Equality Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Equality - Assignment Example In the 19th century, the American society thrived on a subsistence economy where women typically did home-based work and reproductive roles. At the onset a market economy, women called for equal social and political representation in the affairs governing the society. In a seemingly patriarchal society, the French feminism of the nineteenth century grew at a very slow rate (Roth 23). On the face of it, the republican political system was reluctant to support the women and refused them the voting rights until after the Second World War, in 1945 (Paletschek & Bianka 12). According to the various reports by human rights organizations, some countries are yet to conform to the observation of women’s right. In the contemporary world, the modern woman faces the challenge of balancing work and social life. Nevertheless, the protection of women from gender discrimination is paramount for any society. Unfortunately, some countries, including the US, have loose gender policies that aim at giving insurance to the social existence of women (Gardiner  11). The pursuit of gender equality is a major controversial debate that surfaces the modern

Human Resources Management in Business Essay Example for Free

Human Resources Management in Business Essay Human resources department is a part of business that deals with its staff. The department is seen as part of strategic management, in the effort to achieve the goals of the business, and is crucial to the businesss success. Some of the human resources departments responsibilities include recruitment, retention, selection, job enlargement/enrichment, motivation and leadership, job role allocations, training, and payroll appraisals. The departments decisions are influenced by, however, internal issues for workforce planning. One of the issues could be the cost of its operations. The business would want to minimize cost, so any decisions made by Human resources should be cost-effective. Another issue could be the companys business strategy, for example when the company want to expand, the Human resources department would have to recruit more employees; if the company wants to cut costs and increase profit, the department would have to consider reducing the number of staff. It is also responsible for training current employees for any new equipments. There are also external factors that affect how workforce planning is carried out. These external factors include government actions that affect the business environment. For example, the government can impose new minimum wages that would increase the Human resources departments spending on wages payment. The education situation of the country can also affect Human resources, as education is the means that workers gain their skills; without proper education, Human resources wouldnt be able to recruit highly skilled workers without paying large salaries or recruit foreign nationals. An important external factor is the economic situation of the economy. If unemployment rates are high, Human resources would be able to recruit new employees much easier and cheaper than when the economy is in boom, which makes labour more expensive. The age ranges of the labour force can affect Human resources decisions, since they dont want to recruit too old of employees who are going to retire soon. The business often want more young employees who can potentially contribute to the company for a long period of time, and can also be more innovative. Another external factor is technology advancements, as this may result in the introduction of new equipments into the company. The Human resources department would then have to organise training for their current staff to enable them to work with the newly acquired machineries. There are many benefits to Human Resources planning. One of the most important purpose of the Human Resources department is to motivate staff. This can be done by means of promotions, training, and rewards. Another benefit is that Human Resources help import important skills into the business through the process of recruitment. Human Resources would compose a recruitment process that selects the right people for the business. Without a Human Resources department, a firm cannot efficiently recruit employees that they need. Also, the department helps the business plan the right number of workers. They make sure that there are no redundancy or shortages of labour in the company, and if there is any, Human Resources would fix this either by cutting or recruiting staff. Human Resources department also ensures smooth operations in regards to labour management. This means they make sure that employees arrive when they are needed, and are allocated to the right tasks, and that each workers know their role within the business. In addition, they resolve whatever arguments that may arise between the workers and company management, making sure that the employees are clear of company regulations, and that management are clear of their workers conditions. Finally, the Human Resources department ensures that no laws are broken in regards to labour employment. For example, the recruitment process must not violate discrimination laws. All necessary laws are briefed to staff to ensure no illegal activities are conducted within the company. Before selecting staff for any position, key skills needed for that particular job need to be identified, creating a list of criteria for candidate selection. British Sugar is one of the largest provider of sugar products in the UK. Their Human Resources department has been directed to recruit three new production managers, as part of the companys expansion project in China. The Human Resources department has identified the key skills for a potential production manager: Confidence: the manager needs to be confident in handling large responsibilities, whether it be meeting production deadlines, ensuring worker safety etc. They need confidence to be able to make decisive actions, taking the initiative without too much dependence on higher directives. As they direct the production process, confidence is also needed for negotiating with suppliers, making the best deals for the factory. Technical skills: a production manager has to be sufficiently knowledgeable about the production technology of their factory, to be able to understand and resolve technical problems should they arise. Technical knowledge of a manager does not have to be detailed, but must be sufficient to issue correct directives to the factorys engineer force. High technical skills is preferred, as the manager will be more likely to be innovative in improving production methods of the firm. Communication skills: a good production manager is able to communicate to all different divisions of the company. They are quick to absorb information from different levels of the company, whether it be top management or floor workers, and then provide quick and effective feedback. Communication skills are crucial in a manager, as it helps him ensure the coordination between different elements of the company. Problem-solving skills: the production manager should be able to independently deal with problems within their factory. They will be extremely resourceful in coordinating factory or company-level efforts to solve problems. This requires an intelligent person that can improvise upon their resources to damage-control and reverse the problem and put the factory back onto its original course. Motivating staff is an important part of company operation, as it ensure the employees do their best and be productive while working for the company. There is a variety of reasons why employees would want to work harder in their working environment. Such reasons could be money, bonuses, power, working with friends, social aspects of work, the need to provide for family, promotion, team work, and promotion. Frederick Taylor’s theory of motivation simply stated that all workers are worked by money. This means that in order to better motivate employees, the employer simply just has to raise their pay, and this would make them work harder. Taylor introduced the Theory of Scientific Management, which said that workers are naturally lazy and need close supervisions and control. The theory also says that managers should break down work to the simplest tasks to their employees. Workers also need adequate training and equipment to perform their simple tasks as efficiently as possible, then they would be paid according to the amount of products they had produced. The theory is often applied in mass production lines which involves repetitive tasks. Elton Mayo later introduced a new theory of motivation of his own. He believed that money is only part of the worker’s concern, and social needs are more important in motivating workers at their work place. Mayo published the Human Relation school of thought, which encourage managers to focus more on social interactions between workers. Mayo went further in his studies and conducted his own experiment at the Hawthorne factory in Chicago. From these series of experiments, he concluded that although physical conditions worsened, they do not affect the productivity of the Hawthorne workers. Instead, social factors such as better communication between workers and managers, better involvement in employees’ lives from their manager, and team work was what improved productivity levels. In the 1950s, Abraham Maslow introduced the Neo-Human Relation school of thought. This new theory focus on the employee’s psychological needs, which are structured into five different levels of needs. The theory says that once a lower level of needs is satisfied, would then the worker could be motivated by an upper level of needs. These levels of needs in lower to higher order are physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, esteem needs, and self-actualisation respectively. Managers also need to realise that each worker moves up this ladder at a different pace, and therefore might need different sets of incentives from worker to worker. In financial-related type of motivations, the most common motivation is salaries and wages. Salaries are what permanent employees are paid monthly or annually. Wages, on the other hand, is what is paid to workers per hour they have worked. These can motivate the employees, for the harder they work, the more they would earn. A piece rate system is when an employee is paid a fixed rate for each unit of production; In other words, they are paid by results, which motivate them to achieve better results. Commission and fees are similarly dependent on the results of the workers. Commission is a percentage of the sale revenue, and fees are fixed amounts that are earned after sale. The more the employee sells, the more commission or fees they get, motivating them to sell more. Fringe benefits are any non-wage payment or benefit such as pension plans, profit-sharing programs, vacation pay, and company-paid life, health, and unemployment insurance. Having these extra benefit with their jobs can make the employees feel more secure and work harder. Performance-related pay or pay by performance is money paid relating to how well the employee works. This would motivate them by giving them knowledge that the better they perform in their field, the better their assessment would be and the more they would be paid. Profit sharing is another way of motivating staff, it consists of a plan that gives employees a share in the profit of the company. Each employee receives a percentage of those profit based on the companys earnings. This makes staff work harder, knowing the more their company earns, the more they would get in shared profit. Share ownership is when employees who have worked in the company for a long time are given part of the business as shares. These shares would give the employees power, and they get to take part deciding how the company is run. Other than financial motivations, there are non-financial ones that could boost motivation while costing minimal for the business. Job redesign involves restructuring the elements including tasks, duties and responsibilities of a specific job in order to make it more encouraging and inspiring for the employees. Job enlargement is basically increasing the employees work load, so that they feel more responsible and work harder. Job rotation is when employees are moved between two or more jobs in a planned manner. The