Free Apple’s Share Increases Essay

Free Apple’s Share Increases Essay Apple’s Share Increases 1. Executive Summary: This paper attempts to review the Apple Inc. corporate operational strategies that have influenced it success in the marketplace, making it one of the leading Computer hardware manufacturers. It is focuses on Apples product development strategy, the iPod in particular. It also looks at how Apple can successfully apply Information Technology Metrics to enhance its business operations. It also evaluates whether there grounds exist to raise issues of Ethics should Apple decide to sell customer Information to other business and what would be likely repercussions in the event customer information ends up on an anonymous website. Moreover, the benefits iTunes- the on-line music business added to Apples balance sheet are scrutinized and how Apple can use environmental scanning to gather business intelligence. This paper further uses the porters five forces model to analyze Apples buyer power and supplier power, identifying which of the five forces Apple addressed in introducing the iPhone. 2. Introduction/Thesis: Apple Inc is an American multinational Corporation which designs and manufactures Consumer electronics and software products. The products include Macintosh computers, iPods and the iPhone, Pro line laptops (Mac Book Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (Mac Book) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, software, Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems. The Corporation was started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronaly Wayne. This was in the year 1976.The Corporation was initially called Apple Computer Inc but the word Computer was dropped reflecting the dynamic expansionism mood at the company at the time. Apple has about 35000 employees spread across the world. It had sales revenues amounting to US$ 32.48 billion in its fiscal year ending September 2009. One of the milestones of the Corporation was the selling of 6.9 million iPhones in the first quarter of 2008 (Marr, 2006). Apple s Corporate Mission is to provide exposure to emerging companies in order to achieve success in the Financial Markets and to help its clients, brokers, investors, and employees realize their true potential through mutual growth. The Corporations Vision combines the expertise of its Management Team with the industry knowledge and expertise of the managers of each individual company. The primary focus is to strengthen the operating structure of the entity and to lay the foundation for increased growth and profitability. Apple Corporation partners with a number of other companies including Intel. This partnership resulted in the production of Intel based Mac computers in the year 2006. Apple Corporation exhibits a strong corporate culture that influence performance of duties within the organization, this culture drives the corporate affairs of the company, its consumers, suppliers and stakeholders. Apple has also cultivated a culture of acceptance of the Corporations products all over the world. The culture cultivated by the Apple Corporation tends to facilitate the control of the Corporation as it establishes the standards and conduct of employees within the Corporation (Philip, 2009). Apple Company has a variety of business lines, the most successful being SBU with direct consumer products in the market. Apple also provides SBUs in line with its objectives and goals to the consumer. Its SBU has become an important commodity in the market. The Apple Advantage SBU as it is commonly known is dedicated to offering sales, technical and product management resources. Apple line SBU supports a complete line of Apple products and also provides access to hardware, software and service offerings. The SBU ensures professional audio/video installations, multimedia development, desktop publishing and key aspects of the healthcare system. The Apple base SBU recruits additional vendor business partners to ensure resellers have access to the products they need to deliver the latest most profitable Apple based solutions (Jerry, 2008). The Apple SBU makes it possible for the distribution of a full range of Apple products including desktops, notebooks, storage, iPods, accessories and software. The company ensures the efficiency of this strategy through training of the people and institutions that need to use the facility. The current products of the Apple Company in more detailed analysis include the Mac and its accessories which are the Macmini, iMac ,Mac Pro, workstation, Macbook, MacBook Pro and Mac Book Air. The iPod include the iPod Classic iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle and iPod Touch. The Apple TV is a good innovation from the Apple Company. It is a set top video device intended to bridge the sale of content from iTunes. The device syncs either a wifi or a wired network, with ones computers iTunes library (Earnshawon, 2009). These are the products that Apple churns out to stay ahead of its competitors. It also rigorously advertises in line with constant consumer education and enlightment. This clearly shows the effo rt that has been made by the Corporation in improving its performance. 3. The Questions: Q. 1 Apple Inc. as is known today would have long been resigned to history. iPods came around when Apple badly needed a product that would boost its image in a big way. That is exactly what iPod did. Apple was on a shaky financial ground, it had not released a major product for sometime (Earnshawon, 2009). Q. 2 Efficiency IT metric gauges the performance of the IT system itself including throughput, speed, and availability. Notwithstanding what is appraised, how it is appraised, and whether it is for the purposes of efficiency or effectiveness, there should be benchmarks. Benchmarks are pedestal outputs, comparing those outcomes to optimal system performance (standard values), and identifying steps and procedures that would improve system performance. Efficiency IT metrics focus on technology and include; throughput, transaction speed, system availability, Information Accuracy, web traffic and response time. The best mix of throughput transaction speed, system availability, information accuracy, web traffic and response time will definitely improve Apples business operation (Philip, 2009). Q. 3 Effectiveness IT metrics are trained on the organizations goals, strategies, and objectives and incorporate: Utilization, Consumer contentment, Conversion rates and Financial. Quality training of Employees will enable Apple to guarantee higher customer satisfaction (Philip, 2009). Q. 4 Information given to Apple by customers is privileged information protected by the laws regulating the handling and management of private and confidential information. For Apple to provide this information to a third party it would need at least a written letter of authorization from the owner of the information. If it fails to secure permission from the customer, it may face a civil suit from the client suing for breach of confidentiality (Jerry, 2008). Q. 5 Apple business would automatically suffer a decline. Customers will get worried about their information getting into the wrong hands. This will lead to many of them looking for alternative technology service providers, who appear to have more stringent mechanisms for safeguarding and protecting customer information (Asce, Library 2003). Q. 6 A competitive advantage is a tangible or intangible benefit a firm enjoys, which at the same time is complex or impractical for other competing firms in the same industry to acquire or enjoy. These advantages invariably include the company brand, quality care of customers, structural costs, and the brands patent. Whatever the advantage, for it to be regarded as sustainable it must both be proprietary and unique (Marr, 2006). iTunes provided Apple with a very unique and inimitable product. This definitely gave it a competitive edge in the market. No other company had come up with the product. It was a first. Apple consequently reaped maximum benefit and although other companys like Microsoft tried to release their own versions, Apples iTunes dominate the Market. Q. 7 Environmental monitoring is the attainment and scrutiny of happenings and developments in the settings outside of an organization. Organizations monitor their competitors through situational monitoring (Philip, 2009). Apple Inc. operates in competition with other companies. Thus it can only thrive when its in a competitive setting. For Apple to recognize its strengths and weaknesses, it invariably has to study its competitors. In the analysis of its competitors, the Corporation will most likely discover opportunities for and threats to its existence from its technological background (Marr, 2006). A SWOT analysis methodically analyses each of these dynamics and the approach that mirrors the most appropriate match between them. Q. 8 Buyer power is heightened when buyers have a number of choices of whom (suppliers) to procure from and deflated when their options are restricted (Earnshawon, 2009). Apple has lower buyer power for its products, especially the iPod. There arent many substitutes in the market. The ones that exist cannot match the quality and design superiority of the Apple products. Supplier power is heightened when buyers hardly have any alternatives of whom to procure from and diminished when their options are innumerable (Earnshawon, 2009). Apple is in a position of strength as far as the Supplier power is concerned. Apple products are differentiated. Consumers identify with these products and every one want to have the Apples iPod. Q. 9 Organizations in general adopt one of Porters three standard approaches when moving into a new market. These standard approaches incorporate; broad cost leadership, broad differentiation and focused strategy (Asce, Library 2003). Apple adopted two strategies; the broad cost leadership and broad differentiation. These strategies enabled it to create a competitive advantage over other plays in the market. Q. 10 Apple addressed the Buyer power and Supplier power. The buyer power for its products, especially the iPod is low. This guarantees that it can sell as many as the consumers wish to buy. There arent many substitutes in the market. The ones that exist cannot match the quality and design superiority of the Apple products. On the hand Apples Supplier power is very much heightened. It is the company that sells the original product from the original idea. The other competing companies are only copying from Apple. This ascertains market for the products. Conclusion: Apple Company has achieved a rare fit in the technology arena; it has been flexible in its management procedure, thus allowing creativity and innovation (Philip, 2009). As it continues to grow it is continually consolidating its strengths and opportunities while endeavoring to reduce both its internal and external weaknesses and threats, respectively (Marr, 2006).

