note that the â€Å"Lost Customers† segment is not displayed. In most applications, all customers eventually become lost customers, and over sufficient time, all other segments become empty. Customer base’s lifetime value The third table in the â€Å"CLV Analysis† sheet, labeled the Customer Base’s Lifetime Value, summarizes the future stream of revenues and marketing costs over a specified number of future periods (whether cumulative or not) at the global level. Some key elements of this table plot in the third (and last) chart of the spreadsheet. In particular, the Discounted Net Margins (cumulated) provide an answer to the question: â€Å"Over the next x periods, how much is my customer base worth?† Retention rates The final tables depict the likelihood that a customer will belong to any segment in any period of time in the future, depending on the segment to which he or she currently belongs. There are as many tables as there are segments in the analysis. In most applications, all customers eventually join the â€Å"Lost Customers† segment. The probability of belonging to that segment thus slowly reaches 1 (100%), and the probabilities of belonging to any other segment trend toward 0 over time.

Brian Montgomery

What skills do you believe manages should possess? A: Leadership, organizational and interaction skills, good communication. Planning Q: Why do you think Managers need to plan? A: You need to have agreed plans and goals; I?s how you measure yourselves and the business against planned targets Q: There are different kinds of Plans including, Mission statements, vision, marketing operational. What type of plans do you use in your business? A: In my division we use all of those, the company has our mission statement and vision, which we live but the operational plans are the day to day business for us.Q: How often do you refer to each of the plans? A: It really depends on the plan and situation but I would say at least weekly. Q: Do you discuss the plans with you your teams and why? A: Yes we discuss these in all of our meetings at different levels. Staff, supervisor and management meetings. Q: How effective do you think these plans are? A: There is always room for improvement, but at th is time they are good. They are achievable and relevant to the core business. Our plans have to be somewhat flexible due to the changing environment we work in. Q: What benefits do you think you get from each of those plans?A: The team get a sense of achievement, moving forward, setting new goals. We achieve then move the goals forward. It's great for the team to see the plan coming to fruition. Organizing Q: Why do you think businesses need to have organizational structures? A: Accountability and growth. Q: There are different kinds of Organizational structures in the workplace, Formal/informal, functional, and divisional and matrix. Which one or combination Of these is used in your business? A: would say Divisional due to the multiple sites. Q: What benefits do you think you get from those structures you use?A: loud say time is the biggest benefit. When you find something that works well at one site you can adapt that to fit another site. With not having to come up with a complete new system then have time to focus on other issues. Q: Do you see any drawbacks to any of the structures you use? A: Having too many sites sometimes mean you spread yourself a little thin. That's when you have to look at staff and co-leaders. Leadership Q: Why do you think leadership is important in business? A: Overall accountability, but part of that is ensuring that the whole team work together to achieve the desired outcome.Q: There are several types of adhering, Autocratic, Democratic Laissez-fairer, situational etc. Which of these do you use in your organization? A: Democratic for me, having said that there are occasions when time constants mean a directive needs to be the way to move forward quickly. Q:How would you describe your leadership style? A: Adaptable depending on the climate at the time and proactive. Q: What benefits do you think you get from this style? A: Success, great time management and good interactions with staff. This means we meet timeliness. Q:DO you see any drawbacks to this style?A: Sometimes if you don't stay focused on delivery, things can get interpreted Rooney. You really have to make sure you invest time on learning so everyone understands their part in the overall plan. Control Q: What does controlling mean for you? A: Guidelines are put in place sows have a structured approach. Q: What control systems are used in your business? A: Mainly Kepi's (Key Performance Indicators) Q: Why are controlling systems important in your business? A: So we can achieve and show that we have achieved. Q: What control functions that you use monitor your planning functions?A: The Kepi's are what shows how we are progressing against our plan and working towards our targets. With no Kepi's where are we really. 1 . The Planning Function of Management 1. 1 . A There are a variety of reasons that managers plan although to me the first reason would be to set the direction and priorities of the company or sector of the company. You want to ensure tha t everyone in the team is working towards a similar goal and understands what that goal is. 1 . 2. A Vision Statement: Describes what a company would like to achieve, their aspirations to be the leader or best at what they do.Mission Statement: This is really the overall aim of the company, it tells prospective customers who the company are and what they stand for. Strategic plans: these are the long term plans the company has to grow. The overall direction it wants to take to achieve its desired goals. Marketing plans: This is the companies plan outlining how they plan to achieve the strategic goal they set. Here they need to look at what they deliver how well and what gives them the competitive edge over others out there. How they show that information to prospective clients. Contingency plan: This is the ‘what if plan.As we all know â€Å"If anything can go wrong, it will. † Murphy's law With that in mind we need to put plans in place for possible events that were to originally planned for (the contingency plan). Operational plans: This is a short term plan often set at a lower level in the company to ensure the team or section of the company have a clear understanding of what they need to do in the short term to ensure the company as a whole is achieving its higher level plans. 1 . 2. B The company I studied has a variety of plans, they have a vision (what they want to be), Mission (Why they exist), Values(what is important to them).They also have a strategic plan looking at the goals of increasing contracts and turnover by a percentage each year for the next five years. They have a marketing plan, for how they plan to sell the business to prospective clients. All these plans are driven from their National Office. Then there is the operational planning side of things, this is how they plan their work week to week to ensure they carry out the work the client wants within the timeshare set. 1. 3. From what observed I think overall the company st udied has some good plans at each level.My study was more focused on the operational plans and at interview and at first look it appears that the plans are sound and have some clear expectations of how things would be done in order to achieve the goals. Looking closer showed that there were some things that could possibly be done to make it more effective 1 . 3. B I was able to see the operational plans and how these were looked at from week to week. They have various focuses form current week to next and then longer focus into months ahead. I was shown the targets for completions of set work and the actual percentages achieved week on week against the plans.They have set themselves some high goals for the year and are close to achieving. I did notice from discussions that where they appear to fail is due to not cooking at the contingency side of things fully. A lot of the day to day jobs are dependent on weather or plant access and often there is no plan for what they will do if th ey cannot do that. This means that the overall focus then becomes more reactive than proactive. 2. The Organizing Function of Management 2. 1 . A Businesses need to have organizational structures in order to allow them to function effectively.This is because the structure defines the roles and tasks undertaken by staff. â€Å"An idea can only become a reality once it is broken down into organized, actionable elements. † Scott Belles 2. 2. The main kinds Of organizational structures are: Formal: Generally roles and responsibilities are set out in writing and staff generally don't venture outside their job description. Informal: Is how people work together in practice, day to day interactions. This structure generally develops alongside a formal structure. Divisional: Is where an organization is split into a number of separate units.These can be grouped according to product, market, geographical location or a mix of these. Each division is self-managed. Functional: Is where sta ff are grouped according to the function or role they perform Matrix: Is where staff are grouped by both function and product, often this structure is used for project work. 2. B The company I studied had a combination Of the Structures discussed. The company as a whole have a formal structure with an organizational chart to show the positions, with each position having a formal job description.But alongside that the staff have developed good communication and day to day talking to ensure the jobs are completed which is really the informal addition. The company has certainly got a divisional side to mainly based on location, and there is somewhat of a functional split at the location I looked at where hey have a roofing team with team leader, a handyman team with team leader, an industrial cleaning team with team leader and a commercial cleaning team with team leader. 2. 3. A The impression I was left with is that the mix of organizational structures works very well in this company. There appear to be a good balance between the formal and informal. The functional structure impressed me in that each of the individual teams had a clear understanding of their roles and took pride in achieving and meeting their targets. 2. 3. B During my visit I was able to see the organizational chart and some of the position descriptions. Away the team members within the office and how they interacted with the team leaders to get tasks achieved. 3. The Leadership Function of Management 3. 1 . A Leadership is important because without it a business will fail to function to its full potential. Leadership is the capacity to transform vision into reality. † Warren G. Bennie 3. 2. A To me the business I studied relies heavily on the democratic style of leadership, with a little delegating added to the mix. Democratic: There were a lot of notes from meetings with the manager and her supervisors and team leaders, where you could see issues discussed and he thoughts of the team wit h the decision made and agreed as the way to move forward. I noted from the tone used by the manager at interview and the dealings I saw with staff that she asked for their thoughts and input to assist in the decision making process.Delegating: I could often see actions for tasks or monitoring being assigned to the supervisor and team leaders. 3. 2. B Compared to the democratic style the autocratic does not look for a collaborative approach. Generally it is a more solely directive or authoritarian approach. Whereas the democratic style assists staff in feeling that they are a ajar part of the process and engaging them the autocratic would not be the way to get the best from a team. The team with the autocratic leader often feel less loyal, have less commitment and in the end, less satisfaction from the job as those with a democratic leader.Having said this a few of the staff I came across liked the go to work and be told what to do and how, although it was a minority. Although not i deal in my view there are occasions where autocratic works, this is usually in situations where an emergency has occurred and a decision needs to be made sooner rather than waiting to see if a consensus can be reached. . 3. A I believe that the leadership in the business I studied was adequate. There seemed to be systems in place and all those I spoke to or observed seemed to be aware of their part in achieving.