purpose of this is to expose the employees to different experiences and wider variety of skills to enhance job satisfaction and to cross-train them. Job enrichment is a variation of job enlargement. Job enrichment adds new sources of job satisfaction by giving the employee additional authority, autonomy, and control over the way the job is accomplished. Team work is a Cooperative effort by the members of a group or team to achieve a common goal. Working in a team may motivate employees to do better to fulfill their part on the team. External link for employees motivating can be found here: http://www. forbes. com/sites/glennllopis/2012/06/04/top-9-things-that-ultimately-motivate-employees-to-achieve/ The fundamental method which British Sugar would use to motivate their staff is to make them feel safe. Feeling safe would clear the employees minds from external worries, helping them to focus more on their tasks and try harder to achieve. This method would include providing their employees with adequate facilities to work in. This means that British Sugars factories and offices would to the most basic safety regulations such as fire safety, electrical safety, and protection from hazardous conditions inside their factories. British Sugar would also make sure that their facilities have appropriate security measures to protect employees and their possessions safe. This method of motivation is one of the most basic levels of Maslows hierarchy of needs. Another method that British Sugar uses is providing extra employee benefits beside their regular salaries and wages. They would give company cars for manager and directors, along with free O2 mobile phones. British Sugar also looks after their employees by providing them with free healthcare in the form of free check-ups with company nurse, eyesight tests and glasses, and subsidised scheme with AXA. Families of employees can also enjoy company benefits with provided child vouchers and team meals for spouses. British Sugar’s factory workers are also provided with free safety work wear. There are numerous other benefits that employees can enjoy working for British Sugar, which includes sports clubs, gym facilities, free parking†¦etc. A popular method of motivation from Taylor’s school of thought is recognition. British Sugar would give out tokens of appreciation and to recognise employees/teams that have made a significant contribution over and above that reasonably expected. Company managers would award their employees with vouchers, meals, bouquet of flowers, or bottles of wine to boost their work morale. Long Service Awards are given to employees with significant length of service. Annual bonuses of ? 400, ? 600, ? 800, and ? 900 are given to employees who have served 20, 30, 40, or 45 years in the company respectively. British Sugar also use chances of promotion to encourage their employees. This is a process known as internal recruitment. When a position is open, employees are often promoted to fill the position instead of recruiting new people externally. This keeps the employees motivated to work harder, knowing there are chances of future promotion. Another method of motivation used by British Sugar is performance management. Performance management is a proactive and continuous process of communicating and clarifying role responsibilities, performance expectations and priorities in order to ensure mutual understanding between managers and employees. To ensure the proper functioning of the business, British Sugar would have to maintain a high level of cooperation and satisfaction in its employees. Making employees cooperate would increase productivity, reduce labour turnover, and make sure that they can maintain the quantity and quality of work they are capable of. One of the methods of doing this is by communication. This method involves staying in touch with the staff to make sure they are updated with company information. When staff have the information that they need for their job, they will be more likely to be oriented towards their tasks, and be able to do it correctly and more efficiently. Communication with employees can be done by many means. It includes emails, which are quick, efficient, and reliable. Face-to-face communication is an important form of communication, often in the form of meetings; however it has time and distance limitations , for example a manager might not have the time to see all of his employees to talk about new policies, while he could just send them all an email. There are other methods such as telephone calls, which can be made easily over long distance or face-time technology that allows employees to communicate despite the long distance. Another way of improving employees cooperation and commitment in the business is making them more involved in it. In British sugar, this is know as the â€Å"quality circle†. British Sugar would engage its employees group discussions, where groups of workers meet and discuss the good and bad side of the issues that they face. The employees would try to resolve their problems together, and discuss ways to improve how they work and how the company works. This method generates a feeling of involvement, employees would feel that they are a contributing part of a team, and therefore view their work more positively and become more inclined to cooperate with other employees as well as the company managers. Clear employment contracts also help boost staff cooperation and commitment. A clear contract would have to explicitly explain the details of the job, such as explaining the roles and duties that the employee is expected to carry out, along with the hours of work required. The business would also need clearly identified procedures such as disciplinary policies or grievance policies. A clear pay structure that explains basic time as well as overtime is essential. All of these will reduce arguments in the company, enabling more efficiency and cooperation within the business. Motivational methods are a way of getting more cooperation from staff. Motivated employees would perform better while feeling better about their prospects than demotivated ones, therefore cooperating more in their work. Similarly, training and charity links should also be used to boost the morale of workers. Training would increase the employees motivation and performance, as well as charitable activities such as helping out the local community. A well-motivated workforce with high morale is more likely to cooperate with the company and to each other. The culture of the business itself will also affect how its employees cooperate. If the company has a culture of cooperation and an atmosphere of teamwork, then the employees are more likely to have more cooperation in their work. Training in a large organisation such as British Sugar is carried out extensively. An example of British Sugars training operation is their Graduate scheme, a scheme in which British Sugar finds apprentice in universities. The company would offer university graduates a period of vocational training, with the assurance of a job at the end of their training, in addition to have year-long job placements for engineering students. British Sugar also organises over 1000 training courses every year involves all levels from senior managers to new apprentices and our seasonal workers. The company encourages its sites to play an active role in local communities through media visits, schools activities, agricultural and environmental events. British Sugar have regular dialogues with leading and local non-government organisations. They also organise sponsorships and charitable funds, allocated to their employee fundraising activities through a Supporting YOU to support others programme. Measuring the workforce can be done by a number of ways. This is generally looking at the key indicators in the business workforce such as labour productivity, health and safety, labour turnover and absenteeism. Labour productivity is how much the workers produce in terms of goods and services per hour worked. In the business, it can be measured by looking at the efficiency of individual or teams. However, this method should be used with cation, because there are factors that could affect labour productivity such as the age of machinery, type of sector that the business is in or whether production is automated or labour-intensive. If machineries are old, they wouldnt be able to produce as much, therefore being the cause of low labour productivity. A business in the secondary sector would be more productive than one in the tertiary sector since manufacturing makes more products than service. Similarly, a business that has automated production will be much more productive than one with labour-intensive production, since machines are able to mass produce more products than individual workers. A business can try to improve labour productivity by using motivational tools such as bonuses. Training can also be used to add productivity to workers, and business plans help staff work more efficiently. The business can also buy new equipments to improve productivity of their workers. Another measurement is health and safety. As it is one of the motivational factor, the quality of health and safety at the workplace can affect the staff. The better the health and safety standard, the better the staff will perform. The business must consider the possible causes of poor health and safety, such as poor equipment, dangerous environment and also the poor training in the matter. Labour turnover can also be used to measure a companys workforce. Labour turnover is the proportion of staff leaving the business over a period of time, usually each year. A company can lose their staff due to de-motivation, retirement, social factors, better opportunity elsewhere ,or that the employee wants to start their won business. Staff leaving can also be involuntarily as their positions become redundant or they are fired due to performance. A high labour turnover is generally not good because it spawns many problems such as the loss of productive capacity, the costs and the time taken to recruit new staff, and the extra training and induction programmes to new employees. However, new staff can bring benefits such as introduction of new ideas to the business, or more efficient workers. Absenteeism is another measurement to the companys workforce, as it tells managers how much their staff go on break from work. This can be a substantial problem for the business, because production output will suffer if employees are absent, projects will run into delays, and the quality of products affected due to the lack of staff. There are many other costs associated with absent staff, such as sick pay, and temporary staff pay, which is often expensive. Absenteeism also cause de-motivation in the business, as other employees will have to take the work load of the absent employees. To lower the level of absenteeism, the business can issue fines to absent staff, improve the safety of the work environment so staff would want to be at work, and improve their motivational methods. British Sugar uses a range of performance indicators to evaluate and improve their performance. SMART targets are a set of criteria that are based on the specific words: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-specific. These criteria are applied in the process of making goals and objectives, to maximise the business chances of obtaining them. Punctuality is the characteristic of being able to complete a required task or fulfill an obligation before or at a previously designated time. Attendance is the frequency with which a person is present. An appraisal system, or performance management, is a proactive and continuous process of communicating and clarifying role responsibilities, performance expectations and priorities in order to ensure mutual understanding between managers and employees. It is very useful as it is both a motivational strategy and a review system where mangers can assess their employees. The appraisal system would fulfill the employees social and recognition needs according Maslow theories, motivating to work harder to achieve more and be more recognised. The system is not without flaws, however. The appraisal system can be very costly, requiring a lot of administrative work, and is time-consuming. It is also exposed to favouritism. Managers can tend to trust and praise some employees more than others, causing distrust discontentment among team members.