The top-paying cities for teachers

The top-paying cities for teachers Whether you’re a teacher or not, you’ve likely heard some variation on the theme of â€Å"teachers are underpaid.† Given what all that they do and the power that they hold over the education of children, teens, and adults alike, this is a very true statement- especially when you factor in all of the unpaid hours of prep and care that go into a teaching career outside of the classroom. But while teachers will always be comparatively underpaid in a world where Kardashians get multi-million-dollar endorsement deals, the good news is that if you are a teacher, you can seek out regions and cities with higher-paying opportunities. Teacher salaries can vary pretty widely across states- according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest-paid 10 percent of high school teachers earn more than $92,920, while the lowest-paid 10 percent of high school teachers earn $38,180. For reference, the national median annual salary for secondary teachers is $58,030. And whil e pay isn’t necessarily the only consideration as you plan (or advance) your career as an educator, having this information at your disposal can help you make the best career decision for yourself- or at least help set expectations.Let’s look at teacher pay across the country, by region.The NortheastIncludes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and VermontIn terms of teacher salaries, the Northeast is the top region in the entire country. This region features some of the highest teacher salaries in the nation, holding four of the top ten national cities in WalletHub’s most recent annual â€Å"Best Worst States for Teachers† rankings. However, these states also have a higher cost of living- particularly in the highest paying states: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.Here are the median annual teacher salaries by state in the Northeast, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics :New York: $81,410Connecticut: $76,260New Jersey: $75,250Massachusetts: $74,040Rhode Island: $65,490Pennsylvania: $64,320New Hampshire: $57,570Vermont: $56,670Maine: $52,410According to WalletHub, these states also rank high in other quality of life categories for teachers, such as â€Å"opportunity and competition† for teaching jobs, as well as academics and work environment. New York, the first-place state for teachers overall, is also ranked the best in terms of opportunity, and is in the top ten for academics and work environment.For secondary school teachers in this region, here are the highest-paid metropolitan areas:Nassau County, New York – $99,090Kingston, New York – $86,470Danbury, Connecticut – $83,890New York City – $83,660Leominster-Gardiner, Massachusetts – $82.630For elementary school teachers in this region, here are the highest-paid metropolitan areas:Nassau County, New York – $106,970Kingston, New York – $86,0 80Waterbury, Connecticut – $82,080Danbury, Connecticut – $81,450Brockton, Massachusetts – $79,640All of these cities have annual teacher salaries that are well above the national median- and in some parts of New York (particularly New York City and Long Island), nearly double the national median.The SouthIncludes Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington D.C., and West VirginiaIf you’re looking at living and teaching in the South, there’s some good news and some less-great news. The good news is that national teaching shortages are leaving open many teaching opportunities in the region. The less-great news is that as a region, the South features some of the lowest teacher salaries in the nation- well below the national median.Here are the median annual teacher salaries by state in the South, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:Maryland – $63,770Virginia – $62,940Washington, D.C. – $61,610Delaware – $58,260Georgia – $55.640Texas – $55.030Kentucky – $53,860South Carolina – $50,470Alabama – $49,870Tennessee – $49.770Florida – $49,550Arkansas – $48,870Louisiana – $48,560West Virginia – $44,480North Carolina – $44,410Mississippi – $42,860Oklahoma – $40,780On the WalletHub ranking of best states for teachers, two southern states make the top 20: Kentucky and Texas. Both of these states are slightly below the national median, salary-wise, but get high marks for opportunity and low competition for teaching jobs.For secondary school teachers in this region, here are the highest-paid metropolitan areas:Washington D.C./Arlington/Alexandria, Virginia – $73,310Silver Spring/Frederick, Maryland – $72,130Myrtle Beach, South Carolina – $65,450Charlottesville, Virginia â₠¬â€œ $65,030Jackson, Mississippi – $62,760For elementary school teachers in this region, here are the highest-paid metropolitan areas:Washington D.C./Arlington/Alexandria, Virginia – $75,590Silver Spring/Frederick, Maryland – $65,940Houston, Texas – $58,510Athens, Georgia – $58,360Richmond, Virginia – $58,170In the South, the key to finding the best teacher salaries seems to be in densely populated areas, like the northern Virginia/Washington D.C. area, and large cities like Houston.The MidwestIncludes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and WisconsinSecond only to the Northeast, the Midwest has a number of states featured prominently in WalletHub’s survey, with Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Iowa making the top 20. The Midwest also ranks well on the teacher opportunity scale, with Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa in that top 20 as well.Here are the median annual teacher salaries by state in the Midwest, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:Illinois – $66,470Michigan – $60,790Minnesota – $60,750Ohio – $58,700Wisconsin – $55,800Iowa – $54,290Nebraska – $54,240Indiana – $50,360North Dakota – $47,910Kansas – $47,900Missouri – $44,710South Dakota – $42,270As you can see, about a third of the states in this region match the national median salary for teachers.For secondary school teachers in this region, here are the highest-paid metropolitan areas:Mankato, Minnesota – $84,550Rockford, Illinois – $79,090Chicago, Illinois – $75,750Milwaukee, Wisconsin – $65,740Detroit, Michigan – $65,320For elementary school teachers in this region, here are the highest-paid metropolitan areas:Rockford, Illinois – $77,160Detroit, Michigan – $67,220Elgin, Illinois – $66,340F lint, Michigan – $65,870Grand Rapids, Michigan – $64,980Cleveland, Ohio – $64,480The areas with the highest salaries in the Midwest are not necessarily the big cities themselves, but rather large suburban districts just outside the big cities.The WestIncludes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and WyomingAnd last but certainly not least, we have the Western parts of the United States. The region is highly diverse geographically and population-wise, and their teaching career stats are no different.Here are the median annual teacher salaries by state in the Midwest, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:Alaska – $79,400California – $75,060Washington – $64,850Oregon – $63,730Wyoming – $58,480Hawaii – $57,900Utah – $56,070Nevada – $55,450New Mexico – $52,150Colorado – $50,790Montana – $49,930Arizona – $46,070 Idaho – $45,500That’s a pretty broad range from Alaska to Idaho, but outside of the Northeast, the West has the most states at or above the national median salary for teachers. On the WalletHub survey of teachers’ quality of life in different states, four of these western states are ranked in the top 20 best states for teachers: Wyoming, Oregon, Utah, and California. However, in the list of top states for teacher opportunities and low competition for teaching jobs, that number grows to include six states in the top 20: Oregon, California, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, and Alaska.For secondary school teachers in this region, here are the highest-paid metropolitan areas:Fairbanks, Alaska – $92,110Anchorage, Alaska – $89,570Anaheim, California – $87,280Yuba City, California – $85,820Fresno, California – $81,130For elementary school teachers in this region, here are the highest-paid metropolitan areas:Fairbanks, Alaska – $110,420Ri verside, California – $81,320Modesto, California – $80,810Anaheim, California – $79,840Los Angeles/Long Beach, California – $75,800As you can see, the highest teacher salaries can be found Alaska’s largest cities. But while Alaska is tops on the salary scale, it ranks 48th on WalletHub’s survey of academics and work environment- so if you’re thinking about heading to a classroom way up north, it’s important to consider the teacher quality of life issues as well.Whether you’re a seasoned teacher looking for a change of scenery, or a future teacher trying out where to stake your career, we’re hoping that this salary info helps you make the most informed decision for your teaching career.

Reflect on Hedonic act utilitarianism and Kant's formula of Essay

Reflect on Hedonic act utilitarianism and Kant's formula of humanity...evaluate whether or not you believe torture - Essay Example Many proponents against torture focus on the absolutist requirement that it should not be permitted under any circumstance and that enforcing torture given the possibility that the person to be tortured is innocent or that he does not have the information needed fails to give a concrete argument on the other side of the what if question. Deductively, what if he is not totally innocent or that he truly does have the information and there are others whose lives are at risk. Founding on the singular basis of Kantian formula of humanity undermines the correlation of impending critical decisions at crossroads in favor of moral predispositions. The â€Å"ticking time bomb thought experiment† presents a direct and unfaltering inquiry on our appreciation of utilitarianism and thus supposes that the second premise, â€Å"it is not morally permissible to torture the terrorist† is false. Sussman presents a perceptive description on the effect of torture and the existing relationsh ip between the victims of torture and the tormentor as being one of passivity as the suffering and its inherent pain brings the person to a state where he no longer has control of his body and emotions brought about by sheer pain and fear. In the book, â€Å"Torture: When the Unthinkable is Morally Permissible,† suggests what the very title given by the authors mean. Bagaric, Mirko and Clarke provided for five variables that must be present to make torture morally permissible.... Additionally, if there are little to no other means to acquire information as discussed in the third variable, harm may be brought upon him in any form but maintaining the lowest possible degree of torture and pain towards him (Bagaric, Mirko and Clarke 34-35). In contradiction to this stance, Jeff McMahan maintains that torture must be prohibited without classification. That the use of torture is more abused by those who proliferate unjust means and that even the government cannot be trusted to be cautious in their use of torture, however noble their intentions are. McMahan affirms that to think that any government, no matter how civilized or democratic, could be trustworthy enough to be tasked to carry out torture to prevent terrorist activities and other such threats is nothing short of delusional. In this discussion, the author does not fail to mention notorious and well-known incidents such as the Guantamo Bay and Abu Ghraib torture controversies where the prisoners were subject ed to inhumane acts of torture. â€Å"Throughout human history, torture has been very extensively employed, but the proportion of cases in which the use appears to have been morally justified seems almost negligible† (McMahan 125). This argument illustrates realistic and current predilection toward the abolishment of torture as guaranteed by international and local laws but it does not address in any material way the ticking bomb predicament. McMahan deviates from negating the permissible morality aspect of hedonic act utilitarianism by raising contentions founded on barbarism and human dignity (McMahan 111) and instead focuses on torture abolition base on factual relevance of its ineffectiveness but it nevertheless falls short on concluding how

