Perceptual Errors

1) Prototypes:- Usually according to the group or profession you belong to, you are assumed to have certain characteristics, whether you have them or not. In our organisation, we have a team manager who has an impression of being unapproachable and unfriendly, only because of his position. Due to this reason none of the employees approach him for help, even though it might hurt productivity. Since a few colleagues and myself have a habit of observing people’s behaviour, we knew all this fear is baseless. We didn’t hesitate in asking him for help and he was very pleasant and found solutions to our problems and made us very comfortable while he was at it. So, in my opinion to reduce this kind of a perceptual error, its advisable to remember principle on similarity. Wherein, its not necessary that people from similar background are similar in nature. We should always see a person as a separate individual. 2) Horn Effect:- According to this effect/error, when a person is found to have an undesirable trait, he is automatically assumed that all his traits must be undesirable, which may or may not be true. To explain with an example, I have a colleague in my office who is precise and sticks to the point when having a conversation with a customer. Once one such matter was escalated considering that he sounded rude to the customer. And though he was cleared after been given some advice, because of that one event he is always considered to be deficient in other necessary traits, where he actually is pretty good. Inspite of his being very disciplined, it was assumed that he was late in his project, when the fact was the opposite! In such a case, I think the person has to make an effort to clear such a generality. Also the appraiser should take into consideration all the facts of the person’s behaviour and progress, rather than assuming that he will be wrong always. 3) Hallo Effect:- This effect is similar to horn effect, the only difference being that here the person is assumed to have all positive traits because of one desired trait. We have just such an example in our team, where one of the executives had scored the best in the first quarter. This led to a general assumption that she is good at all necessary statistics, which was not the case. This employee has a habit of coming later from breaks, of not going by rules and generally escaping slights due to favouritism. This also affects the morale of the people who work hard but their effort is not recognised. But when she was given the responsibility of helping with the KRO’s of the few newer executives, she couldn’t handle it and this led to waste of time and overall poor performance. This could have been avoided if there was unbiasedness and proper checking done related to the statistics of the person rather than assuming she would be good at everything. 4) Primacy Effect:- This is an error in perception when a person tends to base somebody’s judgement depending on the first impression of that person. For instance, in our organisation we have a new team leader join in to handle our team. Now since this guy was a little timid initially and because it was a new rols and place for him, most of the people in the office didn’t take him seriously. To add to it some of his mannerisms were a little girlish, which led to most of the office crowd calling him ‘gay’. Presently, after knowing him more, even if people are not pulling his leg about being gay, he still not given his due respect. Anything that goes beyond his control in terms of disciplinary issues, he is blamed for saying that he doesn’t have a proper hold on his team! I think the best way to reduce such an error in an organisation would be to observe the person in question over a period of time, unbiasedly, and then form an opinion about him. Its not necessary that first impressions are always the last impressions. 5) Recency Effect:- This is an effect where you form an opinion on a person based on what was last observed about him or what was the last thing he spoke which stood out, in a positive or a negative way. In my office, we have a team leader who is highly work-oriented and keeps to himself. I had an impression that he never talks to anyone other than work, which is a good thing, but I always founds it a little too technical or unfeeling. But recently I had to change my opinion. The same person had supported me to get holidays because of my bad health, when I’d not even asked for any support. Though he still is the same, but that last gesture of his changed my entire opinion of him. Ideally, here is a case of both primacy error and then recency error. Though not all effects could be errors, necessarily. The vital thing is we should not judge others based on one single point be it initial impression or latest impression. We need to keep our minds open about the person. 6) Selective Perception:- We tend to perceive things according to our beliefs or interests in this kind of a perceptual error. We may note only that what we like, to suit our own needs. For instance, there is a colleague of mine who never used to talk to me before. But since I’ve started my MBA, she’s been talking and asking me all sort of information about it. It is a topic of her interest. But she wouldn’t talk on any other matter. Here I feel, she perceives selectively, only according to what she wants. In an organisation, it is better for anyone to avoid such an error, because you loose out on lot of potential growth, of self and others. We need to notice and make use of all talents of an employee. 