Philosophy - Mills Utilitarianism Essays - Utilitarianism

Philosophy - Mills Utilitarianism Mill's Utilitarianism: Sacrifice the innocent for the common good? When faced with a moral dilemma, utilitarianism identifies the appropriate considerations, but offers no realistic way to gather the necessary information to make the required calculations. This lack of information is a problem both in evaluating the welfare issues and in evaluating the consequentialist issues which utilitarianism requires be weighed when making moral decisions. Utilitarianism attempts to solve both of these difficulties by appealing to experience; however, no method of reconciling an individual decision with the rules of experience is suggested, and no relative weights are assigned to the various considerations. In deciding whether or not to torture a terrorist who has planted a bomb in New York City, a utilitarian must evaluate both the overall welfare of the people involved or effected by the action taken, and the consequences of the action taken. To calculate the welfare of the people involved in or effected by an action, utilitarianism requires that all individuals be considered equally. Quantitative utilitarians would weigh the pleasure and pain which would be caused by the bomb exploding against the pleasure and pain that would be caused by torturing the terrorist. Then, the amounts would be summed and compared. The problem with this method is that it is impossible to know beforehand how much pain would be caused by the bomb exploding or how much pain would be caused by the torture. Utilitarianism offers no practical way to make the interpersonal comparison of utility necessary to compare the pains. In the case of the bomb exploding, it at least seems highly probable that a greater amount of pain would be caused, at least in the present, by the bomb exploding. This probability suffices for a quantitative utilitarian, but it does not account for the consequences, which create an entirely different problem, which will be discussed below. The probability also does not hold for Mill's utilitarianism. Mill's Utilitarianism insists on qualitative utilitarianism, which requires that one consider not only the amount of pain or pleasure, but also the quality of such pain and pleasure. Mill suggests that to distinguish between different pains and pleasures we should ask people who have experienced both types which is more pleasurable or more painful. This solution does not work for the question of torture compared to death in an explosion. There is no one who has experienced both, therefore, there is no one who can be consulted. Even if we agree that the pain caused by the number of deaths in the explosion is greater than the pain of the terrorist being tortured, this assessment only accounts for the welfare half of the utilitarian's considerations. Furthermore, one has no way to measure how much more pain is caused by allowing the bomb to explode than by torturing the terrorist. After settling the issues surrounding the welfare, a utilitarian must also consider the consequences of an action. In weighing the consequences, there are two important considerations. The first, which is especially important to objectivist Utilitarianism, is which people will be killed. The second is the precedent which will be set by the action. Unfortunately for the decision maker, the information necessary to make either of these calculations is unavailable. There is no way to determine which people will be killed and weigh whether their deaths would be good for society. Utilitarianism requires that one compare the good that the people would do for society with the harm they would do society if they were not killed. For example, if a young Adolf Hitler were in the building, it might do more good for society to allow the building to explode. Unfortunately for an individual attempting to use utilitarianism to make for decisions, there is no way to know beforehand what a person will do. Furthermore, without even knowing which building the bomb is in, there is no way to predict which people will surely be in the building. A subjectivist utilitarian would dismiss this consideration and would examine only what a rational person would consider to be the consequence; however, even the subjectivist utilitarian must face the question of precedent setting. Utilitarianism considers justice and humane treatment to be good for

