Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Oil in North America Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Oil in North America - Annotated Bibliography Example This short article is a review of a much longer book on the subject of the American strategic petroleum reserve which was first created after the first oil crisis of 1973-1974. Van Doren acknowledges the factual account of what happened following the decision to create such a reserve, but his review focuses mainly on the political dimension of oil policies in the United Sates from the mid-1970s until the present day. Successive presidents adopted varying strategies, sometimes using government resources to fill up the reserve, and sometimes halting this process when deficits in the budget squeezed their ability to spend freely. The impact of the Kuwait war is mentioned, and specifically as a brief interlude when the reserve was actually used up partially, and although there was an immediate drop in the price of oil , Van Doren comments that this was probably not connected with the use of the strategic reserve.
Monday, October 28, 2019
Stateline Essay Example for Free
Stateline Essay Stateline Shipping Stateline Shipping and Transport In the â€Å"Stateline Shipping and Transport Company†case there is the manager Rachel Sundusky of the South –Atlantic office of the Stateline Shipping and Transport Company. She is trying to negotiate a new shipping contract with Polychem where Stateline picks up and transport waste product form its six plants to three waste disposal sites. In this problem we are trying to determine the shipping routes the will minimize Stateline total cost. In the first part I set up the problem in excel showing the shipping to the waste directly from the six plants to the three waste disposal site. In the result I had a Z value which is the minimum cost of $3090. 00 that Polychem will pay Stateline to transport their products. It also shows that Danville and Columbus is not safe to ship from because they cannot provide the supply that is needed. In the second part I develop a transshipment model in which each of the plants and disposal sites can be used as intermediate points. In the results it shows that I had a Z value which is the minimum cost of 2884. 0 that Polychem will
Saturday, October 26, 2019
King Lear Essay -- essays research papers
The Islamic Empires      In early modern history, there were three major Islamic empires that became prominent. The Ottoman Empire, the Safavid Empire, and the Mughals. We will descuss the Development of these empires by listing their similarities and differences, and their political, social and cultural backgrounds. Next, we will get into the three empires reign of power and also give a discription of some of the great leaders of these empires and their legacy.      All of these Islamic Empires had Turkish ruling dynasties. The Ottomans, Safavids and Mughals came from nomadic, Turkish-speaking peoples of the central Asia who conquered the settled agricultural lands of Anatolia, Persia and India. All of these dynasties retained political and cultural traditions that their ancestors had adopted while leading their nomadic lives, but, they also adapted readily to the city-based agricultyural societies that they conquered. All of these empires also embraced Islam and derived its cultural guidance from Islamic values. Each empire expanded its territory under authority of their great leaders, such as Mehmed the Conqueror for the Ottomans, Shah Abbas the Great for the Safavids and the reigh of Aurangzeb of the Muhgal empire. In these empires, the prestige and authority of the dynasty derived from personal piety and military aptitude of the ruler and his ancestors.      The Ottoman Empire was founded by Osman Bey, founder of the dynasty that continued in unbroken succession from 1289 to 1923. the motives of Osman and his followers were to become ghazi, or Muslim religious warriors. â€Å"The Ghazi,(as the poet Ahmadi describes) is the instrument of religion of Allah, the sword of God, the protector and refuge of the believers.†It was believed that if to have died for the cause of your religion, you should not believe that the person is dead, but that he will live in beatitude with Allah and he has eternal life. The Ottomans waged a holy war which enabled them to expand their territory to the Anatolian city of Bursa, which became the capital of Ottoman principality. Under the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror, the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453 and in turn lead to more Ottoman expansion. Mehmed presented himself as a true emperor and not just a warrior. He was ruler of two lands, Europe ... ...aged the elaboration of syncretic religion called the â€Å"devine faith†that focused attention on the emperor as a ruler common to all the religious, ethnic and social groups of India. The Mughal empire reached its greatest extent under Aurangzeb. During his long reign from 1659 to 1707, he waged a relentless campaign to push Mughal authority deep into southern India. Mughal came to rule the entire subcontinent except for a small region at the southern tip.      These are descriptions of the major empires that became prominent, the Ottoman Empire, the Safavids and the Mughals. We have gone over some of the similarities and differences of the three empires and also discussed the development of these empires and their social and political backgrounds. We have seen a glimpse of the great leaders that ruled these empires such as Mehmed the Conqueror, Shah Ismail and Shah Abbas for the Safavids, and Babur and Akbar for the Mughals. These empires created the boundary for Islamic institution through the 1500’s and beyond. They should be recognized as a stepping stone in the Islamic voyage which has definitely laid an impact on the society and societies before ours.
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Love is Pain Essay
â€Å"Then almighty Juno, pitying her long agony and painful dying, sent Iris down from heaven to release her struggling soul from the prison of her flesh.†– The Aeneid, Book 4, line 693            In Book four of the Aeneid, the selection narrates the tragic story between the protagonist of the story, Aeneas and Dido, the queen of Carthage. Although Aeneas and Dido’s relationship only spans a small chapter in the entirety of the Aeneid, it still represent striking themes on love, betrayal, and omnipotent interference of the gods in the affairs of human beings. The story of Aeneas and Dido is a classic symbolism of love; the man, compelled by duty, sheds love that he could never have while the woman scorns for her downcast state yet finds retribution with death as she escapes her mortal prison full of pain and anguish.            After the death of her husband, Dido swears that she will not marry again. However, the interference of Venus and her son Cupid causes the love of Dido for Aeneas to grow as she listens to his tragic tales. Dido’s sister Anna consoles the queen and reassures her that by marrying Aeneas, Carthage’s military power will increase since Trojan warriors loyal to Aeneas will follow him. Juno, the wife of Jupiter and the goddess of marriage, sees that Dido’s love for Aeneas has consumed her and plots to prevent Aeneas from going to Italy. Juno convinces Venus to aid her into getting Dido and Aeneas together so that they could be alone together. Juno promises a storm so that they could take shelter in a cave. In doing so, the Trojans and Tyrians would forge a truce and the two goddesses will end their squabble. The following day, the queen of Carthage and the Trojan warrior leave the city to go hunting. In the middle of the forest, Juno brings down the promised storm and the couple takes refuge under a cake. The two enjoy a moment together and openly declare their love for each other as they returned to Carthage. Dido considers their experience together as a married couple yet to be consecrated in ceremony. Meanwhile, rumors spread around the mismanaged city that couple submitted themselves to lust and began to neglect their duties as rulers.            Jupiter learns of the situation of Dido and Aeneas and sends Mercury to convey a message to Aeneas to remind him of his duty and must immediately leave for Italy. Aeneas is shocked but obeys the command. Yet he is in dilemma; compelled by his divine responsibilities, he is left to think by himself on how would explain his leave to Dido. Aeneas commands his men to secretly prepare the ship for departure but Dido catches him in the act. Dido’s anger is unexplainable as she began to insult Aeneas and accusing him for stealing her honor. Aeneas is torn by regret, yet he pushes aside his emotional burden for his greater responsibility with fate. Dido sends her sister Anna to persuade Aeneas to stay, but the Trojan warrior has made up his mind.            Amid a period of distress, love, and anger, the queen appears one day calm and replete and quietly orders her sister to start a fire the courtyard. By starting a fire, she can get rid of Aeneas memory by burning all his clothes and things that he left. Dido’s grief causes her a sleepless night while Aeneas dreams of Mercury again and sends him another message that he has lingered too long and must leave soon. With this, Aeneas leaves the city of Carthage.            The queen sees Aeneas fleet depart and falls into emotional disrepair. Running to the roaring flames burning all their memories together, she turns it into her own funeral pyre. In her grief, she takes a sword and stabs herself while cursing the departing Aeneas. Her sister and their servants run up to the dying Dido and Juno takes pity and sends Iris to redeem Dido’s struggling soul from her mortal prison.            Dido and Aeneas’ story of love is only for a brief moment as Aeneas leaves for Italy, leaving Dido behind. As implied by the introductory passages, Dido is already torn between her emotions and better judgment as early as her relationship with Aeneas begins to grow. â€Å"But the queen, long since smitten with a grievous love-pang, feeds the wound with her lifeblood and is wasted with fire unseen†(IV, 1). Her character is put to the test between the coming of Aeneas and the recent death of his husband. The use of lifeblood in the sentence implies that Dido already hides her emotional scars and attempts to restart a new life. Dido mentions, â€Å"He who first linked me to himself has taken away my hear; may he keep it with him, and guard it in the grave!†(IV, 6). Dido engulfs herself in her own grief, denying her change in rekindling love and an opportunity for happiness. It can be deduced from the passage that she has suffered a number of painful experiences with love and has lost the will to love again. Consequently, the goddess Juno sees Dido’s love for Juno grows to a point that it could kill her: â€Å"Soon as the loved wife of Jove saw that Dido was held in a passion so fatal, and that her good name was now bar to her frenzy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (IV, 90). This means that her love for Aeneas was true and real, so true that if ever she has her heart broken again, it would cause her a tragic death. Dido already gave all her love to a man who she knew in herself that she would love forever. Dido’s tragedy is reflected her own love; she was unable to see past the consequences of the choice she was making because of her already miserable state.            