Saturday, August 31, 2019

Steve Jobs Personality

Type Today marks part four of our 16 part series exploring the sixteen Myers-Briggs Type [email  protected] test personality types and related notable Celebrity figures throughout time. Previously we examined Celebrity John D Rockefeller and the [email  protected] test EST] personality type. This week we examine the SITS (Introversion-sensing-Thinking- Perceiving) and the late great mastermind behind the â€Å"Apple†, Steve Jobs. Most people remember Steve Jobs as the co-founder and CEO of Apple Inc and Paxar Inc.Steve Jobs was also an individual that mastered his AMBIT type, the SITS, allowing him o excel in a unique position in his industry that lead to technical advancements that we often take for granted in this day of age. Like many Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Introverts who prefer thinking and sensing, Steve Jobs used his preferences primarily internally to analyze the data he gathered in an organized fashion much like the computers he helped develop. He was able to detach and objectively criticize the projects he worked on.This sometimes insensitive approach to problems was a double edged sword that lead to Jobs being fired from Apple in 1985 after losing a rower struggle with Apple's board of directors. Fortunately, Steve Jobs didn't give up, and utilized his Perceiving preference to remain flexible and spontaneous in his approach to work. He acquired the computer graphics division from Localisms and turned it into the critically and financially acclaimed Paxar Studios. He also started up NeXT Inc. That was acquired by Apple Inc. In 1996, and over the next four years Steve Jobs ascended to CEO of Apple bringing him full circle with the company.Steve Jobs also showcased how SITS types focus on efficiently working on projects and was a rim believer in doing only what was needed with the least amount of fuss. Efficiency and innovation were key focus points throughout his career. You can see this today in the products that Apple releases. From th e mimic, to the pod, to the phone, all three are innovations which are streamlined, clean, and efficient products that attract a full spectrum of customers. Apple produces a set amount of products that are mass produced for cost efficiency and quality control.This has allowed Apple to control the image of all the products they produce unlike open sourced platforms like he PC. This did not come without risk as many manufacturers looked down on Apple for their lack of flexibility in the ass's but it is that exact mentality of adaptable, action- orientated risk taking that is synonymous with SITS personality types. Not many people got to know the man behind the keynote speeches closely while he was alive. This is something that is common with Introverts. Most accounts were from people that worked for Steve Jobs. At one point Fortune named Steve Jobs â€Å"one of Silicon Valleys leading egomaniacs.He was also known as a demanding perfectionist, but that was a side effect of the extreme SITS preference that is often seen as confident, independent, and self-determined. Steve Jobs set the bar high and worked until the very end to meet those standards. In the end Jobs did things his own way. Through his successes and failures he changed the technical landscape forever and showed what a motivated SITS can achieve. – See more at: http://carcinogenicity's. Com/ assessments/ambit/965-celebrity-personality-type-Steve-Jobs/#stash. Qwerty. Duff Ambit By Shabby

Friday, August 30, 2019

Succubus Dreams CHAPTER 14

I worked an evening shift that day and had made plans to have lunch with Maddie. She and I had worked several shifts together in the last week or so, but things were getting so crazy at the store that we hardly had a chance to talk anymore. â€Å"Well, aren't we the rebels?† she said when the waiter set two margaritas on the table. We were at the â€Å"unholy† place Peter, Cody, and Hugh had tried to lure me out to a few nights ago. â€Å"Nah,† I said, licking the edge of my glass. Salt and lime juice were proof of God's existence. And tequila was proof of Satan's. â€Å"We don't work for three more hours. We'll be sober by then. Besides, I'm your superior, and I say it's okay.† We clinked glasses and drank up. â€Å"I feel like I'm boring,† she told me halfway through our meal. â€Å"Not true.† â€Å"It is. I don't do anything with my life.† She held the glass by its stem, swirling the contents around and around. â€Å"Doug goes out every night, either to practice or party or whatever. Me? If I'm not at work, I'm home writing articles or watching reality TV.† â€Å"What do you wish you were doing instead?† â€Å"I don't know. There are lots of things I've thought about. Skydiving. Travel. Always kind of wanted to go to South America. But it's hard, you know? Those kinds of things force you to break out of your comfort zone.† â€Å"There's no reason you can't do those things. You're smart and capable, and I think you're braver than you give yourself credit for.† She smiled. â€Å"Why are you such a cheerleader for me?† â€Å"Because you're awesome.† The truth was, I was starting to realize, Maddie reminded me of myself when I'd been mortal. Not entirely comfortable with my body (I'd been insanely tall). Not always so adept socially (my sharp attitude had gotten me in trouble a lot). That version of me was centuries gone, but a kernel of it would always be within me. I gestured the waiter over and shook my glass at him. â€Å"Hey, Josh. Can you hook me up?† Josh the waiter, who looked too young to drink, took the glass with a grin. â€Å"You bet. Same thing?† â€Å"Yep. Although†¦I hate to tell you this, but it was kind of weak.† Josh adopted an offended air. â€Å"Was it? I'll yell at the bartender immediately. Maybe I'll make him come over and apologize on bended knee.† â€Å"No need,† I said magnanimously. â€Å"Just have him add an extra shot this time.† He gave a gallant bow and winked. â€Å"As you command.† Maddie groaned when he was gone. â€Å"See? I could never flirt that way. Certainly not with jailbait like him.† â€Å"Sure you can.† She shook her head. â€Å"No. I have the worst luck with men.† â€Å"How is that possible? You're always saying funny things to me.† â€Å"You're not a man. And I'm not afraid of you,† she explained. â€Å"You're afraid of Josh the waiter?† â€Å"Well†¦no, not exactly. But I just get so self-conscious. All flustered and stuff.† I leaned forward and spoke in a conspiratorial tone. â€Å"Trade secret. Everyone's self-conscious. Act like you aren't, and you'll be a superstar.† Josh brought me my margarita. I thanked him with more flirting while Maddie looked thoughtful. When he went to check on another table, she sighed. â€Å"Did you know that I've only ever slept with two guys?† â€Å"So?† â€Å"So, I'm twenty-nine! Isn't that sad?† I thought about my track record. No point even trying to count. â€Å"Just means you have standards.† She grimaced. â€Å"You haven't met the guys.† â€Å"So find a good one. Plenty of them out there.† I had a weird flash of d? ¦j? ¤ vu to past conversations with Tawny. â€Å"Not that I've seen. Well, except maybe Seth. He's one of the good ones.† She sighed. â€Å"He still hasn't mentioned our date.† â€Å"Hasn't he?† I'd have to get on him about that. â€Å"Yeah. Unless babysitting his nieces counts.† She shrugged. â€Å"It's okay. Like I said, I know he just did it because he felt bad. I appreciate the gesture. Oh hey, I overheard Seth saying something to Doug about how you wanted a Christmas tree. Are you having trouble finding one or something?† I groaned. â€Å"Not that again.† â€Å"So†¦you don't want one? Or do you? You seem like the kind of person who would.† â€Å"Honestly? I'm indifferent.† I shook my head. â€Å"It's something my friend Peter started, then he told Seth.† She cut me a suspicious look. â€Å"You know, you sure seem to hang out with Seth a lot.† â€Å"Hey, you can be friends with nice guys too.† I had no idea why I still felt the need to keep my relationship with Seth a secret. Some instinct told me it was the right thing to do. â€Å"Too bad,† said Maddie, finishing her own margarita. â€Å"I bet he'd treat his girlfriend like a princess.† â€Å"Yeah,† I agreed wryly. â€Å"So long as that princess doesn't mind a mistress. Sometimes I think his writing will always be his first love.† To my surprise, Maddie didn't laugh or look outraged. â€Å"Well, I think that's the price you've gotta pay if you want to be with a man like that. It might be worth it.† Now I became pensive, wondering if this was true. Was I too hard on Seth and his distractibility? When lunch wrapped up, we walked back – not too tipsy – to the bookstore. I nudged Maddie as we stepped inside. â€Å"Okay, here's the deal. In the next week, I want you to do three adventurous things.† She looked startled. â€Å"What kind of adventurous things?† â€Å"I don't know.† I pondered, thinking I might be drunker than I'd suspected. â€Å"The adventurous kind. Go out clubbing. Wear red lipstick. Doesn't matter. All I know is that there's going to be a pop quiz later, okay?† â€Å"That's ridiculous. It's not that easy,† she said with a scowl, turning away. â€Å"You can't just make something like that happen.† â€Å"Did I just hear you tell Maddie to go clubbing?† Seth's voice asked a moment later. She was already halfway across the store, and I doubted she'd take me up on my challenge. Too bad. I turned around to face him. â€Å"I'm helping her live life.† â€Å"By drinking in the middle of the day?† he teased. I pointed upstairs. â€Å"Don't you have a book to finish? I'll talk to you later. I have important things to do.† I felt only a little bad about dismissing him, seeing as we had dinner plans and would see each other later. He wandered off to write, and I threw myself into my work. Someone was home sick, so I got to be out amid the holiday shopping frenzy. Maddie worked a register beside me, and I was pleased to see how cheery and charismatic she was with customers. When closing time came, I stopped in front of the newspapers, looking for†¦well, I didn't know what. But I hadn't forgotten about that poor drowning victim. I wondered if there might be more about him – or more about anything that might help me figure out what was happening to me in my sleep. Sadly, the headlines offered no insight today. Seth and I drove to Pioneer Square for our late dinner and unsurprisingly couldn't find parking. We ended up several blocks away and were freezing by the time we entered the restaurant. The trek was worth it, though. This place was one of my favorites, serving up Cajun food spicy enough to chase away the winter chill. With gumbo and ? ¦touff? ¦e, it was hard to brood for too long. We'd almost finished dessert when my cell phone rang. I didn't recognize the number. â€Å"Hello?† â€Å"Hey, Georgina. This is Vincent.† â€Å"Hey,† I said, surprised to be hearing from him. â€Å"Look, I really need to talk to you in person. Is there any way I can see you?† â€Å"Right now?† â€Å"Yeah†¦it's kind of important.† I glanced over at Seth, who was finishing the last of his bread pudding. He was so easygoing, I doubted he'd mind if Vincent stopped by. â€Å"I'm out with Seth†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"It'll just take a few minutes,† Vincent promised. â€Å"Okay.† I told him where we were, and he told me he'd be there shortly. He wasn't kidding. I'd barely explained the situation to Seth when Vincent walked into the restaurant. â€Å"What'd you do, fly over here?† I asked as he slid into a chair beside us. â€Å"Nah, I was just close.† He gestured to the remnants of our desserts. â€Å"Looks good.† â€Å"It was great,† I said. â€Å"Now, what's up?† He hesitated and glanced in Seth's direction. â€Å"It's fine. Seth knows everything,† I assured him. The waitress came by and dropped off our receipt and change. Vincent studied Seth a moment more, then turned back to me. â€Å"Okay. I just have a quick question for you. We can talk about it on our way out.† The three of us set out into the cold again, heading toward Seth's car. â€Å"So,† Vincent began. â€Å"Remember that story you told me a little while ago? About the cop shooting his partner?† â€Å"Yup.† â€Å"Where'd you hear it?† We walked in silence for a few moments as I tried to remember. â€Å"I don't know. Probably on TV. Maybe I saw the headline at the store. Can't recall.† â€Å"Are you sure?† I frowned. â€Å"Positive.† Vincent sighed. â€Å"Well, here's the thing. I looked into that story and had a hard time finding out anything. It was never made public. I actually had to go investigate with some police sources.† â€Å"It had to have been made public. How else would I have known?† â€Å"That's what I'm trying to figure out.† I racked my brain. Where had I heard it? No clue. I'd just known it when I talked to Vincent that day. But, obviously, it hadn't sprung up in my head out of the blue. â€Å"Do you know anybody in the police department?† he suggested. â€Å"No one I would have talked to. Maybe I overheard someone. Seriously, I just†¦I just can't remember.† â€Å"What's the story?† Seth asked me. Puzzle pieces suddenly fell together. The cop was just like the guy who'd swam Puget Sound. Both had had a vision of something that wasn't true, but their subsequent actions had brought it about. And I had known about both stories before I should have. â€Å"Georgina?† asked Seth. â€Å"This cop went crazy in a store and started – â€Å" â€Å"Okay, just stop. Just fucking stop.† The three of us jerked to a halt as the voice came out of the darkness. In heading toward our remote parking spot, we'd strayed quite a ways away from the hustle and bustle of Pioneer Square. And from around a corner, a man in need of a shave and clean clothes had emerged. He made Carter look genteel. Muggings were rare in Seattle, but statistics meant little when actually being mugged. The man had a gun aimed at us. â€Å"Give me everything you've got,† he growled. He had kind of a wide-eyed, paranoid look, and I wondered if he was on something. Again, it meant little. He had a gun. We didn't. â€Å"Every fucking thing. Wallet. Jewelry. Whatever. I'll shoot. I swear to God, I will.† I took a step in front of Seth and Vincent, small enough not to raise the guy's alarms but enough to put me in the line of fire. I'd been shot before. It hurt, but it couldn't kill me. My humans were the ones in danger. â€Å"Sure,† I said, reaching into my purse. I kept my voice low and soothing. â€Å"Whatever you want.† â€Å"Hurry up,† he snapped. His gun was aimed squarely at me now, which was fine. Behind me, I heard Seth and Vincent rustling around for their wallets as well. With a pang, I realized I'd have to give up Seth's ring, which I'd worn on a chain around my neck tonight, but that was a small price to pay if we all walked away from this unscathed. Suddenly, I saw movement in my peripheral vision. Before I could stop him, Seth lunged forward toward the man and slammed him into the side of the brick building near us. I had never taken Seth for the fighting type, but it was actually pretty impressive. Unfortunately, it was not needed at the moment. Vincent and I sprang into the fray, moving at exactly the same time. The guy had been forced to lower his gun while Seth pinned him against the wall, but the attacker was struggling with the ferocity of a bear. Vincent and I tried to add our own strength, mainly hoping to wrest the gun away. It was one of those moments in time that seemed both really long and really short. Then, the gun went off. My two companions and I stopped moving. The guy used the brief lull to wiggle away from us and ran off into the night. I exhaled a breath of relief, grateful it was all over. â€Å"Georgina – † said Vincent. Seth sank to his knees, and that's when I saw the blood. It was all over his left thigh, dark and slick in the watery light of a flickering streetlight. His face was pale and wide-eyed with shock. â€Å"Oh, God.† I fell down beside him, trying to get a look at the leg. â€Å"Call 911!† I screamed at Vincent. Having anticipated me, he already had his cell out. Some part of my brain listened to him speaking frantically into the phone, but the rest of my attention was on Seth. â€Å"Oh God, oh God,† I said, ripping off my coat. Blood was pouring steadily out of the wound. I pressed my coat into it, trying to slow the bleeding. â€Å"Hang with me. Oh, please, please, hang with me.† Seth's eyes looked at me with both tenderness and pain. His lips parted slightly, but no words came out. I lifted the coat and looked at the wound. Vincent knelt beside me. â€Å"It won't stop, it won't stop,† I moaned. Vincent peered over my shoulder. â€Å"Femoral artery.† After over a millennium, I knew the human body and what could kill it. I would have realized what kind of a shot this was if I hadn't been so hysterical. â€Å"It'll drain him,† I whispered, pressing the coat into his leg again. I had seen it happen before, watched people bleed to death right in front of me. â€Å"It'll kill him before they get here. That bullet hit perfectly.† Beside me, I heard Vincent take a deep, shaking breath. Then, his hands covered mine. â€Å"Take it away,† he said softly. â€Å"I have to slow the bleeding.† But he gently lifted my hands away, taking the coat up as well. There was blood everywhere. I imagined I could see it steaming in the cold air. Vincent rested his hands on Seth's thigh, oblivious to the mess. Words formed on the tip of my tongue but never came out. The air around us began burning, and a prickling feeling raced across my skin. For a moment, Seth seemed to be bathed in white light. From Vincent, I suddenly had the sensation of dried lavender and humidity. It was tinged in something else†¦something I'd never hoped to sense again. Then, it all faded away. Vincent removed his hands, and when I looked down, blood no longer oozed from Seth's thigh. â€Å"I'm sorry,† gasped Vincent. â€Å"I'm not so good at healing, and if I do any more, the others will sense me. This will keep him alive until the ambulance gets here.† In the distance, I heard the faint sounds of sirens. In my chest, my heart thudded. The world slowed its pace. How long had Vincent said he'd known Yasmine? Fifteen years. Too, too long. He didn't look any older than thirty. They hadn't met when he was a teen. The timing didn't make sense. Neither did the fact that he had just healed a major injury. But none of that was as telling as what else I'd already discovered. For just a moment, he'd let his defenses slip, and I'd felt – an immortal signature. And while immortals have unique features of their own, all types of immortals have certain attributes that identify them by creature as well. Succubi. Vampires. Angels. Demons. Vincent's signature had given him away. The others will sense me. I stared at Vincent as red flashing lights rounded the corner. My eyes were as wide as Seth's had been. â€Å"You're a nephilim,† I breathed.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Personality Theories