Job Design and Personal Contributions

Job Design and Personal Contributions Introduction Job design is defined as the arrangement or rearrangement of work activities where the main objective is to reduce job dissatisfaction among employees and also reduce employee alienation within the work place.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Job Design and Personal Contributions specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Job design also refers to the organizing of responsibilities and work duties so as to make sure there is productivity amongst the employees of an organization. Job design addresses the content of jobs and how this content affects the performance of employees (Mathis Jackson, 2008). The identification of the major components of a job is an important part of job design and many companies today have conducted job design activities to ensure that their employees meet the organization’s goals and objectives. The three major reasons that have been used by companies the world over to conduct job design activities include improving the performance of the company where job design influences the performance of certain work duties especially those that require high employee motivation such as customer service and customer relations. Another reason is that job design affects the job satisfaction of employees as people are more satisfied with particular job configurations that they find to be suitable to their skills and knowledge. Employees who find themselves in non-demanding jobs while they have technical skills might experience job dissatisfaction as their technical knowledge and skills are not being utilized to the maximum (Mathis Jackson, 2008). Personal contribution with relation to job design involves the activities that an individual employee or worker in an organization performs to ensure that they achieve job satisfaction in the course of performing their duties. The personal contribution of an employee would be to change their behavior or attitude towards work where an employee who would report late to work or would record a high rate of abseentism might decide to be punctual for work and not miss any work days. Another personal contribution of an employee towards job design would be to create a set of activities related to the work tasks that would suit the individual needs of the employee.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For example, a secretary might decide to use a manual filing system rather than a digitized filing system because they are comfortable filing documents in the manual way. An accountant might decide to use online QuickBooks rather than the paper QuickBooks because they view them to be more efficient (Gibson et al, 2006) Classic Approaches to Job Design The most common approach in job design or re-design is the technique of simplifying the tasks and responsibilities of a job to be more manageable. This is referred to a s job simplification and it is mostly suitable for entry-level workers or graduate employees who have no prior experience with the job position. Job simplification is suitable for such types of employees to ensure that they are not overwhelmed by the tasks and responsibilities that come with the job. A major disadvantage of job simplification is that it removes the challenging aspects of a job making the tasks too easy to perform. Another disadvantage is that the job might become boring at some point and loose its appeal because of its simplistic nature (Gibson et al, 2006). There are several approaches that can be used by companies and business to ensure that job design and re-design has been conducted in a successful way. One of these approaches is job extension where the job design attempts to widen the span of the job by increasing the duties and tasks that come with the job. Job enlargement is usually performed on job positions that have limited tasks and duties and where the p erformance of the employee within the organization is limited as a result of the work tasks and responsibilities. Another approach that is used in job design is job enhancement that involves escalating the profundity of a job through incorporating activities such as the addition of organizing planning, and controlling responsibilities (Daft, 2008). Managers within a company might decide to conduct job enrichment activities by promoting work variety as well as providing employees with more managerial responsibilities to ensure that they grow personally within the organization. Managers might also decide to give their employees more freedom and authority to perform their work duties in a way they find most suitable to them. Increasing the employee’s accountability for the work they have performed within a business unit by reducing external control pressures especially from managers and supervisors might also lead to job enrichment within an organization.Advertising We w ill write a custom essay sample on Job Design and Personal Contributions specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Another way of achieving job enrichment within an organization would be to expand employee assignments to ensure that they are able to learn various strategies that they can use to perform new tasks. Providing employees with direct feedback would also ensure that they can be able to derive job enrichment from planning and organizing activities (Daft, 2008). Another approach that is used in conducting job design or redesign is referred to as job rotation where the monotonous cycle of work is broken by shifting an employee from one work position to another. A major advantage of job rotation is that it enhances the development of an employee’s ability to perform different jobs within an organization. This means that in the event a position within the organization becomes open, they can be able to fill in that position without going f or outside hires. A major disadvantage of job rotation is that it has a minimal effect on an employee’s work performance especially if they are shifted to a boring job (Daft, 2008). Managers need to liaise with their employees when they are choosing which job design approaches to use in the design process. This will involve assessing the personal contribution of the employee in selecting the most suitable job design approach. Managers and employees who want to change their attitude towards work might select the job enrichment approach where employees who have limited work duties are given more assignments to ensure that they have job satisfaction. Job enrichment might also be used when trying to achieve job satisfaction within an organization by increasing the motivation of employees (Gibson et al, 2006). Characteristics of Jobs in Job Design A good job design depends on the characteristics of a job that are relevant to a particular group of people within an organization. Som e common examples of job characteristics include skill variety which refers to the extent to which a job has several different activities that are needed to successfully complete the work duties. If the work duties require the involvement of more skills, the job will become more meaningful to the employee. The personal contribution of the employee in skill variety would be to acquire additional skills that would be used to perform the different activities of the job.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More â€Å"Another example of a job characteristic is task identity which is the extent to which a job has an identifiable unit of work that can be able to produce a visible outcome† (Gibson et al, 2006). For example if a customer care officer possessed customer care skills as well as technical skills, they might be able to help customers set up technical equipment without having to refer them to the technical support team Another characteristic of a job is task significance which is defined as the impact that a job has on other people within and outside the organization. A job is said to be significant if it is important to other people for the same reason that it is significant to the person who is performing the work duties. For example a soldier might find their job to be more significant when they are defending their country from a real threat rather than when they are preparing to face threats that might arise in the future. Job autonomy is another important characteristic o f a job where autonomy refers to the extent to which an employee within an organization has the freedom and discretion to perform their work duties without any interference from managers or supervisors. Job autonomy is an important characteristic in job design as it ensures that employees have more personal responsibilities to perform their work in the workplace. Job autonomy ensures that the employee can be able to contribute to their performance within the company (Mathis Jackson, 2008). Conclusion The discussion has dealt with job design and personal contributions within the organization. Job design or redesign is an important activity for organizations as it ensures that employee productivity and performance within an organization has been improved. The research findings within the essay have revealed various approaches that can be used in performing job design activities which include job enrichment, job rotation, and job enlargement. The discussion has also focused on the var ious job characteristics that are needed to perform job design activities. The aspect of personal contributions within the essay has dealt with the activities that an individual employee can perform to affect their own job design. Personal contributions in job design are usually driven by the personal behavior and attitudes of individual employees. References Daft, R.L., (208). Organization theory and design. Ohio, US: Cengage Learning Gibson, J., Ivancevich, J., Donnelly, J., Konopaske, R., (2006). Organizations;  behavior, structure, processes, 12th Edition. Chicago: McGraw-Hill. Mathis, R.L., Jackson, J.H., (2008). Human resource management. Mason, Ohio: Thomson South-Western