With help of Juno and Venus, Dido’s love grows and plans to set the couple alone during the hunt. The goddesses’ plan may be mistaken as pity in the case of Dido but she is only a distraction for Aeneas to not embark on his journey. Dido and Aeneas are unaware of this ploy and enjoy happiness for a short period of time. As the couple goes hunting, Dido and Aeneas finally have the time to be alone together as they shelter themselves in a cave against a violent storm. The two make love and Dido is satisfied and happy â€Å"†¦for no more is Dido swayed by fair show or fair fame, no more does she dream of a secret love: she calls it marriage and with that name veils her sin†(IV, 160). Dido at last experiences true happiness and Aeneas feels the same for her. Their love was no longer a subject of suspicion and their acts in the cave made Dido feel that they were already married and only to be ‘officialized’ by a formal ceremony. For a brief moment of time, Dido and Aeneas find happiness with each other, finally separating themselves from their tragic lives even though only quantified with physical pleasure.            However, Aeneas receives a message from Jupiter to remind him of his duty to Italy. He is torn with regret. â€Å"He burns to fell away and quit that pleasant land, awed by that warning and divine commandment. Ah, what to do? With what speech now dare he approach the frenzied queen?†(IV, 279). Aeneas tragic trait falls under his burden of fate but not of choice. Aeneas immediately considers his divine responsibility without any choice of disregarding his duty. He is bound to his fate without means of escape. Based from his initial reaction, he immediate thinks on how to address his fate to Dido, who is hopelessly in love with him. Dido, upon hearing of the news, flies into a maddening rage and confronts Aeneas: â€Å"False one! Did you really hope to cloak so foul a crime and to steal my land in silence? Does neither our love restrain you, nor the pledge once given, nor the doom of a cruel death for Dido?†(IV, 305). Her love causes her madness, torn between the idea of her kingdom’s fate without a strong army and her blinded love for Aeneas. It can be observed in the passage that she cannot contain her emotion anymore and says what she truly feels. Aeneas, in turn, replies: â€Å"Now, too, the messenger of the gods sent from Jove himself – I swear by both our lives – has borne his command down through the swift breezes; my own eyes saw the god in the clear light of day come within our walls and these ears drank in his words. Cease to inflame yourself and me with your complaints. It is not by my wish that I make for Italy†(IV, 331). Aeneas is compelled by his duty and tries to explain his situation to Dido, making her understand. Dido, enraged by her loved and fear, retorts: â€Å"Truly, this is work for the gods, this is care to vex their peace! I detain you not†¦Yet I trust, if the righteous gods have any power, that on the rocks midway you will drain the cup of vengeance and often call on Dido’s name. Though far away, I will chase you with murky brands and, when chill death has severed soul and body, everywhere my shade shall haunt you†(IV, 362). Dido’s love causes her uncontrollable rage and he imparts Aeneas a haunting thought for him before leaving. Clearly, she is angered over this development and curses Aeneas from being adamant in his quest. She even favors her sister to persuade the Trojan hero from leaving as a last resort.            In the end, Dido prays for her death. She instructs her sister to construct a fire that would burn all her memories of Aeneas: clothes, weapons, armor, etc. â€Å"I want to destroy all memorials of the abhorred wretch, and the priestess to directs†(IV, 474). Driven by madness of love, regret, and bitterness, she throws herself into the pyre and stabs herself with Aeneas’ sword.            Aeneas’ has the greatest tragedy as a character. He spurns the love of Dido, compelled by his duty to Jupiter and his quest to Italy. After a night thinking about Dido, he falls asleep and in his dream, he sees the messenger of the gods hastening him with his journey. Without any other thought, he calls his men and leaves the ports of Carthage that same night. He feels no remorse or regret as shown in this passage: â€Å"Thus indeed Aeneas, scared by the sudden vision, tears himself from sleep and bestirs his comrades. ‘Make haste, my men, awake and man the benches! Unfurl the sails with speed! A god sent from high heaven again spurs us to hasten our flight and cut the twisted cables†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ The same zeal catches all at once; with hurry and scurry they have quitted the shore; the sea is hidden under their fleets; lustily the churn the foam and sweep the blue waters†(IV, 571). Aeneas cares nothing about his feeling or his emotions once the divine gods imperiously command his return. He is more fearful of his life and fate rather than his love for Dido.            For Dido, her most tragic trait was her selfless love for Aeneas. She did not once waver in her love, yet she was driven by madness. After a fruitful experience with Dido, she viewed their relationship beyond physical pleasure. Aeneas also felt exactly the same way, but he considered his duty before love. Consequently, Dido’s painful and bitter remark represented her regret, anger, and sorrow at the same time: â€Å"At least, if before your flight a child of yours had been born to me, if in my hall a baby Aeneas were playing whose face, in spite of all, would bring back yours, I should not think myself utterly vanquished and forlorn†(IV, 305). This is probably her ultimate sacrifice and the cause of her eventual downfall. Dido was ready to establish a new life with Aeneas. Yet, after all her love and sacrifices, she feels betrayed by Aeneas sudden departure. She feels a mixture of fear, anger, sorrow and hopelessness in her part. The passage implies her most tragic trait – torn by love yet a memory of him survives in form of his child is alive to remind her of a tragic and painful love from the past. Works Cited Virgil. â€Å"Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid.†trans. Fairclough, H. Loeb Classical Library Volumes 63 & 64. Cambridge, Mass: Cambridge University Press, 1916. Â
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Italian Poetry Essay
‘Glide’ forwards this pertaining uncertainty as ‘glide’ means to move fast without effort. Hence this can be linked to the final chapters where Victor chases his creation that watches and leaves deliberate clues for him. Victor feels his presence but fails to locate him. This creates atmosphere because his paranoia follows him until death, gradually draining all his happiness. His manipulation of Victor can however be interpreted as being ‘justifiably’ evil. Readers often sympathise with him because Victor was his only connection to humanity in-terms of attention and fluent communication; hence why after Victor dies he instantly contemplates suicide in the same cold condition. Victor’s death would fate him to a life, if he chose to live, of eternal loneliness: [Chapter 24] â€Å"†¦ for the bitter story of remorse may not cease to rankle in my wounds until death shall close them for ever. †The creature felt the same way Victor did; he did kill and destroy innocence, but however is not the psychopathic monster which humanity perceived him to be. The novel ends with the creature’s final recital of his tendencies: â€Å"My spirit will sleep in peace; or if it thinks, will surely not think thus. Farwell,†during his life-time he had taken a cynical outlook of humanity and thus sees death as his only escape to ‘a place’ more accepting. A similar word which describes Victor’s psychological isolation is his seeking of ‘asylum’ at â€Å"the Church of Ingolstadt†. ‘Asylum’ follows a cruder pattern of ‘refuge’; being an ‘asylum’ is similar to being a ‘refuge’ but it’s to mean more alienated – a criminal would take ‘asylum’ in a church to avoid persecution at that time. It is his method of keeping sane as he feels ‘protected’ inside God’s house. This is significant because he, prior to this, had labelled the creature as a ‘daemon’ and ‘fiend’: both of which are evil spirits related to the devil thus Victor by seeking ‘asylum’ believes that he is safe from the creature because in Christianity such evil is void of entering the Church. However all the creature wants is companionship. He had been tolerant and justifiable in his reasoning to Victor before driving himself further to demolishing his happiness. Such justification is shown in Volume 2; Chapter 9: Did I request thee, Maker, from my day To mould me man? Did I solicit thee From darkness to promote me? The monster through his intelligence learns to read and communicate in a profoundly persuasive manner. He quotes lines from John Milton’s Paradise Lost, paralleling his situation to that of Adam’s in Christianity. The creature is trying to show Victor that Adam may have been banished from all that was good in Paradise but even with such loss can still render happiness – merely because he has the one simple element to say alive for – love; which in comparison, the monster is deprived of. Therefore the monster, through his intelligence again, learns to deprive Victor of such love and companionship which will likewise inflict a profoundly negative effect on him. This is seen in Chapter 5 where he instantly recovers from his paranoia as he sees Henry: â€Å"In a moment forgot my horror and misfortune; I felt suddenly, and for the first time during many months, calm and serene joy. †Thus by the creature seizing away all his relations, he is seizing away elements of happiness which his life had contained. Hence this makes him pertain to his ‘wretchedly’ character which he had named himself. But Victor, however, knowingly shares similar emotion with his creation: â€Å"I passed the night wretchedly. †The verb which Victor uses to describe his action is ‘wretchedly’ which reflects his calling of the monster as a ‘wretch’. ‘Wretchedly’ is used to refer to someone who does an action in a deplorably unhappy manner; it is used in this context as a subtle form of foreshadowing of the trait of unhappiness he shares, and would continue to share in a fluent manner with his creation towards the end of the novel, especially during their mad endeavour towards the North Pole. The importance of friendships is further highlighted by the way he actually felt uneasy during his experiment; he was obsessed and did not genuinely enjoy what he was doing: â€Å"first time during many months†and he felt both ‘calm’ and ‘serene’ seeing Henry – such words