Descriptive on Crashing While Cycling

Acquainted with the night I have been acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain-and back in rain I have out walked the furthest city light I have looked down the saddest city lane I have passes by the watchman on his beat And dropped my eyes unwilling to explain Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost I slowly emerge from my slumber to the escalating sound of my alarm clock. The door creaks as I turn with the flashlight around the corner. I navigate my way to the front door and slowly close it behind me. I put on my skin -tight cycling kit and start to push my bike to the gate.I look up and am acquainted with the still dark night sky staring at me†¦ The air is still misty and a slight breeze hits to signal the storm ahead. I clip in and slowly start to free wheel down the gradual hill. I meet up with the group and we greet one another. We are all advised of what the different non verbal gestures imply and to be vigilant on the road at all times, and then we set off in groups. As we cycle through the suburbs, we turn our heads from side to side looking down the deserted roads, trying not to attract attention.Our pupils are still exposed to the pitch black of the night and are getting bigger and bigger trying to absorb as much light as possible to see the way forward. We stride forward two abreast. Our lungs are scorched with the ever growing cold of the air, piercing them grasping at every gasp of air. Lights are now starting to appear around us, signalling that the city is slowly waking up. The sky is still dark and we have switched on our bicycle lights to illuminate our way. Now, for miles ahead we can see the blinking of red lights in the distance speeding past us.I meet up with the main road and start to wipe the sweat from my brow and adjust my glasses. The air is chilly and I see the watchman on his beat wrapped in a blanket trying desperately to keep warm. We near our first climb of the morning cycle. I lock my legs and a low gear for t he optimum power necessary to tackle this overwhelming sight in front of me. As I descend down the ever so steep hill, I gain momentum with every rotation of my wheel and crouch down to gain more speed. I pull my legs up to lessen the drag and gain even more peed. The bike starts to become unstable and, with the slightest movement the bike starts to sway to a great degree I hold on with great force in a desperate attempt not to lose control. I am about to hit the trough of the slope and loosen my posture when I hit a pot hole. As I career through the air like a missile locked onto a target, I make contact with the smooth, yet abrasive tar. I quickly try and unclip to balance myself but it is no use I have no platform to do so and just prepare for the worst.As I hit the deck, my tyres are the first to go with a huge pop. I now have no control over what is coming next. The rims buckle and warped from the immense pressure and I am going down. I try to put my hand in front of me to brea k the fall but it isn’t well thought out and, with a huge thud, my arm simply folds into itself and scraps across the floor at lightening speed. My shorts are quickly getting shredded, and soon my thigh will be too. Everyone is trying to dodge me and another cyclist in his effort to avoid me came to a halt colliding into a barrier.The only thing going through my head at the time is that my bike is now no more than a mangled piece of scrap metal. My bruised and battered body lies helplessly on the asphalt caged under my bicycle. My leg is in agony which is exacerbated by the bike lying on it. I scream for help hoping that I will be heard. I hear from a distance the screeching of tyres and the unclipping of cleats. The team is soon racing towards me and I can hear them shouting in the distance. I slowly drift off looking up to the stars†¦

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Computer

I tend to agree that young children can be negatively affected by too much time spent on the computer every day. This is partly because sitting in front of the screen for too long can be damaging to both the eyes and the physical posture of a young child, regardless of what they are using the computer for. However, the main concern is about the type of computer activities that attract children. These are often electronic games that tend to be very intense and rather violent. The player is usually the hero of the game and too much exposure can encourage children to be self-centered an insensitive to others. Even when children use a computer for other purposes, such as getting information or emailing friends, it is no substitute for human interaction. Spending time with other children and sharing non- virtual experiences is an important part of a child's development that can't be provided by a computer. In spite of this, the obvious benefits of computer skills for young children cannot be denied. Their adult wold will be changing constantly in terms of technology and the internet is the key to all the knowledge and information available in the wold today. There fore it is important that children learn at an early age to use the equipment enthusiastically and with confidence as they will need these skills throughout their studies and working lives. I think the main point is to make sure that young children do not overuse computers. Parents must ensure that their children learn to enjoy other kinds of activity and not simply sit at home, learning to live in a virtual word.

Importance of Information Communication Technology in Technical Education

IMPACT OF THE USE OF INTERNET ON TECHNICAL COLLEGE VOCATIONAL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA ABSTRACT This study is designed to determine the impact of the use of internet on technical college vocational students’ academic performance in Ogun State, Nigeria.The purpose of the study among other things focuses on identifying the attitudes of students toward the use of internet; to determine the purpose of internet usage by students; to find out the intensity of internet usage by students and to find out whether the use of internet improves the academic performance of students or not. Survey method was adopted the research. Data were collected from one hundred and forty (140) technical college students in seven (7) technical colleges Ogun State, Nigeria. Means and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions.Interviews were also conducted with students to compliment the data collected The findings of the study reveals that most of th e secondary school students access computer connected to the internet through the use of the cyber cafe or settings open to the public; the students spend more of their time outside the school and their homes to use the internet; female students are more disposed to the use of the internet for social networking than their male counterparts; most of the special sites students visit on the internet are not for academic engagements or school work; most of the devices used are connected to the internet through the use of modem and the use of internet technology show significant relationship with students academic achievement and it motivates the students to get along with schoolwork. The study however recommended that technology should be embraced in all technical colleges in Ogun State, Nigeria.KEYWORDS: World Wide Web, Internet, Technology, Modem, and Devices INTRODUCTION Technical colleges of today have come of age in this new information revolution. From the time they started elemen tary school, the World Wide Web existed. Many of them were using the Web early in their school careers. Technology is now used throughout the world for gathering information, keeping records, distance learning, and global collaboration for lifelong learning and work. Its pervasive use cut across almost all aspects of modern life including business, industry, communication and entertainment warrants continued efforts on the part of educators to positively prepare students for participation in a technological world.The Internet is one of the greatest recent advancement in the world of information technology and has become a useful instrument that has fostered the process of making the world a global village. The internet provides several opportunities for the academia. It is a mechanism for information dissemination and a medium for collaborative interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic limitation of space. The word Internet is derived from two words: â€Å"international† and â€Å"network†. The Internet therefore can be defined as an international computer network of information available to the public through modem links so internet is a worldwide system of linked computers networks.The Internet is the world’s largest and most widely used network. It is an international network of networks that is a collection of hundreds of thousands of private and public networks all over the world. There are rich and varied learning experiences available on the Internet that would have been inconceivable just a short while ago. The investigators observed that research reports and articles on the effectiveness of technology in the student-learning environment reflect a variety of opinions and conclusions. On one end of the continuum, supporters cite research studies showing the positive impact of technology on student learning. On the other end, critics present Importance of Information Communication Technology in Technical Education IMPACT OF THE USE OF INTERNET ON TECHNICAL COLLEGE VOCATIONAL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA ABSTRACT This study is designed to determine the impact of the use of internet on technical college vocational students’ academic performance in Ogun State, Nigeria.The purpose of the study among other things focuses on identifying the attitudes of students toward the use of internet; to determine the purpose of internet usage by students; to find out the intensity of internet usage by students and to find out whether the use of internet improves the academic performance of students or not. Survey method was adopted the research. Data were collected from one hundred and forty (140) technical college students in seven (7) technical colleges Ogun State, Nigeria. Means and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions.Interviews were also conducted with students to compliment the data collected The findings of the study reveals that most of th e secondary school students access computer connected to the internet through the use of the cyber cafe or settings open to the public; the students spend more of their time outside the school and their homes to use the internet; female students are more disposed to the use of the internet for social networking than their male counterparts; most of the special sites students visit on the internet are not for academic engagements or school work; most of the devices used are connected to the internet through the use of modem and the use of internet technology show significant relationship with students academic achievement and it motivates the students to get along with schoolwork. The study however recommended that technology should be embraced in all technical colleges in Ogun State, Nigeria.KEYWORDS: World Wide Web, Internet, Technology, Modem, and Devices INTRODUCTION Technical colleges of today have come of age in this new information revolution. From the time they started elemen tary school, the World Wide Web existed. Many of them were using the Web early in their school careers. Technology is now used throughout the world for gathering information, keeping records, distance learning, and global collaboration for lifelong learning and work. Its pervasive use cut across almost all aspects of modern life including business, industry, communication and entertainment warrants continued efforts on the part of educators to positively prepare students for participation in a technological world.The Internet is one of the greatest recent advancement in the world of information technology and has become a useful instrument that has fostered the process of making the world a global village. The internet provides several opportunities for the academia. It is a mechanism for information dissemination and a medium for collaborative interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic limitation of space. The word Internet is derived from two words: â€Å"international† and â€Å"network†. The Internet therefore can be defined as an international computer network of information available to the public through modem links so internet is a worldwide system of linked computers networks.The Internet is the world’s largest and most widely used network. It is an international network of networks that is a collection of hundreds of thousands of private and public networks all over the world. There are rich and varied learning experiences available on the Internet that would have been inconceivable just a short while ago. The investigators observed that research reports and articles on the effectiveness of technology in the student-learning environment reflect a variety of opinions and conclusions. On one end of the continuum, supporters cite research studies showing the positive impact of technology on student learning. On the other end, critics present