Women's magazine Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Women's magazine - Research Paper Example Every page of the magazine is filled with products and articles which make the female readers think that only beautiful, young and thin women are appreciated and accepted by the society. Constant exposure to thin and flawless models has driven ‘normal’ women to believe that they are not worthy enough. The aim of this paper is to understand the psychology behind the graphic and verbal content of women’s magazines and how it affects the female readers. Under the influence of the advertisements and suggestions given in magazines, women are adopting artificial means to change the way they feel and the way they look. Women’s magazines have become a medium of plastic dreams as they are driving women to hate their natural bodies and love the bodies of female models, whose photographs are manipulated with the help of technology to make them look thin and beautiful. Harper’s Bazaar is a fashion magazine. The aim of the magazine is to discuss current trends and news from the fashion world. Its target readers are women of all ages. From the advertisements and the contents of the magazine, it is evident that current trend in the fashion industry is the magazine’s main focus. The magazine if filled with advertisements of beauty products, jewelry, accessories, apparels, fashion news and articles. The issue discussed in this paper is the October 2010 issue with Drew Barrymore on its cover. The cover of Harper’s Bazaar is adorned by Drew Barrymore, one of the leading actresses in Hollywood. Barrymore is a famous personality and has an image of an independent, successful, wealthy, and a strong person. She is well known for her roles in romantic movies. Her fame, independent lifestyle, her dressing sense, bubbly personality and feminine body makes her a right choice to adorn a cover of a fashion magazine. Any person will get attracted to a magazine which has Drew Barrymore on its cover. With

Motivation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Motivation - Research Paper Example It is the leader’s job to ensure that they understand their fears to be unfounded. With the transition to a big corporate structure from a small organization kicks off, employees naturally respond by making the assumption that they will only be single employees in a company employing thousands of workers. Their belief in making an impact on the new organization’s goals could lead to a reduction in their earlier exemplary efforts (Pritchard & Ashwood, 2008). One of the major changes that the new acquisition brings involves reconfiguration of working spaces that will reduce privacy, which was one of the signature aspects of ZYX Company. For this reason, it will be the manager’s responsibility to ensure they realize the reason for the workspace reconfiguration and that they are set up to continue playing an essential part in the company’s future and retain their motivation. This paper will seek to create a comprehensive plan that will motivate them to coopera te and support the changes. Planning the Project In planning the project, there are various important levers that a manager can use, including coming up with communication, sponsorship, coaching, training, and resistance management plans. Managing the motivation of employees requires a holistic set of components that support the employees as the manner in which they work changes, for example, with the reconfiguration of working spaces (Green & Butkus, 2009). The communication component should recognize how communication will fit in the larger process of change. Used in this context, communication becomes more effective as it gives the employees information in the proper sequence to aid the employees in internalization of the change, while also improving their motivation. With regards to the sponsorship component, the manager should be the sponsor and plays the role of participant, coalition builder, and direct communication. A sponsorship roadmap will include what the sponsor will d o in conjunction with the senior managers, the project teams, and with front line employees, while also breaking down the project into initiation phase, design phase, implementation phase, and closeout phase (Green & Butkus, 2009). Sponsorship of the change is critical to the employees’ motivation to participate, while it also reinforces their belief that the change is there to stay. The planning will also require a coaching component that involves the direct supervisor and employees. The manager will have to play a critical role in communicating the change and ensuring the employees retain their intensity. The coaching plan will outline the steps required to improve skills in relation to change with both individual and group sessions in engaging front-line employees (Green & Butkus, 2009). However, proxies must not be used in coaching as it gives the feeling that the change might not last. Employees will always want to hear about the change from their manager. The managerâ⠂¬â„¢s change desire will have a direct influence on the desire from the employees. The training component will seek to improve capabilities and skills and should be focused on knowledge building. However, training should come with the implementation of sufficient desire and awareness for it to be effective (Green & Butkus,

Management Leadership and its Objectives Case Study

Management Leadership and its Objectives - Case Study Example The introduction and involvement of certain procedures ensure that the organization is up to par with all the standards required to give the organization, and all its stakeholders what they truly desire. This paper will review some of the techniques, and how they might affect the running of an organization. In an organization, it is possible for management to have adequate information that may enable the organization to achieve its success (DeCarlo, 2010). Communication RASCI is an acronym that is used to depict the communicative nature that should be used in each and every organization. The understanding of such methods and techniques are required so as to ensure the continued success of the organization. It is mainly advocated for since it helps management in ensuring that tasks and programs run as they should. Misunderstanding of all the techniques associated with RASCI can lead to the downfall of any organization (Grisham, 2011). Communication RASCI in an organization is the foundation of any organization. The communication of information is usually for the benefit of the organization. The RASCI technique indicates that a person should be assigned the task to communicate to all others. The importance of this is that there will be a constant asset that can be counted on to communicate information to all others. That is the responsibility that is represented by the R. The A is for the accountability required in communication. Being accountable is the most required asset that is needed to communicate to staff members. They are accountable for the communication of information that aids in the running of the organization (DeCarlo, 2010). If anything goes wrong with the communication process, the individuals in the organization are the ones accountable for the fault. If the communication process goes well, the individuals are also accountable for the positive outcome of the communication process. Doing the real work is what is represented by the S. It means  being supportive of all the communication processes that are required in the organization. If the process is flawed, it is impossible for normal procedures and processes to be conducted.

