Winshield Survey Summary And Relection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Winshield Survey Summary And Relection - Essay Example In this way, community partnerships arise in the form of the community members working together with the various health providers in their within for the easier facilitation of betterment of community health (Rohrer, 2010). Participating family’s community and environment (Riverside, Ca) is a superb initiative in the way it eases healthcare awareness and outreach to all community members in the region leading to a healthier community. It is an aspect I would recommend adoption of in every community. Cultural diversity and vulnerable populations within the communities mostly have a sense of alienation both by others and by themselves. Due to this health care providence and services are not as effective in reaching them as the other community members. This may lead to weaker communities thus advocating for outreach programs in their target. There are various aspects of the community that could affect resident health. These range from internal and external conflicts, adverse cultural beliefs and practices that demine conventional health care, cultural diversities leading to segregation of population groups, and population demographics such as overpopulation among others (Rohrer, 2010). This has effect in various ways such as inaccessibility to health facilities and straining on their workload capacities. There are various Healthy People 2020 LHI such as low mortality rates in the community (Rohrer, 2010). This is as a result of reduced health related deaths due to good health care standards. This will lead to a healthier and improved working population. This will enable for development to

Diagrams about business change Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Diagrams about business change - Research Paper Example In addition, appropriate technology should match the organization’s people and processes (Macmillan, 2007). Moreover, businesses can only achieve absolute benefits of technology if they consider application of technology as a source of business opportunities and not a source of expense for the business (Harigopal, 2006). Considering information technology as a solution allows businesses to explore the potentials of information technology. Currently Four Winds Hospital requires a business solution that will enable it combine and integrated business opportunities. When fully implemented, the system will enhance efficiency in the organization. This will be realized through improved ability to handle and process information. Currently the hospital faces difficulties involving processing of customers and operation information. When fully implemented, the company will increase its operations by more that 50%. This will result from enhanced ability to handle customers and increased o peration related data. UNIT 3 ASSIGNMENT (Responses Should Run 3-5 Pages in Length) Q#7 Assess one specific activity to be performed within the process change. From the assessment, identify the task being evaluated. Where would that activity be performed within the organization? Who would perform the task and who would manage, measure, and evaluate task completion? Make sure you separate out the information requested (don’t place the information in a large block paragraph). Most health organizations face difficulties relating to prescription. The proposed system is expected to provide a solution to the problem through an automated prescription system. The organization need to have specific implementation procedures for the specific systems required in the organization. For the organization to be up to date with the modern technological development, it requires to eliminate paper work that relate to current systems and operations (Marion, & Joan, 2004). Although the organizati on might not achieve the required benefits from the system in the short-term, it stands to achieve long-term benefits following successful implementation (Burke, 2010). The benefits achieved by the organization from a successful implementation of the system will be part of organization’s return on investment. People form important components of an information system, people are not only important in the design of an information system but they also contribute in the implementation process. For the organization to implement the new information system successfully, it needs to consider the people required to run the new system. The organization will therefore consider the available staff before considering hiring new members of staff. If its existing staff can implement the new system successfully, then the organization needs not hire new staff. However if the available staff are not capable of implementing the system, the organization require additional staff members. The orga nization should therefore ensure that it has the required staff before setting on the implementation process. Although the organization will require staff members with variety of qualifications, the organization should consider a project manager as a significant member of staff. The hospital should therefore, begin by recruiting a project manager to advice the organization accordingly on matters

Bulgaria: High Internet penetration potential for e-commerce

Bulgaria: High Internet penetration potential for e-commerce Coursework in Management Futures Executive Summary The aim of this report is to evaluate the opportunity for development of e-commerce in Bulgaria. The report will examine if there is demand for e-commerce in Bulgaria, if e-commerce might be restricted in some way and if it will be profitable for businesses. This will be achieved by examining the Internet penetration in Bulgaria, its future growth and other corresponding data and statistics. Advantages and Disadvantages as well as a SWOT analysis of e-commerce in will be discussed to evaluate the potential of it in the Bulgarian market. A brief description of the issue investigated The Internet is a global network connecting millions of computers. More than 100 countries are linked into exchanges of data, news and opinions. It exists since 1957 and was found by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the US department of defense. In Bulgaria, Internet usage has grown significantly especially for the last seven or eight years, but it exists since 1989. It is mostly put into practice for communication and for searching of information. It has become a very useful tool, which is part of peoples daily lives not only in Bulgaria but also all over the world. Due to the ability of the Internet to reach a large number of people in all corners of the world, it has become a mean for electronic trading, also known as e-commerce. E-commerce is the trade of products and services by means of the Internet or other computer networks. E-commerce is very popular in developed countries. It exists since 1991 and since then has grown considerably. It has become a very convenient way to purchase goods and services online in the free time without wasting time to travel to difference stores and having 24-hour access. E-commerce exists in Bulgaria too, but it is still on a very low level even though the Internet has one of the greatest user growths in the European Union. In the period between 2000 and 2007 the Internet in Bulgaria has grown with 412 %. The fast user growth in Bulgaria and the large percentage of active users online is a great opportunity for Bulgarian businesses to reach a vast amount of customer online where they can start offering their products and services. This way they would not only reach more potential customers locally, but will also have the opportunity to expand abroad if demand spreads. Relevant Statistics for Bulgaria The Internet has become a retractable part of most households in Bulgaria. Surveillances show that the number of people who use Internet actively has increased by 100% for the last three years. Today, around 2Â  600Â  000 people, more that 33% of the population uses Internet at home and work. However, statistics also show that almost 80% of the population can have Internet access when needed. The main purpose it is used for is for communication, e.g. e-mail, chat and Internet calls and for searching of information, e.g. job search, current news. Despite the rapid growth of the quality of the Internet provided and the increase in Internet users, Bulgaria still is one of the countries with lowest positions for e-commerce. According to the National Statistical Institute, from 50% of the Internet users searching for goods and services online, only 7.6% have made a purchase. Thus every second Internet user has searched for goods online but did not find what they were looking for. Thirty thousand people have taken part in a survey done by Nielsen Online about the optimizing of online products. The research shows that 60% of the Internet users are aged between 18 and 35 and 22% of the participants have stated that they have income higher than 1000 levs. This is a relatively high salary for this country. The age range, which is predominant consisting of young people who tend to be high consumers. Young people who are still students, are very good at tormenting their parents for receiving what they want, on the other hand the ones who have graduated and have started working tend to spend their wages for satisfying their wants. Statistics also show that 2/3 of the Internet users are employed and the rest are mostly students. The main problem with online shopping for most Internet users is the threat of information theft, especially financial information. In computing it is known as phishing. Phising is an attempt to criminally and fraudulently acquire sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Most like targets are online banks and e-commerce businesses that allow online payments like Paypal and E-Pay for Bulgaria. However statistics for E-Pay show that in 2008 transactions per month done through e-pay are on average between 10 and 11 million levs. This is a relatively high transaction rate for the country, but most of these transactions are done for paying bills other than for purchasing of goods. An advantage for online shopping in Bulgaria is that goods can be paid at the time of delivery, which is a way that people who are afraid to pay online would prefer. Products that are most often offered online in Bulgaria are books, office stationary and electronic devices (phones, cameras), which is a very limited offering of products. However, Bulgarian e-commerce should have a very promising future if it develops. For now in Bulgaria, most online shoppers rely on the e-commerce from abroad. Businesses in Bulgaria are missing on a great deal of potential customers due to the lapse of offering their products online. According to statistics of Visa International, during 2005 the volume of e-payments of Bulgarians with Visa in the Internet had increased with almost 100%. The total value of the online transactions made to virtual traders outside the country is 14.3 million US dollars. E-trade has a very good opportunity to grow in Bulgaria since the online users are constantly increasing and have the desire to explore new prospects that the internet might offer to them. Consumerism in Bulgaria is likely to increase rapidly too, due to the economical growth in the country, since its entrance in the EU. However Euro Stat has registered high inflation of 13.4% at the moment, which might slow down the economical growth. According to the European committee even slow the economic growth will continue in Bulgaria. An outline of the analysis undertaken According to the data show above the development of e-commerce in Bulgaria seems promising due to the combination of the following trends: Bulgaria has a high sample of potential of online customers, as 30% of its population use Internet actively and 80% can have Internet access when needed. People can have access at home, work and in public Internet cafes. 50% of the Internet users are interested in buying goods online. For 2005 Bulgarians have spend more than $14 million online, buying product from other countries. Most Internet users in Bulgaria are educated people with relatively high income. The economic state in Bulgaria is going to ameliorate in the future, which is a good base for the growth of consumerism. According to the SWOT analysis-undertaken e-commerce has a lot of strengths for both customers and business, which should be considered. E-trade is convenient for both because: It is fast as there is no need to go outside, travel, visit different shops and compare prices. Easy as the shopping can be done in the comfort of your own home with a few clicks. Cheap as the online offering of product can be less costly for businesses, which gives them the chance to offer more competitive prices for consumers. Consumers can choose from millions of products, which are all displayed on their computer. Businesses can online only sell their products by displaying them online, but also advertise them further, as consumers can easily find them. One disturbing weakness that has arisen in the Bulgarian e-trade was the legislation included in the Law for Protection of Consumer, which stated that the person who delivers the product doesnt have the right to receive payment in advance before the period of 7 days. This caused major difficulties for both buyers and sellers. Therefore a correction in the law followed, it stated that the person who delivers could take this payment with the consumers agreement. Maybe this law should be investigated further but for now existing e-commerce organisations do not have a problem doing their business online. More trends can be useful to examine the potential demand for e-commerce businesses. A research on what products Internet user would prefer to buy online, can help specific businesses balance their advantages and disadvantages for undertaking the step to sell online. Also some of the trends found might not be very realistic due to the small number of sample marketed. However over all if the economy in Bulgaria grows and people have more disposable income, e-commerce will be a success, as it will safe people time and money, and give profit to business. A discussion of the main findings From the findings above I can derive that e-commerce business has the potential to grow fast like it has grown in more developed countries all over the world. E-trade can offer companies the advantage of reaching their customers 24-7 and globally. Businesses can also diminish costs by advertising online for less and eliminating the need for large warehouse buildings for storing and displaying their stock. Another great advantage is the opportunity Internet gives for gaining a large number of contacts, which can lead to positive business developments and ventures. Word count: 1913 Reference: Dave Site (no date) History of Internet. Retrieved on 15 May 2008 from: http://www.davesite.com/webstation/net-history.shtml Dir.bg (2008) One third of the Internet users are in Sofia. Retrieved on 16 May 2008 from: http://sofia.dir.bg/2008/05/13/news2987502.html E-commerce land (no date) History of e-commerce. Retrieved on 15 May 2008 from: http://www.ecommerce-land.com/history_ecommerce.html Econ (2008) Economic growth in our country will remain one of the highest in Europe. Retrieved on 16 May 2008 from: http://www.econ.bg/news/article140523.html E-pay (2008) Statistics for payment in E-pay. Retrieved on 16 May 2008 from: https://www.epay.bg/?page=frontHYPERLINK https://www.epay.bg/?page=frontp=front_wikiwpage=statsHYPERLINK https://www.epay.bg/?page=frontp=front_wikiwpage=statsp=front_wikiHYPERLINK https://www.epay.bg/?page=frontp=front_wikiwpage=statsHYPERLINK https://www.epay.bg/?page=frontp=front_wikiwpage=statswpage=stats E-shop BG (2003) E-trade in Bulgaria. Retrieved on 15 May 2008 from: www.abcbg.com/download/eshop-13nov2003.ppt EuroStat (2008) Newsletter. Retrieved on 16 May 2008 from: hHYPERLINK http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259_dad=portal_schema=PORTALp_product_code=LN-042008ttp://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259HYPERLINK http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259_dad=portal_schema=PORTALp_product_code=LN-042008HYPERLINK http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259_dad=portal_schema=PORTALp_product_code=LN-042008_dad=portalHYPERLINK http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259_dad=portal_schema=PORTALp_product_code=LN-042008HYPERLINK http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259_dad=portal_schema=PORTALp_product_code=LN-042008_schema=PORTALHYPERLINK http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259_dad=portal_schema=PORTALp_product_code=LN-042008HYPERLINK http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page?_pageid=1073,46587259_dad=portal_schema=POR TALp_product_code=LN-042008p_product_code=LN-042008 Internet Reklama (2006) E-trade increases twice. Retrieved on 16 May 2008 from: http://internetreklama.com/bulgaria/ecommerce-bg-x2/ Internet reklama (2007) 2.6 million internet users in Bulgaria. Retrieved on 15 May 2008 from: http://internetreklama.com/internet/2600000/ Internet reklama (2008) National Statistics Institute for Internet in Bulgaria. Retrieved on 15 May 2008 from: http://internetreklama.com/bulgaria/nsi-2008/ Internet reklama (2008) National Statistics Institute for Internet in Bulgaria. Retrieved on 15 May 2008 from: http://internetreklama.com/bulgaria/nsi-2008/ Internet reklama2 (2007) They resolved the advanced payments. Retrieved on 16 May 2008 from: http://internetreklama.com/internet/e-trade/e-computerworld/ Internet world stats (2008) European Union internet users. Retrieved on 15 May 2008 from: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats9.htm Sega (2008) One third of the Internet users are in Sofia. Retrieved on 16 May 2008 from: http://www.segabg.com/online/article.asp?issueid=2971HYPERLINK http://www.segabg.com/online/article.asp?issueid=2971sectionid=24id=0001403HYPERLINK http://www.segabg.com/online/article.asp?issueid=2971sectionid=24id=0001403sectionid=24HYPERLINK http://www.segabg.com/online/article.asp?issueid=2971sectionid=24id=0001403HYPERLINK http://www.segabg.com/online/article.asp?issueid=2971sectionid=24id=0001403id=0001403 Timeline (no date) Internet history. Retrieved on 15 May 2008 from: http://timeline.hit.bg/ Webopedia (no date) Internet. Retrieved on 15 May 2008 from: http://webopedia.internet.com/TERM/I/Internet.html Wikipedia (no date) Phising. Retrieved on 16 May 2008 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing Zoom-Online (no date) What is e-commerce: advantages and draw backs. Retrieved on 15 May 2008 from: http://www.zoom-online.co.uk/e-commerce/what_is_ecommerce_advantages_and_drawbacks.html Appendices Appendix 1 InternetUsageintheEuropeanUnion EUROPEANHYPERLINK http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htmUNION Population (2007Est.) InternetUsers, LatestData Penetration (%Population) Usage %inEU UserGrowth (2000-2007) Austria 8,199,783 4,650,000 56.7% 1.7% 121.4% Belgium 10,392,226 5,100,000 49.1% 1.9% 155.0% Bulgaria 7,322,858 2,200,000 30.0% 0.8% 411.6% Cyprus 788,457 356,000 45.2% 0.1% 197.2% CzechHYPERLINK http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm#czRepublic 10,228,744 5,100,000 49.9% 1.9% 410.0% Denmark 5,468,120 3,762,500 68.8% 1.4% 92.9% Estonia 1,315,912 760,000 57.8% 0.3% 