Mega events on their effct Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Mega events on their effct - Essay Example This work will take into consideration the Muslim event of Hajj as the central theme of discussion and aim to find the effect of Hajj on tourism industry in the region where this pilgrimage occurs annually. Literature suggests further research in the area of consumer behaviour in mega events tourism (Jago, 1997: 113). On the basis of this, it is important to understand the behaviour of those who attend such mega events. Value perceptions have been approached in mega events (Doukas, 2007: 62). However, further research is required to better understand religious mega events attendees’ behaviour, and particularly, value perceptions and place attachment. As far as the research gap is concerned, academic research to highlight the importance of place attachment regarding the holy places of Saudi Arabia is scarce. It is well-known that religion can contribute significantly to place attachment and this attachment is learned through performing rituals and visiting places (Mazumdar, & Mazumdar, 2004: 385-397.). Muslims from all over the world gather together at the holy cities of Saudi Arabia for performing rituals and visiting their sacred places; an act that contributes to their place attachment. It should be understood that place attachment in this case is different from others, since religious emotions are involved in this case. Therefore, place attachment serves additional purpose in this case. If tourists have a purpose of visit, other than entertainment, the behaviour and choices may differ. Since Muslims visit Saudi Arabia due to their religious beliefs, they have a special kind of relationship with this place. Research should be directed towards revealing the differences in behaviour of people if they have a place attachment different from the normal ones. Additionally, an analysis of the perceived value of this form of tourism is an area that has

Report on an operational problem from the real world with a focus in Essay

Report on an operational problem from the real world with a focus in FINANCE - Essay Example The company has been forced to recall the cars because part of the engine cylinder overheats and cracks due to stress. This causes oil leakages onto the exposed, hot engine parts and causes fires. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reported at least thirteen engines Ford engine fires in the United States and one in Canada caused by cracked cylinder heads. Approximately 11,500 cars that were recalled in July 2012 were splitting and leaking gasoline due to fault fuel lines (Jensen, 2013). In 2013, Ford had recalled almost all Escape models for carpet padding, which interfered with the use of the brake pedal. Other reasons for increased recalls by Ford include fixing engine plugs leak and fixing child locks. The Supply Chain Management tools that can be applied to the problem include sigma-sigma, lean manufacturing, and assembly line balancing. The company expects to reduce the number of car recalls by 87% after applying the three management tools. Keywords: Ford Motor C ompany, cars, Six-Sigma, defective Background Information The Ford Company recalls problem was retrieved from a business articles. The author of the article was Christopher Jensen. The article is entitled Ford Discloses Two New Recalls for the 2013 Escape and was published on November 27, 2013 by the New York Times news agency. Ford Motor Company is an American International automaker with headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan (Flory, 2013). The company manufactures and sells commercial vehicles under the Ford brand name and luxurious cars under the Lincoln brand. Ford invented strategies for large-scale manufacturing of cars and management of an industrial workforce using elaborately engineered manufacturing sequences characterized by assembly lines. The company’s net income as at the end of December 12, 2012 was US$ 5,665,000 (Flory, 2013). According to Flory (2013), Ford Motor Company is the second-largest automaker in the United States, and the fifth worldwide based on the 2 012 vehicle sales. Currently, Ford has more than 90 plants and 213,000 employees. Problem Description The primary problem of Ford Motor Company is how to improve assembly processes in order to reduce the number of car recalls. Car recalls occur because the company manufactures and assembles cars with several defects such as oil leakages, defective braking systems, and unfixed special locks, leading to repeats and repairs. Repeat manufacturing and repairs causes companies to incur additional manufacturing costs, which reduce the company’s profits and increase the losses (Hull, 2011). Additionally, increasing car recalls is scaring away both current and prospective customers, leading to widespread market reduction. The company needs to adopt proper manufacturing, operation and management tools/concepts in order to achieve zero defects and reduce the amount of reworks. Operations and Supply Chain Management Concepts/tools to be used1.5 Six-sigma Six-Sigma is a set of tools and t echniques for operations and process improvement; it seeks to improve the quality of the processes by using a set of quality management methods such as statistical methods to create special infrastructure of people within the organization (Desai, 2010). Manufacturing companies that need to improve manufacturing processes and achieve zero defects apply Six-Sigma quality tools. Hull (2011) argues that using six-Sigma methodologies such as

External Auditors and Fraud Examiners Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

External Auditors and Fraud Examiners - Essay Example This paper illustrates that an external auditor is so called as to distinguish him from an internal auditor who is an in-house professional. While the internal auditor is a paid employee of the entity, the external auditor is an independent professional engaged by the entity for a fee and as required by Companies Act.   To be more specific, an external auditor gives his opinion as to whether financial statements are materially correct. He is deemed independent as he has no special relationship and pecuniary interest in the client that might possibly encourage him to ignore adverse facts and evidence of the client the auditor evaluates. Thus, to be independent, the auditor cannot both work under the client as well as act as the client’s external auditor. The external auditor also carries out compliance, operational and forensic audits. Forensic auditing is a special purpose audit to unearth financial frauds and other crimes. Forensic as its meaning (i.e. of the law) suggests, forensic auditors, detect information for being used as litigation support. If the forensic auditor is a CA or CPA, his evidence at trial would lend more credibility although it is not mandatory for a forensic auditor to have a CPA license in the U.S. The external auditor in the process of his auditing activity concludes whether the assertions made in the financial statements are true and fair. The assertions are in the nature of how the business is conducted that is how its business generates income and spends it, how it manages its inventory, how it records information about its property, plant, equipment, its long-term liabilities, equity, cash, and investments. Although forensic auditing and fraud examining are interchangeably used, both are different disciplines. While forensic accounting involves the application of professional accounting skills in a civil or criminal litigation. Thus, most of the fraud examinations are part of forensic accounting, but every forensic accostin g is a fraud examination. For example, an expert may be said to be engaged in forensic accounting while the furnishing value of a property to the court which need not involve any fraud unlike in the case of fraud examination.

How can organisations ensure that information held within their Essay

How can organisations ensure that information held within their information systems is both secure and also used in an ethical and socially responsible manner - Essay Example n accurate and quickly gathered information regarding markets, products, customers, ideas, and other aspects concerning the business, in order to properly plan and implement their future strategies. Businesses must also keep accurate records of their past, current, and future plans in order to function in an organized manner (Martin, pg. 256, 1973). As businesses must take due care of their possessions and assets to prevent damage or theft, businesses must also protect their information from being stolen or misused. While assets may be quite expensive and valuable for the firm, information is worth much more and has a higher risk involved. Cyber crime is at large in today’s technologically advanced world, in which thieves do not attempt to take physical assets from people, but directly aim to access intangible information, which is regarded as more valuable. Corporations keep their information safe on computers that are locked with passwords and only staff is permitted to access the information. However, often there are instances of information leaks or access to restricted records by competitors, which causes the business immense damage. Hackers and other cyber thieves access important information to commit frauds or to manipulate the business’s financial records. Many times, large amounts of cash are transferred from the business account to other accounts and they become irretrievable (Kankanhalli, Teo, Tan, & Wei, pg. 145-147, 2003). There are thousands of ways that businesses can suffer harm through the access of their personal information. Account numbers, financial information, customer records, meeting plans, and new business strategies are all recorded on computers and it is regarded as a safer place to put such information rather than in paper form where it is easily accessible to all. Unfortunately, while computers may be the safer place to put such information, saving it from ordinary people and ordinary thieves, yet it is still considerably unsafe

Therapeutic skills and practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Therapeutic skills and practice - Essay Example It is not meant to create differences among people and it does not draw comparisons based on class or money. It is a humanistic process, and deals with humans as such. â€Å"Counseling may deal with one can learn about depression, phobias, anxiety, obsession, attention deficit, learning disability, and a host of other related issues; there are also sections on behaviour therapy, children and adolescents, couples, biofeedback, and many more† (Richards, 2000). After duly understanding theories, the most important part is to relate with the application of the same. It shall be most pertinent for her to convert the theoretical knowledge learnt from the models, to be able to link it in real-time, with the symptoms and actions presented by people in actuality. The important thing to note here is that, it is not possible simply by giving state-of-the art medicines to generate a healthy relationship with the client. This relationship is crucial for the psychological healing and intrinsic motivation of the client. When a person learns to communicate in an effective manner, it is only then that a much needed liaison is made between the two parties, and an environment of trust is created. This then gives rise to a therapeutic setting that is most conducive to the cause of the treatment. The psychoanalytic theory presented by Freud and the Behaviourist one, presented by Watson, form the basis of understanding personality in humans. Speaking as a whole, the former focuses largely on the processes that are hidden and away from the naked eye; ideas, concepts and cognitive processes that shape personality are essentially considered to be away from conscious control. Whereas, the latter supports analyzing personality ‘at the face of things.’ It attempts to objectively qualify behaviour, not only in terms of understanding it, but also in the context of