lemon v kurtzman 1971 essays

lemon v kurtzman 1971 essays The name of the case is Lemon v. Kurtzman; the Chief Justice in charge of the case was Warren Burger. The case was argued on March 3, 1971 and decided on June 28, 1971. These three cases from Pennsylvania and Rhode Island involved public assistance to private schools, some of which were religious. Pennsylvania's law included paying the salaries of teachers in parochial schools, assisting the purchasing of textbooks, and other teaching supplies. In Rhode Island, the State paid 15% of the salaries of private school teachers. A federal court upheld the Pennsylvania law while a District Court ruled that the Rhode Island law fostered 'excessive entanglement'. The case is about actions challenging constitutionality of state aid to, or for the benefit of, nonpublic schools. A three-judge United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island said that the Rhode Island statute was unconstitutional, while a three-judge United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, dismissed the complaint that challenged the Pennsylvania statute, and appeals were taken. The Supreme Court, Chief Justice Burger, held that both statutes, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, were unconstitutional under the religion clauses of the First Amendment. The Courts decision was unanimous 8-0; it determined that the case was unconstitutional. The decision stated that there are three criteria that should be used to assess legislation: "First, the statute must have a secular legislative purpose; second, its principal or primary effect must be one that neither advances or inhibits religion; finally, the statute must not foster and excessive government Entanglement with religion." The teachers whose salaries are partially being paid by the State are religious agents who work under the rule of religious officials. There is an innate conflict in this situation of which the state should remain clear. To guarantee that tea ...

Zirconium Facts (Atomic Number 40 or Zr)

Zirconium Facts (Atomic Number 40 or Zr) Zirconium is a gray metal that has the distinction of being the last element symbol, alphabetically, of the periodic table. This element finds use in alloys, particularly for nuclear applications. Here are more zirconium element facts: ZirconiumBasic Facts Atomic Number: 40 Symbol: Zr Atomic Weight: 91.224 Discovery: Martin Klaproth 1789 (Germany); zircon mineral is mentioned in biblical texts. Electron Configuration: [Kr] 4d2 5s2 Word Origin: Named for the mineral zircon. Persian zargun: gold-like, which describes the color of the gemstone known as zircon, jargon, hyacinth, jacinth, or ligure. Isotopes: Natural zirconium consists of 5 isotopes; 28 additional isotopes have been characterized. The most common natural isotope is 90Zr, which accounts for 51.45 percent of the element. Of the radioisotopes, 93Zr has the longest half-life, which is 1.53x106 years. Properties: Zirconium is a lustrous grayish-white metal. The pure element is malleable and ductile, but the metal becomes hard and brittle when it contains impurities. Zirconium resists corrosion from acids, alkalis, water, and salt, but it does dissolve in hydrochloric or sulfuric aicd. Finely-divided metal may ignite spontaneously in air, especially at elevated temperatures, but the solid metal is relatively stable. Hafnium is found in zirconium ores and is difficult to separate from zirconium. Commercial-grade zirconium contains from 1% to 3% hafnium. Reactor-grade zirconium is essentially free of hafnium. Uses: Zircaloy(R) is an important alloy for nuclear applications. Zirconium has a low absorption cross section for neutrons, and is therefore used for nuclear energy applications, such as for cladding fuel elements. Zirconium is exceptionally resistant to corrosion by seawater and many common acids and alkalis, so it is used extensively by the chemical industry where corrosive agents are employed. Zirconium is used as an alloying agent in steel, a getter in vacuum tubes, and as a component in surgical appliances, photoflash bulbs, explosive primers, rayon spinnerets, lamp filaments, etc. Zirconium carbonate is used in poison ivy lotions to combine with urushiol. Zirconium alloyed with zinc becomes magnetic at temperatures below 35 °K. Zirconium with niobium is used to make low temperature superconductive magnets. Zirconium oxide (zircon) has a high index of refraction and is used as a gemstone. The impure oxide, zirconia, is used for laboratory crucibles that will withstand heat sh ock, for furnace linings, and by the glass and ceramic industries as a refractory material. Occurrence: Zirconium does not exist as a free element, primarily due to its reactivity with water. The metal has a concentration of around 130 mg/kg in the Earths crust and 0.026 ÃŽ ¼g/L  in sea water. Zirconium is found in S-type stars, the Sun, and meteorites. Lunar rocks contain a zirconium oxide concentration comparable to that of terrestrial rocks. The primary commercial source of zirconium is the silicate mineral zircon (ZrSiO4), which occurs in Brazil, Australia, Russia, South Africa, India, the United States, and in smaller amounts elsewhere in the world. Health Effects: The average human body contains about 250 milligrams of zirconium, but the element serves no known biological function. Dietary sources of zirconium include whole wheat, brown rice, spinach, eggs, and beef. Zirconium is found in antiperspirants and water purification systems. Its use as a carbonate to treat poison ivy has been discontinued because some people experienced skin reactions. While zirconium exposure is generally considered safe, exposure to the metal powder can cause skin irritation. The element is not considered to be either genotoxic or carcinogenic. Crystal Structure: Zirconium has an alpha phase and a beta phase. At room temperature, the atoms form close-packed hexagonal ÃŽ ±-Zr. At 863  Ã‚ °C, the structure transitions to body-centered ÃŽ ²-Zr. Zirconium Physical Data Element Classification: Transition Metal Density (g/cc): 6.506 Melting Point (K): 2125 Boiling Point (K): 4650 Appearance: grayish-white, lustrous, corrosion-resistant metal Atomic Radius (pm): 160 Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 14.1 Covalent Radius (pm): 145 Ionic Radius: 79 (4e) Specific Heat (20 °C J/g mol): 0.281 Fusion Heat (kJ/mol): 19.2 Evaporation Heat (kJ/mol): 567 Debye Temperature (K): 250.00 Pauling Negativity Number: 1.33 First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 659.7 Oxidation States: 4 Lattice Structure: Hexagonal Lattice Constant (Ã…): 3.230 Lattice C/A Ratio: 1.593 References Emsley, John (2001). Natures Building Blocks. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 506–510. ISBN 0-19-850341-5.Lide, David R., ed. (2007–2008). Zirconium. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. 4. New York: CRC Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-8493-0488-0.Meija, J.; et al. (2016). Atomic weights of the elements 2013 (IUPAC Technical Report). Pure and Applied Chemistry. 88 (3): 265–91. doi:10.1515/pac-2015-0305 Return to the Periodic Table