107.3% Finland 5,238,460 3,286,000 62.7% 1.2% 70.5% France 63,718,187 34,851,835 54.7% 12.8% 310.0% Germany 82,400,996 53,240,115 64.6% 19.5% 121.8% Greece 10,706,290 3,800,000 35.5% 1.4% 280.0% Hungary 9,956,108 3,500,000 35.2% 1.3% 389.5% Ireland 4,109,086 2,060,000 50.1% 0.8% 162.8% Italy 58,147,733 33,143,152 57.0% 12.1% 151.1% Latvia 2,259,810 1,070,800 47.4% 0.4% 613.9% Lithuania 3,575,439 1,221,700 34.2% 0.4% 443.0% Luxembourg 480,222 339,000 70.6% 0.1% 239.0% Malta 401,880 127,200 31.7% 0.0% 218.0% Netherlands 16,570,613 14,544,400 87.8% 5.3% 272.9% Poland 38,518,241 11,400,000 29.6% 4.2% 307.1% Portugal 10,642,836 7,782,760 73.1% 2.8% 211.3% Romania 22,276,056 7,000,000 31.4% 2.6% 775.0% Slovakia 5,447,502 2,500,000 45.9% 0.9% 284.6% Slovenia 2,009,245 1,250,000 62.2% 0.5% 316.9% Spain 40,448,191 22,843,915 56.5% 8.4% 324.0% Sweden 9,031,088 6,981,200 77.3% 2.6% 72.5% UnitedHYPERLINK http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm#ukKingdom 60,776,238 40,362,842 66.4% 14.8% 162.1% EuropeanUnion 490,430,321 273,234,619 55.7% 100.0% 189.5% Source: Internet world stats (2008) Malaysia S Transportation Sector: SWOT Analysis Malaysia S Transportation Sector: SWOT Analysis A scan of the internal and external environment is a main part of the strategic planning. Environmental factors internal to the firm generally can be classified as strength (S) or weakness (W) and those external to the firm can be classified as opportunities (O) or threats (T). Such an analysis of the strategic environment is referred to as SWOT analysis. STRENGTHS Malaysia is Multi-Racial Malaysia is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic society and opens to each one. The 3 main cultures, Malay, Chinese and Indian create an interesting Malaysian society yet still leave it open for other cultures to join and thrive. In Malaysia, you will experience the Malay, Chinese and Indian festivals, food, literature, clothing, religion and culture. Affordable Healthcare Healthcare in Malaysia is world-class and more affordable compared to the United States. Doctors and hospitals have the same standard or superior to American doctors and hospitals and care is world-renowned. Healthcare is good in Malaysia. It is one of the top destinations for medical tourism. In Malaysia, you can only visualize how good your healthcare options will be. Education Malaysias education system is mainly based on the British system and it is better than some other countries in the region such as Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Compulsory subjects include English and Malay, so any children has to grow up fluent in both languages. Ease of Language English is the language spoken by most people in Malaysia. When a person moves to Malaysia, he does not have to suffer by the local language to get things done and the life becomes easier for them. Buying a house, a car, set up utilities, furniture and household items, everything is easier due to being able to deal with things in English. Good Infrastructure Malaysia has a world-class infrastructure and the Roads are excellent. The water supply, drain systems and power grids are stable and telecommunication including phones and internet are phenomenal. Living and Working in Malaysia for western expatriate is made even easier due to its western-standard infrastructure. OPPORTUNITIES Malaysias strong emerging economy is a preferred destination for foreign companies and a fertile ground for local businesses to flourish. In this thriving, business environment job opportunities are created to attract both local as well as foreign talents. There are huge opportunities here and it is often only a matter of getting the right working permit. For Non-Malaysians it is required to convince your potential employer that they help you to get the essential paper work completed in the case of applicable working permit, expatriates a full, a commitment that an employer may be reluctant to make until they are confident that the appointment is going to work out. In Malaysia there is a strong demand here for quality candidates with good qualifications and experience. Managerial positions in development, energy, business and engineering corporations are often the typical option for the relocated worker in Malaysia. The private education sector is excellent in Malaysia, with a number of reputed international institutions, diversified and extensive courses offering and high quality, internationally recognized standards, and featuring the British, German and French curricula as common options. When coming to the food industry of Malaysia, internationally aware individuals have been able to run fashionable, niche and successful activities combining gourmet cuisine, design, care for the details, and providing customers with an overall experiential moment. Malaysians inexhaustible passion for food and adventure have made food industry a vibrant sector. Hospitality, Tourism and management is also enjoying a renaissance in Malaysia by offering five-star stays while providing boutique and heritage experiences like nowhere else on Earth. National Chambers of Commerce in Malaysia give opportunity to connect with companies interested in hiring people with international expertise and experience. WEAKNESSES Lack of Medical Tourism: Strict guidelines implemented for medical advertisement. In Malaysia doctors are only allowed to put up ads with the following information- name, address, qualifications, and telephone numbers. The Medicines Advertisement Board in Malaysia must approve even websites of medical institutions. Thus the medical tourism industry of Malaysia lacks in impressive promotional activities and impressive websites. Inconvenient social visit pass process: The procedures for extension of the social visit pass in Malaysia are very inconvenience and can be very difficult. It is required to complete an application form and the applicant must submit it along with his/her passport and confirmed flight ticket to the home country personally. Obviously such requirements make it impossible to be fulfilled by a person admitted in a hospital, such as in the case of a medical tourist. Lack of coordination: Lack of a coordinated effort between airline operators, hotels and hospitals to promote the industry and lack of uniform pricing policies and standards across hospitals in Malaysia. Weak policy: Malaysian policy states that an individual entity is not permitted to transport an excess of 1,000 Ringgits outside of the country without government approval. While this act has not hindered trade, it has certainly weakened the credibility of the Negara Malaysia Bank (the countries national bank) as an international financier. Limited Profits to retailers: The low estimated cost of living is sustained by the Malaysian government through subsides on essential items, such as gasoline, bread, rice, etc. Prices on these items are kept well under market value which although good for the consumer hinders any further competitive pricing by retailers, thus limiting profit. Lacking in multimedia research development hub: Despite the creation of a world-class infrastructure, the government of Malaysia has not been successful in realizing its original aim of creating a cutting-edge multimedia research and development hub. Rising costs: For creating such a successful service industry around the world, Malaysia had to sacrifice other industries along the way. Malaysia is number three in the service industry. The increase in criminal activities related to this industry is causing a rise in the cost to prevent such crime. Favoritism for Malays: Roughly 65% of the population of Malaysia consists of Malays. Government perks favor Malays and other indigenous races to the determent of minorities, who provide a better level of economic activity. These factors have a long-term impact on the economy, by alienating minorities who contribute to economic growth. Those minorities are more likely to move to more favorable countries that value their expertise and economic contributions. Discriminatory Policies in Economy: The discrimination issues the government maintains in Malaysia over non-Malays, is an economic concern. Despite some improvement in the economic power of Malay people, the Malaysian government maintains a policy of discrimination favoring ethnic Malays over other races-including preferential treatment in education, employment, business, scholarships, access to cheaper housing and assisted savings. This special kind of treatment has sparked envy and resentment between Malays and Non- Malays. Discrimination issues tend to provoke conflict between the groups involved in the discriminatory practices. Commerce between the two groups may decrease, which may cause a decrease in overall economic activity. Discrimination also limits human capital when available to do certain jobs. Limitations in general lead to less efficient uses of natural or human resources in an economy. Critical level of Corruption: Corruption in Malaysia has reached a critical level as the country falls in international rankings, a graft watchdog announced warning the government to act or lose its competitiveness. The UNs Asia-Pacific Human Development Report highlighted an International Country Risk Guide finding which saw Malaysia decline from a score of 4.00 in year 1996 to 2.38 in year 2006, with a lower score showing greater corruption. Corrupt political systems tend to weaken economic growth, because they indirectly charge additional taxes on the economy. Every payment to a corrupt officer to obtain a service is considered a tax. The more taxes on a economic system, the lower economic growth, because resources are shifted away from highly efficient parts of the economy to