Deception in ResearchÂÂ

Deception in Research The article I chose from Capella Library was about Deception in Research. While exploring my area of interest may require misleading or not completely informing your subjects about the true nature of your research, as a general rule, serious deception should be avoided whenever possible, since it put at risks the integrity of informed authority. For research involving deception the use of deception must be justified in the procedure to show that the research cannot be performed in the absence of deception and the benefits of the research will sufficiently be more important than any risks that deception may create.Research participants cannot be deceived about significant aspects of the research that would affect their willingness to participate or that would cause them physical or emotional harm. Deception must be explained to participants (debriefed) as early as reasonable. A debriefing script must be included in the procedure and should include a detailed desc ription of the ways in which deception was used and why; when and by whom the debriefing will be administered should also be included.True â€Å"informed consent† cannot be given if the true nature of the research is deceptively presented. This situation is dealt with administratively via a waiver of portions of the information consent regulations. Deception is a word used to end arguments, not to begin them. To accuse researchers of deception is to remove them from the ranks of those with whom legitimate human relationships can be pursued. For an example, let’s look at in the article of Deception in Research on the Placebo Effect.Experiments exploring the placebo effect, however, suggest justifiable ethical concerns, owing to the use of deception. The ethical intend to conduct of deceptive placebo research include (1) review and approval by an independent research ethics to establish the use of deception and that the study protocol offers sufficient value to justify t he risks it poses to participants, including the use of deception; (2) disclosure in the informed-consent document that the study involves the use of deception; and (3) participants at the conclusion of research participation.This also concludes that in order to supply to public accountability, articles reporting the results of research using deception should describe temporarily loyalty with these participant-protection rules. Ethics is one of the most crucial areas of research, with deception and research increasingly becoming a crucial area of discussion between psychologists, philosophers and ethical groups.Examples of Deception and Research to show how ethical concerns have changed during the 20th century, it is useful to look at some examples such as Deception in Psychological Research. Deception has been attacked repeatedly as ethically unacceptable and morally reprehensible. However, research has revealed that subjects who have participated in deception experiments versus no deception experiments enjoyed the experience more, received more educational benefit from it, and did not mind being deceived or having their privacy invaded.Such evidence suggests that deception, although unethical from a moral point of view, is not considered to be aversive, undesirable, or an unacceptable methodology from the research participant's point of view. The repeated assumption of the unacceptability of deception seems to be due to the fact that deception has been evaluated only from the viewpoint of moral philosophizing. This has led to the repeated conclusion that deception is reprehensible and seems to have created a perceptual set to view deception immediately as aversive.However, the perception of the unethical nature of deception seems to be minimal in studies that investigate innocuous public behaviors and enhanced in studies that run the risk of harming research participants or in studies that investigate private behaviors. When this knowledge is combined with t he fact that research participants do not mind being deceived, and that it can also be viewed as immoral not to conduct research on important problems, the scale seems to be tilted in favor of continuing the use of deception in psychological research.Is it ethically permissible to use deception in psychological experiments? We argue that, provided some requirements are satisfied, it is possible to use deceptive methods without producing significant harm to research participants and without any significant violation of their autonomy. We also argue that methodological deception is at least at the moment the only effective means by which one can acquire morally significant information about certain behavioral tendencies. Individuals in general and research participants in particular, gain self-knowledge which can help them improve their autonomous decision-making.The community gains collective self-knowledge that, once shared, can play a role in shaping education, informing policies a nd in general creating a more efficient and just society. Reference: 1. Deception in Research on the Placebo Effect Franklin G Miller,*  David Wendler, and  Leora C Swartzman Author information  Copyright and License information  See â€Å"Placebo: Physician, Heal Thyself† , e388. This article has been  cited by  other articles in PMC. 2. Harrington A, editor. (1997) The placebo effect: An interdisciplinary exploration.Cambridge (Massachusetts): Harvard University Press. 272 p. 3. Deception in psychology: moral costs and benefits of unsought self-knowledge. Bortolotti L, Mameli M. SourcePhilosophy Department, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, 2006 Jul-Sep;13(3):259-75. 4. 2002;12(2):117-42. Deception in research: distinctions and solutions from the perspective of utilitarianism. Pittenger DJ. Source Department of Psychology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 615 McCallie Ave. , Chattanooga, TN 37403, USA