Globalisation Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Globalisation - Literature review Example This essay attempts to describe globalization process by highlighting, evaluating and analyzing various definitions. Globalization is a global process and a revolution concept including economic integration, policy sharing, knowledge sharing, cultural stability, reproduction, relations and discourses of power or may sometimes be variously described as a progress, development, stabilization, integration, cooperation or perhaps regression, colonialism and destabilization. Globalization is a concept that requires careful and critical examination since sharp and enlightening definition boosts perception, is interesting and empowers people with knowledge deemed important in shaping up society’s destiny. It is worth noting that most of the intellectual imaginations have been gripped by the concept of globalization. Scholars and lay circle have commonly pursue a perception that globalization is an analytical prerequisite used in appreciating continuousness and adjustment of contempor ary society. Presently, the term has really spawned a lot of confrontational and highly intuitive annotation (Dreher, Gaston and Martens 2008, p. 14-17). ... This further signifies the impact of the contemporary social relation and the fact that there is a common and new character shared within the society because of the relevancy and the context of the term to the society. In academic, various disciplines have incorporated the word globalization in their studies and event tried to relate numerous phenomenon with it. Also, it has been applicable in several theoretical approaches as well as political spectrum across the world thus symbolizing its usefulness in the society (Meerhaeghe 2012, p. 239-45). It is undeniable that the idea of globalization remains absolutely indescribable as it is inescapable and that as much as it means something crucial, surety about what that vital thing is remains unknown. As much it is widely used, it seems that globalization do not have cogent conceptualization to qualify it being treated as a serious scholarly issue (Dreher, Gaston and Martens 2008, p. 14-17). In fact, the poor conceptualization has borne p ersistent ambiguity and confusion resulting into a bunch of objectors with suspicious motives or even the notion of intellectual laziness. The current confusion of the term is as a result of failure to engender convincing understanding that do not relate with other concepts as it is evident in some of the definitions including globalization as internalization, liberalization, universalization and westernization. Globalization as Internationalization By terming globalization as internalization it implies enhancement of transactions and interdependence amongst countries and therefore a more global world is characterized by more ideas, information, merchandise, finances and investments. Bishop, Reinke and Adams (2011, p.

Against Fracking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Against Fracking - Essay Example The desire to reach to this natural gas has created uncontrolled ecological and economical problems to the rural communities (Gale Cengage Learning, p110). This has come about due to the leaks and accidents that have polluted the rivers, streams and drinking water supplies. The regions where these activities are carried out are characterized by high levels of smog and at the same time the airborne pollutants such as carcinogens. The rural persons face a lot of ambush of heavy truck traffic usually overloaded with the hazardous chemicals used in drilling (John & Sons, p35). Most parts of New York is targeted by the oil and gas industry especially Marcellus Shale. This part underlies most part of New York. In reality, there is no doubt that natural gas extraction does have a lot of unconstructive consequences for local environment in which it occurs in any fossil fuel extraction. The fact that fracking allows people to put the carbon that is down beneath our feet into the atmosphere adds up the problems of green house effect leading to global warming. Despite the fact that most of the sandstones, limestone and shale far below the earth surface contain very large amounts of natural gas that was formed by the decomposed dead organisms and that these gas can be released and captured for our use while such rocks are drilled the effects of this activities should be assessed in terms of their pros and cons based on the empirical facts or evidences and more so on other available sources of energy (John & Sons, p48). Based on this some of the facts about fracking in Pennsylvania is the fact that it is a method used to extract natural gas implanted within shale rock far below the earth surface. The Marcellus Shale assembles underneath huge sections of the Upper Delaware River watershed region and across a great swath of land in Northern, Western and South Central Pennsylvania. Second is that low volume, vertical fracking has been

Breastfeeding is better for your baby Essay Example for Free

Breastfeeding is better for your baby Essay Among the many decision a woman faces when she is pregnant, is whether or not she will breastfeed her child. In our society and in this day and age, this has become a matter of choice as opposed to long ago where formula was nonexistent and the only means of nurturing your baby was to breastfeed. Many women are oblivious to the health risks their baby may endure having not being breastfed. Research and studies show that babies who are breastfed have better health among other things if they are breastfed. To add to that, formula companies tend to obscure the truth and bribe the doctors in to promoting their product. This essay aims to investigate these issues and address the matter at hand by stating why it is a much better choice to breastfeed a baby. As I mentioned above, whether or not a women wants to breastfeed or formula feed is now a matter of choice. Before I move forward, I want to explain about the history of breastfeeding and formula feeding. Before the modern era, breasfeeding was usually the normal procedure for feeding an infant. If a woman had problems breastfeeding her baby, the family would usually hire a wet nurse to nurture the baby in place of the mother. This was considered very normal. As a matter of fact, wet nurses were chosen with the utmost care, because it was vital and essential for a baby to receive the right amount of nutrients. Another alternative to wet nurses was cow’s milk, or in correct terms the process of â€Å"dry nursing† was established. Wet nursing and dry nursing were the common alternatives to breastfeeding during the early 19th century. However, in the turn of events another breast milk substitute had evolved. Formula had been created and was in lieu of breastfeeding. One of the biggest known named companies of today, Nestle was a big contributor to the establishment and creation of formula. Add another century, and formula feeding is not considered the norm in many societies. Because formula is widely accepted as a means of nurturing a baby, production of formula has boomed and many formula manufacturers thrust to advertize their product. Because of this, many doctors have received a cut for promoting formula from these major manufacturers. While the new mother who has just given birth to her baby feels that formula feeding is better since the doctor recommended it, little does she know that the doctor is doing what he was endorsed to do. Could this mean that many doctors are withholding the truth for money? It may very well be and I will further discuss this issue. According to studies done in the US, fewer than half of the babies are exclusively breastfed during their first two days in the hospital. By the time they are six months old, only 19 percent of US babies receive any breast milk† (Coburn, 2000, 1). This is in large part due to the doctor’s orders. Little do these mothers know that the doctors are pushing formula products on these new mothers because they are obliged to do so under a contract. Coburn also states â€Å"To promote artificial feeding, formula manufacturers spend millions of dollars securing exclusive distribution deals for formula samples, at a yearly average of $6,000 to $8,000 per doctor† (p. 2). Many formula companies distribute their products to hospitals to advertize their formula. It is a form of bribery, because if you give the doctors and physicians money they will without a doubt encourage the recommendation of that particular product. Or in some instances, mothers are given a gift basket upon delivery of their new baby. This gift basket has formula in it. In doing this â€Å"research shows this tacit endorsement of the hospitals part is so effective in establishing brand loyalty that 93 percent of mothers who artificially feed continue to use the brand of formula given to them by the hospital† (Coburn, 2000, p. ). There is a lot of brainwashing going on just for a buck. Since these mothers are now formula feeding instead of breastfeeding they begin to see the effect on their income. It is much more costly than breastfeeding. Some mothers even dilute their formula to make it last a little longer before going out and buying some more. This in turn is very nutrition-depleting. I will elaborate further on nutrition, but in the end these formula manufacturers are competing not with their rival companies, but with breastfeeding itself. And because of this, many mothers are caught in the middle of this war not aware that breastfeeding is the best means to nurture her baby. As mentioned above, breastfeeding is the natural way to nurture a baby. It is also better for the baby and there are many studies to prove this. Breastfeeding does help prevent a number of sicknesses a baby may endure. As mentioned by Laura Sterling a pediatrician â€Å"I discuss the impact of breastfeeding on incidence of otisis, media, asthma, obesity and all-cause diarrhea. I also counsel that breast milk may decrease severity of diarrhea because it is much easier on the digestive system than formula† (Sterling, 2003, p. 3). Obesity as Sterling mentions has also been decreased when a child is breastfed rather than formula fed. If a baby is breastfed for at least 3-5 months, obesity in the US will reduce 35 %. Carol Campbell states â€Å"infants who were fed breast milk more than infant formula milk, or who were breast fed for longer periods, had a low risk of being overweight during older childhood and adolescence† (2000, p. 102). If we look at breastfeeding on a global perspective, around the world breastfeeding is encouraged as well. In Bangladesh for example, infant mortality rates are severely high. Penny Van Esterick states that any decrease in breastfeeding would definitely increase infant mortality (2003, p. 57). Also, many countries around the world that use water to create the formula aren’t aware of the toxins the water may contain, thus making the baby very sick. A mother passes on various nutrients to her child when she breastfeeds, something that artificial milk does not do. A random study also concluded that when babies’ breastfeed they are more likely not to experience pain while undergoing minor procedures. We can also look at breastfeeding from an anthropological standpoint. Anthropologist Shannen L. Robson stated â€Å"For most pormate species the period of accelerated growth ends shortly after birth, but for humans it continues for a year postnatally, when infants are nutritionally dependant on breast milk. A pattern of early postnatal brain growth that is unique among mammals must require a unique milk to supply the needs of the developing human infant (2004, p. 19). So as we may see, there are many benefits, an infinite amount of studies concluding that breastfeeding is much better for a baby as opposed to formula feeding. Concluding my essay it is evident I am pro breastfeeding. It is much healthier for your baby as studies are there to prove this. Not only that, it is eye-opening to know that doctors withhold telling their expecting mother patients that breastfeeding is the better choice all for the means of gaining more money. It is also interesting to note, that women who breastfeed are more likely to lose more weight effectively than their formula feeding counterparts. Who doesn’t want to lose weight after giving birth? It is much more advantageous to breastfeed, especially when it is 2 in the morning and your newborn is crying their lungs out because they want to be fed. I think getting up picking up your newborn and breastfeeding them is much better than having to warm and prepare the formula in a zombielike state.