less efficient and corrupt parts of the economy. Threats Malaysia, being a trading nation that highly dependent on international trade, the economic performance is very vulnerable to the performance of the major international trading partners. For decades, the economic growth has been overly reliant on international trade, external sector developments and foreign direct investment (FDI). In view of the challenges that arise from the globalization effects, it is important for the Malaysian Government to sustain growth and strengthen the macro-economic fundamentals within the country. This can be done by focusing on domestic business and industrial activities and increasing the purchasing power of our population. The governments corporate reforms and fiscal policies have to be continued to create a condition suitable for a speedy recovery and sustainable growth. It is also important to ensure that the restructured loans remain performing. Importance must be placed on continuing improvements on transparency, corporate governance and strict enforcement of powers by the market regulators. The country also needs to maintain its peaceful environment and security to secure the investors confidence. Currently, most of exports of Malaysia are for the United States. Thus, the successful recovery of the US economy is pivotal to Malaysias continuing recovery. Due to current stagnation in the US economy, the electronic chip industry is a damper on economic recovery in Malaysia where electronics related exports make up more than 30% of the gross domestic product. River pollution: Pollution is one the largest threats to the rivers. The reduction in river water quality is a clear indicator of the decline in the environmental health of a river basin. Palm Oil Production Destroys Forest: Environmental group protests are making it difficult to expand production of palm oil plantations, so firms have to slow their growth and discover a new, more sustainable, method to increase Palm Oil. Threats and boycotts will lead to less demand for products containing palm oil, which will hurt the price of palm oil as a commodity. Swine Flu Virus: Swine flu (the H1N1 virus) is added to the list of potential threats. Malaysia have downgraded their forecast for tourist arrivals accordingly. Malaysia reported its first fatal case of swine flu with the death of an Indonesian student, officials. The 30-year-old man, who was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, died from cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation. TRANSPORTATION SECTOR In Malaysia transport was started developing during British colonial rule, and its transport network is now developed and diverse. Malaysias road system begun during British colonization and it covers about 63,445 km. The main highway that reaches the Thai border from Singapore covers a distance of over 800 km. Within the city, the Light Rail Transit (LRT) is available to help meet Malaysias need for mobility that is reliable, safe, comfortable and predictable. Peninsular Malaysia have high quality network of roads, while the East Malaysian road system is not as well developed. In Peninsular Malaysia the main modes of transport are trains, buses, cars and to an extent airplanes. Malaysias small railway system is less significant than its roads and is confined primarily to the peninsula, where it runs from the southern tip (where it is connected to Singapore) northward to the border with Thailand. Malaysias first light-rail transport was started in Kuala Lumpur in 1996. After that, several monorail and express lines have opened in the Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area. In East Malaysia and especially in Sarawak river transport is of great importance. In addition, Malaysias accessible and long coastlines have fostered maritime trade for more than a millennium. Several ports, notably Penang on the Strait of Malacca and Port Kelang (the principal port) have become major container-handling facilities. Air transport has grown very rapidly as the passenger traffic has increased especially on the peninsula. Almost all Malaysian states are connected with an internal air network. Airports in Kota Kinabalu, Penang and Kuching have limited international service. LAND TRANSPORT Roads Malaysias road network covers 98,721 kilometers , of which 80,280 kilometers is paved, and 1,821 kilometers is expressways. The longest highway the North-South Expressway of the country extends over 800 kilometers between the Singapore and Thai border. Trains The inter city, countrywide, traditional KTMB rail network and the inner city, light rail transit network are the two types of train network in Malaysia. The KTMB service serves the entire country of Malaysia by travelling between major cities and also up into Thailand. Railways The railway system covers a total of 1,849 kilometers (1,149 mi). 1,792 kilometers (1,113 mi) of it is narrow gauge, while 57 kilometers (35 mi) is standard gauge. 150 kilometers (93 mi) of narrow gauge tracks and all the standard gauge tracks are electrified. Elevated Light Rail Transit systems are used in some cities such as Kuala Lumpur which are relatively inexpensive. MY Rapid is a company that runs the main public transportation system in KL. They provide Monorail, Putra and Star LRT and RapidKL buses. Buses: For travel between Singapore, Penang and KL, the services of coach in Malaysia are difficult to beat. Fares are well priced at roughly RM 50 RM 60 for KL-Penang and just under RM 100 for luxury coaches from KL-Singapore. The best services also provide drink, food and entertainment for the journey. Buying tickets in Malaysia works out much cheaper than buying them in Singapore. Therefore, if it needs travelling from KL to Singapore and back again, surely purchase a return ticket from the Malaysian side. The buses offer pre-recorded commentary in eight different languages and stop at 22 designated stops around the city. Taxis Drivers very well know very well the city geography and are able to find shortcuts when the inevitable traffic builds up. It is compulsory for taxi drivers to use their built-in meter to calculate the fare. Flag-off fare is RM3 with an additional 10 cents for every 115 meters thereafter. The taxis caught in a traffic jam charge the fare RM3 for the first three minutes and 10 cents for every subsequent 21 seconds. Penang Rickshaw, Penang: In Penang, locals called their rickshaw as Beca in Malay language. Most locals are taking buses and taxi in the island. Due to modern infrastructure the number of rickshaws in the city is reducing. All of these rickshaws have special permit from the government. Currently, Penang has less than 200 rickshaws on its streets mainly to ride tourists to nearby attractions within the city. WATER TRANSPORT Waterways Malaysia has 7,200 kilometers (4,474 mi) of waterways, most of them rivers. Of this, 3,200 kilometers (1,988 mi) are in Peninsular Malaysia, 2500 kilometers (1553 mi) are in Sarawak and 1,500 kilometers (932 mi) are in Sabah. Information on Sea Transportation Many popular island destinations like Pangkor, Langkawi, Tioman and Redang are linked to the mainland by ferry services and other smaller islands are accessible by fishing boats, which may be chartered. Ferry services are also available from Belungkor, Tanjung, Desaru, Kukup, Johor Bahru Duty Free Zone and Sebana Cove (all in Johor) to the neighboring islands in the south and from Butterworth to Penang. There are a number of cruise liners which call on Malaysian ports. One of which, Star Cruises is Malaysian-owned and operated. Ports and harbors This is a list of Malaysian ports and harbors: Bintulu Kota Kinabalu Kuantan Kemaman Kuching Kudat Labuan Lahad Datu Lumut Miri Pasir Gudang George Town, Penang Port Dickson Port Klang Sandakan Sibu Tanjung Berhala Tanjung Kidurong Tawau Tanjung Pelepas Ferry: The ferries carry light vehicles on bottom deck and pedestrian on top level. The bottom is shared by 4 wheelers and two wheelers. The cars onboard the ferry occupy the front part followed by the motorcycles. The ferry has 2 toilets for male and female and one mini counter selling snacks and drinks on the upper level. Pipelines: Malaysia has 3 kilometers (2 mi) of condensate pipeline, 1,965 kilometers (1,221 mi) of gas pipeline, 31 kilometers (19 mi) of oil pipeline, and 114 kilometers (71 mi) of refined products pipelines. AIR TRANSPORT In Malaysia, airlines are separated into two 1) Passenger airlines 2) Cargo airlines. The Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is well known in the region and is known as one of the more modern airports in the world. With other international airports in Kota Kinabalu, Kuching and Penang, domestic airports are also available in Malaysia. Also a Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) is designed specifically for low cost carriers by KLIA and it is located 20km from the main terminal. Air Asia is the most popular budget airline in Asia and is based in Malaysia. Air Asia flies to many locations regionally and also domestically. Air transport is crucial for the distribution of high value to weight products. Air freight may only account for 0.5% of the tons of global trade with the rest of the world, but it makes up around 34.6% of the total in terms of value. Shippers pay airlines MYR 8.0 billion annually to carry 805,000 tons of freight to, from and within Malaysia. The benefit to the shippers is estimated as MYR 3.3 billion in excess of this expenditure. Based on these share of exports Malaysian shippers receive over half of this benefit (MYR 1.9 billion). Malaysia Airlines currently flies to many places worldwide and provides access to other states within both East Malaysia and Peninsular Malaysia.