indulge peace into one, which is contrasting with the whole experimental scenario. The significance of his creation is further emphasised, â€Å"The form of the monster whom I had bestowed existence was for ever before my eyes. †‘For ever’ elaborates on the monster’s significance because it means for eternity, Victor will always seem him; ‘before my eyes’ is effective because it reinforces that Victor will feel the monster’s presence before or without seeing him. In Chapter 5, Victor describes the monster in a way which will inevitably repulse and frighten any human-being: â€Å"A mummy endued with animation could not be as hideous as that wretch†. The way Victor compares his creation to ‘a mummy endued with animation’ is striking, conjuring a beyond-frightful image of what the monster must look like. This image of the monster is further elaborated on in, â€Å"Oh! no mortal could support the horror of that countenance†; â€Å"it became a thing that even Dante could not have conceived. †The way Victor says ‘no mortal’ reinforces that no living thing, in this case human, could even bear to look at him – the inference to Dante emphasises how the creature has surpassed the human connotations of the word ‘hideous’. This is because Dante, especially his death mask, is one of the most controversially hideous architectural figures of History to people, both contemporarily and at that time. Dante had also written Italian Poetry (subsequently translated to other languages) which includes emotions which the monster felt such as Loneliness and exile in Paradiso. This puts an emphasis on the creature’s loneliness, showing how nothing prior to his creation had trodden upon this Earth, thus nothing currently resembles him – and without Victor’s help of creating him a partner – nothing ever will. He is lonely to a degree where he struggles to answer the most fundamental questions of identity and personal History.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Pros and Cons of the Corn-Based Plastic PLA
Pros and Cons of the Corn-Based Plastic PLA Polylactic acid (PLA), a plastic substitute made from fermented plant starch (usually corn) is quickly becoming a popular alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics. As more and more countries and states follow the lead of China, Ireland, South Africa, Uganda and San Francisco in banning plastic grocery bags responsible for so much so-called â€Å"white pollution†around the world, PLA is poised to play a big role as a viable, biodegradable replacement. Proponents also tout the use of PLA, which is technically â€Å"carbon neutral†in that it comes from renewable, carbon-absorbing plants, as yet another way to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases in a quickly warming world. PLA also will not emit toxic fumes when incinerated. However, there are still issues with the use of polylactic acid such as its slow rate of biodegradability, its inability to mix with other plastics in recycling, and its high use of genetically modified corn (though arguably the latter could be one of the good effects of PLA as it provides a good reason to alter crop yields with genetic splicing). The Cons of PLA: Biodegradation Rate and Recycling Critics say that PLA is far from a panacea for dealing with the world’s plastic waste problem. For one thing, although PLA does biodegrade, it does so very slowly. According to Elizabeth Royte, writing in Smithsonian, PLA may well break down into its constituent parts (carbon dioxide and water) within three months in a â€Å"controlled composting environment,†that is, an industrial composting facility heated to 140 F and fed a steady diet of digestive microbes. It will take far longer in a compost bin, or in a landfill packed so tightly that no light and little oxygen are available to assist in the process. Indeed, analysts estimate that a PLA bottle could take anywhere from 100 to 1,000 years to decompose in a landfill. Another issue with PLA is that it must be kept separate when recycled, lest it contaminates the recycling stream; since PLA is plant-based, it needs to be disposed of in composting facilities, which points to another problem: There are currently a few hundred industrial-grade composting facilities across the United States. Finally, PLA is typically made of genetically modified corn, at least in the United States. The largest producer of PLA in the world is NatureWorks, a subsidiary of Cargill, which is the world’s largest provider of genetically modified corn seed. This is tricky because the future costs of genetic modification (and the associated pesticides) to the environment and human health are still largely unknown. Pros of PLA Over Plastics: Utility and Biodegradability Genetically modified foods may be a controversial issue, but when it comes to genetically spicing plants together to breed corn that yields more crops for industrial use has its major advantages. With the increasing demand for corn to make ethanol fuel, let alone PLA, it’s no wonder that Cargill and others have been tampering with genes to produce higher yields. At least harmful plastic isnt be used as frequently anymore! Many industries are using PLA because they are capable of biodegrading at a much faster rate than plastic while still offering the same level of sanitation and utility. Everything from plastic clamshells for food take-out to medical products can now be made from PLA, which drastically reduces the carbon footprint of these industries. While PLA has promise as an alternative to conventional plastic once the means of disposal are worked out, consumers might be better served by simply switching to reusable containers, from cloth bags, baskets, and backpacks for grocery shopping to safe, reusable (non-plastic) bottles for beverages.
Monday, October 21, 2019
The Simpsons Movie Essays
The Simpsons Movie Essays The Simpsons Movie Paper The Simpsons Movie Paper Essay Topic: Film In The Simpsons Movie, director David Silverman and his team of producers: James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike Scully and Richard Sakai use humour to incorporate other relevant messages into the film. Three of the most important factors are environment, government and family relationships. At the beginning of the Simpsons Movie, David Silverman uses GreenDay to make the audience aware of the social issues surrounding the environment; not only because of their famous songs, but because the band name itself promotes the environment. When the band is shown singing off a barge on Lake Springfield, their main singer is just singing from a script saying Da Da again and again. David Silvermans use of humour sends a message mocking singers for singing off scripts and also implies crowds are easily pleased. However, the musical sensation is suddenly put off when he says: We have been playing for 3 and a half hours, now wed like to say something about the environment! ~Billy Joe Armstrong, GreenDay lead singer, the Simpsons Movie The crowd is then suddenly put off by the message and turns to violence. This is a cleverly made scene, due to the crowd reacting in the opposite way by throwing rubbish and pollutants at them; this makes it easier for the audience to see the contrast between both groups of society. The band then picks up violins and re-enacts the final moments of the Titanic before the barge corrodes and sinks; this humour is focused on nowadays ignorance to the environment, and makes the audience aware of not only the acidic water that is made by waste, but by the lives lost to the mistreated environment. The United States produces approximately 547 thousands of metric tonnes of household waste per annum. That is 22.2% of the worlds total emission of household waste per annum. Using the history of Titanic, the audience is also reminded of the icebergs and icecaps which are being melted due to pollution. Silverman used this scene to make the audience aware of the ignorance in American society for the environment considering the sad history of the Titanic and the terrible household waste statistics produced by America. In my opinion, this scene would have never been successful without the use of Greenday and the acidic lake, due to all the clever subconscious messages sent through the humour. Later in the movie, Lake Springfield gets so polluted that Lisa Simpson decides to take action. She runs a meeting at the town hall, where all adult members of society turn up. When she tries to describe the seriousness of the situation, people always brought up other things. Am I getting through to anyone? ~Lisa Simpson, the Simpsons Movie But someone in the audience suggests that a new scissor lift should be bought, and a vote is passed by the mayor. Silverman uses the humour in this scene to show how easily distracted society can be to the real problems. However, the mayor takes this seriously and makes everyone in the town clean up the lake. Initiate code black Mayor of Springfield, the Simpsons Movie Silverman uses the seriousness of the situation to add some humour into the scene: Black..thats the worst colour there isno offence Carl! Lenny, the Simpsons Movie This humour not only expresses the dreadful state of the environmental situation, it makes the audience aware of racism and the common use of it in everyday life, despite how sensitive the issue is not only in America, but worldwide. Using Carls cheerful attitude, Silverman turns the racism into a joke therefore not having a bad impact on the audience as it couldve. However hard the towns efforts are to restore the cleanliness of the lake, Homer Simpson dumps a silo of his pets waste in the lake in hurry for free donuts. Soon the government gets involved, and Springfield alerts the EPAs attention (environmental protection agency). Silverman uses this plot to introduce the main evil character in the Simpsons Movie. I have made you 5 easy choices ~Russ Kargel, the Simpsons Movie I pick number 3 ~President Schwarzenegger, the Simpsons Movie You dont even want to read them sir? ~Russ Kargel, the Simpsons Movie I was elected to lead, not to read ~President Schwarzenegger, the Simpsons Movie In this conversation, Arnold Schwarzenegger shows he knows a lot about being a president; however he makes the wrong choice. Choice number three results in Springfield being sealed into a dome, and all the people who live there trapped. Silverman uses this ridiculous idea of being sealed into a dome as a governmental plot. This use of comedy makes the audience think of life being trapped in 1 area, and subconsciously makes the audience grateful to be able to explore around the world. In my opinion this scene is 1 of the main climaxes of the movie due to the whole of Springfield being trapped. This also makes the audience more aware of the evil governmental plots going on around the world. This scene made me think of all the attacks on other countries such as Iraq, and that maybe they were cover-ups and misunderstandings. We pay every resident $1000 so the government can ravage our states natural beauty ~ Man who greets the Simpsons into Alaska, the