People versus Persons

People versus Persons People versus Persons People versus Persons By Daniel Scocco Felix asks, â€Å"I was just wondering when it was appropriate to use people as opposed to persons.† There is some confusion regarding the two terms, especially because their meaning and usage suffered a mutation along the centuries. Both derive from Latin, but from different words. Person derives from persona, which refers to an individual. People, on the other hand, derives from populum, and it refers to a group of persons sharing a culture or social environment. Person is a singular form, and its plural is persons. Over the time, however, many writers started to adopt people as the plural form of person, and nowadays it is widely accepted. Notice that legal and very formal texts still use persons as the plural form. One distinction that was proposed was to use persons as long as there was a countable number of individuals (e.g., 67 persons left the school) and people when such a number was large and indefinite (e.g., the people left the stadium quickly). The rule did not catch on, though, and some writers still use people even when there is a definite or small number of individuals. Finally, people can also be used in the plural form (e.g., the peoples of Asia) when it refers to the different cultural groups that live in a certain region. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Synonyms for â€Å"Leader†Use a Dash for Number Ranges40 Words Beginning with "Para-"

Risk management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Risk management - Essay Example Even it is also consisted of implementation of a program for assessing the effectiveness. Therefore, it can be said that risk management is an ongoing process. There are four ways to deal with the risk. The first method consists of just rejecting the risk hopping that it will be resolved automatically. Accepting the risk and initiating appropriate actions against the risk can be another option. Transfer of the risk is another measure which indicates the acceptance of alternative risk, higher than the reasonable risk. Lastly, to mitigate the risk i.e. to implement the physical, administrative and technical controls in order to reduce the risk is the another way. Risk assessment is a process or examination through which it can be understood that what can be harmful for the workplace and how it can be prevented in advance. It is important because it gives the authority an advanced alert for the risk that may occur in future so that the future accidents can be avoided. Apart from accident, risk assessment is also useful for reducing insurance cost and damages in machineries. This is a part of risk management and can be better understood by the following diagram. The main objective of the risk assessment is to determine the risk associated with a particular asset. In order to assess risk successfully, few more steps have to be followed, firstly the critical information regarding the assets have to be gathered and possible threats attached with the asset should be identified. Then, the vulnerabilities of the threats and possibility of exploitation are assessed. For assessment of risk, quite a few steps have to be taken. At the outset, identification of risk is necessary. The assessor must visit each and every corner of the work place to have a better understanding with the present condition of the plants and equipments attached in it along with the premises. They may also take advice of the employees. Then, it has to be made out that who are the

Employment law - the employment relationship Essay

Employment law - the employment relationship - Essay Example 25,000. The Tribunal cannot also try cases involving personal injury, breach of agreement to provide accommodation by the employer to the employee, breach of agreement in respect of intellectual property, breach of agreement of confidentiality or breach of agreement in restraint of trade which can only be heard by courts (Nairns, 2008). The statutory limit of claim of ? 25,000 cannot be circumvented by making a claim for damages for wrongful dismissal for the maximum amount before the tribunal and making another claim for balance of damages in the High Court by splitting the same cause of action into two as held in Fraser v HLMAD (2006). Employment tribunal is machinery for dispute resolution. Employment tribunal can be approached by parties after the expiry of conciliation period. Rule 22 of the Employment Tribunals (Constitution and Rules of Procedure) Regulation 2004 bars a tribunal from hearing any case other than cases of discrimination, equal pay and whistle blowing until the e xpiry of the prescribed conciliation period of 13 weeks or 7 weeks from the date of claim made to the respondent depending upon the nature disputes. For disputes of technical nature such as deduction from wages, time off work, breach of contract, redundancy payments and paid annual leave, a lesser period of seven days conciliation applies. The standard conciliation period can be extended by two weeks if there are prospects of settlement as may be considered by ACAS whose duty is to promote the improvement of industrial relations. The judicial dispute resolution starts with employment tribunals which were originally created by Industrial Training Act 1964 and given common law jurisdiction to adjudicate claims for breach of contract by termination of employment. Thus, these tribunals which began as industrial tribunals have transformed into ‘employment tribunals’ in 1998. The power to settle employment disputes is conferred by section 3 of The Employment Tribunals Act 199 6 in replacement of section 131 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation Act) 1978 The tribunals are preferred dispute resolution as they are designed to facilitate speedy resolution of industrial disputes which are often heavy with facts with their potential advantages of ‘ease of access, informality and inexpensiveness’. The employment tribunals having simplified pre-trial procedure with simplified pleadings, are vested with wide powers to adjudicate in ‘a common sense way’ as part of ‘good industrial practice’. However, the law they have to apply is so complex that they are often commented on the legality of the proceedings and decisions. The common sense access to quick justice though a laudable claim is not always compatible with the hard law that has to be followed in most of the cases. The quick and informal justice that an Employment tribunal can provide is in view of the undesirability of appeals that would complicate the matter fur ther. An Employment Tribunal can only decide on the question of facts. Any appeal from its decision can only be made on a question of law. This rule is rigorously applied in that an appeal will be decided on law and remanded back to the tribunal to decide on the que

Application of Terry Eageltons Marist and Sociocultural Theory In Essay

Application of Terry Eageltons Marist and Sociocultural Theory In Analyzing Coleridges Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Essay Example Through application of his theory, this paper will endeavor to extract Marixst leanings from both within the lines of the poem and from the implied intent of the poet's subconscious. In the discussion of the aesthetic and its relation to poetry, Eagleton is forced to slip outside the covers of Marx and examine the background of human thought on the subject. Yet he manages to do this with a critical eye from a communal perspective. When discussing Heidegger, Eagleton addresses the notion of Dasein, that is, the essence of Being that resides in humanity that somehow manifests and transcends the mere existence of Being. This rhetoric essentially boils down that communication of the human experience comes through various media (which itself is both open to and in need of interpretation); the primary means through which this information is made accessible is through the process of language. Heidegger claims that because language is the means through which humanity communicates Being (especially that of feeling or experience), poetry is its most succinct expression, that "Poetry is the saying of the unconcealed ness of beings." (Ideology, 301). Heidegger presumes that the precision of poetry's brevity is the most direct link between the idea/symbol and the thing, and that it therefore is the closest means of unifying the two. He admits that poetry, much like language, can only exist through itself, yet in doing so it reveals the truth of being through the its manifestations. Thus the poet is only acting as a sort of spiritual medium for the greater state of human Being. Heidegger's aesthetics therefore except a degree of 'untruth' of poetry - in that it does not directly relate to reality but is rather epiphanies granted from the nature of this Being which exists outside of this world but can be tapped into by the very nature of mankind's use of language. Marx views language as "practical, real consciousness that exists for other men and only therefore does it exist for me; language arises from the need of intercourse with other men." (Marx, 7). If the former argument sounds obscure and detached from reality, that's because it is and Marx is adamantly opposed to such obtuse metaphysical rhetoric. Furthermore, Marxist opinion has affected all following analysis: post World War II critic Theodor Adorno offers the synopsis of Heidegger's theory of writing poetry as "One speaks from a depth which would be profaned if it were called content." (Ideology, 301). Adorno instead argues that a concept and a thing are two entirely different things, the concept of a thing is unique from the thing itself, as the use of language to describe the thing is based solely upon socially accepted and understood means of denoting the thing. As such, "poetry strives to phenomenalize language " (Ideology, 342) goal that ultimately defeats itself, since the mo re the language strives to emulate the thing, the more the description manifests as a distinct and separate entity. An example of this can be discovered through a very brief search as to the myriad descriptions available to any subject, be it Death, the seasons, a pet or so forth. Adorno thus hinges much of his argument upon style, or rather, the means with which an individual