7) Contrast Effect:- We need to be very alert when making decisions that we are not making that decision based on anything observed in contrast to the situation or the person that we are observing. Because such an error could make us go wrong when selecting right people. I can explain this error by mistake that I’d done where I was supposed to monitor the two new members who was supposed to join the team. Now from both these girls one appeared very childish and rather loud as compared to the other one who was a quiet soul and who looked professional and competent. And I formed my opinion that the louder character was not very mature in handling some KRO’s and achieving them consistently. Which later I realised, was a completely wrong opinion of her. She not only was quite disciplined and organised, she was more lively and kept things light when work became too serious. The other girl, was rather in her own world and least motivated. Effect like this when you have two contrasts in front of you could be difficult to detect, but if you observe each person and compare their performance and behaviour to the standard norm, you would be more accurate. 8) Projection Error:- This is a kind of error when you project your attributes and traits or emotions onto others. Here the person maybe completely different from you, but because we may not have noticed that we might assume the other person also to be like us. We have a member in our team who always talks about team bonding and team strength. I too believe that a team is strong and succeeds more often if it works together towards the same goal. I did an error of assuming that this person will also think the same and share the responsibilities and duties of a project equally. All the work was delegated accordingly and everyone was expected to do their bit. But to my surprise that person was all talks and no show! He not only did pass on thatr work to another member of the team, his ways also brought discontent amongnst the members and divided the group further. I realised that I’d thought of him being like me and giving his 100% to whatever he does. But that was not the case sadly. If I would have recognised that earlier I would’ve corrected myself and given him work accordingly.

Microeconomics of Customer Relationships

Reading: Microeconomics of Customer Relationships ? Reading: Microeconomics of Customer Relationships The follow is a critique and review of the reading of Microeconomic of Customer Relationships by Fred Reichheld. I will review the article and evaluate Mr. Reachheld. I will also apply economic theories into why and how I came to my conclusions. Overview on the Reading Microeconomic of Customer Relationships by Fred Reichheld is based on a simple survey based customer-relationship metric known as â€Å"net-promoter score†, or NPS.The NPS divides customers into three categories based on the simple question, â€Å"How likely is it that you would recommend us to a friend or colleague? † (Reichheld, 2006, pg. 73) Customers at the high end are labeled promoters, because of their likelihood of loyalty and positive word-of-mouth promotion. The low end of the spectrum is the opposite of the promoter and labeled a detractor. By quantifying the value the customers have the compan y can then devise action plans to solve problems, or expatiate growth. Evaluation of the AuthorFred Reichheld was very good at relating NPS in a practical and evaluative way. What I found most interesting in his analysis of NPS was the customer grid (Figure 1). Figure 1. Customer Grid. From Fred Reichheld’s Microeconomics of Customer Relationships. (2006, pg. 76) Reichheld came to the conclusion that the upper right was the top long-term priority. I completely agree with this conclusion. He then put the upper right and the lower right as the next highest priority. He does make some good points, such as bad word-of-mouth and high profits that could pick up ship and move on elsewhere.I, however, would put a higher priority in the upper middle section as long as this is a large corporation. A small business may very well need to stamp out the issues of the unsatisfied because they can’t afford the risk of losing base. In a large corporation, volume is huge and needs to be satisfied. If you can find a way to get the middle column to the right, your NPS would rise. Conversely, if you don’t satisfy the middle, or large volume customers, they could move to the left causing havoc. Netflix recently made a bold move of raising it’s prices 60% and split it’s services into two separate entities.This angered that middle column of subscribers that used Netflix, but didn’t have strong opinions toward it. Netflix’s stock prices have plummeted 26 percent this year(Randall, 2011). Netflix was counting on customer loyalty to prevail over the increase in prices, but instead had a huge backlash. An example of a company that focuses on the right and the middle of their NPS is Apple. Apple has created a company with an almost cult like following. Apple’s NPS is 79% with only 2% detractors based on a 2008 survey by Satmetrix (Schofield, 2008).Apple has been genius at getting customers