Introduction The purpose of this essay is to review theories that have been linked and discussed in regards to personality. It aims to define personality, summarize the main ideas across different articles, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses that are in the articles. It also links my personal experience of personality traits to the theory of personality. The essay begins by defining personality from different articles and books, then analyzing critically the key definitions. Furthermore the essay discusses the relationship between personality and job performance and the relationship between personality and motivation. The essay contains a reflective writing section, based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a theory of motivation and personality, in which my personal experience is discussed. Definitions The word personality has many definitions across many fields, in different articles. Hogan and Holland (2003), defines personality as the unique pattern of psychological and behavioral characteristics by which each person can be distinguished from other people. This means each person’s characteristics are different from the other, and people are unique beings. Unlike Griffin (2007), who suggests that personality is understood by some people to mean self concept, by others, the consensus of other people’s opinions about one’s character, and by others, one’s true character. This definition is vague and over simplistic. It places individuals in single categories, ignoring the fact that every personality represents a unique combination of qualities. Walter (1986) goes on further to look at personality from two angles, the actors view and the observers view. Personality from the actors view is a person’s identity, which is defined in terms of the strategies a person uses to pursue acceptance and status, identity controls and actors social behavior. Personality from the observers view is a person’s reputation, and it is defined in terms of trait evaluations-conforming, helpful, talkative, competitive, calm, curious and so forth. However, the common trait on the definitions is restored on the following definitions. Griffin (2007) defines personality as the relatively stable set psychological attributes that distinguish one person from the other. This is often referred to as the long standing debate often expressed as nature versus nurture, that people’s personality is shaped by both inheritance and environment. The next definition implores a new trait that of interaction with others. It is suggested that personality is the term used to describe the overall combination of characteristics or traits that reflect the nature of a person and the way they react to and interact with others (De Janasz, Wood, Gottschalk & Schneider, 2006). Here the authors suggest that personality determinants appear to be shaped by inheritance, environmental and situational factors. Hellriegel and Slocum (2006) also define personality as the overall profile or combination of stable psychological attributes that capture the unique nature of a person. This definition suggests that personality combines a set of physical and mental characteristics that reflect how a person looks thinks, acts and feels. Hellriegel and Slocum’s definition contains two important ideas, the first being what sets people apart and what they have in common and the second refers to personality as being stable and happening overtime. The relationship between personality and job performance Since 1990 analytical reviews have shown that personality measures are useful predictors of job performance. Although these results represent a substantial revision in how applied psychology views personality assessment (cf. Guion & Gottier, 1965; Locke & Hulin, 1962), there is still no agreed theoretical account for the findings. A theory of individual differences in work effectiveness that links assessment to performance would enhance the value of personality measures for forecasting occupational outcomes. The current study organized criterion measures into the broad themes of getting along and getting ahead, and big five personality categories (Hogan & Roberts, 2001). The results suggest that there is some practical utility for the theory driven research. Nevertheless, some researchers have criticized the big five factors as an incomplete taxonomy and have suggested that important relationships are obscured when analysis is limited to the big five rather than a seven factor model. Tellgen & Waller (1987) found seven factors, five of which corresponded to the big five and two additional factors. This goes on to show that more extensive research is needed and current theories are not enough to draw conclusions from. However, research related to personality has recently clarified the utility of using personality variables for predicting job performance. This research by (Barrick & Mount, 1991; Hough, 1992; Salgado 1997) has demonstrated that personality constructs are indeed associated with work performance. Other traits are correlated with specific occupations. However, very little research has examined the mechanisms through which personality traits influence performance. Barrick and Mount (1991) found autonomous goal setting, and to a lesser extent goal setting, to mediate relationships between measures of job proficiency and supervisory ratings of job performance and sales volume for sales representatives. Organizational researchers have long been interested in relationships between personality traits and job performance. With the resurgent interest in theories of personality and the discovery of the big five model structure, research in this area has flourished. Researchers of personality and performance studies frequently make the implicit assumption that performance is a stable construct and thus rely on cross sectional and one time measures of performance to capture something that by its very nature unfolds across time. In depth studies have shown that the relationship between personality and performance measures have been the norm despite longstanding evidence that performance is dynamic (Bass, 1962). *The relationship between personality* and motivation Personality has had an uneven history in work motivation research. Most researchers would implicitly agree that there are individual differences in motivation, and these differences can be traced to dispositional tendencies. In response to a question about what is known in regards to individual differences in motivation, Austin and Klein (1996) commented, â€Å"Despite studies addressing individual differences within each of the perspectives, a considerable amount of research is needed before precise statements can be made about their role†. Gellatly (1996) noted that†attempts to empirically link personality characteristics with motivational variables have produced inconsistent results†. This is a result of lack of theoretical progress and conceptual clarity in the motivational area itself. However, motivational research has made substantial theoretical progress and with respect to the theory for which the most progress has been made it is not clearly defined. As Locke, Shawn, Saari and Latham (1981) noted in their seminal review, the only consistent thing about studies of individual differences in goal setting is their inconsistency. A more likely explanation for the lack of progress in personality and motivation literature is as Hogan and Roberts (2007) put it, â€Å"there are thousands of personality measures in the published literature†. These authors commented further that past personality research was sprawling in conceptual disarray, with no overarching theoretical paradigm and the subject matter was operationalized in terms of a large number of poorly validated scales with different names. With so many traits related to different aspects of motivation, it is no surprise that reviews of the literature have come away apathetic by the observed findings. Reflective Writing Maslow’s hierarchy aims to explain human behavior in terms of basic requirements for survival and growth. These requirements are arranged according to their importance for survival and their power to motivate the individual. The most basic physical requirement, such as food, water and oxygen constitute the lowest level of the need hierarchy. These needs must be satisfied before other higher needs become important to individuals (Scmuttle, 2002). While the order of satisfaction is subject to debate, I have worked as a farm manager and the most of my subordinates only cared about the first two needs. The physiological and safety needs. The basic needs of survival are what seemed to motivate them to work. The farm workers were not driven by ambition, esteem needs or self actualization needs. If by chance the basic requirements were lacking the workers would revolt, but in abundance farm output would double or triple in certain quarters. Although Maslow agrees that other needs do not fit into his hierarchy for example cognitive needs such as curiosity and scientific interest. I feel that in developing countries those needs are not yet valued and hence a forfeited which renders the hierarchy of needs valid. In conclusion, the literature on personality and job performance, and personality and motivation shows a connection between each of the two. In theory a strong connection exists but often that is not the case. Incorrect assumptions about personality in relation to job performance and motivation could result in erroneous conclusions in firms and organizations, which can be costly. However, this does not render the theories invalid, in my personal experience the connection was evident but only on the first two levels of the hierarchy. The differences can be attributed to different cultures and values between developing countries and Western countries. References Austina, J. T & Klein, H. J. (1996). Work motivation and goal striving. In K. R. Murphy (Ed), Individual differences and behaviour in organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Barrick, M. R. & Mount, M. K. (1991). The Big Five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44, 1-26. Bass, B. M. (1962). Further evidence of the dynamic nature of criteria. Personnel_ Psychology_, 15, 93-97. De Janasz, S. Wood, G. Gottschalk, K. D. & Schneider, B. (2006). Interpersonal skills in organisations. McGrawHill: NSW. Gellatly, I. R. (1996). Conscientiousness and task performance: Test of cognitive process model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 474-482. Griffin, M. (2007). Organizational Behavior. Managing People and Organizations. 8th Ed. Houghton Miffling: Boston. Guion, R. M. & Gottier, R. F. (1965). Validity of personality measures in personnel selection. Personnel Psychology, 18, 135-164. Hellriegel, D. & Slocum, J. (2006). Organizational Behaviour. Thomson South-Western:China Hogan, R. & Roberts, B. W. (2001). Personality and Industrial and organizational Psychology. In B. W. Roberts & Hogan (Eds) _Personality Psychology in the workplace (pp. 3-16). _Washington, DC: American Psychology Association. Hough, L. M. (1992). The Big Five personality variables-construct confusion: Description versus prediction. Human Performance, 5, 139-155. Locke, E. A & Hulin, C. L. (1962). A review and evaluation of the validity studies of activity vector analysis. Personnel Psychology, 15, 25-42. Locke, E. A. , Shaw, K. N. Saari, L. M. , & Latham, G. P. (1981). Goal setting and task performance. Psychological Bulleting, 90, 125-152. Salgado, J. F. (1997). The five factor model of personality and job performance in the European Community. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82, 30-43. Schuttle, D. (2002). Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health. 3, 1500-1503. Tellegen, A. & Waller, N G. (1987). Re-examining bas ic dimensions of natural language trait descriptors. Paper presented at the 95th annual convention of the American Psychological Association, New York. Personality Theories Answer: c. â€Å"us versus them. † Correct Answer: Question 2 O out of 2 points Because they both thought In terms of privacy an power, Nixon and Singer could relate well to one another, according to Kelly's Corollary. Answer A. Choice D. Sociality Question 3 In order to emphasize that his theory was concerned with the â€Å"nature of the animal† rather than with environmental forces, Kelly called his theory Answer a Jackass theory. Question 4Kelly explained personality change as a result of Answer adjusting to environmental pressures. Successive constructions of the replications of events. Question 5 increase the predictability of events. Question 6 Slot movement describes changing to the contrast pole of a construct. Question 7 â€Å"Is your teacher happy? † a student is asked. The student replies, â€Å"I don't know; I never thought about that. † What interpretation from Kelly's theory is appropriate? B. The teacher is outside the range of convenience o f the student's construct â€Å"happiness. † Correct Answer: â€Å"happiness.Question 8 Despite numerous physical difficulties, artist Friday Kohl believed she could be successful in her work. This is called Answer self-efficacy. Question 9 Michel focuses particularly on variables. Cognitive Question 10 According to Michel, traits contradict describe Question 1 1 behavior. â€Å"If I ask Jane to go to the movies, will she go, or reject me? † This is a question of behavior-outcome expectancies. Question 12 According to Michel, people are not passively controlled by their environment because they can develop to influence their own behavior.Answer self-regulatory systems Question 13 Michel conducted research on the delay of gratification in Answer children. Question 14 Delay of gratification is easier if the child sees models who delay their own gratification. Question 15 Bandanna's concept of describes the mutual influences of the person, the environment, and behavior. Answer reciprocal determinism The main function of the self-system, as described by Bandeau, is to Answer regulate behavior. Question 17 A person high in self-efficacy believes he or she can act effectively in a situation. Question 18