Criminological Research Topics Aims And Rationale Social Work Essay

Criminological Research Topics Aims And Rationale Social Work Essay The case of Sabina Akthar is a tragic case, which shows negligence of the Crown Prosecution Service(CPS). Sabina Akthar and Malik Mannan had married through arrange marriage in Bangladesh. When Akthar found out that her husband had a mistress, problems occurred in their marriage. Akthar had faced domestic violence from her husband and as result made complaints to the police. Mannan was arrested and about a month later he was released on bail. Mannans bail conditions included clauses such as; he was not to contact his wife or visit her home. After Mannan had broken his bail conditions on several instances he was re-arrested. However on this occasion he was released without charge and also his bail order was dropped. After Mannan was released he carried on sending Akthar text messages in which he threatened to kill her. Few days after these messages Mannan had stabbed Akthar from her heart, which caused Akthars death. After the young womans death the Crown Prosecutions Service accepted that they were negligent in the way they have handled the case and apologised to Sabina Akthars family (Guardian 2009). The British Crime Surveys (BCS) measurement of the culture effect on domestic violence is different to the police statistics. According to statistics the culture effect on domestic violence plays an important role here. The aim of my research is to define how culture has an effect on domestic violence in the United Kingdom amongst the white ethnicity. Due to the experience I have gained through volunteering in the Coventry Refugee Centre I have gained knowledge about different countries and the cultures those countries have. In the United Kingdom victims of domestic violence are mainly women and children. For many women their home is where they suffer abuse at hands of somebody who is really close to them. Most victims of domestic violence face long term physical and psychological damages. The person who abuses them does not give them any chance to make their own decision; therefore after a while some victims believe that there is no way out of their sufferings and gives up on trying to escape. This research seeks to determine the impact of cultural effect on domestic violence in women and children in United Kingdom. Key literature Domestic violence also known and expressed as fie beating or intimate partner violence usually coexists with child abuse about half of the time (Hamel. J, Tonia L. Nicholls 2007). Husbands who beat their wives are much likely to apply for permanent residence for their undocumented wives than husbands who do not beat their wives. Therefore immigration status appears to be another way in which abusive husbands control their wives in the UK. Abusive husbands often threaten their wives with deportation if they do not comply with the husbands wishes. Frequently undocumented abused wives are afraid to cooperate with child protection authorities for fear that their husbands might retaliate by turning them into immigration authorities. Women who cooperate with investigations of child abuse and or domestic violence have unusually good access to legal permanent residency but they are unlikely to be aware of this. Battered immigrant women face several impediments to seeking protection and servi ces. These impediments including language barriers, negative perceptions of the law enforcement and legal system, fear of deportation, cultural and religious issues and discrimination (Gabriel 1994). When it comes to the culture effect on domestic violence Uganda has the highest crime rates of domestic violence, 41 % of women reported being beaten or physically harmed by their husbands. This can be related to the economic factors and conditions as well as different life styles and cultural variation in Uganda. According to the statistic the media has been considered one of many contributing factors in domestic violence. It has been criticized for its portrayal of violence in movies, television and printed form resulting in the desensitization of people with regard to their tolerance of violence. On the other hand the media has also been used as a modern communication tool in increasing public awareness of domestic violence and increasing support for ongoing research, funding education and prevention and treatment programs and support for improvement in the laws the criminal justice system and the public policy. The impact of income inequality and social structure may also create more domestic violence towards women. Mens unemployment or part time employment has been associated with increased rates of domestic violence. (Natalie, Sokoloff and Pratt 2005). Recent study found that unemployment was a significant predictor of violence. This suggests some men might perceive employment as a critical component of their masculine identity and resort to violence as an effort to regain lost status. Some studies report that middle class Asian women are more likely to experience domestic violence than white middle class women among some ethnic and racial minority groups are attributable in part to poverty. Some research has suggested that the discrepancy between employment and income places women at risk. When women earn more than men or have a higher education qualification and employment skills, many men feel psychologically threatened and some use violence to reassert power in their relationship. Many immigrants coming to England to find a better life to live for themselves and for their children but the barriers the immigrant face are really tremendous. New culture that they face as well as language barriers their husbands take advantage of this and start intimating their partners that their husbands may report their views to the UK immigrations service. Different countries and cultures may have their own values and attitudes toward a woman place family, marriage, sex roles and divorce and women may not notice that the domestic violence is against the law they may not know that they have the legal option to end the abusive relationship. Domestic violence can occur in families from all cultural and ethnic group and beliefs and intervention policies and practices in treating battered women should accommodate their diverse cultural backgrounds. The British Crime Survey statistics shows that one in five women has experienced domestic violence in their lifestyle and many of these women ended their relationship because of abusive relationship. . According to the survey shows that woman chose to stay in abusive relationship because of fear if the women attempts to leave they will be tracked down and beaten or killed because of this the most women think that any prison time would be temporary and the subsequent and consequences even worse. Methodology My research approach will reflect a subjectivism. I believe this perspective is most appropriate for my investigation because people got their own ideas and it will be in subjectivism way the result that I will get in the end it will not be based on one interview. My methodology will be based on interviews, qualitative, subjectivism and interpretivism. Every interview that I will do will have different view and different ideas in it. I will be dealing with human views rather than materials. In order to finish my dissertation I need to understand how women are expected to behave within different cultures, believes and religions. For example as I have spent two years at the Coventry Refugee Centre as an interpreter and a case worker this has given me a good knowledge about diverse people and I understand their opinions and feelings. Therefore I believe the experience that I have gained within that work environment will be very helpful to me while I am conducting my interviews. To update my literal review I will also use secondary data. As my secondary data resources I will use books and contemporary articles. This will enable me to widen my knowledge and understanding of the general theory aspects on culture effect on domestic violence. I will also get some help from the Coventry Refugee Centre by going on their websites and also by speak to them face to face when needed. This secondary data will help me to design the interview questions in order to get the best answers. For my research I will also do face to face semi-structured interviews to understand the effect of culture on domestic violence. I will also use internet searches. I have applied to volunteer within the victim support scheme. I am hoping that the experience I will gain from this work placement will give me the opportunity to find out more information about victims of domestic violence which will help to finish my dissertation. I will do some interpretivisim to assess the meaning of domestic violence. This will provide me a good feedback about the domestic violence and the trust in the police and Criminal Justice System. These questioners will provide me some quantitative data. In order to get answers that are representative and non-biased these questioners will be given to randomly selected women. The qualitative result that I have gained from the interviews will be used in two ways. First of all I will compare them to the secondary data which is the theory aspect of the research. Secondly I will compare the questionnaire results (practice). Through comparing these data I will examine the views on domestic violence. As the results that are gained through the interviews will be qualitative, which means these statistics will give me an opportunity to analyses the results in order to create some charts, graphs and pies. As I worked as an interpreter and a case worker at the Coventry Refugee Centre it is easy for me to access into the centre and get the support that I need. I have decided to choose my participant through my work experience place, because my topic is based on culture effect on domestic violence and there are many women who been victims of domestic violence in their home countries. I will hopefully do my interview at the Refugee centre and I will inform my participa nts that everything that they say throughout the interview will be confidential and that no one will be allowed to see the answers that they have given in the questionnaires. However there are some difficulties to do this interview for example some of the participants may not speak English. Therefore I will also try to arrange an interpreter for them where needed in order to finish my research proposal. Ethnical issues Researching about domestic violence is not easy. While I am doing my research there are several ethical issues which I need to pay close attention to not to cause further distress to the participants. For example some question may cause distress to participants if they are asked in a certain way. Therefore I will need to design my questions in a way which my participants will not feel uncomfortable to answer them. Conducting a research on domestic violence might be a stressful investigation. This is because the topic is a very sensitive topic as it is not psychologically easy for people to talk about their tragic experiences. Therefore this study might cause potential or further pain and harm to the individual who have or still experiencing abuse by reminding them events that they do not wish to remember. It may also expose incriminating information and expose individual to risk. Consequently I need to be fully prepared to deal with the likely effects of the research. For example the effects of my research on participants on their families and on the researchers themselves (conduction such research may be distressing) may be defeated by a debriefing session at the end of the research. In this debriefing session participants will be able to speak to professional psychiatrists about their experience within the research. During this session participants can discuss any particular concerns they have about the research. Another example of a sensitive issue is false memory and recovered memory. This is a debate which has been going on over the past 20 years. A famous memory psychologist Elizabeth Loftus has written about the validity of recovered memories of childhood abuse. According o Loftuss studies these memories commonly come to light only after therapeutic sessions with people who use techniques such as guided imagery to explore early life experience. This domestic violence research is socially sensitive because there are potential consequences for people who have claimed to have recovered memories and for their families. Therefore to complete my research I need to consider including some ethnical guidelines document. I will sign this document and included in my proposal to state that I have tried to deal with ethical issues as best as I could. Also the questions that I will ask during the interview have to be approved by my tutor. I will also ask my participants to sign a consent form which will state that the interviews done are totally confidentially and that they are willing to take part in this research. Data that will be collected through the interviews will be confidential therefore I will be keeping this data with me at all times until my research is complete and I will not let anyone else to see it. I will be dealing with woman with cultural views, being sensitive to other cultures is easier said than done. Cultural sensitivity has nothing to with the art and music of a culture and almost everything to do with respect, shared decision making and effective communication. Too often researches ignore these values, the life style and the cognitive and affective world of the subject. soz jus on the phone to ma man. bu ma cwk is on my laptop n im on my pc bu jus write bou wha research method u gna use like for mine im doin case stdies n interviews n lyk u gta say whether u gna use qualitative method or quantitative methods n why u using those methods das it reallyysoz jus on the phone to ma man. bu ma cwk is on my laptop n im on my pc bu jus write bou wha research method u gna use like for mine im doin case stdies n interviews n lyk u gta say whether u gna use qualitative method or quantitative methods n why u using those methods das it really Reflection I have learnt too many things about the research method and technique that are used in it. Having completed this research that is based on culture effect on domestic violence improved my argument skills in a paper. Through using and collecting data and with example of statistics my arguments have become much better than how it was used to be. My researching skills also improved in a positive way during this research proposal. In previous researches for my study I used to get stuck on how to gather information but now I am able to use largely different resources I can now understand the topic more widely and it also helps me to make a better argument. In my opinion this research is my best research paper that I have done in my life. The grade that I will get for it might not show a good grade but what I learned from it will benefit me for my future researches. I spent about two days just for doing the actual research. It will be useful for the next year when it come to the dissertation by using these new techniques that I have learnt from this research proposal, hopefully then I will be able to put my points across more effectively and clearly. How to write a research proposal will benefit me in future lessons in my life. Due to the experience that I have gained while preparing this proposal I will be able to give good exa mples about the topics that I will be preparing a proposal for in my future academic life. I will also be able to give and create a better arguments and counter-arguments in my future research proposal. To do my dissertation I have to stay focus on my chosen topic in order to complete it by using different skills that I have learned from this research proposal.