Simpsons Movie In this quote, the audience is reminded of this present time; the US government says it will offer exploration right for oil and gas in a north-western region of Alaska, but environmental groups fear the effects on wildlife in the region, including the polar bear population. In my opinion, this scene works well to inform the audience well and make them more aware of the events going on in Alaska. No Lisa, its not like the government is listening to our conversation ~Marge Simpson, the Simpsons Movie Silverman cleverly uses humour, when Lisa warns her mother to talk quietly because the government may be listening looking for them. This ends up being true; the train conductor is a robot that listens in to their conversation and a government employee in the NSA (National Security Agency) tracks them down. The government actually found someone! ~NSA employee, the Simpsons Movie This statement mocks the US government for their inadequacy of being unable to find people they are looking for. Silverman cunningly uses this humour to imply that the government is spying on everyones conversation. This is makes the audience more aware of the government tapping in on conversations. I think this scene adds great humour to the movie, and is a vital part of the movie to show the evil governmental schemes. It takes real courage and leadership to make choices without knowing them ~Russ Kargel, the Simpsons Movie In this quote, Silverman uses Russ Kargel to show how persuasion is easily used politically by fusing it with pride. However, president Schwarzenegger picks number 3 again. But Russ Kargel makes the president pick Number 4 by manipulating his answer. Silverman uses humour here to show how easy the presidents words can be manipulated. Soon after the plot to destroy Springfield is confirmed, the government hires Tom Hanks to create propaganda on TV so the people of the US support the government. The US ran out of credibility, so they borrowed mine ~Tom Hanks, the Simpsons Movie In this quote Tom Hanks admits that the government are just using him as propaganda. A boy then asks Tom hanks to tussle his hair. Silverman uses this humour to show how easily pleased people are. Silverman also shows the audience how corrupt the government can make society, just by using popular figures to their advantage. I think this scene is very important in telling the audience not to always trust political figures and famous people. While all these things in the movie are going on, Silverman uses humour to show family problems and relationships with modern Americans. The Simpsons family represents an average modern American family. And during the movie, Silverman makes the family go through hard times. At the start of the movie, the Simpsons are late for church and Homer starts saying things not knowing people inside are listening: Those pious morons probably arent listening anyway ~Homer Simpson, the Simpsons Movie Silverman always makes the opposite things happen to create humour. When inside the church Homer says praise Jeebus instead of Jesus. This humour is cleverly used to show how American families go to church but arent actually religious. Inside the church, Bart Simpson starts to play a handheld game, but Maggie takes it away from him. This furthermore stresses the point through humour that American families only believe in their religion for show. Then when his neighbour Ned Flanders wants to confess, Homer crosses his fingers hoping that he is gay. This shows that the relationship between American families is very bad, and that neighbours are always saying bad things behind each others backs. This humour implies that American families dont always have good relationships. This makes the audience more aware of the life of an American family. I think this scene is very important in the film, for Bart starts to take more of a liking to Flanders than his own father. Later when Homer is doing his chores, Silverman shows Homers relationship for Flanders, when he is told to dispose of a bee hive, he jams it into Flanderss mailbox. Although Flanders is a good hearted religious neighbour, Homer doesnt like him, and always tries to cause trouble for Flanders. Silverman tries to give off the message that Americans are always trying to cause trouble with their neighbours. In my opinion, this scene is also quite important to furthermore show Homers disaffection for Flanders. When Bart and Homer have a daring contest, Homer dares Bart to skate to Krustys burger bar and back naked. This results in him being handcuffed to a pole outside the shop by police officers while they went inside and ate. Silverman shows the American police officers dont care about the fugitives, and would rather have their lunch break. The audience is made aware of these dirty police officers, and they are subconsciously made more aware of this situation in America. We all dont want to wear our clothes sometimes ~Police officer outside Krustys Burger Bar, the Simpsons Movie A police officer says this to Bart to convince him to put his clothes back on. However the officer doesnt realise that Homer dared Bart to do this. Using humour Silverman shows that American parents dont accept the consequences in what they tell their children to do. I think this scene is very important, it shows the audience how Bart slowly starts to hate his father. If you know a greasier burger than this, youre in Mexico ~Krusty the clown in advertisement, the Simpsons Movie In this quote, Krusty states that Mexico has the greasiest burgers. America is known as the spiritual home of the super-sized meal, more than 119 million adults or 64.5% of the adult population are either overweight or obese. Silverman cleverly made this scene to make the audience aware of obesity in the US. Later on, Homer grows attached to a pig he rescues, and starts to forget about his family. Silverman uses this stereotype to show how forgetful fathers can be of their own family. As Homers bond with this animal starts to strengthen, he starts to forget about the rest of his family. Silverman uses this humour to tell the audience how parents can start to forget, and favour other children/things more. Come on guys it will be really great fun, and Ive really come to like you guys ~Homer Simpson, the Simpsons Movie In this quote, it shows Homer doesnt take his family serious. In this scene Homer wants to go to Alaska, but Silverman makes it as if Homer has maybe already had a family before this, and doesnt take families serious. Also, in this scene Homer convinces them to come to Alaska by going over their wedding vows. Through this is a funny statement, Silverman informs the audience of fathers in America abandoning there families. Near the end of the movie, Homer apologises to Bart for being a bad father. Bart doesnt want to accept his apology, but when Homer mentions that he could hold the bomb, Bart forgives him. Silverman uses this humour to show how father and son are both simpleminded and alike. What a great mistake you turned out to be Maggie ~Homer Simpson In this quote, Homer confesses that Maggie was a mistake. Silverman uses this humour to show how a lot of families in general are started of as mistakes. In my opinion, this humour was very informative for the audience, but subliminally made them to think about the consequences of sex. At the end of the movie, Homer and Marge kiss in the woods riding on a motorbike. After kissing Marge says that was the best kiss of her life. But after learning many thing in his quest to save Springfield, Homer alters her words to say it was the best kiss of her life so far. Silvermans uses this moment to sum up the movie and show how Homer progresses throughout the movie. This message tells the audience to cherish what they have, and look forward to the future. Using all these different techniques such as subliminal messaging and sarcasm, this is how Silverman of the Simpsons uses humour to incorporate other relevant messages into the film. But did he mean all the messages? Or were some just a coincidence?
Sunday, October 20, 2019
5 Pairs of Compound Words, and How Theyre Compounded
5 Pairs of Compound Words, and How Theyre Compounded 5 Pairs of Compound Words, and How They’re Compounded 5 Pairs of Compound Words, and How They’re Compounded By Mark Nichol A while back, I wrote about compound words involving front and back, in and out, and up and down, and the bewildering variety of styles (open, hyphenated, and closed) for each group. Here are five more pairs of words to watch for when they’re used in compound phrases. 1. Light and Dark To be light-headed and to be lighthearted are not strictly analogous one is a physical sensation, and the other refers to an emotion (though it may result in a physical response) but they are both adjectives. So, why is one (and similar compounds like light-fingered and light-footed) hyphenated and the other closed? I confess I’m in the dark. But note that compounds beginning with dark are always open (â€Å"dark days†â€Å"dark horse,†â€Å"dark matter†). Most other noun compounds beginning with light (â€Å"light meter,†â€Å"light pen†) are open, but notice light-rail, which, like a few other compound nouns (mind-set, life-form), remain stubbornly hyphenated (though the meaning of light here differs; it’s akin to the definition in the previous paragraph). When the noun light is the last element of a compound, it’s always closed: candlelight, flashlight, searchlight. 2. Mind and Brain I’m going to go out of my mind. Why is one simpleminded yet single-minded? Is it because one is a presumably perpetual state that a person so designated has little or no control over, while the other is a personality trait? But compounds beginning rather than ending with mind generally obey these rules: open in noun compounds (with the previously noted exception of mind-set and the obscure mind-healer, as well as the jargony mindshare) and hyphenated in adjectival compounds such as mind-bending and mind-boggling). Brain, meanwhile, is almost always open (â€Å"brain trust,†â€Å"brain wave†); brain-dead is a rare exception. 3. Right and Wrong Compounds employing these words for practical or moral choices are generally open (â€Å"right angle,†â€Å"wrong side†), but phrasal adjectives with prepositions (right-of-way, right-to-work) are always hyphenated. 4. Right and Left Most compounds employing right or left as directions are open (noun phrases like â€Å"left wing,†adverbial phrases such as â€Å"right away†), but the phrasal adjectives left-handed and right-handed (also adverbs) are always hyphenated. 5. Smart and Dumb By now, you know not to expect logic in idiomatic phrases it’s â€Å"smart aleck†but smart-ass (or smart-mouth). Open phrasing, however, is preponderant for smart and dumb: â€Å"smart card,†â€Å"smart drug,†â€Å"dumb down,†â€Å"dumb show†(pantomime). Street-smart is hyphenated, but â€Å"street smarts†is open. 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 Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:10 Rules for Writing Numbers and NumeralsThe Parts of a WordHow Do You Fare?