Stem Cell Treatment in Age-Related Macular Degeneration AMD

Stem Cell Treatment in Age-Related Macular Degeneration AMD Background: Age-Related Macular degeneration (AMD) is a painless disease that usually affects people over the age of 60. The Macular is the part of the fundus which is responsible for the patients central vision which allows them to see in fine detail and aids in facial object recognition. The patients peripheral vision is not affected so AMD does not result in complete blindness. The diagram shows the positions of the main structures inside a normal healthy eye such as the macula optic nerve. The general symptoms that a patient with AMD would experience are: Â   Â   Â   Blurred central vision distortion reduction in contrast sensitivity blind spots (scotomas) hallucinations (occasionally, more common in Wet AMD) (Symptoms taken from www.nhs.uk website) There are 2 types of AMD, Wet and Dry, the clinical presentations and the symptoms the patient experiences differ. Wet AMD occurs when the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) underneath the retina at the macula thickens and then breaks. The oxygen supply to the macula is disrupted and the body responds by abnormally growing new blood vessels through the RPE towards the macula to help increase oxygen supply, this can cause the macula to appear raised. The new vessels are fragile and poor quality so leak or bleed. This causes atrophy to the macula which results in rapid decline in central vision. Wet AMD is the most sight threatening of the 2 types as once the vision has be lost it cannot be regained again but there are treatments that can help slow the progression of the disease such as Anti-VEGF injections which stop/slow the growth of the new abnormal vessels. (www.nhs.uk) Dry AMD is the most common form of AMD, around 90% of cases. The clinical presentation of dry AMD is drusen appearing at or around the macula area. Drusen looks like white/yellow dots, they can be small and well defined or large and blurred margins. Drusen occurs as the eye may have a problem with disposing waste from the photoreceptors and so calcium and lipid deposits build up. The retinal pigment epithelium layer may thin and the drusen will push through. The drusen then causes photoreceptor death/degeneration causing atrophy of the retina. This is when the patients vision will start to reduce. It is a much slower disease process than wet AMD, it can be a couple of months before the patient experiences any symptoms relative to dry AMD. (www.AMD.org) Normal Fundus Wet AMD Dry AMD Stem Cells: Stem cells are undifferentiated cells which can differentiate into specialised cells such as muscle, skin and bone cells. In mammals there are 2 types of stem cells this depends on the source which they are taken from; these are embryos which are 4-5 days old in the blastocyst phase and in adult tissues throughout the body such as bone marrow, the brain and skeletal muscle tissue. (www.medicalnewstoday.com) The first trial was on 2 patients who were in late stage of AMD; they underwent immunosuppressive treatment to reduce a negative response to the new stem cells. The embryonic source is chosen for this treatment, the researchers used mouse skin cells to help the stem cells to differentiate into retinal cells. They are then purified so not contaminated by mouse cells. These purified retinal cells are then made into a 1ml solution and injected into only one eye (this is done in trials as they dont know if the treatment will have a damaging or successful effect on the eye). The general results from this trial were good; one patient had Stargardts macular dystrophy that before treatment could only see hand motions but 2 weeks after transplant was able to count fingers with only the eye that had the transplant carried out in it. Their vision continued to improve over the next 3 months. (www.nhs.uk, Bazian January 2012.) Structure Abstract/Intro -Short intro about what a stem cell and age related macular degeneration is. -Aim of dissertation; what I want to achieve through the dissertation as a whole. -Should be roughly 1 page. Stem cells -More detail on what they are. -Different types of stem cells; explain where they are found and when they would be used. -What type of AMD does this treat and why? Age-Related macular Degeneration -Background on both types (containing the anatomy of the eye, normal/abnormal) -Causes -Epidemiology -Pathogenesis -Pathology -Prevention -Treatments (current and new) Potential of stem cell -How do the stem cells differentiate to photoreceptors RPE cells? How well does it do this? -How well does the trials transfer from animals to humans? -What is the success of these trials? Discussion -Does this look like a viable treatment for AMD? -Could it be used for either wet/dry or just one? -What are the advantages/disadvantages? -Ethical argument in using stem cells from embryos. Conclusion Perspective -What I think of the whole argument for and against the treatment -Do I think it is a viable and effective treatment? -Do the results from trials back up the theory and argument for stem cells? New research -How have the trials been taken further? -Has any improvements or adjustments been made? E.g. Have administration methods or cell culturing methods changed? References Projected Timetable of Work 30/11/16 Sections 1, 2 ; Abstract, Stem cells What is AMD. 31/12/16 Section 4; Potential of stem cells in the treatment of AMD. 31/01/17 Section 5; Discussion. 28/02/17 Section 6 7; Conclusion/Perspective New research. 31/03/17 Section 8; References. Dissertation Complete, to be proof read and bound. 13/04/17 Final Hand in Date. References: www.amd.org/what-is-macular-degeneration/dry-amd/ www.cnib.ca www.medicalnewstoday.com www.nhs.uk/conditions/macular-degeneration/pages/introduction.aspx www.nhs.uk/news/2012/01January/Pages/embyonic-stem-cell-trial-macular-degeneration.aspx, Stem cell therapy safe for eye condition. January 24, 2012. Analysis by Bazian, edited by NHS Choices. rgw.com Webeye.ophth.uiowa.edu