Responsibility of Designers to the General Public :: essays research papers fc

As this topic could in most cases be considered controversial, this paper is simply the written with views and opinions that I feel about this specific topic. According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary the term â€Å"responsibility is defined as â€Å"1 : the quality or state of being responsible : as a : moral, legal, or mental accountability.† (http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=responsibility&x=0&y=0 ) The question raised in this topic is what, if any, responsibility do graphic designers have to the general public? Should graphic designers be held liable for what their employers have them to do? In my humble opinion, I say no. There is no responsibility of designers to the general public. It is the ones who pay for these designs to be held accountable. It is in my opinion that only the laws of the country and the moral laws or character of the person determine the responsibility of that person. While one could contest that a graphic artist should be responsible for making something that they knew could have a negative impact on others, I contest.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The freedom of speech granted to us by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allows people and graphic artists to express themselves in ways that some or even most of us would not approve. However it is well within their legal rights to do so. No matter how much we may despise or dislike the views that someone else has presented in the form of graphic images for whatever purpose, we cannot take away their freedom of expression. That is what makes this country great, because it is that freedom, which allows the people who dislike or oppose a specific ideal, to oppose it. It also allows them to present their contrasting view. I feel that as long as the graphic artist is abiding by the laws of the land then he/she is protected in a legal sense. However since he/she is putting forth some work for the public to view, he/she is open to public scrutiny. I feel it is up to the person viewing the artistic piece to take responsibility for what they view or do not view. For far too long now, we as a society have tried to shift or lay blame elsewhere rather than on ourselves. It is up to the individual to educate themselves on the topic the piece presents so they can have a firm stance in their position.

The Death and Journey of the Egyptian Soul

No other country- not even China or India had such a long history as Ancient Egypt. For nearly, 3,000 years before the birth of Jesus, the Egyptians had already a high developed civilization. The Egyptians lived in an orderly government; they built great stone structures; most of important of all they established an acquired religion. For the Egyptians there was no break between their religious beliefs and their daily life. Even their culture would all lie at the bottom compared to their religious beliefs. For an example, Egyptian art was never reflected as a representation; however, it was a sense of symbolic pictures that spoke of the life of the gods and the hope of eternity to come. This desire for the renewal of life, and the creative urge to ensure it by ritual and symbolism existed in Egypt from the earliest times of the Neolithic Era. Archaeologist were able to uncover clay figurines of Osiris laced with sprouting corn. As the corn grew the model would open, as an image of life-in- death. Archaeologist were also able to find that their people also liked to keep the dead close to them. The Egyptians soon came to believe deeply that the good administration of the dead, just like the management of the Nile†s water could lead to an everlasting life. Many think of the Ancient Egyptians as a morbid, death-obsessed people. We think of this because all of what we have uncovered is mummies, tombs, and graves. However, we know more about the Egyptians in death than what we know about their lives. Since, the earliest times the Egyptians were very passionately concerned with the continued existence of their loved ones and their souls. The idea that Osiris had passes through death and risen into a new life was deeply rooted in the Egyptian consciousness that Osiris had to struggle against the forces of evil. So did the human soul now following him to gain eternity. By 2,500 BCE, helpful instructions, known as the pyramid texts were carved or painted on tomb walls to help the soul act in the various trials of it journey in the Netherworld (also referred to as the Under World). A thousand years later, in the New Kingdom, these instructions had been formalized into The Coming into Day, or The Egyptian Book of the Dead. This magical text for the underworld journey was a set of spells, incantations, and mummification techniques designed to help the dead person resurrect into a glorious afterlife in â€Å"heaven, † or â€Å"The Hall of the Two Truths. † These mystical texts are from the New Kingdom. The similar ones that were found in the pyramids from the Old Kingdom, and the coffins were from the Middle Kingdom. One can imagine these text by thinking about how church rituals are run. One goes to church, and the rituals are holy texts that come from a book known as the bible or genesis. In Ancient Egypt, these burial rituals are not read from a book. At first, they are read directly off of the wall in inner chambers of a pyramid; later they were read directly off sides of the coffins. The Coming into Day, which was from the New Kingdom, was read off of papyrus sheets, much as religious rituals are today as they are read out of books. The Book of the Dead was to be relatively cheap to purchase. As an Egyptian that had more riches in the New Kingdom, one would be able to buy a copy that would have blanks where the names go. A scribe would be hired to insert the name in all those blank spots. In the text, the blank spots were the name of the deceased. The letter â€Å"N† indicates it. If there were no name to be put in it they would refer to the Dead person as â€Å"N†. Wealthy Egyptians had a personalized version prepared before their death so many versions have been discovered. One of the most famous one was created for Ani, a Royal Scribe, who lived during the nineteenth dynasty, and died in 1250 BC. If one were to die or a loved one dies, one would be buried with the papyrus scroll. As a result, a few of these texts survived. In the book the body was represented as the Ka. The Ka was the spiritual body that everyone had, which was the mirror image of the physical body. When a person died it was the Ka, which lived on in the underworld. The Ka was not trapped inside a material body but lived symbiotically with it. This was why it was so vital to preserve the bodies of those who were believed to be living in the future world. In many of the great Egyptian tombs, spare heads and hearts were buried with the mummified body in case the mummy should be damaged. Many of the spells in the book for the dead are for protecting the physical body so that the Ka body could live free and happy in the Underworld. One of the most well renowned parts in the book of the dead is the Hall of Maat, which is first introduced in the book. The Hall of Matt is where the judgement of the dead was preformed. The goddess Matt stands for truth, justice, morality and balance. The symbol that was used to shows one†s innocence was the â€Å"heart†. The Egyptians believed the heart was one of the most sacred parts of the body. In the Book of the Dead, it was the heart that was weighed against the feather of Maat to see if an individual was worthy of joining Osiris in the afterlife. In the book Anubis, the Jackal god of embalming leads â€Å"N† to the scales of Maat to be weighed. Anubis then weighs the heart against the feather to see if it is worthy. As, Thoth, the god of wisdom is right next to the scale recording the results. If passing this test one will be brought by Horus to meet Osiris, the king of the dead. To claim the purity and the principles of a sinless life is known as â€Å"The Declaration of Innocence. Here during the Declarations of Independence, â€Å"N† (the deceased one) must claim his innocence. Much of this declaration was based on causing human suffrage and about taking care of everything that surrounds them. Many of these ethical laws pertain to the work social and personal goals according to Truth. It was important for â€Å"N† to declare innocence because nothing evil shall happen to go against â€Å"N† because â€Å"N† has proven innocence. After the declaration of innocence it was vital for â€Å"N† to know the name of the Gods. It was important for the deceased to know these names because the Gods lived on Truth. Hail to you, O you who are in the Hall of Justice who have no lies in your bodies, who live on truth and gulp down truth in the presence of Horus who is in his disc. † Since the Gods lived on Truth it was up to the Gods to save and protect the soul of the deceased. That was the start of the introductory hymns to the Gods, which took up the first few chapters. One in particular is the Re, the Sun God. The ancient Egyptians considered Re as the creator of people. That is conceivably why Re is the first God mentioned in the Book of the Dead. Another God in the first few chapters is Osiris. Osiris is the god of death and re-birth, underworld and earth. Primarily in the first few chapters are hymns and praises to Gods. The beginning of the book is a transition to what I feel is the most important part, the afterlife rituals. Starting at chapter†s twenty-one and twenty-two, the giving to obtain an afterlife begins. One that stuck out to me was chapter two. This chapter is for out into the day and living after. â€Å"O you Sole One who shine in the moon, O you Sole One who glow in the sun, may Ani go forth from among those multitudes of yours who are outside, may those who in the sunshine release him†¦ This section from the chapter means that the Sole One, you; is being freed into the daylight. An additional chapter that was very interesting was chapter seventy-four. This chapter talked about being swift-footed when going out from the earth. Part of the chapter reads, â€Å"I shine in the sky, I ascend to the sky. † This means to me that your passage to afterlife should be buoyant and easy. Many of the chapters were alike to one another in the middle of the book; however, each had a very distinct difference from one another. The book it seems to refer to how to obtain an afterlife. That starts out with the process of giving a mouth, magic, heart, or etc†¦ for Ani begins. One part of the body that is given is the mouth. The mouth would be open by Ptah, who was the human god the creator of Memphis would open the mouth. This part was fairly important in the book because â€Å"N† would be able to speak in the presence of the Gods. By this it also protects â€Å"N†. â€Å"As for any magic spell of any words which may be uttered against me, the gods will rise up against it, even the entire Ennead. † Another section of the book that was fascination was the chapters about transformation. These began and lasted from chapters seventy to eighty. One of the main chapters in the section was the transformation from human to a divine falcon. In the chapter it indeed depicts the actual transformation from the entry to the passage out. In this chapter there was also a real dialogue between character, which I found to be odd considering it was only the second dialogue was used besides the beginning of the book. The falcon must be one of the most important creatures in ancient Egypt because of its mention if the Book of the Dead and it†s use in the Egyptian writing, hieroglyphics. Another transformation is from human to crocodile. That is very interesting because there is also a transformation into a swallow. The connection between both is somewhat odd because a crocodile is supposed to evil and a swallow is a symbol of innocence. Those transformations are quite the opposite. The chapters were very interesting on the transformations because it was uncanny to see what the Egyptians thought of some of the animals and birds. My favorite chapter of the whole book was the Hall of the Two Truths. The Hall of Two Truths is where a person†s would and actions from their life get weighed. If the balance is even between good and evil, the soul is sent to an afterlife. If the evil side over weighs the good side, then the person is sent to a bad place. The person must actually ask, â€Å"Do you know the names of the upper and lower portions of the doors? † This I think means have you weighed my good and evil. Then the person says, â€Å"Lord of Truth, Master of his Two Legs† is the name of the upper portion; ‘Lord of Strength, the One who commands the Cattle is the name of the Lower. â€Å"† These I think means did my good outweigh my evil. This chapter was the most interesting to me because it really described what happens at the hall of the Two Truths. The lives of the ancient Egyptians were based upon religious gods and texts. The Egyptian Book of the Dead was perhaps the most important written record of the importance. It was essentially a book of praises and hymns to the Egyptian Gods. This book was one of the many ways to enter a complete afterlife. The Egyptian society heavily believed and based their lives on the Book of the Dead is on it phrases and hymns to the ancient Egyptian Gods and afterlife passage. The rest of the book just ends with what it started out with, which were eulogistic praises to the Gods. Reading the Book of the Dead made me think more about how religious the Egyptians truly were. I think the Book of the Dead was in fact the key of their whole culture. If they hadn†t believed so strongly in something their purpose of living might have ceased to exist because afterlife is what made them go on with their lives and essentially the Book of the Dead was the passage to their blissful afterlife. The Egyptians probably had one of the most influential civilizations in all of history and the Book of the Dead was one of the key elements that made Egyptians have such a strong era.