Ethical Issues of Deception in Psychological Research Essay Example for Free

Ethical Issues of Deception in Psychological Research Essay In psychological studies, ethical issues associated with deception have always the major concern area. It is largely been viewed as something which in long will cause effect on participants’ willingness to be a part of any psychological research. The controversy associated with this issue has itself led to many researches to ascertain the positivity and negativity associated with the use of deception in psychological research. The findings of those researches have been contradictory. Some researcher has indicated that use of deception has a very negative impact on participant’s perception of researchers and hence reduces the possibility of its further participation in the ongoing project as well as any other research in future (Tuffin, 2005) While on the other hand there are evidences that deception has positive effect and participants have reported that they actually enjoyed being deceived and showed positive participation in the researches in which they are being deceived and feel more benefited than those without deception. Hence it becomes more evident that deception has basically no effect on participants and neither reduces nor increases their willingness in taking part in any future researches irrespective of those requiring deception or not (Lefkowitz, 2003). The above mentioned two contradictory preferences related to deception actually gives a picture which shows that the people have no clear meaning of deception and it varies from person to person i.e., they have different interceptions of what it actually means. This reinforces the need for further research and hence underscores the requirement for an expanded investigation to figure out the possible effects of deception in a prospective participant and the psychological study. The beginning of this new research could be initiated through a controlled environment when some of the participants and informed about the use of deception while some are not informed. The final objective is to ascertain the actual impact of deception when both researchers as well the participants have better understanding of deception (O’Donohue, 2003). References: O’Donohue, W. (2003) Handbook of Professional Ethics for Psychology. Sage Publication Ltd.,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   London. UK Lefkowitz, J (2003) Ethics and values in industrial-organizational Psychology. Lawrence  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Mahwas, NJ Tuffin, K (2005) Understanding Critical Social Psychology. Sage Publication Ltd., London. UK