Law - court Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Law - court - Essay Example The tests were namely horizontal nystagmus test, walk and turn test, and one leg stand test. While performing the tests stated above, the patrol officer, the one who spotted Muniz on the roadside, asked him few questions such as Muniz's name, address, height, weight, eye color, date of birth. These questions were not intended to elicit information for investigatory purposes but it focuses primarily upon the perspective of the suspect and therefore not incriminating. After giving Muniz the various tasked, which he poorly performed, finally the patrol officer asked Muniz to submit himself for the breathalyzer test which is designed to measure the alcohol content of his expelled breath, Which is under the Commonwealth's Implied Consent Law. The result of this breathalyzer test will be used as real or physical evidence. The implied consent concept refers to the idea that when you get your driver's license, you agree that if you are ever arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI/DWI) of drugs or alcohol, you will submit to a blood, breath, or urine test (depending on availability and whether the suspected chemical was drugs or alc

Contributions to Misunderstanding Psychology Essay Example for Free

Contributions to Misunderstanding Psychology Essay Rose (1992) has accused psychology of â€Å"Engineering the Human Soul† (p. 351). This is a very odd statement for a sociologist to make because science, whether hard or social, by definition, requires conclusions to be based on use of the scientific method. Alas, the hypothesis that there is a human soul is one that that the scientific method cannot address because there is no way to provide empirical evidence that either confirms or disconfirms it. Indeed, even the phrenologists Gall and Spurzheim (discussed below), who mapped the brain into areas controlling all sorts of human attributes, found an area for â€Å"spirituality† (Myers, 2004), but not for the soul. Rose is, however, in the company of a medical internist with a Ph. D. from Yale in physical chemistry, i. e. , Collins (2007, as cited in Snyder, 2007), who has claimed there is evidence that â€Å"moral law is implanted in our brains by God† (p. 6). Nonetheless, despite psychology being unable to engineer an entity for which there is no scientific evidence, one purpose of this paper is to argue that Rose (1992), along with other critics of psychological research, has failed to recognize that the continued influence of the studies of individual differences beyond the early part of the last century, mainly the development of tests to measure intelligence, i. e. , IQ testing, has not been on psychology, but on education. Indeed, later psychological research on intelligence and cognitive development has been largely ignored in education (Perlmutter Burrell, 1999). There is no disagreement that IQ testing had and continues to have a negative influence on education, but this paper addresses the waning of the influences of IQ testing within psychology itself not long after the development of these tests. What is psychology? Rose (1992) defined psychology as the study of individual differences, based on a â€Å"paradigmatic technique of . . . the psychological ‘test’ . . . (pp. 358-359). The goal of psychology, according to Rose, is â€Å"the isolation, intensification, and inscription of human difference† (p. 359). This definition is not the same as the one used in most textbooks on introductory psychology, where the discipline is defined as â€Å"the science of behavior and mental processes† (Myers, 2004). While psychological questions have been of interest from the time of the ancient Greek philosophers, psychology as a science did not develop until the latter part of the 19th century (Myers, 2004). Psychologists eventually conducted research in areas that began in other disciplines – and also came to be blamed for the wretched excesses of still other disciplines, notably education. In the early 19th century, phrenologists Gall and Spurzheim mapped out brain areas supposedly controlling attributes from acquisitiveness to sublimity and measured people on these attributes by feeling bumps on their heads (Myers, 2004). Despite the embarrassment phrenology caused scientists, late in the 19th century French and German neurologists, notably Brocca and Wertheimer, provided evidence of left-hemisphere dominance in tasks involving language (Deutsch Springer, 1997). They used autopsy findings of those who suffered language deficits following strokes to areas in the left cerebral hemisphere (the dominant hemisphere for more than 90% and 70% of right- and left-handed people respectively). These findings were followed by further research on deficits in spatial abilities following strokes in the right cerebral (usually non-dominant) hemisphere (Deutsch Springer, 1997). In the next century, researchers studied the performance of those who underwent a surgical procedure where the connecting fibers (the corpus colossus) between the two hemispheres were severed to control the spread of severe seizures (Deutsch Springer, 1999). Later research, using equipment such as evoked potentials, was conducted using samples from the general population. The research provided evidence not that only one hemisphere was activated during performance of most tasks but evidence that one hemisphere was more activated than the other, for example, in language comprehension, the left hemisphere is more activated, but the right hemisphere also is activated in comprehending the emotional, metaphoric, and humorous content of language (Deutsch Springer, 1997). Individual differences also were rare, for example, listening to music results in greater activation in the right than left hemisphere, except there is the reverse pattern for trained musicians (Deutsch Springer, 1999). However, the history of research related to the cerebral hemispheres is an example of psychologists falsely being blamed for the nonsense propagated by those in education that there were left- and right-brained people – and teachers somehow were supposed to adjust their teaching for their right-brained students (Connell, 1990). In outlining the history of psychology, introductory textbooks place its beginnings in Wundt’s establishment of a laboratory in Vienna in 1879 for the purpose of applying the scientific method to the study of human mental processes: â€Å"On a December day in 1879 . . . Wundt was seeking to measure . . . the fastest and simplest mental processes. Thus began what many consider psychology’s first experiment† (Myers, 2004, p. 4). However, those in other disciplines, such as Rose (1992), seem to believe not only that psychology began – and ended with the early work of those studying individual differences, but also that research in psychology actually is used in education. Individual Differences One important difference between the early work of neurologists on the human cerebral hemispheres described above and early work on individual differences is that the former research was based on beginning with basic or shared mental processes. Put another way, the law of parsimony is that main effects are studied prior to interactions (Kirk, 1995). The early work on individual differences in intelligence began prior to research on basic cognitive processing. Galton’s definition of intelligence (White, 2006) was based on an assumption drawn from Darwin’s evolutionary theory of the survival of the fittest, both between- and within-species (1859, as cited in Myers, 2004). Between-species, humans clearly are advantaged with superior intellect. However, if human intelligence had been defined as those characteristics that increase the probability of an individual’s survival, predominant attributes would be those related to the attainment of economic and political power. From the beginnings of civilization, world history has been a struggle for power, with members of prevailing powerful groups inhumanely dominating members of less powerful groups (Braudel Mayne, 2003), a concept perhaps best expressed by John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever as â€Å"everybody always has to have somebody to dump on† (Wexler, 1977). Being powerful certainly does enhance one’s chances of survival, but how did anyone reach the conclusion that power was related to what we usually think of as intellect?

St. Thomas Aquinas Third Way Modalized :: Aquinas Third Day Philosophy Papers

Aquinas' Third Way Modalized ABSTRACT: The Third Way is the most interesting and insightful of Aquinas' five arguments for the existence of God, even though it is invalid and has some false premises. With the help of a somewhat weak modal logic, however, the Third Way can be transformed into a argument which is certainly valid and plausibly sound. Much of what Aquinas asserted in the Third Way is possibly true even if it is not actually true. Instead of assuming, for example, that things which are contingent fail to exist at some time, we need only assume that contingent things possibly fail to exist at some time. Likewise, we can replace the assumption that if all things fail to exist at some time then there is a time when nothing exists, with the corresponding assumption that if all things possibly fail to exist at some time then possibly there is a time when nothing exists. These and other similar replacements suffice to produce a cogent cosmological argument. Aquinas' Third Way is a cosmological argument for the existence of God which "is taken from possibility and necessity." It is surprising therefore that philosophers of religion have not shown much interest in applying modal logic to its analysis. (1) There are a couple of reasons. First, Aquinas does not always use the words 'possibility' and 'necessity' in the same way that they are used in modal logic. Second, cosmological arguments generally purport to build a bridge between some property of this world and a supreme being, making it unnecessary, it might be thought, to appeal to modalized features of other possible worlds. Modal logic has of course been applied extensively to the analysis of ontological arguments. Ontological arguments purport to build a logical bridge between thought and a supreme being. Most ontological arguments proceed from the assumption that it is possible for God to exist. They then link this assumption with some rather "strong" and controversial principles of modal logic in order to prove that God must exist in all possible worlds, from which it follows that God exists in the real world. (2) It might be possible, however, to prove the existence of God with the use of a weak and noncontroversial system of modal logic if we root the proof with some plausible possibilistic principles about what might be true of the cosmos. The Third Way is not sound per se.