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Limited partnership in USA and Uk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Limited partnership in USA and Uk - Essay Example In both countries, the formation of a limited partnership is between two or more persons with the same business objective. The general idea behind a limited partnership is that; there is at least one partner who will bear the full burden of the partnership’s debt, while at least one partner will be dormant. The dormant partner will only bear a portion of the partnership’s debt; that is, up to his/her contribution to the partnership’s capital. Limited partners shall not have any managerial authority. The UK law on limited partnership sets out some clear restrictions on the passive partners. These partners shall not (Osborne, 2002): If the limited partners fail to adhere to the above restrictions, they shall bear all the debts of the business up to the amount drawn out, while participating in the management of the company. The UK company law makes it clear that one cannot be both a general partner and a limited partner at the same time. Any individual or a legal body can become a partner in a limited partnership, either as a general partner or as a limited partner. Both countries require that a limited partnership be registered to ensure that it is not for fraudulent activities. In the UK, all partners in a limited partnership are equally liable for any debts incurred until registration (Osborne, 2002). In Saudi Arabia, joint partnerships will only be considered as legal after registration. Every joint partnership formed and registered under the country’s company law shall be regarded as a Jordanian corporate institution. According to the article (42) of company law; a partnership address should only consist of the general partners’ names. If a limited partner’s name is mentioned in the address, he/she ceases to be a passive partner. He/she becomes a general partner with the full responsibility of the business’ liabilities. The appropriate name should