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Fear is one aspects of human life that can make or break the life of a hero. Being a leader entails a lot in ones life and there are various things that come with leadership. In the ancient set up, leaders normally went to war and they had to come back home having fulfilled their mission. While away, they met or rather faced several challenges that made them either strong or fade away. Kingdoms were founded on the major aspects of how strong ones army was. Gilgamesh was a real person being one of the leaders of the proto-literate Uruk.The life and achievements of Gilgamesh illustrates the importance of striving for the best as well as the values of overcoming fear of death. Gilgamesh goes out to a mission and encounters major magic helpers then later comes home to his community with major benefits to the community. To be a hero takes a lot in the human life. A leader has to be very daring. He has to meet many things that are really challenging. If a leader is not strong enough, his o r her people will suffer to oblivion and thus the essence of heroism comes in.Gilgamesh in this epic is described as a great hero who was fearless and had to face a lot for his people (Sandars 21). He is described as one person who was really fearless and met the extremes of human experiences for the benefit of his lovely community. During his expedition, he experienced magnificence and at the same time went through a lot of human existence extremes. This is clearly elaborated in this sweet story of the ancient times. Gilgamesh was two-thirds god and this is one of the rare parentages of the ancient times. People like Achilles were the only caliber of people who had this kind of special parentage.Before his actualization of the heroism in him, Gilgamesh spends most of the time engaging in non-profitable things like taking away other people’s wives. He later reasons and learns that he ought to do a lot for his community that is beneficial. He goes out to fight and kill monster s so that the world can be restored (Sandars 77). Fear is one thing that can make a great people to be reduced to nothing. It takes a brave leader like Gilgamesh to stand out of the crowd and do something that will outlive them and live to the generations to come.The things that Gilgamesh has to go through in the woods while in his mission demand for a brave man. It would be useless for him to get to the woods if he were a coward. The woods were very thick and it would only take a brave man to pursue this great mission. We can compare this great hero with other heroes in the ancient times. Achilles was one such hero who chose a short life with glory than a long one with glory. It took one to in the ancient world to fight in the front line so that they could be termed great heroes.Achilles really made this realization for he accomplished his mission in the battle fields and he is in the top list of the ancient heroes. This was the kind of heroic codes that were highly revered to in t he ancient times. It is very clear how Gilgamesh is determined and not scared by the monsters even after he witnesses the death of his friend Enkindu. In spite of the many dangers in the woods, Gilgamesh goes beyond the normal limits to realize the immortality (Sandars 118). His divine parentage makes him the brave man he is and this makes him bring glory to the community he belonged .The above clearly tells us that fear is a great threat to human condition. When fear grips humans, there are many things that cannot be realized. Naturally, human condition is filled with fear and it takes only the brave to stand out of the crowd and do the most desirable. If Gilgamesh had been filled with fear, the great things he did for his community would not be realized. His community would never be recognized as great and his name would not be remembered at all. The text relates to real life in that we basically use literature and hidden meanings to express contagious issues; witchcraft, death an d spirits.Gilgamesh comes out as the character that is making the text meaningful, since he helps in developing the plots of the text; he appears most often in the text (Sandars 62). The ability to overcome fear of any form is the beginning of success to the human endeavors. It is with great courage that a person can conquer and make the people that come after him or her to enjoy the benefits of the great works accomplished. Gilgamesh’s extra-ordinary determination to achieve is a proof beyond doubt. Work Cited Sandars, N. K. The Epic of Gilgamesh: An English version with introduction. United Kingdom, Penguin Classics Publishers, 2003.

Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior

In the article, â€Å"Why Chinese mothers are Superior, Chua describes her efforts to give her children what she describes as a traditional, strict â€Å"Chinese† upbringing. ] This piece was controversial. Many readers missed the supposed irony and self-deprecating humor in the title and the piece itself and instead believed that Chua was advocating the â€Å"superiority† of a particular, very strict, ethnically defined approach to parenting. In fact Chua has stated that the book was not a â€Å"how-to† manual but a self-mocking memoir. In any case, Chua defines â€Å"Chinese mother† loosely to include parents of other ethnicities who practice traditional, strict child-rearing, while also acknowledging that â€Å"Western parents come in all varieties,† and not all ethnically Chinese parents practice strict child-rearing. Chua also reported that in one study of 48 Chinese immigrant mothers, the vast majority ‘said that they believe their children can be â€Å"the best† students, that â€Å"academic achievement reflects successful parenting,† and that if children did not excel at school then there was â€Å"a problem† and parents â€Å"were not doing their job. ‘ Chua contrasts them with the view she labels â€Å"Western† – that a child’s self-esteem is paramount Amy makes it clear that the Asian kids are not born smart (For the most part, at least) It is hard work and training from the parents that shapes the children into these wonder kids. To prov e her point she lists up a number of things that her daughter were never allowed to do, such as: * Have a play date * Watch television or play computer games * Attend a school play. And so on.. Prohibitions that seems totally unreasonable for us â€Å"westerns†, as she loosely has named us. Throughout the text she covers several perspectives on parenting, which of a few I surprisingly agree on. Most of her viewpoints I deeply disagree with though and is far from my idea about proper parenting. Each time she lists up one of her perspectives, she compares the Chinese perspective with the Western perspective. She does this in a very subjective manner I think. She is very clever rhetorically. At some parts of the text, I actually caught my self being very close to getting dragged towards her side. I found it quite amusing to feel the power of pathos, but at the same time a bit daunting. According to Amy, the main difference between Chinese parents and Western parents is the way they see their children. Western parents believe that respecting their children’s choices, their individuality and always encouraging them to pursue their true passions is the way. In contrast, Chinese parents believe that preparing their children for the future, and.. Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior Children all over the world are raised in hundreds of different ways. Some parents strive to get a successful child, some are more casual, and some parents even relive their youth through their kids. China is on the running course with the rest of the world, and when it comes to creating masterminds, China is way ahead of everyone else. Should we follow, or should we simply go on the way we always have? In the article â€Å"Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior† by Amy Chua, we’re informed about the differences between the western way of raising children and the Chinese way.She is a Chinese mother herself, and from her perspective she explains how she has raised her children by excluding them from every social activity, both within school, but also during their extracurricular.Her opinions are pretty clear, and she doesn’t hesitate to express how much she thinks her way of raising children is better than the western way. She explains that not all Chinese mothers are l ike her â€Å"Conversely, I know some mothers of Chinese heritage, almost always born in the West, who are not Chinese mothers, by choice or otherwise†1.Throughout the article, she states that the western way of raising children is not as good as the Chinese, and even though some western parents think they’re strict towards their children, it’s nothing compared to the Chinese idea of strict â€Å"†¦even when Western parents think they’re being strict, they usually don’t come close to being Chinese mothers. (†¦ ) my Western friends who consider themselves strict make their children practice their instruments for 30 minutes every day. An hour at most.For a Chinese mother, the first hour is the easy part. It’s hours two and three that though†2. This proves that she truly thinks that she, and the rest of the hardworking Chinese mothers, are superior. Throughout the article, she also resorts to studies, that have examined the opi nions of 50 western women and 48 immigrated Chinese women, all mothers. â€Å"Almost 70% of the Western mothers said either that â€Å"stressing academic success is not good for children† or that â€Å"parents need to foster the idea, that learning is fun†Ã¢â‚¬ 3.The opinion of the Chinese mothers was a whole different story, though â€Å"By contrast, roughly 0% of the Chinese mothers felt the same way†4. Dragging these studies into her article doesn’t only make her reliable, she also argues very well for her case. The fact that she is a professor at Yale Law School also backs up her reliance. Being a professor for future lawyers usually requires being good at arguing, which she certainly is.In her article, she has included stories and experiences from her own life, in which she was also raised the Chinese way: Play to be the best, or don’t play at all. The first experience she explains is how her father used to call her names when she was disres pectful towards her mother â€Å"†¦ when I was extremely disrespectful to my mother, my father angrily called me â€Å"garbage†Ã¢â‚¬ 5, but she also states that she was never negatively affected by his name-calling â€Å"I felt terrible and deeply ashamed of what I had done.But it didn’t damage my self-esteem or anything like that†6. Throughout the article, she uses humor even though she seems to be a strict lady, that doesn’t waste time messing around â€Å"One guest named Marcy got so upset she broke down in tears and had to leave early. My friend Susan, the host, tried to rehabilitate me with the remaining guests†7. This shows that she does, even though it might be a bit hard to detect, have a sense of humor. She is pretty subjective in this article, since she assumes that every Chinese child is an A-class student.This is, though a bit of a paradox, since she in the start of the article wrote that not all Chinese mothers are the same â₠¬Å"If a Chinese child gets a B – which would never happen – there would be a screaming, hair-tearing explosion. †8. She is convinced, that a Chinese parent can treat their child in any way they want to, calling them names and forcing them to do things, they don’t want to do, whereas western parents can’t be critic at all or demand anything of their child without ruining the self-esteem of their child â€Å"Chinese mothers can say to their daughters â€Å"Hey fatty – Lose some weight.†By contrast, Western parents have to tiptoe around the issue, talking in terms of â€Å"health† and never mention the f-word, and their kids still end up in therapy for eating disorders and negative self-image†9. In the modern world, it’s all about stepping up and making a name for yourself, no matter if you’re on Wall Street or a part of the underground music revolution. Many years ago, China’s economy was a wreck, peopl e starved and you had to be the best to survive.Call it Darwinism, but these people had to fight to be something, and I think this is how this Chinese way of raising children was created, and we learned from Amy’s article, that Chinese children are still raised this way. If a young child is brilliant at for example an instrument and a video is posted on Youtube and it goes viral and people hear about it, they sometimes ask â€Å"Is the kid Asian? †. Then people laugh, but it’s funny because it’s true!The Chinese, not to speak of rest of Asia, has conquered a big part of the market for manufactured products, and everywhere you go you see the stamp â€Å"Made In China†. No wonder if everyone in China raise their children like Amy does. When all this is said, I think children should be allowed to be children. It’s healthy for them to create social bands, but if they’re cut out from all social activity by their parents, they will automati cally become the outcast in their class.This is why we on American high schools always see white and black kids hang out together, but the Asians are usually for themselves. It’s natural to make boundaries for your child, the child should know the difference between right and wrong, but should definitely not learn that socializing is wrong. Maybe Amy didn’t get damaged in the process of being perfected by her parents, but I’m sure not every Chinese child is like her. We keep talking about leaving a better planet for our children – But how about leaving better children for our planet? Why chinese mothers are superior â€Å"Nothing is fun until you’re good at it.† That statement is the essence of the Chinese way of parenting. Studies show, that Chinese parents spend about 10 times as long as Western parents on academic activities with their children on a daily basis. But the question is, will all that discipline and those high expectations really create content and successful adults or does it in fact create children who will eventually resent their parents?The article was brought in The Wall Street Journal in 2011 and it is written by Amy Chua’s and from her point of view. She is a professor and a mother of two. She believes in the Chinese way of parenting – that discipline and expecting nothing less but perfection from your children, will eventually create happy and successful adults. In the article she argues for the reason why the Chinese upbringing is successful. She is married to a Westerner and therefore she has recognized three big differences in the Chinese and Western parental mind-sets.Amy believes these three differences to be the reason why Chinese children have a tendency to perform better at school. First of all, she thinks that Western parents are too concerned with their children’s self-esteem. As she says it: â€Å"Western parents are concerned about their children’s psyches. Chinese parents aren’t. They assume strength, not fragility, and as a result they behave very differently.† This statement is somewhat true. Western parents have a tendency to tiptoe around an issue; because they are petrified they might hurt their child’s feelings or damage their child’s self-esteem.If you expect your children to be fragile, they most likely will become fragile. If you on the other hand expect strength, and that they can handle the truth without getting a damaged self-esteem, they will be strong. But as always there must be moderation in all things. Amy Chua says: â€Å"That’s why the soluti on to substandard performance is always to excoriate, punish and shame the child. The Chinese parent believes that their child will be strong enough to take the shaming and to improve from it.†Punishing your children for a disappointing performance at school by castigating the child is very far from the Western parental mind-set. If you are disappointed in your children, it is better to be honest with them and tell them you know they can do better and what you expect of them in the future. It is unnecessary to lambast your children. It seems, that in Amy Chua’s mind respect and fear is the same thing, which in my mind seems hopelessly out of date.You should not fear your parents; instead they should be the ones in whom you could always seek comfort and support. Amy Chua has a completely different mind-set on where children are in the social hierarchy, which is the next big difference between Chinese and Western upbringing.Amy Chua believes that the second big difference between Chinese and Western upbringing is, that Chinese parents believe their kids owe them everything. In this part she uses her husband as an example of what a Westerners view is: â€Å"It’s parents who foist life on their kids, so it’s the parents’ responsibility to provide for them. Kids don’t owe their parents anything.†This is an opinion most Westerners share. It is a culture difference. It is  not only the Chinese culture, but also the Muslim, Jewish etc. that have this type of social hierarchy, where it is the older you are, and the higher status you have. Amy Chua may exaggerate when she says Chinese children owe their parents everything, but a lot of Westerners could learn to show more respect towards the elderly people. We could learn something from each other’s way of parenting, even though they are opposite of each other.In the next part Amy Chua points out the last big difference between the two very different ways of parent ing. â€Å"Third, Chinese parents believe that they know what is best for their children and therefore override all of their children’s own desires and preferences.† To explain the reasoning behind this statement, Amy tells a story from her own life, when her  daughter refused to play a piano piece because it was too hard. But Amy made her do it and in the end she did it and performed it perfectly. To a certain degree, it is okay for parents to make their children do something they do  not want to, because it takes practice.What you have to be careful about is keeping them away from the things they want to do. If they have a desire to something, not allowing them will only enhance that desire, and in the end that might cause some kind of drastic reaction from their part. Once again it is a really big difference between the Chinese and the Western mind-set. Western parents usually encourage their children to pursue their desires and support their decisions, whereas the Chinese parents believe they know what is best for their children.The fact that Western parents allow their children to do what they want with their lives, makes the Chinese parents think that Chinese parents care more about their children, because they won’t let them turn out badly. On the other hand, Westerners think that Chinese parents are callous people, who do not let their children be children. Amy think’s that is a misunderstanding on both sides, because as she says: â€Å"All decent parents want to do what is best for their children. The Chinese just have a totally different idea of how to do that.† Amy respects both ways of parenting, but it is oblivious throughout the article that Amy Chua believes the Chinese way of parenting is the right way to go.Amy Chua’s views on parenting might be slightly provoking to a lot of people, but she argues well for the reasoning behind it. In the article it seems that there are no consequences of the Chine se parental mind-set. But there always is. There is a possibility that Amy Chua’s way of parenting might cause her children to resent her at some point, when they realize that not every parent is like that. Also undermining the creative subjects like gym and drama is not the way to go.A lot of studies show the importance of creativity in a child’s life and exercise is crucial for children as well. It is also important to remember that the social intelligence is just as important as  the logical one, and maybe more. When the children are going to job interviews etc. it is very important to be socially qualified, and they won’t learn that by being kept away from sleepovers, play dates and so on. There are definitely consequences of the Chinese way of upbringing that Amy describes, just as well as there is of the Western way.Even though Amy is an advocate of the Chinese way of parenting, she does not glorify it. She uses humour and exaggeration to engage the read er for example: â€Å"If a Chinese child gets a B – which would never happen – there would first be a screaming, hair-tearing explosion.† She amplifies a lot in the examples she uses in order to emphasize just how different Western and Chinese parents are. An article is not engaging if it only consists of statistics and surveys. But like Amy does use those statistics and surveys to back up her own story. By doing that, the story becomes more believable. As readers we are much more interested to hear a personal story that is part of a greater hole.Amy also engages the reader by making a bold headline: â€Å"Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior†. When we read that we instantly feel a desire to know why and which arguments she has for making such a statement.The article ends with a summary of the contrast between the Western and Chinese parental mind-set. Both are very positive, but still very different. In that way Amy enlightens how both ways of parenting can be equally as good. The message of the article is that we should learn from each other’s way of parenting, and just because one environment is different, does not mean it is not equally as loving and nurturing as the other.