Blood Brothers

The past few weeks I have been reading the play Blood Brothers written by Willy Russell. It is the story of twin brothers who are separated at birth. Wealthy Mrs Lyons, who is not able to have her own children, blackmails her maid, Mrs Johnstone into giving her one of her new born twins. Mrs Lyons says all Miss Johnston’s other children well benefit, as the Johnston’s have little money. The women agree that it should be their secret and no one else will ever know the truth. The play explores many themes, some being, superstition, friendship and social class.This essay will discuss the changes in the relationship between Edward and Mickey, while also looking at the conveyed themes. The first time Edward and Mickey meet is when they are seven. â€Å"My best friend always had sweets to share. † Mickey is describing Eddie as his â€Å"best friend. † When the brothers first met Edward shared sweets with Mickey, this small gesture started their friendship. If Ed ward had not shared his sweets the brothers might have never became friends. When they find out that they were born on the same day Mickey asks Eddie to become his ‘blood brother'.The boys both made a small cut on their hand, then linked the cuts together, making the blood from the boys join. Both mothers find out about their friendship and are fast in telling their sons to break it up. Edward tells Mickey, ‘My mum says I haven’t got to play with you’ Mickey replies ‘Well, my mum says I haven’t to play with you’. Both mothers are trying to get the twins to stop communicating. By this time the brothers are good friends and blood brothers. Against their mothers wishes the brothers continue to have a friendship until Mrs Lyons even decides to persuade her husband to move the family away.Soon after, the Johnston’s are moved to a house in the country – unknown to them it’s the same area in which the Lyons moved to. The br others meet again in a field at the age of 14, not knowing who the other is. After the move the Johnston’s life has improved, Mickey still has a crush on Linda but doesn’t know how to ask her out. This is another part of fate, they live close by and were both excluded from school at the same time. The twins go to the cinema together, then they finally realise who the other is and meet up with Linda.Mrs Lyons spots Mrs Johnston and tries to kill her. The boys friendship is still strong but the time gap has left a toll. Edward’s vocabulary is not as posh/strong. Also the contrast in backgrounds shows. Mickey smokes, while Edward doesn’t. Edward lives in a ’posh’ area Mickey lives in the estate. Also Edward attends a private school while Mickey goes to the county school. The next time Edward and Mickey meet is when they are 18. ‘If I was Mickey I would have asked you years ago. ’ Edward is jealous of the feelings Linda has for Mick ey.He knows Mickey feels the same for Linda and puts his ‘best friends’ feelings over his own and persuades him to ask her out. While Edward is away at University Linda falls pregnant and Mickey looses his job. This pushes Edwards life further away from Mickey’s. Edward socialises and is in further education. Mickey is on the dole with a pregnant wife, he’s a lot more pressured than Edward. When Edward returns Mickey doesn’t have any money, ‘The Christmas Party’s gonna be on me. ’ Mickey had promised to take Edward out for a treat.Edward said he would pay, but if anything, this put more pressure on Mickey and it pushed him into participating in a ‘hold up’ with his brother, Sammy. The job goes all wrong, Sammy shoots someone and they both end up in jail. While in jail Mickey is put into a depression and ends up on antidepressant drugs. ‘I get depressed an’ I need to take these cos they make me better. â €™ Edward helps Mickey and Linda get a house and gets Mickey a job. This puts a strain on Mickey and Linda, Mickey feels he is a failure as his wife had to get help off a friend. ‘I’m not stupid, Linda. You sorted it out.You an’ Councillor Eddie Lyons. ’ He thinks Linda and Edward are having an affair. Mickey gets a gun and goes to confront Edward. ‘I’ve been thinkin’ again, Eddie. You an’ Linda were friends when she first got pregnant, weren’t y’? Does my child belong to you as well as everythin’ else? ’ The police enter, and try to convince Mickey to drop the gun. Mrs Johnstone enters, and pleads with Mickey to not shoot. She blurts out that they are brothers, and that she couldn’t afford to keep them both. Mickey’s jealousy is shown, ‘Why didn’t you give me away!I could have been †¦ I could have been him! At this point Mickey’s gun goes off accidentally, th e police open fire. Both brothers are dead. In conclusion the relationship between Edward and Mickey has its up’s and downs. At first they are close friends and are then separated, at fourteen they meet up again and are coincidentally separated once more. By the age of eighteen Mickey realises the differences and is betrayed by Edward. In the end realisation hits the brothers as they are told the truth, a childish pact was for real. The overall message is that although everyone has secrets, if they really matter they will be found out. Blood Brothers Blood Brothers is a musical by Willy Russell which was written and first performed in 1981. The musical is about twin brothers, separated at birth, with one kept in a low-class family and the other adopted into a wealthy family. The characters of Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons, the mothers, are total opposites. Mrs Johnston is a struggling, single mother of seven, with another two on the way, whereas Mrs Lyons is a privileged, yet childless, married woman. One of the main themes of the musical is superstition for example; the song ‘shoes upon the table’ is all about superstition.Another big theme of the musical is fate. Eddie and Mickey meet almost as if they are meant to, and instantly take a liking to one another. When they lose contact, they meet again, proving they are supposed to be a pair. Also the narrator plays the role of the devil and he sings the song lyrics ‘you know the devil’s got your number’ and that is implying that no matter what, fate i s going to happen wherever the characters are living or whatever they are doing. The last theme to the musical is social class, the whole way through the musical we are being reminded about how different these characters are to each other.Willy Russell shows this by their clothes, accent or speech. The opening scene started with a funeral we saw some men dressed in black suits putting two bodies into coffins (Mickey and Eddie) however the gauze curtain was still not raised. This seemed like the past and present of the story, as this first scene was the inevitable end. I think that was effective because it immediately gets your attention and you become eager to know what’s going on. Mickey and Eddie lay side by side both dead. The narrator then tells us the story of what happened. This is cross-cutting as it shows a different time period then returns to the current one.When we are first introduced to Mrs Johnston, she is a single mother ever since her husband left her for a yo unger woman. She is not dressed in the best of clothes as she does not have much money and her job is cleaning Mrs. Lyons house. Mrs. Johnston is a low–class Liverpudlian, who is extremely hard working. Mrs Johnston is shown as a woman in her thirties but a very worn out woman because of the stress of work and her children. Mrs Johnston stutters at times because of her being under pressure, like when Mrs Lyons is persuading her to give away one of the twins.And by Mrs. Johnston stuttering it shows she is unsure and pressured into something she doesn’t want to do. Willy Russell presents Mrs Johnston to the audience as a decent woman, who gives lots of love to her children, but she can’t give them more than that because she hasn’t got a well-paid job and she is working as Mrs Lyons’ house maid, which takes a lot of her time, which could be spent with her children instead. That is why Mickey and his siblings are left to learn about life themselves on the streets. That makes the audience sympathise with the poor people.She shows that to the audience after she learns she is going to have twins by saying: â€Å"With one more baby we could have managed. But not with two. The Welfare have already been on to me. They say I’m incapable of controllin’ the kids I’ve already got. They say I should put some of them into care† so because she loves her children and wants to keep them she makes the sacrifice of giving Eddie to Mrs. Lyons with hope that he will have a better life then what she could give him. Even though she regrets giving Eddie to Mrs. Lyons her superstitions stops her from telling anyone about what she has done out of the fear of killing her own children.Mrs Lyons contrasts really strongly against Mrs Johnston. At first, Mrs Lyons is shown as a bright person in her thirties, unlike the stressed Mrs Johnston who is the same age. Mrs Lyons is an upper middle-class woman. She is dressed very smartly as she has the money to have nice clothes. Mrs. Lyons is a very patronising woman, who is forceful and pressurising. Mrs Lyons uses negative views about extra children so that Mrs Johnston will have to give away one of the twins to her. She doesn’t do this in an aggressive way, but in a dangerously sweet way. So that Mrs.Johnston doesn’t feel like she can cope any more. Willy Russell also shows Mrs. Lyons to be self-centred as Mrs Lyons is willing to take a child away from its mother, so that she can save herself. Mrs Lyons is a very sly and devious woman, as she uses superstition against Mrs Johnston, so that she can keep one of the twins. Her facial expressions are very stern and persuading and her body language comes across very confident as she knows that’s she is manipulating Mrs. Johnston. The Narrator is also a very important part to the musical; he acts as a shadow of the other characters. Firstly he was like the host.He constantly kept appearing and kep t the performance flowing. It seemed as if he had the remote to slow things down and also to speed things up when he wanted. He wore a smart black suit which gave him a high profile. His voice was used quite well because he adjusted it to make it loud and directive as a narrator should have but it also had a bit of power in it. During the performance he popped up here and there just to clarify things for the audience. The Narrator is there as a reminder of Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons’ agreement. The other characters don’t acknowledge him which shows he is of a ghostly nature.The Narrator raises suspicion and builds up tension between the characters. The Narrator also has no emotions and he comes across as a very cold person which makes the audience feel as if he is like a devil type figure. Although he is a devil like figure, he is a neutral character because he doesn’t choose sides and we don’t know anything about him, other than he knows the fate of each character. The Narrator is trying to tell Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons that their pact won’t work, because the truth will be known. He uses repetition and rhyme, so that his lines are more catchy and memorable.The character of Mickey was portrayed really well as the person playing this role was showing great child like movements such as pulling his jumper over his knees and also by the way he was speaking. The way Mickey was speaking came across very child like as he was doing a lot of rhyming and simple sentences. Mickey also plays childhood games, like mounted Police and Indians, and runs around with a toy gun. When Mickey was playing his cowboy like games he pretended to have a horse between his legs and he galloped around the stage like a child would do.As Mickey got older he showed he was acting more mature and he understood that life wasn’t going to be easy for him and he needed to work for things unlike Eddie who had everything sorted out for him. When Mickey has got out of prison he is really unsteady and has to take pills to calm himself even though he doesn’t need the pills, he just thinks he does. But when Mickey takes the pills, Willy Russell uses stage directions to give the characters emotion with their physical movement, so when Mickey takes the pills the lights come up on Mickey.We see him go to take his pill, we see him struggle not to take it’’ Russell does this to get the audience to feel sad and sympathetic for Mickey. So in this scene the lighting is really dim, which reflects on Mickey’s thought processes which are slow and aged. You can see from this scene that prison has aged Mickey beyond doubt. Mickey used movement and his voice to really portray Mickey’s vulnerability. Mickey’s movements were slow and it seemed like every step he took was agony. His speech was slow, and his voice was extremely quiet.He walked hunched over, as if trying to protect himself from an unknown fear. Edd ie is the complete opposite to Mickey as he was raised in a wealthy family and he shows this in his body language because he stands up straight, speaks politely and is never rude. When Eddie first meets Mickey, Mickey speaks in common English and uses slang around Eddie and he finds it amazing because he has never heard any one talk like that. Eddie seems to have grown up very fast because at the age of seven, he is already very polite and well spoken. His parents have influenced him because he is like a miniature adult.Throughout the whole of the musical Mrs. Johnston sings about Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe is a very clever icon to use throughout the musical. This is because using her as a reference sets us in the correct time period. She is also a good symbol, because she has links to many of the themes in the play including death, addiction and beauty. All the scenes were set in the same location; and the set design remained the same for the whole performance, even when the ba ckdrop changed however, the insides of houses, occasionally descended from the ceiling to show the insides of each home.One the right side of the stage was a wall which had graffiti on it and that represented the lower class type of area that Mickey and Mrs. Johnston would live in. Class difference is displayed very clearly in Blood Brothers, in particular the difference in wealth between the two families. Eddie's parents ensure that he has a comfortable upbringing and is able to study at university and receive a qualification, resulting in a highly paid job. This is completely different to Mickey.He comes from a poor family which meant that he was stuck in a dead end job in a factory. â€Å"I bleeding hated it, standing there all day never doing anything apart from putting cardboard boxes together. † This reflects Mickey's frustration and highlights the lack of opportunities open to him, which adds to the dramatic effect of the musical because it prepares us for trouble in t he future. A good example of dramatic irony in the musical is when Eddie and Mickey decide that as they are such good friends they will become blood brothers. Hey, we were born on the same day. That means we can be blood brothers. † The audience knows that they were actually brothers so that creates dramatic irony. I really enjoyed the musical Blood Brothers and it helped me understand the class difference which is displayed very clearly in the difference in wealth between the two families. I also liked the way the actors never came out of role when bringing in props e. g. chairs, tables and carpets. I also loved how the lighting would make a very serious point