People's History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

People's History - Essay Example In this specific book, Zinn unfurls the early times when Christopher Columbus stumbled across the lands of current America while searching for the riches of Asia. Assuming to have reached the prosperous lands of Asia, Columbus tried in vain to uncover the non-existent riches from the barren lands. His failure to do so brought the unjustified wrath of the investors and Columbus himself befalling on the innocent and naive natives of the region. The bloodshed and series of wars that followed resulted in the loss of innumerable lives. According to a report, by 1650, none of the natives remained alive. (Zinn). The book holds elaborate accounts of how Columbus, revered as a discoverer of America, and other colonists waged wars against the natives, eliminating their existence from their very own lands. Zinn does not excuse the manslaughter and â€Å"genocide† that occurred; instead he focuses on all historical aspects to relieve the history of the distortions that have now been embed ded in it. Furthermore, the book talks about the mass imports of slaves from Africa which ranged from 10 to 15 million people. This brought about the establishment and acceptance of slavery. Racial and complexion biases were practiced ruthlessly. The resisting masses of â€Å"blacks† were forced into their places as slaves, not allowed to mix with the white people. This marked the â€Å"Drawing (of) the color line† (Zinn) as the title of the second chapter suggests. Moreover, the book develops the idea of social classes with extreme rapidity. Social classes were formed almost immediately thereof, establishing distinct living standards for all. The residents of England enjoyed the top-most tier of the social classes, followed by the elites in United States of America, then the frontiersmen who mainly consisted of white rebels against the tyranny of slavery, and

Kant and Schopenhauer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Kant and Schopenhauer - Essay Example ical imperative can be termed as an unconditional principle that that all rational human use and it is free form from influence by one’s desire or motive. Kant has given proof that human autonomy should be a presupposed state of free will. Moral action is dictated by its uniqueness of the antinomy of freedom and fundamental determination. For one to do the right thing actions intended should have an impact in the world and one has to go on and undertake it to proof that one is free from external influence. Morality demands for causality and freedom from us. One can be able to conceptualize actions in two ways. One can think in two ways but at the same time, one should be intellectually independent. An autonomous will is required if we are to act morally (Walker, 2012). Moral law is motivated by the desire to attain other interest. Rational will can only come from moral law. This principle emphasizes that people should recognize the freedom of other to act independently to promote universal sable of moral laws. Kant challenges us to act and our will regarded and while at this, we should be able to make universal laws through this princ iple. When we follow reason, the world around us will be shaped by the authority that underlies within our will as humans. The ‘End in Itself†is another maxim used by Kant. It implies that one should treat others whether in one’s personality or others as resource and at the same as an end. Simply put we should not use others as objects but we should perceive them with dignity and significance we all bear. This helps us to differentiate things that have instrumental value and those that have inherent value. In life some things are only used as objects to obtain others. We appreciate inherent things for what they are and not for what they help us accomplish. According to Kant, people have inherent in the sense that we are able to go beyond our instincts and make critical decisions concerning our lived and the society at large

People's History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

People's History - Essay Example In this specific book, Zinn unfurls the early times when Christopher Columbus stumbled across the lands of current America while searching for the riches of Asia. Assuming to have reached the prosperous lands of Asia, Columbus tried in vain to uncover the non-existent riches from the barren lands. His failure to do so brought the unjustified wrath of the investors and Columbus himself befalling on the innocent and naive natives of the region. The bloodshed and series of wars that followed resulted in the loss of innumerable lives. According to a report, by 1650, none of the natives remained alive. (Zinn). The book holds elaborate accounts of how Columbus, revered as a discoverer of America, and other colonists waged wars against the natives, eliminating their existence from their very own lands. Zinn does not excuse the manslaughter and â€Å"genocide† that occurred; instead he focuses on all historical aspects to relieve the history of the distortions that have now been embed ded in it. Furthermore, the book talks about the mass imports of slaves from Africa which ranged from 10 to 15 million people. This brought about the establishment and acceptance of slavery. Racial and complexion biases were practiced ruthlessly. The resisting masses of â€Å"blacks† were forced into their places as slaves, not allowed to mix with the white people. This marked the â€Å"Drawing (of) the color line† (Zinn) as the title of the second chapter suggests. Moreover, the book develops the idea of social classes with extreme rapidity. Social classes were formed almost immediately thereof, establishing distinct living standards for all. The residents of England enjoyed the top-most tier of the social classes, followed by the elites in United States of America, then the frontiersmen who mainly consisted of white rebels against the tyranny of slavery, and

Thinking Critically Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Thinking Critically - Essay Example This caused for falling of sales from the last three months. Sharmaji firstly identify the problem elaborately. Some problems may become the real problems that may be caused for the falling of sales. Sharmaji critically think the real problems facing in the store and the terms of urgency in the company. In accordance with Sharmaji the real performance of a business is related to the employees. The satisfaction, market trend,working experience, their interest to work are based on the performance of a business. When the marketing trends are changed, it can be motivated by the employees, the employees can find ways to succeed the problem. (University of Phoenix)(1) Sharmaji critically think the problems’ urgency and criticality. The urgent problems can be impact the store’s problems in short-term and the critical problems is that can be impact in a significant manner in the operations of the company. He understands that the sales are decreased from the past three months only this store. Any other has not the problems. Because of the competition process that the present market’s facing problem the sales become fall. For the overcome of the problem they take decision to take alternative solution to this problem.(Koontz)(2) They think to purchase another Store cooling and air-conditioned machine to the store and by this increase the sales. They discussed it with other subordinates and take the decision of purchase. They critically think that his is the only way to achieve the goal. But the legal side takes notice that the new machine has some newly furnished machine and that will cause for the air pollution. They detect the installing of the new machine. By the new machine the company can reduce the cost of electricity and this will cause for increase of the return. But the rules of Law of the companies will not allow for the installation. Sharmaji critically thinking the urgency and

