My favourite stuff

In my leisure time I enjoy having a long drink and a bowl of popcorn watching a nice film.   I do not favor any category of film.   I normally read a review of a film and see what evaluation it had been given by the reviewer.   Although I have some favorite actors, like for example Robert De Niro in the films ‘The Awakening’, ‘Sleepers’, and ‘Meet the Fockers’, Al Pacino in the films ‘Devils Advocate’, and ‘Carlito’s Way’, and George Clooney in the films ‘Ocean’s Eleven’, ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ and ‘The Perfect Storm’. A recent film that comes to my mind is Pursuit of Happyness.   It attracted me most for its comparisons to the daily routine.   In fact it is based on a true story of Chris Gardner.   To be sincere I do not really fancy so much the main actor of this film whom character is played by Will Smith, but he really has done his best to play such an excellent role.   While the boy in the film, who is also the real son of Will Smith manages to play an impeccable role in the film.   The story is about a salesman who is trying to sell medical scanners with no luck at all. While he possesses minimal money and the only breadwinner of the family is his wife, who is panic stricken on how to continue paying the house rents they have with insufficient income. The last straw that broke the camels’ back was when ‘Chris’ told his wife that he was inclined for the profession of a stockbroker.   As a result, she left home and allowed Chris to take the full custody of his son. In such a stance, Chris had to study to attain the job as a stockbroker, while trying to provide shelter for his son.   This part of the film revels the great commitment that Chris Gardner had for his family and for the job that he was inspired to reach. A story like this induces me to look at the bright sight of any situation and to be realistic in any condition in my life. Will Smith shows this entirely on how he keeps a smile on his face knowing the severe circumstances just to give hope and love for his son.   Knowing that these are real events from the daily routine of Chris Gardner, he managed to protect his son from the daily darkness, random misfortunes and homelessness. Even though I am watching a film I try to get a good source of education or knowledge or loving depending on the film.   For example through ‘Last King of Scotland’ I noted the hardships that people in Uganda suffered during the reign of General Idi Amin.   The braveness and courage of William Wallace in the film ‘Braveheart’ provided me good historical insights of Scotland during that epoch. Being a movie admirer I am always keen to watch a good film at the Cinema first.   I usually prefer a quite theater, with no disturbances from other spectators, which will hinder my attention on the film.   I also follow the Oscar Nominations and Awards thoroughly.   Indeed it is customary for me to watch all the movies in a cinema that were nominated to an Oscar.   I always try to match who will be the Best Actor, Director, Actress and Film before the award ceremony. Reference: Internet Movie Database. The Pursuit of Happyness (on line). Available from:   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454921/ (Accessed 9th April 2007).

Film Analysis of Helen of Troy Essay

In the film, Helen of Troy one of the main character is Achilles, the demigod warrior, a highly skilled and the strongest champion of Greece which also showed his soft side – his kindness, care, love for a woman and brotherly love for his cousin, Petraclus. The film really captured my idea of Achilles based on the book of Greek mythology. I think anyone who will watch attentively in the film will understand and capture the idea of character Achilles. Aside Achilles there are other important characters in the film such as Agamemnon – ruler of Greece, Menelaus – king of Mycenae, Paris – prince of Troy, Hector – brother of Paris, and Helen – the cause of great war. Each character has strengths and weaknesses. Agamemnon was a proud and aggressive king because of that hundreds of his men died and they’re defeated by Trojans, an apparent weakness of him. Agamemnon strength is his men that following all his orders and respected him. Menelaus is just the same of Agamemnon, they have the same characteristic and the same strength and weaknesses, in my opinion. Paris weakness is his being coward and unskillful fighter even he was favored by Gods. King Priam a good thinker and always weigh every possibility and ask opinions of council before he made a decision but like his son Paris he is not a skilled fighter. Hector one of the son of King Priam unlike Paris he is a skilled fighter a brave and aggressive one but his weakness are his confidence and having no mercy that is why Achilles killed him in a battle. Lastly, Helen’s strength is her irresistible beauty that every man in the kingdom wants to protect her. Helen’s weakness showed when she was seduced by Paris. The Gods of Greek mythology were actually not seen in the entire film aside from mother of Achilles a minor goddess. Gods wasn’t really there in the action but there were times that the characters calling them or praying in the name of Gods. I could say that the film is quite different from the original story. It is more real and less of fantasy that is why Gods were not really in the scene and doesn’t play an important role based on the film. The cousin of Achilles namely Patroclus is one of the important character in the story. Achilles really cares to his cousin, he doesn’t want Patroclus to fight but because Patroclus really wanted to he disguise as his cousin, Achilles that lead to a fight to Hector who defeated and stab him to death. Achilles rage in anger, he became totally mad and sad in the death of his beloved cousin. Achilles doesn’t wants to participate anymore in the war because of his quarrel to Agamemnon but because of the death of Patroclus he had decided to fight again against the Trojans. Achilles leads the attack to the kingdom of Troy and his men conquer the troy but he was been killed by an arrow thrown by coward prince Paris. One of the most dramatic scenes in the film was the dialogue of king Priam and Achilles over the body of Hector. King Priam bravely went to the tavern of Achilles secretly to please and beg for the body of his beloved son Hector. He kneeled down and kiss the hand of Achilles while saying that â€Å"I`m the father of the warrior you have been killed and begging you to please return his body to me. â€Å", king Priam was crying in front of Achilles and pleasing Achilles to return the body. Then after Achilles convinced that he should return the body of Hector to his father king Priam to have a decent burial like what he did to his beloved cousin Patroclus. Achilles kindly let king Priam walk away and ensured their security with the body of Hector and he also let his woman to go with king Priam but he said that nothing will change they’re still enemies. On my own opinion the depiction of characters in the film is similar to the original story but the whole film is not accurately based on the book or the epic. The film is entertaining but it should not be use to study the epic of Homer because there are some changes and revisions from the original story. The film focus on actions and it depicts reality of war rather than the fantasy of Greek mythology. However the experienced of watching it is great especially to watch it with other students in the classroom.

The legend of bagger vance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The legend of bagger vance - Essay Example Bagger Vance as the title of the film suggests represents hope. He serves as though he is the character portraying God as the source of light in the darkest of times. He was there to guide Junuh and to help him find his swing. But he will not always be there. There will come a time when his work is done and just like Junuh, he had to see to the end to the game by himself and take to heart all he had learned. He was no longer necessary and unlike what Junuh at first thought as he was reluctant to let him go, time comes when that hand that helps and the voice that guides must be let go. The story was set in an appropriate time in the history of the South and as it was based on a true, it merely made the film even more interesting. It was after the war and everyone was down on their luck with the Great Depression. Rannulph Junuh, who had been the most promising golfer from the South cannot get on his feet and was on a drinking and gambling spree each night. Adele Invergordon, the daughter of who once was the wealthiest man in town had to deal with the grief of her father’s lost and the load of debt she had inherited. This was when she concocted the thought of inviting the two best players in the country to play in an invitation match to help boost the ailing business she had taken over. Junuh was unenthusiastically thrown into the match thinking it would be as easy as years before. Everyone was coping with one thing or another and it was only through the little boy Hardy Greaves, with all his innocence and passion that they realize what they have been missing by wallowing in misery. The truth of the matter is change is not the only constant thing in the world, problems also form part of life. It may not always be there and it may not always be the same level for everyone but just about everybody has problems. There are

Community Involvement Program Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Community Involvement Program - Essay Example Community Academy Public Charter Schools (CAPCS) and Northwestern University have implemented community involvement programs as part of the learning process. CAPCS incorporates parent involvement in teaching young children at the elementary level. The Amos 3 campus at CAPCS provides early childhood programs that give children a firm academic career foundation (CAPCS, 1). The program focuses on basic concepts of math and reading as part of educational introduction. Social development, respect, good behavior, and passion for learning are promoted at the campus. Parents team up with teachers and administrator to assist the development process. CAPCS has been successful by concentrating on science and technology to emphasis hand-on problem solving skills. Children learn critical thinking and problem solving and acquire basic knowledge required in all academic fields. This has been instrumental in preparing children academically and socially before venturing into secondary school, which h as led to successful academicians from Amos 3 campus (CAPCS, 2). Northwestern university has several programs within their community involvement program that provides students with local and international opportunities. The Applied Medical Society provides events targeting students with interest in healthcare provision. Participants learn basic skills such as CPR in these events (NU, 1). Campus kitchens employ volunteer students who learn the process of recycling un-served food into nutritious meals for seniors, community organizations, and youth programs. Graduates and undergraduates also participate in exchange and capacity building programs with cohorts from over 50 universities in over 40 countries. These workshops provide mentorship and prepare students for career opportunities. Most activities are centered on students and there is little participation from parents. The program prepares students for career ventures and student organizations within the campus have been instrumental in the success of the community involvement program.