feel more real and intense. Blood Brothers The past few weeks I have been reading the play Blood Brothers written by Willy Russell. It is the story of twin brothers who are separated at birth. Wealthy Mrs Lyons, who is not able to have her own children, blackmails her maid, Mrs Johnstone into giving her one of her new born twins. Mrs Lyons says all Miss Johnston’s other children well benefit, as the Johnston’s have little money. The women agree that it should be their secret and no one else will ever know the truth. The play explores many themes, some being, superstition, friendship and social class.This essay will discuss the changes in the relationship between Edward and Mickey, while also looking at the conveyed themes. The first time Edward and Mickey meet is when they are seven. â€Å"My best friend always had sweets to share. † Mickey is describing Eddie as his â€Å"best friend. † When the brothers first met Edward shared sweets with Mickey, this small gesture started their friendship. If Ed ward had not shared his sweets the brothers might have never became friends. When they find out that they were born on the same day Mickey asks Eddie to become his ‘blood brother'.The boys both made a small cut on their hand, then linked the cuts together, making the blood from the boys join. Both mothers find out about their friendship and are fast in telling their sons to break it up. Edward tells Mickey, ‘My mum says I haven’t got to play with you’ Mickey replies ‘Well, my mum says I haven’t to play with you’. Both mothers are trying to get the twins to stop communicating. By this time the brothers are good friends and blood brothers. Against their mothers wishes the brothers continue to have a friendship until Mrs Lyons even decides to persuade her husband to move the family away.Soon after, the Johnston’s are moved to a house in the country – unknown to them it’s the same area in which the Lyons moved to. The br others meet again in a field at the age of 14, not knowing who the other is. After the move the Johnston’s life has improved, Mickey still has a crush on Linda but doesn’t know how to ask her out. This is another part of fate, they live close by and were both excluded from school at the same time. The twins go to the cinema together, then they finally realise who the other is and meet up with Linda.Mrs Lyons spots Mrs Johnston and tries to kill her. The boys friendship is still strong but the time gap has left a toll. Edward’s vocabulary is not as posh/strong. Also the contrast in backgrounds shows. Mickey smokes, while Edward doesn’t. Edward lives in a ’posh’ area Mickey lives in the estate. Also Edward attends a private school while Mickey goes to the county school. The next time Edward and Mickey meet is when they are 18. ‘If I was Mickey I would have asked you years ago. ’ Edward is jealous of the feelings Linda has for Mick ey.He knows Mickey feels the same for Linda and puts his ‘best friends’ feelings over his own and persuades him to ask her out. While Edward is away at University Linda falls pregnant and Mickey looses his job. This pushes Edwards life further away from Mickey’s. Edward socialises and is in further education. Mickey is on the dole with a pregnant wife, he’s a lot more pressured than Edward. When Edward returns Mickey doesn’t have any money, ‘The Christmas Party’s gonna be on me. ’ Mickey had promised to take Edward out for a treat.Edward said he would pay, but if anything, this put more pressure on Mickey and it pushed him into participating in a ‘hold up’ with his brother, Sammy. The job goes all wrong, Sammy shoots someone and they both end up in jail. While in jail Mickey is put into a depression and ends up on antidepressant drugs. ‘I get depressed an’ I need to take these cos they make me better. â €™ Edward helps Mickey and Linda get a house and gets Mickey a job. This puts a strain on Mickey and Linda, Mickey feels he is a failure as his wife had to get help off a friend. ‘I’m not stupid, Linda. You sorted it out.You an’ Councillor Eddie Lyons. ’ He thinks Linda and Edward are having an affair. Mickey gets a gun and goes to confront Edward. ‘I’ve been thinkin’ again, Eddie. You an’ Linda were friends when she first got pregnant, weren’t y’? Does my child belong to you as well as everythin’ else? ’ The police enter, and try to convince Mickey to drop the gun. Mrs Johnstone enters, and pleads with Mickey to not shoot. She blurts out that they are brothers, and that she couldn’t afford to keep them both. Mickey’s jealousy is shown, ‘Why didn’t you give me away!I could have been †¦ I could have been him! At this point Mickey’s gun goes off accidentally, th e police open fire. Both brothers are dead. In conclusion the relationship between Edward and Mickey has its up’s and downs. At first they are close friends and are then separated, at fourteen they meet up again and are coincidentally separated once more. By the age of eighteen Mickey realises the differences and is betrayed by Edward. In the end realisation hits the brothers as they are told the truth, a childish pact was for real. The overall message is that although everyone has secrets, if they really matter they will be found out. Blood Brothers Blood Brothers is a musical by Willy Russell which was written and first performed in 1981. The musical is about twin brothers, separated at birth, with one kept in a low-class family and the other adopted into a wealthy family. The characters of Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons, the mothers, are total opposites. Mrs Johnston is a struggling, single mother of seven, with another two on the way, whereas Mrs Lyons is a privileged, yet childless, married woman. One of the main themes of the musical is superstition for example; the song ‘shoes upon the table’ is all about superstition.Another big theme of the musical is fate. Eddie and Mickey meet almost as if they are meant to, and instantly take a liking to one another. When they lose contact, they meet again, proving they are supposed to be a pair. Also the narrator plays the role of the devil and he sings the song lyrics ‘you know the devil’s got your number’ and that is implying that no matter what, fate i s going to happen wherever the characters are living or whatever they are doing. The last theme to the musical is social class, the whole way through the musical we are being reminded about how different these characters are to each other.Willy Russell shows this by their clothes, accent or speech. The opening scene started with a funeral we saw some men dressed in black suits putting two bodies into coffins (Mickey and Eddie) however the gauze curtain was still not raised. This seemed like the past and present of the story, as this first scene was the inevitable end. I think that was effective because it immediately gets your attention and you become eager to know what’s going on. Mickey and Eddie lay side by side both dead. The narrator then tells us the story of what happened. This is cross-cutting as it shows a different time period then returns to the current one.When we are first introduced to Mrs Johnston, she is a single mother ever since her husband left her for a yo unger woman. She is not dressed in the best of clothes as she does not have much money and her job is cleaning Mrs. Lyons house. Mrs. Johnston is a low–class Liverpudlian, who is extremely hard working. Mrs Johnston is shown as a woman in her thirties but a very worn out woman because of the stress of work and her children. Mrs Johnston stutters at times because of her being under pressure, like when Mrs Lyons is persuading her to give away one of the twins.And by Mrs. Johnston stuttering it shows she is unsure and pressured into something she doesn’t want to do. Willy Russell presents Mrs Johnston to the audience as a decent woman, who gives lots of love to her children, but she can’t give them more than that because she hasn’t got a well-paid job and she is working as Mrs Lyons’ house maid, which takes a lot of her time, which could be spent with her children instead. That is why Mickey and his siblings are left to learn about life themselves on the streets. That makes the audience sympathise with the poor people.She shows that to the audience after she learns she is going to have twins by saying: â€Å"With one more baby we could have managed. But not with two. The Welfare have already been on to me. They say I’m incapable of controllin’ the kids I’ve already got. They say I should put some of them into care† so because she loves her children and wants to keep them she makes the sacrifice of giving Eddie to Mrs. Lyons with hope that he will have a better life then what she could give him. Even though she regrets giving Eddie to Mrs. Lyons her superstitions stops her from telling anyone about what she has done out of the fear of killing her own children.Mrs Lyons contrasts really strongly against Mrs Johnston. At first, Mrs Lyons is shown as a bright person in her thirties, unlike the stressed Mrs Johnston who is the same age. Mrs Lyons is an upper middle-class woman. She is dressed very smartly as she has the money to have nice clothes. Mrs. Lyons is a very patronising woman, who is forceful and pressurising. Mrs Lyons uses negative views about extra children so that Mrs Johnston will have to give away one of the twins to her. She doesn’t do this in an aggressive way, but in a dangerously sweet way. So that Mrs.Johnston doesn’t feel like she can cope any more. Willy Russell also shows Mrs. Lyons to be self-centred as Mrs Lyons is willing to take a child away from its mother, so that she can save herself. Mrs Lyons is a very sly and devious woman, as she uses superstition against Mrs Johnston, so that she can keep one of the twins. Her facial expressions are very stern and persuading and her body language comes across very confident as she knows that’s she is manipulating Mrs. Johnston. The Narrator is also a very important part to the musical; he acts as a shadow of the other characters. Firstly he was like the host.He constantly kept appearing and kep t the performance flowing. It seemed as if he had the remote to slow things down and also to speed things up when he wanted. He wore a smart black suit which gave him a high profile. His voice was used quite well because he adjusted it to make it loud and directive as a narrator should have but it also had a bit of power in it. During the performance he popped up here and there just to clarify things for the audience. The Narrator is there as a reminder of Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons’ agreement. The other characters don’t acknowledge him which shows he is of a ghostly nature.The Narrator raises suspicion and builds up tension between the characters. The Narrator also has no emotions and he comes across as a very cold person which makes the audience feel as if he is like a devil type figure. Although he is a devil like figure, he is a neutral character because he doesn’t choose sides and we don’t know anything about him, other than he knows the fate of each character. The Narrator is trying to tell Mrs Johnston and Mrs Lyons that their pact won’t work, because the truth will be known. He uses repetition and rhyme, so that his lines are more catchy and memorable.The character of Mickey was portrayed really well as the person playing this role was showing great child like movements such as pulling his jumper over his knees and also by the way he was speaking. The way Mickey was speaking came across very child like as he was doing a lot of rhyming and simple sentences. Mickey also plays childhood games, like mounted Police and Indians, and runs around with a toy gun. When Mickey was playing his cowboy like games he pretended to have a horse between his legs and he galloped around the stage like a child would do.As Mickey got older he showed he was acting more mature and he understood that life wasn’t going to be easy for him and he needed to work for things unlike Eddie who had everything sorted out for him. When Mickey has got out of prison he is really unsteady and has to take pills to calm himself even though he doesn’t need the pills, he just thinks he does. But when Mickey takes the pills, Willy Russell uses stage directions to give the characters emotion with their physical movement, so when Mickey takes the pills the lights come up on Mickey.We see him go to take his pill, we see him struggle not to take it’’ Russell does this to get the audience to feel sad and sympathetic for Mickey. So in this scene the lighting is really dim, which reflects on Mickey’s thought processes which are slow and aged. You can see from this scene that prison has aged Mickey beyond doubt. Mickey used movement and his voice to really portray Mickey’s vulnerability. Mickey’s movements were slow and it seemed like every step he took was agony. His speech was slow, and his voice was extremely quiet.He walked hunched over, as if trying to protect himself from an unknown fear. Edd ie is the complete opposite to Mickey as he was raised in a wealthy family and he shows this in his body language because he stands up straight, speaks politely and is never rude. When Eddie first meets Mickey, Mickey speaks in common English and uses slang around Eddie and he finds it amazing because he has never heard any one talk like that. Eddie seems to have grown up very fast because at the age of seven, he is already very polite and well spoken. His parents have influenced him because he is like a miniature adult.Throughout the whole of the musical Mrs. Johnston sings about Marilyn Monroe, Marilyn Monroe is a very clever icon to use throughout the musical. This is because using her as a reference sets us in the correct time period. She is also a good symbol, because she has links to many of the themes in the play including death, addiction and beauty. All the scenes were set in the same location; and the set design remained the same for the whole performance, even when the ba ckdrop changed however, the insides of houses, occasionally descended from the ceiling to show the insides of each home.One the right side of the stage was a wall which had graffiti on it and that represented the lower class type of area that Mickey and Mrs. Johnston would live in. Class difference is displayed very clearly in Blood Brothers, in particular the difference in wealth between the two families. Eddie's parents ensure that he has a comfortable upbringing and is able to study at university and receive a qualification, resulting in a highly paid job. This is completely different to Mickey.He comes from a poor family which meant that he was stuck in a dead end job in a factory. â€Å"I bleeding hated it, standing there all day never doing anything apart from putting cardboard boxes together. † This reflects Mickey's frustration and highlights the lack of opportunities open to him, which adds to the dramatic effect of the musical because it prepares us for trouble in t he future. A good example of dramatic irony in the musical is when Eddie and Mickey decide that as they are such good friends they will become blood brothers. Hey, we were born on the same day. That means we can be blood brothers. † The audience knows that they were actually brothers so that creates dramatic irony. I really enjoyed the musical Blood Brothers and it helped me understand the class difference which is displayed very clearly in the difference in wealth between the two families. I also liked the way the actors never came out of role when bringing in props e. g. chairs, tables and carpets. I also loved how the lighting would make a very serious point feel more real and intense.