Analyzing The Advocate Essays -- Magazine Gay Lesbian Essays

Analyzing The Advocate The Advocate is a magazine designed to attract and arouse gay men, lesbian women and to a lesser extent bisexual and transgender people. The September 12, 2000 issue of The Advocate uses advertisements, news topics, popularly recognized celebrities as well as political and philosophical viewpoints that fit its target audience. The target audience for The Advocate is shown on its cover page as "The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine." Also notable is the fact that the majority of persons featured in the publication are not heterosexually oriented, which would be favorable to a non-heterosexual audience. Many articles have some reference to a lesbian or gay political, television, or musical celebrity. Some examples from the table of contents are, " Mary Cheney, Rhona Cameron, Jack Larson, Chris Isherwood and Stephen Gately" (The Advocate 3). This appeals to the large number of people who are attracted to anything that might reveal some delectable tidbit about a public figure. In this sense, The Advocate can appeal to straight, or heterosexual, people as well as the usual audience of gay and lesbian persons. T he main theme of The Advocate seems to be a mixture of news and political issues from around the world, especially those with importance to gay and lesbian people. For example, the main cover story is titled " The Dilemma of Mary Cheney" and is followed by, "Will the lesbian daughter of the GOP vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney be forced to choose between being true to her family and true to herself? " There is the question of whether Mr. Cheney would accept something that would discriminate against his daughter and what Mary Cheney would do in turn. This story has much current releva... ...with a cartoon bubble with the word "fag" written twelve times with the word "bitch" stuck in second to last, for contrast (notes from a blonde. 39). This unusual use of slang and profanity appeals to gay men that have been offended by Eminem as well as those who are attracted to his popularity. An advertisement that also makes use of non-heterosexual notoriety is for the "Rainbow Card" which features pictures of Martina Naratilova in front of a Gay Pride parade (Rainbow Card 31). Martina is somewhat of a gay icon because she publicly embraced her sexuality. These advertisements and articles are targeted specifically for the gay and lesbian audience. The political philosophy of The Advocate covers the wide spectrum of people who identify themselves as not heterosexual. Works Cited The Advocate: The national gay and lesbian newsmagazine. September 12, 2000.

Should Sociology Be Scientific?