Space & time Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Space & time - Essay Example Moreover, it is perhaps because space was not considered in situ that those space-time geometries (which are actually geometries of points of view, made by distance, and light) have burgeoned. And behind these local distortions of points of view, as interesting as they can be, we always find the abstract, traditional separation of concepts which is here proven wrong. (3) There is, as such, a universal simultaneity (with light at a certain point of its travel, incidentally) To validate the proposition of space in situation with its underlying implications must initially require the potential to grasp the traditional understanding of space in an unorthodox presentation where it may be put in a frame of reference capable of projecting or conveying its imperceptible dynamic property. By his findings in the combined queries and discourse of the philosophy of space, Kant states â€Å"Space is not something objective and real, nor a substance; nor an accident, nor a relation; instead, it i s subjective and ideal, and originates from the mind’s nature in accord with a stable law as a scheme, as it were, for coordinating everything sensed externally.† Reason for which the model in place is currently privileged At first sight, it looks surprising to see this identification presence/present being overlooked to this extent: beyond the homonymy, it is difficult to doubt that what is present spatially (what is not absent, what takes place) is actually neither past nor future, and vice versa! However, this obvious point has remained, at best, counterintuitive. Admittedly some people say â€Å"only the present exists†, but in the same breath they admit that it is â€Å"uncatchable†. And with good reason: they see it only as a temporal limit! The reason for all this is simple, fraught with consequences, yet easy to adjust: The conscience of the past, present and future, i.e. the conscience of duration, of temporality (and beyond that the one of Histor y) makes us inevitably isolate, abstract the concept of time, and in return the one of space! And therefore prevents us from seeing space as it really is: in situation. This is why the separation a priori of the concepts of space and time has, until now, always prevailed. Though time and space are disposed unto each other in forming one whole structure for the purpose of serving perspectives treated in the light of relativity on one hand, and with absolute principle on the other, they seem equivalently disposed to separatist realm. Since their discovery and evolution through concepts, human perception has been trained to detect time in fluid behaviour while space thrives in passivity no matter how it is signified to consist of and encompass conceivable dimensions. Time can be measured and quantified in seconds, minutes, hours, years, and so on so that its trait of definitiveness in this regard is a established scientific fact. Space, similarly, can be made quantifiable in volumetric terms considering the size of what can be occupied yet it appears, nevertheless, time is much more concrete for it is sought to be identified with events in dynamic flow along with all the important characters and figures constituting them. It would strip history off of its essence in being a field of

Introduction to People, Organisation and Management Assignment

Introduction to People, Organisation and Management - Assignment Example Thus, it won 50 PC Game of Year awards. IN 1998, the game was published originally on Windows in 1998; then at Playstation 2 during 2001 and lastly at Linux & Mac OS X during the middle of 2013. Steam, the online distribution service of Valve, helped the games to be released in these particular platforms. Steam has enabled the gaming platform to connect to millions of people globally. According to the records, the company employed about 300 employees in 2012. Despite the success of the video games, the company has encountered issues pertaining to its organisational structure and decentralization (Belbin, 2010). The main aim of the report is to elaborate how Valve Corporation survived without leadership of managers. Valve Corporation adopts flat structure in order to avoid or reduce obstacle between its employees and customers. It is observed that flat organisational structure is useful for companies to provide freedom of practicing new technologies without thinking about technological failure. The justification for choosing these issues for the report is that flat organisational structure is threatened by high level of risk. It is observed that the company has committed innumerable mistakes by adopting the flat structure for its organisation. Additionally, it has been noticed that the company has no leaders who will communicate the information to its employees and direct them to do a particular task (Dawson and Andriopoulos, 2014). Thus, the company has failed to develop mentors or guides for its employees and thus it has given rise to informal mentoring which is another big problem for Valve. Informal mentoring leads to weak decision making which may harm the reputation of the company. An organization is defined as a social arrangement of human and capital resource which is controlled for achieving a set of collective goal. The human resource here refers to

IRIS Module FBA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

IRIS Module FBA - Essay Example I think the function of Kira’s behavior is to bring an interruption to the teacher’s lesson. She answers during the class and makes her classmates laugh. By doing this, she aims at capturing their attention instead of the students listening to the teacher. Sensory Simulation and having a quiet time help Nigel in maintaining his behavior. He feels comfortable by being alone. We can implement an intervention that can help decrease the problem behavior once we identify the function of maintaining the behavior. This intervention did not work well with Nigel. If I were the teacher, I would stop using such kind of intervention. The graph shows increased inappropriate behavior. I would immediately stop the intervention, but if I have a modification to it, I would try it. To identify if the plan is working, the team uses intervention data analysis. This analysis also helps the team to determine whether they need to make any changes. Two factors can help me in knowing if the intervention was unsuccessful. First, the intervention was not effective because the desired behavior did not increase while the undesired behavior increased. Second, to determine success of the intervention, the team will compare the intervention data and the baseline data. The intervention is unsuccessful if the undesired behavior does not improve. The IRIS Center for Training Enhancements. (n.d.). Functional Behavioral Assessment: Identifying the Reasons for Problem Behavior and Developing a Behavior Plan. Retrieved on 8/1/10, from

Learning Framework Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Learning Framework - Assignment Example irected, reflective learners Learning Goal 2: Be knowledgeable in their major field of study Learning Goal 3: Be critical enquirers and problem solvers Learning Goal 4: Be able to think and act ethically Learning Goal 5: Be able to work collaboratively Learning Goal 6: Be effective communicators The Learning Framework is the first stage of your assessment programme that culminates in your Oral Brief and Co-operative Education Report. In your Co-operative Education Report you will critically reflect on, analyse and evaluate your development throughout your Co-operative Education Placement and work on and complete a discipline research topic of your choice. Instructions for completing this document You are required to address all of the points which relate to each of theBBus Learning Goals. You may either answer each point individually or you may choose to respond to all points in the one discussion of paragraphs using appropriate headings and sub-headings. Learning Goal 2: Be knowledg eable in your major field of study demonstrating the application of knowledge from your major(s) to your Co-operative Education Placement In this Learning Goal you will explain how knowledge from your major(s) might apply to your tasks and discuss the value of your role. You are required to address both of the points below. You may include further comments or discussion that is relevant to this Learning Goal. You must integrate relevant concepts, models, frameworks, theories and/or technical competencies (use in text references) to support your discussion. 1. Provide a brief overview of your role and your Co-operative Education Placement Organisation (CPO) 2. Briefly describe each of your key tasks or activities that relate to your major(s). For each key task or activity, identify a comprehensive range of theories, concepts, models, frameworks and/or technical competencies from your major(s) and explain how they could apply. 3. Discuss the value that your role and personal attribute s may add to your CPO. 1. Provide a brief overview of your role and your Co-operative Education Placement Organisation (CPO) 2. Briefly describe each of your key tasks or activities that relate to your major(s). For each key task or activity, identify a comprehensive range of theories, concepts, models, frameworks and/or technical competencies from your major(s) and explain how they could apply. 3. Discuss the value that your role and personal attributes may add to your CPO. 1. I have already worked in a branding and advertising agency in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and I became interested in functional attributes of branding and advertising career during my tenure in Brand House Advertising Service. It has been already mentioned that I am going to join Brand House Advertising Service in Riyadh as Co-op Placement in temporary basis. During the short tenure of

Aesthetics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Aesthetics - Essay Example Most youths globally, have discarded their traditional cultures to associate with the American culture. Rosing states that music is an important component in the formation of cultural identity. Globalization allows for the spread of culture in the form of the language used in the music, its literature and art. The music allows some people globally to identify with the culture in a way they form their own cultural identity (99). This new culture is created globally through pooling from the different traditions exhibited in the music being presented. Globalization of music has allowed for integration of different group of people globally through the implementation and integration of the music in their lives (100). McLuhan proposes that globalization is promoted by technology. He argues that humans can reach great heights of creativity by using electronic gadgets. The use of the internet has allowed for the formation of intelligent groups of people who can achieve great heights. Thus, the internet has allowed for aesthetics from different culture to be shared easily over the internet and has provided a platform for people globally to associate with their own cultural

Role play Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Role play - Essay Example 1. Have good analytical listening skills. This ability does play a significant role in leadership, for only through listening can one be able to gather as much information as possible. The modern leaders of our society that innovated the prosperity of their organizations, as well as nations, talk less and listen more. This is mainly because in listening to outsiders they can branch out of their comfort zones where everything is alright and learn of the emerging problems being incurred. In my leadership position, I utilize my analytical listening abilities by first surrounding myself with trustworthy individuals who can talk a lot and address problems experienced objectively. From this activity am also able to evaluate all the information that is supplied directly to me and thus be able to analyze how best to use this information. I do not seclude myself to only listening to the positive but majorly listen to the critical information to fully understand the depth of the problem and an alyze how it can be sorted out. 2. Ability to persevere, deal with volatility as well as adapt to changes incurred. Great leaders always create a volatility plan in place in order to implement it, should a volatile season occur. This helps to keep them on the alert and also enhance the chances of the organization dealing with volatility in an appropriate manner. In my experience volatility mainly occurs with investments and the ability to adapt to the new nature of the environment is vital and it should be done with a remembrance of perseverance. I do this in order to be able also to support and help my employees towards enduring volatile seasons of investment. I usually do have very tight plans already drawn up to necessitate some business and changes incurred during these seasons. 3. Can conduct open networking and manage relationships. Technology has transformed the modern ways of networking in business and globally a leader should

More sports in school Essay Example for Free

More sports in school Essay More Sports in School Did you know six of seven of the world population like more than one sport? Our school needs more sports. Some of the students like sports, but we do not have enough sports. Some students want to be a player when they grow up. Sports make your body stronger. We need more sports for the students, so they can become talented. Students can learn about teamwork, leadership, and sportsmanship. This can contribute to their development as solid citizens. According to the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry website, in two thousand eight between sixteen percent and thirty three percent of children and teens were considered obese. In organized team sports, students work together to accomplish a task and learn from their mistakes. Nicole M. LaVoi wrote school should have more sports to have fun, mastery, teamwork, and become professionals. There are a lot of sports like soccer, basketball, tennis, football, volleyball, hockey etc. Website: http://blogs. edweek. org/edweek/schooled_in_sports/2013/10/ny_times_hosts_roundtable_ on_ pros_and_cons_of_youth_sports.html Academically weak students are able to excel in sports and are challenged to improve their abilities. Furthermore, D. E. builds teamwork and units thee class as a group, living cultural or social background behind. In doing sport on regular basis, students become fitter and thus. Their self-steam is increased, but most importantly, it is fun. Many students who do not have the opportunity to participate in physical activities outside of school are thankful to do sports in school. If student enjoy sports they are more likely to care about education in general and in doing so improve their schoolwork. Sports only keeps the students healthy, but also gives them a fun break of other schoolwork. That is approximately one in four children who is over the suggested body fat limit for their age. Anyone is able to participate in sports and since a D. E. program in school offer different kind of sports. Some students argue about the fact that school should only be and not fun, because they are two different things. The time should be used to study instead of doing D. E. just the contrary is true. There are schools where students have D. E. lesson every day. org/essay/sports-is-a-necessary-part-of-168936. html Sports can help the students to improve their abilities. Sports are fun and students were exercising while playing sports. Soccer is the most exercised sports, because you have so much running to do. If there are more sports in school, it will be easy for the students to become talented and to be professional players. If student enjoy playing sports their more likely to care about their education. Sports keeps you physically fit, mentally strong, builds characters, and it is a way to take your mind off of school and other things.

