Chemistry in Daily Life Essay

1.You feel hungry because of the satiety center in your brain falls short of particular hormones to function and then sends the signal of hunger. 2.You fall in love, get attracted and have a feeling of belonging because of certain monoamines present in your brain which get stimulated through nerve sensors. 3.If you have wondered, why is the sky blue, it is due to a phenomenon called the â€Å"Rayleigh scattering†, which depends on scattering of light through particles which are much smaller than the wavelength. Hence when light passes through gases, there is scattering and the sky appears blue. 4.Coffee keeps you awake because of the presence of a chemical called adenosine, in your brain. It binds to certain receptors and slows the nerve cell activity when sleep is signaled. 5.Anaerobic fermentation is also a great concept which is present in the chemistry of everyday life. It is present in yogurt, breads, cakes and many other baking products. It is the multiplication of certain useful bacteria which increase the size of the food and make it more filling and soft. 6.Soap is formed by molecules with a â€Å"head† which likes water (hydrophilic) and a long chain which hates it (hydrophobic). 7.Lactose is the main complex sugar found in the milk. It’s a pretty big compound formed by two smaller components: glucose and galactose. Such a big compound cannot get through the intestinal wall and into the bloodstream, so we need â€Å"something† to break it into smaller pieces. This â€Å"something† is an enzime named lactase. The more milk and milk products we consume, the more lactase we need. 8.The iodised salt is a necessary intake. It prevents a disease called goitre. 9.In the garden we use sprays to kill insects from attacking our plants. 10.Vermiwash is a liquid fertilizer. It isused as a leaf spray.

Entrepreneurship Versus Intrapreneurship

Entrepreneurship versus Intrapreneurship1 Veronica MAIER2 Cristiana POP ZENOVIA Abstract This paper provides a review of theoretical studies on the concepts of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, pinpointing the similarities and differences between them. Entrepreneurship continues to thrive in almost all corners of the world. Entrepreneurs are reshaping the business environment, creating a world in which their companies play an important role in the vitality of the global economy. But there is not always necessary to establish a company in order to implement new ideas.A great potential lies in applying business principles within existing organizations. Keywords: entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, human capital, business, leadership JEL classification: L26 Introduction Why are entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs suddenly more important today than before? An explanation to this question would be that the world is changing nowadays more rapidly under the influence of new technologies. T he increasing competition hinders our work. It does not suffice anymore to stand before our competitors simply driven by our will of competing; we have to bring something new to the market.Entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs play a decisive role as they help the company (newly established or existing) to engage in new business and enter new markets. The concept of entrepreneurship is seen as the process of uncovering and developing an opportunity to create value through innovation and seizing that opportunity without regard to either resources (human and capital) or the location of the entrepreneur – in a new or existing company (Churchill, 1992). 1 2 Investing in people! Ph. D. scholarship, Project co-financed by the SECTORAL OPERATIONAL PROGRAM FOR HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT 2007 – 2013, Priority Axis 1. Education and training in support for growth and development of a knowledge based society†, Key area of intervention 1. 5: Doctoral and post-doctoral programs in support of research. Contract nr. : POSDRU/88/1. 5/S/60185 – â€Å"INNOVATIVE DOCTORAL STUDIES IN A KNOWLEDGE BASED SOCIETY† Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania Veronica MAIER, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania E-mail:veronica. [email  protected] com Cristiana POP ZENOVIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Romania E-mail:cristina. [email  protected] com Volume 12, Issue 5, December 2011 971 Review of International Comparative ManagementIntrapreneurship represent the initiation and implementation of innovative systems and practices within an organization, by some of its staff under the supervision of a manager who takes the role of an intrapreneur, in order to improve the economical performance of the organization, by using a part of its resources, namely those that previously have not been used in an appropriate manner. Intrapreneurship improves the economical and financial performance of the company, by applying a more efficient use of the resources and by using a suitable motivational system for its employees (Istocescu, 2003).Similarities and differences between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship Unlike the entrepreneur, the intrapreneur acts within an existing organization. The intrapreneur is the revolutionary inside the organization, who fights for change and renewal from within the system. This may give rise to conflicts within the organization, so respect is the necessary key in order to channel these conflicts and transform them into positive aspects for the organization.Even though intrapreneurs benefit from using the resources of the organization for the implementation of the emerging opportunities, there are several motives why innovation is more difficult to implement in an existing organization, such as (Malek & Ilbach, 2004): †¢ The size: the bigger the organization the more difficult it is to have an overview of the actions of every employee †¢ Lack of communication: Specialization and separation, help in concentr ating on the areas of interest, but hinder communication. Internal competition: Internal competition amplifies the problem because instead of sharing the knowledge with others it borders the knowledge sharing. Everyone wants to keep the information for themselves. †¢ Feedback received in case of success/mistake: Costs in case of failure are too great and the reward for a successful outcome too small. Intrapreneurs must be allowed to commit mistakes, because such mistakes are an inevitable part in the entrepreneurial process. The recognition of success is also very rare.No company provides payment in advance for what an entrepreneur might accomplish, but a lot of them like to talk about the concept of intapreneurship and expected their employees to get involved and assume their risk. But finally, when motivated employees get involves and have success their only reward is a small bonus. †¢ Dullness: Many companies are slow and reluctant to change. Intrapreneurs bump many tim es into the well known sentence â€Å"We always did it this way†, which leaves little or no space to creativity.The willingness to try new things appears only when the company's shortcomings become apparent, but even so they don’t give room to an innovative leadership. †¢ Hierarchies: Organizational hierarchies compel employees to ask permission for actions that fall outside their daily duties. The more complex the hierarchy the more difficult it is to impose change. Hierarchies 972 Volume 12, Issue 5, December 2011 Review of International Comparative Management have also tended to create a short-term thinking.Employees on lower hierarchical levels have a â€Å"Victim-Mentality† due to a reduced area of action and reduced responsibilities. Those who wish to implement innovative ideas should first consider what the best option for them is: as an intrapreneur, as part of an existing organization, or an entrepreneur in a newly established company. In order to give an answer to this question an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of both concepts is required. The table below helps someone decide what type of business best suits him after confronting him with the advantages and disadvantages that await him.Table 1: Entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship: advantages and disadvantages ENTREPRENEURSHIP Advantages Disadvantages You are your own boss – independency †¢ Money pressure – giving up on the security of a regular paycheck The income increases †¢ Less benefits as the business is new You have the chance to be original You have part of excitement and adventure †¢ Long working hours †¢ Mistakes are magnified There are a lot of possibilities Salary potential – you decide upon your †¢ All decisions must be made alone own salary INTRAPRENEURSHIP Advantages Disadvantages Ability to stay in a friendly, well known †¢ Reward may not be up to expectation environment †¢ Innovation may not be appreciated Practicing your skills within an organizaaccordingly tion – lower risk †¢ You can be innovative but to a cerUsing companies resources, good name, tain limit – you are not your own knowledge boss Access to customers, infrastructure †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ After seeing the pros and the cons of each concept we think that it is useful to see also the similarities and differences between these two concepts.Morris & Kuratko (2002) are of the opinion that the literature is sometimes confusing in underlining what exactly makes an entrepreneur different from an intrapreneur and what they have in common. This is why they point out a serious a similarities and differences: Review of International Comparative Management Volume 12, Issue 5, December 2011 973 Table 2: Entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship: similarities and differences †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Similarities Both involve opportunity recognition and definition. Both require a unique business concept that takes the form of a product, process, or service. Both are driven by an individual champion who works with a team to bring the concept to fruition. Both require that the entrepreneur be able to balance vision with managerial skill, passion with pragmatism, and proactiveness with patience.Both involve concepts that are most vulnerable in the formative stage, and that require adaptation over time. Both entail a window of opportunity within which the concept can be successfully capitalized upon. Both are predicated on value creation and accountability to a customer. Both entail risk and require risk management strategies. Both require the entrepreneur to develop creative strategies for leveraging resources. Both involve significant ambiguity. Both require harvesting strategies. Differences †¢ In start-up entrepreneurship, the entrepreneur takes the risk in intrapreneurship and the company takes the risk other than career-related risk. In start-up the individual entrepreneur owns the concept and business in intrapreneurship; the company typically owns the concept and intellectual rights with the individual entrepreneur having little or no equity in the venture at all. †¢ In a start-up potential rewards for the individual entrepreneur are theoretically unlimited where in intrapreneurship an organizational structure is in place to limit rewards/compensation to the entrepreneur/employee. †¢ In a start-up venture, one strategic gaffe could mean instant failure; in intrapreneurship the organization has more flexibility for management errors. †¢ In a start-up the entrepreneur is subject or more susceptible to outside influences; in intrapreneurship the organization is more insulated from outside forces or influence. †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Source: Morris, 2000Other famous authors have also pinpointed some differences between entrepreneurship and i ntrapreneurship. Even though intrapreneurship is rooted in entrepreneurship (Amo & Kolvereid, 2005; Antoncic, 2001; Davis, 1999; Honig, 2001), there are several differences between these two concepts. In this context Antoncic & Hisrich (2003) note that while intrapreneurs make risky decisions by using the resources of the company, the entrepreneurs make risky decisions using their own resources (Antoncic & Hisrich, 2003). Intrapreneurship takes place among employees from within an organization while entrepreneurship tends to mainly be externally focused (Antoncic & Hisrich, 2003; Davis, 1999).Entrepreneurs prefer to develop tacit knowledge, in new organizations, instead of using procedures and mechanisms from other companies. On the other hand intrapreneurs work in organizations that have their own policies, procedures and bureaucracy (Antoncic & Hisrich, 2003; Davis, 1999). 974 Volume 12, Issue 5, December 2011 Review of International Comparative Management Although there are sever al differences between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, they also have some connections because intrapreneurship is consistently positioned as entrepreneurship within organizations (Antoncic, 2001; Davis, 1999). Conclusions In this paper we have reviewed the literature, which explores both entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship and the relations between them.An important outcome of the review is the identification of the similarities and differences between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship and also the advantages and disadvantages of both concepts. Nowadays, when we are facing economically difficult times, entrepreneurship and inrapreneurship are an excellent tool for breaking out of the trend trough innovation, by bringing something new on the market. Both entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship are instruments of innovation that help in creating new competencies and accessing new markets. Finally, without developing the insight towards these various aspects, no change of t he company can be realized, and changing, so adapting means in fact, the survival of that company.The value created yesterday, can mean nothing today, therefore only a sustainable company, who recognizes the difference between an entrepreneur and intrapreneur, can turn ideas and creativity into successful new values for tomorrow. Bibliography 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Amo, B. W. & Kolvereid, L. (2005). „Organizational strategy, individual personality and innovation behavior† Journal of Enterprising Culture, 13(1), pp. 7-19. Antoncic, B. (2001). „Organizational processes in intrapreneurship: a conceptual integration†, Journal of Enterprising Culture, 9(2), pp. 221-35. Antoncic, B. , & Hisrich, R. D. (2003). â€Å"Clarifying the intrapreneurship concept†, Journal of Small Business & Enterprise Development, 2003, pp. 724 Churchill, N. C. , â€Å"Reserch issues in entrepreneurship† (2003). n Antoncic, B & Hisrich, R, D, Clarifying the intrapreneurship co ncept, Journal of Small Business & Enterprise Development, pp. 7-24 Davis, K. S. (1999). â€Å"Decision criteria in the evaluation of potential inrapreneurs†, Journal of Engineering & Technology Management, pp. 295327 Honig, B. (2001). „Learning strategies and resources for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs†, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice , 26(1), pp. 21-35. Istocescu, A. (2006). Intreprenoriat si intraprenoriat in Romania, Editura ASE, pp. 67-85 Review of International Comparative Management Volume 12, Issue 5, December 2011 975 8. Levesque, M. & Minniti, M. (2006). „The effect of aging on entrepreneurial behaviour†, Journal of Business Venturing, 2006. 9. Malek, M. & Ibach, P. K. (2004).Entrepreneurship. Prinzipien, Ideen und Geschaftsmodelle zur Unternehmensgrundung im Informationszeitalter, dpunkt. verlag, pp. 105-113 10. Merrifield, D. B. (1993). „Intrapreneurial corporate renewal†, Journal of Business Venturing, pp. 383-389 11. M olina, C. & Callahan, J. L. (2009). „Fostering organizational performance. The role of learning and intrapreneurship†, Journal of European Industrial Training, 33(5), pp. 388-400. 12. Nicolescu, O. & Nicolescu, C. (2008). Intreprenoriatul si managementul intreprinderilor mici si mijlocii, Editura Economica, pp. 52-59 976 Volume 12, Issue 5, December 2011 Review of International Comparative Management