In sociology there are two main contrasting views to how the subject of sociology should be approached and studied, as a science or not. In this essay I will be explaining the arguments of each side of the discussion fully, and aim to show the positive and negative points of either approach to studying sociology. The first argument I will analyse is Positivism. Positivists support the view that sociology should be studied as a science, arguing that society and the activities of the individuals in society as a whole hold main similarities and attributes to the physical or natural world. Positivists believe that social factors are largely involved in determining human behaviour, an example being that positivists think that people wish to seek partners in order to allow them to marry and produce children, letting them fulfil societies expectations of them. Positivists use scientific methodology, which means that their procedures resemble methods of collecting data that are usually seen in practice in natural sciences. Examples of some of these methods are questionnaires, structured interviews or statistics. Using scientific procedures in the Positivists view means that more accurate results will be collected, they hold the view that it is possible to see society in an objective way. An example of this is Durkheim, who believed the social facts of society could be considered in the same way as objects and events of the natural world. He thought that social facts did not only consist of things that could be observed objectively or in a direct manner, but also belief systems which exist in the consciousness of individuals. To look at these belief systems in a scientific manner Durkheim thought that they couldn't be changed at will, but were controlled by society making them available to scientific approaches. Correlation is another part of scientific methodology, where by looking at different social facts correlations are found between them, where there is evidence of a relationship between two or more different factors. Durkheim found that in his study of suicide there was a relationship between suicide and religions, (e. g. Protestantism and a high suicide rate). After correlations are found between social facts the researcher may believe that one social fact causes another to make a hypothesis, such as crime causes a person to become working class, or being working class causes a person to commit crime. One problem with this part of the positivist scientific methodology is that some correlations found by researchers may just be by chance or indirect. This can happen where two social facts are found together but in actual fact don't have any direct connections to each other. It can happen that a third social fact has a relationship with both the other social facts, which can cause them to be linked. An example of this is gender being the cause of both level of criminality and location in the class hierarchy, which illustrates that class and crime aren't actually linked, but are both related to gender. In positivists research they also believe that if findings are verified and found in many different contexts such as in different societies around the world and during different time periods the research can be see as being a law of human behaviour, which is the main aim of the positivist perspective. This is where a statement is found to be true in all circumstances, a comparison being scientific laws such as gravity being established, positivists hold the view that these laws can be found in human behaviour. Durkheim thought he had found a law of human behaviour when his research into suicide had the conclusion that suicide rates always increased when in society there was a drastic change in the economy. Using scientific methodology such as questionnaires does have the positive of being reliable, as the data could be collected repeatedly and it is likely to achieve the same conclusions over and over again, but also has the weakness that people can lie and be biased in the questionnaires towards themselves. Another problem is that questionnaires restrict the answers of the individual being asked the questions, which also can happen in structured interviews where the individual cant put across what they want to say because of the structured questions and style of the interview. Also questionnaires and scientific methodology doesn't take into account the individual differences that could be involved in the issue that is being researched. An example of this is suicide. Research into the matter of suicide has been criticised when it has been done using scientific matters as Douglas made the criticism of Durkheim's research that not all suicides can be treated as the same type of act as they could have different or contrasting meanings behind them, e. g. lderly Eskimo's will kill themselves for the sake of their society, where as a someone in a western society may kill themselves because they are depressed. Also, in Durkheim's research into suicide, J. D Douglas criticized him saying that the statistics used weren't valid, as the decision to if the sudden death was a suicide is made by the coroner, who in turn is influenced by the family and friends of the victim. This creates the possibility of there being systematic bias in the decision, having the consequence of not very reliable statistics to base his conclusions on. Another weakness of scientific methodology is it can result in generalisations in the conclusions, where the researcher will split the data collected into different categories, as Durkheim carried out in his study into suicide, which can be too reductionist, missing out important factors in the issue being researched such as the background of the suicides etc. Another method used in sociological research is observation, which positivists believe that the social world can be objectively observed and classified. Observation is not only used by positivists, but is also used by many anti-positivist sociologists who have observed situations in connection with subjects like education and suicide, where Atkinson observed the processes involved in the decisions made by coroners in the coroners courts. One problem with using observation is that it is restrictive in the type of situations it can be used in, such as in the study of the subject of politics, sociologists are prohibited from observing the British Cabinet. Also because the results are based on how the situation was observed through the researcher, it is possible for there to be interference from the researcher in the data collected. Another group that support the idea of sociology being a science is realists, who see much of sociology being scientific. An example of this is the realist's sociologist Keat, who saw Marxist sociology as scientific as the models developed by Marx was evaluating processes and institutions in society based on empirical data. Realists suggest that both natural and sociological sciences have the same aim in the research carried out which is to develop theories and create perspectives to explain the world based on collected evidence. Auguste Comte was a founder of sociology, and through founding the subject attempted to show it as a science using a scientific manner in his research, studying social phenomena. He talked about discovering the laws social phenomena being the main aim behind the subject of sociology, and scientific methods being the best way of accomplishing this. He also thought that society as a whole was greater than the individuals within it, which in other words meant that society was more complex than the number of people in it, that it involved many other variables. One procedure that Comte supported was the HD procedure, which was where you started with a theory, created a hypothesis based on that theory, slected a research method that could be verified and analysise the data collected through this method to see if the hypothesis was correct. One problem with this procedure is that although it does have reliable data that is collected, and a straight forward procedure involved, a negative aspect of creating a hypothesis to work with before carrying out the research is that it brings in the possibility that the researcher will pick a research method which will be biased to the hypothesis by be the method most likely to prove it. An example of where this happened was the research into aids attempting to prove it as a ‘gay plague'. Another example of a positivist theory was made by Karl Popper, who created the theory of falsification. Popper believed that the best way to see if a theory or conclusion was true was to let it stand the test of time. In this he meant that the longer a theory was supported and unreputed by other sociologists, the more true it was. Popper was critical towards Marx, saying that he was unscientific because he didn't use empirical data and that Marx's theory couldn't be proved wrong or right as Marx left his theory open to when the revolution would actually happen, meaning that if a revolution didn't happen in that time period, Marx would still be able to argue that it was going to happen ‘some day in the future'. The other side of the argument of should sociology be scientific is held by anti positivists, such as Max Weber. Weber claims that to come to true conclusions the motives of a situation or a persons actions must first be understood. An example of this is if a person is fishing, are they doing it because its their hobby, or maybe because they are hungry. One process supported by Weber was verstehen, which is where the sociologist imagines himself or herself as the person or in the position of the person whose being studied. Weber thought that the motives behind an action are just as important as the actions themselves for coming to the truth behind a subject. There third perspective involved in the debate is Post Modernism, which believe in the grand narrative, or that there is no such thing as just having one dominant theory. Post Modernists believe the best results and theories are academic pick and mix's, where conclusions are drawn from many different perspectives and theories to get an all round finding that includes all the different points of view involved. Post Modernists also think that there is no such thing as one objective truth, and that no one method or way of looking at sociology can arrive at true conclusions as in reality, society is always changing as is the norms and values within society. One post modernist who believes that there is no one technique that can find the truth (a belief held by epistemology) is Lyotard, who sees all epistemology as being based on more the researchers opinions instead of being based on objective knowledge. This is known as being a metanarrative.