Study on the Market Response to Stock Splits

Study on the Market Response to Stock Splits The market response to stock splits is investigated with the dataset from an emerging country – India for period 2006 March 2009. study reports significantly positive abnormal returns on day of split execution and next trading day. regression analysis suggests that the reaction can be attributed to liquidity hypothesis. The postsplit period experiences abnormally high negative which wipes out any positive gain during split execution. This seems mostly explained by presplit price increase and size of firms suggesting that the have experienced a in period are ones suffer worst returns. In theory, stocksplits are cosmetic corporate events as they simply increase the number of outstanding shares and decrease the price of each outstanding share. Hence, there should be no significant effect on the value of the firm. A stock split does not change the revenue or assets of a company. So, stocksplit should cause no change in price other than the adjustment warranted by the split factor. There should also be no change in distribution of stock returns around exdates of stock splits. Exdate refers to the date on or after which a security is traded without a previously declared dividend or distribution. However, empirical evidence suggests that the market generally reacts favorably to stock splits. In different developed markets, for instance, UK and US, significant positive abnormal returns and increase in variance and volumes of trade have been documented around stock split announcements as well as exdates. The contradiction between theory, which expects no change in firm va lue consequent to stock splits, and the reality, with scores of evidence of significant market reaction, triggers the present study. In February 1981, the Indian ministry of finance issued a guideline that denomination of equity shares be fixed uniformly at Rs.10, and that the denomination of the then existing shares other than Rs.10 be converted into denomination of Rs.10. In another guideline in January 1983, the Indian government clarified that denomination of shares of Rs.100 need not be changed to denomination of Rs.10, i.e. shares of all companies were required to be in denominations of Rs.10 or Rs.100 only. Even so, several companies converted the denomination of shares of Rs.100 into that of Rs.10 on the grounds that it generated better liquidity, as also a higher value for the shares. However, in March 1999, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) decided, with the objective of broadening the investors base, to dispense away with the requirement of standard denomination of Rs.100 or Rs.10 and gave freedom to companies to issue shares of any denomination but not below Re.1. Companies that had issued shares of the face value of Rs.10 or Rs.100 were also permitted to avail of this facility by consolidation or by splitting their existing shares. To reap benefits of splitting, a number of existing listed companies having denomination of Rs.100 or Rs.10 have split their stocks into different denominations, e.g., Re.1, Rs.2 or Rs.5, etc. These recent changes in the Indias regulatory environment offer a unique opportunity to gain further insight into the stock splits with reference to their effects on variables like stock prices, return, volatility, and trading volume. With the increased integration of international markets in general and a wave of liberalization and globalization, the importance of understanding these stock events has increased dramatically. Further, there a re different capital gains tax laws in India. Under these circumstances, splits may have different effects contrary to what has been reported in various literatures. Furthermore, compared to the worlds major stock exchanges, there are proportionally more small firms listed on Indian exchanges; consequently, many firms are thinly traded. Hence, these differences between Global and Indian markets necessitate studying split events in India. The results of the present study shows significantly positive cumulative abnormal returns on and the next trading day after split execution, following which there is a major decline in share prices which wipes out most of the gain of the execution period. The signaling hypothesis and the trading range hypothesis do not seem to provide any explanation for the significant CAR around execution date, while the liquidity hypothesis seems to contribute significantly towards the positive CAR occurring on and immediately after the execution. The small firm hypothesis also 6 shows weak explanatory power for the change in wealth. The post execution negative reaction is mostly explained by run up of stock prices preceding the execution, implying that the stock split has induced a revision of stocks fundamentals, probably bringing prices to a more fundamental level. 7 2. . Literature review There have been numerous researches on the effect of stock splits on different parameters of capital markets. Fama etal (1969) has been the pioneering study to examine the share price performance of splitting firms. Although the economic literature has not yet found a definitive explanation for either the abnormal returns observed around the announcement and execution dates, or the reasons why managers decide to split, different explanations, not necessarily mutually exclusive have been proposed. The more prominent hypotheses are the signaling hypothesis, the trading range hypothesis, the liquidity hypothesis and the neglected firm hypothesis. One such research paper advocates considering the three different market efficiencies (weak form, semistrong form, and strong form) that the investor can make an above normal return by relying on public information impounded in a stock split announcement. This study agrees that according to the semistrong form market efficiency, the stock split announcement do impact the company stock price. The study done by Desai, Jain (1997) elaborates more on longrun performance of common stock following stock splits announcement and hence concludes that the capital market doesnt fully react to the information conveyed in the stock split announcement. Considering the ignored studies of small firms, the paper examined firm portfolio of different sizes and more diversity in terms of industries. Taking a large sample of stock information for a period of 1976 – 91, the research paper concluded that the market does not incorporate the full effect of the stock split announcement in the month of announcement. It is evident that managers believe that stock split results in optimal trading price of a stock that attract small investors and hence enhances liquidity. Joshipura (2008) studied the price and liquidity effects associated with stock split surrounding its announcement and execution 8 dates in Indian stock exchanges. The results suggested that though there were some positive abnormal return associated surrounding announcement and execution dates of the stock split, but it reverses in just a few days after the event dates, and ultimately generates significant negative abnormal return in slightly longer postexecution window. It also found that there was a significant improvement seen in liquidity surrounding announcement and execution dates of stock split. Desai and Nimalendran (1998) examined the effect of the change in trading activity after stock splits on volatility and spread. The results of the study show that the increase in volatility cannot be attributed solely to microstructure biases arising from the bidask bounce and price discreteness. Even after correcting for these two biases, the study found a significant increase in volatility after the split. The study also found an increase in the number of trades after the split, and the increase in the biasadjus ted volatility was positively related to this increase in the number of trades. The study decomposed volatility into transient and permanent components and found that both components of volatility increase after the split. Attributing transient volatility to noise traders and permanent volatility to informed traders, the study suggested that trading by both types of traders increases after the split. Ikenberry, etal (1996) discusses that splits are used to move stock prices into a trading range to increase liquidity and that they are used by management as a signal of positive private information. The study found evidence that is consistent with the view that splits are typically used to realign stock prices to a normal trading range. The study also confirmed that splits convey favorable information, thereby validating the signaling hypothesis. It was found that market reaction was greater for small firms, low booktomarket firms and firms splitting to low share prices. The study also found an inverse relationship between the presplit run up and postsplit excess returns, suggesting that the results were not attributable to momentum. 9 There are various studies devoted to studying the effect of stock splits in specific geographies. Asquith, etal (1989) examined stock splits in the US market and found that stock splits do convey earnings information. The results indicated that firms split their shares after a significant increase in earnings. Before the stock split announcement, the market expects these earnings increases to be temporary. The split announcement leads investors to increase their expectations that the past earnings increases are permanent. The study also found that the markets reaction to the split announcement cannot be attributed to expectations of either future earnings increases or nearterm cash dividend increases. Elfakhani, etal (2003) examined the market behavior surrounding stock split announcements in the Canadian market for the 1977–1993 period and the effect of the 2year before compared to the 2year after the announcement. Using the event study methodology, the findings indicated tha t positive abnormal returns exist on both the announcement days (0,1) and the 11day period surrounding stock split announcements. The results also showed that following the split event, bidask spreads decrease, while both trading volume and the number of transactions increase thus suggesting that split events enhance liquidity. Further, the study observed that earnings grow in the 2year period following split events, thus implying that split events signal future performance of the firm. Wulff (2002) investigated market reaction to stock splits using a set of German firms and in line with the US findings, found significant positive abnormal returns around both the announcement and the execution day of German stock splits. The study also observed an increase in return variance and in liquidity after the exday. The study found that abnormal returns around the announcement day are not related to changes in liquidity, but (negatively) to firm size, thus lending support to the neglected f irm hypothesis. Despite noting a substantial increase in liquidity after the split, the study did not find support for the liquidity 10 hypothesis. Menendez, etal (2003) analyzed the motivations and valuation effects of stock splits in the Spanish market. The findings of the study suggest that splitting firms present a presplit stock price above the normal trading range, and that, after the split, the number of transactions and the average transaction size increase significantly. Moreover, positive abnormal returns are observed around the announcement dates and around the exdate. For the latter, however, these positive wealth effects are outweighed by the negative abnormal returns observed closely afterwards. The study found that liquidity, or the optimal trading range hypotheses prevailed over other hypotheses as an explanation for stock splits in the Spanish market. The findings of the study suggest the main reason behind a stock split and for the positive market reaction around the stock split announcements is a higher share price than the normal trading range. The reduction of this higher price seems to attract s mall investors and thus significant increases in the number of transactions and reductions in the trading volume per transaction after the split are observed, without there being any significant variation in the volume of shares traded. This adjustment of the firms stock price to a normal trading range is valued positively by investors. Most of these studies are concentrated mainly around market reaction at the announcement date. In a study on the UK equity market, specifically concentrating on the exsplit date, Staikouras etal, (2009) has documented positive abnormal returns on and around the exsplit date which are partially predictable using the publicly available information prior to the exsplit date. The study also observed a persistent increase in the post split volatility of the stocks in the UK equity market with this increase being better explained by the daily trading volume. This is in contrast to the US findings where the daily number of trades was found to better capture the increase in volatility. 11 In this study, the market response to stock splits is investigated with the dataset from an emerging country – India, which is distanced from the west in terms of geographical location, economic development, institutional and legal framework. Not much is available in the Indian context with a focus on the exsplit date, so far, except for the commendable work by Mishra (2007), which documents negative effect on price and return of stocks following splits. The study also reports a positive effect on volatility and trading volume following the split events. The present paper tries to provide a few additional insights on the issue and therefore, differs from Mishras (2007) study in the following ways. Firstly, an attempt is made to explain the significant cumulative abnormal returns around the split execution dates with the help of regression analysis. Secondly, the independent variables cover issues like small firm hypothesis, price run up, deviation of price from market average, which are unexplored in his paper. Thirdly, the data set of the present study covers the period post Mishras study, i.e., from 2006 to March 2009. HHHHyyyyppppooootttthhhheeeesssseeees s ffffoooorrrrmmmmuuuullllaaaattttiiiioooon n TTTThhhhe e ssssiiiiggggnnnnaaaalllliiiinnnng g hhhhyyyyppppooootttthhhheeeessssiiiis s The signaling hypothesis proposes that, in a scenario of asymmetric information between managers and investors, managers may use stock splits to signal positive information to the market about the firms future expectations. The presence of positive abnormal returns around the stock split announcement that is found in many empirical studies provides evidence for the signaling hypothesis. 12 Trading range hypothesis According to the optimal trading range hypothesis, stock splits are used as tools to realign the share price to a desired price range so that it is more affordable for small investors to buy round lots of shares. If the presplit share price is at a high level, then a stock split is justified for improving the marketability of the shares. Empirical findings suggesting an increase in the daily number of transactions after the split do not reject this optimal range hypothesis. TTTThhhhe e lllliiiiqqqquuuuiiiiddddiiiitttty y hhhhyyyyppppooootttthhhheeeessssiiiis s The managements motivation to bring the share price to an optimal trading range arises from the desire to improve liquidity. According to literature there is an observed increase in trading volume during the postsplit period, and hence provide support for the liquidity hypothesis of stock splits. Staikouras etal, (2009) in their study of the UK equity market document a strong and positive relationship between the measures of trading activity and the returns volatility over the preand postsplit horizons. SSSSmmmmaaaalllll l ffffiiiirrrrm m hhhhyyyyppppooootttthhhheeeessssiiiis s Small firm or neglected firm hypothesis suggests that since the smaller firms have fewer announcements published in the financial press, the split announcement is expected to create greater market interest than it would be in case of larger firms. So, small firms may have an incentive to adopt the stock splits to grab more attention. Based on the discussion above, we can lay down the objectives of this study. The study proposes to, using data from the Indian stock market, examine the presence of positive abnormal returns over the stock split 13 period and, if found to be true, to study whether the returns can be explained using any of the hypotheses mentioned above. We formulate the following hypotheses: HHHH1111: There is no significant abnormal return around the exsplit date. HHHH2222: If H1 rejected, returns are identical for all firms in sample. HHHH3333: and H2 the abnormal observed around event window [1,+1] can be attributed to publicly available information based on one or more of theoretical hypotheses above. HHHH4444: If H3 is true, a similar explanation can be made using this data for different time horizons around the exdate. An event study framework is employed to test the above hypotheses. An OLS regression model is used for determining the factors for the occurrence of abnormal returns across the event window. 14 3333. . DDDDaaaatttta a aaaannnnd d MMMMeeeetttthhhhooooddddoooollllooooggggy y 3333.1 DDDDaaaatttta a CCCCoooolllllllleeeeccccttttiiiioooon n The basic sample is comprised of all Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) equity stocks that have split between January 2006 and March 2009. The National Stock Exchange website was used to download list of stocks that have undergone a stock split in this period. There were a total of 151 stock splits during the period. All financial data series for these stocks like daily closing adjusted prices, market capitalization, trading volume and market indices were downloaded from Thomson DataStream. The following criteria have been applied to include a company in the sample. i) The stock price data is available for 260 days prior to the exsplit date. ii) Data for 260 days are available for the postsplit period. iii) Where a stock has split more than once in the sample period, the first exsplit date was considered. iv) Other required financial information is available. After filtering on the basis of the above criteria, the number of firms on which the analysis could be carried out was 99. 3333.2 DDDDaaaatttta a AAAAnnnnaaaallllyyyyssssiiiis s Table 1A Table 1B below show summary statistics of the sample stocks used for this study. There is an even distribution of stock splits in each year of the sample period indicating normal stock split activity in the Indian equity market 15 for the given period. However, analysis on a monthly basis reveals that August, September and October are the most active months for stock splits, possibly indicating a preference by firms to execute the split around that time. More than 40 percent of the firms in the sample have the stock split in this period. 5:1 split is the most common split ratio (57 firms) in the sample followed by 10:1 and 2:1 split ratios. For the 4:1, 6:1 and 5:2 split ratios, there is only one stock in the sample period. Therefore, summary statistics for these stocks were not calculated as any observations made would be a result of a very firm specific performance and not a general conclusion. The average price for the 2:1, 5:1 and 10:1 split sizes are Rs. 229.99, Rs. 192.30 and Rs. 215.27 respectively. No conclusive relation between the stock price and the split ratio can be inferred from the maximum and minimum values shown below. The average marketcap for the 2:1, 5:1 and 10:1 split sizes are Rs. 13068.56 million, Rs. 57129.56 million and Rs. 87126 million respectively. The average market capitalization is observed to increase with higher split ratio possibly indicating that the largecap stocks are the ones that usually opt for the higher split ratio. 16 TTTTaaaabbbblllle e 1111AAAA: : SSSSttttoooocccck k SSSSpppplllliiiit t ssssaaaammmmpppplllle e ddddiiiissssttttrrrriiiibbbbuuuuttttiiiioooon n TTTTaaaabbbblllle e 1111BBBB: : SSSSttttoooocccck k SSSSpppplllliiiit t ssssuuuummmmmmmmaaaarrrry y ssssttttaaaattttiiiissssttttiiiiccccs s 17 3333.3 MMMMeeeetttthhhhooooddddoooollllooooggggy y EEEEvvvveeeennnnt t bbbbaaaasssseeeed d ssssttttuuuuddddy y Event studies start with hypothesis about how a particular event affects the value of a firm. The hypothesis that the value of the company has changed will be translated in the stock showing an abnormal return. Coupled with the notion that the information is readily impounded into prices, the concept of abnormal returns (or performance) is the central key of event study methods. How does a particular event affect the value of a company? We must be careful because at any time we observe a mixture of market wide factors and a bunch of other firm events. To correctly measure the impact of a particular event we need to control for those unrelated factors. The selection of the benchmark to use or the model to measure normal returns is therefore central to conduct an event study. The empirical model can be stated as follows: when an event occurs, market participants revise their beliefs causing a shift in the firms return generati ng process. For a given security, in non event periods, Rt = xt B + et while in event periods, Rt = xtB + FG + et Rt is the return of the security in period t, xt is a vector of independent variables (for example the return of the market portfolio) in period t, B is a vector of parameters, such as the security beta, F is a row vector of firm characteristics influencing the impact of the event on the return process. G is a vector of parameters measuring the influence of F on the impact of 18 the event and et is a mean zero disturbance term possibly differing in event and non event periods. Hypotheses usually centre on the parameters that measure the influence of the event (G) and most of the times F is set to unity. The null hypothesis is that such an event has no impact on the return generating process. Event study methods are the econometric techniques used to estimate and draw inferences about the impact of an event in a particular period or over several periods. The most common approach involves three steps: (1) Compute the parameters in the estimation period; (2) Compute the forecast errors (and obtain variance/covariance information) for a period or over an event window; aggregate across firms and infer about the average effect; (3) Regress crosssectional abnormal returns on relevant features of the stock supposed to influence the impact of the event. In this study, the event is the split execution date, defined as day 0. The event splits the sample into two sets – the presplit period and the postsplit period. The presplit period considered in this study is a period of 260 days prior to the event date (260 days to 1 day) and the postsplit period is the period of 260 days after the event date (+1 day to +260 days). This leads to a total period of 521 trading days data for each stock (including the split date) centered around the event date for that stock. In essence, all stocks are aligned according to their event timeline. The estimation window is the 220 day period from 260 to 41 trading days. A similar event based alignment of data was performed for the other financial data namely market capitalization, market index and trading volume. In this study, the benchmark index chosen for running the regression for the market model is the BSE 100 index. The index price was also aligned according to the split date for each stock t o obtain comparable market 19 return at and around the event date. The Brown and Warner (1985) methodology is applied to test for the significance of abnormal returns. Regressions to estimate the parameters of the market model The standard single index asset pricing model is used to estimate the market parameters ( ÃŽ ² and c). The market model used to estimate the parameters is given as below: Ri = ÃŽ ²Rm + c where Ri – expected return of stock i Rm – market return c constant of regression