to the upper right section of the customer g rid. It developed products to appeal to the masses. Criticism toward Apple has been their lack of Adobe flash integrated into their iphones(Chen, 2008). This causes anger to the left sections of customer who want flash enabled devices. Apple could easily try to appease this group and enable Flash, but because it views it as an unstable platform, it refuses to use it. Apple isn’t as concerned about the haters as it is about those loyal to Apple, or those who are on the fence.Recent commercials have depicted Apple as more stable and fun to used than PCs, in an attempt to grab at that market with no brand loyalty. Economic Theories I do realize my examples for my disagreement with Reichheld on priority placed on the NPS is not for all market conditions and companies. There are many factors that can sway priority away from where focus was previously. The Netflix example, for instance, was based on a company who thought it had somewhat of a monopoly, yet after it made it’s decision to raise prices realized costumers left for other options such as Hulu plus and Blockbuster’s DVD by mail service.Netflix is now forced to have its main focus on the left and pacify those who were angered. There is also supply and demand to consider. When there is a high demand for a product and a limited supply, a higher priority needs to be set on the upper right because holding a high percentage of the market share when supply is low will keep customers when or if the supply is increased and you will need customer loyalty when new competitors are able to enter due to a lower cost of entry. ConclusionFred Reichheld wrote an excellent article breaking down NPS and applying it to business. I had a slight disagreement over his priority placement mainly because it is flexible to the situation and I would focus on the masses rather and a select few. The article was well written and very practical with easy to understand data. References Chen, B. (2008, November 17). Why apple won’t allow adobe flash on iphone. Retrieved from http://www. wired. com/gadgetlab/2008/11/adobe-flash-on/ Randall, D. 2011, September 19). Nflx tumbles on qwikster announcement; are netflix's best days behind it?. Retrieved from http://www. huffingtonpost. com/2011/09/19/nflx-netflix-stock-qwikster_n_970879. html Reichheld, F. (2006). The microeconomics of customer relationships. MITSloan Management Review, 47(2), 73-78. Schofield, M. (2008, April 10). Satmetrix benchmarks net promoter scores in four key industry sectors. Retrieved from http://www. reuters. com/article/2008/04/10/idUS191482 10-Apr-2008 BW20080410

Black Swan Psychology Review Essay

The Black Swan is a psycho thriller film that narrates the demise of a young talented twenty-some year old ballerina named Nina Sayers. The story begins with the main character Nina anticipating her lead role as the Swan Queen in the upcoming new production of Swan Lake. This new version of Swan Lake as presented by the artistic director, Thomas Leroy, tells the story of a virginal girl that is trapped in the body of a White Swan. The White Swan desires to be free but only true love can break her spell. Soon as a handsome prince falls in love with the delicate White Swan and is about to announce his love for her, the White Swan’s lustful twin (the Black Swan) steals the prince away. Devastated, the White Swan kills herself, where in death she finally finds freedom from her curse. Once Nina successfully obtains the role as the Swan Queen, she is to portray both personas of the innocent and fragile White Swan, as well as the destructive and devious Black Swan. As expected Nina could easily capture the essence of the White Swan since they both share very similar personalities. Nina is a well-structured dancer and is always in control of every movement she makes, but her overall timid and fragile character cannot gain the essence of the Black Swan. The Black Swan represents a looser and sensual structure of dance that becomes difficult for Nina to embrace. With such frustration in Nina’s inability to fully grasp both characters in one dance, Nina begins to suffer from delusions, hallucinations, and amongst other irrational behaviors, all of which later contributes to her diagnosis of the borderline personality disorder. Nina’s abnormal behavior becomes more consistent as the date of the show’s premiere approaches. Her disorder develops more as she shows patterns of impulsivity with high levels of instability and anxiety. Borderline personality disorder is known to show a pervasive pattern of unstable self-image that may later lead to an erratic self-destructive behavior. Another symptom that is known to be common with this disorder is having minor to severe episodes of delusions, hallucinations, and/or certain dissociative effects. It is also noted that many people that suffer from borderline personality disorder partake in self-mutilating actions or in more extreme cases much like Nina’s, commit suicide. In the DSM-IV-TR, there are a total of nine criteria for the borderline personality disorder, of which to be characterized with this disorder you must demonstrate five characteristics. Nina Sayers demonstrated 6 criterions and if treated with the behavioral psychotherapy, in time it would have saved her from her ultimate demise. Behavioral therapy focuses