All About Levees in the U.S.

All About Levees in the U.S. A levee is a type of dam or wall, usually a man-made embankment, that acts as a barrier between water and property. It is often a raised berm that runs along a river or canal. Levees reinforce a rivers banks and help prevent flooding. By constricting and confining the flow, however, levees can also increase the speed of the water. Levees can fail in at least two ways: (1) the structure is not high enough to stop rising waters, and (2) the structure is not strong enough to hold back rising waters. When a levee breaks at a weakened area, the levee is considered breached, and water flows through the breach or hole. A levee system often includes pumping stations as well as embankment. A levee system can fail if one or more of the pumping stations fail. Definition of Levee A man-made structure, usually an earthen embankment or concrete floodwall, designed and constructed in accordance with sound engineering practices to contain, control, or divert the flow of water so as to provide reasonable assurance of excluding temporary flooding from the leveed area. - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Types of Levees Levees can be natural or man-made. A natural levee is formed when sediment settles on the river bank, raising the level of the land around the river. To construct a man-made levee, workers pile dirt or concrete along the river banks (or parallel to any body of water that may rise), to create an embankment. This embankment is flat at the top, and slopes at an angle down to the water. For added strength, sandbags are sometimes placed over dirt embankments. Origin of the Word The word levee (pronounced LEV-ee) is an Americanism - that is, a word used in the United States, but not anywhere else in the world. It should come as no surprise that levee originated in the great port city of New Orleans, Louisiana, at the mouth of the flood-prone Mississippi River. Coming from the French word  levà ©e and the French verb lever meaning to raise, handmade embankments to protect farms from seasonal floods became known as levees. A dike serves the same purpose as a levee, but that word comes from the Dutch dijk or German deich. Levees Around the World A levee is also known as a floodbank, stopbank, embarkment, and storm barrier. Although the structure goes by different names, levees protect the land in many parts of the world. In Europe, levees prevent flooding along the Po, Vistula, and Danube rivers. In the United States, you will find important levee systems along the Mississippi, Snake, and Sacramento Rivers. In California, an aging levee system is used in Sacramento and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Poor maintenance of the Sacramento levees have made the area prone to flooding. Global warming has brought stronger storms and greater risks of flooding. Engineers are seeking alternatives to levees for flood control. The answer may lie in modern flood control technologies used in England, Europe, and Japan. Levees, New Orleans, and Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, Louisiana, is largely below sea level. The systematic construction of its levees began in the 19th century and continued into the 20th century as the federal government became more involved with engineering and funding. In August 2005, several levees along waterways of Lake Ponchartrain failed, and water covered 80% of New Orleans. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers designed the levees to withstand the forces of a fast-blowing Category 3 storm; they werent strong enough to survive the Category 4 Hurricane Katrina. If a chain is as strong as its weakest link, a levee is as functional as its structural weakness. A full year before Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, Walter Maestri, the emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, was quoted in the New Orleans Times-Picayune: It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us. - June 8, 2004 (one year before Hurricane Katrina) Levees as Infrastructure Infrastructure is a framework of communal systems. In the 18th and 19th centuries, farmers created their own levees to protect their fertile farmland from inevitable floods. As more and more people became dependent on other people for growing their food, it made sense that flood mitigation was everyones responsibility and not simply the local farmer. Through legislation, the federal government helps states and localities with engineering and subsidizing the cost of levee systems. Flood insurance has also become a way for people living in high risk areas can help with the cost of levee systems. Some communities have combined flood mitigation with other public works projects, such as highways along riverbanks and hiking paths in recreation areas. Other levees are nothing more than functional. Architecturally, levees can be aesthetically pleasing feats of engineering. The Future of Levees Todays levees are being engineered for resilience and built for double duty - protection when needed and recreation in the off-season. Creating a levee system has become a partnership among communities, counties, states, and federal government entities. Risk assessment, construction costs, and insurance liabilities combine in a complex soup of action and inaction for these public works projects. The building of levees to mitigate flooding will continue to be an issue as communities plan and build for extreme weather events, a predictable unpredictability from climate change. Sources USACE Program Levees, US Army Corps of Engineers at www.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/LeveeSafetyProgram/USACEProgramLevees.aspxUnited States of Shame, by Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, September 3, 2005 [accessed August 12, 2016]History of Levees, FEMA, PDF at https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1463585486484-d22943de4883b61a6ede15aa57a78a7f/History_of_Levees_0512_508.pdfInline photos: Mario Tama/Getty Images; Julie Dermansky/Corbis via Getty Images (cropped)