Cyber Terrorism Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Cyber Terrorism - Research Paper Example Even though the benefits from a common global cyber system are many, the vulnerability of such a system cannot be overlooked. Due to the inclusion of millions of people, proper vigilance on their activities becomes impossible. Thus, the high probabilities of occurrence of cyber crimes exist. This vast database of information comprising of profiles and strategies of companies, details of financial deals between banks or even highly confidential facts about government organizations may at any time be exploited to serve the malicious motives of â€Å"cyber criminals and espionage agencies† (â€Å"Cyber Attack†) â€Å"Cyberterrorism is the convergence of terrorism and cyberspace. It is generally understood to mean unlawful attacks and threats of attacks against computers, networks and the information stored therein, when done to intimidate or coerce a government or its people in furtherance of political or social objectives†. (Gordon and Ford, 4) An attack that causes harm to people or property and leads to mass fear can be considered as cyber terrorism. Examples of this may be attacks that result in water contamination, plane crash, physical injury or death, explosions or massive loss to property or infrastructure. However, attacks that lead to the disruption of trivial services or activities cannot be labeled as cyber terrorism. In the month of April of 2007, Estonia was paralyzed by a series of such attacks that completely rattled the economy. A host of important websites including the Banking sector, the Business sector and the Government sector were targeted by these cyber attack s. Ultimately, it resulted in the collapse of virtual linkages between most of the towns and cities of Estonia and the rest of the world. Immense monetary damages were incurred, the citizens had to face inconvenience and disturbances in conducting their day-to-day activities and some institutions had to be simply shut down. This incident represented the high level of vulnerability of the internet. (â€Å"Cyber Attack†) This is just one among the many incidences of cyber crimes that take place all around the world each day. The types of these crimes are as diverse as its causes and thus, produce a range of effects. Forms of Cyber Terrorism: In the 20th century, the internet has emerged as the favorite weapon of mass destruction as well as a convenient means of communication for terrorists. A research has found that the various terrorist groups and organizations make regular use of the internet and the information available on it to carry out attacks on the integrated software system and people, to communicate with the world and to plan and support the different acts of terrorism. The advantages that the global internet offers as a weapon of terrorism are manifold. Firstly, it can be accessed from any place, irrespective of the country, city or locality of a person. These days, the net can be accessed even through cellular phones. Secondly, the use of internet to carry out an attack produces quicker results, within the span of a few seconds. And, finally, the greatest advantage is that the attack cannot be traced back to the guilty as