Journey to Manhood… An Analysis of “Do You Fear the Wind”

After reading â€Å"Do You Fear the Wind†, I immediately thought of a father talking to his son about becoming a man. This particular talk appears to focus on being strong, facing one's fears, and fighting one's own battles. The persona appears to be trying to educate someone on masculinity. There is an underlying theme of strength that is prominent throughout the poem. The poet, through language, imagery, and use of poetic metre, contributes to this theme by having the persona command the addressee to embrace his masculinity and â€Å"walk like a man†. Throughout the poem, the persona uses strong language when he is speaking. It is almost as if he wants to frighten his addressee. The comfortable atmosphere that is expected when one is at home talking to one's parents is not evident here. There are no soft gentle tones, or kind words of encouragement. Instead, there is this gruesome display of harsh, brutal language, and eccentric commands. It is almost frightening how the addressee is expected to obtain such warrior-like qualities in his quest for manhood. He is supposed to â€Å"slash†, â€Å"fight†, use â€Å"force†, and â€Å"be savage†. The poet, in his choice of words, inadvertently reveals his belief in the qualities that a ‘real man' should possess. The persona continues his harshness in the command, â€Å"Go wade like the crane.† It is difficult to imagine why someone would tell another person, under any circumstances, to â€Å"go wade like the crane†, but it is possible that the poet is alluding to the aggressive nature of the crane. The crane is a very intrepid bird with elaborate courting displays. Cranes are also known for their pride, as they fly with their necks outstretched rather than pulled back. The poet also uses vivid imagery throughout the poem to contribute to its theme. He creates a stormy atmosphere with the â€Å"force of the wind† and the â€Å"slash of the rain†. He, then, equates going â€Å"hungry and cold† with masculinity. The persona apparently associates being masculine with being a savage beast. Incidentally, he instructs the addressee to become animalistic and obtain certain qualities of a â€Å"wolf†. In order to be clearly understood, the persona informs the addressee that becoming a man will be no easy task. He will encounter obstacles along the way. There will be times when his â€Å"palms will thicken† and â€Å"the skin of his cheek will tan†. It is easy to picture a bloody, dirty, exhausted man returning from war in the line, â€Å"You'll grow ragged and weary and swarthy.† He may get battered and bruised, but he must persevere because the juice of this prize is worth the squeeze he must execute. The poet also contributes to the theme through his use of poetic metre. Unlike the flowery, feminine traits of iambic pentametre, common in sonnets, the poem consists of only dimetre (lines containing two feet) and trimetre (lines containing three feet). All of the lines in the poem are short and abrupt. The metre helps to create the sense of rigidity that is implied in the tone of the poem. Lines three and seven of the poem contain amphibrach foot. Amphibrach is a Greek word meaning short on either side. The poet suggests, through metric foot, that the addressee should not be cowardly, but fight back. All of the lines in the poem, with the exception of line three, contain anapestic foot. Anapest is a Greek word meaning struck back. The persona in the poem teaches a valuable lesson about embracing one's fears and subsequently overcoming them. Nothing is promised in life, and anything that is worth having is worth the struggle necessary to obtain it. It is important to understand that the challenge does not lie in never being in fear, but in learning that fear can be conquered. It will not always be easy and it may sometimes seem impossible. However challenging and tiring it may seem, one must persevere. The gratification one gets is summed up best in the lines, You'll grow ragged and weary and swarthy, But you'll walk like a man.

American History Since 1865 Annotated Bibliography - 1

American History Since 1865 - Annotated Bibliography Example Site summary: The site is very easy to navigate and the other sites mentioned in it are quite useful and provid more information about the history of women suffrage. The writing is quite academic, because of the use of formal language and the reference to other important information. The information included on the webpage itself, however, is too short. It is more of an introduction to the wider history of women’s suffrage. I believe it should have included already some more information about the key events of the suffrage history. Annotation: This website analyzes how the Treaty of Versailles contributed to the failure of the Weimar Republic. This corresponds to the material on pages 484-485 of our textbook. It discusses the territorial, military, financial, and judicial elements of the Treaty of Versailles. Scheck provides a detailed but brief analysis of what went wrong and what went right with the Treaty and how it fuelled World War II. He notes that the Treaty is judged as either too harsh or too lenient with Germany, and still, it failed to stop another war from erupting. By virtue of its inability to prevent another World War, the Treaty of Versailles cannot be treated as a genuine peace agreement that all stakeholders accept as fair and respectful of each nation’s autonomy. Site summary: The site is easy to navigate and contains academic material. The author surely wrote with knowledge and experience about the topic, since he is a college professor in history. The analysis of the weaknesses and the strengths of the Treaty provided additional knowledge on the topic that is worth exploring further. This is an important resource for readers who want to know more about why the Treaty of Versailles also contributed to World War II. The main weakness of the website is that it does not cite its sources. There should have been footnotes at least to substantiate the facts and assertions mentioned there. Annotation: This website

Political Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Political Ethics - Essay Example Elders, usually male and heads of households, have religious authority, as well as powers to decide on aspects of community life. In the case of chiefs and regional or national leaders, there is a mixing of political, religious and moral authority which makes them very powerful indeed, and able to influence the life of those underneath them for good or for evil. Culture, laws and history are traditionally preserved through oral means, which entails a lot of reciting of material, and listening, as well as ritual performances of various kinds which serve to remind those present of essential underlying principles which are used to pass judgement on particular cases. Another major difference between Western and African ways is that societal groups in Africa are usually very much smaller scale, so people actually know those who are leaders, and have some sort of relationship through kinship with them. Hereditary social structures create bonds which last over generations, and ensure a certain stability in society. Ancestor worship is an extension of the strong ties that exists within and between clans and tribes in the present time. The whole system is hierarchical, with each layer courting the approval of the one above, from the king or chief at the top right down to the family unit where the child is subordinate to the father. The main values of African societies are â€Å"good company, dignity, display, decency and wisdom,† (Magesa, 1997, p. 258) and these are embodied in the leaders in a system that the author calls â€Å"relative gerontocracy† (Magesa, 1997, p. 265) Conflict resolution is done in a consultative way, with several people sitting in judgement, and an audience listening to complaints and defences. By making the preserving of human life the main point of moral behavior, Magesa argues that African

Happy Ending Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Happy Ending - Essay Example Margaret deftly and almost brutally shatters this faade of "ever lasting love" disseminated by emotionally and intellectually lazy writers, who often care little about exploring the mechanisms of love and desire in a realistic context. The intention of the writer seems to be to boldly jolt her readers out of their crumpling perceptions about love, which instead of bolstering human relationships, abandon them in a bog of disillusionments and frustrations. Though initially feeling disoriented after going through this seemingly simple work, the reader ultimately emerges with a more through and pragmatic grasp over the emotions of love and desire, that is not childishly black and white, but grounded in an adult atmosphere, dominated by shades of grey. Love is a noble emotion that imbues any relationship with bliss and happiness. Though it is a different thing that many a times people fail to fulfill the conservative claims of love, going by the frailty and imperfection inherent in human life. 'Happy Endings' astonishingly unravels this inevitable dilemma of love through a variety of relationships considered in the narrative. Desire is an aspect of love which if exercised in isolation, degenerates into a selfish and blind quest for self gratification.