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Mergers Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Mergers - Case Study Example The Tata Group comprises around 90 companies with total turnover of US$22 billion, equivalent of around 3 per cent of India's GDP. Tata Steel has one of the most modern steel making facilities and is also one of the lowest cost producers of steel in the world. It has been rated as the world's best steel company for the past three consecutive years by World Steel Dynamics. World over, Tata Steel currently has a capacity of around 26 million tonnes per annum including its recent takeover of Corus and has the second largest global distribution network in 45 countries. Tata Steel which has also set benchmarks in the fields of corporate social responsibility and corporate governance firmly believes in improving the quality of life of its employees and the communities it serves. Tata Steel aspires to become a 50 Million tonne Steel Company by 2015. It was little hard for TATA Steel to swallow Corus as CSN, a Brazilian company was also in the race. The bidding war between Tata Steel and Brazilian company CSN was riveting and ended in a rapid-fire auction. Initial reactions to the deal are highly diverse and retail investors are completely puzzled by the market reaction. TATA Steel had announced the refinancing of its GBP 3,260 million acquisition bridge facility and revolving facility was provided by ABN AMRO and Deutsche Bank, the financing formalities were finished off by April 2, 2007. Refinancing was also arranged which amounted to GBP 3,170 million and was done by a syndicate led by Citigroup, ABN AMRO and Standard Chartered Bank. This refinancing provides significant benefits and flexibility over the term of the financing to the group. The Refinancing Facility comprises a five year GBP 1670 million amortizing loan which will be syndicated by the joint book runners to relationship banks of Tata Steel and Corus and a seven year minimally amortizing term loan of GBP 1500 million that will be syndicated to institutional investors and banks in the US, Europe and Asia.. The balance amount of the acquisition bridge is being repaid by an additional equity contribution by Tata Steel / Tata Steel Asia which had been previously disclosed on April 17, 2007. The Deal Development On October 20, 2006, Tata Steel announced that it had agreed to pick up a 100% stake in the Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus Group at 455 p. per share in an all cash deal, cumulatively valued at GBP 4.3 billion (USD 8.04 billion). On November 19 2006, the Brazilian steel company CSN launched a counter offer for Corus at 475 pence per share, valuing it at $8.4 billion. On December 11 2006, Tata preemptively upped the offer to 500 pence, which was within hours trumped by CSN's offer of 515 pence per share, valuing the deal at $ 9.6 Billion. The Corus board promptly recommended both the revised offers to its shareholders. On December 19 2006, Corus announced the following: In the light of the competing offers for Corus by Tata Steel UK Limited ("Tata") and CSN Acquisitions Limited ("CSN"), the Company announced on 12 December 2006 that the Corus Directors intended to propose resolutions to shareholders at each of the

Quality Improvement Issue Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Quality Improvement Issue - Term Paper Example In my organization, appointments are sometimes not planned by nurses in the outpatients department and as a result, patients complain on a daily basis. Prolonged waiting times have also increased patient dissatisfaction and many of them are increasingly opting to seek the services of our competitors whose waiting times are lower. A study cited by Yeboah and Thomas (2009) showed that increasing waiting times for more than thirty minutes conversely increases patients intolerability. Deliberate lack of scheduling appointments by nurses is contributed by heavy workloads that makes the them forget to schedule appointments. Strategies to reduce patient waiting times in my organization needs to be redesigned in order to improve quality of care provided. Most importantly, newly formulated strategies ought to focus on reducing nurses workload s. Ho (2014) reiterates that patient waiting time is contributed by increasing patient loads. In fact, there is a lot of confusion among patients when they have multiple appointments. Some of them spend nearly a day as they wait to be attended to. To reduce the patients waiting time in my organization, there is need for decisive and patient centered planning, restructuring, simplifying, and updating workflows in order to improve efficiency of care provided. Institute of Medicine. (2001). Crossing the quality chasm: A new health system for the 21st century. Retrieved from

Monday, August 26, 2019

Philosophy paper Essay 2- 1500 words - Mind, Meaning and Metaphysics -

Philosophy paper 2- 1500 words - Mind, Meaning and Metaphysics - Material Provided - Essay Example As a method of treatment, psychoanalysis seeks to cure neurotic disorders and as a collection of psychological information, it accumulates all information related to the investigation of the mental processes as well as the treatment for such mental processes if applicable. Freud did most of his works in the late 19th century in Vienna. One of Sigmund Freud’s prominent works is the structural conception of the psyche wherein he divided it into two structures: the conscious and subconscious. The structural conception of the psyche by Freud is significant because this formed the basis of psychoanalysis. Freud later on, expounded on this theory and developed it into the tripartite structural division of the psyche consisting of the following: the ego which is the eyes and window to the outside world and is conscious and pre-conscious; the id which represents the basic instincts of man, which is unconscious and contains the sexual and aggressive drives of a person, and; the supereg o, is the ‘conscience’ and also the organ of repression (Sherratt 2002 p 50). The basis of Freud’s findings, theories and analysis of mental processes which led to the advancement of psychoanalysis was his works on patients suffering from hysteria. The works of Freud on the human psyche can be classified into five: the psychosexual theory of human development; the division of the psyche into the conscious and unconscious; the categories of ego and id; the theory of human development, and; the notion that psyche is composed of the life instincts and death instincts. It is the second theory of Freud on psyche which is the structural division of psyche into the conscious and the unconscious which formed the fundamental principle of psychoanalysis (Sherratt 2002 pp 50-51). Freud based his structural division of the human psyche from his observations of his patients with hysteria. He detected that individuals had motives and thought processes that they

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Defamation of Character Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Defamation of Character - Essay Example To cite an example of a â€Å"libel† or defamation case, let us look at the $100 million defamation lawsuit filed by a well-known Hollywood actor Tom Cruise against a pornography actor Chad Slater who uses stage name Kyle Bradford. (NDTV.com 2003).   Slater allegedly claimed he had a gay affair with Cruise that broke up Cruise's marriage (Digital Journal 2001).   According to the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Slater told the French magazine Actustar that â€Å"he had a continuing homosexual relationship during Cruise’s marriage and that the relationship was discovered by Nicole Kidman, who ended the relationship†.   With this allegations, a per se defamation, it caused damage to the plaintiff or Cruise.   The defender, in the person of Slater, issued false statements in the effect that Cruise committed immoral turpitude. The lawsuit claimed that ``Cruise is not and never has been a homosexual'' and ``does not even know Slater†.   Sl ater defaulted the $100 million by claiming that he never met Cruise and said that "I hope by defaulting, Cruise will finally get what he is after and I can finally start to put my life back in order,'' (NDTV.com 2003).   The default motion did not indicated that Slater admitted to wrongdoing, but was an acknowledgment that he did not have the money to fight the lawsuit and would not contest it, causing Tom Cruise to win a $10 million defamation judgment, and clearing his name in the public eye.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Performing Purchasing Agent Duties Research Paper - 1

Performing Purchasing Agent Duties - Research Paper Example It operated in large scale with very flexible approaches to business decisions concerning the entrepreneurial skills where there is hierarchy but the ideas flows from the bottom-up and top-down. This paper therefore seeks to assess the role of the purchasing agents in the Waters Inc. company and develop a request for proposal for companies dealing in computer soft wares To obtain the information on the project that the company is yet to get into, this gives the opportunity for the company to learn about the project and determine whether the client is a good match that can help the company to prepare their bids and draw up contracts (Cheng, Farooq & Johansen, 2011). The questions will also help to make the client to be aware of the basic requirements and find out whether they are capable of meeting them. The company of the Waters Inc. has issued this request for proposal for an integrated document management software system that are set for implementation to meet the operational requirement of the of the various departments that may include building safety, finance and management services and even the administrations. The company request for Five Pentium two computers, each of the computer to be powered by 500 megahertz microprocessor that has a RAM of 32 MB and can be expanded up to the capacity of 500 MB of RAM and a hard drive of 8 gigabytes with 3.5 inch floppy disk drives. The purpose of this request for proposal (REP) is to give information that is sufficient to allow the interested parties (offerors) to prepare and submit their detailed proposals to the Waters Inc. finance department that is the treasury for consideration. Office in charge of issuing the computer soft wares (treasury) has issued this REP on behalf of the Waters Inc. Company. The only person to be contacted on matters relating to the soft wares in the Waters Inc.

Friday, August 23, 2019

The Importance of Ethics to Sustainable Growth in Engineering Research Paper - 1

The Importance of Ethics to Sustainable Growth in Engineering Enterprise - Research Paper Example Findings reveal that China’s rules and regulations related to ethical standards are not implemented strictly but it has given more importance to CSR programmes. UK on the other hand has ignored CSR programmes but is successful in incorporating various employee training programmes. While UK companies apply technology to monitor whether ethics are practised in the workplace, Chinese companies use compliance programmes. Theft of asset is a serious problem in UK while the problem of deficiency of stringent laws causes lack of ethical practices in workplace. Chief CSR officer is given the responsibility of making profit making decisions and monitoring ethical standards. The green officer along with board members takes the authoritative decisions in the company. Employees both in UK and China want ethical code of conducts in the office. However, Chinese employees believe that small firms are unable to properly implement ethics in the workplace. According to Daft (2012), data analysis is a process of evaluating the study on the basis of findings and literature review. The project is primarily based on secondary data accompanied by the interview conducted on six Chinese Engineering Companies. The secondary data is collected from journals and books of eminent authors. The primary data in the form of questionnaire survey aims at providing knowledge regarding the existing conditions of the company’s policies and the perspectives of the employees about ethical standards. Since work culture in UK represents the work environment in western companies and China represents eastern work culture, wide contrasts are noted in the study. It has been observed in the UK that titles like â€Å"chartered engineer†, â€Å"engineering technicians†, â€Å"information and communications technology technicians† and â€Å"incorporated engineer† are granted by the Engineering Council UK (Basart, Farrà ºs and Serra, 2015). The incorporated engineers of UK are

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Nitrophenol Essay Example for Free

Nitrophenol Essay Abstract: Using a micro scale steam distillation we separated ortho and para-nitrophenol from a mixture that was already made. After the para and ortho were separated we measured their melting points and compared it to the literature values for purity. For ortho-nitrophenol we had 60% recovery and for para 160% recovery. Our melting point ranges were ortho: 45-46Â °C and para 64-95Â °C. Introduction:Â  Nitration: In phenols, -OH group strongly activates the ring system. As a result, phenols are susceptible to oxidation in the presence of concentrated nitric acid (HNO3). Thus, nitration of phenols is carried out with dilute nitric acid and results in the formation of o-nitrophenol and p-nitrophenol. The o-nitrophenol is steam volatile and the mixture of o-nitrophenol and p-nitrophenol is separated by steam distillation, in our case using micro scale measurements for safety and time consumption purposes. (Electrophilic aromatic substitution) We used steam distillation because we are distilling under 100Â °C; above 100Â °C is H2O. Looking at the volatility of o-nitrophenol compared to p-nitrophenol, the p-nitrophenol has intermolecular hydrogen bonding and it occurs due to a large number of molecules are associated together. This association in the p-isomer makes it less volatile. However in o-nitrophenol, intramolecular hydrogen bonding occurs and thus, it exists in a monomolecular state making it more volatile. Results/Discussion: Using a sand bath for transferring of heat through the distillation which was sitting on a hot plate. Using a small round bottom flask which was attached to Hickman’s distillation head and then we attached water through the openings. Using 1.00g of the prepared mixture we placed it in the round bottom flask along with 1.00mL of ethanol and then filled it about 2/3 with water. We added a magnetic spin-vane to the flask as well. We collected the yellow waxy ortho-isomer from groove in Hickman’s distillation head using a Pasteur pipette. We made sure that the solids did not accumulate as this would clog the condenser. If it did we would just turn off the cold water momentarily and the hot vapor would melt the solid. The distillation took about 45 minutes and even though this was the specified time period for distilling the mixture, we felt as though much of the ortho-isomer was left in the small round bottom flask along with the para-isomer and the spin valve. In order to characterize the 2- and 4-nitrophenols, we need to determine their melting points. We compared our results to those in the literature. Data:Â  *some ortho solidified in the Pasteur pipette so there might arise a percent error from this as some ortho was left in there. *we assumed that the starting mixture was about 50% each of o- and p-nitrophenol.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Commentary On Hawk Roosting and The Author Essay Example for Free