Assessing different approaches to customer service

For my Customer Service Unit I will be interviewing two leisure centres, College of St. Mark and St. John and the Mayflower leisure Centre. I have chosen these two centres because they are slightly different and I thought it would be interesting to see how different companies have different customer service. The College of St. Mark and St. John is in Derriford, Plymouth. It covers a very large area and its facilities include a 25 metre indoor heated swimming pool, a fitness suite, two squash courts, a fully equipped gymnasium, three sports halls, each with four badminton courts and a specialist built-in rock-climbing wall, computing facilities, and an outdoor pursuits centre. In addition to extensive playing fields, there is a full size all-weather floodlit pitch for top level hockey and football. A smaller all-weather surface accommodates tennis and provides a good training surface all year round. In addition to this there is a 36m. square sports hall for participation in a variety of sports which is also large enough to accommodate Trade Fairs and other large events; a gymnasium for martial arts, aerobics, ‘step' and tone & trim classes; a standard size sports hall available for volleyball, basketball, badminton; 2 squash courts and a Fitness Suite with up to date cardiovascular and weight training equipment. Although this sports centre is within the college, it is open to any member of the public, not just the students at the college. The Mayflower Leisure Centre is situated in Central Park, Plymouth. It is quite old and may need to be revamped within the next few years. It's facilities include a fitness suite which has treadmills, cross trainers, climbers, bikes, rowers and resistance machines and it also has squash courts, indoor bowls and sun beds. There are two sports halls, one is a 5-a-side football hall and the other is a multi purpose sports hall, which can house badminton, volleyball, basketball, short tennis and dry board diving. The College of St. Mark and St. John is a sports college therefore it has numerous amounts of sports facilities. The college is a Church of England voluntary college, with a history of over 150 years and it moved from London to Plymouth in 1973. The Mayflower Leisure Centre is quite old, as I mentioned previously but is the most well used public sector leisure facility in the area. It works in close partnership with the Central Park Swimming Pool which is it's neighbouring building. To find out the information I want, I am going to visit each venue for an interview. For letter, see Appendix 1. I am going to ask them several questions on different topics to find out as much as I can about the Customer Service in their establishment. For questions, see Appendix 2. I will then analyse the answers of the questions and compare the two companies to see who has the best customer service.