Women Have the Right to Choose Abortion Essay -- Papers Argumentative

Women Have the Right to Choose Abortion An abortion is a woman's option to terminate a pregnancy. It is an induced miscarriage. Abortion has become an extremely controversial topic in the past 3 decades since it has been legalized. There has been extreme violence stemming from this issue that we as a country need to put under control, regardless of our personal stances on the issue. There are many reasons why a woman would choose to have an abortion. She does not feel she is ready to be a parent, she can not afford a baby, and being too young or immature to be responsible for another life are only three of these reasons. If a woman becomes pregnant due to a rape or from incest would be another reason. It has been found that almost fifty per cent of all women will have an abortion by the time they reach 45. Is this number increasing since the legalization of abortion? Probably not, considering the fact that before abortions were legal they were still being preformed. The only difference is now they are safer. Before 1965, abortion was somewhat taboo. No one dared to even discuss the issue. Abortion was frowned upon and considered "evil"; therefore it remained a very private issue. Abortions were performed by doctors, nurses, midwives, even chiropractors. Being that abortions were not performed in a hospital or clinic, anyone who felt like it could become an abortionist. These abortions were referred to as back- alley abortions. They were unsafe and lead to the deaths of many women, but in 1933 it was estimated that nearly 2 million were performed (Grisey). This proves to us that regardless if abortion is legal or not, if a woman feels she needs to have one she is going to. The prices of thes... ... to an increase in child abuse and neglect. I am not encouraging the use of abortion as a method of birth control, but accidents will happen. Some people are responsible enough to deal with these accidents, but some feel that they are not ready to bring a child into this world. If a mother feels she can not properly care for a child, isn't it better for the fetus to be aborted before it is brought into a world where it can not be properly loved, cared for and supported?  Bibliography: Works Cited 1. Grady, John L, Abortion Yes or No. (no printing press). Florida,1972. 2. Grisey, Germain, Abortion: the Myths, the Realities and the Argument.Corpus Books, New York,1970. 3. O'Donnell, Thomas J, Medicine and Christian Morality. Alba House, New York, 1976 4. www.plannedparenthood.org/abortion.html 5. www.religioustolerance.org/abortion.htm

Othello’s Evil Character Essay -- Othello essays

Othello’s Evil Character  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   William Shakespeare’s Othello gives the audience a full measure or dose of evil, mostly in the person of the sinister Iago, whose evil influence penetrates the lives of the victims around him.    In The Riverside Shakespeare Frank Kermode explains the type of evil peculiar to the ancient:    Over the ancient figure of the Vice – a familiar shape for abstract evil – Iago wears the garb of a modern devil. Iago’s naturalist ethic, as expounded to Roderigo at the close of Act I, is a wicked man’s version of Montaigne, an instance of the way in which men convert to evil the precepts of a common sense supported by no act of faith. (1200)    Even the imagery in the drama has its evil aspect. Kenneth Muir, in the Introduction to William Shakespeare: Othello,   explains the instances of diabolic imagery in the play as they relate to the infecting of the Moor by the ancient:    The same transference from Iago to Othello may be observed in what S. L. Bethell called diabolic imagery. He estimated that of the 64 images relating to hell and damnation – many of them are allusions rather than strict images – Iago has 18 and Othello 26. But 14 of Iago’s are used in the first two Acts, and 25 of Othello's in the last three. The theme of hell originates with Iago and is transferred to Othello only when Iago has succeeded in infecting the Moor with his jealousy. (22)    In his book of literary criticism, Shakespearean Tragedy, A. C. Bradley gives an in-depth analysis of the brand of evil which the ancient personifies:    Iago stands supreme among Shakespeare’s evil characters because the greatest intensity and subtlety of imagination have gone to his making, and because ... ...enneth. Introduction. William Shakespeare: Othello. New York: Penguin Books, 1968.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.    Wayne, Valerie. â€Å"Historical Differences: Misogyny and Othello.† The Matter of Difference: Materialist Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare. Ed Valerie Wayne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.    Wilson, H. S. On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy. Canada: University of Toronto Press, 1957.    Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. â€Å"The Engaging Qualities of Othello.† Readings on The Tragedies. Ed. Clarice Swisher. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1996. Reprint from Introduction to The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice by William Shakespeare. N. p.: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1957.

The Birth of the International Union of Elevator Constructors :: IUEC Construction Employment Essays

The Birth of the International Union of Elevator Constructors The International Union of Elevator Constructors began inauspiciously on a hot summer day in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was July 15, 1901. Eleven men were gathered in a room at the Griswold Hotel. Brothers H. McLaughlin and E. Oliver came from New York, Brothers J.S. Holmes and John Lally from Chicago, F. W. Doyle from St. Louis, Walter McIntire and Frank F. Moxon from Boston, Brothers W. Young and J. Giberson from Philadelphia, and of course, Brothers George W. Porter and David G. Barnett from Pittsburgh. It did not take this small group long to come to an agreement. These men represented locals in their cities that, they decided, would benefit from a broader base of power and representation. There were other cities that had formed unions at this time but did not attend this meeting in Pittsburgh . At the meeting in the Griswold Hotel, John Lally was appointed as temporary Secretary and was later elected 1st General Vice-President. Committees were formed to draft rules of order, by-laws, and a constitution. The representatives worked through the night and presented their work collectively in the morning. Everything was adopted, and the union's framework was in place. By lunch, the officers of the new union had been nominated, elected, and installed. The first President of the fledgling national union was F.W. Doyle of St. Louis. Election results made H. McLaughlin 2nd Vice-President, D.G. Barnett 3rd General Vice-President, Joseph Giberson 4th General Vice-President, and Walter McIntire 5th General Vice-President. William Young was elected General Secretary Treasurer. They were unanimous in their resolve and solidarity. They knew what they wanted, and they created it together in record time. The same day, charters were applied for; a $5 charter fee was paid and six locals suddenly had been transformed into a national trade union. Quickly, they made application for charter and membership in the National Building Trades Council of the American Federation of Labor. It was a no nonsense beginning. The total expense of the convention was $13.90. After the collection of the charter fees, the newly formed National Union of Elevator Constructors went home with a treasury in the black of $16.10. It had taken just three days to form an organization which would promote and protect the interests of thousands of elevator constructors across America then and now. The IUEC, like many of the building trades unions, came at the dawn of the modern technological revolution, which had as a first symbol, the "skyscraper:" But there could be no skyscrapers without elevators.

Importance of Economics in Daily Life Essay

What are the most important concepts you have learned in this Course How can you apply them to your life? What difference can these concepts or tools make in your everyday life? The essence of the education is not just to get the degree, rather to enhance intellectual caliber though learning and developing wisdom in the light of that learning that can be applied in the practical sphere of life. Although anything new that we learn is a value addition to our already developed wisdom; however, the aspect of life where that knowledge can be applied is different. For example, to learn about aviation would add something to a person’s wisdom, yet if that person does not want to make career in aviation or aeronautics that knowledge has little to do with his ordinary life. However, there are some subjects that are important not only to the experts of those fields, rather to all and sundry. Economics is one of them. It is a well known quote that economics is the intellectual religion of the day. In this course, we learned a variety of economics concepts, such as, Supply and Demand, Types of Goods and Markets, Government Policy and International Trade, Labor Markets, Wages and Income, Measuring Economic Health, Federal Reserve and Fiscal Policies, Economic Analysis. The importance of these concepts and tools for an economist is undisputed. Let’s look at how these concepts can help us in our everyday life. At an individual level, even if a person is not an economist, yet by studying economics he would be able to reason out some very simple phenomenon of life, which is actually the application of the different economic concepts. For example, he may reason out for a popular diamond water paradox that would reveal him that commodities rare in supply but greater in demand have higher prices. Likewise, consumer behavior and utility analysis can be understood, which would help him to be a wise and well informed buyer. Thus, at individual level, economics would help because, whatever the profession of the individual may be, being a buyer, he is the part of the economic world. At the community or group level, to be a well-informed and wise citizen, every person should be equipped with at least basic tools of economic analysis. It is quite normal at the time of election that the contesting parties also given a significant space to the economic reforms and policies in their election manifestoes. Having at least a functional knowledge of economic would help to evaluate which party has better policies. Thus, voting decision may also be influenced by the knowledge of economics. Moreover, the wisdom of various economic policies of government may be assessed and that would help to be a better, well informed and better citizen. All in all, based on the abovementioned arguments, it can be concluded confidently that economics enhances the reasoning of an individuals on various issues, at individual as well as group level. Reference Brue, S. , & Mcconnell, C. (2006). Economics. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Literary Modernism and a Few Literary Works