Organizational IT Related Privacy Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organizational IT Related Privacy Policy - Essay Example In the recent past, issues related to workplace privacy and how firms address privacy, have resulted to unwanted, costly lawsuits. In order for organizations to eliminate these lawsuits, firms are monitoring employee communications critically. Worker email monitors and employee surveillance in working environment present in most cases conflicting ethical issues concerning an employee requirement to safeguard its property and itself against any liability and worker’s right to privacy. Tangible business reasoning stipulates that it is legally and ethically practical for an employer to develop a written workplace policy that comprises monitoring use of computer while at the same scope provide sufficient protections for employee privacy rights in order to survive legal analysis (Cox and Goette, 2005). Privacy has evolved to be an important element in business environment particularly in aspect related to technology and rights of employees. Privacy is freedom or liberty from unauthorized intrusion. Privacy can be attacked in four premises. The first is perverse intrusion upon individual’s seclusion. Appropriation takes place when the use of individual’s likeness or name is used for economic gains. The third premise is public disclosure of individual private facts. Lastly, false light is publicly placing or featuring individual in a false light. Most employers are faced with privacy issues involving intrusion upon seclusion (Lim, 2002). Most of employees are traditionally accustomed to using technology provided to them by employers for other purposes other than for job specifications. Therefore, this has forced many organizations to create and implement information technology-based policies that monitor workers’ email and internet actions.

Urban Renewal in Canada Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Urban Renewal in Canada - Essay Example This contributed to the establishment of the reform agenda which was considered best and suitable for the moral and economic aspect of Canada. Canada had notice that the urban renewal program which had been implemented in USA had emerged to benefit the residents of various towns significantly. Among the major towns in Canada where this program was notably implemented is the Distillery District in Toronto2. Generally, urban renewal in Canada involved removal of irrelevant structures, relocation of business centers and the government intervention of purchasing property for public planning and urban renewal. This government intervention in Canada as way of implementing urban renewal involved the purchase of private property for the purpose of city-initiated development projects. This exercise went further into the rural context of Canada carried out in rural areas commonly referred to as renewal of the village. The major reason that prompted Canada into considering urban renewal was to ease both human and building congestions and to ensure that major town and cities received expressways and freeways. There was a consideration that Canadian authorities viewed urban renewal program as being an economic fosterer as well as mechanism of reform. With the adoption of the underlying urban renewal program there emerged a trend in Canada. This emerging trend was that urban renewal in Canada became a policy in which houses and residential neighborhood were affected by urban renewal program. The policy provided revitalization of the central business district as well as the gentrification of the underlying residential neighborhood. This urban renewal was characterized with more renovation, less destruction and a significant government investment. In today’s Cana da, these policies have been integrated into the local government and it is mainly attributed to both big and large business incentives. Urban

The investment demand schedule Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The investment demand schedule - Essay Example (Finpipe n.d.) The economic crisis has played a great role on interest rates needed to make an investment demand schedule. This study will review the factors that affect investment demand schedules of financing. 1. Supply and demand of money. What happened during the boom time before the crisis? Before the economic crisis, banks had enough supply of money and people demands for business expansion, housing, cars and credit. Banks gets their funds from depositors who are paid 6% interest rate on their savings, and banks lend this money to borrowers at 8%. When demand for money gets bigger than the sufficient funds of the bank, interest rates become higher. Why, because the bank will also borrow funds from other sources which charges them interest. This will necessarily increase the rate of interest in borrowing. 2. Monetary policies. The monetary policies of the government could either tighten or loosen the money supply. Loosening money supply is the policy of printing money for circulation by the Central Bank. Tightening it causes interest rate to increase. Monetary policies are decisions done by the government to manage the economy in such a way that it tries to determine how much money supply is needed. 3. Inflation. Inflation is defined as â€Å"an increase in the amount of money and credit in relation to the supply of goods and services† (YourDictionary) T control inflation, government issues several policies to curb inflation. One of these is printing of money for money supply. 3.1 The government monetary policy of printing money for supply circulation is called monetary inflation. In global economy today, the amount of money in circulation can be provided by financial institutions and can be more complex because of interest rates. (Your Dictionary) 3.2 Effect of Government borrowings. An investment demand schedule is needed by the government for public expenditures. When the tax collected is not sufficient for projected expenses,