Caught by a Computer :: Personal Narrative Cheating Papers

Caught by a Computer As I sat in his office, sweat dripped off my long brown bangs onto my light blue collared button-down shirt. It was not because I was nervous, it was because it was the end of April and unseasonably warm in Charlottesville, Virginia. I was there, in my professor’s office, in my mind, because he wanted to get caught up with me about my future plans after graduation. He was curious about my plans for the summer, plans for my fiancà © and I, and plans for my career as a high school teacher at the public school in my hometown, Mclean, Virginia. I was alone in his office, waiting for Dr. Bloomfield to show up to his office for our casual meeting scheduled for 3:30 that afternoon. The heat was becoming unbearable. The University of Virginia’s century old buildings on the quad were not air conditioned, and I was beginning to wish that I had paid the extra tuition to have them installed. I sat in his small dimly lit office, becoming impatient because it was nearing four oà ¢â‚¬â„¢clock. I began to notice the pictures that cluttered Dr. Bloomfield’s overrun office. Pictures of his wife, his twin daughters, who appeared to be roughly the same age as I, and his younger son, in his early teen years, sat atop stacks of periodicals and yet to be graded finals. I noticed my final research paper on the top of the stack. This seemed odd; however I guessed he only wanted to discuss it while we met, as foreclosure to the popular Intro. To Physics class for upperclassmen of his that I was enrolled in, as it was our final assignment. I was distracted once again by the array of pictures throughout his undeservedly small office. Among these were more pictures of his boat, his bay house on the Chesapeake Bay, and his chocolate lab Mocha, whom I was familiar with at this point due to several stories he shared in class. Dr. Bloomfield was a family man whom I had gained great respect for over the years. My aspirations for what I wanted my life to turn out like ve ry closely replicated his own life. Sitting alone in his office gave me time to think about what I wanted to become, who I wanted to marry, how many kids I wanted to have and so on.

Philosophy Paper Essay

One of the most heated debates that troubled the church in the Middle Ages was the question of universals. This question goes back as far as Plato’s Forms. It has to do with the relationship between the abstract and general concepts that we have in our minds (what is the relationship between Chair with a capitol â€Å"C† and chair with a small â€Å"c†? ). And from this, two radical viewpoints emerged, realists and the nominalists. The realists followed Plato in insisting that each universal is an entity in its own right, and exists independently of the individual things that happen to participate in it. An extreme form of realism flourished in the church from the ninth to the twelfth centuries. Among its advocates were John Scotus, Erigena, Anselm and William of Champeaux. On the opposite side were the nominalists and they held that universals were just names, and therefore, have no objective status apart from that which is fabricated in the mind. Nominalists, such as Gabriel Biel and William of Occam (see O section), said that the individual is the only existing substance. Unfortunately, their treatment of nominalism removed religion almost entirely from the area of reason and made it a matter of faith beyond the comprehension of reason. 1 And here lies the significance of the French theologian Peter Abelard (1079-1142). Between the two extremes, Peter Abelard proposed a more moderate form of nominalism. Though critical of the idea of the separate existence of universals, he nevertheless believed that resemblances among particular things justified the use of universals for establishing knowledge. More specifically, Abelard proposed that we ground the similarities among individual things without reifying their universal features, by predicating general terms in conformity with concepts abstracted from experience. This resolution (which would later come to be known as conceptualism) of the traditional problem of universals gained wide acceptance for several centuries, until doubts about the objectivity and reality of such mental entities as concepts came under serious question. Thomas Aquinas favored a moderate realism which rejected the view that universals exist apart from individual entities in favor of the view that they do indeed exist, but only in actual entities. 2 Anaximander (Milesian School): Anaximander (610-547/6 B. C. ) was one of the three key figures that comprised the Milesian School (the three prominent figures associated with the Milesian School is Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes). Together, they worked on problems concerning the nature of matter and the nature of change, and they each proposed a different material as the primary principal. 3 Anaximander seemed to be quite modern in his view of reality. He believed that the world was cylindrical like a drum, and that the earth rested on nothing. He also invented an undefined non-substance, called the apeiron, a neutral, indeterminate stuff that was infinite in amount. Anaximenes (Milesian School): Anaximenes (546 B. C. ), the other member of the Milesian School, returned back to the idea that everything derives from a single substance, but suggested that substance was air. Though it is likely his choice was motivated by wanting to maintain a balance between the two views of his predecessors, Anaximenes did provide solid grounds for his choosing; first, air, has the advantage of not being restricted to a specific and defined nature as water, and therefore more capable of transforming itself into the great variety of objects around us. Second, air is a more likely source of this variety than Anaximander’s apeiron which seems too empty and vacuous a stuff to be capable of giving rise to such a variety and profusion. 4 Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury: In (452 A. D. ), twenty-two years after Augustine’s death, Rome fell, bringing on a period of conquest and chaos, and degree of order was ultimately realized through the emergence of feudalism. The church, which had managed to survive the social and political upheaval, gradually assumed responsibilities that previously had been relegated to the civil government. This involvement in government led in turn to the secularization of the church. Bishops became ministers of the state, and church dignitaries became warriors. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, many within the church were so involved with the secular world that a movement led to the emergence of the monastic life as a force within the church. Those who wanted to escape the temptations of the secular world and pursue holiness were naturally drawn to the monasteries and among those who followed was Anselm (1033-1109), the archbishop of Canterbury. The greatest Christian thinker between Augustine and Thomas Aquinas was Anselm (1033-1109). He was born to a wealthy family in northern Italy, whom, to their disappointment, left home in (1056) to fully dedicate his life to God. Following a period of travel, he arrived at the Norman Abbey at Bec, where he took his monastic vows in (1060). Within a few years, he became prior of the abbey, abbot in (1078), and then archbishop in (1093), which he held until his death. His writings range from treatises on logic to an explanation of the divine inner logic of the atonement in Cur deus homo. Anselm stood in the tradition of Augustine and Platonic realism. 5 Following the tradition of Augustine, he held that faith precedes and leads to understanding, and, like many other medieval thinkers he drew no sharp distinction between philosophy and theology. In his famous ontological argument for the existence of God, Anselm presents a defense based on the fact that it is self-contradictory to deny that there exists a greatest possible being. 6 He claims that the more universality, the more reality. And from here it follows that if God is the most universal being, he is also the most real; if He is the absolutely universal being, he is also the absolutely real being, ens realissimum. He has, therefore, according to the conception of Him, not only the comparatively greatest reality, but also the absolute reality. A reality in which no greater can be thought. 7 Aquinas, Thomas: By common consent the greatest philosophical theologian of the Middle Ages was Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). Everything about him was big. In his later years his voluminous writings, massive in scope, won him the title of the Angelic Doctor. His life was dedicated to the intellectual defense and propagation of the faith, as he understood it. It was during his teaching career (1252) in Paris that Aquinas, being drawn into the critical debates of his day, started battling the objections posed against Aristotelianism and its place in the university. By this time, Plato was known only through the imperfect translations of the Timaeus, the Phaedo, and the Meno. Islamic Jewish thinkers were much better acquainted with Aristotle, and for nearly two centuries they had been wrestling with questions posed by Aristotelianism to religious faith. For Aquinas and his Christian contemporaries the issue was doubly acute. On the one hand, there were questions posed by Aristotle’s way of thinking. On the other hand, there were the answers already given by Islamic and Jewish scholars which were hardly acceptable to a Christian thinker. Aquinas decided to face the problem head on. He made his own study of Aristotle, on whom he wrote extensively. He also made his own study of non-Christian thinkers. He subjected all ideas to rigorous scrutiny, giving due recognition to the truth of ideas, wherever they came from, but giving his own evaluation of every issue, point by point. In all, Aquinas produced about a hundred different writings. His work ranged from philosophical commentaries to hymns. 