Estimating Environmental Impacts Of New Roads Environmental Sciences Essay

Estimating Environmental Impacts Of New Roads Environmental Sciences Essay Main Roads Western Australia Public Environment Report 2008 New Transportation projects nowadays is noticeably increasing across nations all around the world, especially the aspect of constructing new roadway and highway networks, due to the tremendously unstoppable increase in the population of people on earth, thus, the demand of life resources, the need of moving from one place to another (from location A to location B) is also increasing, in response to that governments of different countries are spending billions of dollars each year just to enhance and develop the transportation networks, focusing on the local roadway and highway networks, this movement of development was noticeable after the war world II. C:UsersEmadDocumentsUniversity ProjectsYear 4 ((2012 2013))Highway DesignAssignmentsAssignment 1ReferencesRoad and The environment.jpg According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 2008, the United Arab Emirates has paved roads of 4,080 km (including 253 km of expressways), while the United States of America has paved roads of 6,506,204 km, this shows the huge increasing demand on paved roads. Road projects can be taken as an indication of how urban the country is, the more developed the roadway network the better the economy, because it provides more access to different locations with little travel time, thus it provides more jobs, health services and education. But as they say everything has its own price, developing new roads can have some bad impacts on the environment and the ecosystem surrounding the roads. In this report, both the positive and the negative impacts of new roads and highway on the environment and ecosystem will be discussed, nevertheless the different types of physical environmental impacts. Impact of Roads on the Environment Fragile Nature by Joel Sartore Impact of new roads on the environment is becoming a more serious issue that governments should take care and be aware of, because of the increasing demand on constructing new roadways nowadays, what comes after constructing a new road most of the times is a permanent change with the environment surrounding the road and may develop with time and lead to a serious damage with the ecosystem that canà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢t be reversed, so reckless planning and constructing of new roads could have a huge impact on the surrounding environment and the ecosystem. On the other hand, well designed and operated new roads could have positive impacts on the environment and the ecosystem, yet sometimes it cost more money to avoid affecting the environment, so engineers and environmental scientists are still trying to develop some new alternatives by using the new modern technology techniques to avoid any interruption that the human kind is causing by dom inating the environmental resources without looking at the consequences of the actions. http://images.joelsartore.com/gallery/B/BEA014-00001.jpg Recently many environmental engineers and scientists are conducting Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports to monitor and observe any physical impact on the environment and the ecosystem that may be result because of constructing new roads, the process of the environmental impact assessment may take some time, depending on the size of the project and where ità ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s located. Types of Environmental Impacts Resulting from New Roads There a lot of environmental impacts of constructing new roads and highways that can be observed, they all can be categorised in three points: Direct Impacts this impact will take effect in the near future. Indirect Impacts this impact will take effect in the far future. Cumulative Impacts this impact will take effect in the far future after accumulation. *All these different impacts could have either a positive or a negative effect on the environment and the ecosystem. Direct Impacts: Direct impacts on the environment can directly occur during the process of the new road construction, for example the 1st step of constructing a new road between two cities separated by a green area or farm is removing the greens (trees, plants,,etc.) to place the roadà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s gravel and asphalt (pavement), in general direct impacts are easier for the environmental assessment, because they are more predictable than the other two types (the indirect and the cumulative impacts), thus the impacts can be easily controlled to prevent any serious damage on the environment in case of the negative impacts. Direct Positive Impacts: Although that the direct impacts may have a lot of negative impacts, they have some positive impacts, for example, rechanneling a river or a water stream might improve the water retention of a village near by the road. Some developed countries are trying to merge the green and urban together, for example constructing new roads with rain retention or drainage systems by including some plants. C:UsersEmadDesktopLawrence Village Road Project 026.jpg Lawrence Village Road Project (Image by Iron Age) Direct Negative Impacts: There are a lot of direct negative impacts that may damage the environment, for example some major roads need to be constructed between major cities, so sometimes the process of construction requires removing or redirecting some obstacles like the flow of a river or water stream which will lead to a huge impact on the ecosystem, the removal of farms and private properties. Air pollution could have the greatest impact on the environment (CO2 vehicles emissions) and noise pollution which all have negative effect on the ecosystem surrounding the road. Indirect Impacts: Indirect impacts can be also known as chain impacts, from the name we can tell that chain impacts require time to develop which will be hard to observe and measure during the construction of the new road. Indirect Positive Impacts: some new modern roads that are being constructed have some facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists, thus this might help to reduce the impact of air pollution by reducing the number of vehicle users (CO2 emissions), likewise some new roads has a special lane for buses which will encourage people to use the bus more often and this might also decrease the air pollution. Indirect Negative Impacts: When it comes to negative indirect impacts, the 1st thing comes is deforestation and the decline in forest animals and bird species, in 1994 Rich et al. drew attention with his report that the reduction and extinction of some bird species is primary because of new roads (noise and light). In 1982 Burke Sherburne examined the population of wildlife of mammals and birds during and after construction of new roads, they found there is a little movement of both mammals and birds densities to different places. Cumulative Impacts: These types of environmental impacts could be called as silent impacts, because the results of these impacts will need time to accumulate. Cumulative Negative Impacts: Global warming could be one of the cumulative impacts, many scientists are referring to the incremental percentages of CO2 for the last 5 decades, where they come from the emissions of factories, nevertheless, the vehicles emissions, thus, constructing new roads means more vehicles and more CO2 emissions. Environmental Impact Assessment is the Solution Environmental Impact Assessment also known as EIA, it should take place whenever there is a project that wanted to be constructed, the purpose of this environmental assessment is to check and consider every predictable impact (positive or negative) that may occur or affect the environment, it can be performed by taking study corridors, for example for green field roads a corridor of 10 à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 100 km should be considered along the road that is being constructed, in order to assess and predict any changes that may occur surrounding that new road. Conclusion As what we have seen in this report there are a lot of impacts may occur because of constructing new roads, some are positive impacts and some are negative impacts, some will occur in the long-term and some will occur in the short-term, so in order to control and to predict them environmental impact assessments (EIA) need to be done before constructing any new roads for a better environmentally friendly future.