Supervision Mnagement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Supervision Mnagement - Essay Example The supervisors or the line managers are more important in organization’s today because they are the ones that directly interact with the employees (Thornhill & Saunders, 1998). To what extent leaders and managers in the hospitality units are able to achieve their goals will be critically analysed here. Performance management requires the evaluation of contemporary theories of human psychology and their application to performance of individuals at work place. According to Brownell (2003), communication is the most vital tool for a manager for improving individual and organizational performance. The hospitality industry is service oriented and service is synonymous with effective communication. It thus becomes important for managers to make their messages clear, to maintain and develop positive relationships with both customers and employees. Performance management requires the managers to ensure that employees’ activities and output are congruent with organizational goals. They need to set standards, assess result and plan for improvement (Schermerhorn et al., 2004 cited by Gross, 2007). A good performance management system can help to reduce turnover, increase productivity, improve individual performance, improve morale, reduce conflict and eliminate gaps and overlaps. In evaluating performance and objective evaluation method should be employed which should be able to pinpoint the areas where improvement is needed. An efficient system can also help to identify the superior workers in the organization. Workers’ participation leads to commitment and improved morale. While supervisory leadership is essential, the supervisor must be able to work together as a team. An effective reward system should be linked to how well each worker meets the performance standards. Since the hospitality industry is volatile and the services have to be changed with the customer demands, it lays stress on the employees. Hence an annual performance appraisal is not

How fair is the congressional redistricting process Dissertation

How fair is the congressional redistricting process - Dissertation Example According to Hirsch (2003), the current congressional redistricting process veers significantly from the ideals proposed by the original Framers of the United States Constitution. These individuals created the House of Representatives, which was designed to both stand apart from the Senate, Presidency, and Supreme Court, as well as mediate these governmental entities. The 2001-2002 congressional redistricting efforts revealed the strong partisan bias that many critics contend is skewing redistricting maps and misrepresenting the peoples' true sentiments. Unfortunately, Hirsch (2003) argues that there is no easy cure for the biases in the congressional redistricting process. As long as a bipartisan system dominates pubic thought, redistricting will always favor one political side or the other in a given state. Perhaps the U.S. Supreme Court will intervene with gerrymanders that prevent partisan biases, although state legislation must limit the extent to which redistricting reflects po litical factors on their own, rather than economic and social factors. McDonald (2004) notes that redistricting continues to be one of the most prevalent and contentious campaigns in the American political system. The United States utilizes multiple redistricting institutions, McDonald notes, which can be categorized into two types. First, some institutions engage in redistricting that follows normal legislative processes, and second, there are those that enact by way of a redistricting commission. In the former, one party tends to control state government and the redistricting process results in a political gerrymander. With the latter, commissions engage in voting and compromise to draw districting boundaries. Regardless of the redistricting institution, McDonald argues that with so much at stake, those involved in the redistricting process often behave in a one-sided fashion. Congressional redistricting will always result in either a partisan gerrymander, a bipartisan incumbent p rotection plan, or court intervention (McDonald, 2004). Karlan (2002) contends that the Supreme Court has been unwilling to apply any form of strict scrutiny in the past with regard to congressional redistricting and when faced with the prospect of re-segregating state legislatures and congressional delegations. In addition to partisan concerns, redistricting has been also driven by racial motivations and other minority-based social factors. According to Karlan (2002), the U.S. Constitution demands that states arrange electoral institutions to reduce any existing effects of prior redistricting discrimination. Such electoral districting promotes a racially-polarized voting pattern that undermines needs of minority racial groups. The Supreme Court is responsible for confront these discrimination sin the redistricting process and to promote an electoral system that is open to members of minority groups. The current flaws in the congressional redistricting process within the United Stat es have caused the issue of fairness to be called into question. Fairness is a key component of congressional redistricting, as it reflects general American values and has far-reaching implications within the population. The concept of fairness is one that