Solution for Discrimination in the University Term Paper

Solution for Discrimination in the University - Term Paper Example The issue of discrimination in the universities had earlier been noted in the University of Michigan where the Supreme Court upheld the right of affirmative action in the University’s Law School for their belief that race as a factor creates ‘’a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body’’ (quoted in Brunner). As a university which is open and friendly to all races, the New Horizon University would not like to be a victim of the Michigan University’s case. Therefore, there is a greater need to revise the affirmative action policy in order to avoid its attempts to promote discrimination by its current affirmative action. This paper is set to provide a solution to the problem of racial discrimination at the New Horizon University by revising its affirmative action policy. The result should be a University that promotes fairness, equality as it strives to achieve its goal of providing education for all without any fear or favor. It all begins when a student needs an admission to the University. There has been tendency or an iota of likelihood that the University’s admission system is the core source of discrimination in the University (Sarah 2011). ... They might also have been forced to choose courses that they may have not wished to study. The university therefore needs to make a change in its system of admission that will firstly abolish the quota system of admission. Candidates who apply to be admitted in this University should not be required to give their details of origin and race. However, their names and sex can be indicated in order to help identify their letters of offer as well as allocate them to bed a space, which is done according to sex. Possibly, the University should acquire an automated or digitized admission system. This is where candidates will automatically be admitted to the University provided they attain the minimum requirements for the University admission. This system will be open and free on the University’s website to all candidates who wish to apply. It will be in the form of a form that the candidate will be required to fill up, and once they are through and have qualified as per the requiremen ts, they will get straight admission to the University. This system will prove effective as it will alienate admission system from direct contact of the University staff. Once the students have been admitted, there will just be a physical confirmation of their details with the details they gave during application. This is where their qualification will be verified as well as their identity to avoid cases of impersonation or use of fake documents. In this case, the admission process shall have been made free from discrimination and corruption. If there is a certain limit of the number of students that the University would like to admit, the digital admission system shall be made in such a way

Economic Benefits of the Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Economic Benefits of the Law - Essay Example Sound science has not yet provided solid evidence to the claims that global warming is a critical threat (Potthast, & Meisch, 2012). Other scientists have even claimed that global warming has much attention than it deserves (Potthast, & Meisch, 2012). Global warming is likely to take place after hundreds of years and it is not yet a ticking time bomb as many put it. Many new scientists are afraid to go contrary to the global warming alarm just to protect their jobs and the alarmists take advantage of the ‘threat’ to obtain government funding for more academic research. The government has also taken advantage of the global warming ‘threat’ as excuses to increase tax. Moreover, alarmists use the ‘threat’ to attract huge amounts of donations from charitable organizations by claiming that they aim at saving the world.Additional Policies to Curb Emission of Greenhouse GasesIt is necessary that the US government employ additional policies to curb emis sion of GHGs for they are threats to the environment and public health as well. These new polices should regulate the transport industry which is major contributor of carbon dioxide to the air. The government therefore ought to encourage people to use vehicles that emit less carbon dioxide; these vehicles include electric and hydrogen powered cars. The government can achieve this by offering grants to the purchase of such vehicles in addition to providing recharging systems for the innovated vehicles. This way, Americans will develop the motivation to buy these vehicles.

Vascular Senile Dementia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Vascular Senile Dementia - Research Paper Example When people hear these things, they automatically think of their hearts. The fact is, these are the very same problems that cause vascular dementia. Other things that can cause or contribute to vascular dementia are arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, TIA, atrial fibrillation, snoring, carotid bruits, alcoholism, peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and smoking. Dementia means deprived mind and often includes a decline in memory, reasoning, thinking and mental functions. More than three million Americans now have dementia. The age of onset is usually 55-70 and the onset is usually quite abrupt. It often starts with paroxysmal deterioration of intellectual functions and this becomes clearly a succession of strokes and infarcts in the brain. There is often a fluctuation of mental status followed by generalized deterioration(Matteson, McConnell, & Linton pg. 1162). There may also be focal neurological signs such as asymmetrical reflexes, extensor plantar responses, limb weakness and focal signs like twitching plus a small step gate.

How Service Providers Ensure Consumer Retention Essay

How Service Providers Ensure Consumer Retention - Essay Example This is because it is only through customer retention that these service providers can gain a competitive advantage over other firms in the same industry. Nevertheless, the question is, how does these service providers ensure this? The purpose of this paper is to explore the strategies employed by service providers to ensure customer retention. One key element of customer retention is ensuring that customers are provided with quality goods and services (Buttle 12). It is noted that many service providers tend to strive towards the provision of quality good and services as a way of keeping their customers loyal to the company. This is because no single customer would be willing to come back to get the products or services of a company that they had previous been dissatisfied. Buttle notes that many customers would only be willing to remain loyal to those companies that provide quality products and services to their customers (14). This is one of the reasons as to why companies such as Walmart, Target and Kroger among others have large customer retention base. These retail shops attribute its customer loyalty to the fact that it provides better quality products and services, which has kept their customers coming again and again. Research shows that customer retention is not only based on provision of better quality products and services, but also on creating awareness on the existence of the products and services (Hennig-Thurau and Hansen 102). Many service providers are aware of this fact, and as a result engage on extensive advertising campaign to inform their customers of the existence of their products and services, as is the case with Walmart one of the largest grocery retail shop in the US. Walmart, for instance, does this through mailing list, local advertising, video marketing, email list and facebook among others. Customer retention is also very much dependent on customer service (Lamb 44). As a result, to ensure that customers remain loyal to the compan y, service providers always ensure that customers are provided with optimal customer service. This involves extending a helping hand to the customers all the time irrespective of the place and time. Technological advancement have made this easier to service provider as they can now do this through social media networks to keep in close contact with their customers as is the case with Target retail. This ensures that customer’s queries and problems are handled in time making them feel valued, thus building loyalty. In addition, many service providers ensure that those employed at the customer care desks are professional with etiquette, hospitable and able to handle their customers well. This is because these are the people who mainly come into close contact with customers first. They, therefore, their first impression with the customers can impact greatly on whether the customer will remain loyal or not. Take for example a situation where a customer makes an important call to the company and it is not picked by the customer care employee in time. Such behaviors makes customer feel less valued by the company and as such will seek the services of competitors who can handle them well. Making a customer feel special and valued is another factor that contributes immensely to customer loyalty. Many at time, customers prefer being valued and treated in a special way for them to remain loyal.

Children Being Tried as Adults Essay Example for Free

Children Being Tried as Adults Essay Some juveniles think that because they are minors, they can’t be severely punished just like adults. Using this thinking, many minors commit crimes thinking of little to no consequences at all. With this thinking, the â€Å"double standard† comes into place. Female juveniles think because of their gender, they can really get away with crimes. For the average american, the term juvenile delinquent is likely to conjure up the image of a teen-age male. The one-sided image is fed by media stories that all but ignore the existence of young offenders who are female. Most of the professional literature on juvenile delinquency is similarly slanted. Should minors who commit crimes be prosecuted as adults? That is indeed a topic you have to really think about twice. All crimes committed by juveniles should and must be treated in the same regard as adults. These kids go to juvenile court and get shortened sentences because of their age, thats not right. They commit big boy crimes, they have to do big boy time. When you think of the word â€Å"Juvenile† what’s the first thing you think about? The first thing that comes to my mind is crime simply because when i hear the word juvenile, its usually followed by delinquent. Until the early 19th century in the United States, children as young as 7 years old could be tried in criminal court and, if found guilty, sentenced to prison or even to death. Children under the age of 7 were thought to be unable to commit criminal acts and were therefore exempt from punishment. Reformers believed that treating children and adolescents as adult criminals was unnecessarily harsh and resulted in their corruption. A 1991 study by Virginias Department of Youth and Family Services, entitled Young Women in the Juvenile System, concluded that girls serve more time in training schools than their male counterparts, and for less serious offenses. The same pattern prevails in most other jurisdictions. (Anderson) Between 1994 and 2010, violent crime arrest rates decreased for all age groups, but more for juveniles than for adults. More specifically, the rates dropped an average of 54 percent for teenagers 15 to 17, compared to 38 percent for those between 18 and 39. And while arrest rates for violent crimes were higher in 2010 than in 1980 for all ages over 24, the rates for juveniles ages 15 to 17 were down from 1980. (Brown) Not everyone agrees that tougher crime laws for juveniles are fair or will cut down on youth crime. Many opponents of penalizing kids as adults believe that young criminals, unlike adult offenders, are still developing personal values and character. Juveniles, they say, can be more easily reformed, or rehabilitated, to turn their lives around and lead productive lives. For example, in a documentary i recently watched, all of the adults had been to jail and had a bad childhood but had changed their lives for the best. Many people have shown their disagreement with the statement above in many ways creating controversy. â€Å"Lock ‘Em Up† says one civilian/pedestrian in a street interview . â€Å"Let ‘Em off, they’re just babies† says another civilian. These two statements/opinions stirred up lots of controversy and debates on live television. In one argument a tv reporter said that It doesnt mean adolescents cant make rational decisions or appreciate the difference between right and wrong. But it does mean that, particularly when confronted with stressful or emotional circumstances, they are more likely to act impulsively, on instinct, without fully understanding or considering the consequences of their actions. Some controversy comes in with the parents thinking that their children don’t deserve to be tried as adults in their situation. For example, Paul Henry Gingerich, a 14 year old murder suspect is believed to be the youngest person in Indiana ever sentenced to prison as an adult. He was still 12 years old when he arrived here at the Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility, the states maximum security prison for children. His mother could not do much due to the severity of the situation. Over 200,000 children are charged as adults every year says a researcher at Temple University. At the age of 16, Cameron Williams lives a life far removed from the world of other teenagers. Williams, who celebrated his sixteenth birthday in jail, faces up to 110 years behind bars for second-degree attempted murder and use of a weapon to commit a felony. In November, Williams shot at a police officer in Omaha, Nebraska as he was being chased after being pulled over in a car with two other men. Hes also charged with robbery and assault in another county. Even though he is a minor. Many people are affected/involved in these juvenile cases. In many cases, the juveniles themselves are the ones who are greatly affected because they are the ones who have messed up their future. The parents are also majorly affected by children being charged as adults because they still look at their children as innocent and as babies. In a recent california case, a 15 year old boy was sentenced to 20 years on a murder charged in a maximum security facility and was beaten to death. This made the state and even parts of the nation rethink this whole â€Å"age doesn’t matter thing† when it comes to juvenile sentencing. To decrease juvenile crimes there are several prevention programs. There is a program called D.A.R.E which stands for Drug, Abuse, Resistance, Education. The program is for kids as old as 18 and as young as 11. There are also programs like after school matters which teaches children the importance of staying in school and staying on the right path, and finally P A.C.E. is Programming for Young Women in the Juvenile Justice System, which also helps to rehabilitate juveniles after they are released from jail. (Anderson, George M.) Another possible solution could be for parents to teach their children right from wrong early in their lives and for older children, spend more time with them and show them that you care about them/love them, and most of all be there for them throughout their lives. Statistics show that children who grow up in a single-parent household are nine times more likely to go to prison, eight times more likely to commit violent crimes, and ten times more likely to get hooked on drugs than in a two-parent home. After some long research I concluded that teens today dont fear the law because they dont think they will get caught. And if they do, they know they have a good chance of getting off because they are tried as teens and not adults. We have to get tougher on crime. There should be a law that everyone over eleven years old will be tried as adults. That way more teens would be discouraged from committing crimes. They would know that murder would get them a very long sentence instead of sta ying in juvenile hall until they are eighteen. If we want to cut down on teen crime, we have to have tougher laws.