Literary Modernism is a term which is almost self-explanatory. After the completion of the First World War, the whole of the European Continent along with America observed a few notable changes in the realm of literature. In 1922, T. S Eliot composed The Waste Land being befuddled by the abrupt shock which the devastations of the War had brought forth. Liberty, novelty and avant-garde were the watchwords of that Literary Modernism. The way in which this Modernism worked was somewhat new—the new changes in forms and contents were incorporated quite spontaneously. Even the alterations seemed to have fitted suitably into the varied compass of the literary creations! Thus, Literary Modernism breathed a gush of new, fresh air into the stale, dull ambience of literature! If we analyze a few literary works it will be immediately clear how Literary Modernism affected and influenced the-then literary scene. In Song of Myself,   Walt Whitman   in full-throated ease can sing at the top of his voice, breaking all established norms of Introduction   formally done in a poem, â€Å"I celebrate myself, and sing myself,/And what I assume you shall assume,/For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.† In this somewhat long poem, Whitman goes on setting all conventional poetical forms at naught   and sings of camaraderie that stretches from one nook to the other of America. We hear America singing through him, with him. The lines are composed in verse libre mode. Free verse is the right carrier of the right thought. He claims to sing for all and sundry, for the â€Å"accepted victors† as well as for â€Å"the conquered and slain persons.† Whitman caters philosophical ideas to the readers equally adeptly, â€Å"I am the poet of the Body and I am the poet of the Soul/ The pleasures of heaven are with me and the pains of hell are with me/†¦.I am the poet of the woman the same as the man/†¦.And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.† He talks of oppression, inequality, freedom, Time and Space and multifarious issues in one breath. This variety of facets in the length of a poem chosen freely by the poet itself speaks volumes for Modernism. Only Whitman can say in this vein, â€Å"Endless unfolding of words of ages!/And mine a word of the modern, the word En-Masse!† He sounds too modern to declare in the last line, â€Å"I stop somewhere waiting for you.† T.S.Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock   is again a documentary poem of the turbulent times of the First World War when Modernism as a literary notion was taking its final shape. The elements of literary modernism lie in the image of split self, man’s living in more than a single level of consciousness, self-disgust, ennui, pain of inaction in turbulent ,meaningless times, desire for an escape , the hiatus between the desired existence and the habitual one . As a modern poem, Prufrock throws   a series of   solutions to the problems that modern man with divided aims face: â€Å"There will be time, there will be time/To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet/†¦.And time yet for a hundred indecisions.† In almost all the lines there is a hint of suggestiveness which ends in a conundrum, again a characteristic feature of modernism: â€Å"That is not it at all/That is not what I meant at all.† In Robert Frost’s Mending Wall , there is   sharp pointer to the need of a partition-wall in this war-torn world [1914]where ‘good fences make good neighbors.’ What was to be walled in and walled out again left many questions unanswered. A sense of separatism, unrest, and friendlessness go on recurring in the lines of this poem. In Emily Dickinson’s poem Much Madness is the Divinest Sense , we find a clue in construing the ways of a topsy-turvy modern world where positive sometimes implies the negative and vice-versa. Madness is taken to be the most divine sense while the sane thoughts are sometimes pooh-poohed .Why so? It is because, literary modernism supports the rise of the abstruse and absurd in a disturbed world with jaundiced viewpoints . Assent and demurring too are interpreted accordingly. Geometric patterns of Picasso’s art can be the best yardstick to measure and finally explain all the meanings of sanity and genuine insanity! Langston Hughes’s I,Too   portrays the modern world in rather clear terms unlike the previous poems. Here with Harlem Renaissance looming large in the background, the poet stages a protest against the discriminations the Black community of America falls victim to. Naturally, the boy brooking all humiliations, goes to the kitchen, gobbles , gets strong and next time faces the opponent as an equal and dazzles his eyes with his handsome looks. Here, the modern-day separatism tantrums are spoken of in clearest possible terms. Modern-day American litterateurs harp upon a theme: Alienation. This theme has various forms of treatment in different works of literature. Naturally, if a thesis statement has to emerge out of close readings of these works , it must have a direct connection with modern society ,to be precise. Man is nothing but a small island in ocean of modern day world. In Stephen Crane’s short story The Open Boat, the shipwreck has different connotations to the four survivors: Billie, the oiler, the Captain, the Cook and the unnamed Correspondent. All of them believe that they are to be rescued and again they begin to ponder over the situation in their own way. The cook is chatty, while the oiler and the Correspondent are more cogitative ones. This schism is there in the modern world and the alienated thoughts portrayed by Crane in the four characters are befitting to the modern day multilayered existence. They are alienated though stay cooped together in the open boat. In William Carlos Williams’s poem Danse Russe , the present day alienation is pictured in simple possible terms. The poet stealthily sneaks into his north room when the sun shines softly over the trees and his wife and child are fast asleep. He takes off his shirt and starts dancing madly in front of the mirror crooning all by himself, â€Å"I am lonely, lonely/I was born to be lonely/I am best so.† Unlike Coleridge’s ancient mariner, he enjoys this self-created alienation issuing out of loneliness and he feels himself to be ‘a happy genius of his household.’ This is peculiar characteristic of the modern era. Self-centered feelings lead on to alienation which in turn intoxicates human beings. The same happy preoccupation with oneself is seen in Walt Whitman’s poem â€Å"I saw in Louisiana a Live Oak Growing†. The poet is out to define ‘manly love’ in these trying times. He is astonished to find a solitary Oak tree proliferating â€Å"joyous leaves of dark green† even when his lover or friend is not there in proximity. How is it possible? –thinks the poet. For him, it would have been next to impossible! But to his utter dismay he notices that modern man as Erich Fromm the sociologist claims in his book â€Å"The Sane Society† is most productive when he is alienated or friendless. Robert Frosts’s Mending Wall, talks about â€Å"gaps that are made between two.† He clarifies, â€Å"The gaps, I mean/No one has seen them made or heard them made,/But at spring mending-time we find them there.† What are these gaps? These are, no doubt, the chinks of alienation which stand tall between men, which keep two men to unite , to exchange ideas and views , which prevents two men from being friends. At what point of time can a man say to another man, â€Å"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!† Without having any clear notions of â€Å"walling in† and â€Å"walling out†, two neighbors begin to think, â€Å"Good fences make good neighbors.† It is because modern men love alienation. T.S. Eliot in his The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock emphasizes the theme of alienation .In the previous poems, this theme is surprisingly shown to have a few positive implications. A separate â€Å"face† is to put up to â€Å"meet the faces that you meet.† No better example of alienation can be put forward! These days the modern alienated man rightly thinks, â€Å"Do I dare/Disturb the universe?† A big why stares on the readers . He reasons forth, â€Å"I have known them all already†¦I know the voices dying with a dying fall..† The over-familiarity with the known universe makes him sick and tired of it and he naturally gets alienated. Lastly, he dies for a change of ambience. This monotony of modern day existence is again a reason behind such alienation. The line â€Å"I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each,† is gravid with meaning. Alienation has several facets—sometimes it is positive in effect, sometimes just the opposite. Again, the society is in flux. Alienation is a natural unavoidable outcome. It has to be accepted and stride along .

Macbeth and Free Will Essay

In Desiderius Erasmus’s Defense of Free Will, he refutes Martin Luther’s creed that God predestines everyone’s lives and instead asserts that man alone possesses the power to choose his own path to either salvation or damnation. The play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, raises similar questions – did the protagonist, Macbeth, willingly choose to commit such atrocities as killing the king and his court to feed his own ambition, or did he merely play the role of a pawn, performing that which fate bade him do? Amid much controversy over this issue, evidence both in Erasmus’s critical essay and in the play itself affirms that Macbeth cognitively decides to act as he does in the play, confirming Erasmus’s perspective and suggesting that people have the ability to dictate their own fate through their thoughts, decisions, and actions. Through his interpretation of the Old and New Testaments in the Bible, Erasmus writes in favor of free will over predestination, a concept that, when applied to the character Macbeth, raises questions about the motives behind his detestable actions. In his essay, Erasmus explores the â€Å"power of the human† (46) to â€Å"turn away from what leads to eternal salvation† (46). According to this opinion, Macbeth makes a conscious choice to pursue a life of crime and sin, instead of simply following his fate. Macbeth’s plea that the â€Å"stars hide [their] fires† (1. 4. 57) so that â€Å"light [would not] see [his] black and deep desires† (1. 4. 58) indicates that Macbeth remains aware that his â€Å"wicked, rebellious will† (Erasmus, 48) lies within himself, and he fears the consequences of his sinful deeds. This very fear of punishment reflects the existence of free will in Macbeth – as Erasmus inquires, â€Å"why [should God] curse me, when I sinned through necessity? † (47). Macbeth’s clear understanding of the evil that he plans to commit and his fear of divine punishment suggest that characters in Macbeth choose their actions as opposed to following their destiny. Macbeth’s evil actions, however, are not completely driven by an inherent evil nature; although he does have free will in the play, he becomes a slave to his ruthless ambition because of his own moral weakness. As Erasmus writes, â€Å"there are certain seeds of goodness planted in men’s minds† (50), although â€Å"the will is perhaps more inclined to evil than to good† (50). In other words, everyone possesses both good and bad within them, and it is up to the individual person to â€Å"[turn themselves] towards, or away from, faith† (48-9). Macbeth’s apparently latent moral code surfaces occasionally throughout the first act in his moments of wavering in his violent resolve; he tells Lady Macbeth that they â€Å"will proceed no further in this business† (1.7. 34) in one of the scenes preceding the murder. However, the manipulative Lady Macbeth must only mention that which Macbeth desires and question his masculinity to crush Macbeth’s good side and force it to submit to his evil ambition. The ease with which Lady Macbeth extinguishes Macbeth’s doubt of the evil plan highlights Macbeth’s weakness for his ambition. Macbeth becomes a slave not to the devil, but instead to the very evil that resides within himself. Neither heaven nor hell predetermines Macbeth’s actions in the play; it is in fact his inability to compromise his ruthless ambition that ultimately forces him into crime. He chooses to sin of his own accord, and therefore faces his final punishment that sets the world back in order at the end of the tragedy. Through their individual works, Shakespeare and Erasmus imply that humans have free will to determine their own actions, and only the strongest of heart will succeed in accomplishing the work of God.