Leadership Styles and Their Effect on CEOs Essay Example for Free

Leadership Styles and Their Effect on CEOs Essay Abstract The purpose of this essay is to analyze, compare, and contrast the leadership styles of two influential CEOs. I have collected information from many internet sources that elaborate on the life, achievements, and misfortunes of Jack Welch and Steve Jobs, and how they overcame their obstacles to become the best CEOs of all time. Leadership Styles and Their Effect on CEOs Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive. Jack Welch and Steve Jobs exemplify the true meaning of what a leader is. Their personality traits of being conscientious open to experiences, extroversion, persistent, and passionate has led them to be the most phenomenal visionary leaders of their time. Jack Welch was the chairman and CEO of General Electric between 1981 and 2001. During his duration at GE, he managed to introduce a fresh and innovative leadership style. Welch developed a ranking system that put employees in one of three categories. The top 20 percent were â€Å"stars†, the middle 70 percent were the crucial majority, and the bottom 10 percent were weeded out (Bloomberg, 1998). I admire and strongly agree with Welch’s management approach of making employee’s accountable. If you are hired to perform a job, then expecting results of a certain quality is justified. In addition, I believe that Welch’s passion for productivity and results allowed him to achieve effective performance management within his company. Results create success, and I believe most people tend not to raise their standards high enough if there are not serious repercussions that follow, such as being dismissed for not providing results. Welch most notable achievement was increasing the market value of the General Electric firm. As CEO he increased it from approximately $12 billion when he took over, to a colossal $505 at the time of his retirement (Management, 2012). He managed to make GE the world’s second largest company with a market capitalization that was only exceeded by Microsoft. Through hard work and perseverance Welch managed to attain legendary status of being one of the greatest CEOs of all time. Leadership Styles and Their Effect on CEOs Steve Jobs was an entrepreneur, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. As the CEO of the company, Jobs covered the development of the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, and on the services side the company’s Apple Retail Stores, iTunes store, and the App store. The success of these products under Jobs provided stable years of financial return, and propelled Apple to become the world’s most valuable publically traded company. The reinvigoration of the company is regarded by commentators as one of the greatest turnarounds in business history (Gallo, 2011). Jobs was a â€Å"one-in-a-billion† innovator with a bulldog mentality. He created a vision and relentlessly drove it into completion. Jobs was a demanding perfectionist who always aspired to position his business and products at the forefront of the technology industry by understanding and setting trends with innovation and style. His reputation was built on being a brutal force and often destroyed staff for their â€Å"bozo† ideas and typically shrugged off his associates suggestions in favor of his own gut instinct. Moreover, he only wanted what he called â€Å"A-players†. Meaning that they had to be brilliant and he insisted that under the threat of being fired, that they would never reveal any of Apple’s secrets inside or outside of the organization (Juarez, 2011). In summary, both Welch and Jobs are extraordinary leaders who demonstrate charismatic and transformational leadership styles. They both have very similar qualities in wanting to produce results. However, they differ because Welch’s management style was cut throat in the sense of firing employees who did not perform. Yet, he was still open to the ideas of managers and employees, and empowered them. On the other hand, Jobs leadership style is regarded as unconventional and being a dictator, who only listens to his own intuition. References Bloomberg, L,P. (6/28/2012). How Jack Welch Runs GE. Business Week. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://www.businessweek.com/1998/23/b3581001.htm Gallo, F. (3/17/2012). What Kind of Leader Was Steve Jobs? Calypso Consulting. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://www.chinacalypso.com/content/what-kind-leader-was-steve-jobs Juarez, A. (10/5/2011). A Different Kind of Leader. Studying Systems for a Humane and Sustainable World. Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://saybrook.typepad.com/complexity/2011/10/a-different-kind-of-leader-steve-jobs-1955-2011.html Management Strategies From A Top CEO. (4/16/2010). Retrieved November 20, 2012, from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-theory/10/manage-business-like-jack-welch.asp#axzz2CpmsLsRK

Are Computers Really Intelligent?