8 Aquinas’ main works are two massive Summae or compends of theology and philosophy. The Summa contra Gentiles was designed as a textbook for missionaries, and the Summa Theologiae has been described as the highest achievement of medieval theological systematization and is still the accepted basis of modern Reformed theology. In Aquinas’ proofs (what later came to be known as the Cosmological and Teleological arguments), certain facts about nature are compelling evidences of God’s existence. He argues, accordingly, that nothing can adequately account for the fact of motion or change. Rejecting the idea that change or motion is simply an ultimate, mysterious fact of nature neither requiring nor permitting any explanation except God, its Unmoved Prime Mover. Furthermore, in his five arguments, Aquinas suggests that the Christian belief in God is completely consistent with the world as we know it. Aquinas’ arguments, known also as the Five Ways are sometimes referred to as the proofs of the existence of God. But this is not necessarily correct because Aquinas did not try to prove the existence of God by rational argument, but to provide a rational defense for an already existing faith in God. His primary reason for believing in the existence in God is God’s revelation of Himself. Aquinas expects his readers to share the same faith. He does not expect that he will have to prove anything to them first. This point is important because many critics accuse believers of grounding their faith in outdated arguments, such as Thomas Aquinas. It is proper, therefore, to respond to such criticisms by pointing out that they are based on a superficial reading and on a serious misunderstanding of how individuals come to faith. 9 The basic principal guiding Aquinas throughout the Five Proofs is the principal of analogy, which holds the world as we know it mirrors God, its creator. The structure of each of Aquinas’ proofs is quite similar. Each depends on tracing a casual sequence back to its ultimate origin and identifying this ultimate origin with God. The first begins with the observation that things in the world are in motion or change. Second is the concept of causation. The third concerns the existence of contingent beings. The fourth deals with human values, and lastly, is the teleological argument, in which Aquinas explains how the world shows clear traces of intelligent design. Natural processes and objects seem to be adapted with certain definite objectives in mind. They seem to have purpose. They seem to have been designed. Arguing from this observation, Aquinas concludes that it is rational to believe in God. 10 Aristotle: Aristotle’s thought, like his mentor Plato, embodied the concept of arete, which taught that human excellence in all things was an important goal that should direct human purposes. For Aristotle, that excellence ideally exemplified the defining quality of human nature, the pursuit of reason. Attracted by science and believing that the universe could be explained, Aristotle greatly valued the work of Thales of Miletus, and accepted his concept that the physical universe operated rationally and in a way that was knowable to human beings. From Anaximander, Aristotle took the view that a balance of force existed in nature that made things what they were. Aristotle was also knowledgeable about the atomic theory of Parmenides and was intrigued by the question of what was stable and what was changing. Indeed, these Greek scientists had a significant influence on Aristotle’s intellectual search to examine and explain reality. 11 For Aristotle, the world in which we live is the world that we experience through our senses. Unlike those who followed Plato, Aristotle believed that we live in an objective order of reality, a world of objects that exist external to us and our knowing of them. Through our senses and our reason, human beings can come to know these objects and develop generalizations about their structure and function. Truth is a correspondence between the person’s mind and external reality. Theoretical knowledge based on human observation is the best guide to human behavior. And, while human beings have various careers, they all share the most important factor, the exercise of rationality. Reason gives human beings the potentiality of leading lives that are self-determined. Congruent with his metaphysical and epistemological perspective, Aristotle’s ethical theory portrays the good life as that of happiness (eudaimonia). He believed that the ultimate good for the human being was happiness, activity in accordance to virtue. The virtuous life is one in which actions are part of a consciously formulated plan that takes a mean, a middle ground course, avoiding extremes. 12 For example, true courage would be the choice that avoids the extremes of cowardice and rashness. And what decides the right course to take is the virtue of prudence (phronesis). Good is the aim of every action but, given the fact that goods can be ordered in relation to one another, there must be a highest good to which practical wisdom directs us. And if the possession of any good is what makes us happy to some extent, the possession of the highest good is the highest happiness, the ultimate goal of all our actions. 13 At this point, it is difficult to resist the thought that Aristotle’s notion of the intellectual life being the gateway to happiness and virtue is not an shallow one. But, though there are some elements in his presentation that are unclear, this much is clear; that this happiness, which is the possession of the good, is ultimately an act of contemplation, or of  beholding, the good. But to contemplate the good is to enter into union with it. Therefore, if contemplating on god means entering into union with the life of the gods, this is the highest activity of man and his ultimate happiness. The conclusion of the Ethics is one with the Metaphysics, in which the â€Å"divine element† in a man coincides with the â€Å"possession† of god by an act of thought, called contemplation, which is the â€Å"most pleasant and best† we can perform. In Eudemian Ethics, Aristotle says, What choice, then, or possession of the natural goods – whether bodily goods, wealth, friends, or other things – will most produce the contemplation of God, that choice or possession is best; this is the noblest standard, but any that through deficiency or excess hinders one from the contemplation and service of God is bad; this man possess in his soul, and this is the best standard for the soul. 14 With statements like this one can’t help but wonder what Aristotle’s response would have been if he would have had the opportunity to serve the one true God, who is worthy of such adoration and praise. What’s more, Aristotle categorized virtues as either moral or intellectual. Moral virtue, though not easy to define, is a habit by which the individual exercises a prudent choice, one that a rational person would make. Moral virtues tend to moderation, falling between excess and inhibition. They focus on the concrete actions a person performs and the measured sense he has regarding them: â€Å"to feel them at the right times, with reference to the right objects, towards the right people, with the right motive, and in the right way. † A good action thus exhibits due proportion, neither excessive nor defective, but midway between them. This is Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean. Peculiarly, a virtuous action is one that lies between too much and too little. To give another example, in regard to the feeling of shame, modesty is the mean between bashfulness and shamelessness. Not every virtue, however, is a mean, and so not every action is to be measured in this way. Nonetheless, every action should and can at least be measured in its rightness by the virtue of prudence or, in a larger sense, by â€Å"practical wisdom. †15. Furthermore, one of Aristotle’s most significant contributions to the Western world is his Poetics. His earlier works, Physics and Metaphysics contain important statements about art and nature, and Rhetoric, written after Poetics, distinguishes rhetoric as a practical art and has had a strong influence on literary criticism. His Poetics, nonetheless, is particularly important because Aristotle is addressing Plato’s doctrines on ideas and forms he came to disagree with. In Poetics, it was Aristotle’s intention to classify and categorize systematically the kinds of literary art, beginning with epic and tragic drama. Unfortunately, not all of the poetics survived, and it breaks off before the discussion of comedy. Nonetheless, our sense of Aristotle’s method is established. He is the first critic to attempt a systematic discourse of literary genres. 16 Augustine (Saint), of Hippo: One of the greatest thinkers of not only the early church, but of all time is Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A. D. ). His writings laid the foundation not only for Western theology but for later philosophy as well. His three books On Free Will (388-395), set out a doctrine of creation, evil and the human will which was a superior alternative to the type of thinking that had attracted so many to Gnosticism and Manichaean dualism. His response to the Donatist schism in the church set the pattern for the Western doctrine of the church. His writings on the subject of Pelagianism clarified, as no one before him and few after him, the crucial issues in the question of grace and free will. His major theological writings include On the Trinity (399-419), which presented better models for thinking about the Trinity than those of the Greek fathers. Augustine’s book On the City of God (413-416) was a reply to those who blame the church for the fall of Rome, in which it gave both a panoramic view of history and a theology of history in terms of the basic conflict between the divine society and the earthly society. 