Commentary On Hawk Roosting and The Author Essay The poem Hawk Roosting demonstrates the predator and prey process through the extensive use of metaphors and personification. The hawk is portrayed as a ruthless predator who surveys its surrounding in search for its meal. At the same time, the hawk is personified as a ruler and creator who possess a great deal of wisdom [W1]and strength. This brings out the subject of the poem that the hawk is an idealistic [W2]and arrogant creature, suggesting that is Hughes is trying to challenges our perspective of being a human. As humans, many of us believe that we are the supreme beings in the entire world, that this world was created by God solely for us, that we are imbued with the ultimate task of looking after the world. This is ironic by the fact that the roosting hawk is looking down on us here, fully convinced that the world is his for the picking and yet ignorant of the fact that a higher authority exists. While the seat of our intellect is innately the hawks tearing of heads, we pride ourselves on our sophistry and manners'[W3]. Furthermore, the hawk also states that we live in the myth of progress, that history is cyclical, as seen in nothing has changed since I began[W4]. This leads to consider an unanswered question of life: Are we the only ones running the show?[W5] An in depth analysis reveals that the author chose to write the poem in a monologue 6 quatrains structure, each resembling a monologue[W6]. Stanza 1 shows that the hawk believes that he is natures most deadly and perfected creature. Stanza 2 shows that the hawk possesses the arrogance of a king. Stanza 3 emphasizes the complexity and uniqueness of the hawk. Stanza 4 shows the hawk doesnt have good manners. Stanza 5 suggests the hawk wields unquestionable authority over ones[W7] fate. Stanza 6 shows the hawk exercising power over his regime. In stanza 1, the hawk is napping. While weaker birds are always on their guard and are alert, the hawk sleeps without worrying about being threatened. Through the use of personification, the hawk is given human characteristics. As[W8] the hawk can speak in poem, [W9]we are given the opportunity to experience the hawks world through its eyes. In line 4, the hawk makes reference to his killing ability- perfect kills, prominently highlighting the arrogance of the hawk. In stanza 2, the hawks arrogance is even more stressed. The hawk perceives his surroundings as his submissive servant[W10]. The high trees were exclusively created for its convenience; the airs buoyancy provides greater lift; the sunrays [W11]shines light onto its meal[W12]. In stanza 3, the hawk portrays itself as an authority above god. This is seen in line 12, Now I hold Creation in my foot. Making the point that it has surpassed its creator and now assumes the responsibility of creation. In stanza 4, the hawk attempts to show off its authority. This is seen in I kill where I please because it is all mine. The hawk makes openly reveals its uncompromising and ruthless way of killing. tearing off heads. It shows that the hawk is free of social obligations and does not have to be polite in its mannerisms.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Telomere Length and Telomerase Activity in Cancer

Telomere Length and Telomerase Activity in Cancer Conducted on the mean telomere length and the activity of telomerase in bone marrow samples to measure the survival and prognosis of B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia and found that the patients with a mean telomere length under 6Kb correlated with high telomerase activity similarly the telomere length over 6Kb had a significant correlation with lower telomerase activity (Bechter and Eisterer et al, 1998). This study portrays that telomere length alone is not sufficient enough information to provide prognostic characteristic in cancer therapy but together with the activity of telomerase it is more useful in clinical medicine. Table 2: Mean telomere length and telomerase activity measured and detected in different types of cancer The telomere length for most cancers range from very low to higher than normal somatic cell telomere length. Telomerase activity was also detected in most cancers except in pediatric bone where certain types of bone cancers were did not show detectable telomerase activity (Remes and Norrback et al, 2000, Hiyama and Gollahon et al, 1996, Tasumoto and Hiyama et al, 2000, Sotillo-Pineiro and Sierrasesumaga et al, 2004, Sommerfeid and Meeker et al, 1996, Albanell and Engalhardt et al, 1997). However there are some problems with this technique that makes this topic debatable like for example each type of cancer is unique which make is harder to pick a biological marker that is universally reliable hence the telomerase activity for each type of cancer must be studied individually. Another issue is that this method used highly sensitive assays to obtain telomere length and telomerase activity which in return means that it is more susceptible to false positive results or false negative results. A false positive result can arise due to contaminated lymphocytes as a result of inflammation in the surrounding issues that have no malignant cancer spread may also show telomerase activity. To overcome this issue Kinoshita, et al suggested, in a study evaluating telomerase activity in bladder cancer, that telomerase assays should be performed after antibiotic treatment. False negative results on the other hand may arise from PCR taq polymerase inhibitors in the sample such as bile s alt, heparin and hemoglobin. A highly sensitive telomerase activity assay has been proposed by Yaku and Murashima, et al (2013) that includes the use of magnetic beads which enables the washing process of PCR products to remove any inhibiting contaminants from the samples and hereby limiting the detection of false negative results. What are the current methods of telomere detection? Table 3: Different technique used to measure telomere length and their advantages and disadvantages. There are many different assays that have been developed to measure the activity of telomerase though the most common method used is the telomeric repeat amplification protocol also known as the TRAP/PCR assay. Although this technique is more sensitive and rapid compared to the conventional assays TRAP assay is not suitable for diagnostic purposes in large clinical samples due to its high technicality, obtains time consuming stages and cannot provide reliable quantitative data however many modification of the TRAP assay has been constructed to achieve a better suitable and more efficient way to detect telomerase activity some of which include bioluminescent TRAP-ELIPA (Zu and He et al, 2002), real time quantitative TRAP or (RTQ-TRAP) (Hou and Xu et al, 2001) and the fluorescent TRAP assay (Table 3). On the other hand, several studies have demonstrated enzymatic amplification rather than PCR based amplification to determine telomerase activity such as the DNAzyme assay (Wang and Donov on et al, 2013) however although this assay showed higher sensitivity than the TRAP assay, the enzymes used in the assay are also prone to inhibitions by other biological molecules in the sample. A more indirect approach in detecting telomerase activity has also been carried out by measuring the components of telomerase such as the hTERT mRNA using RTQ-PCR. As the hTR component of telomerase is found in all types of cells whereas hTERT mRNA is only found in cells that express telomerase therefore due to the strong correlation between hTERT mRNA levels and telomerase activity it becomes the next ideal target for detecting telomerase activity and hence cancer. This method was evaluated in peritoneal disseminated cells of gastrointestinal cancers by Botchkina and Rivadeneira et al, (2008) and the study concluded that this method had 100% sensitivity and 100% negative predictive value hence have an important diagnostic value. Furthermore additional longitudinal studies on larger clinical samples are required to fully benefit from its clinical cancer diagnostic values nonetheless telomerase activity can be combined with present cytological diagnosis methods to make a more accurate diagnosis. Telomerase activity can also be used to detect poor prognosis and help identify those that have a more advantage of benefiting from adjuvant treatments and due to its biological marker properties it can also be useful in the development of anti-cancer therapies. Can telomere length be used to predict life expectancy? A study conducted on domestic dog breeds show that peripheral blood mononuclear cell telomere length is a strong predictor of average life span and the breeds with shorter telomere lengths were found to have an increase probability of deaths caused by cardiovascular diseases. The correlation of telomere length in domestic dogs shows similar telomere biology to humans including telomere length, attrition and absence of somatic cell telomerase activity in comparison to studies conducted in mice models (Fick and Fick et al, 2012). Mice have rodent telomeres which have a significantly different dynamics in contrast to human telomeres and are much longer with shorter life span, making it difficult to address whether or not telomere length can be used to predict life expectancy directly. However studies that have been conducted on mice also show that the rate of increasing short telomere length predicts longevity in mammals providing more evidence for the association between telomere lengt h and life expectancy (Vera and Jesus et al, 2012). As telomere shortening is inversely correlated with age which in return is very likely to correlate with age associated issues including lifespan. One of the largest family studies on telomere length in humans also reported a correlation between telomere length, aging and life span as well as a significant indication that telomere length is also influenced by genetics specifically from the paternal inheritance (Njajau and Cawthon et al, 2007). This study suggests the possibility that the genes that are controlling telomere length may also affect lifespan (Figure 5). Another more recent study conducted by Heidinger and Blount et al, (2011) on Zebra finches, measuring telomere lengths from nesting stage to various points of its natural lifespan producing the strongest available for the relationship between telomere length and life span. This study suggests that telomere length at early stages in life is a strong indicator of lifespan however as humans retain a higher life expectancy co mpared to zebra finches it’s harder to compare these findings to humans. Therefore similar studies should be carried out to evaluate the importance of early life telomere length and lifespan in humans. Figure 5 The mean telomere length in wild type( WT) mice and transgenic telomerase reverse transcriptase (TgTERT) mice both decreased with age whereas the amount of short telomeres measured increased with age (5A). This shows that telomere length is significatly negatively correlated with life span in mice similarly to the strong negative association between age and telomere length in humans supported by results obtained by Njajou et al (5B). There is a distinct market in the industry that includes various privet companies and clinics such as Life length, RepeatD and TeloMe, which are providing the public the ability to determine an individual’s biological age through measuring the length telomeres via blood tests. Most of these companies use flow-PCR, RTQ-PCR or Q-FISH to estimate telomere length however to be able to estimate an individual’s life expectancy is a debateable topic however there are various benefits that comes with obtaining information about how short or long ones telomere is like for example the biological age is an indicator of overall health status and essentially help people proceed a healthier life style with better understanding of how life style actions are effect aging process. It is important to take in to consideration that the telomere length tests that are currently available are not able to predict life span as it is effected by a wide range of factors than telomeres alone. More over these tests can be used to see if there in an improvement in the rate of biological aging and can even be used to monitor the prognosis of current treatments and help disease prevention however the uses of these tests in a clinical environment still requires further longitudinal research and understanding in more depth of telomeres and its involvement in different diseases than what is currently known. This includes more studies of how telomere length is affected during early stages of life and how the inherited and environmental factors affect telomere length. Is it possible to alter telomere length using modern technology or in the near future? Table 4: The population doublings and telomerase activity detected in pBabe, pBabest2 and pBabest2-AS infected BJ cells. The reconstructions of telomerase activity in normal neonatal human fibroblast cell strain (BJ) which do not poses telomerase activity but however express the RNA subunit of telomerase complex (hTR) have been reported to display elongation of telomeres and extend replicative life span. The cells were infected with cDNA coding for hTERT sub-cloned in the retroviral vector pBabe, pBabest-2 and pBabest-2-As. The PBabest-2 under the control promotor of the Maloney Murine leukaemia long terminal repeat sense strand exceeded the normal estimated life span of BJ cells of 87-90 PDs and hence showing evidence for forced expression of telomerase activity results in extended life span (Vaziri and Benchimol et al, 1998). This study reveals that pBabest-2 cells can potentially replace genetically unstable cell lines through the expression of telomerase in gene therapy in order to treat age related diseases and cancer. Consequently other studies have shown that the inhibition of telomerase leads to telomere shortening and cell death and therefore can be used as anticancer drugs. Telomerase inhibiting drugs are currently under phase 2 of clinical trials and its effects on telomere shortening is reversible however the process of telomere shortening with inhibition requires a long period of time before a significant change in cell growth is seen due to the presence of the cells alternative telomere lengthening mechanisms (ATL) for maintaining telomeres. Figure 6 The HME50-5E cells underwent apoptosis against number of days after transfected with complementary 2’-O-MeRNA oligomer telomerase inhibitors. More than 50% of cells went under apoptosis after 100 days after the initial transfection (Herbert et al, 1999). Herbert and Pitts et al, 1999, reported that peptide nucleic acid (PNA) and 2-O-MeRNA oligomers inhibit the activity of hTR telomerase in immortal human cell lines HME50-5E and DU145 hence can be used as a potential chemotherapeutic drug (figure 6). The use of targeting telomerase in direct anticancer therapies also has its drawbacks as telomerase activity is also found in some somatic human cells that may also be targeted during treatment. Additionally a small minority of cancers have been reported to exhibit no significant telomerase activity therefore the treatment may not be as effective in certain cancers compared to others due to drug resistance. Another issue with this approach is that chemically related molecules may carry the risk if being unintentionally inhibited which could result in harmful side effects. Based on the research that that has been carried out on telomeres it is well established that telomere length can be easily manipulated however like in most biological pathways when the natural process are disrupted there are always positive and negative consequence. In this case involuntarily altering telomere length requires the manipulation of telomerase activity (Lee and Hills et al, 2013). The increase in telomerase activity has been associated with multiple different cancers which could therefore potentially increase the risk of developing cancer while reducing the risk of developing CHD and other diseases that are associated with telomere shortening. Furthermore additional studies are required to develop a more advanced technique that can alter telomere length and at the same time prevent or repress cancer. Alternatively a follow up study reported that a series of lifestyle changes such as plant based diet, moderate exercise, stress management and increased social support provided to men with low risk for prostate cancer, revealed an increase in relative telomere length in the intervention group compared to the controls after 5 years. This study shows a significant correlation between telomere length and lifestyle changes, indicating that telomere length can also be altered naturally by reducing the environmental risk factors associated with telomere shortening without having to interfere with telomerase activity (Ornish and Lin et al, 2013). Conclusion The discovery of telomeres and telomerase is without a doubt a major revolutionary step in the scientific field which has led to the understanding of biological age and its association with low mortality medical conditions such as CHD and Cancer. However there are still some structural aspects of telomeres and telomerase that are not fully understood, like for example telomere binding factors TRF1 and TRF2 have only a few studies which suggest that they are part of a telomere maintaining control mechanism (Smogorzewska and Steensel et al, 2000). Therefore these negative regulators can also be possibly targeted in therapies in the future as they have been found to be associated with telomerase activity and hence telomere shortening and eventually lead to programed death of cancerous cells through apoptosis. Although most telomerase inhibition drugs have failed due to long lag phase period before effective shortening of telomeres occur, it can still be used in combination with present chemotherapeutic drugs and provide a more efficiently induced cell death (Cerone and Londono-Vallejo et al, 2006). Moreover telomere length is an independent biomarker for assessing cardiovascular diseases therefore telomere length testing can be used in clinical medicine as a risk factor for early diagnosis faster than current biomarkers such as cholesterol levels. The future will undoubtedly point to new discoveries of how telomere and age related diseases are associated and help prevent them.