Ethics Game Reflective Journal Essay Example for Free

Ethics Game Reflective Journal Essay Nursing has evolved throughout the years. Gone are the days that the existence of nursing geared towards following the orders of senior members on the profession and initiation of routine procedures. In today’s nursing, nurses are valued and needed for their reasoning as well as intellectual skills. The changes in nursing require the desire to be more responsible and contributory to the wellbeing of those that needed care. These changes led to more complex ethical dilemmas that nurses’ encounter. This paper aims to provide a reflection on the Ethical Dilemmas presented on the Ethics Game Simulation, the decision-making steps taken to address the ethical issues, how the ethical concepts influenced the decisions made, and the application of the ethical concepts to a medical-surgical unit. The Case of the Troubled Teen This case illustrates Rachel Banks a 16 year-old teenager who got pregnant out of wedlock and currently on her tenth hour of labor on the OB/GYN unit at Seva Medical Center. She’s accompanied by her parents. Rachel’s parents are instructing the staff nurses to withhold the pain medication as punishment for getting pregnant before getting married. Since Rachel Banks is a minor, legally, the parents can decide for her. The nurses are concerned due to the possible detrimental health effects that the situation can cause to Rachel and her unborn baby, Lily. The nurses also became aware that the parents may not be fully educated on the consequences of their decision. In order to make an ethical decision on this case, I used the Baird Decision Model which provided five frameworks: Step 1: Be attentive, Step 2: Be Intelligent, Step 3: Be Reasonable, Step 4: Be Responsible, and Step 5: Be Reflective (University of Phoenix, 2013). The main issue in this case is how to ensure that Rachel and the baby get appropriate and timely medical care. I reviewed the e-mails and communications gathered in order to get a picture of the situation and see that the best possible solution arise. Upon understanding the main issue of this case, I’ve identified that the primary stakeholders includes; Rachel Banks, her parents, her unborn child, the staff nurse, and the primary nurse because they will be impacted on the decisions made in this situation. After identifying the main issue and the primary stakeholders, using the rights/responsibilities lens I was able to identify that my obligations and duties includes providing the best possible care to Rachel Banks and her unborn child, not to accommodate parents who are harming their child, and also support my staff’s professional improvement. On the results lens, I was able to recognize what would create the greatest good for the greatest number of stakeholders which was to involve the nurses and the parents in assessing need for medication intervention and also provide information for aftercare support and education. I believe that the decision made on this scenario benefits both the patient and her family. By involving the parents in the assessment of Rachel’s medical needs, conflict is alleviated and thus, creates a positive outcome. The Case of the Policies and Politics This case is about Alain Trottier, a patient brought in the emergency room by his domestic partner, Yves. Alain was admitted to the ICU unit and has been unconscious. The day- shift supervisor, Carlotta Baldwin is preventing Yves from seeing the patient and refuses provide information regarding the patient because he is not an actual family member. However, according to the hospital policy, domestic partners are to be treated as married couples for the purposes of access and, most importantly, when it must be determined who can make medical decisions for a patient unable to give their own consent. My duty as the nurse taking care of Alain is to identify the critical issue in this situation which is the equal treatment and access of gay partners at Seva Medical Center as equal to those of straight couples. Upon identifying this as the main issue, it is easier to analyze the problem. Again, the following stakeholders were identified: Alain Trottier (patient), Yves (domestic partner), C arlotta Baldwin, RN (shift supervisor), Amelia Flinch (Director of Nursing), the shareholders of the hospital, and lastly, I the staff nurse taking care of Alain. This scenario has led to the identification of relationship lens. The relationship lens focuses on the community. The main concern of this lens is to provide basic liberties to all people (University of Phoenix, 2013). The three rights represented in this case were: right to participate in decision-making for an unconscious family member, right to have hospital policy regarding participation by family members implemented, and right to be informed that your interpretation of hospital policy is inaccurate. I believe that these rights are the major component of this lens because it focuses on the patient, family, and healthcare providers. Upon understanding the basic rights related to this situation, the following actions such as educating all employees with hospital policies, establishing a taskforce to make sure that the policies are put into practice and conducting yearly audits to make sure that the policies are implemented. These actions will ensure that the patient will benefit greatly on the policies placed on the facility. Lastly, the reputation lens discusses the virtues important for leadership; core competencies such as managing diversity, problem-solving, self-knowledge, decision quality and fairness. These values are important because of the overall positive effect that it can bring to the patient and the facility. My final decision in this case is to note on Alains chart that Yves is to be given access and treated as family. Speak to Carlotta about my decision and let my supervisor know. I believe that this decision has no risk. This decision has demonstrated that I am fully knowledgeable on the hospital policies and also implementing what I know for the benefit of my patient. By assuring equal access will likely improve the hospital’s status in the community. Lastly, by informing Carlotta Baldwin and the supervisor know of the decision can be a message that further education is needed for all employees to be more aware and knowledgeable of the hospital policies. Ethical Dilemma at a Medical-Surgical Unit I’ve been working as a RN at a medical-surgical unit for almost a year now. I still consider myself as a novice nurse and I feel that I haven’t been exposed to a lot of ethical dilemmas. However, I believe that pain management or providing pain relief can be an ethical dilemma for any nurse. The ethical issue is this: can we as nurses undertreat a patient’s pain because we are concerned about the repercussions or because we know that the patient is addicted to the medication. I believe when challenging situations like this arise, I need to be conscious of my own biases and make evidence-based decisions that can provide optimal treatment to the patient. By not being judgmental, I can fully assess what would benefit my patient greatly and include him/her on the treatment plan- giving autonomy. By including the patient I can also decrease the harm because I will have a better understanding of what will work best for my patient, and lastly, by hindering my biases I will be able to treat my patient’s pain in a non-discriminating way possible. As nurses continues to encounter complex ethical dilemmas as the profession and society gears forward, we must still go back on the foundation of nursing in accordance to the mission of Florence Nightingale; nurses are missioners of health dedicated to the advancement of human welfare. References: University of Phoenix. (2013). Ethics Game Simulation [Multimedia]. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, HCS478 website.