Ivan Pavlov And Behaviourism Essay

Ivan Pavlov And Behaviourism Essay Ivan Pavlov And Behaviourism Essay Ivan Pavlov and behaviourism. Joanne Keenan Behaviourism is based upon observable behaviour. Pavlov theorised that it was possible to change behaviour by introducing new stimuli. This means that planned positive reinforcement is effective in promoting change in a learner’s behaviour. Ivan Pavlov tested this theory on dogs. He observed that the dogs would salivate every time they saw him because they associated him with food. He suggested that this was a conditioned response because the dogs had become used to him bringing them food. He wondered if it was possible to condition the dogs into associating a neutral stimulus with food. Pavlov introduced a bell. Every time Pavlov fed his dogs he would ring a bell. After repeating this for a number of times he wondered if he rang the bell without the food, that the dogs would salivate in anticipation. He was correct and the dogs began to salivate as soon as they heard the bell. The dogs had learned a new behaviour and this was now a conditioned response. Pavlov also noted that the stimuli must be presented close together in time to allow for conditioning†¦ if not then no new behaviour will be learned because no association will be made. This can be used in a classroom situation when attempting to keep learners under control. If learners discover that when they misbehave for example and no action is taken by the teacher then they will learn that that particular behaviour is acceptable and will

How to Teach the ACT A Guide for Tutors and Parents

How to Teach the ACT A Guide for Tutors and Parents SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips I spent four years as a test-prep tutor, working with students on all aspects of the ACT and SAT. When I started out, I knew how to take the tests, but I wasn't that good at teaching them. Over the years, however, I've learned a lot about how to be an effective teacher, and it's largely not about the kinds of tips and tricks you might expect. This guide will give you all the tools you need to guideyour student through the ACT prep process.Just follow these six steps: Set a Goal Learn the Test Use the BestResources Make a Plan Teach the Strategies Dissect Mistakes Step 1: Determine Your Goals and Challenges This step will vary a lot depending on who you are and who your student is. If you're a parent, sibling or friend, you'll need to determine whether you're qualified to teach this student and what challenges you'll face. If you're a professional or volunteer tutor, you'll want to focus more on the student's own score goals. Are You Qualified? In order to be an effective tutor, you need to be better at the material than your student. If you struggle to explain questions they miss it will undermine herconfidence in you, and if you don't really understand the material you won't be able to diagnose what your student's weaknesses are. A good rule of thumb is that you should be scoring at least 4 points higher than your student. If she is already high-scoring you’ll want to be at or near perfect. If you are not academically-minded or were always bad at standardized tests, don’t try to teach them to someone else. Potential Challenges Your student has to want to improve. It’s impossible to raise your score on the ACT without doing a lot of practice, so you aren’t going to be able to be an effective tutor unless your student is also invested in the process. Encouraging a student to participate in the learning process can be especially tricky if she's a friend or family member. One of my biggest challenges as tutor was working with my cousin. Because we didn’t have the usual student-tutor relationship, it was harder for me to motivate her and hold her to account when she didn’t complete the work that I assigned. Setting a Score Goal Having a goal to work towards is an important motivational tool, so make sure to discuss with your student what score she's hoping to reach. Don’t just assume she needs a 36, since she almost certainly doesn’t. Your student’s goal will depend on what she needs the score for. The score she’ll need as a middle schooler to get into summer programs is very different from what she’ll need as a senior to get into Columbia. Moreover,what score she needs to get into college will depend on where she wants to go. Look into the score ranges at schools she’s interested in to help determine what score she should shoot for. Another consideration is whether your student needs to raise her score as a whole or simply increase her score on one of the sections. A particularly low score on one section (especially math or reading) can count against an application, and some schools and programs have a cut off score for certain sections. Again, it's important to understand what she's planning to use the score for in order to determine what her goal will be. Setting a specific goal (and having a reason for it) will help your student stay focused. Step 2: Familiarize Yourself with the ACT You can’t be an effective teacher if you don’t know anything about the ACT. If you aren't accustomed to tutoring- especially if you applied to college before smartphones were invented- you'll need to spend some time familiarizing yourself with the test. A good first step is to try taking a practice ACT: doing so will help you understand your own strengths and weaknesses as well as how the ACT is formatted and what kinds of skills it tests. I've included some key reminders about what you need to know if you aren't familiar with the test below. Remember that the ACT Is Different from the SAT The ACT’s popularity is relatively recent and somewhat location dependent. If you applied to college before 2000or you went to high school in a state on the east or west coast (rather than in the Midwestor a mountain state), you probably took the SAT. Though both are standardized tests, the current ACT is very different than the older versions of the SAT. For starters, it has English and science sections in addition to the math and reading ones. It also asks different types of questions about slightly different material- for example, there are no vocab questions on the ACT, but there are trigonometry ones. If you're going to tutor the ACT, make sure you know the ACT- don't just assume it's the same as theSAT you took 10 years ago. Know the Format of the ACT It sounds silly, but it’s important make sure you understand what the ACT actually looks like and what kind of questions it asks. The ACT is very different from the type of test students take in high school and you need to understand the test's unique logic and formatin order to guide your student to a higher score. For example, let’s say your student has a low math score, and you know he really struggles with logarithms. You might decide that you should focus on studying logarithms and really practice that skill. This plan sounds logical enough, but itwould actually waste a lot of time because the ACT has at most one logarithm question per test. Unless your student is already scoring a 33 or above on the math, studying logarithms is not an effective use of time. Let's consideranother case: your student is having a hard time with the science section. You might think that it will be helpful to review the science your student has learned in school: go over osmosis and electromagnetism. But the science section doesn't actually test knowledge- it's about reading graphs.Studying science topics won't help your student at all. If you aren't sure what the ACT actually tests, you can use the following guides to learn aboutwhat’s on each section: English Reading Math Science Step 3: Gather the Best Resources If there was one lesson I learned as a tutor, it was that bad materials make it very difficult to tutor effectively. When practice questionshave errors or look nothing like the the questions on the actual ACT, students end up confused or frustrated and, worse, lose some of their trust in you. To avoid these issues, the best plan is to use official practice materials whenever possible and, if necessary, supplement them with high quality books. Official Practice Tests Official ACTs will be the backbone of any tutoring program. Practicing with real tests will give students the best idea of what to expect on test day. There are a number of official ACTs available for free online. You can also purchase The Real ACT Guide, which includes extraofficial tests. Best General Books Though The Real ACT Guideprovides a lot of great practice material, it doesn't include much in the way of strategies or content review. As such,you'll likely need other materials assupplements (though it will depend on your approach as a tutor and the strengths and weaknesses of your student). One great resource is the ACT Black Book by Mike Barret. This book lays out how to think effectively about the test and can really help students understand how the ACT is different from the tests they take in school. It includes some of the best strategies, but it also lacks math andEnglishcontent review, which many students will need. For more info about these books and others, check out our round-upofthe best ACT prep books and our list of best books for intensive ACT study. You might also consider taking a look at our free online ACT guides, including the 5 strategies you must be using and how to get a 36. Best Section Books If your student needs particular help on one of the sections, consider getting a book specific to that topic. There are fewer of these specialized options for the ACT than there are for the SAT, but there are still some great options. We also have free guides to each section, which include some of the best, most comprehensive info anywhere. English Our complete guide to thebest ACT Englishbookscan help you pick out the best option for your student. Our Ultimate Guide to ACT English Math We recommendRichard Corn'sUltimate Guide to the Math ACTfor most students. Our CompleteGuide to ACT Math Reading For reading, we generally recommend Erica Meltzer's Complete ACT Reading. Our Ultimate PrepGuide to ACT Reading Science There aren't any really great ACT Science books, though Barron's ACT 36 can be helpful for high scoring students. Our Complete Guide to ACT Science Good resources are worth their weight in gold (not literally). Step 4: Make a Plan Once you know your goals and have the materials you need, sit down with your student and work up a full plan for how you're going to get her to the score sheneeds by the test dateshe's signed up for. ACT prep is one of the easiest things to procrastinate- because it's spread out over such a long period, it's easy to put off until the very last minute- but studying is most effective when it occurs over months, not days. As a tutor, one of your most important roles is making sure your student stays on track. Let's go over some ways to achieve that. Establisha Schedule First, figure out when your student is going to take the test. Then plan out what needs to get done between now and then: most students benefit from roughly 40 hours of studying- it will depend on the student how much of that is tutoring and how much is independent work, but all students should take at least three full practice tests. Set a specific time for your lesson each week. I generally prefer to meet with students once a week, butif you'reon a tight schedule you can certainly do twice a week. With more than two lessons per week,most students will quickly get burned out and frustrated. If you're working with a student who you only see that one time each week, then you'll needto give homework, either extra practice questions or material review, depending on the student's needs and weaknesses. As a parent or sibling, you probably won't be able to convince your student to do extra homework, so instead set aside an extra time during the week for them to study on their own. Prioritize When deciding how to approach the material, it's helpful to have a system: are you going to tackle one section at a time? Break them up into individual skills and mix things up a bit? Have your student practice each type of question and hone in on what's tripping himup about it? Each of these approaches can work- it really depends on how your student learns best. Then decide where you're going to start. I like to begin by tacklinga student's weakest sections, because that's often where they have the most room for improvement. But every student is different. Some may only need to raise a specific section score. Some may already know a lot about the ACTand mostlyneed to review the material it tests. Others will need you to start with the very basics like format and scoring. Set Expectations ACT prep is easy to put off and avoid, but it’s impossible for students to improve without dedicated practice. A big part of your job as a tutor is keeping your student motivated. Talk to your student about how much work she'llneed to do and when it needs to be completed. Remind herwhy the ACT is important. Hold herto your schedule. Ideally, your plan will be less complicated than this one. Step 5: Discuss Strategies So far I've talked mostly about the big picture of how to set up an successfulstudent-tutor relationship, but now I want to go into a bit more depth about how to be a really effective teacher of the material. To succeed on the ACT, students need to have a systematic approach to each section. These overall strategiesare often what students expect to learn when they start tutoring, and although they aren't the be all, end all of learning about the ACT, these kinds of tips are still important. Below are some guides to key strategies for each section to get you thinking about the types of ideasyou might want to cover. You'll also want to diagnose any content weaknesses for English and math. English How to approach the English passages: This guide explains the best methods for reading the ACT English passages- have your student try each and determine which works best for her. 5 critical concepts: This article covers a number of general ACT English strategies like using grammar rules (not your ear) to determine the answer and not rushing through the questions. What's actually covered on ACT English: Go over this list with your student to help determine if there are any topics she's especially unfamiliarwith. Math Hownot to run out of time on ACT Math: The math section includes a lot of questions, and students will need to move quickly. This guide offers tips to help students manage time effectively. 31 must know formulas: Unlike the SAT, the ACT doesn't provide the formulas you need to know. This list lays out all the formulas your student needs to memorize to ace the ACT math. How to plug in answers: Make sure your student understands the most efficient way to plug-and-chug. How to plug in numbers: This strategy will help your student approach questions that ask about abstract variables and unknown quantities. Reading How to read the passages: It's vital that students have a plan for efficiently reading the passages. This guide outlines the most effective methods. The #1 rule for ACT Reading: A common mistake students make on ACT Reading is overthinking the questions. This guide explains why that will give you the wrong answer. How to stop running out of time on ACT Reading: Time management is one of the trickiest parts of the ACT reading- this guide can help with it. Science ACT Science isn't really about science: This article explains how students can use the fact that ACT Science is really a reading test to their advantage. How to approach the science passages: As with English and reading, students must know how to approach the passages systematically- this guide explains the most effective way to do so. Step 6: Dissect Mistakes ACT questions follow certain patterns: look at enough tests and you'll see that the test writers ask the same kind of questions over and over again. The best way to get a feel for the style of those questions is to do a lot of practice, so as I mentioned above you should have your students regularly practice with real ACT questions. Of course, it's not enough to simply assign the work, you also need to discuss the questions your student misses. Your role as a tutor isn't just to say, "Bis the rightanswer"- it's to help your student understand why they gotthe questionwrong and how they can avoid missing similar ones in the future. For more details on how to effectively go overmissed questions, take a look at our guide to reviewing mistakes. The keys to unlocking your student's potential. Review: 3 Key Tutoring Tips The specifics of what you cover and how you work on it will depend a lot on you and your student, but there are a few big picture ideas that every tutor should keep in mind. Be Organized Students take their cues from you. If you aren't on top of the material and don't seem to have a plan, they'll pick up on your lack of preparation and feel less confident in your knowledge. Make sure you have a clear plan for everything you're going to cover, since this will help you feel prepared as well as giving you the chance to prepare for lessons ahead of time. However, leave yourself some extra time for reviewing tricky topics and answering your student's questions. It's impossible to predict exactly what students will need help with, and it's important to be responsive to their concerns. Motivation is Key I can't overstate the importance of practice: students won't improve if they don't put the work in. As such, it's vital that you motivate your student to do the work you assign. In some cases, this will be easy (I've had students who actually requested extra homework), but in others you will need to really emphasizewhy the practice is important and how it will help your student reach her goals. They Don't Call It a Standardized Test for Nothing As a tutor, I've found that my greatest strength is an encyclopedic knowledge of the ACT. The test includes the same kinds of questions again and again, so once you really know the different styles of questions and different topics they cover you can explain just about any permutation. I gained this knowledgeover years of tutoring, but even if you're just starting out, you can use the fact that the ACT is standardized to your advantage. Go over official tests carefully and look for patterns in the questions. Remember that because the test is standardized there is only ever one indisputably correct answer. Help your student understand both what will and whatwon't be covered by the test. Further Reading I've listed tons of helpful resources throughout this article. If you're looking for more ACT prep content, you can also explore all of our posts using the topics listed in the right column. If the test is just around the corner and you're pressed for time, make sure to go over these last-minute study tips with your student. For parents: check out these guides to help you determinewhat the best study format for your childwill be. A tutor?Self-study? An online program? Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically. Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Alex Heimbach About the Author Alex is an experienced tutor and writer. Over the past five years, she has worked with almost a hundred students and written about pop culture for a wide range of publications. She graduated with honors from University of Chicago, receiving a BA in English and Anthropology, and then went on to earn an MA at NYU in Cultural Reporting and Criticism. In high school, she was a National Merit Scholar, took 12 AP tests and scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and ACT. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on how to ACE THE SAT/ACT. 100% Privacy. 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Managing a Global Team Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Managing a Global Team - Essay Example James was an effective and brilliant leader to which he sought to carry on the same to the operations of Sun Microsystems, but he had not prepared himself for the reality that dwelled in the company (Tsedal and Delong 3). However, James managed his global team effectively as he conducted conference calls on every week at a usual time in order for the team to receive updates on the status of operations. Despite him allocating time for these video conference calls, the Indian team felt as though they were not party to the global operations of the company as the addressing of their concerns were always last on the agenda sheet. Further, the time difference also proved ineffective for the Indian team as they felt that the time allocated by James for the weekly conference calls were at a time considered by many to be family time. James also failed to understand the causes of the failure to meet deadlines with the Middle East team and was quick to pass judgement that they were incompetent and that he was inconsiderate to the French team. The implication of this was that the US team was his favorite as he considered them more competent as compared to the other teams hence making James to have poorly managed his global teams (Tsedal and Delong 10). 2. ... The other companies that supply HS Holdings with software and hardware could have also been liable for the losses as this was not entirely Sun Company’s fault (12). Further, James is responsible for this crisis because he did not treat the Indian team with the regard that they required hence making them not to work in tandem with the organizational goals of Sun Microsystems. 3. What role did the â€Å"Open Work† environment play in the case? The ‘open work’ policy was a program that allowed employees to work across different time zones by incorporating technology, support systems, and apparatus by using technology that would make this process achievable. The application of this program by Sun Microsystems began in 1995 where the physical presence of an employee was not necessary in ensuring that the company was operational (7). This led Sun to reduce its housing fixed assets by a significant percentage, which also translated to the saving of millions of dol lars. The application of the ‘open work’ program in this case was in terms of the recruitment of team members in the Far East countries as many worked from home while others worked at Sun’s facilities, which registered efficiency and cost reduction (8). James also made use of the video conferencing facility, which allowed him to schedule meetings with all team members at the same time making the Company to save on the travel expenses for the global team manager. Therefore, the ‘open work’ program applied by Sun through James served as a cost reduction measure and a uniting factor for the global team members. 4. What role did diversity play on this team? In this case, diversity played an important role in the recruitment of the global team members as James recruited