Once And Future King: Analytical Paper :: essays research papers

Once And Future King: Analytical Paper Sir Lancelot's intense desire to perform heroic deeds was brought on by his lack of confidence and insecurity. His childhood was spent in seclusion, training for a job desired only to escape the hellish life that his hideous face would otherwise hold in store for him. Lancelot's adulthood was spent trying to overcompensate for this ugliness by performing Herculean feats and good deeds. And the twilight years of his life were spent in remorse for the bad things he had done. Although held up to almost godlike stature in T.H. White's novel The Once And Future King, Lancelot was truly the most human character of them all. Lancelot's childhood was spent sequestered, training to be a knight in order to escape from his ugliness and give him something to be proud of. Lancelot wanted to be a knight because he felt that he was a depraved, lubricious soul. His hideously twisted visage was a sure sign to him that deep in his inner self he was an evil person. Night and day he brooded over his ugliness, his malfeasance. â€Å"The boy thought that there was something wrong with him. All through his life - even when he was a great man with the world at his feet - he was to feel this gap: something at the bottom of his heart of which he was aware, and ashamed, but which he did not understand.†(p.315) As a result of this fear of himself, Lancelot trained to become a knight. The knighthood, a bastion of chivalry and nobleness, would be the only way to counter his immoral soul. Secondly, Lancelot lived a baneful existence as a boy. He was kept away from all the other children and spent his every waking hour with a fiery old man in a single room, learning to fight, joust, and fence. This may seem extreme to some, but for Lancelot, it was all he had. â€Å"Three years may seem a long time for a boy to spend in one room,...unless you realize from the start that...this rather sullen and unsatisfactory child, with the ugly face, did not disclose to anybody that he was living on dreams and prayers.†(p.320) While this single- minded seclusion would make him a great knight, it also kept him alone. He had no childhood friends, nobody to relate to, nobody to tell him that he was a good person. Consequently, his misgivings about himself took a firm root. Finally, Lancelot was filled with terrible, hateful thoughts toward himself and his face. The only job he could succeed in would be the knighthood, a profession in which

Monday, August 19, 2019

Profile of Reverand John Hale in Arthur Millers The Crucible :: Essay on The Crucible

The tragic tale of the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts was re-written by Arthur Miller in the form of the play â€Å"The Crucible†. The trials have been studied to figure out what really happened, but no one will ever know since it happened decades ago. The play is the closest reenactment we have to help us see how people could have reacted to life. â€Å"The Crucible† shows how using others as a cushion to keep from being punished can go extremely bad. Amidst all the chaos a man by the name Reverend John Hale came to help but ended up with making it a huge amount worse. Mr. Hale as they refer to him in the play, started out as a student at Harvard College and graduated in 1657. Ten years later he was ordained as a minister of the Parish Church in Beverly, Mass on September 20th 1667. He was the first minister of this church from what I read. A few years past and Hale was called to the Village of Salem to rid its streets of witches and witchcraft. His degree and church background make Mr. Hale the best candidate to earn people’s trust, and use it to make the investigation advantage. Mr. Hale’s trip to Salem solely took place so he could just if the girls’ sickness had to do with witchcraft. The manner at which he approached it doomed it from the start, he came in the middle of the chaos with the attitude that he could just fix everything with his books. His stubbornness to look at the situation from another point of view collided with the small town’s fear. This presence seemed to confirm their fear that the devil was already present. Salem was small enough where every one knew everyone and where he or she lived and worked. Word can spread fast and people became determined to stamp out the evil in their town. As the accusations started fueling Hales’ fire to find witchcraft other girls started acting like they were helping Salem. When all the girls started acting like the accused were strangling them and making them do bad things, it just went too far. People started being hung and more of the town started to believe what these young girls had been saying and feeling. Hales was working with the judges and town leaders to see what could be done with the alleged witches and wizards.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights :: Free Essay Writer