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Changes in recent years to private health insurance Essay
Changes in recent years to private health insurance - Essay Example people reported that they could not afford to purchase a health insurance or the costs of these insurances is too expensive.1 Aiming to encourage more people to acquire a health insurance, the Australian government took the initiative in offer a 30% rebate on the cost of private health insurance premiums for people between the age bracket of 0 – 64; a 35% rebate for people aged 65 to 69; and a 40% rebate will be given to people ages 70 and above.2 The said rebates is claimable either as a reduction on the insurance premium as soon as the payment is made to the private insurer or as a rebate through the individual’s tax return. In line with the new structure set by the Australian government, this study will focus on discussing several issues which will serve as strong evidences that the 1/3 rebate strategy has been ineffective and unsuccessful in increasing the sales of private health insurance as well as maintaining the quality of the overall all health services in the country. The main goal of Australian Federal Government for implementing a 30 – 40% rebate system in private health insurance is to improve the health of Australian citizens through payments and information.3 In line with the said goal, Medicare works with the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing to improve its connection with the health sector. In September 2002, a total of 79.4% of the medical services that was performed in the hospitals was fully paid by the Australian government. This increased to 82.7% in December 2005.4 As a control measure, the local authorities implemented a ‘co-payment agreement’ to those who wishes to avail the medical services in the hospitals. According to Tracy Schrader, â€Å"any transfer of payment for health care from taxation to user-fees only benefits the wealthy.†5 This is primarily because of the fact that wealthy people will have a better access to the health facilities at a much lower costs. On the other hand, people belonging to
Friday, October 18, 2019
How information Technology can be used to achieve sustainable Essay
How information Technology can be used to achieve sustainable competitive advantages - Essay Example In addition, the basic purpose of developing and implementing the modern and up-to-date information systems in the business and corporate structures is to enhance the overall corporate performance and enhanced management of the business data (Laudon & Laudon, 1999; Turban et al., 2005). Literature Review According to (Turban et al., 2005, p.18) â€Å"an information system is set of different aspects that work collectively in order to gather, operate, store, assess, and transmit information with the intention of performing a particular task.†Basically, the products and business processes to develop those products differ from organization to organization. Hence, a business organization can make use of information system for different purposes according to their needs and requirements. For instance, an organization can make use of an information system to deal with its human resource related processes or for dealing with accorunts and financial matters. In this scenario, as an o rganization is based on different aspects such as departments and employees in the same way an IS encompasses a variety of aspects like that inputs (whuch an information system receives in the forms of data and instructions from its users) and outputs (which are delivered by the information system in the forms of results, calculations and reports). Thus, it provides the desired outputs by carrying out certain operations on the inputs. Value Chain Model Operations: This process involves the activities that are involves in the transformation of inputs into final products. In this scenario, information systems can play a significant role. As the figure 1 demonstrates, this process can be supported through computer aided manufacturing. These systems can be used in design and development of the products (CiteHR, 2013; Schwanzer, 2007). In this scenario, information systems cannot only be used as a wonderful tool for automating desired business processes and activities but they can also b e used to support the business organizations in designing and putting into practice a number of value added-systems in the business organizations like that the majority of bussiness organizations combine and arrange their manufacturing cycle along with information systems so as to confirm that the outputs it generates comply with the organization’s requirements and needs as well as various quality management mechanisms. The research has shown that the implementation of information systems allows the business organizations to make their business operations simple and do not waste their precious time in performing unnecessary operations. Additionally, the majority of business organizations take benefit of information systems to incorporate control and measures to human resource related activities, in an attempt to make sure that only human resources having the proper privileges and authority can be allowed to perform particular tasks. Also, the use of information systems allows the business oraganizations to throw away chronic actions and improve correctness, supporting company’s employees to contemplate on more difficult processes. Furthermore, an organization can also use information syste
Gamal Abdel Nasser Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words
Gamal Abdel Nasser - Essay Example The nationalist revival during the period of British occupation revealed a public awareness among a segment of Cairo's population, but this seldom was transacted into positive achievements. Instead, the Egypt of 1952 was a stagnant country. Beset by political strife, successive national governments did little to foster the country's development. An archaic structure of land ownership, abysmal living conditions among the great majority of the population, an economy geared to benefit a privileged few, and political instability--this was the legacy after thirty years of independence (Frederick, 268). The existing political parties abdicated their right to govern. In their struggle with the King and their quest for power and office, they treaded ruthlessly on the welfare of their country. Egypt's political structure blocked progress, rooted as it was in the status quo. No parliament controlled by wealthy landowners and Cairo's privileged social elite would support sweeping reform programs to the detriment of the vested interests. Few groups were untainted by the corruption which permeated Cairo. Many ranking civil servants owed their positions to partisan politics; landowners gained protection from the Wafd; businessmen were dependent upon the government for favors; and high ranking military officers often owed their posts to the King's personal support. Only the middle-class military--the captains, majors, and colonels, and, perhaps, a few generals--had the moral credentials for a bona fide movement of reform. And, after the sordid manipulation of the Alexandria cotton market and the collapse of national government in 1952, only the military was prepared to take action in the name of the people. Humiliated in the 1948 Palestine War, the Egyptian army generally had done little to distinguish itself. In its ranks, however, was a cadre of sincere and talented, though inexperienced, officers, and it was they who toppled the government in 1952. Initially, a junta sought to establish a nonpartisan civilian government, but this body proved unwilling to initiate the reforms desired by the young officers. Thus, the job of governing fell to the Free Officers by default. Governing had not been their initial purpose, and they were ill prepared for the task; but they alone were in a position to raze the "old order." And the destruction of the "old order" was a prerequisite for the implementation of profound reforms (Frederick 269). Role in Modernizing Egypt Rapid development in Egypt required an authoritarian government, and it became increasingly obvious that the Revolutionary Command Council could not measure up to the task. Instead, a single leader, a man with dictatorial powers, was needed. Gamal Abdel Nasser became dictator of Egypt in April, 1954. His was a difficult task. The country had not rallied to the military movement. Moreover, there was no panacea for Egypt's problems, and his every move drew the sniping attacks of those without the responsibilities for government. To his credit, he approached his mission boldly. Easy as it was to be irresolute, he determined what was best for
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Induced Therapeutic Hypothermia After Cardiac Arrest Research Paper
Induced Therapeutic Hypothermia After Cardiac Arrest - Research Paper Example TDuring an open heart surgery, there is significant risk of neurological injury on account of the lack of oxygen supply to brain as the circulation comes to a halt. In the absence of oxygen, the brain undergoes anaerobic metabolism as reported by Michelle E. (2011). This leads to damage to ATP dependent cellular functions with a resulting increase in calcium and glutamate excretion. The brain cells thus become more active, consuming more oxygen. With the increasing hypoxemia, further damage occurs leading to cell death. The resultant cerebral edema further enhances the damage. Also, as a result of all these processes, the blood-brain barrier also becomes ineffective further contributing to cerebral edema. As soon as the circulation returns after the heart starts pumping again, reperfusion injury occurs which adds up to the ongoing damage. Meanwhile, there is already an onset of the inflammatory reaction as a result of cell death leading to a release of neutrophils and macrophages in an attempt to remove the cellular debris. The resultant production of free radicals also catalyses the damaging process thus worsening the cerebral edema. This vicious cycle continues leading to brain death. ROLE OF THERAPEUTIC HYPOTHERMIA IN PREVENTING NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE: Using the technique of therapeutic hypothermia can be useful to avoid all the above described damage. The therapeutically induced hypothermia after cardiac arrest takes following steps to decrease the extent of neurological damage: 1. It stabilizes the release of calcium and glutamate thus decreasing the degree of cellular death, 2. It stabilizes the blood brain barrier, 3. It causes a suppression of the inflammatory response, 4. It reduces cerebral edema by the help of above actions. INDUCED THERAPEUTIC HYPOTHERMIA AFTER CARDIAC ARREST 4 According to the report produced by Michelle E. (2011), there is a reduction in cerebral metabolism from 6% to 10% for every one degree Celcius drop in body temperature. This results in decreased oxygen requirements by the brain cells. Michelle E. (2011) simulates the effects of therapeutic hy
The Complexity of Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words
The Complexity of Management - Essay Example It is important to note that these events cannot be specifically prevented, as most cases come up as unexpected (Cummings, 2004). In line with this type of complexity's unpredictable nature, the consequences implied afflict conflict between the organization and its stakeholders, and hinders the firm from attaining its corporate goals. A simple problem can escalate into a crisis if not properly managed, one of which can adversely affect the organization and its operations (Bhave and Narendra, 2000). Complexity in the form of Crisis Complexities in the form of crises are usually brought about by risks, whether these have been identified by the firm or not. From a corporate perspective, the disadvantage is that these risks, regardless of its societal, economic, physical, or technological nature, has the possibility of evolving into a more sophisticated and complicated framework (Bhave and Narendra, 2000).Such a premise is supported by situations wherein the consequences of risks would n ot only influence a specific aspect of the business, due to the interrelated nature of business wherein one small detail can affect the whole operations in general. From this perspective, one can note that the effect of risks can either be direct or systematic, wherein both scenarios present a threat to the organization's business (Alavi and Leidner, 2001). The ubiquitous nature of risks in firms imply the need for organizations to employ problem solving approaches that are innovative, as this would serve as their guide in identifying the nature of the problem and quickly apply the most ideal and practical solution. In addressing crisis, solutions must not be applied to fix problems temporarily, as the concept of strategic decision making regards the need for solutions that would produce a long term implication. In crises events, a company can either "pay sooner or later". However, a crisis cannot be immediately solved by a perfect template designed to fix situational events (Choo, 2006). In every crisis lie external and internal factors that must be considered, as each are sensitive to the environment and the situation at hand. The evaluation and implementation process of efficient measures are also coupled by risks, which is why mitigation strategies must be carefully formulated. It is important to note that communication is key in every crisis situation, as an open and continuous communication with stakeholders exemplifies transparency and enjoins trust among the stakeholders (Cummings, 2004). Through establishing trust and transparency, the organization would be equipped the capability to effectively carry out their mitigating measures to address and manage the crisis (Gioia and Chittipeddi, 2006). The Case of Johnson and Johnson: The Tylenol Crisis The researcher has chosen the nature of complexity in corporate organizations, particularly Johnsons and Johnsons, in regards to the renowned crisis concerning Tylenol. In that light, the focus of the study is the application of Crisis Management (Rehak, 2002). The researcher aims to deconstruct the Tylenol crisis, as to how Johnsons and Johnsons resolved the issue in terms of Planning, Leading, Organizing and Controlling on a Management Perspective. The core issue of Johnson and Johnson rooted from the spiked Tylenol products, wherein the issue has aggravated and reached a national level due to the concerns of affected stakeholders (Rudolph, 2000). The incident transpired in October