Pregnancy and Harden Brady

Pregnancy and Harden Brady Pregnancy and Harden Brady- Crite Essay Nick Harden Brady- Crite English 900 6 November 2012 Free Will Hilary Clinton Once said, "I have met thousands and thousands of pro-choice men and women. I have never met anyone who is pro-abortion.† Abortion has always been an extremely controversial topic between pro-life and pro-choice groups. Pro-choice advocates believe that abortion should remain legal, while pro-life groups believe that abortion is murder and should be outlawed. One has his or her own views and opinions; despite what several people may believe, abortion should remain legal and the choice of the mother. Abortion should be legal because of the issues women face when making the decision to give birth to a child. These issues include financial instability, health concerns and, social problems within family and friends. Financial problems can play a big role on whether a woman decides to have an abortion. Women that face these issues have a better chance to have an abortion if they become pregnant. If society makes women reproduce, then these women must feed, provide clothing, and educate these children to make them productive members of society. For instance, if a woman has an unplanned pregnancy, she may not be able to afford raising a child. This can later lead to a child growing up in poverty. Another problem pregnant women may face is raising children alone. â€Å"Today, 19 million children live in single-mother families.† Women raising children alone are more susceptible to having financial problems because they do not have that extra support to take care of a child. One who is opposed the legalization of abortion might believe that the solution to these problems would be receiving help from family and friends, or having the father of the newborn pay child support, but sometimes they can have their own financial problems to take care of. Illegalizing abortion can affect many women who suffer from financial issues. Another reason abortion should remain legal is the fact that child birth can have serious effects on either the mother or child. The mother can have different conditions that can risk her life if she goes into labor. Millions of women are diagnosed and informed that they have a life threatening condition that could mean life or death if they have a child; making these women go through with pregnancy is almost like making her commit suicide. A woman's life should be considered a more valuable life than the life of the fetus. One feels this way because if something were to happen to the woman the potential life of the fetus would not even exist. There are also many conditions that can endanger the fetus. According to a September of 2005 issue of Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, three percent of women who have abortions, do so because of a health issue or abnormality with the baby. A woman should not be expected to bring a child into this world if there is somethin g seriously wrong with them, such as paralysis, or being severely, mentally challenged. A pro-life supporter may believe there are different alternatives such as putting an innocent, unborn child’s life before the mothers or giving the baby a chance to live, but a very unhealthy baby would most likely die before the parents, causing the parents sadness and sorrow. Health issues on either the mother or child can really affect one’s decision on having an abortion or not. The final reason women should have the right to an abortion is the many social issues a woman can face if she becomes pregnant. In

Email Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Email Policy - Essay Example The technologies like telephone and other earlier modes of swift communication systems too had some problems on the issues of etiquette in their usage. But on contrary, the current issue in monitoring email is virtually monitoring everyone due to the comprehensive connectively among all users in the organization. The apprehensions on the policy of archiving all the emails to disturb on the productivity of the company from the resentment generated due to restriction imposed on the freedom of employees expression is not very serious. The research studies undertaken across the world to assess the employees attitude towards email user policy strongly recommends that absence to articulate an effective email policy would give wrong signal on the user attitude (Weisband and Reinig, 1995). The experience of Jason Perry clearly justifies this finding that the absence of a proper policy too have given the users to take the technology to their personal advantage and made it detrimental to the r eputation and credibility of the organization. But in the case of M/S Johnson & Dresser, the issue that confuses the top management is on the outcome of the implementation rather than the policy framework preparation for the email usage in the company. More over, Jason Perry as an architect for the effective implementation of the policy shall prepare necessary exercises to sensitize the entire community around him in the organization to reinforce in them the need for a code of email usage in the organization. And to create a proper prudent approach towards this rather than an offensive strategy, it would also be essential for the CEO and the other responsible members in the company to have a public release of the company policy as a benchmarking program in creating digital ethics codes (Simmers, 2002). This would help the employees to rally behind such a noble cause which otherwise would be invite significant amount of suspicion in the mind of the employees. On the content

New product Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

New product - Essay Example The first stage was the idea generation stage where various ideas were generated (Keiser and Myrna 75). The ideas were thereafter screened looking at the feasibility and the profitability of the product sales. The ideas that passed the screening test entered the concept development and testing stage. It is at this point that the ideas are stated in a manner that targeted consumers can understand. The concepts were then tested with a small constituency of the target market. Strong concepts that meet the target market expectation proceeded to the marketing strategy stage whereby the initial products are marketed among the target consumers. The next stage is the business analysis stage in which the sales and costs analysis is taken to determine whether they are in line with the company objectives (Keiser and Myrna 76). Since the magic cloth, met the customers’ satisfaction and was profitable because of the high sales rate. The costs analysis also showed that the economies of scal e would reduce the unit production stage. The final stage is the commercialization stage in which the product was launched officially for sale in the market. In setting the prices, the company considered the costs incurred in the production process and marketing costs (Keiser and Myrna 77). Other factory overheads and operational costs was also included in determining the total costs. After consideration of all the costs, a margin was set which would ensure that the targeted profit is earned. Besides, the price set was pegged on external factors like the prices of competitors. In the highly competitive industry, consumers are sensitive to prices and any overcharge could lead to loss of sales. Moreover, the demand also had an impact on the sales price. At times of high demand, magic cloth was sold at a higher rate compared to low demand period. Since the prices cannot be constant in a free market where competition is encouraged, there was ways in which the prices were adjusted. First,