Ethics and Reality TV

Ethics and Reality TV Abstract Reality TV, like many other postmodern spectacles, operates on a deeply tenuous and ambiguous ethical grounding. On the one hand, the audience / creator model of exploitation can be seen as providing the viewer with entertainment and escapism. On the other it can be said to create a system of dependency and artificial need. The ethics of participation in game show style reality offers a similar contradiction which is dependent upon whether participants are free to choose, or whether they are in fact coerced by elements beyond their control. This dissertation will look at the various factors and paradigms (psychoanalytical, Marxist, poststructuralist) that constitute this model of reality. This requires a certain concretisation of terms such as ethics, and of what constitutes â€Å"reality† itself. The dissertation will also look at the politics of reality TV itself – namely, does Reality TV constitute a unique event in the development of television, or does it merely re flect a continuation for television producers to create ever more innovative methods of keeping our interests satiated? Is Reality TV itself the origin of the moral crimes, or is Reality TV merely a reflection of the ethical climate of capitalism in which we live? Finally, the dissertation will look at the possible futures for â€Å"reality† TV. Methodology As this dissertation is largely discursive in nature, and involves a widespread discussion of general philosophical and ethical themes, I will purely refer to secondary material. This will be assisted by the large and abundant materials that exist on the matter of â€Å"Reality† TV, ethics, and the conjoining of the two. I will use library materials, newspaper and magazine materials, as well as the raw footage of the Reality TV itself to generate an opinion and an overall discussion about the general impacts, considerations and ethical standards of reality TV, and whether constructive change is a) desirable and b) possible. What are Ethics? Ethics have proven to be a central part of philosophical enquiry for thousands of years. As such, it would be useful to summarize what and how this theory has developed over the years, and what tends to form the debate around â€Å"ethics† now. This is essential in order to gauge the relationship between â€Å"good† ethical conduct and the recent phenomenon of reality TV. Ethics was originally conceived as a way to engage with morals – literally, it can be seen as an attempt to establish a â€Å"moral philosophy† for living, and is concerned about notions such as what is right and what is wrong. It exposes the various difficulties between making certain decisions or of living life in a particular way. Understandably, the concept and the notion of good moral behaviour and bad moral behaviour have changed radically since the initial formulation of Western ethics in Ancient Greece over 2000 years ago. While modern moral reasoning bases its understandings upon the writings of Plato and Aristotle, it has mutated radically as regards to who the subject of the writing actually is concerned with. Whereas Plato, Aristotle and the ancient Greeks were concerned more about the self – e.g. how to morally explain the individual – whereas the modern ethical practice is more concerned about how to treat others in the first instance. Annette Hill comments that â€Å"Modern moral philosophy is therefore primarily about public good, and the development of moral values within particular social, political and cultural groups, and also within particular secular societies.† (2005, p. 110). Rather than acting, then justifying behaviour, modern ethics are primarily concerned about what exactly one should do in the first place, and is about the relationship between the self and society, the promotion of the notion of the â€Å"public good†, and of partaking in particular acts, often against the self or the will that would otherwise have a harmful effect on society. Major paradigmatic models incorporate this model of public good into their progressive ideologies. Central to the Marxist model (which I will be later applying to the phenomenon of reality TV), is the relationship between the working classes and the ruling classes. This is argued in Marx as being ethically dubious, because while the proletariat are enslaved by the capitalist system by their work, the ruling classes benefit from this relationship infinitely. Therefore, from a Marxist context, capitalism and the ways in which this model distributes wealth can be seen as the primary mechanism from which morality is corrupted. Similarly, religion and faith is often touted as â€Å"scapegoats† for unethical behaviour. The existentialist Friedrich Nietzsche formulated his own quasi-religion / moral philosophy based on the concepts of the Ubermensch and the theories of eternal recurrence. His position is existential, and forms a central part of what constitutes ethical matters today. Existentialism is, put simply, a belief that man creates his own belief systems. The existence of something precedes its essence; namely, the process of doing something is more important than the assignation of certain methods of thinking or reasoning behind it. A person is not innately good, but instead he acts good. Robert Anton Wilson (1990) comments that â€Å"Nietszsche’s existentialism (1) attacked the floating abstractions of traditional philosophy and a great deal of what passes as ‘common sense’ (e.g. he rejected the terms ‘good’, ‘evil’, ‘the real world’, and even the ego.) (2) also preferred concrete analysis of real life situations [†¦] and (3) attacked Christianity, rather than defending it† (14-15). As such, an existential critique of reality TV would tend to eschew concrete moral conclusion based on the grounding that reality TV exploits people, and therefore it is bad – moreover, the pheno menon of reality TV is based upon a number of larger social trends and mechanisms; a whole system of belief that doesn’t necessarily taint reality, but actually comprises of reality. Therefore, the existentialist may attack Reality TV, but Nietzsche would presumably argue that it is an expression of human will, Marx would argue that it represents merely an extension of the capitalism that seeks to exploit the workers and Kierkegaard would argue that his role is to determine that people have the choice to make their own decisions. Both Nietzsche and Kierkegaard were not concerned about notions of abstract truth – they were existential insofar as their concern was about day to day existence. In the absence of the notion of truth, over Nietzsche’s â€Å"will to power† and Kierkegaard’s system of choice and personal autonomy, the system of modern moral philosophy was overturned by the new ethical paradigm. Nietszche argued that the ubermensch would not do bad things because it would be detrimental to his own will to power; a moral system of good and bad is, ultimately, irrelevant to the ubermensch, because the parameters of decision-making have been changed. This ethical reasoning in many ways bled into the individualism of psychoanalysis, which is a factor that comes into play in a great many of the reality TV programmes: as I will argue later, the obsession in reality TV with rendering perverse the Freudian neuroses (described by him as anal, oral and genital fixations), combined with the capitalist, consumerist desire to pacify the â€Å"slaves† within the semiotic network that constitutes television, creates a scenario whereby the human self is rendered obscene. A psychoanalytical analysis of Reality TV creates many discrepancies; moreover, it is the combination of pacifying the autonomous will of the individual, combined with the exposition of Freudian unconscious â€Å"discoveries† that makes reality TV objectionable to mainstream technical issues. However, before I try to extrapolate the various issues at stake in the arguments for and against reality TV, the concept of reality TV, in particular what the term â€Å" reality† means in this context, has to be explored. What is the â€Å"reality† in Reality TV? Jean Baudrillard and other philosophers coined â€Å"poststructuralist† by Western scholars would undoubtedly be impressed by the ironical use of the term â€Å"reality† in reality TV. One of Jean Baudrillard’s key issues is the argument for â€Å"hyperreality†. He suggests in Simulacra and Simulation (1994) that the hyperreal is â€Å"real without origin or reality† (1). Indeed, the concept of â€Å"reality† TV where participants are asked to stay in an enclosed space for weeks on end and told to do surrealistic things (Big Brother), or to stay on a desert island (Temptation Island, Survivor) is unreal in itself, but the term â€Å"reality† instead applies to the logic that contestants exist rather than actors or performers. It is a â€Å"genre† of TV in which the controlled amateurish quality of the programme is exaggerated into a package of neuroses that have usurped and transcended reality itself. Secondly, TV is edited, dis seminated and packaged in a particular way that, according to Baudrillard, substitutes itself for reality; in one judgement of hyperreality, Baudrillard suggests that it represents â€Å"more real than real†, and eventually usurps reality. The concept of â€Å"reality† in reality TV destroys the â€Å"sovereign difference† between the map and the territory (1994, 2). As such, reality TV exists as an exemplar of this particular moment in late capitalism where the simulation of reality has evaded and transcended the real itself. To stress this theory further, I will look more generally at what Baudrillard means by hyperreality, and cite some further examples of how this theory can be established. Like Nietzsche, Baudrillard begins with an interrogation of the â€Å"real world†, arguing that because our perceptions of reality are rooted in semiotic languages and discursive structures, that the concept of an external, objective reality outside of the self can not be established, and merely bases itself upon a chimera or a lie. Instead, Baudrillard argues that reality is merely a system of communication, in which reality has become a commodified, capitalistic device. In The System of Objects, Baudrillard offers a critique of the advertising industry. While many of the images used by, say, the automobile industry are deliberately faked or exaggerated, the nature of this exaggeration, and the extent to which these images are promoted over and above the actual reality of what the car is (ultimately, a device for getting from one place to another), the specific, advertised car itself becomes an impossible object – a representation of reality that lies beyond reality itself. For instance, recent advertising that features a car that transforms into a dolphin does not have any prescience in reality, nor does it even attempt to establish itself as real. Instead, it embodies in the vehicle certain images or â€Å"realities† that, acc ording to Baudrillard, become reality and, as such, substitute reality for a marketed, plasticised illusion that â€Å"represents† reality to a greater degree. This theory can be extended to encompass many other factors that seem based upon manufacturing and colonising the real. Pornography represents a reality of sex that transcends and usurps sex itself; a soft drink with a non-existent flavour, such as â€Å"wild ice zest berry† (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperreality) creates a â€Å"reality† in linguistic terms that has no relationship to â€Å"modern† as opposed to â€Å"postmodern† reality. Again, advertising generates a reality that exaggerates and simulates the real in totality; there is no attempt made to reproduce reality, but instead signs and signification operate within themselves, applying to only their own logic. This reality can be seen in terms of reality TV as well. Programmes such as Survivor, Big Brother and other reality TV programmes that synthesise the game show format tend to exaggerate the realities of the participants. The world in which these â€Å"real† people interact is one which is completely fabricated, usually to exaggerate some narrative or mythological scenario which the viewer is undoubtedly familiar with. Big Brother, for instance, plays with the familiar Orwellian notion of total surveillance and dystopia – Survivor plays on the themes of the desert island, featured in many historical and literary myths that date back to the Bible. As such, depending on what opinions we have about what reality constitutes, these types of program are undoubtedly far off the mark. Post-production techniques are used to exaggerate the dramatic tensions between people; often people who would ordinarily have no contact are forced into relationships with one another, and it has been insinuated that certain parts of reality TV are scripted beforehand, in order to prevent the programme from becoming tedious or formulaic. What does this development in the notion of â€Å"reality† do to a discussion of the ethics of reality TV? Firstly, the production processes of reality TV are heavily reliant upon advertisers and private corporations concerned about making money. Such companies do not generally have too scrupulous a reputation for ethical marketing or behaviour. Product placement is a regular feature in reality TV, which, if looked at from a Marxist point of view, leads to the synthesis of what is seen as common sense â€Å"reality† and of corporate desire. The existential view of reality, while in a kind of agreement with the ambiguity of reality TV, would argue that reality as it is presented here merely represents a faith or a religion that substitutes the pure will (choice or autonomy) of the individual into a scenario where all things are scripted, edited and controlled by forces that depend upon the viewer becoming pacified and infantilized. I argue that the reality in reality TV merely represents a particular version of reality. As post-structuralist philosophy would suggest, the notion of objective reality in the postmodern age is simply a psychologically, sociologically and metaphysically attuned network that serves to create a religion or a mythical structure of â€Å"truth† and â€Å"reality†. While Nietzsche would argue that Reality TV subdues the personal will, and of human folly and weakness, reducing the viewer to the level of passive consumer, he would also argue that it is not the ethical place of people to assume that this dynamic of â€Å"exploitation† (as Marxists would posit) is necessarily wrong. Indeed, criticisms of Nietzsche’s critiques of Christianity, while vitriolic and hateful in tone, overlook the simple premise that Nietzsche’s intention himself was not to create a system of objective truth himself. Because, as he postulates in Beyond Good and Evil: â€Å"In the womb of being, rather, in the intran sitory, in the hidden god, in the ‘thing in itself’ – that is where their cause must lie and nowhere else! – This mode of judgement constitutes the typical prejudice by which metaphysicians of all ages can be recognized; this mode of evaluation stands in the background of all their logical procedures; it is on account of this their ‘faith’ that they concern themselves with their ‘knowledge’, with something that is at last solemnly baptized ‘the truth’† (1973, 34). As such, the creation of truth, upon which grounds Nietzsche was sorely condemned for throughout the 20th century, was not Nietzsche’s central desire – indeed, the establishment of a particular truth ignores Nietzsche’s attempts to negate the this preoccupation with â€Å"truth† and â€Å"reality† present in the mind of the â€Å"metaphysician† and the abstract philosopher. The existentialist is not concerned a bout abstractions, but instead he is concerned about the establishment of productive myths. In this respect, the â€Å"reality† of reality TV (at least where participants and audience are volunteers) is real and, dependent upon how greatly you herald such issues as personal autonomy cannot be anything but a moral, voluntary exchange. Marxism and