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Induced Therapeutic Hypothermia After Cardiac Arrest Research Paper
Induced Therapeutic Hypothermia After Cardiac Arrest - Research Paper Example TDuring an open heart surgery, there is significant risk of neurological injury on account of the lack of oxygen supply to brain as the circulation comes to a halt. In the absence of oxygen, the brain undergoes anaerobic metabolism as reported by Michelle E. (2011). This leads to damage to ATP dependent cellular functions with a resulting increase in calcium and glutamate excretion. The brain cells thus become more active, consuming more oxygen. With the increasing hypoxemia, further damage occurs leading to cell death. The resultant cerebral edema further enhances the damage. Also, as a result of all these processes, the blood-brain barrier also becomes ineffective further contributing to cerebral edema. As soon as the circulation returns after the heart starts pumping again, reperfusion injury occurs which adds up to the ongoing damage. Meanwhile, there is already an onset of the inflammatory reaction as a result of cell death leading to a release of neutrophils and macrophages in an attempt to remove the cellular debris. The resultant production of free radicals also catalyses the damaging process thus worsening the cerebral edema. This vicious cycle continues leading to brain death. ROLE OF THERAPEUTIC HYPOTHERMIA IN PREVENTING NEUROLOGICAL DAMAGE: Using the technique of therapeutic hypothermia can be useful to avoid all the above described damage. The therapeutically induced hypothermia after cardiac arrest takes following steps to decrease the extent of neurological damage: 1. It stabilizes the release of calcium and glutamate thus decreasing the degree of cellular death, 2. It stabilizes the blood brain barrier, 3. It causes a suppression of the inflammatory response, 4. It reduces cerebral edema by the help of above actions. INDUCED THERAPEUTIC HYPOTHERMIA AFTER CARDIAC ARREST 4 According to the report produced by Michelle E. (2011), there is a reduction in cerebral metabolism from 6% to 10% for every one degree Celcius drop in body temperature. This results in decreased oxygen requirements by the brain cells. Michelle E. (2011) simulates the effects of therapeutic hy
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
Chartered Portfolio Manager- Week 8 Discussion Post and Student Essay
Chartered Portfolio Manager- Week 8 Discussion Post and Student Responses - Essay Example This is to help standardize the type and content of messages posted by financial firms on social media and to eliminate fraudulent content (Flynn, 2012). Among the rules to be followed include ensuring that there is explanation of how a firm is using social media to advertise, ensuring that there is a record of all communication on social media, and ensuring that a firm is accountable for all messages posted on social media by their employees (Bahadur et al., 2012). After highlighting the importance of social media to individuals and firms, Roland should also add the limits that should be in place to ensure safe and efficient advertising of financial firms. I agree to the rest of the post where Roland analyses the advantages and functions of FINRA to businesses and their clients but I think that he should consider adding the risks of financial advisors to firms. When Kyrette explains what social media advertising is all about, he should also consider stating the risks associated with financial advisors. In addition to this, he should also consider adding information on what FINRA stands for, and its functions in advertising when he gives advantages of social media to professionals. Although Sherard’s gives a clear discussion on who financial advisors are and their main functions in a financial firm, Sherard should consider adding the rules and regulations put in place by FINRA. After highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of financial advertisers to firms, Sherard should give an opinion whether he recommends financial advisors to firms or
Monday, October 14, 2019
Descartes Meditation Essay Example for Free
Descartes Meditation Essay 1. If Descartes’s aim is to find certainty, why does he proceed by doubting as many things as he can? He feels that as long as he goes on believing his old beliefs, laziness and habit will block him from receiving any truths. He feels that if he regards his beliefs in the same way as he does any falsehoods he can remain unbiased when judging information and only then will he receive real truths. 2. What reason does he give for doubting that the senses give knowledge? That a man asleep can have a realistic dream that he is having the same experiences as a man thats awake. 3. What does the experience of â€Å"dreams†show us concerning the senses? He talks about how real dreams appear even though they are proven to be deceiving. And if one can be deceived in a dream by all of their senses can they not also be deceived in reality by some supernatural demon. He says hypothetically that God may not have created earth, shapes, etc. and everything that we sense could be a form of deception. 4. Why can he doubt even that 2=3 = 5. He talks about the fact that he sometimes doubt others who claim to have the most perfect knowledge. And if that can be the case for them cant it also be possible for him to be wrong about â€Å"obvious†truths. Also, if one may feel that if Gods goodness would stop him from being deceived SOME of the time, wouldnt it stop him from being deceived ALL of the time since he is clearly deceived some of the time. Basically he is acknowledging the fact that he could be wrong.
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Concepts of Innovation for Business Expansion
Concepts of Innovation for Business Expansion 1.0 INTRODUCTION This assignment looks at the all innovation aspects involved in the influence of the Bakhresa Group of Companies expansion in the East African region and beyond. The assignment considers the position of the company in relation to its environment at this current time and offers possible innovation aspect solutions to its growth possibilities. It has grown out of the need for a strategic look of the company at this time of global change and seeks to find out what the position of the company will be in the future. The work done of this assignment generated from main five questions that have been asked here in this assignment, and answers of each question have been discussed, The questions involved in this assignment as following: Bakhresa Identify the strand of organisation structure and innovation approach used by the group. Is it organic or mechanistic structure followed by the bakhresa group? Which one is more suitable to innovation and why? How can bakhresa group manage the tension between the need for creativity and efficiency? Discuss the main organisational characteristics that facilitate the innovation process in the bakhresa group. Explain the key individual roles within the innovation process and the activities they perform in the ipp group. How did bakhresa group establish innovative environment that propagates the virtuous circle of innovation? Explain its features 2.0 BACKGROUND OF BAKHRESA GROUP Said Salim Bakhresa Co.s and Bakhresa Food Products are a collection of companies each of which is part of a whole that forms the Bakhresa group. It has steadily been expanding its borders from Tanzania to the neighbouring countries and has been gaining a lot of market force over time. Countries operated in currently are:Tanzania, Malawi. Uganda, and Zanzibar This group of companies has specialised in undertaking certain projects in the neighbouring projects while at home, in Tanzania, it has diversified into the making and distribution of various products. Products made include the following: Maize flour, White bran for livestock, Biscuits, Bread (white, brown), Puratha (chapati) Ready to drink beverages It has also invested in the operation of a marine service that has tours to and from the island of Zanzibar. The main offices are on the mainland coast of Dar-es-Salaam where one can process tickets and further information necessary for future trip 3.0 REVIEW OF ENTREPRENEURRSHIP AND INNOVATION ENTREPRENEURSHIP Gibb and Hannon (2006) have defined entrepreneurship as a way of thinking, reasoning, and acting that results in the creation, enhancement, realization, and renewal of value for an individual, group, organization, and society. At the heart of this process is the creation or recognition of opportunities followed by the will and intuitive to seize the opportunities. Hisrich and Peters (2001) Entrepreneurship is the process of creating something different with value by devoting the necessary time and efforts, assuming the accompanying financial, psychic, and social risks, and receiving rewards of monetary and personal satisfaction and independence. Entrepreneurship involves the creation process creating something new of value. The creation has to have value to the entrepreneur and value to the society for which it is developed. Entrepreneurship requires the devotion of the necessary time and effort. and involves assuming the necessary risks. These risks take a variety of forms depending on the field, but generally risks centre around: Financial, Psychology, and Social areas. Also entrepreneurship involves rewards such as: High degree of independence- freedom from constraints, Get to use a variety of skills and talents INNOVATION Innovation can be defined as utilization of inventions to produce new and better quality of products that give greater satisfaction to the consumer and high profits to the entrepreneur. Innovation is the management of all the activities involved in the process of idea generation, technology development, manufacturing and marketing of a new (or improved) product or manufacturing process or equipment. Innovation is the successful implementation of novel and appropriate ideas (creativity) within an organization. Common causes of failure within the innovation process in most organizations can be distilled into five types: Poor goal definition, Poor alignment of actions to goals, Poor participation in teams, Poor monitoring of results and Poor communication and access to information Inventions are new discoveries, new ways of doing things and that products are the eventual outputs form the inventions, that process from new discovery to eventual product is the innovation process. Innovation as a process and not as a single event within organizations helps individuals who define problems, have ideas and perform creative linkages and associations that lead to inventions. Moreover, within organizations it is individuals in the role of managers who decide what activities should be undertaken, the amount of resources to be deployed and how they should be carried out. This has led to the development of so-called key individuals in the innovation process such as inventor, entrepreneur, business sponsor etc. Amabile et al. (1996) propose: All innovation begins with creative ideas . . . We define innovation as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization. In this view, creativity by individuals and teams is a starting point for innovation; the first is necessary but not sufficient condition for the second. For innovation to occur, something more than the generation of a creative idea or insight is required: the insight must be put into action to make a genuine difference, resulting for example in new or altered business processes within the organization, or changes in the products and services provided. 