Ripng Ospfv3 And Eigrpv6 In Ipv6 Information Technology Essay

Ripng Ospfv3 And Eigrpv6 In Ipv6 Information Technology Essay A working model of the purpose is implemented in Packet Tracer and it illustrates how routing can be achieved between to dissimilar routing domains. It highlights both positive and negative aspects like full visibility and potential routing loops consequently. Findings Access lists can be used to avoid routing loops. More study is needed when OFPF is redistributed into RIP-EIGRP combination. Originality/value this paper addresses how different routing protocol domains can be interconnected and enjoy the full visibility of routers that belongs to different routing protocols Keywords EIGRPv6, RIPng, OSPFv3, redistribution, Administrative Distance, Access list, routing loops Introduction Though IPv4 is proved as one of the dominant network layer protocol which has been in use for last 3 decades since its development in 1981 (RFC 791), people still find a need for an enhanced and better protocol due to the ever growing networks. When IPv4 address scheme was made, developers did not give a thought that internet would explode and expand too rapidly as we see the current picture of networks today. To slow down the depletion of address space, IPv4 protocol was further updated in 1993 and started using as classless (CIDR) (RFC 1519) which was failed to be adequate enough as a long term solution for conserving IP addresses. As the architecture of IPv4 has been subjected to changes, so the underneath routing protocols like RIP, OSPF, IGRP, EIGRP, BGP, IS-IS etc. are also been updated or reformed in order to have better routing and converged networks. In 1994, NAT was came up with public address and private address concept and succeeded to a great extent in conserving the IPv 4 addresses (RFC 1631). A report generated by IANA predicted that IPv4 would completely run out of available addresses by 2011 (Potaroo, 2011). In 1998 December, a new internet protocol, IPv6, is proposed with Expanded Address Capabilities, support for hierarchy in addressing, simplified header format and support for real-time services like IPTV (RFC 2460). Just like in IPv4, IPv6 (routed protocol) is also dependent on routing protocols to route the packets. Since 1997, networking groups started developing routing protocols to support IPv6 and they successfully standardized RIPng, OSPFv3, EIGRPv6, BGPv6 and IS-ISv6 in the subsequent years. These protocols are developed for 128 bit address and better security, without having much difference to their counterparts in IPv4. We cannot expect entire network to be operated by a single type of dynamic routing protocol. Depending upon size of network and requirements, administrator may choose relevant routing protocol still maintaining full connectivity among the nodes in network. The possible solutions are using static routes or deploying mutual redistribution among different protoc ol domains. As IPv4 routing protocols, RIPv2, OSPFv2 and EIGRP are well established, there are minimal redistribution issues among them. Whereas in case of IPv6 there is good amount of scope to understand and research on practical issues that arise when mutual redistribution is applied among them. Following sections of document deals with review of RIPng, OSPFv3 and EIGRPv6 individually and a practical implementation in packet tracer is shown. Later sections demonstrate how Administrative Distance (AD) of a dynamic routing protocol create loops or route to infinity and how access-list can be applied in order to avoid them. RIPng RIPng is developed in 1997 and it uses Ford-Fulkerson algorithms. And nevertheless to mention, RIPng is a distance vector protocol which depends on route on rumor, just like its earlier versions. RIPng is best suited for smaller size networks having hop count limited to 15. Beyond 15, any router would be considered as unreachable (RFC 2080). For every 30 seconds, entire Database of routing information is being exchanged and this could be keep networks always processing data. It uses hold down timer prevent route loops when a router or a particular interface of a router, or a network goes down. Split horizon is another concept which is enabled by default in cisco routers help preventing routing loops. Trigger updates are generated when there is a change in the topology to have better convergence. One of the reasons for slower convergence when compared to link-state routing protocols is when an update is being multicasted to the neighbors, first they sniff the packet, analyze and then make changes to TTL field, metric and then forward the packet to next hop. Because of this update packet spends notable amount of time at every node and hence convergence is slower as shown below. Fig: forwarding process in RIPng The main drawbacks of this protocols is higher convergence time, limited number of router in routing domain and high amount of traffic for administration and maintenance. Below is another screenshot from the working model which depicts the RIPng routing domain. OSPFv3: RFC2740 is proposed and standardized for OSPF that supports IPv6 networks in 1999. As its previous versions, OSPFv3 came up with many of its fundamental concepts like support for areas, flooding, and algorithm (Dijkstra) for calculating shortest path first (SPF), Designated and Backup Designated router selection intact. Changes are done to accommodate new IP address format which is 128 bit one. OSPF in IPv6 networks run on per-link basis where as it is per-IP-subnet based in IPv4. And the main difference is authentication is removed from OSPF protocol itself as IPv6 got its own Authentication Header and Encapsulating Security Payload (RFC 2740). OSPF form adjacency with attached routers and work in areas. A router can have many instances of OSPF process and hence inter connecting more nodes which belongs to more than one area as shown in the below screenshot from the working model of packet tracer. Fig3: OSPFv3 and Inter-Area connections OSPF uses hello packets and to make sure of adjacency. For every 10 seconds, OSPF enabled router sends hello packets to neighbors and in case if does not get reply for hello in four times the hello interval that particular adjacent node is announced as dead and accordingly updates will be sent to the affected nodes only. OSPF does not process the update packet before forwarding. Hence convergence time is very low even in a big network. Even though SPF algorithm looks simple, it involves complex calculation and hence it requires large amount of resources i.e CPU memory and time. OSPF is best suited to deploy in larger networks. EIGRPv6: EIGRP is ciscos proprietary protocol and works only in cisco routers. EIGRPv6, like its previous version, uses Diffusion Algorithm (DUAL) to make network really loop-free. Though EIGRP is categorized as distance vector protocol, it carries features from link-state model and hence EIGRP deals with neighbor and topology databases. Like RIP, EIGRPv6 does not send its entire database to the adjacencies which would create lot of administrative traffic. EIGRPv6 maintains installs both successor and feasible successor routes in the topology table. Whenever the successor route goes down, within no time, it installs feasible successor into the routing table and hence convergence is very fast in EIGRPv6. It generates triggers whenever there is a change in the topology. Just like OSPF, EIGRP can run multiple instances of the process and hence work in multiple process domains. EIGRPv6 uses bandwidth and delay for calculating metric as default parameters and user can change this metric by includi ng reliability and load. Below is the screenshot of EIGRPv6 routing domain with backup routes (Netacad, 2011). Fig4: EIGRPv6 domain Redistribution: Using a routing protocol to advertise routes that are learned by some other means, such as by another routing protocol, static routes, or directly connected routes, is called redistribution (Cisco, 2011). Though it is recommended to use single routing protocol throughout the network, in some scenarios it may be required to advertise routes of a particular routing protocol domain to a different routing protocol domain, especially when organizations merge, or multiple departments merge. Every routing protocol has its own way of calculating and using metric for routing packets. RIPng uses hop count as metric, OSPF is based on Bandwidth and EIGRP use Bandwidth, delay, reliability, load and MTU to calculate metric. As metric plays key role in redistribution, it needs to be set along with CLI commands of redistribution. Care must be taken to advertise correct metric while redistributing. Following is the screenshot from working model. For illustration purpose let us focus on redistribution between EIGRP and RIP routing protocol domains. Fig: Mutual redistribution between EIGRPv6 and RIPng Routers in the EIGRP domain neither reach nor have the visibility of routers deployed in RIP domain. The common point between these routing domains is called edge router and this router run both RIPng and EIGRPv6. We need to enable mutual redistribution on these edge routers. When we configure the edge router with following configuration, routes of RIP protocol domain will be learned by routers in the EIGRP protocol domain with the specified metric. In the same way when we issue the following configuration on the edge router, routes of EIGRP will be distributed into RIP protocol domain and RIP speaking routers learns about EIGRP routes with specified metric. We can find if redistribution successfully imported routes into adjacent routing domain by observing the route entries of IPv6. All native routes are either marked as C or D representing directly connected and EIGRP routes respectively. Whereas distributed routes are marked as EX exterior EIGRP routes with administrative distance of 170 and calculated metric to the respective network. The same can be observed in the following screenshot. Each and every router in both the domains has full visibility to any other router and the same can be checked in the working model of packet tracer using ping command. In the same way multi-area OSPF protocol domain is configured with the below shown configuration having Area0 as backbone area and Area1 and Area2 are connected to backbone area on both the sides. Now configure mutual redistribution between OSPF into RIP. Routes should be updated accordingly and full connectivity must be established between any two nodes in the packet tracer. When OSPF routes are redistributed into a system having RIP and EIGRP, all the routers are not converged and formations of routing loops are suspected. This will be discussed in the following sections. Note: After launching the packet tracer, it is recommended to wait for 1-2 minutes before pinging any node as it takes some time for converging. Administrative Distance contributing to routing loops: As each dynamic routing protocol has its own way of calculating metric, they cannot be used to compare routes. This can be taken care by Administrative Distance as it represents the degree of reliability of a route. Most preferable routes are chosen based on the AD. Lower the AD, better the reliability and precedence will be given to that route. Static routes got preference over any other route as AD for static route is 0. In the same way Interior EIGRP got AD of 90, OSPF is of 110, RIP is of 120 and finally Exterior EIGRP is of 170. A close observation of EIGRP domain says that it got redundant paths introducing possibility for routing loops. R2 and R4 learn about network 2006::0/64 (which is highlighted in red) through RIPng and advertise this information into EIGRP domain when redistribution is applied. Using EIGRPv6, R2 learns about network 2006::0/64 from R1 or R4 and R4 learns the same network from R1, R5 or R2. As EIGRP has less Administrative Distance (90) than RIP (120), the EIGRP route is the one used in the routing table causing routing loop. Even techniques like split horizon is used, still these networks suffer from convergence problem. When EIGRP is redistributed into RIP this problem gets more worsen as R3 learns about 2006::0/64, which is a directly connected network, from other routers. Solution to this problem is using access lists to deny routing updates of 2006::0/64 into its own routing domain i.e RIP. Following shown configuration applied on both R2 and R4 describes how to set access-list. After access lists are applied on edge routers, both domains become fully converged with full reachability. Insufficient route updates will happen when redistribution is applied between RIP and OSPF domains. Potential reasons for this problem are yet to be known and further study is required. Packet tracer 5.3 does not support tracert for IPv6 networks and sometimes it causing the application to crash. CONCLUSION: In the stand still mode, each routing domain is fully converged and any node can ping any other node inside the routing domain. When RIP and EIGRP are mutually redistributed into each other, potential route loops and insufficient route tables are observed because of Administrative Distance. These problems are attended by using access list with permit and deny commands. After applying access lists on edge routers, EIGRP and RIP are fully converged and full connectivity is established. Insufficient route tables are observed with OSPF redistribution into RIP and the causes of this problem are yet to be studied. Simulation tool, Packet tracer 5.3, needs to be updated as when IPv6 networks are simulated two things are observed. One, application is getting crashed frequently without any reason and the second is tracert is not supported for IPv6 networks. This model could be further used to analyze QoS and path vector protocols like BGP and IS-IS and to examine how networks behave in Autono mous Systems (AS). [1]RFC 791, http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc791.txt, Last accessed 14-01-2011 [2] RFC 1519, ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc1519.txt, Last accessed 14-01-2011 [3] RFC 1631, ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc1631.txt, Last accessed 14-01-2011 [4] Potaroo 2010, IPv4 Address report, http://www.potaroo.net/tools/ipv4/, Last accessed 14-01-2011 [5] RFC 2460, ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2460.txt, Last accessed 14-01-2011 [6] RFC 2080, ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2080.txt, Last accessed 14-01-2011 [7] RFC 2740, ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/rfc2740.txt, Last accessed 14-01-2011 [8] Netacad 2011, https://auth.netacad.net/idp/Authn/NetacadLogin, Last accessed 14-01-2011 [9]Cisco 2011, http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk365/technologies_tech_note09186a008009487e.shtml, Last accessed 14-01-2011

Constructivism, Educational Research, and John Dewey :: Learning Education Essays