The Randle Report essays

The Randle Report essays The Randle Report, by Kevin D. Randle explores UFO research in the1990's. In reading his book I have gained much knowledge of how to determine whether information submitted as proof of extraterrestrial existence is valid or bogus, and the truth (from a scientificstandpoint) about several famous unidentified phenomenoms. Much information is submitted to substantiate extraterrestrial existence. This information comes in many forms but the most common are: video, photography, and sworn testimony. Once this information is introduced UFO researchers have to test the authenticity of the information. In 1995 aman named Ray Santilli claimed to have authentic footage of the allegedRoswell alien autopsy. Although it was very interesting, it was most definitly a hoax. This conclusion came after the data from many tests (performed by unbiased scientists and experts in their respected fields) showed that many things in the film and the actual film did not correlateas they should have. In the film there were instruments that hadnt been invented yet and the film was unlike any from that time period. We as humans have always had a facination with visual displays. In 1987 Ed Walters produced several polaroid photographs, several of which were published in several national newspapers and magazines. Once again these photographs were very appealing to the American public but were proved to be not generic either. Mr. Walters was not only unable to recreate his photographs but after he moved from the residence where he claimed to have taken the photographs at the next tennant to reside in that home found a model of a flying saucer that seems to be the same one that appeared ...

Porters Five Forces Explained

Porters Five Forces Explained To describe a competitive environment in a business sphere specialists use Porters five forces analysis. Read what it is, its advantages and disadvantages. Porter’s Five Forces is a fundamental framework that describes the competitive environment. Which competitive environment? Actually, all of them. The basic simplicity of the Five Forces Analysis is what makes it so useful, and why it has become a staple of business and management studies over the past 30 years. If done properly, the Five Forces Analysis can accurately describe any competitive environment at any level. This article about Management/Economics was written by one of our expert writers. If you are looking for an article on Management, Marketing or Economics, is your best bet. Order now and our professionals will write the article you need in accordance with all your requirements. You may like:  Currency Exchange Rate Management and Speculation  |  Management Essay Writing What Are the Five Forces? The visual representation of the Five Forces is most likely familiar to most management students.The degree of competition in a particular market or industry is determined by four primary forces, which are described in relative terms such as strong or weak, or low-medium-high. One thing that may be misleading about the Five Forces framework is that in its familiar form as shown here, it gives the impression that the four forces that affect the intensity of competition act separately when in fact they are all interconnected in sometimes complex ways. In fact, the intensity of competition itself has an effect on the strength of the four forces that define it, which is why the analysis is called the Five Forces. Defining the Five Forces The easiest way to understand what each of the Five Forces is describing is to think of them in the simple context of what would make each of them â€Å"strong† or â€Å"weak†: Factors Contributing to Strength Factors Contributing to Weakness Power of Buyers Fewer buyers Few buyers who purchase a large part of the firm’s output Buyers can easily switch to different product Many buyers Buyers do not have great influence on product or price Buyers cannot easily switch to different product Power of Suppliers Fewer suppliers High cost to change suppliers Strength of buyers can increase power of suppliers over distributors Product is very common or standardized Low cost to change suppliers Weak buyers can decrease power of suppliers over distributors Threat of Substitutions Product is a commodity Weak brand loyalty Few suppliers Product is unique or specialized Strong brand loyalty Many suppliers Threat of New Entrants Common technology Weak brand strength Distribution channels are easily accessible Difficult or proprietary technology required Strong existing brand identification High scale needed Intensity of Competition High costs to exit the industry or market High fixed costs Strong brands Low exit costs Low capital investment or fixed costs Weak brands   These factors are simple examples and are certainly not the only ones that play a role, but should illustrate, at least, how the strengths and weaknesses can affect one another. Application of the Five Forces Analysis The Five Forces analysis is most often used as a tool for external, i.e., third-party analysis of a competitive environment, which is not surprising as it was developed from a thoroughly academic perspective – Michael Porter first devised the Five Forces analysis during his work at the Harvard Business School in the early 1980’s, and despite his characterizing it as a â€Å"strategic management tool†, the methodology has never quite shaken off its textbook charm. In actual practice, the Five Forces analysis is too basic for use as a strategic planning aid for established companies; to put it rather indelicately, if a company is lacking the information a Five Forces analysis provides about its current industry or market, the company probably has more problems than can be solved by the analysis. The Five Forces analysis is, however, a very good assessment to conduct when considering entry into a new market, and is usually included in properly-written business cases . Shortcomings of the Five Forces Analysis The most important thing missing from the Five Forces analysis is any sort of internal perspective, which other assessment tools such as the SWOT analysis do take into consideration. That is not necessarily an oversight – Professor Porter’s focus was on the competitive environment, and from that perspective the Five Forces analysis is set in the proper context – but one criticism that has sometimes been raised in the years since it was first developed is that the Five Forces analysis provides only vague and weak links between the external and internal environments. That can be a problem because the internal environment and activities of the firm do have an impact on competitive forces; without the use of a complementary analysis tool, the Five Forces analysis by itself does not identify or assess what that impact may be. Another potential difficulty in making productive use of the Five Forces analysis is that its conclusions are qualitative; the strength of the various forces can only be described in a relative way, and are subject to interpretation. For example, a relationship between an auto manufacturer and a tire maker that supplies the tires for all the automaker’s new cars could be described in a couple different ways in a Five Forces analysis: The power of the buyer (the automaker) could be described as high because it purchases a large part of the tire manufacturer’s output. The power of the supplier (the tire maker) could alternatively be described as high, depending on how specialized their tire is. The power of both the supplier and buyer could be affected one way or the other by the brand loyalty of consumers to the tire brand or the auto marque. For the student researcher or market analyst, then, the challenge is to fully investigate the underlying conditions that make a particular force â€Å"strong† or â€Å"weak†, and justify a conclusion that does not contradict a conclusion about one or more of the other forces. On the other hand, when one of these contradictions cannot be resolved even after a thorough investigation and analysis, it reveals a critical issue for the firm or market in question, and this can be an opportunity – for the academic researcher, it is likely that the problem will be a solid new area for study, and for businesses, it is likely a problem whose solution will give them a strong competitive advantage. If you need to analyze a scientific work in greater detail contact our writing department to avoid confusion and save your time. If you need an essay or research on the similar topics place an order.

Essay Sample on How to Buy a Car in University

Essay Sample on How to Buy a Car in University On becoming a student, each one gets a sense of freedom and adolescence. This kind of feeling is rather tempting, as young people realize they are grown up enough to take serious steps and nothing can stop them. Exactly at this period of time students buy their first cars – and that seems to be exciting and unforgettable! However, there are some useful tips and its better to know about them to make this investment successful. See them below: The moment you make up your mind to buy a car – its a good idea to talk it over with your family and other close people – they might support your decision and give you practical recommendations about where and what model of car to buy, etc. Making your choice in favor of a business class car or a sports car will restrict your search in the needed direction. Surfing the Internet and analyzing the feedback of other customers can confirm or disapprove the ideas you have already. Its worth keeping in mind that cars need constant investment – buying a car is just a starting point. The thing is the moment you start using it, the car may need additional investment for its repair and improving the way it functions. Thus, the price you pay when buying a car is not the final sum to spend. The next important thing is the insurance you are to buy. In case youre lacking the necessary sum to buy the insurance policy, look for an insurance company that will be able to offer you a discount or even a driving credit especially designed for students. Keep in mind that your grades may influence the decision of the company manager (Harrison, 2011)! Do not exceed the limit of the sum of money you have planned to spend for this purchase. Try to resist the temptation to get all the modern updating to the car you choose (Harrison, 2011). Later you surely will be able to buy a better designed model, equipped with all the latest functions and being perfectly tuned. So everything comes with time, and theres no need to increase the number of possible debts. Just get exactly the same car your mature distant relative has! When buying a car, make sure you feel comfortable with the salesperson. Dealing with a person you feel at ease with may influence making the right choice. In case you feel the slightest tension when communicating with the person selling you a car, ask to speak to another representative of the sales department or the manager. In terms of making important decisions, you must not undergo any kind of pressure and be forced to buy the thing you dont want to buy. Besides, a good salesperson is likely to give you practical advice on what model of car is better to buy (Harrison, 2011). Apart from it, mutual understanding with the sales person can encourage you to negotiate and reduce the price for the car of your dreams! Feel free to ask for a discount – you risk nothing, but may benefit a lot! Study the contract carefully before signing it – it is a necessary part of your business deal. Having the smallest detail that seems unclear to you, pepper the manager with questions. Its better to ask a couple of extra questions to be on the safe side than to regret afterwards. Mind the advantage of using gas guzzling when driving long distances –using gas instead of petrol can save you a real fortune! And finally, on having bought the car, mind your personal safety and take care while driving (Embly, 2010)! Buying a car is a truly unforgettable moment in life, make it even brighter by taking care and providing full preparation for your purchase! Feel free to buy an essay online  on any topic and discipline you need at our website. Our custom writing service is always online to help you!