4.0 ORGANISATION STRUCTURE AND INNOVATION QUESITON 1 Identify the strand of organization structure and innovation approach used by the bakhresa group.is it organic or mechanistic structure followed by the bakhresa group? INNOVATION IN BAKHRESA group Bakhresa Group applying innovation has linked to performance of different and growth through improvements in efficiency, productivity, quality competitive positioning, market share etc. Innovation helps a Bakhresa Group business house to survive when the winds of change hinted the market caused by economic and social fluctuation of their environment; in fact Innovation has been used by Bakhresa Group as the process of conceptualizing an idea and then transforming an idea into a product/service. This leads the Bakhresa Group to develop and expand their activities in different parts of Tanzania and beyond neighbor countries. Bakhresa Group has successed by having a number of different disciplines such as commercial scanner, project leader contribute to understanding of the innovation process. Firms involved in Group they do not operate in vacuum. They trade with each other; they work together in some areas and compete in others. The role of some other firms is a major factor in understanding innovation. Organizational behavior of the Bakhresa Group had an important role on playing to understand and implement activities which has been necessary to ensure success. Significant discoveries and innovations have been associated with Bakhresa Group . ORGANISATION STRUCTURE AND INNOVATION APPROACH USED BY THE BAKHRESA GROUP The structure of an organization is define by Mintzberg (1978) as the sum total of the ways in which it divides its labour into distinct tasks and then achieves coordination among them. There have been numerous useful studies exploring the link between organizational structure and innovative performance. Organic versus Mechanistic Organisational structures:- Organic Mechanistic 1,0 Channels of ?Communication Open with free information flow throughout the organization Highly structured, restricted information flow 2.0 Operating styles Allowed to vary freely Must be uniform and restricted 3.0 Authority for decisions Based on the expertise of the individual Based on formal line management position 4.0 Free Adaptation By the organization to changing circumstance Reluctant Adaptation 5.0 Emphasis on getting things done unconstrained by formally laid down procedures Emphasis on formally laid down procedures 6.0 Loose informal control with emphasis on norm of cooperation Tight control 7.0 Flexible on-job behaviour permitted to be shaped by the requirement Constrained on-job behaviour 8.0 Decision Making participation and group consensus Only superiors make decisions Source: Trott P.,(2004) Innovation Management and New Product Development. Mechanistic organization tends to offer a less suitable environment for managing the creativity and the innovation process. Organization Structures vis-à -vis Innovation Formalisation There is some evidence of an inverse relationship between formalization and innovation. That is an increase in formalization of procedures will result in a disease in innovative activity. Complexity Where these are several different type of professional groups are working in an organization, it would represent a complex organization Centralisation It refers to the decision making activity and the location of power within an organization. In a decentralized organization fewer levels of hierarchy are usually required: This tends to lead to more responsive decision making cleser to the action. Organisational Size A small business with fewer employees differs significantly on terms of resources from an organization which is big size is a proxy variable for more meaningful dimensions such as economic and organization resources, including number of employees. ANALYISIS OF BAKHRESA GROUP The structure of Bakhresa Group controlled by the activities had performed by company under mechanistic structure caused by division of labours and their tasks, Innovation has being made up of a series of linked activities within a group. The environment of mechanistic has been offered less suitable condition for develop of innovation in Bakhresa Group Business. The culture of the Bakhresa Group is mechanistic structure are characterized as following: The channel of communication is highly structured, In organization structure based in MECHANISTIC, There is restricted information flow, there is no any free chance for information to pass from inside to outside of organization or vice versa. Bakhresa Group under mechanistic structure have been applying implication of restrict information flow with other companies. They making their information have secret issue within Bakhresa Group business and they had not allowed receipt of any information from outside that could influence changes within Group business. Operating styles are uniform and restricted. Bakhresa Group operating their activities under uniform and restricted styles, this style leads the operations being unique by influenced of the ability of making analysis of produce consistent quality products from different entities located in different areas to ensure high level of satisfaction needs to customers spread over, not only, in Tanzania but also in the neighboring countries where their business activities are operate. Authority for decision Based on formal line management position, the authority decisions taken by Bakhresa Group has depend on how it had being reviewed by managers and directors by following steps between low position up to highest position which has been undertaking into the particular organization and seems they can contribute positive results. After being reviewed, the authority for decisions for to be implemented must also proposed by the managers up to the top manager. The management is reluctant to adapt changing circumstances. Change management affects organizational behavior. Because those behaviors are rooted in emotional and psychological responses, leaders and managers of Bakhresa group find them difficult to manage. They understanding that there is an underlying consistency to many of these behaviors help demystify them so they can be proactively managed. Effective change management strategies incorporate an understanding of these common behaviors in deciding change initiative priorities, scope and scheduling, and they include explicit activities to manage the phases of these cycles as they occur throughout the change execution process Which one between mechanistic and organic is more suitable to innovation and why? It suggests that organic is more suitable to innovation, this organic is flexible structure, characterized by the absence of formality and hierarchy, support innovation more effectively than do mechanistic structures. The latter are characterized by long chains of command, rigid work methods, strict task differentiation, extensive procedure and well defined hierarchy. Nevertheless, flexible rather than mechanistic organizational structures are still seen, especially within the business management literature as necessary for successful industrial innovation, In general, an organic organization is more adaptable, more openly communicating, more consensual and more loosely controlled. The mechanistic organization tends to offer a less suitable environment for managing creativity and the innovation process. 5.0 CREATIVITY AND EFFICIENCY QUESTION 2 How can bakhresa group manage the tension between the need for creativity and efficiency? Bakhresa Group managing the tension between the need for creativity and efficiency has been categories as following: Efficiency gains within the bakhresa Group The efficient day to day operations within company have been conducted by application of stable routines which had been achieved in stable and controlled environments in. Creativity gains within the Bakhresa Group Creativity can be defined as the process of developing an original product, service or idea that makes a socially recognized contribution The development of new products/services requires creativity and room to try out new ideas this is achieved in a loose and flexible environment The creativity supported with actions and resources with the time to be creative: organization can try to build sufficient slack into the system to allow for creative thinking and tolerates errors and mistakes and successful ideas need to be rewarded However the long-term economic growth within Bakhresa depends on the ability of firms to make improvements to products and manufacturing processes. The firms has need to make room for creativity and innovation, that is, allow slack in the system. These then is the dilemma: how do firms try to reduce costs and slack to improve competitiveness on the one hand and then try to provide slack for innovation on the other? Bakhresa Group done balancing: the working to ensure there is a constant pressure to drive down costs and improve efficiency in its operations. At the same time it needs to provide room for new product development and improvements to be made the most obvious way forward is to separate production from r d. However there are many improvements and innovations that arise out of the operations of the firm. 6.0 ORGANISATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS QUESTION 3 Discuss The Main Organisational Characteristics That Facilitate The Innovation Process In The Bakhresa Group. Process innovation means the implementation of a new or significantly improved production or delivery method (including significant changes in techniques, equipment and/or software). Minor changes or improvements, an increase in production or service capabilities through the addition of manufacturing or logistical systems which are very similar to those already in use, ceasing to use a process, simple capital replacement or extension, changes resulting purely from changes in factor prices, customisation,regular seasonal and other cyclical changes, trading of new or significantly improved products are not considered innovations. innoviscop. The main organizational characteristics that facilitate the innovation process in the Bakhresa Group as following: Growth orientation;- long term grow rather than short term profit. It is characterized by a commitment to long-term growth rather than short-term profit. Not all companies first and foremost objective is growth. Some companies are established merely to exploit a short-term opportunity, other companies would like to maintain the company at its existing size: the objective of innovative companies is to grow the business the actively plan for the long-term. ANALYSIS OF BAKHRESA GROUP Bakhresa Group started in a humble manner with a small restaurant in the Port City of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, in mid seventies, it has now emerged as a respected business group in the Region. The Group has its operations spread in Tanzania, Zanzibar, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and most recently in Mozambique. Plans are in place to spread its wings to other countries. The group now boasts of a turnover of more than Three Hundred Million United Sates Dollars and is a proud employer of more than two thousand employees associated directly. There are several companies under its umbrella and have investments mainly in Food and Beverage Sector, Packaging, Logistics and Real Estate Bakhresa Group has been working to expand their business by long term growth by emphasis long term vision and making implementation of it, those implications have been taken a long time, and some of them are still need a time to be implemented. Bakhresa succeed to making steps on growth of the manufactures of Food and Beverage Sector, Packaging, Logistics and Real Estate, product, which leads to the expand of branch company in different parts in Tanzania and beyond Tanzania.Bakhresa offers two groups of product and services: Food Beverages and Services. Commitment to technology It is characterized by the willingness to invest in the long-term development of technology. Bakhresa Group has exhibit patience in permitting ideas to geminate and develop overtime. this needs to be accompanied by a commitment to resources in terms of intellectual input without a long-term approach it would be extremely difficult for the company to attract good scientists. Eg: Azam Bakeries Company Ltd Azam Bakeries, the largest bakery in Tanzania, produces the popular Azam brand bread, cakes and donuts. The state of the art technology is used for producing the bakery products making the company proud of supplying essential food in the country. It has a modern biscuit factory producing the finest varieties of biscuits. Many varieties of biscuits such as Chai, Creams, Glucose, Coconut, Nice, Marie, and Shortcake are popular in the country.The plant and equipment consists of the latest technology from Italy and has a high capacity automatic packing system capable of producing up to 300packets per minute. Vigilance It is characterized by the ability of the organization to be aware of its threats and opportunities. vigilance requires continual external scanning e.g. within the marketing function the activity would form part of market research and competitor analysis collecting valuable information is one thing, but relaying it to the necessary individuals and acting on it are two necessary associated requirements. Bakhresa Group has working to ensure that they got all external knowledge by doing analysis and researches that has been helping to known new strategic which required to be implemented for the results of achieving goals. Bakhresa Group has being faced with some opportunities and threats as indicated below: Opportunities Appreciation for high-quality local produced raw material such as maize, mills The new generation of individuals and companies has a far greater positive reception of domestic produced starch Current drive by government through the Tanzania Investment Centre and EPZ towards export of locally manufactured agricultural products Current government motive of Kilimo kwanza to promote agro-production Presence of export opportunities such as AGOA, SADCC, EAST AFRICA COMMUNITY, COMESA, etc Climate that favors large scale production of raw material throughout our country Raw material such as rice, maize, mill production initiatives that have started to emerge in different regions in Tanzania Availability of cheap manpower and fertile land for raw material production locally such as maize, white Threats The present growth in the market may result in market saturation, through competition. This competition could emerge from a variety of given sources including;Established mass market companies that imports Development of new lines and vertically integrating so as to be totally in control of supplies and products being sold on the respective markets New marketing strategies and tactics by established products and companies Existing competition. Intolerable price increases by foreign suppliers may occur Farmers may decide to take their produce for food in case of hunge 7.0 INDIVIDUAL ROLES WITHIN THE INNOVATION PROCESS QUESITON 4 Explain The Key Individual Roles Within The Innovation Process And The Activities They Perform In The Bakhresa Group. Innovation process is essentially a people process and that organizational structure, formal decision making processes, delegation of authority and other formal aspects of a so-called well run company are not necessary conditions for successful technological innovation. The study of Rubenstein has revealed that certain individuals had fulfilled a variety of roles that had contributed to successful technological innovation. Heres the list of roles individual playing within Bakhresa Group facilitate the innovation process by engages;- Commercial scanner: This individual acquires vast amounts of information from outside the organization, often through net working. This may include market and technical information. Bakhresa Group have been working in finding and making analysis of the information from other successful same