Organizational Theory Essay Example for Free

Organizational Theory Essay 1. Develop your understanding of the nature of the key organisation perspectives and their related theories; 2. Demonstrate an understanding of the key perspectives and the meta-theoretical assumptions that underpin each; 3. Demonstrate an appreciation of the relationship between perspectives and their respective theories; 4. Develop research skills and the ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of various debates and arguments; 5. Gain skills in the written presentation of an argument, including the ways in which scholars incorporate and acknowledge the ideas of other writers. Criteria for assessment For this assignment your essay will be assessed on the extent to which it demonstrates: 1. Your ability to present a clear, compelling, well-presented and properly referenced argument. 2. Your ability to respond directly to the key issues raised by the question. 3. Your ability to engage with the work of other authors and extract relevant detail and explanation. 4. Your ability to assess the arguments and debates of and between other authors and incorporate them into your response. QUESTION: What are the advantages and disadvantages of a multi-perspective approach to understanding organisations? In answering the question you will need to engage with the nature of the various perspectives and how they enable and limit our understanding of organisations. In answering the essay question you must focus explicitly on the key issues identified in the question. A failure to follow this and the following instructions will result in a significant loss of marks. Presenting your answer: Please use headings with care. It is better to avoid using them in an essay but if you must, please keep them to a minimum and ensure that they enhance rather than undermine your argument. In order to construct a logical response to the question the following structure is suggested. You do not need to use the provided headings (see above comment regarding ‘headings’) and the structure itself is not mandatory. But, if you are going to use an alternative structure please ensure that it enables you to present a clear and direct response to the question asked. In answering the essay question you must focus explicitly on the key issues identified in the question. Introduction: In this section you must provide an overview of your answer to the question; provide answers to the key what and why questions of your argument/answer. These should take the form of direct responses to the key issues raised by the question. Your argument should be informed by a critical analysis of the content of the key readings. Please keep in mind that in all sections of your response you must move past description to analysis, this means providing answers to the why questions that emerge from your key statements. Exploration of your argument: In this section of the essay you need to accomplish two tasks. First, you must explore the key perspectives showing how each is underpinned by different assumptions that determine the way organisations are interpreted and understood. You must also address the theoretical implications of these various ways of seeing and how they enable and limit our understanding of organisations. Second, having demonstrated an understanding of the perspectives and their theoretical implications you need to evaluate the different arguments for and against a multi-perspective approach to understanding organisations. This evaluation must draw on and relate to your discussion about the individual perspectives and how they enable and limit our understanding of organisations. The whole response must be informed by an engagement with relevant sources, especially the textbook and the readings provided on the Blackboard. You must draw upon and evaluate academic debates and arguments. This is not to be viewed as an exercise in which you make up a response off-the-top-of-your-head. Conclusion: You must conclude with your general answer to the question. It should reiterate the key argument and answer to the question provided in the introduction and indicate to what extent it has been supported or challenged by your analysis of the debates and arguments of other authors. ADDITIONAL GUIDENCE: – This essay question has been designed to encourage you to prepare your own individual essay. There is no single ‘right’ answer. Markers will be looking for evidence that you have read broadly, including the provided material, and have synthesised the material to develop your own answer/ argument. The markers will also expect you to answer the question in your own words. The following points are to help you to understand and complete your assignment: 1. The question asks you to compare and contrast perspectives with regards to how they enable and constrain our understanding of organisations. The focus for this comparison is on the perspectives meta-theoretical assumptions and how these shape their respective theories. This part of the essay allows you to demonstrate your understanding of the course material covered in weeks 1-4. 2. Do not try to cover every single detail; you only have 2000 words so concentrate on the major points rather than fine details. 3. The focus in this essay is on analysis rather than description. Any description of your chosen perspectives must form part of your analysis and must contribute to the argument that you are making in your essay. This means answering why questions and providing supporting evidence. 4. This is not an essay asking you to consider management practices or styles of management. It is asking you to focus on ‘ways of seeing’ and thinking about organisations (different perspectives) and ways of understanding and theorising about organisations. Think of yourself as a researcher (rather than manager) of an organisation and you have a range of devices you can use to study organisations. Each device provides you with the ability to learn something different about the organisation. Your job is to explain how each of the devices provides you with different ways of understanding organisations. Do not use actual organisations as examples because it is the theory that you are seeking to demonstrate an understanding of. 5. You must use the sources provided to develop your answer. They have been selected because they provide the essential material required to answer the question. You will lose marks if you fail to use them. 6. Before you begin to look for additional reading you should first acquire a good understanding of the basics from the textbook and the required readings. Once you acquire this understanding you can then look for other material. 7. You can make use of the Web sources but they need to be reliable sources- Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information. We encourage you to make use of journal articles which can be found via a range of library databases. I suggest you use Expanded Academic ASAP (Gale) database which is located through the Databases section of the library website because it allows you to search a range of journals using keywords. Some of the keywords you should consider are: organisational culture, power in organisations, organisational change, organisations and modernism, organisations and symbolic interpretivism, organisations and postmodernism, etc. You will find an enormous amount of relevant literature. You can also do author searches which can be helpful to locate recent articles by scholars mentioned in the textbook. We also encourage you to make use of the references and further reading suggested by the textbook at the end of each chapter. ‘Citation Linker’ found through the library website is a useful tool to locate some of the journal articles mentioned in the textbook. There is a lot of information out there regarding the topic. 8. Students are NOT allowed to use lecture notes as reference materials. 9. You should look at the assessment sheet found in the course guide. It will give you a feel for the sorts of things we will be assessing. 10. You should also look at the other part of the course guide which outlines the differences between the grades -i.e. what separates a ‘P’ from a ‘C’. A key point to remember in answering the questions is not to be overly descriptive. In answering the question you will need to develop an argument. An argument requires ‘expressing a point of view on a subject and supporting it with evidence’ (see http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/argument.html) The basic components of an argument include: * Making a claim (informed by relevant organisational theories) * Supporting your claim with evidence