on changing observable behavior with the use of learning theory-based principles. Since the development of such learning theories, therapists have been able to control anxiety type behaviors. In the case of Nina, where she is constantly scratching her shoulder under severe stress and partakes in impulsive actions by sleeping with multiple partners, behavioral therapy can model theses pathological behaviors and emphasize learning rather than point fault on herself that may even cause more distress. By decreasing the number of undesirable behaviors that Nina begins to demonstrate throughout the film, a behavioral therapist could use operant conditioning to change future behavior as a function of its previously experienced reinforcement. For the purpose of this case study, I will demonstrate that by using behavioral therapy Nina would have gained control of her impulses and stopped her from harming herself with the use of operant conditioning and even later introduce her onto Dialectical Behavior Therapy. As any therapy session should begin, Nina would first go through a behavioral assessment. Considering Nina’s shy and timid personality, a clinical interview would suit her more efficiently. It is important that Nina should feel that the therapy session is a safe and secure environment where she can talk freely about any concerns especially such deeply personal issues like hallucinations or delusions that come with the territory of those who suffer under borderline personality disorders. This clinical interview should be conducted unstructured in Nina’s case that will strengthen the relationship between the therapist and patient. Remember we want Nina to feel safe and comfortable to freely confine in her therapist of her most personal issues. Another important interview component would be the mental status exam that will try to reveal any signs of symptoms of any psychological problems. An easy observable behavior of Nina would be her low and brief responses to any one she feels inferior to. Nina rarely keeps eye contact to whoever speaks to her directly. She may even reveal delusions, specifically about Lily, another dancer in the film, whom Nina believes is out to steal her role as the Swan Queen. Nina also might share an experience of her night out with Lily where Nina engages in alcohol and drug abuse, as well as promiscuity. All of these observable behaviors may help lead to the overall diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. Once diagnosed Nina will then be able to undergo the behavioral therapy process to identify her issues and resolve them through reinforcements. Behavioral therapy revolves around the idea of changing one’s observable behavior that can be controlled through stimulus or reinforcements. Nina portrays many insecurities and a lack of social skills that can be interpreted due to poor modeling by her mother. Her mother is very controlling and aggressive over Nina, which is shown in one specific scene where Nina’s mother is undressing her adult submissive daughter. Another case is where Nina develops a social avoidance towards others, only to have regular social interactions with her mother. With no subsequent positive reinforcement from other people, other than maybe her mother, Nina has become very suspicious of the intentions of those around her, which might explain why she is often alone and has no friends. A treatment approach for Nina would include the operant conditioning. By identifying the undesired behaviors (i. e. , self-mutilating), we wish to decrease in frequency and use negative reinforcement that will allow Nina to avoid an aversive state that would later decrease the likelihood of that undesired behavior. We would first want to identify the cause to her self-mutilation and attribute a particular behavior to carry on the negative reinforcement. So as Nina’s anxiety begins to escalate and begins to profusely scratch her shoulder, Nina should practice certain breathing exercises that will reduce her stress and possibly even decrease her chance of experiencing a hallucination. Self-monitoring would help to ensure that this conditioning technique is being applied and progressing. More importantly, to successfully treat this disorder it is best to use an approach that was developed for these difficult-to-treat patients with the borderline personality disorder. This therapy is known as the dialectical behavior therapy that places much emphasis on the interaction between patient and therapist. Dialectical behavior therapy uses individual therapy, group skills training, telephone contact, and therapist consultation to add more variety within this unconditional relationship. Within this course of therapy, it is organized into stages of hierarchies of targets in each stage. Stage one focuses on suicidal behavior and therapy-interfering behaviors. Nina would reveal her underlying reason for self-mutilation and delusions that interfere with her daily life. She finds herself having hallucinations of harming herself, like peeling the skin off her finger, that later advances to other behaviors such as excessive scratching on the shoulder. The delusions against Lily, the other ballerina, interfere with her ability to perform the second act of the show because she is on constant alert of what she believes Lily is going to try next to sabotage her lead