Constructivism, Educational Research, and John Dewey ABSTRACT: Schools are expected to transmit knowledge to younger generations. They are, however, also increasingly criticized for distributing so-called inert knowledge, i.e., knowledge that is accessed only in a restricted set of contexts even though it is applicable to a wide variety of domains. The causes of limited knowledge transfer are mostly attributed to the dis-embeddedness of learning situations in schools. Instructional procedures that result in learning in the sense of being able to recall relevant information provide no guarantee that people will spontaneously use it later. "Authentic learning," acquiring knowledge in the contexts that (will) give this knowledge its meaning, is now being presented as an alternative. Underpinning these reform proposals is not only a (growing) concern with efficiency, but is also a new epistemological theory, labelled as constructivism. This paper will, first, focus on the layout of and diverging perspectives within recent constructivist re search in education. Next, the epistemological approach of John Dewey will be discussed, which takes as its starting point the relation of knowledge to action. Finally, we will indicate what a Deweyan approach might add to the constructivist research in education. 1. One indication of the rate of growth of constructivist research in education is the proliferation of its perspectives and positions. Apparently, it is already found wanting to distinguish between different themes, accents, evaluations. Instead, one speaks of contrasting ‘paradigms’. Thus, Steffe & Gale distinguish in a reader entitled Constructivism in education six different "core paradigms", viz "social constructivism, radical constructivism, social constructionism, information-processing constructivism, cybernetic systems, and sociocultural approaches to mediated action" (1995, p.xiii). All of these so-called paradigms reject traditional epistemological claims about knowledge as an objective representation of ‘reality’. Their arguments are, however, only rarely directed against inherited traditional conceptions. Rather, it are the newly formulated alternatives which serve as points of reference. Constructivist ‘paradigms’ are most of all elab orated in debate with fellow-alternatives. The most outspoken pioneer of a constructivist approach to teaching has been Ernst von Glasersfeld, whose ‘radical constructivism’ still is at the center of the debate. Elaborating on the works of Jean Piaget, von Glasersfeld has particularly focussed on individual self-regulation and the building of conceptual structures through reflection and abstraction. According to von Glasersfeld, ‘authentic’ learning depends on seeing a problem as ‘one’s own problem’, as an obstacle that obstructs one’s progress toward a goal. The farthest removed from this individualistic focus seems to be the sociocultural approach that originated with Ljev Vygotskij in Russia.

Lord of the Flies :: essays papers

Lord of the Flies In William Golding's Lord of the Flies the one good soul was found in Piggy. He wasn't violent and he was one of the only boys who tried to keep all of the other children civil by mimicking adults. Although Piggy had physical limitations that some say "prevented" Piggy from joining the other boys in savagery; he never possessed and evil spirit like Jack, Roger, and Ralph. "Shove a palm trunk under that and if an enemy came - look!" Jack noticed these things such as places to build forts, and weapons that can be made. While Piggy's main interests were in building shelters to be protected, and a sundial to know what time it was. There are may other things that Piggy did to attempt to bring order to the island just like a grown-up. When Jack was busy hunting pigs and dancing about in the blood that engulfed him, Piggy just wanted people to listen to him. He yearned for someone to listen to his ideas without asking questions: when he suggested moving the fire to the beach, he just wanted a ship passing by to see them. Piggy mimicked adults, he did not run about in a savage nature, he was good. Being the only boy that wasn't violent shows how diverse Piggy was from the other boys on the island. "I got the conch I tell you" Piggy screamed in attempt to gain the boys' lost attention, "I tell you I got the conch." Good finally prevailed and Piggy gained the boys' attention. Never once did Piggy resort to violence, even when his glasses were stolen, he proved he was above violence. Unlike Jack, Piggy never killed. Piggy never hunted or killed a pig, let alone hurt another human being, he used his mind not his size to get attention. Being the biggest boy on the island, he had the upper hand in any fight that would have gone his way. Piggy talked out his conflict; in his opinion violence was not an option. "I just take the conch to say this. I can't see no more and I got to get my glasses back. Awful things have been done on this island. I voted for you (Ralph) for chief. He is the only one who ever got things done.

British Entrepreneurs and the decline of the British economy :: European Europe History

British Entrepreneurs and the decline of the British economy Was the British entrepreneur the most important single reason for the relative decline of the British economy in the late nineteenth century? Despite a continued growth of production and wealth in absolute terms, the economy of "the first industrial nation" began to decelerate after 1870, in comparison with that of her closest competitors. This so called "decline" was caused by a number of factors not merely one as the question suggests, indeed Supple` s foreword (1) asks, "Are we to be concerned with the rate of growth of total income or of manufacturing output? Above all, by what standards do we assess `failure` or `success`?" Derek Aldcroft` s article, `The Entrepreneur and the British economy, 1870-1914 published in 1964 spearheaded the broad indictment of the British entrepreneur...(2)....... A/ They failed to adopt the best available techniques of production in many industries, ranging from ring-spinning and automatic weaving in cotton to the mechanical cutter and electrification of mines in coal. B/ They underestimated the growing importance of science, investing little in laboratories and technical personnel for research or for the effective exploitation of foreign research. C/ They over-invested in the old staple export industries such as cotton and iron, and were slow to move to the industries of the future such as chemicals, automobiles, and electrical engineering. D/ They were bad salesmen, especially abroad. E/ They were insufficiently aggressive in organising cartels to extract monopoly profits from the world a t large. I intend to investigate these areas, in addition to labour relations, education and the class system, as I feel that they have a distinct bearing on the late Victorian economic climate. The "technological retardist" theories are strongest in considering the erosion of "King Cotton` s" pre eminence, due in part to America` s competition and, the critics suggest, the British cotton manager` s lack of judgement. It is said that the slow adoption of the ring spindle in spinning, and the low uptake of the automatic loom in weaving seriously hampered those industries` competitive edge. The principle advantage of the ring spindle was it` s operation by unskilled female staff, whereas the traditional mule required skilled (mostly male) operatives, thus saving on labour costs. The disadvantage was that the ring needed more expensive cotton to make a given `fineness` or `count`. Given this information, replacement of old existing technology should only be undertaken if the total cost of the new technology is less than the variable cost of the old technique.

Western states

1. Earthquakes occur in various part of United States. The earthquakes that occurred across the country ranges in magnitude and the date of occurrences. Earthquake with highest magnitude that was recorded in history occurred in Alaska while the one with lowest magnitude occurred in the Idaho area of United States. From the national seismic hazard maps (2008) shows that certain area of united states are more prone to attack while some areas have moderate probability and while some region are at a lesser probability of occurrence.Western states such as California, Nevada, Oregon and Arizona are at higher risk of earthquakes while regions such as South Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota are at the lowest risk of earthquake occurrences. Those at moderate risk include Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. The relative probability risk of earthquake occurrences ranges from the low risk central and northern region to the moderate region of some of the eastern states to the highest risk of the weste rn states or region. 2.On the map, the color of Houston Texas is relatively grayish showing that this region is at a lower risk or probability of earthquake occurrence within the next fifty years. 3. Data from the USGS in regards to the latest earthquakes in the world (showing that of the past 7 days in terms of their magnitude and the date of occurrence) indicate that distribution of earthquakes around the world is not even. The map shows 208 different earthquakes in relation to the time of occurrence and their magnitude.Regions such as the western part of the USA, the area of Alaska, Northern part of South America, some northern and eastern parts of Australia and the southern part of Asia shows earthquake experiences that are within the range of 5-7 magnitude and they can be felt. Around the some part of central Asia there are some scattered distributions of earthquakes which are of lower magnitudes and most are not usually felt. 4. The details of the earthquake that occurred on t he southern American continent are as follows; magnitude 5.0, location 12. 100 degree S, 75. 338 degree W, PERU region with location uncertainty of Horizontal +/_ 13. 5 km (8. 34); depth +/- 3. 4km (2. 1 miles). The earthquake occurred on Saturday, August 01, 2009 at 23:07:04 UTC. 5. I’m never going to be willing to live in those regions with higher probability of earthquake simply because â€Å"prevention is better than cure†. Having considering various social, environmental and economic impacts on the lives of people being affected by earthquake, I will never consider living in such red regions. 6.In situation where I’m forced to live in such areas I will consider some of the precautions that can help me and family to prepare and prevent ourselves from being affected by such disaster. Some of what I can do to help my family prepare for such situation includes the use of the USGS resources which helps peoples and family prepare for earthquake events. The resour ces that have been found to help in such situations are categorized into the following; †¢ How can I plan ahead for an earthquake †¢ What emergency supply do I need †¢ What to do during an earthquakeIn order for me to help my family prepare for such an event in the future if eventually I was forced to relocate to the red areas are as follows; I will make sure each of my family member knows what to actually do no matter wherever they are during an earthquake such as establishing a meeting point where we can reunite after afterwards, find out the preventive measure or plan by the children schools for an earthquake attack, and remember that transportation may be disrupted during the event hence there is a need to keep supplies whenever there is chance to do so.I will also try as much as possible to prevent any form of fire outbreak that might worsen the situation. This will be achieved by turning off all the units that can lead to leakage and subsequent fire incidence. I will immediately locate the fire and police station or any available emergency facilities for any rescue. I will also talk to my neighbor in preparedness for an earthquake so for us to know what we can do to help each other during and after an attack. I will also take special training in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid processes. 7.The list of the most destructive earthquakes that occurred in the world are the earthquake that occurred in Pakistan in 2005 and that which occurred at Eastern Sichuan, China in the year 2008. The earthquake at Pakistan recorder about 86000 while that of the china recorded about 87,587 deaths. There are several missing bodies during both events and thousands of people became homeless after the events. This list of most destructive earthquakes shows that science is yet to be able to predicts or control earthquake because if they have the power or knowledge to do so, we ought not to have massive destruction like the two most recent earthquakes. 8. Seismograms is the seismological tool that scientist has been able to create to detect rumbling of the earth which usually indicate events going on within the earth layers and also the magnitude of a particular earthquake. What can be consider to be the main motivation for developing seismograms is the understanding of what lead to earthquakes that is the faults and the shakings that occurred within the ground which subsequently causes earthquake. They develop this tool so as to be able to detect this shakings and measure it magnitude. 9.This geological energy is different from biological in the sense that movements of the blocks within the earth result in the conversion of energy caused by the friction into the heat energy which subsequently contributes to the earthquakes while biological energy (which is measured in terms of calorie ) are usually derived from the chemical energy and not the frictional energy. The two forms of energy are similar in the sense that they can be con verted to heat energy. References Lisa,W. (2009). â€Å"The Science of Earthquakes†. Earthquake Hazard Programs Retrieved August 2, 2009 from http://earthquake. usgs. gov/learning/kids/eqscience.php USGS, (2009). â€Å"earthquake preparedness†. FAQs Retrieved August 2, 2009 from http://earthquake. usgs. gov/learning/faq/? faqID=79 USGS, (2009). â€Å"Earthquakes with 50,000 or More Deaths†. Most Destructive Known Earthquakes on Record in the World Retrieved August 2, 2009 from http://earthquake. usgs. gov/regional/world/most_destructive. php USGS, (2009). â€Å"National Seismic Hazard maps-2008†. Retrieved August 2, 2009 from http://gldims. cr. usgs. gov/nshmp2008/viewer. htm USGS, (2009). â€Å"Earthquake Facts â€Å". Earthquake Hazard programs Retrieved August 2, 2009 from http://earthquake. usgs. gov/learning/facts. php