Faculty empowerment and the changing university environment Research Paper - 1

Faculty empowerment and the changing university environment - Research Paper Example As per traditional system of teaching, the duty of the teacher confined to the teaching process alone. However, the responsibilities of the current teachers are much more than teaching alone. Current teachers are perceived as leaders rather than mere teachers. Current teachers guide the students towards the target by adopting different strategies. Since the students have different abilities, it is difficult for the teachers to use a standardized way of teaching. The teacher should change his/her strategies based on the requirement of each students. In other words, current teaching strategies are student centered rather than teacher centered. Most of the teachers are unaware of these changes happening in the academic world and empowerment is the only way to educate teachers about their changing roles in the schools and colleges. â€Å"Educational leaders must evolve to meet the needs of both students and faculty because, faculty members struggle with changing curricula, non-tradition al learning environments and new technology. They need their leaders to assist them with the transitions† (Arenas et al, 2009). Science and technology have developed a lot over the last few decades and the effects of these developments can be witnessed everywhere. Educational sector is one area which undergone drastic changes as a result of the advancements in science and technology.

Management accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Management accounting - Essay Example al Overhead Cost 9,600,000 No. Units 2,000 Overhead Rate per unit 4,800 Roadster    DLH Assigned 220,000 Overhead Rate 48 Total Overhead Cost 10,560,000 No. Units 1,600 Overhead Rate per unit 6,600 Fireball    DLH Assigned 80,000 Overhead Rate 48 Total Overhead Cost 3,840,000 No. ... 0 1,350 Overhead Cost per unit       9,036,000 4,518 Fireball (400 units) Activities Activity Rate Activity Level Total Overhead Overhead per unit       Number of deliveries to retailers 19,200 70 1,344,000 672 Number of set-ups 120,000 25 3,000,000 1,500 Number of purchase orders 9,000 100 900,000 450 Overhead Cost per unit       5,244,000 2,622    Sunshine Roadster Fireball Selling Price 8,000 12,000 16,000 Direct Material 800 1,200 1,800 Direct Labor 1,000 1,375 2,000 Overhead 4,860 4,518 2,622 Total Variable Cost 6,660 7,093 6,422 Contribution Margin 1,340 4,907 9,578 b) In not more than 1,500 words write a report to the directors of Sober plc, as its management accountant. The report should: (i) Evaluate the labor hours and the activity based costing methods in the circumstances of Sober plc. Volume Based Costing Under the existing circumstances of Sober plc, direct labor hours is used as a basis for volume based costing throughout all the three ranges of the bikes . Overheads are allocated to each product on the basis of direct labor hours such that overhead rate is computed to be ?48 per hour. That rate is then multiplied by the number of hours taken by each product to obtain the total overhead cost pertaining to each product. Each product’s overhead cost in then divided by the number of units of the corresponding product to obtain overhead rate per unit. In this way, Fireball has the maximum overhead rate of ?9,600 whereas the overhead rates for roadster and sunshine remained at ?6,600 and ?4,800 respectively. It is important to note that the biggest reason behind the relatively overhead rate per unit of Fireball is the less number of units produced. Its total overhead cost is however the lowest among all the three products. (Lal, 2009) If the Contribution

Gemini Telescope And The Supernova Legacy Survey Essay

Gemini Telescope And The Supernova Legacy Survey - Essay Example The Gemini telescope has been used by the partner countries as a tool of astronomical research. It provides world-class observing equipment of the skies for the astronomers. Each country in the partnership is awarded observational time depending on the scientific merit and contribution towards the operation of the machine. The telescopes incorporate advanced technology in order to produce high quality of images. This includes the use of adaptive optics, laser guide stars, multi-object spectroscopy, and multi-conjugate adaptive optics. In addition, the telescope is made using a silver coating that is essential for the protection of the primary and secondary mirror. The location of the telescopes provides superb viewing conditions of the sky. The telescope system has low emissivity coatings and an effective mirror cleaning program. These enable the machine to pick clear images. Each Gemini telescope has an adaptive optics setup further adding to the quality of images that the center captures. The telescopes can perform long-slit spectroscopy, multi-object spectroscopy, integral field spectroscopy and imaging at optical wavelengths. Infrared optimization and silver coating allow clear observations at the middle of the infrared spectrum. Proximity to infrared spectrograph boosts the sensitivity for point object and sources. The instrument is also known as a Multi-Conjugate optics adaptive system. It employs five guide stars to provide clarity over a large area captured. The guide stars are artificially made by laser (Simons 123). A fundamental discovery that has been made by the Gemini Observatory telescope is a multi-planet system around a star. Images from the Gemini observatory helped the international team to discover two of the planets in the year 2007 (Howell 1191).

Intellectual Property Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Intellectual Property Law - Essay Example He is just as responsible as the Ph.D. student for having come up with a cure for the common cold. However, there are some things that Trevor might want to consider before applying his name to the patent. Coming from a relatively unknown Ph.D. student, this â€Å"cure for the common cold† could have major consequences (good and/or bad). The good consequences that could happen is that the cure for the common cold could be a huge success and garner both Trevor and the Ph.D. student international acclaim—since this would be such a huge discovery. On the other hand, there have been no clinical trials on the medication/drug. If something were to go wrong with the drug being used by actual people, Trevor could also be liable for damages claimed against him if he were to be named in a lawsuit which could prove the drug was faulty. Thus, whether Trevor puts his name on the drug discovery patent or not may have a lot to do with liability, as shall be seen in the future. In the s ubsequent follow-up question, we will speak more about this thread or line of thought as well. Trevor has to think in terms of dollar signs as well—or, in his case, Euros. This is because trial medications can actually cost a lot of money to get approval for to get them to take off in terms of popularity. Also, a lot of doctors need to proffer the medication before the drug starts to gain popularity. In addition, Trevor should think about all these aspects before he assigns his name to anything. With so many things that could possibly go wrong, it doesn’t make sense for Trevor to wildly assign his name to a product that he’s not completely sure about in terms of safety. The other unknown element that might be difficult to ascertain is what Trevor’s legal recourse would be in... In the same manner, torts could come into play were people to complain about this new medication slash prescription drug. The Consumer Protection Act basically guarantees that any product that a consumer consumes will be safe for them to consume. Trevor and this Ph.D. student have no idea what they are doing in terms of reassuring that they have adequate protection against the retributions that they could face, if, indeed it is the case that the medication is faulty. Thusly, the copyright alone will not protect Trevor and the Ph.D. student in case the drug does turn out to be faulty. It is simply a matter of judging what should be done in this case. Copyright law aims to protect those who have patented the item—but on the other hand, someone must be at fault if the drug turns out to be faulty. The government should not assume that weighty responsibility unless it wants to take the risk of having class action lawsuits filed against it in the case that the drug either: a) does n ot indeed work; or b) is faulty in some way, shape, or form. The Consumer Protection Act was basically put in place to protect the consumer. Basically, even though the people who made the product (Trevor and the Ph.D. student) have a copyright on the patent, that does not excuse the pair from being either negligent or having neglected a duty of care. Trevor and the Ph.D. student (and possibly, the person that signed off on the patent) could be in trouble if the drug were presumed to be faulty. Trevor and the student conducted no tests—other than a single trial, with no controls—in order to legitimize the drug’s supposed positive effects. So, in effect, having a copyright on a product does not prevent the public from suing against the maker of the product, in essence.

Week 2 705 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 2 705 - Assignment Example 138). EBP bundles link to quality patient outcomes through identifying best practices that can be used for efficient and effective interventions that improve health outcomes. The ventilator care bundle, for example, reduces mortality rates in intensive care units. It has also been associated with reducing incidence of ventilator-acquired pneumonia and number of days that a patient takes in an ICU. I would use them in my institution by setting them as guidelines because they guide care personnel into best practices for improved outcomes (Gottwald and Lansdown, 2014). Translational research is a type of research that aims at using evidence-based results for further human research or for improving intervention measures. The research approach focuses on user of research findings, communication of the findings, and transformation of organization for effective implementation of empirical results (Jennings, 2004) for improved delivery of care (Chelsea, 2008). Translational research is, therefore, similar to EBP because of their research scope of knowledge development that can be used for improving care practices. Translational research, however, focuses on use of developed knowledge while focus of EBP is limited to knowledge

Company stock profile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Company stock profile - Essay Example The success on foretelling harmful geological disasters aids in determining future contracts and payments. The second division includes the Division of Resources, which aids in the exploration and extraction of mineral, water and rock for profit. GEO updated its monetary report for the whole year of 2014 and issued a guidance report for investors towards the second quarter of the year. The organization expects its net income to rise from $1.78 to $1.86 per share. Secondly, it also anticipates the annual revenue to range between $i.60 billion and $ 1.62 billion. The enterprise also increased its Net Operation Income to an array of $452 million to $458 million. For the second part of the 2014 financial year, the total amount of diluted shares aims at increasing at a range of $55 million to $57 million. Additionally, the expected revenue for the second quarter of the year is bound to range between $404 and $409 million. The organization’s expenses are low contrast to the revenues making it gain profits rather than lose (The Geo Group 3). For the GeoHazard division, the department secured a number of insurance contracts in order to develop electronic monitoring devices that aid in the prediction of geological catastrophes. The step improved the company’s detection and mitigation skills allowing it to manage its future risks hence aiding in securing future contracts and payments. Furthermore, its ability to predict future occurrences enables it to facilitate its operation services. The Geo Energy Resource Division reports a return to profitability with a net profit of $0.1 million compared to a previous loss of $0.9 million experienced in 2013. The gross profit margin shows a gradual improvement compared to the year 2013 with an raise of $7.2 million, and the company expects an increase towards the second quarter of the year. Generally the profitability and performance levels of the