Book Summary about the book Train Go Sorry by Leah Cohen Essay

Book Summary about the book Train Go Sorry by Leah Cohen - Essay Example The plight of the deaf persons is shared through the analysis of Sofia’s life. When she takes her journey to join Gallaudet University, there is much doubt even amongst her family members, regarding the possible chances of Sofia surviving independently at the institution (Cohen, 172). Nevertheless, through the determination to partake the journey of improving her life, Sofia later realizes the vast opportunities that exist for the hearing-impaired persons in the society. Through Sofia’s journey, the book by Leah Hager Cohen demonstrates how being a deaf person in a new environment can be challenging, considering that Sofia is a deaf Russian immigrant, who is trying to settle in the new university environment. Thus, Cohen uses the American Sign Language idiom ‘Train Go Sorry’, which is interpreted to mean the ‘missing the boat’, as an indication that there is a great deal of miscommunication between the deaf and the hearing people, both at the individual and at the societal level (Cohen, 127). Nevertheless, the challenges faced by the deaf can be overcome, where there is a sense of independence and desire to live a normal and fulfilling life,. This was demonstrated by Faye Cohen’s, who is Leah Cohen’s grandmother. Despite her challenges as a deaf person, coupled with the tragedy of loss of her mother, she married another deaf person, and went ahead to live a fulfilling and respectable life, as a wife and a mother (Cohen, 77). However, there is a real threat to the deaf people’s world by the world of the hearing, where the advancement in technology has come to undermine any assistance that the deaf could have obtained in communicating with the hearing. In this respect, there is less technological advancement in the hearing-impaired devices. The effect has been the discrimination of the deaf people and those who struggles to fight