Wuthering Heights centers around the story of Heathcliff. The first paragraph of the novel provides a vivid physical picture of him, as Lockwood describes how his â€Å"black eyes† withdraw suspiciously under his brows at Lockwood’s approach. Nelly’s story begins with his introduction into the Earnshaw family, his vengeful machinations drive the entire plot, and his death ends the book. The desire to understand him and his motivations has kept countless readers engaged in the novel. Heathcliff, however, defies being understood, and it is difficult for readers to resist seeing what they want or expect to see in him. The novel teases the reader with the possibility that Heathcliff is something other than what he seems—that his cruelty is merely an expression of his frustrated love for Catherine, or that his sinister behaviors serve to conceal the heart of a romantic hero. We expect Heathcliff’s character to contain such a hidden virtue because he resembles a hero in a romance novel. Traditionally, romance novel heroes appear dangerous, brooding, and cold at first, only later to emerge as fiercely devoted and loving. One hundred years before Emily Brontà « wrote Wuthering Heights, the notion that â€Å"a reformed rake makes the best husband† was already a clichà © of romantic literature, and romance novels center around the same clichà © to this day. However, Heathcliff does not reform, and his malevolence proves so great and long-lasting that it cannot be adequately explained even as a desire for revenge against Hindley, Catherine, Edgar, etc. As he himself points out, his abuse of Isabella is purely sadistic, as he amuses himself by seeing how much abuse she can take and still come cringing back for more. Critic Joyce Carol Oates argues that Emily Brontà « does the same thing to the reader that Heathcliff does to Isabella, testing to see how many times the reader can be shocked by Heathcliff’s gratuitous violence and still, masochistically, insist on seeing him as a romantic hero. It is significant that Heathcliff begins his life as a homeless orphan on the streets of Liverpool. When Brontà « composed her book, in the 1840s, the English economy was severely depressed, and the conditions of the factory workers in industrial areas like Liverpool were so appalling that the upper and middle classes feared violent revolt. Thus, many of the more affluent members of society beheld these workers with a mixture of sympathy and fear. In literature, the smoky, threatening, miserable factory-towns were often represented in religious terms, and compared to hell. The poet William Blake, writing near the turn of the nineteenth century, speaks of England’s â€Å"dark Satanic Mills.† Heathcliff, of course, is frequently compared to a demon by the other characters in the book.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Comparing Disneys(r) Beauty & the Beast and Mulan

In my opinion, the role of Disney has remained unchanged for over a period of 30 years. Their main values still remain the same: good triumphs over evil and everyone lives happily ever after. Beauty & the Beast, a classic, and Mulan, a contemporary, both share these values as well. I will now compare the 2 animated feature films. Both the films have the same narrative structure. They follow the Todorovs' theorem: Equilibrium –> Disruption –>Journey –> Test –> New Equilibrium. * They both start off with an establishing shot of the heroines and introduces them through a musical score. In B & B (Beauty & the Beast), we see the establishing shot of Belles' house + town and the camera zooms in to Belle. In Mulan, we see something similar. We see Mulan introduced by an establishing shot and then the camera zooms in on her. She then introduces herself and her life/aspirations through a musical score. In Mulan, we also see that Mulan is introduced through the same way. However, we don't directly start off with a song describing her but later on we do hear a song brewed after her visit to the matchmaker. * Both the heroines are very bright, intelligent and brave. They are also unconventional and don't conform to societies' view of a woman. In B & B, we see Belle, during the opening song/introduction, reading a book and then makes her way to the library. Through her conversation with the librarian we learn that she's really keen on reading and this is the only way she gets in touch with the person that she wants to be. So the librarian gives her this book as a present. â€Å"It's my favorite! Far-off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise †¦ Oh, thank you very much!† Also, during the introduction song, we hear the villagers' views' on Belle and her lifestyle. We hear the fat woman saying about how beautiful Belle is and that she's very bright also. But she's wasting her life on books and she should get married rather. We then see 3 village girls pumping water out of a water-pump. As we can see, they all look the same; they all have blonde hair and blue eyes. Typical. This is purposely set to show Belle in contrast to the â€Å"normal† girls, hence, proving my point. In Mulan, we see her running through a list of characteristics. Her father is also praying to his ancestors to help her find a husband and bring honour to the house. This establishes her uniqueness from the other girls as well. Later on when she goes to the matchmaker, she hides the characteristics in order so that the matchmaker wouldn't see it. This also shows that she doesn't conform with the women of her time and is more manlike. Later on in the film, we see where the Huns are charging at Shang Li and his band of soldiers, which includes Mulan. We see a pan-shot of the Huns charging down the mountain. Shang Li and his men have only one rocket. We see him, Shang Li, then trying to fire the rocket into the Hun army whilst saying, â€Å"we'll take out as many as we can†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This is a typical Chinese soldier. Mulan snatches the rocket away and runs away from the men. She then fires the rocket at the peak of another mountain, which is to the right of the unsuspecting, charging Huns. This causes and avalanche and buries the Huns under a thick blanket of snow. However, the leader of the Huns reaches Mulan and slashes her with his sword before also being buried in the snow. This scene shows that she's brave and also intelligent. She uses her brain to cause the Huns more damage then Shang Li would, with his version of â€Å"fight till death†. * Both the heroines are prepared to sacrifice their lives for their father and, indeed, do. In B & B, when Belle's father is locked up in the beasts' castle, she goes out venturing to find him. She tells the horse to revisit its' footsteps and take her to the place where her father is. In due time, she enters the dark, scary castle. She finds her way to the dungeon, in a great co-incidence, she finds her father locked in. Also, at that moment, the beast reveals himself. (This also proves my previous point that she's brave because she didn't run away or sth like that†¦). Anyway, she interacts with the beast and asks him why did he imprison her father and to let him go cause he's sick. The beast refuses and tells her that he's his prisoner and will do as he pleases. She then offers him herself in lieu of her fathers' freedom and safe return back home. The beast accepts. The same is the case in Mulan. She sacrifices herself when the emperor's messenger declares that a man from each house should join the army to defend against the Huns. * All of the males in both films are portrayed in a negative image. In B & B, we see Gaston in the beginning musical score/introduction, introduced as arrogant and self-centered. We first see him as he shoots down a goose, which was regarded to be very manly in those days, and start to song about him and Belle. He says that she's the only one fit to marry for him as she is the only parallel to his beauty and that she's very lucky that he's selected her. He's a stereotypical hero; massive build, handsome, arrogant and fancied by all the girls in town. He's a parody of the heroes out there. But further on in the film, when Belle refuses to marry him, he vows to make her marry him through any means. This â€Å"evil† statement is also supported through the music. Also, after Belle shows the mirror to the townspeople to prove that her father is telling the truth, he uses his preplanned scheme to try and force Belle for the last time to marry him or he'll make the hospital take his father away to the mental institute. In Mulan, we see Shang Li portrayed as a hero as well; brave and fearless, a good leader, wise and captain of his military squad. But, he isn't as bright as Mulan is, as I have explained above in my 2nd point. Also, we see the other 3 men that Mulan hangs around with. They're dirty, sweaty and ill mannered. * Both the heroines find the â€Å"their man† in the end of the film, the best man. In B& B, we see Belle in the end with the former â€Å"beast† who has now turned back into the prince he was with all his wealth and splendor. She gets him rather than the Gaston, who is also handsome and praised by everyone in the village. In Mulan, at the end of the film we see Shang Li approach Mulan's father, supposedly, to ask her hand because we hear the emperor commenting to him about the â€Å"once in a lifetime† opportunity he has at hand, which chiefly means ‘marry her'. Also, they live happily ever after. In B & B, we see the Belle and the prince dancing in a ballroom, smiling and kissing. Also, the close-ups underline this. Mrs. Pots sings a romantic song, which also reflects the atmosphere. In Mulan, Mulan is reunited with her family and all is forgiven. Shang Li also comes into the scene, to marry her supposedly. Then the camera zooms out and reveals the picturesque scenery implying the happy atmosphere also. Similar beginnings and endings. Both Mulan and B & B start off with a similar equilibrium, then along comes a disruption and causes a change in their lives, because they go on a journey of self-discovery. Ends in ‘happily ever after' mode. (REF: Todorov's Theorem)

Friday, August 16, 2019

Unleashing the Vortex of Marketing

Basically, marketing revolves around the vortex of financial gain mixed with the never ending maze of public relation skills and forecasting methods.   In first sight, it may sound easy to have a product sold on the market—but on real issues and basis on testimonies from those who are under the schema of marketing and commerce, the challenge comes in a full turn of abilities and finesse.   Perceivably, an individual who does not possess the skill to persuade and create a dimension of intellectual connection over the consumers, then it may be evaluated as an employer or a producer with empty pockets and shallow hands. The world of commerce is vast and vague; one who does not get a ticket to the â€Å"clear† vision on that field will eventually end up on the banquet with rugged clothes, per se.   In further illustration, marketing is like a â€Å"battle of tycoons† the targets are on the center—the consumers—and the probability of having that â€Å"target† get on one’s sleeve is to outweigh all the other players of the realm—consequently a hard task since there are those who may be as competent as you are or rather one’s product is highly focused by the consumer in some instance. Moreover, the idea that every customer is in different markets at different times and different places is not as heretical as it initially might sound. For instance, newspaper publishers have long recognized that most of their customers have more leisure time on Sundays to read the paper and accordingly have filled that edition with a greater number and wider variety of stories. Similarly, airlines, hotels, and car-rental companies find that the desires of their clients differ greatly depending on whether they are traveling for business or for leisure—and differ yet again when they combine the two. One executive at a major airline remarked, â€Å"We've even found that the needs of business travelers differ depending on whether they are going to or coming from a meeting.† In the apparel industry, a given customer could be in the market for casual wear at one time and for business attire at another (Vitale, 1998). Reference Vitale, J. G. (1998). There's a Customer Born Every Minute: P.T. Barnum's Secrets to Business Success. New York: AMACOM Books.      