Intellectual Property Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Intellectual Property Law - Essay Example He is just as responsible as the Ph.D. student for having come up with a cure for the common cold. However, there are some things that Trevor might want to consider before applying his name to the patent. Coming from a relatively unknown Ph.D. student, this â€Å"cure for the common cold† could have major consequences (good and/or bad). The good consequences that could happen is that the cure for the common cold could be a huge success and garner both Trevor and the Ph.D. student international acclaim—since this would be such a huge discovery. On the other hand, there have been no clinical trials on the medication/drug. If something were to go wrong with the drug being used by actual people, Trevor could also be liable for damages claimed against him if he were to be named in a lawsuit which could prove the drug was faulty. Thus, whether Trevor puts his name on the drug discovery patent or not may have a lot to do with liability, as shall be seen in the future. In the s ubsequent follow-up question, we will speak more about this thread or line of thought as well. Trevor has to think in terms of dollar signs as well—or, in his case, Euros. This is because trial medications can actually cost a lot of money to get approval for to get them to take off in terms of popularity. Also, a lot of doctors need to proffer the medication before the drug starts to gain popularity. In addition, Trevor should think about all these aspects before he assigns his name to anything. With so many things that could possibly go wrong, it doesn’t make sense for Trevor to wildly assign his name to a product that he’s not completely sure about in terms of safety. The other unknown element that might be difficult to ascertain is what Trevor’s legal recourse would be in... In the same manner, torts could come into play were people to complain about this new medication slash prescription drug. The Consumer Protection Act basically guarantees that any product that a consumer consumes will be safe for them to consume. Trevor and this Ph.D. student have no idea what they are doing in terms of reassuring that they have adequate protection against the retributions that they could face, if, indeed it is the case that the medication is faulty. Thusly, the copyright alone will not protect Trevor and the Ph.D. student in case the drug does turn out to be faulty. It is simply a matter of judging what should be done in this case. Copyright law aims to protect those who have patented the item—but on the other hand, someone must be at fault if the drug turns out to be faulty. The government should not assume that weighty responsibility unless it wants to take the risk of having class action lawsuits filed against it in the case that the drug either: a) does n ot indeed work; or b) is faulty in some way, shape, or form. The Consumer Protection Act was basically put in place to protect the consumer. Basically, even though the people who made the product (Trevor and the Ph.D. student) have a copyright on the patent, that does not excuse the pair from being either negligent or having neglected a duty of care. Trevor and the Ph.D. student (and possibly, the person that signed off on the patent) could be in trouble if the drug were presumed to be faulty. Trevor and the student conducted no tests—other than a single trial, with no controls—in order to legitimize the drug’s supposed positive effects. So, in effect, having a copyright on a product does not prevent the public from suing against the maker of the product, in essence.

Company stock profile Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Company stock profile - Essay Example The success on foretelling harmful geological disasters aids in determining future contracts and payments. The second division includes the Division of Resources, which aids in the exploration and extraction of mineral, water and rock for profit. GEO updated its monetary report for the whole year of 2014 and issued a guidance report for investors towards the second quarter of the year. The organization expects its net income to rise from $1.78 to $1.86 per share. Secondly, it also anticipates the annual revenue to range between $i.60 billion and $ 1.62 billion. The enterprise also increased its Net Operation Income to an array of $452 million to $458 million. For the second part of the 2014 financial year, the total amount of diluted shares aims at increasing at a range of $55 million to $57 million. Additionally, the expected revenue for the second quarter of the year is bound to range between $404 and $409 million. The organization’s expenses are low contrast to the revenues making it gain profits rather than lose (The Geo Group 3). For the GeoHazard division, the department secured a number of insurance contracts in order to develop electronic monitoring devices that aid in the prediction of geological catastrophes. The step improved the company’s detection and mitigation skills allowing it to manage its future risks hence aiding in securing future contracts and payments. Furthermore, its ability to predict future occurrences enables it to facilitate its operation services. The Geo Energy Resource Division reports a return to profitability with a net profit of $0.1 million compared to a previous loss of $0.9 million experienced in 2013. The gross profit margin shows a gradual improvement compared to the year 2013 with an raise of $7.2 million, and the company expects an increase towards the second quarter of the year. Generally the profitability and performance levels of the

The whale pedigree Essay Example for Free

The whale pedigree Essay Its evident that the evolution to the present day whale has been a long one. A lot of changes have taken place from the postulated land dwelling animal to a fully marine organism. It is a step wise process that first started with a partially marine organism and then to a fully marine organism. The fully marine organism under went both physical and physiological changes to evolve to the present day whales. These changes included alteration of limbs to flippers, fusion of some of the skull bones and modification of the olfactory organs. These organs have since developed more advanced functions with the increased demand for more metabolic rates. The theories explaining the linage of whales are very important and to some extent have shown significant similarities among the species thought to be related to whales. The ancestors of whale underwent lot of modification for example ability to hear under water, reduction of the limbs, and change of nostrils towards the posterior and greater chances to move under water. Archaeocete Gray Roqual Sperm Pigmy right Right(whales) Beaked White Dolphins Porpoises Gange river River (Dolphins) Extinct whale ancestors Sinonyx The fossil study of sinonyx shows that it lived about 50 million years ago and fed on other animals (carnivorous). Sinonyx was about five feet long with a small brain, drawn out head, short legs and a large skull. It was found along sea shores and was thought to be related to whales and dolphins because of their long muzzle which almost resembled that of present day dolphins. The long muzzle was associated with fish hunting. It is suggested that with time these features evolved to the present day whale specialized organ. However, later phylogenetic tests showed that sinonyx is not closely related to cetaceans. It had 44 teeth consisting of molars with many cusps and thin tearing teeth. Sinonyx lived along sea shores, smaller body, and long muzzle compared to the present day whales which live in the ocean, are very large and very huge. They had large sagittal crest with a large mass of muscles for strong grip of their prey. The present day whales either have teeth or not. Those without teeth have a baleen having on their upper jaw mostly adapted for feeding Archaeocete (ancient whales) This stage is thought to be between sinonyx and whales. Its remnants were first excavated in Pakistan and are thought to have been living around 52 million years ago. They had better developed limbs which allowed them to live in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. As time passed they are thought to have started spending more time in the ocean and giving birth on land. It was similar to sinonyx apart from its evolved premolars which were more triangular with a single serrated cusp and two rooted molars. With time they spread to many oceans and seas of the world. The Archaeocete lived in water but were not able to acquire deep dives like the present day whales. They later evolved to zygorhiza which was the first fully aquatic Archaeocete. Ambulocetus (the walking whale) It was similar to the present day crocodile with its limbs adapted for swimming more than walking which were flippered. They swimmed predominantly and the fossils show that they lived about 49 million years ago and survived on both salty and fresh waters. It had teeth similar to those of Archaeocete and an elongated muzzle. Though it lacked a blow nose it was able to swim well under water. The limbs of ambulocetus were changing allowing them to be more adapted for swimming and less adapted for walking. Their cervical vertebrae of the ambulocetus were relatively long than those of the present day whales. Ambulocetes did not have ears and received information by use of vibrations on both land and sea. They usually lay on the ground to detect the vibrations of their prey. The muzzle of this organism has changed very much in comparison to the present whale in which there is formation of baleen plate. The throat of a whale grooves and expands to hold a lot of water that contain krill which is fed on by the whale. The baleen plate pushes the water out of the mouth remaining with only the food. Baleen therefore acts as a sieve separating the krill from the water. Basilosaurus (king lizard) It is estimated to have lived between 34 and 40 million years ago with a length of around 60 feet. It looked like a whale snake and budged horizontally or vertically. They had small hind limbs that were not able to effectively propel basilosaurus when moving. It had a single large nostril that was used for breathing effectively especially when in water. With time these organisms were unable to move on terrestrial environment. There is difference of the position of the nostril in which the present whale nostril is more to the posterior position for blowing off air when breathing at the water surface. These changes have made the present day whale to be more adapted especially in breathing while in aquatic environment. Pakicetids These organisms lived at around 53 million years ago and looked like dogs or wolves with hoofed feet. Their skull and teeth resembled the of the present day whales. The saggital crest was high and narrow with the lambdoidal crest being predominant. Pakicetids resemble the mesonychid hunting both on land and along the shores. They had small ears that were adapted for hearing and are later adapted for hearing under water in the present day whales. The middle ear of pakicetids was not well developed thus unable to maintain its pressure that limited this organism to dive in deep waters like the present day whales. The preset whale is more adapted to survive in water for instance it is able to dive deeply and swim swiftly since the limbs have been adapted to the aquatic environment. The ears of the ancestor whales have gradually disappeared. The ears are adapted for hearing in the deep seas by receiving vibration signals from other whales like during courtship or tracking their prey.