Examinations Should Be Abolished Essay

Examinations should be abolished. When examinations are abolished, it means that it should be ridden of. Ever since our primary education started, we were all studying for examinations every year. The education system set by the Singapore government stated that examinations are a good way to test a student’s capability of a subject. The examinations’ purposes are to also allow teachers to know where each student’s individual standards, and letting them to be able to differentiate each student’s abilities and talents. It is also a common universal yardstick used around the world, since a long time ago. But, is it an accurate method? Nowadays, students are just required to memorise formulas and texts to answer the questions in examinations. Examinations do not measure one’s capability accurately. Examinations bring about stress and sleepless nights to students. These few factors affect the students’ emotions and feelings, and they might also affect the students’ performance in examinations. When students study, they will feel tired, and they will also feel that they have not studied enough, which leads them to not having enough sleep. At this period, students are also prone to falling sick. Tiredness will affect the students’ thinking, and memory will not work well when examinations come. The results of their examinations are not desirable which might also lead to other factors like, for example, the students’ parents getting angry because they did not do well. Students might get depressed and their attitude will change towards people. Examinations are also not fair. People who took examinations and did well received paper qualifications which state how well they did and what did they achieve. By applying for a job, this acts like another examination. If you are clever enough, you will pass the exam. The same thing applies too. If you have high qualifications, you can take the job. But it is not fair because there are so many hidden talents out there. Some might not have the money to take major examinations like the O and A levels which determine their achievements and grades, and these people are not being noticed. These people are seen in an unfair light. Another factor is that quite a lot of the things that we study are not  required much when we enter the working world. Let’s take, for example, Mathematics. Not all that we learn in Mathematics needs to be applied when we work. Students study so hard about Mathematics just to do well for their examinations to get good paper qualifications and being able to get a good job. In conclusion, I feel that examinations should be abolished because it does not measure a student’s potential and ability accurately and that it is unfair. An alternative is that schools should not have any examinations at all, and teachers should just teach throughout the year.

Bruce Dawe Poem Essay

Good morning/afternoon everyone. I am sure that many of you will agree with me, after studying and discussing in class war poetry, that war is destructive; it destroys properties and lives. It is also the meaning if not dehumanizing as Owen in his ‘Dulce et Decorum Est' has pointed out. The violence and destructiveness of war reduces men in the battlefield into something less than human; they are stripped of their dignity. Ultimately as Owen points out in his poem, war is senseless or futile. Whatever the reason for going to war, it's not justification enough for the senseless slaughter of young lives. Owen, as you know, has great ability in challenging the responders senses, to experience the horror of war. He allows us to see, to hear, to feel, to smell, even to taste the ugliness of war. Thus we see a group of soldiers trudging the muddy tracks blindly to safety. They are ‘drunk with fatigue' and Owen captures their dehumanization by a series of similes. They are ‘bent double, like old beggars, coughing like hags' and ‘deaf' to the sound and fury of guns and gas shells dropping around them. I still can visualize and hear their panic reaction to the chlorine gas and those who are not quick enough to put on their mask, literally drown in what Owen calls the ‘green sea' and our auditory sense is challenged by the guttering, the choking and the convulsed sobs. You will agree with me for sure, that the image that Owen conjures up of the victim of the chlorine gas is no less than grotesquely horrible. We see the ‘white eyes writhing' in his agony and the convulsions that are followed by the blood that comes gargling out of the victim's ‘froth corrupted lungs. Again a simile is used ‘bitter as the cud of vile,' effectively giving us the ‘awful taste' of the situation. I know of one other poet who also condemns war and who can effectively communicate the horror of war and the senselessness of it, simply by challenging our senses. Kenneth Slessor, like Wilfred Owen, has a strong indictment of war, if Owen's tone in his poem is angry because, for him , ‘Dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori' which since the time of Horace was used by authorities to entice men to fight for their country – it is a big ie. From the images that he conjures in this poem, there is nothing glorious about dying in such an indignified, brutal and senseless way. In contrast, Kenneth Slessor's tone in his ‘Beach Burial' is elegiac; he laments the destructiveness, the dehumanizing effect and the futility of war like Owen, although his anger is tempered and what we get is a tone of frustration, he communicates just as powerfully an antiwar message. His ‘Beach Burial' presents a dramatic situation in which a group of dead sailors floats towards the beach at El Alamein in the Middle East. The dehumanization motif comes almost strikingly because the sailors is at the mercy of the sea, no longer in control of their lives, but subject to the ebb and the flow of the sea. The fact that they are ‘unknown seamen,' a mixture of allied and axis soldiers probably highlights the senselessness of war. A man who takes pity on the dead ‘snatched them from the water' and bury them in burrows along the beach. Clearly, the image portrayed here is one of dehumanization and responders feel great pity for them in realizing that these sailors ultimate protection is to be found within the earth as animals find comfort in the safety of their burrows. Slessor's irony is obvious in the way he describes the situation; ‘Between the sob and clubbing of the gunfire, Someone, it seems, has time for this, To pluck them from the shallows and bury them in burrows And tread the sand upon their nakedness' Our auditory sense is challenged by the words ‘sob' and ‘clubbing' in this line so that we can hear the destruction of war. When Slessor uses the word ‘pluck' to describe the man's action of removing the bodies from the water to be buried, I am reminded of the soldier smothered in gas in Owen's poem being ‘flung' behind a wagon. Both poets certainly capture the unceremonious brutality of war. The futility of war is further highlighted by the man's bewilderment, not knowing what name to write on the crudely made tidewood crosses that he used for each grave. ‘Unknown seaman' is the only thing he can think to write. And, at this point the voice of the poet is clearly mournful, as suggested by the repetition of the word ‘such' and the tone; ‘Written with such perplexity, with such bewildered pity, The words choke as they begin' Certainly there is no glory in either their death or their burial for their memorial, only stresses their anonymity. The ultimate senselessness of it all is captured in the last stanza; ‘Dead seamen, gone in search of the same landfall, Whether as enemies they fought, Or fought with us, or neither, the sand joins them together, Enlisted on the other front' In life these sailor soldiers where able to live together without enmity, but now in death they are peacefully united; they have come from so many lands and end up in the same landfall somewhere on the beach of El Alamein. I believe we should take the message of both Owen and Slessor seriously that war destroys, that it robs us of our human dignity, and that it is ultimately senseless. Both poets have experienced the horror of war, Owen as a lieutenant in the British army in WWI and Slessor as an Australian Official War Correspondent in the Middle East during WWII. If belligerent or war-like world leaders of today study these poems, I am sure the world will be a better place to live in.