role. She would need to come to terms with her behavior and find ways to eliminate them from acting out. Next, stage two in the dialectical behavior therapy deals with post-traumatic stress disorders. Here we can attribute the abusive stress Nina has to endure with her mother. Since her mother had to give up her own dreams of becoming a star ballerina due to her pregnancy, she now lives her unfinished dreams through Nina’s career. Nina’s mother keeps Nina in a submissive child-like mentality; minimize her freedom with no lock doors and a child-like room despite the fact that Nina is past twenty years of age. Such trauma makes it difficult for Nina to secure an emotional connection with another person, therefore explains why she is alone most of the time. Others easily victimize Nina, for example Thomas the director, often abuses Nina sexually to arouse her to perform the Black Swan character more vividly for the show. In this stage, Nina should learn new mechanisms of which to deal or completely bypass these situations. The last stage focuses on self-esteem and individual treatment goals. Nina will be able to work on her self-image that can lead her to accept herself for who she really is. Nina seems to have a problem with not being able to naturally satisfy her desires without conflicting with her own moral. In the case where she goes out with Lily for the night, Nina is very intrigued with how promiscuous Lily is with other men. Nina shows signs of sexual deprivation that later, on impulse, Nina engages in drug abuse that later leads to sexual interactions with multiple partners. In this stage of therapy, Nina will be able to build up her self-esteem that is constantly brought down by her mother and production director. Nina is shown submissive to both characters throughout the beginning of the film, until she has a complete psychotic meltdown and begins to act on impulse and hallucinations. As unfortunate as Nina’s death was in the end, it’s not hard to notice there were many chances for which intervention would have been great aid before matters had gotten worse. Although it is common that individuals with borderline personality disorder do not consider themselves ill-willed and seldom seek help, if Nina had, she would have been able to decrease her undesired behaviors and had found more appropriate measures of dealing with her problems.

GLOBAL ECONOMIC Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

GLOBAL ECONOMIC - Assignment Example The other reason for the difference s in GDP per capita is differences in productivity among countries with the level of productivity in a country being depicted by high GDP per capita symbolized by Australia and UK in the chart above. China, Indonesia, and Russia have the same level of labour productivity explaining the similarity in GDP per capita. The other reason that could be the cause for the differences in the GDP per capita is the working hours of the workers in the given countries with the country that has the highest GDP per capita having high working hours compared to the other countries. Australian and UK could have high working hours compared to the working hours in China, Russia, and Indonesia depicting the difference in GDP per capita in the graph. Four reasons can explain the differences between the GDP of the five countries including amount of physical resources, quality and quantity of human resource, the size of the workforce, and the technology level (WORLD BANK, 2013). China could have been increasing the amount of physical capital, promoting highly skilled and trained human resource, increasing workforce size, and advancing technology from 1994 to 2012 as depicted by the rise in GDP over the years. The size of workforce, advancement in technology, training and equipping the human resource, and amount of physical resources seems to have been almost constant in Indonesia, Australia, and Russia due to the slight changes in GDP growth from 1994 to 2012. There are, however slight positive changes in skills, technology, workforce, and physical resources in UK showed by the increase from 1994 to 2007, but these factors may have slightly fallen to result in the down ward trend in the GDP in UK from 2001 to 2012. The possible economic effects for the differences in the GDP growth are three including the quality of governance, which are the mechanisms and institutions that aid in decision-making and authority dispensation in a

CRJ 565 Responses Weeks 1 and 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CRJ 565 Responses Weeks 1 and 2 - Essay Example Arrange media promotions that positive stories on how its clients have accomplished their objectives. The solutions that Mary Chen has been offered can work effectively, if properly implemented, which in turn can help her be in control of everything, hence helping her regain her confidence as a leader. The crisis has made the company to lose its ability to remain competitive. Another issue is that, Mr. Todman, the company manager, is having problems with his attempts to adjust the company’s infrastructure, as is expected of him. He is also expected to focus his attention on specific changes, which might not be favor everyone, but in the long run will keep the company competitive enough. Possible solutions include, closing non-efficient plants which should help in reducing the high