What Is Tolerance And How It Affects Us Philosophy Essay

What Is Tolerance And How It Affects Us Philosophy Essay Tolerance can be simply stated as the ability to accept diversity and to live and let others live. It is the act of enduring practices that are not related to you or you dont approve of. A person having a high tolerance quotient would be able to practice a fair and objective behaviour towards those whose opinions differ from his opinions. By being tolerant, you are respecting and learning from others, valuing differences, bridging cultural gaps, rejecting unfair stereotypes, discovering common ground, and creating new bonds. Tolerance, in many ways, is the opposite of prejudice. Accept all kinds of behaviors, is this what tolerance means? Of course not. Behaviors that disrespect others, like being mean or bullying, or behaviors like lying or stealing, should not be tolerated. Tolerance means to treating others the way you would like to be treated. According to me, tolerance is essential to live a healthy life. We live in a world which is a potpourri of a rich blend of cultural traditions and this leads to the major differences among the people. Being an entity of this world, we are supposed to interact with people of differing cultures, ethnicities, nationalities, races and religions. Our circle of friends, schoolmates, college-mates, office colleagues and all people around us reflects the diversity around us. In short, success in todays world depends on being able to appreciate others work and being tolerant to the differences that co-exist. Various facets of Tolerance Spiritual tolerance In Srimad Bhagvad Gita, Krishna distinguished the self from the subtle mental/emotional body. In doing so he spoke of tolerance as follows: 2:14. O son of Kunti, happiness and distress are temporary experiences that arise from perception of the senses in conjunction with the mind. Heat, cold, pleasure, and pain come and go, and you, O descendent of Bharata, must learn to tolerate them. Tolerance is required no matter how one lives, and tolerance is, after all, a virtue. Yet the virtues of tolerating are certainly greater when based on living in the bigger picture of life described in the sacred literature. The world of the mind is a small world. What is good for one may be experienced as bad for another; ones happiness is anothers sadness. Ultimate reality is bigger than the mind, and this is what the sacred literature informs us about. The beginning of realizing and living in this bigger picture beyond the duality of sense perception is tolerance. Religious Tolerance Our country, India, is a melange of various people with different religions. For all of us to survive together peacefully, religious tolerance is of utmost importance. Why are we Indians secular? This question becomes more demanding for an answer when we feel the heat of communal conflagrations. Edward Luce in his book, In Spite of the Gods, describes the modern, medieval and ancient meet in a country that is slowly shrugging off its traditional religion and caste-based divides to become more liberal. Luce describes Indias complex tapestry of religion and caste and how it affects politics and development. Racial Tolerance In the book written by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, he has discussed about the Tom Robinsons case. It was proved to everyone by Atticus in the courtroom that Tom Robinson was innocent. Even after being proved innocent, the jury announced him to be guilty because he was black. Everyone knew what they were doing was wrong but no one chose to raise his voice for him because they didnt want to change their prejudiced ways. In America, racial tolerance has become so important because of the humungous number of immigrants over there. That means that the economic future of the children of white Americans increasingly will depend on the talents of nonwhite Americans. If racial tolerance is not practiced over there, the U.S. will become a second-rate power. If they succeed in accepting the difference among the various races, America and all Americans will be enriched together. Age Tolerance Unscrupulous individualism, which seeks only ones own interests and leaves no room for solidarity, threatens the foundations of our community. Todays young generation, has the mentality of being much ahead of the older generations in all aspect. Because of it, there exists a lack of Age Intolerance in varied forms. Elderly people rarely report violence in the family and this result in a correspondingly high number of unrecorded cases. The spectrum of violence ranges from neglect and psychological ill-treatment, financial exploitation and restriction of freedom. The numerous number of old age homes, people being forced to take early retirements, age discrimination in respect of the holding of public offices etc. shows the grave lack of Age tolerance in our society. Gender Tolerance While there are non-physical differences between men and women, there is little agreement as to what those differences are. In the book Gender Inequality and Womens Empowerment written by Pramanik, Rathindra Nath Adhikary, Ashim, the author attempts to highlight the discrimination against women. In the urban areas, men do exhibit a high tolerance for women getting ahead of them in various arenas because of the respect that women have gained by all their achievements. But, in the urban areas, there exists high gender intolerance because of the inaccessibility of women to development facilities as well as their actual power positions in the society. Affect of tolerance on any Organization Tolerance is often learnt in subtle ways. Kids develop values by imitating the values of those they know the most. Parents can teach tolerance to their children and senior members of an organization can teach tolerance to their subordinates and vice versa by example. Talking to each other and respecting each other helps learn and teach about the values that each one of them has. Creating opportunities to play along with the usual official work is important as well. This lets everyone learn that everyone has something fruitful to contribute to each other. Tolerance is not about tolerating unacceptable behavior. Tolerance means to understand that everyone deserves to be respected and therefore should treat each other respectfully. Tolerance, being an independent variable can have major impact on the dependent variables like productivity, absenteeism, turnover, deviant workplace behavior, OCB and Job Satisfaction. In an organization, lack of tolerance in the behavior among the colleagues, the behavior of the senior management to their junior employees and vice versa might lead to an environment that is not conducive for working. This might lead to decrease in productivity, increase in absenteeism, increase in turnover, increase in deviant workplace behavior, lower OCB and least job satisfaction. When someone encourages a tolerant attitude, talks about their values, respects each other and treats others well, everyone else will follow in his footsteps. Literature Review Why the Nations Rage: Killing in the Name of God by Christopher Catherwood Religion is for the good for all, which is what everyone believes. But then, why in the name of religion do we see conflagrations all around. According to Christopher, it is religious nationalism. His argument is how people actually think of themselves, how they define themselves. Do they feel the environment in which they are staying is stable? When people feel their environment is economically and politically secure, their identity is also stable. Having a secure identity influences how a group deals with internal minorities and dissent. If a group thinks it is politically secure and therefore secure with their self-identity, it is easier to tolerate the existence of minorities with different identities and different allegiances. This led to the Muslim tolerance of Jews and Christians when Islam was predominant in the world, neither group was regarded as a threat, and because of that there was no reason for prejudice. Today, the status of religious minorities in the Middle East has changed drastically. When it comes to determining the causes for terrorism, then, neither religion nor nationalist self-identification can be ignored. It isnt just religion that has resulted in violence. It is not just questions of national pride, because not all nationalist conflicts have resulted in violence. Instead, the way in which the two interact, results in unhealthy jingoism, worse ethnic identification and extreme religions. Nationalism and ethnicity create an identity while religion provides a explanation for a peoples suffering, which leads to violent means for overcoming the humiliation and shame. If people understand this major working, they will be able to better understand the roots of terrorism caused by religion. Catherwoods book is a nice source for the basic understanding of the violent religion and the intolerance among the various sects. An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth Gandhiji was a person who believed in ahimsa, love and tolerance and left us all an understanding for the dignity every man. In his life, he was always in the search for truth. In the biography, My Experiments of the Truth, Gandhiji stressed his aim in life was to achieve truthfulness in thought, word and deed. Ahimsa, a form of tolerance, to him was the highest virtue. By non violence, Gandhi meant loving concern for all life. He believed that the search for truth could be possible only through tolerance and concern for others. He taught that to be non-violent required immense courage. He adopted Satyagraha based on principles of tolerance, courage, non-violence and truth. The book has revealed exceptional revelations of Gandhijis life, his beliefs, his experiences and his career. Gandhijis Autobiography gives a glimpse into the Indian culture and inspires us to live on path the towards Truth Non violence, through tolerance. ARTS-OF-LIVING: Ruut Veenhoven The paper on art of living written by Ruut Veenhoven describes the capabilities of leading a good life. And there exists different views to what a good life is, the difference in capabilities has been discussed. Ultimately, the writer comes close to the notion that to lead a good life, you need to have a positive mental health. The two views explained in the paper about the ways of living is the moralistic view and the hedonistic view. Other than that the aspect of Living up to the rules, Living up to an ideal, Living deliberately and Art of enjoying life have been described briefly. To cope up with the general problems in life, a person should be able to think of general capabilities like common sense, energy and some form of frustration tolerance. For the problem of living with rules, there are various aspects that need to be considered. When the rules are extreme, it is often described as the art of disciplining and it requires overcoming the imperfection of the flesh. This requires determination and pain tolerance. So Ruut Veenhoven in his writing has briefly touched upon how important tolerance is in transforming oneself to a better human-being and accepts a better art of living. ___________ Empirical study to analyze tolerance characteristics in different age group For the empirical study on the characteristic of tolerance that people exhibit, my approach has been to interview five set of people from different age group and different background. The first set consisting of children of the age of around 12 years, second group consisting of college going students of the age of around 20 years, third group consisting of working professionals in the age group of 25 30, fourth group consisting of housewives of the age above 30 and the final group consisting of people who are above the age of 50 and are well settled in their lives. The questions that I asked them tested their tolerance level. While asking the questions, I ensured that they were unaware of the fact that it is going to be used for this survey purpose. I interviewed around four to five people of each age group and I have listed down the general response for each specific age group below. Interview excerpts: Age group: 10 12 years, School going children. Q. How would you react if someone talks negative about you? Will you be able to tolerate it? Response: I will find him and hit him. Why should I tolerate someone talking like that about me? Q. How will you react if your younger sister/brother snatches your hair? Response: How dare she do that? I will snatch her hair too such that she never dares trying it again. Q. Would you like to have a fair girl-friend or a dark girl-friend? Response: Girls!! All are irritating. I dont want any girl friends. Q. Are you comfortable to study with your enemy in your class? Will you be able to do any task collaborating with your enemy? Response: Why should I even think of even doing anything with him? I wont talk to him. Q. How would you react if your best friend does not approve of one of your ideas? Response: Then he is not my best friend. I know, my best friend will approve of my idea. Age group: 18 20 years, College going teenagers. Q. How would you react if someone abuses you? Will you be able to tolerate it? Response: I will abuse him back twice and then ask him why he abused me. Why should I tolerate someone abusing me? Q. How will you react if your younger sister/brother snatches your hair? Response: I will hold her and block her from snatching my hair. Then will start playing with her/him. Q. Would you like to have a fair girl-friend or a dark girl-friend? Response: Obviously!!! I would like a fair girl friend, who looks like a film actress. Q. Will you be comfortable to work with your enemy for your project? Will you be able to do any task collaborating with your enemy? Response: No. I dont see a reason to work with my enemy. I have many other friends to work with. Q. How would you react if your best friend does not approve of one of your ideas? Response: Then I will prefer changing the topic and talk about something else. I will discuss my idea with someone who approve of my idea. Age group: 25+ years, Office Professionals. Q. How would you react if someone abuses you? Will you be able to tolerate it? Response: Why would someone abuse me? Even if he does, I would like to ignore him. Q. How will you react if your younger sister/brother takes out money from your purse without telling you? Response: She/he would have needed it genuinely, so it doesnt matter. But, I will definitely like to know for what purpose he/she has taken it. Q. Would you like to have a fair girl-friend or a dark girl-friend? Response: If given a option, I would like to have a fair girl-friend. Q. Will you be comfortable to work with your enemy for your project? Will you be able to do any task collaborating with your enemy? Response: That would depend on what kind of task it is. If it requires my enemies expertise, then I will collaborate with him and complete the task. Q. How would you react if your best friend does not approve of one of your ideas? Response: I will ask him what is the problem with my idea and if he has any better ideas. Age group: 30+ years, Housewives. Q. How would you react if your husband abuses you? Will you be able to tolerate it? Response: I wont be able to tolerate it. I would react back the same if there is no fault of mine. Q. How will you react if your son takes out money from your purse without telling you? Response: I would not tolerate it at all, if he takes money from my purse without telling me. Q. If given a choice, would you like to have a fair husband or a dark husband? Response: More than looks, understanding is what matters. Q. Will you be comfortable to talk to one of your enemies, if by chance you meet her in a party and were asked to do something together? Response: I wont have any problem with talking to her and completing the task but the acerbity in our relation will remain intact. Q. How would you react if your husband does not approve of one of your ideas? Response: I will ask him what the problem with my idea is and have a discussion over it. Then will judiciously decide what could be a better idea. Age group: 50+ years, well settled with their office life as well as family life. Q. How would you react if someone abuses you? Will you be able to tolerate it? Response: I dont see any reason for anyone abusing me. Still I would like to know what is the reason for someone behaving with me in that manner. Q. How will you react if your son takes out money from your purse without telling you? Response: I would talk to him for what reason he took the money and if it is for some legitimate reason, then I wont have any problem. Q. If given a choice, would you like to have a fair wife or a dark wife? Response: Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. More than the skin colour, what matters is the compatibility. Q. Will you be comfortable to talk to one of your enemies, if you did not have any other choice? Will you be able to tolerate him? Response: I wont have any problem with talking to him. There nothing to gain from any enmity, so I wont have any problem with tolerating or talking with him. Q. How would you react if your best friend does not approve of one of your ideas? Response: Best friends are for making you think more on your ideas and come up with the best ideas. I would encourage my friend to interject all the ideas I come up with so that I can finally have the best idea with me. Analysis of the empirical study For doing the analysis on the varied tolerance levels in different people, I have taken the sample set which includes people of different age groups and different backgrounds. This sample set relates to people with different level of experience in their lives and different maturity level. The responses given above are the general response that does not mean that all the school going children I interviewed gave the same response. The responses given are the ones which was the general response by the group. By observing the general responses given by the school going children we can make an inference that they have the least tolerance level. Children are not able to accept that someone abuses them, someone hurts them or talks negatively about them, they respond by retorting in the same manner. They exhibit the least tolerance to accept anything negative about them. They have least understanding of the colour differences that exists in our society along with that they generally exhibit high gender bias. It is because of the phase of their life they are going through. Children have the least collaborative skills; since they are averse of being with the people they dislike and do not accept any deviation from their way of thinking. In case of the college going teenagers, the tolerance level are a little more developed compared to school going children but still a lot more progress is needed. Even college teenagers do not tolerate abuse or negative talks about them and prefer responding in a similar manner. They exhibit high skin colour bias; all of them prefer to have a fair skinned actress as their companions not trying to understand the aesthetic factor of being in a relationship. The college teenagers exhibit being self-sufficient which is good, but what they accompany along with it is the denigration of the ability of their counterparts. They dont prefer collaborating with the people they dislike for achieving better results for any task. After gaining some work experience where you generally have to work in groups and realize the importance of collaboration, your tolerance level does improve. They do think more rationally compared to the above described samples. They generally dont revert back without analysing the situation they are in. This shows an improvement in their maturity level, but still they do exhibit a skin colour bias. Fair skin is what they still consider beautiful and prefer being with fair skinned girls. In case if they have to collaborate with people they dislike the most, for completing any critical task, they analyse the situation and decide if to join with them or not. Housewives generally exhibit a high tolerance level towards their husbands because they know that for their conjugal bond to be sustainable, many adjustments are to be made with their partner. These days, these adjustments can be observed being exhibited from both sides which was not the case few decades before when there existed high levels of gender intolerance. Housewives cannot tolerate mischievous behaviour of their children because of the high expectation from them. Mothers want to see their children becoming an ideal person ahead in their lives. Housewives display decent collaborative skills and are open to a change in their idea. People who are well settled with their office life as well as family life generally show a high level of maturity which in turn reflects in their high level of tolerance. If someone talks negatively about them, they prefer knowing the reason for such negative talks and then try to settle it by talking with the concerned person. These people are the ones who are the least biased towards skin colour. They are able to tolerate varied kinds of situations as being involved with the people they dislike for completing any task. Because of having various experiences through their age, they have realised how important tolerance is for leading a hassle free life.