Are Computers Really Intelligent? Are computers really intelligent? Computer Intelligence has been in hot debate since the 1950’s when Alan Turing invented the Turing Test. The argument over the years has taken two forms: strong AI versus weak AI:. That is, strong AI hypothesises that some forms of artificial intelligence can truly reason and solve problems, with computers having an element of self-awareness, but not necessarily exhibiting human-like thought processes. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_AI). While Weak AI argues that computers can only appear to think and are not actually conscious in the same way as human brains are. (http://www.philosophyonline.co.uk/pom/pom_functionalism_AI.htm). These areas of thinking cause fundamental questions to arise, such as: ‘Can a man-made artefact be conscious?’ and ‘What constitutes consciousness?’ Turing’s 1948 and 1950 papers followed the construction of universal logical computing machines, introducing the prospect that computers could be programmed to execute tasks which would be called intelligent when performed by humans.(Warner 1994: 118). Turing’s idea was to create an imitation-game on which to base the concept of a computer having its own intelligence. A man(A), and a woman (B), are separated from an interrogator, who has to decipher who is the man and who is the woman. As objective is to trick the interrogator, while B tries to help the interrogator in discovering the identities of the other two players.(Goldkind, 1987: 4). Turing asks the question: What will happen when a machine takes the part of A in this game? Will the interrogator decide wrongly as often when the game is played like this as he does when the game is played between a man and a woman?’ (Quoted from Goldkind 1987: 4). Turing’s test offered a simple means test for computer intelligence; one that neatly avoided dealing with the mind-body problem. (Millican, P.J.R., 1996: 11). The fact that Turings test did not introduce variables and was conducted in a controlled environment were just some of its shortfalls. Robert French, in his evaluation of the test in 1996, stated the following: ‘The philosophical claim translates elegantly into an operational definition of intelligence: whatever acts sufficiently intelligent is intelligent.’ However, as he perceived, the test failed to explore the fundamental areas of human cognition, and could be passed ‘only by things that have experienced the world as we have experienced it.’ He thus concluded that ‘the Test provides a guarantee not of intelligence but of culturally-oriented human intelligence.’ (Ibid : 12). Turing postulated that a machine would one day be created to pass his test and would thus be considered intelligent. However, as years of research have explored the complexities of the human brain, the pioneer scientists who promoted the idea of the ‘electronic brain’ have had to re-scale their ideals to create machines which assist human activity rather than challenge or equal our intelligence. John Searle, in his 1980 Chinese Room experiment argued that a computer could not be attributed with the intelligence of a human brain as the processes were too different. In an interview he describes his original experiment: Just imagine that youre the computer, and youre carrying out the steps in a program for something you dont understand. I dont understand Chinese, so I imagine Im locked in a room shuffling Chinese symbols according to a computer program, and I can give the right answers to the right questions in Chinese, but all the same, I dont understand Chinese. All Im doing is shuffling symbols. And now, and this is the crucial point: if I dont understand Chinese on the basis of implementing the program for understanding Chinese, then neither does any other digital computer on that basis because no computers got anything I dont have. (Free Inquiry 1998: 39). John Searle does not believe that consciousness can be reproduced to an equivalent of the human capacity. Instead, it is the biological processes which are responsible for our unique make-up. He says that ‘consciousness is a biological phenomenon like any other and ultimately our understanding out it is most likely to come through biological investigation’ (Searle, 1990 :58-59. Quoted from McCarthy, 2001, http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/’). Considered this way it is indeed far fetched to think that the product of millions of years of biological adaptation can be equalled by the product of a few decades of human thinking. John McCarthy, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at Stanford University advocates the potential for computational systems to reproduce a state of consciousness, viewing the latter as an ‘abstract phenomenon, currently best realized in biology,’ but arguing that consciousness can be realised by ‘causal systems of the righ t structure.’ (McCarthy, 2001, http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/ ) The famous defeat of Garry Kasparov, the world chess champion, in 1997 by IBMs computer, Deep Blue, promoted a flurry of debate about whether Deep Blue could be considered as intelligent. When asked for his opinion, Herbert Simon, a Carnegie Mellon psychology professor who helped originate the fields of AI and computer chess in the 1950s, said it depended on the definition of intelligence used. AI uses two definitions for intelligence: What are the tasks, which when done by humans, lead us to impute intelligence? and What are the processes humans use to act intelligently? Measured against the first definition, Simon says, Deep Blue certainly is intelligent. (http://whyfiles.org/040chess/main3.html). According to the second definition he claims it partly qualifies.(Ibid). The trouble with the latter definition of intelligence is that scientists don’t as yet know exactly what mechanisms constitute consciousness. John McCarthy, Emeritus professor at Stanford University explains that intelligence is the ‘computational part of the ability to attain goals in the world.’ He emphasises that problems in AI arise as ‘we cannot yet characterise in general what computational procedures we want to call intelligent.’ (McCarthy 2003: 3). To date, computers can perform a good understanding of specific mechanisms through the running of certain programs; what McCarthy deems ‘somewhat intelligent.’ (McCarthy 2004: 3). Computing language has made leaps and bounds during the last century, from the first machine code to mnemonic ’words’ In the 90’s the so-called high-level languages were the type used for programming, with Fortran being the first compiler language. Considering the rapid progress of computer technology since it first began over a hundred years ago, it is likely that unforeseeable developments will occur over the next decade. A simulation of the human imagination might go a long way to convincing people of computer intelligence. However, many believe that it is unlikely that a machine will ever equal the intelligence of the being who created it. Arguably it is the way that computers process information and the speed with which they do it that constitutes its intelligence, thus causing computer performance to appear more impressive than it really is. Programs trace pathways at an amazing rate for example, each move in a game of chess, or each section of a maze can be completed almost instantly. Yet the relatively simple process of trying each potential path fails to impress once it’s realised. (Reed, 2003: 09). Thus, the intelligence is not in the computer, but in the program. For practical purposes, and certainly in the business world, the answer seems to be that if it seems to be intelligent, it doesnt matter whether it really is. (Reed 2003: 09). However, computational research will have a difficult task to explore simulation of, or emulation of, the areas of human cognition. Research continues into the relationship between the mathematical descriptions of human thought and computer thought, hoping to create an identical form.(Wagman, M., 1991: 2). Yet the limits of computer intelligence are still very much at the surface of the technology. In contrast, the flexibility of the human imagination that creates the computer can have little or no limitations. What does this mean for computer intelligence? It means that scientists need to go beyond the mechanisms of the human psyche, and perhaps beyond programming, if they are to identify a type of machine consciousness that would correlate with that of a human.. References Goldkind, J., 1987, Machines and Intelligence: A Critique of Arguments against the Possibility of Artificial Intelligence. New York: Greenwood Press Inquiry. Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism. Volume: 18. Issue: 4. . Page Number: 39+. McCarthy, J., 2001, ‘What is Artificial Intelligence?’ Available online from: ‘http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/’ [Accessed 14/11/06] Millican, P.J.R., 1996, The Legacy of Alan Turing. (Volume1). Oxford: Clarendon Press Online Encyclopedia. Available online from: ‘http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_AI.’ [Accessed 17/11/06] Reed, F., 2003, ‘Artificial Intellect Really Thinking?’. The Washington Times. May 1, 2003. p. B09 Wagman, M., 1991, Artificial Intelligence and Human Cognition: A Theoretical Intercomparison of Two Realms of Intellect. New York: Prager Warner, J, 1994, From Writing to Computers. New York: Routledge URL’S ‘http://www.philosophyonline.co.uk/pom/pom_functionalism_AI.htm’ [Accessed 17/11/06] ‘http://whyfiles.org/040chess/main3.html’ [Accessed 14/11/06] Further Reading DeLancey, C., 2002, Passionate Engines: What Emotions Reveal about Mind and Artificial Intelligence. New York: Oxford University Press Wagman, M., 2000, Scientific Discovery Processes in Humans and Computers: Theory and Research in Psychology and Artificial Intelligence. Westport, CT: Praeger