companies which operate the same products. The access of new ideas could the very Gatekeeper: This individual keeps informed of related developments that occur outside the organization through journals, conferences, colleagues and other companies. Passes information on to others, finds it easy to talk to colleagues. Serves as an informatted resource for others in the organization. Project leader: This individual provides the team with leadership and motivation. Plans and organizes the project ensures that administrative requirements are met. Provides necessary coronation among team members sees that Project moves forward effectively. Balances project goals with organizational needs. Examine and analyze the project for patterns to determine what is and is not working and help you tune your process so its most efficient and so you understand where to focus your resources on opportunities and to correct problems. Sponsor: This individual provides access to a power base within the Bakhresa Group: a senior person. Buffers the Project team from unnecessary organizational constraints. Helps the project team too get what it needs from other parts of the organization. Provides legitimacy and organizational confidence in the project. Heres the another addition list of roles individual playing in innovation process and: 2005 (innovationtools) Connectors A key element of innovation is building bridges to connect distant worlds-industries beyond your own-to generate new products/services and building networks to connect people to create and distribute the new offering. Combining these attributes with several other characteristics results in what we call a Connector. Connectors have these characteristics: Are a mile wide and an inch deep. Connectors have the ability to connect departments, organizations, and industries that normally would not be connected. Although they may be an expert in their own field, Connectors are generally people youd describe as a mile wide and an inch deep. They know things about a variety of fields and industries and can connect them. Are one degree separated. Think of the person or people you know who can get anything through the system. They know the person in the mailroom who can expedite getting things delivered fast, they know the administrative assistants that wield the power, and they know the person in purchasing who can order the thingamabob you need. They know everyone inside and outside the organization and can connect you with them. Build networks. Connectors build networks. Their ability to do so means that once an idea has been captured and evaluated (or even during evaluation), they can help you build the network of people to deliver the offering. Jump the tracks. Connectors can jump the tracks, making connections with other people, industries, technologies, ideas, distribution, partners-and they bring others along-which is critical. Because they connect with people, they have the ability to get others to see the benefits for jumping the track. Skyscrape. Connectors, because of their position or people they know in key positions, can easily get or make connections to the upper reaches of an organization. Its likely that you will need several Connectors, since not everyone has all the characteristics above. The person who knows how to work the internal system is usually not a skyscraper-they usually work behind the scenes. Thats ok. Its likely the Connectors you identify will know each other already. Heres what the Connector can do for your innovation initiative: create connections to other people and technologies within your organization, and connect you to customers and business partners who can help you outside your organization. Connectors dramatically reduce the time to find the appropriate connections and improve the chance youll make a valuable connection. Librarian The Librarian holds the key position of collecting ideas and providing organized access to others who can help build the library and make sense of the current collection. The Librarian provides an easy way to check in, check out (as in examine), and add to ideas, solutions, problems, technologies, and needs. Think of a library where you can write in the books or write your own books, put them back on the shelf, and allow others to do the same. Librarians have these characteristics. Librarians: Define the meta-data. Librarians determine what information is important to capture about an idea. Librarians determine what information is necessary to capture about an idea and to evaluate it. They determine the formats for the information. Help store and retrieve information. As the number of ideas grows, so does the complexity of storing, finding and retrieving information about those ideas. Help others help themselves. The capture of information, storage, searching and information retrieval should be a self-help mechanism. A good librarian works themselves out of a job. Heres what the Librarian can do for your innovation initiative: define a consistent data model to help document and capture your ideas. Provide the meta-data and information tags to search and find ideas, and ensure easy retrieval. Help others in the team and associated with the team find information and add to it. Framer The Framer works with business functions and management to determine the appropriate evaluation schemes and frameworks teams should use to evaluate ideas fairly, transparently and consistently. The Framer: Understands where the organization is trying to go. The strategic direction is critical in evaluating ideas, because new products and services will dictate how fast and far the organization can go in that direction. All evaluations must be made relevant to that direction. Understands who needs to be involved to make the evaluation meaningful. If key individuals or groups are left out of the evaluation, the idea may fail in execution because a key element is missing. Absent heads mean absent hands. The evaluation should include everyone who will be involved in executing and no more. The Framer needs to make sure all heads, hearts, and hands are accounted for in the evaluation process. Understands the need for transparency. Contributors need to understand the evaluation process and the rationale behind it. This will help ensure that ideas are contributed because contributors understand the process is fair; it will also help contributors provide information to make the evaluation easier. Understands how an idea should be evaluated. Different classes of ideas needto be evaluated different ways, but within those classes ideas should be evaluated consistently and in a way that allows ideas to be compared against each other so that the desired portfolio may be achieved. Heres what the Framer can do for your innovation initiative: construct the evaluation frameworks which your team will use to evaluate your ideas, and ensure the evaluations are consistent and transparent. Judge The Judge evaluates the ideas, using the Framers framework. Generally speaking there are many Judges for any idea often representing business functions (sales, marketing, RD), regions or other business silos. Judges follow the evaluation criteria set by the Framers, who worked with all the entities involved in setting the evaluation framework. Judges have these characteristics. Judges: Evaluate ideas and determine which ideas should move forward to prototyping, which should be tabled until an internal or external criteria is met (e.g., good idea when the price of memory falls to one dollar per terabyte), and which should be shelved. Provide the verdict on which ideas merit further investigation and development by the organization. Document their decisions for posterity. Too often decisions are made about initiatives and ideas, and those decisions are not documented. Eventually the idea will be considered again. Without the documentation for the decision, a team may be forced to reconsider an idea that was previously rejected. Heres what a Judge can do for your innovation initiative: evaluate the idea against a standard framework and ensure all the business functions responsible for the idea have weighed in. Establish a verdict on the idea, to move the idea into production, end evaluation of the idea, license the idea to someone else or continue evaluation until conditions change. Document the rationale for the decision so that others can understand why the idea was approved or why it failed the evaluation. Prototyper Many organizations are comfortable with their new product development (NPD) process. Once
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Defining the Neurobiology of Insanity :: Biology Essays Research Papers
Defining the Neurobiology of Insanity: Law, Science, and the I-function Reconciled During the last week or so of class, after a semester of being teased with glimpses of, allusions to, and deferred explanations for the I-function, we at last came face to face with this previously elusive property of the nervous system which allows us to experience experience. The detour was necessary, for it corrected the general misconception that something like an I-function encompasses everything that makes one an individual and defines one's unique personality; it demonstrated the true importance of "the rest" of the nervous system. Indeed, we were shown how the I-function is, in some ways, superfluous, in that it is not necessary for survival. Not to downplay it, however, the I-function is key to understanding what makes us (human beings) what we are, to distinguishing our experience of the world from that of other species. It allows us to conceive of ourselves (our selves) as objects and to perform such behaviors as planning, dreaming, in short, imagining ourselves in situati ons other than the one in which we 'really' are. The last few classes were dedicated to addressing issues which still troubled the majority of the class, such as choice and the supernatural; I, however, found my self wondering about another issue, which no one had yet brought up: insanity. What does it mean to insane? What are the (if any) criteria which determine whether or not a person is sane? Are they reflected in said individual's neurobiological make-up? And finally, how does insanity relate to the I-function? As it turns out, research related to these issues is fairly recent, but increasing rapidly, thanks to technological advances and important contributions from several fields in the neurosciences. My goal here is to report on the answers I was able to find to my questions, as well as to ponder the questions raised by these and foreseeable answers. As might be expected, the term "insanity" has no neurobiological definition and, as a concept in everyday language, is extremely broad and vaguely defined. Not surprisingly, therefore, it is a concept which is neither used nor useful to professionals in the neurosciences, who regard so-called "insane" behaviors as the results of abnormalities or changes within the brain: "...a rough medical translation would be 'psychosis-that is, the more severe kinds of mental illness, involving hallucinations or delusions," (1). In searching for a working criteria of insanity, the closest I came to a formal definition was the criteria used in law to determine whether or not a defendant could be absolved of responsibility for his or her crime. Defining the Neurobiology of Insanity :: Biology Essays Research Papers Defining the Neurobiology of Insanity: Law, Science, and the I-function Reconciled During the last week or so of class, after a semester of being teased with glimpses of, allusions to, and deferred explanations for the I-function, we at last came face to face with this previously elusive property of the nervous system which allows us to experience experience. The detour was necessary, for it corrected the general misconception that something like an I-function encompasses everything that makes one an individual and defines one's unique personality; it demonstrated the true importance of "the rest" of the nervous system. Indeed, we were shown how the I-function is, in some ways, superfluous, in that it is not necessary for survival. Not to downplay it, however, the I-function is key to understanding what makes us (human beings) what we are, to distinguishing our experience of the world from that of other species. It allows us to conceive of ourselves (our selves) as objects and to perform such behaviors as planning, dreaming, in short, imagining ourselves in situati ons other than the one in which we 'really' are. The last few classes were dedicated to addressing issues which still troubled the majority of the class, such as choice and the supernatural; I, however, found my self wondering about another issue, which no one had yet brought up: insanity. What does it mean to insane? What are the (if any) criteria which determine whether or not a person is sane? Are they reflected in said individual's neurobiological make-up? And finally, how does insanity relate to the I-function? As it turns out, research related to these issues is fairly recent, but increasing rapidly, thanks to technological advances and important contributions from several fields in the neurosciences. My goal here is to report on the answers I was able to find to my questions, as well as to ponder the questions raised by these and foreseeable answers. As might be expected, the term "insanity" has no neurobiological definition and, as a concept in everyday language, is extremely broad and vaguely defined. Not surprisingly, therefore, it is a concept which is neither used nor useful to professionals in the neurosciences, who regard so-called "insane" behaviors as the results of abnormalities or changes within the brain: "...a rough medical translation would be 'psychosis-that is, the more severe kinds of mental illness, involving hallucinations or delusions," (1). In searching for a working criteria of insanity, the closest I came to a formal definition was the criteria used in law to determine whether or not a defendant could be absolved of responsibility for his or her crime.
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