17 Interestingly, Augustine put forth a theory of time that Bertrand Russell would later pronounce superior to earlier views and much better than the subjective theory of Kant. Augustine’s account of how we can learn language provided Wittgenstein’s starting point for his Philosophical Investigations. In answering skepticism Augustine put forth an argument which anticipated Descartes’ cognito ergo sum without falling into the pitfalls commonly associated with the argument. Furthermore, Augustine believed that philosophical reflection may correct mistaken notions, lead to a grasp of truth, and serve to clarify belief. But rational reflection is not a substitute for the beatific vision of God. For it is the apprehension of God alone which transforms human life and alone satisfies our deepest needs. Though Augustine was deeply influenced by Platonism and Neoplatonism, he never was simply a Platonist. His view of the soul stands in the Platonic tradition, but he repudiated the doctrines of pre-existence and transmigration. Augustine’s view of the transcendent spiritual reality might also be said to have affinities with Plato, but Augustine’s approach was not an attempt to erect an edifice of Christian theology on either Platonic or Neoplatonic foundations. Rather, it was to state the Christian worldview in a theological and philosophical system that cohered as a unified whole. 18 (B) (back to top) Bentham, Jeremy: In nineteenth century Victorian England two contrasting systems were developed by Jeremy Bentham and Herbert Spencer. Utilitarians Bentham and John Stuart Mill applied naturalistic presuppositions in their worldview. Herbert Spencer applied the concept of evolution. And Ernest Mach prepared the way for logical positivism in his strongly anti-metaphysical scientific approach. The antithesis of the Kantian ideal is utilitarianism, an ethical theory founded by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832). Bentham was a hedonist. Taking the good to be pleasure, Bentham proposed a new model for morality in his principal of utility, which holds that â€Å"Actions are right in proportion to the amount of happiness it brings; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. 19 Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism. The ends justify the means since actions are judged on the results they bring, not on the person’s intentions or motives. For Kant, the end result was not important in determining the rightness of an action, rather, it was motive. 20 In its simplest form utilitarianism teaches that the right action is the one that promotes the greatest happiness. Modern utilitarianism dates from Thomas Hobbes in the seventeenth century, but its antecedents date as far back as (341-270 B. C. ) to the philosophy of Epicurus of Samos. The theory of utilitarianism actually held little influence until John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) who popularized the term and produced the classical Victorian exposition of the doctrine. Mill used the principal of utility to critique all social, political, and religious institutions. Anything that did not promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number was to be challenged and reformed. For this reason social and religious institutions that curtail individual liberty should be reformed. This is necessary, argued Mill, in order for freedom of belief, association and expression to be safeguarded. 21. Different conceptions of happiness separated Mill’s version â€Å"Better a Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied,† which recognized qualitative differences between different kinds of pleasure, from Bentham’s forthright attempt to reduce all questions of happiness to the mere presence of pleasure or pain. Bentham’s version aims to render the basic concepts of ethics susceptible of comparison and measurement, but this was not the goal in Mill’s presentation of the system. 22 A hedonistic utilitarian like Bentham would say that the sole consideration is the quantity of pleasure that an action produces. A problem with this approach, however, (as if it wasn’t obvious) is that it draws no distinction in principal between an evening spent at the bars or one spent having quality time with your spouse. It all depends upon the tastes of the person. Berkley, George: George Berkeley (Irish, 1685-1753) was one of the three greatest British empiricists of the eighteenth century (Locke and Hume being the other two). Though his father was an Englishman, Berkley always considered himself Irish. He was an early subjectivist idealist philosopher, who argued that all qualities of objects exist only in the mind of the perceiver. His famous theory is often summarized, esse est percipi, â€Å"to be is to be perceived,† and is still important to modern apologetics (due to the method he used in demonstrating the necessity of an eternal Perceiver). Berkley’s argument was that the phenomena of visual sensation can all be explained without presupposing the reality of the external material substances. Interestingly, Berkley was also a bishop of an Anglican church, and was the only important philosopher to visit America before 1900. He came hoping to start a missionary training college for evangelizing to the Indian tribes of New England. 23 Berkley disagreed with Locke in that there is a material substance lying behind and supporting perceptions. He also disagreed with his treatment of the representative theory of perception, that material objects are perceived mediately by means of ideas, and the mind does not perceive the material object directly, but only through the medium of the ideas formed by the senses and reflection on them. â€Å"If we know only our ideas,† reasoned Berkeley â€Å"then we can never be sure whether any of them are really like the material qualities of objects, since we can never compare the ideas with them. † For that reason, he denied the ultimate existence of material substance believing that the Spirit is the only metaphysical reality. 24 (D) (back to top) Derrida, Jacques: Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) was a French literary critic and founder of the school called deconstructionism. His (1966) lecture Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences delivered at Johns Hopkins University, played a significant role in ushering American critics into the era of poststructuralism. Particular influences on his thought include Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Freud. He wrote prolifically, and had a great influence on not only literary criticism but in sociology, linguistics, and psychology as well. Derrida regarded philosophical and literary texts as already containing the seeds of their own deconstruction. This means that in any work the author unwittingly includes contradictions, blind spots, and unjustified assumptions. The main purpose and task of the deconstructionist, according to Derrida, is to simply bring these contradictions to the surface. 25 Beginning in the Victorian Age, a paradigm shift slowly spread throughout Europe that set the groundwork for modern theory. Unlike the revolutionary movements of the Renaissance and Romanticism, which were in part reactionary, this paradigm shift that marked a radical break from the past had little precedent. Nonetheless, it marked a rejection of long-held metaphysical and aesthetic beliefs that most theorists from Plato to Coleridge took for granted. Until the modern period, most of the great Western philosophers have been logocentric in their thinking, and Derrida is one of the ones responsible for this definite break from the past, bringing forth the notion that meaning is never fixed. Dr. Louis Markos, a Christian Professor at Houston Baptist University, made some interesting comments on Derrida in one of his lectures on deconstructionism. He said that Derrida reads the history of Western metaphysics as a continual search for a logos or original presence. This logos is sought because it promises to give meaning and purpose to all things, to act as a universal center. Behind this search is a desire for a higher reality (or full presence). Western philosophy since Plato has simply renamed this presence and shifted this center without breaking from its centering impulse. Even Saussure’s structuralism sought a center, and though he broke from the old metaphysic, he still used its terminology and binaries. Furthermore, Derrida deconstructs all attempts to posit a center or to establish a system of binaries. Instead, he puts in their place a â€Å"full free play of meaning. †26 Democritus (see Leucippus): Descartes, Rene: The first great continental rationalist27 was Rene’ Descartes (Frenchman, 1596-1650). For it was he who defined the terms and laid down the agenda for the continental rationalist school of thought. But in a sense, the world that Descartes produced, by the exercise of pure reason, was a fairly straight forward affair – Descartes does preserve â€Å"the self† in a recognizable form, as well as both â€Å"God† (even though it is not a terribly human sort of God) and the material world in a broadly speaking recognizable form (even though it might be a material world deprived of some of its more vivid and colorful attributes). Nevertheless, the worlds created by the application of the procedure of rationalism start from some self-evident propositions (like Euclid’s geometry) and then carry out processes of absolute, straight forward deduction from these self-evident propositions and what that led to in the case of Spinoza and Leibniz is something very far removed in both of them from the ordinary understanding of the world. To some extant, Descartes, by comparison with them, is in the business of saving the appearances. Whereas both Spinoza and Leibniz say that what the world is really like is very different from what it appears to the ordinary person to be. Nonetheless, there is still in both cases (Descartes and Spinoza and Leibniz) an underlying reality that philosophy can tell us something about reality even if common observation cannot. 28 His two chief philosophical works were Discourse on Method (1637) and his Meditations (1641). His ideal and method were modeled on mathematics. He is sometimes portrayed as the first modern philosopher due to his break with the traditional Scholastic-Aristotelian philosophy and for introducing a new mechanistic science. 