Impact of Mass Media on Individuals, Society, and Culture Essay

Impact of Mass Media on Individuals, Society, and Culture Mass media, over the years, has had a profound effect on American society, on its culture, and on the individuals exposed to the media. Mass media is a form of socialization, having a long-term effect on each member of American society. While mass media targets the individual in short-term intervals, the overall influence on them has been established as the consumer moves from one impressionable age category to another. The long or short- term effects of mass media are separate and distinct when its role in America is evaluated. Mass media effects people differently because of varied amounts of exposure and formats. Mass media has a socialization function in American society, in the culture, and on individuals. Mass media has played a role of socialization in our society over the years: Socialization is a long-term process that every human being undergoes as he or she becomes a functioning member of society. Socialization refers to the internalizing of all of the lessons from many sources concerning ways of behaving that are approved or expected by society, as individuals mature through every stage in the life cycle (DeFleur and Dennis, 582). Mass media educates its customers on how to think and to act, as they are conditioned to what the media portrays as suitable responses and behavior to experiences in American life. This long- term process is established over the years as media influences the impressionable age groups, as they are gradually exposed to distinct messages of mass media. These distinct age consumer groups are targeted by mass media, and while the effects of mass media are short-term, the subtle impression is long-term. The effect on American s... ...mmunity and friends have become more concerned of their own pursuits of happiness and security. Most people perceive mass media as quite negative, cynical, and unimportant for everyday life’s survival. The media reveals the degradation of society, our government, our politicians, and our celebrities. American culture is now filled with images of drugs, violence, and sex. Works Cited Anderson, Charles. Personal Interview. 3 November 1996. DeFleur, Melvin L. and Everette E. Dennis. Understanding Mass Communication. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996. Denger, Stuart. Personal Interview. 3 November 1996. Hummon, David. Geographical Reviews: Commonplaces: Community Ideology and Identity in American Culture. Geographical Review. July 1991: 363-365. Swidler, Ann. â€Å"Inequality and American Culture† American Behavioral Scientist March 1992: 606- 629. Impact of Mass Media on Individuals, Society, and Culture Essay Impact of Mass Media on Individuals, Society, and Culture Mass media, over the years, has had a profound effect on American society, on its culture, and on the individuals exposed to the media. Mass media is a form of socialization, having a long-term effect on each member of American society. While mass media targets the individual in short-term intervals, the overall influence on them has been established as the consumer moves from one impressionable age category to another. The long or short- term effects of mass media are separate and distinct when its role in America is evaluated. Mass media effects people differently because of varied amounts of exposure and formats. Mass media has a socialization function in American society, in the culture, and on individuals. Mass media has played a role of socialization in our society over the years: Socialization is a long-term process that every human being undergoes as he or she becomes a functioning member of society. Socialization refers to the internalizing of all of the lessons from many sources concerning ways of behaving that are approved or expected by society, as individuals mature through every stage in the life cycle (DeFleur and Dennis, 582). Mass media educates its customers on how to think and to act, as they are conditioned to what the media portrays as suitable responses and behavior to experiences in American life. This long- term process is established over the years as media influences the impressionable age groups, as they are gradually exposed to distinct messages of mass media. These distinct age consumer groups are targeted by mass media, and while the effects of mass media are short-term, the subtle impression is long-term. The effect on American s... ...mmunity and friends have become more concerned of their own pursuits of happiness and security. Most people perceive mass media as quite negative, cynical, and unimportant for everyday life’s survival. The media reveals the degradation of society, our government, our politicians, and our celebrities. American culture is now filled with images of drugs, violence, and sex. Works Cited Anderson, Charles. Personal Interview. 3 November 1996. DeFleur, Melvin L. and Everette E. Dennis. Understanding Mass Communication. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1996. Denger, Stuart. Personal Interview. 3 November 1996. Hummon, David. Geographical Reviews: Commonplaces: Community Ideology and Identity in American Culture. Geographical Review. July 1991: 363-365. Swidler, Ann. â€Å"Inequality and American Culture† American Behavioral Scientist March 1992: 606- 629.

Human Cloning :: Essays Papers

Human Cloning Cloning is the reproduction of an organism created non-sexually through the genetic material of another organism (â€Å"Human Cloning†). Although human cloning has not yet happened, many people believe that it should be banned because of ethics and morals involving unnatural birth. Certain religious groups believe that cloning is unethical because it takes over God’s role of creation. Cloning is a new idea to society, and just as in the past, advances in technology and medicine have scared people because of the risks involved. This has made it easy for society to want to avoid what might happen after the process of cloning has started. However, many people do not realize how cloning can positively affect their lives. Cloning is a tremendous technological breakthrough for this century and it is an inevitable advancement for the future. One of the major benefits offered through cloning is towards couples that cannot naturally conceive a child. There are over twelve million Americans at childbearing age who are infertile, which is major problem not only in the United States, but also throughout the world (Hoon). These couples have wasted valuable time and gone through much pain with infertility treatments. Even these treatments are not very dependable and cannot guarantee positive results, so couples are still left without children (â€Å"Benefits†). Cloning embryos allows a couple not only to have a child, but also allows them to pass on their genes (Brown). This solution would provide positive results for all of the infertile couples. This is one of the problems that millions of Americans will have solved through human cloning. Aside from infertile couples, there are many other problems that human cloning will solve for people. Doctors will be able to produce the exact copy of a peoples organs and even their skin (â€Å"Benefits†). This will be a miraculous event for burn victims and those who need organ transplants. Burned victims would be able to replace their skin with artificially produced replacement tissues (Hoon). Cloning organs would save the lives of the millions of Americans waiting for liver and kidney transplants, as well.