the streams of thinkers that have come to be associated with Marxism tend to think very differently about the self. Socialist philosophy suggests that the human freedoms posited by the American and British administrations during their â€Å"free† market experiments are merely a chimera designed to obfuscate and paper over the exploitative system of exchange that operates between rich and poor. Contrary to existentialism, Marxists suggest that voluntary participants (in such things as reality TV) have to adhere to some greater moral code, because the dynamic of exchange exposes basic human vulnerabilities that exist in everybody. Their concept of reality is based upon a politics of exploitation, or a dialectical exchange between two opposing factions, one of which is exploited, and the other is dominant. Such Marxist theory can be used to explore this notion of â€Å"reality† in reality TV further: the dynamic between rich and poor (used in â€Å"crude† or traditional Marxism) creates a system of exploitation between the working class and the ruling class. This can be extended into linguistics and semantic theory, and forms the central tenet of deconstructionist theory posited by Jacques Derrida. Derrida argues firstly that the structuralist theories of Ferdinand de Saussure depended upon a relationship between the signifier and the signified – namely, what is being represented and what it represents. While Saussure argued that this framework was stable, and that the signifier and the signified never changed, Derrida and the deconstructionist theorists argued that the relationship between the signifier and the signified was always subject to â€Å"play† and fluctuated constantly. Moreover, the limitations of human communication meant that our perception of the world was limited. Derrida argues that the world is conveyed in language and discourse. Derrida takes this further, arguing that Western language has always based its functionality upon what he calls â€Å"binary oppositions†, in which one is seen as inferior, while the other is seen as superior. These oppositions run the gamut of human thinking and is what abstract philosophy tends to ignore: for instance, the dichotomy between man and woman is the subject of many feminist writers: while man can give women the same material rights, linguistically, woman still represents the absence of masculinity. Similarly, reality is seen as superior to the simulacrum, as explored by Plato’s myth of the cave, in which he argues that one pure object exists, and that everything else is a copy, and therefore inferior to the real thing. Derrida argues that deconstruction provides a solution to this problem, and by exposing and making conscious these oppositions, and deliberately working against them creates a system of simultaneous difference and equality through semantic â€Å"play†. As such, the ethical concept or exchange between the directors of reality TV, the participants and the audience create an interesting dynamic of exploitation that tends to eschew simple ethical thinking. To say that these reality programmes are bad ethically (a string of reasons have been posited, from the sensory deprivation of participants, to the unsavoury and voyeuristic nature of the program, to the use of the grotesque, to the implementation of torture techniques) avoids the overall issue that participation is â€Å"voluntary†. However, the previous arguments (deconstructive, Marxist, feminist, existential) all have radically different arguments as to what exactly constitutes â€Å"voluntary†; the notion of voluntary participation is a key issue in philosophical debate, and can be seen to surface in the ethics of advertising, fast food consumption and the selling of junk to young people. The question revolves around the concept of â€Å"reality†; namely, wh ether we are in control or whether our choices are determined by mechanisms and structures of power, addiction, and deep psychological needs. Reality TV argues that it exists as a form of entertainment. In the following section I will look at the dynamic of exploitation; particularly upon how reality TV exploits certain human qualities or â€Å"realities†, and renders them perverse. Reality TV: a psychoanalytical approach Reality TV, especially the phenomenon of the game show Reality TV programme, namely such programmes as Big Brother, Survivor, Big Diet, Celebrity Fat Club, Temptation Island, Bachelorette and Boot Camp exploit numerous psychoanalytical desires in order to â€Å"hystericise† reality and to render ordinary impulses and desires perverse. This exploitation, which I will argue is central to the strategy of corporatism and central to the postmodern malaise raises a number of ethical questions concerning the position of Reality TV in contemporary society, is endemic in the phenomenon of reality TV, and appears concerned primarily as either a reflection of, or a creation of, many issues that plague Western consciousness. Reality TV attacks certain concepts and, via gossip columns and TV journalism in other media, makes these things hysterical. One such topic is that of the â€Å"normal† relationship. While Big Brother tends to vet the participants based upon their position as s exually â€Å"perverse† (the last series of Big Brother featured a transsexual and several homosexuals) eccentric or colourful in order to engender conflict within the house and to maximize the entertainment value that can be derived from this â€Å"reality† that is constructed, the vision of the ordinary relationship, which occurs with relative frequency in the Big Brother house, is one that is treated with extreme shock by both participants, media, the programme makers, and eventually, the audience themselves. Jan Jagodozinki (2003) comments that â€Å"each reality game ‘hot-houses’ and hystericizes ‘normal relationships’, engendering paranoid perception where no one is to be trusted† (323). Of course, ethically this hystericisation serves the purpose many mass-mediated and televised spectacles seek to achieve. In a Marxist, postmodernist context, the media (especially the ‘modern’ mediums of television and brand advertis ing) wishes to engender a consumer whose only relationship to the outside world is through the corporatist-owned signification of signs. We are marketed towards in order to create an atomised, pseudo-individual whose only relationship to him / her self is through signification and engagement with the hyperreal. As such, consumer need is created, manufactured in the dream factory of advertising, and disseminated through mass media to create demand for a product that was, prior to the embellishment of reality through hyperrealistic signification, useless and unnecessary. Reality TV simply contributes to this feeling of post-human disgust with the mechanisms of the body and the unconscious mind. For instance, the drives expounded by Freud (labelled by him as genital, oral and anal), are attacked with frequency in a number of these TV reality shows: In Big Brother, participants are deprived of food, and are occasionally â€Å"treated† to products from the outside world when they participate in a particular task (the oral, anal dichotomy). The lack of privacy in toilets suggest the programmes obsession with these excretive functions; also, the relationships that occur among these â€Å"ordinary† people are exaggerated with an unparalleled degree of disgust and hysteria both within the programme and external to it in other â€Å"gossip† columns and TV magazines. This suggests an obsession with the genital drives that are echoed in other reality TV programmes. The hystericisation of normality â€Å"are the very symptoms that plague the American landscape, namely the preoccupation with the excesses of the drives – anal and oral (food / dieting) [†¦], genital (seduction) [†¦] trust, [†¦] extreme physical exertion [†¦] authority† (Jagodozinki 2003, 323). These drives are isolated and compounded in a manner that many would figure as unethical; the audiences watch the TV – voyeurs in their living rooms – rendering all these desires perverse and alien. The anal / oral functioning can be seen in all manner of these game show / reality TV hybrids. In Survivor, participants experience food deprivation, then are force-fed the junk food of capitalism. Reality TV provides us with either a perverse kind of promotion of these desires, or else exaggerates and satirizes these principles that already play a huge part in the advertising, producer / consumer relationship of (most of) Western society. For instance, many of these reality TV programmes are obsessed with food and excrement, the balance between which is, of course, expressed in terms of physical weight: Game show reality programmes such as Fat Club, Big Diet, Survivor and Big Brother, as well as innumerable documentaries, talk shows (Gerry Springer, Rikki Lake, Oprah Winfrey all tend to devote a disproportionate amount of time to â€Å"exposing† obesity in ways that carefully tread the dual lines of exploitation and grotesquer y, and non-pervasive exploration or passive â€Å"documentary†, often with a focus on the former) all focus on weight, eating and consumption as a mainstay of their challenges. In one edition of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, pop-mystic and spoon bender Uri Geller was forced to eat live slugs while some other minor celebrity spent most of the programme complaining about his constipation. As such, natural processes such as eating, drinking and excreting matter becomes exaggerated to such an extent that these very bodily processes become shameful. Jagodozinki comments that â€Å"Survivor players are foced to follow exactly the same starve and binge mentality of bulemics† (2003, 321). The Freudian drives and impulses are concentrated upon by programme makers in order to engender an interest in the programme that, if it were a representation of ordinary, mundane â€Å"reality†, would presumably be too scant to provoke widespread interest. Similarly, other drives are obsessed over. The genital desires, marked by an obsession with sex, lust and seduction are exploited through programmes such as Big Brother, Temptation Island and Bachelorette, where sexual, relationship related trysts are exploited by the programme makers in order to maximise audience ratings and profits from their programme. For instance, whenever a relationship threatens to bubble over in Big Brother, the programme makers, along with the media vehicles that feature Big Brother (showbiz magazines and tabloid newspapers, for instance) tend to simultaneously glorify and pervert the developing relationship into a grotesque and abominable spectacle. Trust and paranoiac fantasies are also played with in the post-production of Big Brother. The format is automatically designed to expose hypocrisy: while participants are forced to work together and live together, participants also have to periodically vote each other out of the house. As such, issues of trust and paranoiac functions are exploited, in a microcosm, of the contemporary world that constitutes â€Å"reality† TV. As such, the difficulty with exposing the ethical indiscretion of reality TV is simply that it can either be seen as a hyperbolic reflection or satire of current prevalent trends in Western society, or that it can be seen as contributing to the effects of â€Å"consumerisation†, and can therefore be seen in the light of Marxists who approach the exploitative mechanisms of mass media with grave suspicion. Louis Althusser’s system of â€Å"interpolation† which in his words, is described as having the following relationship with ideology: â€Å"ideology interpolates the individual as subject, [†¦] this interpolation is realized in institutions, in their rituals and practices† (2001). As such, the ideology of guilt, of loathing for the body and of the consumerisation of the general public through the exploitation of these particular vulnerabilities is, according to Althusser, interpolated and disseminated through mass media, or, as he calls it, the  "ideological state apparatus†. And any form of mass media that adheres to these capitalist desires against the individual and for the â€Å"subject† is also catering to systematic oppression to the masses and is therefore morally reprehensible. So, what is the argument in favour of reality TV? Namely, that it bypasses these ideologies and instead presents us with a â€Å"reality† of ordinary people, unencumbered by the traffic of biased representation one tends to get in drama and fiction. The function of reality TV, according to this argument, is to present to people life as it really is. I would argue, however, that this is not the case for a number of reasons. The psychological stresses that subjects are put under are, in themselves, unique in these game show / reality TV programmes. It would be extraordinary to presume that everyday people would be forced to endure these psychological strains. Moreover, the dissemination and the editing of these pieces together serves a dual function: firstly, it imposes a strict narrative upon the happenings based upon a desire to entertain. Entertainment can be achieved through the exploitation and exaggerations of these specific, Freudian functions. In order to condense 24 hou rs of time into half an hour, programme makers have to edit the raw material of â€Å"reality† in a way that generates interest in the overall product. The effect of this is to highlight these desires and dramas and to generate a narrative of disgust from the raw material. As such, events are scandalised, hystericised, and processed through the â€Å"state apparatus† of Freudian drama. This is satirised in the film The Truman Show. Jagodozinki (2003) comments that â€Å"The banality of his everyday life with its mundane repetitions is the very opposite of media hype which happens off camera or is worked in ‘live’† (328). The function of this segment is to highlight the principle that these dramas are not reality; simply because the subject is â€Å"real† and falls into the pigeonhole of â€Å"non-fiction† by programmers, the ways in which these â€Å"documentaries† are assembled tend to fall into dramatic stereotypes associated with the exploitation of Freudian impulses, checked with a Marxian system of exploitation. The World Is Flat: â€Å"Infotainment† and relativism Modern news programming tends to cut and splice events of widely different qualities – from serious news items about plagues, famines, death and suffering to items about cuddly toys and cats getting stranded in trees. Also, programming on commercial channels are cut every fifteen minutes with a barrage of advertising, with the effect of sharply combining the â€Å"reality† of news footage and reality TV with the â€Å"non-reality† of advertising. Ethically, this places TV in general under the accusation of numbing the viewer and transforming him or her into the amoral, relativistic, emotionally numb and philosophically nihilistic consumer infant that sociopaths and corporations tend to prefer. As such, arguments about the â€Å"reality† of reality TV being less produced than fiction tends to falter instead, the handle of â€Å"reality† has the effect of simply lowering the viewer’s (or consumer’s) guard. The juxtaposition of mundane e vents in a fast barrage of creative editing sensationalises the mundane. In a triumph of style over content, some reality TV shows and news features use music and montage to create the illusion of event, when there is no event to speak of. â€Å"Real life† documentaries and long-running reality TV programmes, such as Changing Rooms and DIY SOS utilise quirky (and somewhat insipid) montage sequences with humorous music in order to generate a homely, friendly appeal. However, almost all reality TV programmes appeal to consumerist desires (an endless procession of programmes about house hunting, gardening, buying), or exploitative voyeurism (house cleaning programmes about â€Å"dirty† people, unsympathetic obesity programmes, a fixation upon sexual or cosmetic acts). Ethically, reality TV however, only ser