29 In refurbishing the medieval proofs for the existence of God he was drawing upon the legacy of the Middle Ages. Like the Medieval philosophers, he was interested in metaphysics, and to the end of his life, Descartes remained a nominal Catholic. But there is a sense in which Descartes represents a new departure. Descartes (so it seems) was interested in God not for his own sake, but the world’s. God is invoked as a kind of dues ex machine to guarantee the validity of our thoughts about the world. 30 Nonetheless, Descartes takes his place as a Christian thinker by resting cognitive truth on the personal truth of God, and laying the blame for error not on God but on the exercise of the human will. Descartes successors eventually lost their reliance for truth. George Berkeley retains it by tracing directly to God all the ideas we receive from outside the mind and Leibniz by making each mind mirror eternal truths in the mind of God. But many Enlightenment thinkers, and many empiricists today who share some of Descartes’ rational ideals or the correspondence theory of truth, talk to truth independently of God as if it were a self-sustaining ideal and as if human reason were a purely objective and impersonal activity. Descartes’ failure was not in the relation he saw of truth to God, but in the lack of relation he saw between man’s rational capacity for knowing truth and his personality as a whole. 31 (F) (back to top) Fibonacci: His real name was Leonardo Pisano (Italian, 1170-1250) but he is better known by his nickname â€Å"Fibonacci† (filius Bonacci), which means â€Å"son of Bonacci. † A striking example of Fibonacci’s genius is his observation that the classification of irrationals given by Euclid in Book X of the Elements did not include all irrationals. Fibonacci is probably best known for his â€Å"rabbit problem. † Leonardo Fibonacci began the study of this sequence by posing the following problem in his book, Liber Abaci, â€Å"How many pairs of rabbits will be produced in a year, beginning with a single pair? †32 The analogy that starts with one pair of rabbits who give birth to a new pair from the first month on, and every succeeding pair gives birth to a new pair in the second month after their birth. Fibonacci shows that this leads to the sequences 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, and so on. As one can see, each term is the sum of the two previous terms. For example, 2 + 3 = 5 and 3 + 5 = 8, and the farther and farther you go to the right of this sequence, the ratio of a term to the one before it will get closer and closer to the Golden Ratio. Additionally, this same principal also applies to that of the Golden rectangle. The connection between the Golden Ratio and the Fibonacci series is fascinating, and is very simple to understand. If you take a Golden Rectangle, and cut off a square with side lengths equal to the length shorter to the rectangle side, then what remains is another Golden Rectangle. This could go on forever. You can just keep cutting off these big squares and getting smaller and smaller Golden Rectangles. Consequently, the idea with the Fibonacci series is to do the same thing in reverse. You start with a square (1 by 1), find the longer side, and then add a square of that size to the whole thing to form a new rectangle. Therefore, when we start with a (1 by 1) square the longest side is one, so we add another square to it. As a result, we have accumulated a (2 by 1) rectangle. Then the longest side is 2, so we connect a (2 by 2) square to our (2 by 1) rectangle to get a (3 by 2) rectangle. As this continues, the sides of the rectangle will always be a successive Fibonacci number, and eventually the rectangle will be very close to a Golden Rectangle. To translate in more illustrative terms, the ratio of two successive numbers in the Fibonacci series, as aforementioned, if divided by each number before it, will result in the following series of numbers; 1/1 = 1, 2/1 = 2, 3/2 = 1. 5, 5/3 = 1. 666, 8/5 = 1. 6, 13/8 = 1. 625, 21/13 = 1. 61538. The ratio that is settling down to a particular value is the golden ratio or the golden number, which has a value of approximately 1. 618034. 33 Fichte, Johann Gottlieb: Johann Gottlieb Fichte (German, 1762-1814) was one of the major figures in German philosophy in between Kant and Hegel. He was regarded as one of Kant’s most talented philosophers, but later developed a system of his own transcendental philosophy called the Wissenschaftslehre. Fichte had immense influence on his contemporaries, especially during his professorship at the University of Jenna, a position he held for five years (1794-1799) before taking up a profes.

Primark Sales Assistant Personal Qualities Essay

Now I am supervisor I will have to†¦ because a part of my new role will be†¦ * This will enable me to†¦. * If I do not †¦. then †¦.. will happen. As a retail sales assistant I had to have good communication skills which enabled me to communication effectively with customers and colleagues. Now I am a supervisor I will have to have excellent communication skills and be able to communicate clearly and concisely instructions to the retail sales assistants so they are able to complete the task to a high standard . I will also have to give feedback to retail sales assistants on their performance . If I do not communicate clearly the retail sales assistants may be unable to complete their tasks to their highest possible standard and may use the grievance procedure if they fell they do not understand the tasks/ timescales being set . As a retail sales assistant I had to have the ability to work within a team which allowed me to integrate into the department so on a day to day basis the business flowed smoothly and I was able to discuss any issues I had with colleagues. This enabled me to work effectively with the other staff members with no issues. Now I am a supervisor I will have to have be able to work and manage a team of retail sales assistants because a part of my new role will be include managing the retail assistants which includes dealing performance issues and carrying out appraisals . If I do not work within a team the sales assistants will be unclear of what is expected of them and they will become demotivated and eventually leave. As a retail sales assistant I had to have the ability to work within timescale which enabled me to always meet deadlines and keep a consistent high standard of work. Now I am a supervisor I will need excellent time management skills as I will be planning and organising regularly , this will enable me to organising the staff rota including lunch , tea breaks , overtime and holidays. If I was unable to do this the sales assistants would not get all their breaks and be over worked. As a retail sales assistant I had to have the ability to work under pressure in a busy environment which enabled me to work efficiently in prime time and handle the mass amount of customers. Now I am a supervisor I will have to be able to teach sales assistants on how to work under pressure and I will have to deal with customer complaints quickly. If I was unable to do this the sales assistants would be unable to work under pressure and there would be long queues on the tills and fitting rooms and the employees would eventually leave. As a retail sales assistant I had to have an awareness of customer care which enabled me to provide good customer service skills and ensured satisfaction of all the customers. Now I am a supervisor I will have to have excellent customer service skills because a part of my new role will be dealing with customer complaints. This will enable me to deal appropriately with customers and ensure that Primark’s reputation is not harmed. If I did not have excellent customer service skills I would be unable to respond to customer complaints in an appropriate manner and this would result in unhappy customers. Now I am a supervisor I will have to have the ability to deal with conflict and people skills which will enable me to resolve any issues between customers and retail sale assistants and confidently help customers. A part of my new role will be managing and motivating a team of sales assistants . This will include dealing with performance issues and carrying out appraisals . If I do not have good people skills and do not have the ability to deal with conflict the sales floor will be hectic because of the unresolved issues and the customers would receive poor customer service as a result of this . Now I am a supervisor I will need to have technical skills on how to use the stock ordering system and using numeracy skills to analyse sales and figures. As well as having a knowledge of the company refund policy and the ability to use the supervisor function on the tills. This will enable me to be able to order stock , analyse figures , use the supervisor function on the tills and give out refunds. If I did not have technical skills I would be unable to give customers refunds and order stock , the result of this would be unhappy customers . Now I am a supervisor I will need to have interview skills which will enable me to co-interview potential retail sales assistants along side the HR manager. This will enable me to interview the candidates appropriately without discrimination and be able to help select the best possible candidate . If I did not have good interview skills I would be unable to interview the retail sales assistants and then the best possible candidate may not be selected. Now I am a supervisor I will need to have coaching and motivational skills . This will enable me manage and motivating a team of sales assistants. This will include ensuring sales floor standards are met and managing prime time. As well as managing and motivating a team of sales assistants . This will include dealing with performance issues and carrying out appraisals . If I do not have coaching and motivational skills the employees would get demotivated and give out poor customer service which would mean unhappy customers.