Analysis Between Dutch Baroque and French Realism

Analysis Between Dutch Baroque and French Realism BY Kayaking Analysis Between Dutch Baroque and French Realism Johannes Vermeer The Milkmaid Circa 1657-1658 45. Xx CM Jean-Franà §ois Millet Woman Baking Bread 1854 55 x 46 CM Rasmussen, Amsterdam, Netherlands Rasmussen, Otter, Netherlands Oil Painting Oil Painting Dutch Baroque vs.. French Realism Throughout the ages, art has been one of many ways to communicate with our history. Every painting, drawing, sculpture, etc. Tells us a story of that time period and if we look hard enough, we can even feel what the people of that time may have been lining.In this essay, two pieces of art will be introduced and interpreted: The Milkmaid (circa 1657-1658) by Johannes Vermeer which is a Dutch Baroque oil painting that's 45. 5 x 41 CM located in Rasmussen, Amsterdam, Netherlands and Woman Baking Bread (1854) by Jean-Franà §ois Millet which is a French Realism oil painting that's 55 x 46 CM located in Rasmussen Kerr ¶leer-MÃ'Ëœleer, Otter, Netherlands. The agenda of this comparison is to understand different styles between the Dutch Baroque and French Realism, and to show how Vermeer andMillet deal with the same every day domestic theme in a different way. During the 17th century, artists were focusing more on emotion and drama, also known as the Baroque time period. The overall style of Baroque art in paintings is â€Å"detailed realism in portraits, expansive landscapes, and a focus on the dramatic including the contrast between light and shadow and the use of rich, deep colors. † (Minded, 2. 05) Vermeer worked mainly in the Dutch Baroque style and does a magnificent Job in portraying and bringing to life an everyday task in the life of a servant girl in The Milkmaid.On the other hand, Woman Baking Bread was painted in the Realist style during the 19th century. More specifically, this piece of art was painted in the French Realist style, which came about after the Revolution of 1848. Millet's â€Å"use of a simple, natural style with warmer colors and heavy application of paint† (Minded, 3. 15) are characteristic traits in a Realist painting. Both works of art magnificently depicts the everyday domestic life. True to both styles, they both realistically depict a woman doing an every day task. Vermeer's is that of a milkmaid oaring milk and Millet's is that of a woman baking bread.However, both were painted in very different ways. Whereas Vermeer's work is a prime example of a Dutch Baroque painting with its realistic way of portraying an everyday task, the use of bold colors, the detail, and the deep contrast between light and dark, Millet's work is a prime example of a French Realist painting where the colors are warmer and much more simple. Vermeer was well known for his painstaking attention to detail. For example, â€Å"the Jug and hands of the servant in The Milkmaid reveals a number of enticements, created as the artist struggled to depict them convincingly. (Frantic, 7)

Bhavesh.Amin

Bhavesh.Amin Essay CSC 4810-Artificial Intelligence ASSG# 4 Support Vector MachineSVM is an implementation of Support Vector Machine (SVM). SupportVector Machine was developed by Vapnik. The main futures of the programare the following: for the problem of pattern recognition, for the problemof regression, for the problem of learning a ranking function. Underlyingthe success of SVM are mathematical foundations of statistical learningtheory. Rather than minimizing the training error, SVMs minimizestructural risk which express and upper bound on generalization error. SVM are popular because they usually achieve good error rates and canhandle unusual types of data like text, graphs, and images. SVMs leading idea is to classify the input data separating themwithin a decision threshold lying far from the two classes and scoring alow number of errors. SVMs are used for pattern recognition. Basically,a data set is used to train a particular machine. This machine can learnmore by retraining it with the old data plus the new data. The trainedmachine is as unique as the data that was used to train it and thealgorithm that was used to process the data. Once a machine is trained, itcan be used to predict how closely a new data set matches the trainedmachine. In other words, Support Vector Machines are used for patternrecognition. SVM uses the following equation to trained the VectorMachine: H(x) = sign {wx + b}Wherew = weight vectorb = thresholdThe generalization abilities of SVMs and other classifiers differsignificantly especially when the number of training data is small. Thismeans that if some mechanism to maximize margins of decision boundaries isintroduced to non-SVM type clas sifiers, their performance degradation willbe prevented when the class overlap is scarce or non-existent. In theoriginal SVM, the n-class classification problem is converted into n two-class problems, and in the ith two-class problem we determine the optimaldecision function that separates class i from the remaining classes. Inclassification, if one of the n decision functions classifies an unknowndatum into a definite class, it is classified into that class. In thisformulation, if more than one decision function classifies a datum intodefinite classes, or no decision functions classify the datum into adefinite class, the datum is unclassifiable. To resolve unclassifiable regions for SVMswe discuss four types ofSVMs: one against all SVMs; pairwise SVMs; ECOC (Error Correction OutputCode) SVMs; all at once SVMs; and their variants. Another problem of SVMis slow training. Since SVM are trained by a solving quadratic programmingproblem with number of variables equals to the number of training data,training is slow for a large number of training data. We discuss trainingof Sims by decomposition techniques combined with a steepest ascent method. Support Vector Machine algorithm also plays big role in internetindustry. For example, the Internet is huge, made of billions of documentsthat are growing exponentially every year. However, a problem exists intrying to find a piece of information amongst the billions of growingdocuments. Current search engines scan for key words in the documentprovided by the user in a search query. Some search engines such as Googleeven go as far as to offer page rankings by users who have previouslyvisited the page. This relies on other people ranking the page accordingto their needs. Even though these techniques help millions of users a dayretrieve their information, it is not even close to being an exact science. The problem lies in finding web pages based on your search query thatactually contain the information you are looking for. READ: Homeless: What Has Been Done To Decrease The Probl EssayHere is the figure of SVM algorithm:It is important to understand the mechanism behind the SVM. The SVMimplement the Bayes rule in interesting way. Instead of estimating P(x) itestimates sign P(x)-1/2. This is advantage when our goal is binaryclassification with minimal excepted misclassification rate. However, thisalso means that in some other situation the SVM needs to be modified andshould not be used as is. In conclusion, Support Vector Machine support lots of real worldapplications such as text categorization, hand-written characterrecognition, image classification, bioinformatics, etc. Their firstintroduction in early 1990s lead to a recent explosion of applications anddeepening theoretical analysis that was now established Support VectorMachines along with neural networks as one of standard tools for machinelearning and data mining. There is a big use of Support Vector Machine inMedical Field. Reference:Boser, B., Guyon, I and Vapnik, V.N.(1992). A training algorithm foroptimal margin classifiers. http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~cjlin/papers/tanh.pdf

Ethics Issues in Elderly Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Ethics Issues in Elderly Care - Essay Example A common dilemma is the evaluation of an old person's capability of decision making, both about management of his affairs, or regarding approval to treatment, or contribution in study. Because cognitive capability is not always indistinguishable with competency, meaningful tools have recently been developed in which the stress is on the precise situation to be examined. The changed interactions among the elderly patient and his or her environment may bring about ethical dilemmas in the behavioral patterns as the result of the pressure of sickness and care giving. Dependence due to physical, emotional, or mental disability in the aged infirm person is often provoked by earlier and coexisting dysfunction. This has effect also on the family who may be responsible for his supervision, and also troubled with the old person's care, and there is often an insistent need for strengthening of the social help needed for this condition. Likewise, the weakness of elderly persons may present delicate ethical issues in the determination of their ability to agree to join forces in clinical research in old age. This paper discusses some of these dilemmas in the management of disability and in the practice of clinical research in old people. These units revolve round the psychology of "I", the subjective insight of identity, and the "Me", the objective perception of the person by others. The question of personhood and what constitutes a "person" must also be addressed if infirmity and illness become dominant features of old age. In a debate defining personhood, it was noticed that the theory of psychological continuity and connectedness would be liable to understand the frenzied person as having a different individuality, because this condition is fundamentally one of disengagement. The sign of the loss of personality is often uttered by the relations: "This is not the father/mother that I have always known". In this situation, his dementia causes him almost to lose his unique sovereignty. According to Hughes, conversely, it is important to see the person as one who is "acting and interacting in a cultural historical context in which he is embedded" This vision of the person as a "situated embedded agent" could therefor e involve that even if he suffers from dementia he is not involuntarily detached from his historical ancestry and, until or unless he reaches a vegetative phase of total ignorance of his environment, he should be considered as keeping hold of some measure of self-sufficiency. AUTONOMY Autonomy is a person's capability and chance to make decisions involving his/her own desires. In a self-governing culture, many sovereign people are self-directed, but not all people with autonomy are unavoidably autonomous. A wheelchair bound person for example, can hold the power to order someone to carry out his requirements, and present communication equipment