Happiness in Aldous Huxleys Brave New World Essays -- Brave New World

When we look to define happiness, many different ideas come to mind. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary uses three definitions for happiness: good fortune, a state of well being and contentment, and a pleasurable satisfaction. In Brave New World, Aldus Huxley argues that a society can redefine happiness through the government’s manipulation of the environment and the human mind itself. The government accomplishes this by mind conditioning throughout the process of maturing, keeping a caste-based society, and obliterating problems. The government thus defines happiness as the absence of all conflict. This differs from happiness as the American society sees it: the ability to pursue and enjoy individual desires.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The conditioning of minds allows the government to impress its ideas upon maturing children. The process used is hypnopà ¦dia, or repetition of sayings during sleep. After many repetitions of one phrase, the idea is hardened within the human mind, proving most difficult to undo. Evidence of this method to provide artificial happiness surfaces in both Lenina and Bernard’s actions. Huxley states this coldly during Lenina’s trip home with Henry Foster, â€Å"‘What a hideous color khaki is,’ remarked Lenina, voicing the hypnopà ¦dic prejudices of her caste† (62). Khaki is a color worn by lower castes in the society and the higher castes are taught not to associate with them. Bernard’s hypnopà ¦dic lessons did not work as well as most. He sees everything in this artific...

Rene Descartes: a Great Thinker of the Western World Essay

â€Å"I think therefore I am† are the words that come to mind as we encounter the subject of Descartes. We see man full of knowledge and ideas ready to expand and break free. His interest in knowledge and the acquisition of truth itself brought him to doubt all around him, including God and his very own existence. He is even considered to be the Father of Modern philosophy because he guided the thinkers of his time to deviate from the Scholastic-Aristotelian method. This is due to his belief that the scholastic method was prone to doubt since it relied on sensation as the source for all knowledge, meaning that teachings adhered to traditional methods posed by the church. However we cannot simply look at Descartes without knowing anything about his background and inspirations. Rene Descartes is credited with being the father of modern philosophy. Not only is he accredited to being a man of extraordinary genius, but his ideas changed the way western European thinkers viewed theology. Having his mother die after he was born caused young Rene to live with his grandmother in La Haye. He was sent to a Jesuit college called La Fleche, where he studied grammar, rhetoric, and a philosophical curriculum of verbal arts and logic. He was disappointed in the courses he had to take, except for mathematics, thus explaining his infatuation with the subject along with physics. Either way he left La Fleche with a very broad liberal arts education in 16141. He received his degree and license in civil and canon law at the University of Poiters. From there, Descartes became a volunteer for the army of Maurice of Nassau in the Netherlands during the summer of 1618. It is said that before he went to Netherlands, Descartes had lost all interest in science and mathematics and exp erienced a period of depression or mental breakdown. However while at Nassau, he met the most important influence of his early adulthood: Isaac Beekman3. It was Beekman who re-ignited Descartes interest in science and opened his eyes to the possibility of applying mathematical techniques to other fields outside of the pre-determined mindset. A push was all that Descartes needed to make him set his eyes on a new method of scientific findings. For a while, he was on and off theories, starting and never finishing them, including his Rules for the Direction of the Mind. He moved to the Netherlands yet again in 1628 in order to find a place full of peace and quiet where he could think. He tried to run away from Paris and its city full of distractions. It is here that Descartes began to work on â€Å"a little treatise,† which took him approximately three years to complete, entitled The World3. The World constituted in showing the mechanisms behind not using the Scholastic principles of substantial forms and real qualities3 and in giving an account for the origin of the universe, nature and the human body. He also stated here that he agreed with the heliocentric theory proposed by Galileo, that the sun is the center of the universe rather than the earth. He chose not to publish his work after learning of Galileo’s condemnation; thus his work was not seen until his death. He did decide, however, to publish his Geometry, Dioptrics, and Meteors which he prefaced with a brief Discourse on Method. He saw this method as something that could be applied to almost anything; but mostly to philosophy. Before Descartes, there was Aristotle and previous other thinkers who believed in syllogisms or basically deductive reasoning that can be used as an extremely subtle, sophisticated, or deceptive argument. For example syllogisms’ usually follow something along the lines of â€Å"All A is C; all B is A; therefore all B is C3.† Descartes did not believe in syllogisms because their conclusions merely brought forth a probable statement which could not be easily proven. â€Å"Since a statement is probable because it is a statement† this just caused confusion. In order to avoid these confusions, Descartes sought geometry and absolute certainty. For example, in geometry a theorem is deduced from a set of clear, simple, undeniable truths3 that are universally agreed with, thus we can deduce that these undeniable truths are supported by deduction and reasoning. As Descartes laid this basis down, he found them promising due to the idea that geometry is clear, distinct and therefore it is easily understood. The idea behind geometry is not just simple speculation; instead it is something that is agreed upon, unlike the confused ideas of sensation. Even though he was able to prove his theories in geometry, he was unable to provide the same way of thought to human thinking, because of the people’s skepticism. To solve this he came up with Meditations on first philosophy. In this work, he laid out arguments doubting his previous beliefs3, since they did not apply to human thought. He observed that the senses can be deceiving. For example your vision can deceive you by letting you believe that there is water on the road, even though it is just a formulation of radiated heat. Moreover, although this may apply to sensations derived under certain circumstances, doesn’t it seem certain that â€Å"I am here, sitting by the fire, wearing a winter dressing gown, holding this piece of paper in my hands, and so on†? (AT VII 18: CSM II 13)1. His point was that even though senses do deceive, you reading this paper right now may not be based on true sensations, instead it may be based on those inside a dream. Since we cannot prove that we are dreaming at this moment, Descartes concluded that any belief based on sensation had to be doubtful; because it could all very well be a dream, thus disproving the syllogism view. This in turn does not pertain to mathematical beliefs. We all know that 2+3=5, whether we are asleep or awake, this is proven to be true and thus accepted. However, Descartes saw it as a predetermined belief’ that 2+3=5 was not really reasoning or sensing on his own but that God was conspiring against him to make him wrong about everything including math. And since God is the one conspiring against him, then God ceases to exist, meaning that there is a mean demon waiting for him to fail. After such statements, Descartes finds himself even doubting these beliefs, thus leaving him in a whirlpool of false beliefs3 by the end of his First Meditation. He does however recognize that these are all just exaggerated conceptions, which give him the opportunity to rid himself of all preconception beliefs, thus being open to accept future undeniable truths. It seems that Descartes was trying to clear his mind of what he had learned from the past, putting it all into one thought (or First Meditation) this writing seems to have helped him open his mind, and become more accepting to new theories and consider their possibility instead of discarding them. In his second meditation Descartes tries to find absolute certainty in his most famous reasoning: â€Å"Cogito ergo sum†: â€Å"I think therefore I exist.† These words marked the end of Descartes doubt and open a passage where he can seek to discover the nature of his own essence, to demonstrate the existence of God, and to provide the criterion to guide the mind in search of truth2. Here not only does he experience the â€Å"I exist† shock, but he realizes what he has left behind from the previous theory. All belief in sense has been left behind from the First Meditation, and now the belief of: â€Å"if I exist† comes to mind because he can now see that in order for the demon to deceive him he must be real. The thought of â€Å"I exist, and I am real† are now embedded in the mind2. This new embodiment allowed Descartes to see the mere fact of his thoughts being engaged in activity, thus seeing a thinking â€Å"I† being combined with â€Å"I exists becomes an absolute certain truth. The ‘therefore’ is something that is embodied by Descartes, meaning the consideration of himself and his existence as something immediate. Lastly, we review the ‘I exist’ meaning that since â€Å"I think and reason,† it must mean that I must be present to think therefore I exist. Descartes, in the end, at around his Sixth Meditation3 determines what he is in terms of the phrase: A thinking thing. A thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, refuses, that imagines and also feels2. Thus, Descartes sees his thoughts as operations all occurring within the will, the intellect and the imagination, all which are occurring inside the thoughts of the mind. At the end of his theory, Descartes sees that he does have a mind and indeed also has a body, and that he is nothing more than a thinking thing. However, he does not believe that his mind and body are connected, in fact his belief is that they are separated from each other and that he can clearly conceive each of them separately and thus whatever he â€Å"thinks god can set asunder2†. Descartes does not solve this conflict of mind and body, what he does is condensing it. By saying that a human is the compound of mind and body, he was able to transition his philosophy into the biology of the body itself. He says that mind and body interact at the pineal gland which controls the perception and motion of the body. The nest step in Descartes theoretical strategy was to prove God’s existence. He decided to do this by providing proofs, such as those used in geometry. The first base is that there is an idea of a supreme perfect being, the second is based on the cause of one’s very existence as an imperfect being and the third is the idea that a supreme perfect being must have in itself the necessity to exists2. Because something cannot come from nothing, his existence has to come from someone or something that created him, (a bigger power,) thus if he exists and he has to have been created by another existing force then that means that such a force has to also exist1&3. For example, if you are boiling a pot of water, that pot is being boiled by the heat source coming from underneath the pot, meaning that something (in this case the kitchen) has to provide an specific amount of heat, or at least be hot enough to provide heat to the cool un-heated pot. Same way if the kitchen did not have heat, then the water would not boil, because something cannot give what it does not have3, this is called the Casual Adequacy principle. In the end, god has to be real since he created a real being, in this case Descartes. God exists because I exist, and I exist because the existing perfect being of god created me, thus I was given existence by someone already possessing it. At last, Descartes was able to prove that eliminating predetermined beliefs helps those in philosophy think and accept rationality outside of society’s box. As a philosopher, he was able to prove his existence and reality and God’s existence as well by following steps in order to reach complete satisfaction with his theories. As a mathematician, he was able to introduce ideas of geometrical coordinates and use them as an application in his more profound thoughts. Of course Descartes’ extensive philosophies exceeded the ones discussed in this paper, even though his most influential ones were covered.