Behavior and Development of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Ess

This paper will review five studies concerning the behavior and development of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The studies investigate how autism effects communication, socialization, cognitive development, and a number of other areas. Researchers use many different types of scales to measure and compare the difference between children with ASD and typically developing children. Methodology Study 1 Morgan, Lindee, Wetherby, Amy M., Barber, Angie (2008) Repetitive and stereotyped movements in children with autism spectrum disorders late in the second year of life In this study there were three groups of children between 18 and 24 months of age participated. One group had Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), another group had developmental delays (DD) but autism was ruled out, and the third group had a typical development (TD). They conducted a study in which they videotaped some behavioral samples using the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales Developmental Profile (CSBS). This is a clinical tool that is used to measure repetitive and stereotyped movements (RSM) in young children. The experiment takes about twenty minutes to administer and uses communication techniques such as bubbles, different toys, cheerios, books, and other activities to promote communication is the children. Study 2 Luyster, Rhiannon J., Kadlec, Mary Beth, Carter, Alice, Tager-Flusberg, Helen (2008) Language Assessment and Development in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders Participants were based on ages of 18 to 33 months and were picked from collaboration with early intervention in Massachusetts. The sample size was 164 toddlers, 129 boys and 35 girls. 142 were white, 2 were African American, 4 were Asian, 1 American Indian/ Alaska... ...th Autism not only to typically developing children but to children with other disorders or a milder case of autism and using other methods of assessment would work for future research. Study 4 For future research it would help if the sample size was larger because not many people participated in the survey. Study 5 For future studies there should be a control group to compare ASD participants with typically developing participants and also a larger sample size. Concluding Comments The majority of this research focuses on communication, socialization, verbal use, repetitive movements, the assessment, and behavioral responses in children with ASD. Each study focused on a different aspect of the development of children with ASD, but they all reached the same conclusions in the results. Children with ASD develop differently in many areas than typical children.