Key Distinctions Between Positivism And Phenomenology

Key Distinctions Between Positivism And Phenomenology The purpose of research is simple according to Francis Dane (1990: 212) in that it is a means by which we seek to acquire knowledge and understanding by answering questions about the world. Knowledge is a very important concept which is closely related to the concept of epistemology; defined as the study or theory of the origin, nature and limits of knowledge (May, 2001). The theory of Positivism is an epistemological position that concerns the application of the methods of the natural sciences to the study of social reality and beyond (Bryman, 2004). Smith (1998) states that Positivist approaches to the social sciences . . . assume things can be studied as hard facts and the relationship between these facts can be established as scientific laws. For positivists, such laws have the status of truth and social objects can be studied in much the same way as natural objects. The general elements of positivism, adapted from Bond (1989), Easterby-Smith et al (1997), and Hughes (1994) are concerned with methodology, value-freedom, causality, operationalisation, independence and reductionism (cit May, 2001). Basically, all research should be quantitative as it is only such data that can be the basis for valid generalizations and laws. In order for facts to be measured quantitatively, concepts must be operationalised accordingly. The choice of what to study, a nd how to study it, should be determined by objective criteria rather than by human beliefs and interests. Positivism also addresses that the aim of research should be to identify causal explanations and fundamental laws that explain human behavior. Positivists also believe that the role of the researcher should be independent of the subject under examination and also, if problems are reduced to their simplest possible elements then they will be better understood (Bryman, 2004). Positivists therefore most commonly use close ended questionnaires and structured interviews when conducting research as they best suit the requirements embraced within this theory of knowledge. The theory of phenomenology can be used in contrast to Positivism as it concerns the question of how individuals make sense of the world around them. Alfred Schutz (1962) states The world of nature as explored by the natural scientist does not mean anything to molecules, atoms and electrons. But the observational field of the social scientist social reality- has a specific meaning and relevance structure for the beings living, acting, and thinking within it. By a series of common sense constructs they have pre selected and pre interpreted this world which they experience as the reality of the lives. It is these thought objects of theirs which determine their behavior by motivating it. The thought objects constructed by the social scientist, in order to grasp this social reality, have to be founded upon the thought objects constructed by the common sense thinking of men, living their daily life within the social world. (cit Bryman, 2004) This firstly illustrates that there is a fundamental difference between the matter of natural science and social science. It asserts that human action is meaningful and it is thus the job of the social scientist to gain access to peoples thinking and actions to interpret them from the persons point of view. Phenomenology places great importance on Webers concept of verstehen and thus has an empathetic approach towards the research sample (May, 2001). Phenemenologists focus on meaning and understanding and therefore do not generate or test hypotheses (deductivism) as positivists do; nor do they focus on collecting facts that provide laws. An example of a phenomenological study is that carried out by Foster (1995) who used participant observation and semi structured interviews in the Riverside area of London. Official statistics, of which positivists approve, illustrated extremely high levels of crime. Foster however, as a phenomenologist wanted to measure the human attitudes to crime in the area. Her findings can be contrasted to the areas statistics as she found that residents did not perceive the estate to be of a high level crime, nor did they feel insecure or unsafe (Bryman, 2004). Question Two With use of examples distinguish between qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Distinguish between nominal, ordinal and continuous quantitative data and discuss briefly how these might all be used in a research project. Qualitative data emphasizes words rather than quantification in the collection and analysis of data. Qualitative data is mainly carried out by phenomenologists and used for inductive reasoning (Bryman, 2004). It involves collecting written or verbal information of the variables that the researcher is interested in. This data is more descriptive than numbers and can be obtained through questionnaires, focus groups, interviews and discussions (Fulcher and Scott, 2003). As it emphasizes the ways in which individuals interpret their social world, it is rejected by most positivists. Although qualitative research is typically associated with generating theories it can however be employed for testing theories as Adler and Adlers study (1985) on the exploration of educational attainment and sports participation illustrates this (Bryman, 2004). Qualitative data can often be hard to analyze as it involves studying often lengthy and complex documents but overall, it has a deeper richness and me aning than empirical data. In contrast to qualitative data is that of quantitative data. This data describes something in numbers and thus emphasizes quantification in the collection and analysis of data (Bryman, 2004). This numerical data is carried out mainly by positivists and thus embodies the view that social reality is an objective reality. Quantitative data enables information to be easily tested and analyzed in order to provide statistics and facts such as official statistics. Questionnaires and telephone surveys consisting of structured and closed ended questions are ways in which this data is carried out. Although quantitative data enables generalizations to be made and trends to be found, it does however lose the value of meaning as it consists merely of numbers rather than description and explanations. Data can either be nominal, ordinal or continuous. Nominal data consists of a variable with no implicit order such as race, sex or religion. This data therefore can be counted but cannot be ordered or measured (May, 2001). Nominal data can be used in a research project by for example, coding males as zero, females as one or coding the marital status of an individual as Y if they are married or N if they are single. This must however be planned and carried out carefully as confusion and lack of clarity when analyzing the data can occur. Ordinal data however is different to nominal data in that it may counted and ordered but it cannot be measured. Ordinal values can therefore be ranked as they have a natural order; age or level of satisfaction are examples of ordinal variables (Bryman, 2004). For example, if a group of people were asked to taste varieties of biscuit and classify each biscuit on a rating scale of one to five, representing strongly dislike, dislike, neutral and so on, a rating of five indicates more enjoyment than a rating of four, illustrating that such data is ordinal. Continuous data however concerns variables that can take any possible value. This data can be counted, ordered or measured continuous and may include, for example height, weight or temperature. Question Three Discuss the importance of reliability and validity in the operationalisation of concepts in research. Compare a focus group, an individual semi structured interview and survey in terms of the ease with which reliability and validity may be assured. Reliability refers to the extent to which a measurement instrument yields consistent, stable and uniform results over repeated observations or measurements under the same conditions each time (Fulcher, 2003). Validity however refers to the accuracy and truth of the data and findings that are produced. It refers to the concepts that are being investigated, the people or objects that are being studied, the methods by which data are collected and the findings that are produced (May, 2001). A study is valid if and only if it tests what it sets out to test. There are several different types of validity which are face validity, content validity, criterion-related validity, construct validity, internal validity and external validity (Bryman, 2004). Data can be reliable without being valid. Those that support qualitative methods argue that quantitative methods lack validity but are often reliable. Qualitative methods are criticized for being unreliable and unsystematic as there is no way of replicating the study and checking the reliability of the findings. Thus positivists whose concepts need to be operationalised in a way that enables facts to be measured quantitatively, place great importance on the reliability of data as it enables them monitor trends over time and to use them as a future secondary data source. Surveys such as questionnaires are considered as being reliable as there is a much lower risk of subjectivity or bias when compared to, for example, interviews or a focus group. Surveys, whether they consist of closed ended questions or matrix questions, often lack in validity however as the researcher might not have measured exactly what was intended to be measured. For example, if a researcher posted out questionnaires on the perception of crime, applicants might not be able to answer to answer questions fully only by ticking certain boxes. On the other hand however, a semi structured interview would be more valid than a survey as it specifically aims to allow the respondent to voice their opinion and have an equal input into the conversation. Personal interviewing is also better suited for difficult or sensitive issues rather than for example a focus group as an interview is more intimate and provides the respondent with the opportunity to open up. A semi structured interview howe ver can be unreliable as well as unrepresentative as if the interviewer approached another individual to participate in the same interview, their views may be completely different to that of the original interviewees. As there are a multiple people in a focus group, however, the data attained is often therefore more valid than in an interview. An advantage of a focus group is that challenges can be made to contrasting view points which cannot be done in an interview. The validity of a focus group can be challenged however if a number of people dominate the conversation as it does not provide everyone with an equal opportunity to speak. Focus groups are slightly more reliable than a semi structured interview but not as reliable as a survey. Therefore, for research to both reliable and valid many researchers employ more than one method of research such as carrying out surveys and conducting focus groups. This is known as triangulation (Fulcher, 2003). Question Four Select one of the three sets of research case studies presented at the end of the module guide. Critically assess the research presented. Your answer should make reference to validity and reliability of methods; it should detail any additional information you might require, why this may be required and what if any reservations you might have regarding the study. (Please refer to appendix One for the details of case 3) It is evident that case three entitled Do we need to educate people to question authority more carefully given evidence of inappropriate obedience is valid, as it quite simply tests what it was set out to test. The mere fact that ninety percent of subjects were prepared to apply shocks of up to 450 volts because they were asked to do so by a person of authority of which over half (twenty six out of forty) of them did just that confirms the cases validity. Internal validity is prominent in this case as the independent variable that is the distribution of electric shocks, has an effect on the dependent variable that is the subjects. The validity of the study is also increased as the sample is quite large since it consisted of forty subjects. Had it have been a smaller sample, there would have been a high chance that a completely different set of results could have been obtained. Given that the reported data was qualitative as the research method employed was that of observation and thu s that the likelihood of stable or uniform results being produced in a repetition of the experiment is low, it is clearly evident that the study lacks reliability. However, if for example the researcher had asked the subjects to complete a questionnaire after the experiment, then the data would have been classed as being reliable. There is one major ethical concern with this experiment as the subjects were informed that they were required to give electric shocks to other human beings. This is clearly inhumane treatment; therefore the researcher should have altered the experiment in order to avoid this. Another concern with this experiment is that there is no mention of a control group as we are only informed of the experimented group, that being the forty subjects. This is necessary to monitor the effectiveness of the variables in an experiment. Another concern is that although some of the subjects may have been sweating and were nervous this may have been due to the fact that they were being observed in an abnormal environment and not due to the effects of the carrying out of the experiment. Being in such an environment may therefore affect the validity and reliability of the data. Additional information on the comments made by subjects concerning the experiment would be beneficial as would more information o n actually educating people on questioning authority. Overall, the study was a success in that it sought sufficient data in relation to answering the proposal. The reliability of the experiment however was threatened because of factors such as the research method employed (observation). More information could have been disclosed in the data regarding the subjects reactions and comments. The experiment should also have not focused on the unethical issue of giving electric shocks.