Macduff †Banquo Comparison Essay

Dwight D. Eisenhower once said â€Å"peace and justice are two sides of the same coin†. Peace and justice are tied together, both must exist in harmony. In Macbeth we quickly see the injustice of murder destroy the peace of Scotland. It would take a force to bring Macbeth to his knew and order back into Scotland, setting the stage for Banquo and Macduff. Banquo and Macduff play large yet different roles in the demise of Macbeth. Banquo mentally troubles Macbeth causing his mental state to deteriorate, while Macduff capitalizes on the weakness and acts upon it. You will see examples throughout the book: when Banquo stays with Macbeth hiding his suspicion while Macduff rides away telling others of the murder, when the ghost of Banquo haunts Macbeth while Macduff refuses to attend the feast at all and finally throughout the play we see the prophecy of Banquo’s sons driving Macbeth mad; Macduff using Macbeth’s reliance on the witches as a weakness to attack and kill him. Banquo’s suspicion causes Macbeth to worry, not knowing that Macduff had left with his own suspicions. We see the different approaches of the two characters, Banquo hiding his thoughts and sticking close instead of openly discussing his thoughts like Macduff. Banquo has clued in on the connection between the wyrd sister’s prophecy and the murder of Duncan, questioning Macbeth’s morality â€Å"†¦ King, Cawdor, Glamis, all†¦ I fear / thou played’st most foully for it† (3. 1. 1-3). Banquo contains his distrust, watching Macduff from the shadows as he leaves the clearer target. Macduff was the first to find the body of Duncan and does not worry about his own safety, discussing his knowledge with Ross and the Old Man. We see his wording in act 2 scene 4 as doubtful, not believing Macbeth’s reasoning for killing the guards in Duncan’s room. Macbeth still does not see the works of Macduff, who does not attend his crowing ceremony, and is strictly focused on Banquo. He admits to having â€Å"fears in Banquo [which] stick deep† and plans on disposing of him (3. 1. 50-51). Macbeth knows he can no longer trust his once best friend as paranoia and insanity begin to set in. This distraction is the reason Macduff is given leeway to spread his distrusts through the group of secondary characters. In effort, Macbeth has made up his mind to continue onwards with fulfilling the prophecy, a decision that will literally haunt him greatly. The ghost of Banquo terrorizes Macbeth at his banquet, making him act a fool in front of all the thanes. Macduff denies Macbeth publicly by not attending, thus upsetting him greatly. Banquo’s role is further shown to be private or solely concentrated to Macbeth’s knowledge, giving him an insane outer appearance. Macbeth’s mentality only feeds the fire in Macduff as he gains more and more reassurance from the onslaught of murders. We even see his own wife accuse him of â€Å"displac[ing] the mirth, break[ing] the good meeting / with most admir’d disorder† (3. 4. 109-110). Banquo has terrified Macbeth, making his cheeks â€Å"†¦blanch’d with fear† (3. 4. 116) sending him looking for an outlet; the absence of Macduff. He admits to having â€Å" a servant fed â€Å" (3. 4. 132) in all of his thanes houses and knows that Macduff has denied the invitation on purpose. He takes this as an extreme insult, planning to kill Macduff’s family as a punishment. This section has shown Macbeth as very weak and incapable of rational thought processes, taking the absence of a thane as the reason to kill. The fate of Macduff’s family is set in stone, much like Banquo’s, yet it will not grant him anymore safety and will in fact lead him searching for security. Macbeth goes back to the wyrd sisters to gain some more insight on the prophecy. He goes out of desperation, hoping that his fate still holds true to what he has been told and the throne will be forever in his family. Banquo’s sons have forced the hand of Macbeth, pleading the witches not for the truth, but to hear what he wants. The haunting of Banquo’s children has led to the murder of Macduff’s. Action caused by children has connected Banquo and Macduff, as the newly deceased and the future kings will not let Macbeth free. Macbeth takes the witches new prophecy not for what it is, but as what he wants it to be. His head has been inflated, and no longer worrying about the throne’s next owner. Macbeth is at a point where he has nothing to lose and after his wife dies, he is at wits end. Macbeth knows the fate of his kingdom, and will â€Å"die with harness on [his] back† (5. 5. 51). He had thought he was invincible, Banquo had been a nagging recurrence and had punished him mentally. Exhausted, he chose to face and die by the army and Macduff, his true match. Through different ways, Macduff and Banquo were able to break Macbeth both mentally and physically, bringing his reign of terror to an end. Banquo, through suspicion was able to distract Macbeth, his ghost returning, constantly reminding him of his deeds. Macduff, meanwhile, gathered his thoughts and fought Macbeth every step of the way. Using rational methods, he was able to take down a very irrational man. Banquo had written the book all along, all he had to do was wait for Macduff to publish it.

Language Development in Exceptional Circumstances

â€Å"Ever since attempts have been made to describe and explain normal language development, references to exceptional circumstances have been made. † (Bishop & Mogford, 1988: v) Language development in exceptional circumstances refers to cases of child language acquisition which are considered as departing from the norm. In the following, five types of exceptional circumstances will be taken into account; that is: the case of neglected children, the case of hearing children brought-up by deaf parents, the case of bilingual children, the case of twins, and the case of children affected by Williams syndrome. This is by no means a full consideration of all existing exceptional circumstances for language development; rather it is a selection of the cases which I find most revealing to gain insight into normal language development. Indeed, in the light of the aforementioned exceptional circumstances, we will be able to draw understandings about language development in its unexceptional nature, such as its relationship to environmental factors (I) and to other cognitive devices (II). First of all, exceptional circumstances can provide important evidence relevant to the role played by the verbal environment in child language acquisition. Neglected children, hearing children brought-up by deaf parents, bilingual children, and twins, are all faced to a certain form of restricted verbal stimulation. For instance, Marie Mason (1942) reported a case that concerned a neglected child, Isabelle, who had been kept in seclusion with her deaf and mute mother because she was illegitimate. They spent their time in a dark room shut away from the family who had rejected them, and Isabelle was completely deprived of language until she gained her freedom at the age of 6. Children of deaf parents are also limited in their exposure to spoken language, although in the context of otherwise normal social, communicative and environmental stimulation. As for children who are brought-up bilingual and as twins, verbal stimulation is similarly impaired, the former because their exposure to one particular language is reduced ecause they must deal with two languages simultaneously, and the latter because one family’s linguistic resources are shared between two infants in the same developmental stage. Yet, just as Isabelle went on to develop normal language in only 18 months’ time after gaining her freedom (Skuse, 1988: 33), children of deaf parents, bilingual children, and twins, also develop normal language over time, albeit the adverse circumstances. This provides evid ence of resilience of language acquisition. Indeed, the fact that these children, despite such unfavourable circumstances, ultimately achieve linguistic proficiency (not unlike an ordinary child) tells us that children learn language despite a restricted language input, meaning that innate language abilities must have a substantial role in normal language acquisition. In this sense, exceptional circumstances indicate that the principles of language development advocated by behaviourists are quite inadequate to explain how the child develops language, and provides evidence in favour of Noam Chomsky’s theory of Universal Grammar. Conversely, however, exceptional circumstances do provide some evidence of the importance of the verbal environment for normal language development. For instance, Genie, another neglected child who was discovered at 13 years of age after having been locked in a small room and beaten by her father whenever she uttered a sound, never fully recovered from the deprivation of language in her early years. Although she is now 55 years-old, she never acquired true linguistic competence. This gives evidence for the existence of a time window during which external influences have a significant effect. Just as songbirds will learn to sing the appropriate song for their species only if they hear that song in the first few weeks of life, there is a critical period for the child to successfully develop language† (Bishop & Mogford, 1988: 252). This ‘critical period’ is set from birth to sometime between 5 and 7 years of age depending on the individual, which is why Isabelle –who was 6 when liberated– developed language readily, while Genie –who was 13– did not. Therefore, exceptional circumstances provide insight into a critical period for language development after which failed experiences in infancy cannot be compensated. Moreover, exceptional circumstances can also provide insight into the relationship between language and cognition. In this section, we shall consider the case of children affected by Williams syndrome. Williams syndrome is characterized by a sophisticated use of language with complex syntax and adult-like vocabulary in individuals who otherwise demonstrate no evidence of concrete operational behaviour on Piagetian tasks, and whose overall level of mental development is below that of a 7-year-old (Jones & Smith, 1988: 248). In other words, Williams syndrome children are mentally retarded, yet they demonstrate impressive lexical semantic abilities, complex expressive morphology and syntax, and good metalinguistic skills. For instance, three Williams syndrome adolescents were investigated: Van (age 11), Crystal (age 15), and Ben (age 16). Their full-scale IQ scores on traditional intelligence tests were: Van, 50; Crystal, 49; and Ben, 54. However, their scores on formal tests of language were higher than performance on non-language cognitive tasks (Bishop & Mogford, 1975: 182). This relative sparing of language in the face of other cognitive impairments is particularly revealing about the relationship between language and cognition in that it implies that there is dissociation between language and other cognitive functions. Similarly, it may be particularly striking that, in patients of global aphasia, which is a severe language disorder, other cognitive skills remain functioning, affirming that language faculty is indeed a separate domain (Saffran et al). Therefore, the exceptional case of Williams syndrome children, and the rather converse instance global aphasia, indicate that normal language development is not directly related to intelligence, hence why language is acquired rapidly and uniformly by all ‘normal’ children, irrespective of intelligence. In conclusion, language development in exceptional circumstances stands as a window into the analysis of normal language development. In the words of Gary Dell: â€Å"the inner workings of a highly complex system are often revealed by the way in which the system breaks down† (Baars, 1992: 5). Indeed, throughout this essay, the study of exceptional circumstances has provided us with evidence that, although language input has an important role in language development, it may be limited, given the Poverty of Stimulus argument. The study of exceptional circumstances has also evidenced the existence of a critical period for language development and made the issociation between language and other cognitive functions clearer. Nonetheless, one must bear in mind that a more in-depth study of exceptional circumstances, for instance one that would take into account infantile autism or Down syndrome children, would certainly provide us with further information about the components of normal language development. Unfortunately, given the time limitations for the realization of this essay, these aspects will be left for o thers to analyse.