Thursday, August 15, 2019

The Top Job

A vast empire. An empire of widespread globalization with profitable dominance. A transfixed figure stands on the 56th floor of his own tower, gazing at the stretched New York City skyline, a feeling of self satisfaction and accomplishment runs through his body like the shiver down fear's victim's spine. He smirks, and then swallows some of his manly pride, while turning to the attention of other white collared men. However unlike his contemporaries, who are content for a ‘major minor' role, he knows there are none in this room, none down the hall and none in this building could ever challenge his job, what job? The ‘top job.' Two floors down, amongst the hustle and bustle of productive workplace, a young man stares almost blankly but in awe at his computer screen whilst in the secrecy of his office. ‘PARKER: HE CAME, HE SAW, HE OWNS ALL' reads the truthful headline, and with swift disgust he turns away. Head in his hands, tired, he sighs violently, then looks out his office window for some consultation or consolation. Coming towards his office a tall, olive skinned figure of beauty and purity may be the provider of both. ‘Tough night for you?' she inquires sarcastically as she enters the room with poise. ‘Give me a break Tara, how can I sleep with this tyrant steals my limelight?' he says with disgust but caution. ‘Come on Brad, take a look at yourself, and look around this office, this floor. You're better than this. You deserve more than this. Not even a spot on the board of directors? Instead they give you this and look at yourself†¦.I'd like to see Sonny Parker lying in the gutter with†¦.' ‘Enough Tara!' Brad exclaimed with anger but disappointment. ‘Sonny has been a good friend to me, how can you say these things. Sure he got promoted and since then he's taken everything I've ever wanted to achieve†¦. (Sigh)†¦ He deserves it Tara' he mellowed, while slumping back into his chair. Upon hearing this Tara began to proceed to the door, but after a second of though, she violently grabbed Brad by his puffed cheeks. ‘Listen to me you poor excuse for a man!' she screamed with vection. ‘You deserve more than this, you are so much better than this. Think what we could achieve together if we destroyed Parker and took is place, we could†¦' ‘Destroy him†¦Take his place?†¦.' he pondered this in confusion but also with deep curiosity. He was an ambitious man, but was this time to act? ‘Yes Brad, we can achieve this together. You can be the man with the top job, the quarterback, the coach, all in one†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.And maybe we can be together?' she slowly suggested while she moved her hands ever so gently, Brad tingled. He then stared into her radiant eyes and confidently mumbled, ‘Ok Tara, let's put this bastard to the sword, take his job, his money and his undeserving credit. Then let's share our fortunes together and†¦' Before he could outline the tale of his plans, Tara embraced him passionately and sexually, then she slowly but gracefully left the office with a feeling of satisfaction and achievement. Brad resumed his slumped position but grinned under the cover of his still innocent hands. The bell dinged while the dark screen became illuminated with the number '56'. Four people walked out after the doors reluctantly slid open. The first three walked away in ignorance just aware that they were in the presence of other white collared individuals like themselves, working for the good of the company. Tara though walked with great confidence and in a manner of personal pursuit. She wasn't like the others, contempt for a spot on the payroll, she wanted a role of power. To her there was no good or evil, there was only power and the weak. As she strode with convection towards the end of the floor to a waiting secretary, she was the attention of many males, but she marvelled in this, as men were now only ‘playthings' to her. ‘I have an appointment with Mr. Parker' she instructed to the simple secretary. ‘Oh yes, Ms. Banks, Mr. Parker will see you now, please proceed inside to his office.' Tara half ignoring her, swooped into the office like the vulture stalking its prey. Sonny, sitting, like the king on his throne welcomed her. ‘Mr. Parkes, an honour to see you again.' ‘Please Ms Banks, the pleasure is all mine. Why a woman of stature and beauty, the honour is all mine. Tell me my darling, what brings you here?' She then in a movement of precision came towards him and sat in his ‘excited' lap. ‘Sonny, I've lured our friend Brad James into thinking he can take you down. He thinks he can destroy you and take control of the company. Act now honey; confront him before he grows stronger in confidence and self assurance. With him gone we can run this company together, the power, the money, the lot.' Beneath the cover of countless irrelevant folders in a drawer Sonny reached for a dark, rigid, hard item. ‘It will be done Tara, we have no more threats to fear.' ‘Click Click' The pistol locked into its fateful position. Brad examined it saw it as the tool to success. His fate and destiny was locked away inside the trigger, now he was the puppet master and pulling this string would bring about the final curtain on his destiny. A thump on the door, one like the landlord seeking his late payments, awakened Brad from his transfixed state. The entrance was unexpected and unprecedented as Sonny entered with determination. Brad was unsure of the visit and questions began to arise. ‘Nice to see you Mr. Parker once again' Brad opened with limited enthusiasm. ‘The pleasure is mine Brad' Sonny responded with even less convection. Both became mute as they gazed into open air. The tension rose like the morning sun. Two adversaries driven by the temptation of beauty stared each off like two lone rangers at high noon. Brad moved his hand away from the radar of Sonny and reached for the reassurance of his pistol. ‘I'm sure gonna miss working with you Sonny' Brad whimpered falsely. With these lying words Sonny found refuge in the corner of his pocket with the cold grip of steel. ‘You have no idea Brad, no idea how much this is going to hurt me' ‘Ms Banks, the media is waiting for you mam' ‘Thanks Miss O'Neal' Tara smiled then took one more glance at the headline. TWO XON INSURNACE BOSSES DIE IN SHOOT OUT, TARA BANKS TAKES CONTROL OF COMPANY. She had prevailed, and with this feeling of relief and heartless satisfaction she turned to face her new audience, the press.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Human Nature: Self-Interest & Altruism

Human Nature: Self-Interest vs. Altruism A debate encompassing human nature has carried on for centuries, and philosophers throughout history have provided a vast inventory of explanations they deem to be sufficient in understanding the perplex idea of human nature. A question commonly debated regarding human nature is determining whether human beings are naturally self-interested or altruistic. Political philosophers Bernard Mandeville and Francis Hutcheson specifically addressed this question, but each arrived at different conclusions based on personal observation and reasoning.Mandeville, influenced by Hobbesian thought, advocated the belief that human beings were naturally self-interested. Opposing the idea of self-interest, Francis Hutcheson attacked Mandeville’s notion and reasoned that human beings were inherently altruistic. Although both sets of ideals originated in the early 18th century, both can be utilized to infer about current events and situations (Tannenbaum & Schultz, 2004). Dutch political philosopher Bernard Mandeville, author of The Fable of the Bees or Private Vice Publik Benefits, attacked a common notion for the time that human beings were naturally altruistic.Mandeville believed that humans were naturally self-interested while most thought of altruism as virtuous and self-interest as vice. He stated that empirical evidence supporting human altruism was non-existent, and it is selfish actions that benefit society. Society that runs on altruism and benevolence is a stagnant society that fails to progress. In Mandeville’s The Fable of the Bees, he emphasizes that when people seek self interests, comforts and pleasures, society inevitably progresses with occurences of new inventions and a circulation of capital.According to Mandeville, a benevolent society is an honest one, â€Å"but if they would likewise enjoy their Ease and the Comforts of the World, and be at once opulent, potent and flourishing† as well as a self-i nterested society, it is likely impossible (Kaye, 1989). Likewise, a self-interested society experiences invisible cooperation, in which greed leads to cooperation if property is sufficiently channeled. The Fable of the Bees is also considered a political satire of England during the time, and Mandeville describes a society having virtues along with ontent and honesty. The society mentioned lacks self-love, a Hobbesian idea that Mandeville emphasizes as a barrier to progress. Virtues held by such a society are hypocrisy that arise from a selfish desire to be superior. While Mandeville concludes his essay with statements expressing that the purpose of his essay was not to directly oppose Christian values, he states that modern honor â€Å"bids you bear injuries with patience†, but religion â€Å"tells you if you don’t resent them, you are not fit to live† (1989).Finally, Mandeville concludes his thoughts rejecting altruism, and emphasizes that â€Å"the seeds of every passion are innate to us, and nobody comes into the world without them† (1989, 2004). A political philosopher during the Scottish Enlightenment, Francis Hutcheson opposed Mandeville’s Hobbesian view that humans are naturally self-interested. He advocated the notion that human beings are naturally altruistic and benevolent. While declaring these attributes as factual about human nature, Hutcheson also stressed the importance and success such qualities have on society.He believed humans are endowed with a â€Å"moral sense†, or derive pleasure from witnessing someone else perform a benevolent act and in turn have a desire to do the same. This â€Å"moral sense†, as Hutcheson describes, is a human being’s natural inclination of pursuing happiness. Hutcheson, a major contributer to the advancement of utilitarianism stated that, â€Å"regarding the pleasurable and painful consequences of actions as morally significant† provided the â€Å"f ormula that that action is best which procures the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers† (Peach, 1971).He divides what he refers to as â€Å"exciting reasons† and â€Å"justifying reasons† into functionality. He considers exciting reasons as merely an appeal to self-interest, and â€Å"have nothing to do with moral justification† (1971). Differentiating, justifying reasons â€Å"establish the virtue, moral goodness, or moral obligations of actions† (1971). This reasoning explains his opposition to Mandeville’s view that moral distinctions derive from self-interest, and declares these distinctions as undoubtedly self-determining.The basis of Hutcheson’s theory expresses that the â€Å"moral sense† tends to be consistent as long as it is not interfered with. Interfering forces such as â€Å"ignorance, mistaken belief, prejudice, or the like† are corrected and addressed by reason (1971). He concludes his statements wi th an underlying theme which states â€Å"the benevolent one is reasonable and the malicious unreasonable†, based on the approval and disapproval of one’s moral sense (1971, 2004). Although both philosophers theorized about human nature more than two centuries ago, opposition and advocation for both is seen throughout current events.For example, Mandeville’s views can be advocated by the constant confrontation between the Israelis and the Arab world, more specifically the Palestinians. Neither side will relent to the interests of the other, viewing altruism with the other as being a weakener of their own state. If the Israelis recognize Palestine as a legitimate state, they lose both land and resources, while also fearing further invasion and conflict within Israel. Numerous negotiations and attempted treaties have failed, because neither side ultimately recognizes sufficient advantages to their own state if they comply.While this situation conflicts with Hutche son’s view, a current example advocates it. Disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and 9-11 have sparked a numerous amount of community benevolence. Countless organizations and people have joined together to help those affected in the disasters recover. Hutcheson would most likely state that such expressed benevolence for others is the result of their â€Å"moral sense†, while Mandeville would describe it as merely human beings seeing an advantage for themselves by joining such an organization; possibly honorable recognition or status improvement.Clearly seen, support and opposition for both Mandeville’s and Hutcheson’s theories has divided thought on this issue still today (2004). References Kaye, F. B. & Mandeville, B (1989). The Fable of the Bees. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Classics. Peach, B (1971). Illustrations on the Moral Sense. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Tannenbaum & Schultz (2004). Inventors of Ideas. Belmont, CA: Wads worth/Thomson Learning.