Making A Good Decision For Your Child Essay

All parents want their child to become successful. Some parents will go to great lengths to â€Å"help† their child by signing them up for a club, sport, or other extracurricular activities that will be â€Å"good† for them and their future. Usually the child ends up hating it or it causes something bad to happen. Even though parents might think they’re making a good decision for their child, it could end up as the bad decision that could potentially ruin the parent/ child relationship, lead to trouble later in life, or ruining the child’s chance of doing something for themselves. A parent can potentially ruin their relationship with their child if the make a bad decision for their child. If their child disagrees with the decision of the parent, the child could begin to resent them. Like in the story, I Stand Here Ironing, the narrator is the mother of a girl named Emily. The narrator tries to provide a good life for Emily but even then their relationship suffers because she does not show her daughter love like she does with her other children, like when her little sister, Susan, was a baby, the narrator paid lots of attention to her and not to Emily, â€Å"She would call for me, and I would rouse from exhaustion to sleepily call back: ‘You’re all right, darling, go to sleep, it’s just a dream,’ and if she still called, in a sterner voice, ‘now to go sleep, Emily, there’s nothing to hurt you.’ Twice, only twice, when I had to get up for Susan anyhow, I went in to sit with her.† (Olsen). This harms their relationship because Emily knows her mother chooses Susan over her even when she was little. Later on, when Emily is in her high school years, she and her mom are not very close still. Based on this we can see that making a bad decision for your child can leave the parent/child relationship in ruins. Making a bad decision for can also affect the child in the future. It could influence them to a life of despair. In the story Teenage Wasteland, Donny gets into trouble a lot in his high school years but when used to be good  when he was younger so as he has been doing bad things, his parents have been getting stricter and stricter which is only the start. His mother decides to be less controlling and then, â€Å"He said they acted like wardens. On weekends, they enforced curfew. And anytime he went to a party, they always telephoned first to see if adults would be supervising. ‘For God’s sake!’ he said. ‘Don’t you trust me?’† (Tyler). This causes his parents to try not to control him as much to make him happy but he spirals from here into him getting expelled for alcohol possession and later running away. The decision to be less strict on Donny was a mistake because this allowed him to make a mistake that will affect him forever. Bad decision can also ruin the child’s future. A parent’s bad decision for their child can also ruin their hope to do something that will make them happy. The child could want to do something that interests them but based on the decision their parent makes then do not feel capable of doing what makes them happy. A Modern Indian Woman’s Struggle with Arranged Marriage is a great example of this because the author struggles with her parents trying to choose her husband for her like a traditional arranged marriage. Her father goes on different Indian nationality dating websites and picks a man based on a profile and sets them up. She finds it funny that her parents do this for her but she really is limited by this choice and has to only go out with men that are of her dad’s approval (Jain). This makes it hard for the thirty year old to find a husband. This ruins her hope of finding someone that she likes for them and marrying them. Bad choices by parents can hinder the child in the end instead of helping them. Parents should think about the child’s whenever they make decisions for them so they do not hurt them in these ways. Works Cited Tyler, Anne. â€Å"Teenage Wasteland.† 1983. Print. (Tyler) Olsen, Tillie. â€Å"I Stand Here Ironing.† Tell Me A Riddle. 1961. Print. (Olson) Jain, Anita. â€Å"Is Arranged Marriage Really Any Worse Than Craigslist?† New York Print.

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Business Ethics in Brazil Essay Example for Free

Business Ethics in Brazil Essay In this comparative survey of 126 Brazilian and U.S. business professionals, we explore the effect of national culture on ethical decisionmaking within the context of business. Using Reidenbach and Robin’s (1988) multi-criteria ethics instrument, we examined how these two countries’ differences on Hofstede’s individualism/collectivism Rafik I. Beekun (Ph.D., The University of Texas, Austin) is Professor of Management and Strategy in the Managerial Sciences Department at the University of Nevada, Reno. His current research interests are in the area of strategic adaptation, the link between national cultures and ethics, and the relationship between management and spirituality. He has published in such journals as Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Relations, Journal of Management and Decision Sciences. Correspondence regarding this article should be sent to him at: Managerial Sciences Department, Mail Stop 28, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557-0206. Yvonne Stedham (Ph.D., University of Kansas) is an Associate Professor of Management in the Managerial Sciences Department at the University of Nevada, Reno. She has published in such journals as the Journal of Management and Journal of Management Studies. Dr. Stedham’s research focuses on the following areas: CEO performance evaluation, gender discrimination in employment, ethics in business, decision making across cultures, and managing knowledge workers. Jeanne H. Yamamura (CPA, Ph.D., Washington State University) is an Associate Professor of Accounting in the College of Business at the University of Nevada Reno. Her teaching responsibilities include auditing and accounting information systems c ourses. Dr. Yamamura’s research focuses on the management of accounting professionals with a particular interest in cross-cultural differences and her work has been published in accounting and business journals. She has extensive practical experience in the field of accounting through her previous employment in public and private accounting. Rafik I. Beekun Yvonne Stedham Jeanne H. Yamamura dimension are related to the manner in which business practitioners make ethical decisions. Our results indicate that Brazilians and Americans evaluate the ethical content of actions or decisions differently when applying utilitarian criteria. By contrast, business people from both countries do not differ significantly when they use egoistic criteria in evaluating the ethical nature of business decisions. KEY WORDS: Brazil, egoism, ethics, national culture, U.S., utilitarianism As business organizations move from domestic to global and transnational competition, they are finding that cultural values vary significantly across national boundaries, and are likely to affect business practices (Husted, 2000). During the past decade, several researchers (Ferrell and Gresham, 1985; Hunt et al., 1989; Abratt et al., 1992; Hunt and Vitell, 1992; Tsalikis and Nwachukwu, 1991; Vitell et al., 1993) have noted the potential influence of national c ulture on ethics within a business context. What obscures the impact of national culture on ethics is that business practices may conflict with ethical values in a manner that medicine, law and government do not (DeGeorge, 1993). Not surprisingly, empirical research investigating the relationship between national culture and ethical decision-making is relatively sparse (Vitell et al., 1993). A primary reason for exploring the effects of culture on ethics is the increased globalization of business. This trend, in turn, is characterized by a diverse array of interorganizational arrangements that require cross-cultural interaction. As a result, cultural misunderstandings are likely to occur. One of the key areas where such mis- Journal of Business Ethics 42: 267–279, 2003.  © 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. 268 Rafik I. Beekun et al. understandings take place is in the area of ethics, partly because of the influence that national cultures may have upon business ethics (Husted, 2000). Accordingly, in our study, we explore the relationship between national culture and business ethics. We will seek to investigate what process underlies ethical behavior across national boundaries. Understanding this process may help global managers develop tools to promote ethical behavior in their international workforce. In this research, we compare two culturally diverse countries, the United States (U.S.) and Brazil, in order to identify similarities and differences with regard to approaches toward ethical decision-making in a business context. Since culture is a broad concept, it is necessary to specify the values that could be related to behaviors or practices (Husted, 2000). For the purposes of this study, we used a well-established framework of national culture (Hofstede, 1980). Hofstede conducted one of the most important studies that ascertained the relationship between national culture and management. From this study, he identified several â€Å"value† dimensions along which countries differ. Using Hofstede’s (1980) framework, we carried out a crosscultural, comparative survey to assess the relationship between his individualism/collectivism dimension of national culture and ethical criteria. With respect to ethical decision-making, we adopted the instrument proposed and validated by Reidenbach and Robin (1988, 1990). They have generated a set of scales that measure the core dimensions characterizing different perspectives of ethical philosophy. Defining national culture: Hofstede’s dimensions of culture Multiple definitions and conceptualizations of national culture exist (Hofstede, 1980, 1988, 2001; Kluckhohn, 1951, 1962; Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961; Ronen and Shenkar, 1985; Trompenaars, 1993). Although these frameworks and conceptualizations typically center on values, they differ with respect to the specific values that are included in their respective frameworks. For instance, Trompenaars (1993) focuses on values related to relationships such as obligation, emotional orientation in relationships, and involvement in relationships. By contrast, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961) emphasize more global values such as people’s relationship to nature and time-orientation. With respect to our study, Hofstede’s framework of national cultures is the most appropriate since he ident ified values related to economic activity (Husted, 2000). Therefore, his framework is germane for the study of business decisions. Focusing on national cultures, Hofstede (1997, p. 260) defines culture as the â€Å"collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another†. Thus, although the problems faced by groups (whether organizational or national) are universal, the solutions devised by each group may be relatively unique to that group. These solutions then become taken for granted over time, and may suggest why people hold certain beliefs and behave the way they do (Schneider and Barsoux, 1997). Hofstede (1980, 1988) has suggested that five dimensions of national culture underlie differences in the behavior of individuals from different cultural backgrounds. Since these dimensions describe how individuals view and interpret situations and behavior, they are likely to be related to how individuals engage in decision-making in general (Weick, 1979; Adler, 2002). Ethical decisionmaking, too, is likely to be affected by these dimensions of national culture. Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions (1980, 1988) are power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, and long-term/short-term orientation. Power distance refers to the degree to which less powerful members in a country accept an unequal distribution of power. Uncertainty avoidance depicts a people’s ability to cope with ambiguous situations as well as the mechanisms they have created to avoid such situations. Masculinity exemplifies a focus on material things, such as money, success, etc., whereas femininity refers to a focus on quality of life, caring, etc. Individualism, which will be discussed in more detail later, refers to the tendency of people to consider their interests and those of A Comparative Investigation of Business Ethics their immediate family only. By contrast, collectivism refers to the inclination of people to view themselves as part of a larger group, and to protect the interests of group members. Longterm/short-term orientation describes the time perspective people take when dealing with a situation. Table I represents the scores for Hofstede’s cultural dimensions for Brazil and the U.S. While the scores indicate dissimilarities between the U.S. and Brazil on all five cultural dimensions, by far the largest difference appears in the individualism/collectivism dimension. Brazil scored low on individualism, and hence is considered a collectivistic country; by contrast, the U.S. scored high on individualism and is considered an individualistic country. The individualism/collectivism dimension describes how individuals relate to others and to society, and represents the extent to which they are emotionally and cognitively attached to a particular network of individuals. Individualism describes the inclination of individuals to be primarily concerned with their personal interests and their immediate family’s welfare (Hofstede, 1980). Members of a highly individualistic country view themselves as independent of organizations or institutions, and place a higher value on self-reliance and individual action. Collectivism, in comparison, describes a culture where individuals are viewed as part of a larger group, and look after each other. Collectivistic cultures protect the interests of their members in return for their loyalty. In collectivist cultures, morality is defined in terms of the benefits for the in-group (family, friends, work companies, 269 etc.), implying the maintenance of solidarity (Triandis and Bhawuk, 1997). Hofst ede (1980) noted that the individualism/collectivism dimension carried â€Å"strong moral overtones† because this dimension was reflected in value systems shared by the majority. For example, in a highly individualistic country, individualism is viewed as a strength and the major reason for the country’s accomplishments. By comparison, inhabitants of a highly collectivistic country view an emphasis on self as a negative attribute to be eliminated for the good of society. Competing ethical frameworks for business decisions Ethics are the principles of human conduct regarding either an individual or a group (Shaw, 1999), and represent the moral standards not governed by law, that focus on the human consequences of actions (Francesco and Gold, 1998). Ethics often require behavior that meets higher standards than those established by law, including selfless behavior rather than calculated action intended to produce a tangible benefit. With respect to this study, business ethics describe the ultimate rules governing the assessment of â€Å"what constitutes right or wrong, or good or bad human conduct in a business context† (Shaw, 1999). In the assessment of ethical behavior, perception is critical (Hartmann, 2000). Indeed, ethical decisions may be influenced by our own perception, by others’ perceptions of our actions, and by our perception of â€Å"universal laws†. As a TABLE I Cultural dimensions (Hofstede 1980, 1988, 2001) Dimensions of culture U.S. Brazil Difference Power distance Uncertainty avoidance 40 46 69 76 (29) (30) Individualism/Collectivism 91 38 53 Masculine/Feminine Confucian Dynamism 62 29 49 65 13 (36) 270 Rafik I. Beekun et al. result, our final choices may be determined by the perception tha t is the most salient at the time. Further, Hartmann suggests that cultures may differ not only with respect to the ethical principles underlying decisions but also with respect to which of the three stakeholders – self, society, and universal laws – is emphasized in any given situation. Depending on which stakeholder is emphasized, people from different cultures may vary in their assessment of the ethical nature of a decision. Across most situations, ethical principles that distinguish right from wrong actions are encompassed by several normative theories, e.g., justice, relativism, egoism, utilitarianism, and deontology. These theories can generate potentially conflicting interpretations of what is ethical or unethical, originating from the very nature of the theories themselves. Moreover, prior research (Cohen et al., 1996; Hansen, 1992; Reidenbach and Robin, 1988, 1990) indicates that individuals making ethical decisions do not select a single theory or philosophy by which to make their decisions. In fact, Reidenbach and Robin (1988) found that a varying combination of ethical philosophies or theories is employed when ethical decisions are made. Shaw (1999) draws a distinction between two types of ethical theories, consequentialist and nonconsequentialist. Consequentialist theories suggest that the moral rightness of an action depends on the actual or intended results of the action. What is right is determined by â€Å"weighing the ratio of good to bad that an action is likely to produce† (Shaw, 1999, p. 45). A key issue underlying consequentialist theories is the nature of the beneficiaries of the action under consideration. Should one consider the consequences for oneself or for all involved? The most important consequentialist theories are egoism and utilitarianism. Egoism promotes individual self-interest as the guiding principle whereas utilitarianism advocates that everyone affected by the action or decision must be taken into account (Shaw, 1999). By contrast, nonconsequentialist theories suggest that it is not simply the consequence of an act that matters, but also its inherent character. Although these theories do not deny that con- sequences are morally relevant, they assert that other factors are also important in assessing the moral significance of an action. For example, â€Å"breaking a promise† is wrong not simply because of the consequences that result from breaking it, but also because of the nature of the act itself. In this study, we focus on consequentialist theories for several reasons. First, Hofstede’s individualism/collectivism dimension can be clearly and easily related to the two consequentialist theories. Second, the two theories represent the perceptions of two of the three possible sta keholders identified by Hartmann (2000), namely own perceptions and others’ perceptions. Third, staying within one theoretical category allows for a much more parsimonious, yet thorough, analysis. Ethical perspectives and national culture: hypotheses Whether egoistic or utilitarian principles are employed, ethics are a product of a society’s culture, which includes its traditions, values, and norms. Within a society, ethical behavior is generally agreed upon. Francesco and Gold (1998, p. 40) explain that â€Å"members implicitly understand how relationships, duties and obligations among people and groups ought to be conducted, and distinguish between their selfinterests and the interests of others.† However, when two or more countries interact, they often find that their ethics differ. According to Hendry (1999), these differences may lead to three types of culturally based ethical conflicts. First, there are those conflicts where the ethical values typifying the two national cultures lead to differing conclusions; what is deemed unethical from one perspect ive is considered to be ethical from the other. Second, conflict may arise when businesspersons from one culture consider something morally significant whereas their counterparts from another culture are ethically neutral. Third, business people from two cultures may interpret a common situation differently even when there is some commonality among their national values. A Comparative Investigation of Business Ethics To investigate the relationship between national culture and ethics, we chose two culturally diverse countries, Brazil and the U.S. Given the differences in their respective national cultures, we expect Brazilians and Americans to differ in their assessment of the ethical content of business decisions. Accordingly, we propose the following hypothesis: H1: The assessment of the ethical content of business decisions is a function of national culture. Egoism and individualism/collectivism According to egoism, the only valid standard of one’s behavior is one’s obligation to advance one’s well-being above everyone else’s (Beauchamp and Bowie, 1997). Promotion of one’s own longterm interest is viewed as the only worthwhile objective and the only determinant of whether an act is morally right or not. Nothing is owed to others or to the organization that one works in. Those who abide by this approach to ethics intensely believe that all altruistic efforts by others are really acts of self-promotion since an individual may have to help others in order to advance his/her own interests. Brazil is collectivistic whereas the U.S. is individualistic. As discussed earlier, persons from an individualistic culture emphasize their families’ and their own int erests. H1.a: When applying egoistic criteria to judge the ethical content of an action or a decision, respondents from the U.S. will be less likely than respondents from Brazil to see a decision or action as unethical. Utilitarianism and individualism/collectivism Utilitarianism, in direct contrast to egoism, â€Å"is the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our action† (Shaw, 1999, p. 49). Although utilitarians also 271 evaluate an action in terms of its consequences, an action is ethical if it results in the greatest benefit or â€Å"good† for the largest number of people. Issues of self-interest are not germane since actions are assessed in accordance with one primary standard: the general good. Utilitarianism has long been associated with social improvement and the promotion of actions that are in the best interest of â€Å"the community.† Actions are right if they promote the greatest human welfare. Brazil is collectivistic. Persons from a collectivistic culture focus on actions that lead to the greatest benefit for most members of a group. H1.b: When applying utilitarian criteria to judge the ethical content of an action or a decision, respondents from Brazil will be less likely than respondents from the U.S. to see an action or decision as unethical. To be consistent with prior ethics research (Reidenbach and Robin, 1988), the above hypotheses (H1.a and H1.b) together suggest that Americans and Brazilians rely on more than one ethical criterion when assessing the ethical content of an action or decision. However, we are also suggesting that when each specific ethical criterion they refer to is considered separately, people from different national cultures will vary in their assessment of the ethical content of a course of action or a decision. Methodology Sample Data were collected from 126 respondents – 92 from the U.S. and 34 from Brazil. U.S. participants included MBA students at a regional university as well as business professionals. Brazilian participants were all students enrolled in an Executive MBA program. We used MBA students in our study for two reasons. First, MBA students are a commonly used proxy for business people (Dubinsky and Rudelius, 1980). Dubinsky and Rudelius’ (1980) comparison of 272 Rafik I. Beekun et al. student versus professional evaluations found a high degree of congruence between the two groups. Second, since all students (both U.S. and Brazilian) were currently employed by companies or had recent professional work experience, the sample can be used as a proxy for business professionals in both countries. Data collection The instrument we used was Reidenbach and Robin’s (1988) pre-validated, multi-criteria instrument incorporating the core dimensions that underlie several ethical perspectives. We selected this survey instrument because it is a multi-philosophy and multi-item questionnaire. As a result, it will enable us to assess both ethical dimensions of interest, i.e., egoism and utilitarianism, simultaneously. This instrument incorporates multiple items for each ethical philosophy and, therefore, is relatively more reliable than single item instruments (Kerlinger, 1986). Reidenbach and Robin’s instrument includes an initial set of scales that has shown evidence of high reliability and modest convergent validity with respect to U.S. respondents. The scales correlate highly with a univariate measure of the ethical content of situations. Hence, the instrument can be said to have high construct validity in the U.S. Additional reliability and validation efforts for the wh ole sample and for Brazil specifically are reported below. Using a seven-point Likert scale (1 = ethical, 7 = unethical), respondents were asked to rate the action in three scenarios using the criteria (items) described in Table II. The perception of and the criteria emphasized in evaluating the ethical content of a decision or situation depend on the nature of the decision or the situation. In accordance with previous research, scenarios will be used in this study to provide the contextual stimulus and to motivate the evaluation process (Alexander and Becker, 1978). We adopted the three scenarios developed and validated by Reidenbach and Robin (1988, 1990). Table III presents the three scenarios used in this study. Data were collected by means of the abovementioned instrument administered to Brazilian participants (in Portuguese) and provided via written instrument and website access to U.S. participants (in English). The Brazilian instrument was back translated to ensure equivalence. Efforts were made to establish the reliability and validity of the instrument in this comparative context and are reported as follows. We examined the reliability of the instrument by assessing its internal consistency through the use of Cronbach’s alpha. Since we used three different measures (one for each of the scenarios), we calculated three inter-item coefficient alphas. The Cronbach alpha was 0.81 for the first scenario, 0.75 for the second scenario and 0.86 for the third scenario. All three coefficients indicate that the scale items are internally con- TABLE II Ethics instrument scales Ethical perspective Items (Seven-point Likert scale †“ 1 to 7)* Egoism Self promoting/not self promoting Self sacrificing/not self sacrificing Personally satisfying/not personally satisfying Utilitarianism Produces greatest utility/produces the least utility Maximizes benefits while minimizes harm/minimizes benefits while maximizes harm Leads to the greatest good for the greatest number/leads to the least good for the greatest number * Generally speaking, in the above bipolar scales, 1 = fair or just or efficient (ethical) whereas 7 = unfair, unjust or inefficient (unethical). A Comparative Investigation of Business Ethics