expenditures. He has also thought putting Maytag name into the Whirlpool family’s product lines could enable the company to be productive and survive the economic crash. It would be advisable for him to establish a good balance within the organization, by for example, displaying strategic thinking in re-building the company’s infrastructure and maintain focus on the people by educating them on the merged product before launching new ones. The case is about a bank manager developed issues with the company regarding employee, clients and the overall management issues. The main purpose is to provide Mary Chem with noble solution to her problems. The major issue is the employee moral conduct, and dealing with consequences arising from approving loans. This has come as a result of approving loans to individuals who have no sure means to repay their loans, thus resulting to foreclosures. Possible solutions include, reminding the employees of the main purpose for the department and reviewing the account details of client’s potential of foreclosure. Once reviewed, they

Globalization in India Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Globalization in India - Essay Example The raise in migration, pressurise the city vicinity with increase in the density of population. The need to develop more land for living drives us to eliminate the greenery or natural habitat. Many cultivable lands were been taken away by either government or private realtors for the thrust for wealth. Land acquisition in countries like India created lot of uproar as people who depend on the land has to either relocate or they were forced to relocate leaving their age old habitats, the cattle, house etc. Multi national companies like POSCO have planned huge investments in Orissa state of India. The investment has ignited people to raise lot of concerns as it requires lot of relocation and rehabilitation management at the proposed sight. According to Vijayan MJ, the state government and POSCO rolled out a billion dollar investment plan in Orissa state of India. The land required for the project is 4004 acres out of which 3566 acres is government land and the rest 438 acres is private land. In all, as per official data, 471 families would be affected from the three Gram Panchayats. However, as per the local movement against POSCO, more than 4000 families, i.e., a population of 22000 will be affected by the project in the area.

Fundamentals of molecular beam epitaxy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Fundamentals of molecular beam epitaxy - Essay Example Molecular beam epitaxy is a process to produce device grade epitaxial films and mutilayers. This is a very advanced and sophisticated process an have evolved gaining clear edge over competing processes like Liquid Phase Epitaxy, Vapor Phase Epitaxy (VPE) etc. This paper provides basic description of Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) process. Different theoretical concepts of this process and essential ingredients of a MBE system are also briefly discussed. Epitaxial growth refers to the situation in which the depositing layer extends the existing crystalline order of the substrate i.e. growth of the new layer does not cause any crystalline discontinuity on the interface between the substrate and the film. This occurs even during industrial processes like welding and cladding; where the initial mode of solidification is planer mode and the growth layer is essentially epitaxial growth of the existing grains. However, there are many grains on which this growth occurs an also this very soon d egenerates into cellular and cellular dendritic growth and thus disrupting the crystalline order of the substrate. However, it is the planer mode of solidification coupled with solute partitioning between liquid and solid phase which form the basic underlying principle of Liquid Phase Epitaxy (LPE) [1- 3]. Similarly, epitaxial films can be grown by placing a substrate in a chamber filled with vapors of constituent atoms / molecules through a process known as Vapor Phase Epitaxy (VPE) [4 – 6]. ... Many thin film technologies such as LPE, VPE, Sputtering, vacuum deposition etc. were developed for producing high quality epitaxial thin films. However, the films produced by these techniques were structurally different from the substrate and hence not useful for device making. Differential vapor pressure of different constituents atoms / molecules was the main problem associated with VPE. GaAs is one such useful film for device making. IN this case vapor pressures of Ga and As differ by two orders of magnitude at about 600 oC. Therefore, these sources will have to be heated at different temperatures to achieve equal vapor pressure and the temperature will have to be controlled very accurately, which is very difficult. [7]. Attempts were made to use different temperatures for different sources [8] and by exploiting angular distribution of the atomic / molecular fluxes [9] for maintaining desired ratio of atomic fluxes. In 1960s it was not possible to perform online monitoring and ch aracterization of the film growth process and the film itself. Even the characterization of the substrate surface condition and vacuum quality level was also not possible. One had to rely on post deposition characterization of the deposited film for the feedback for the subsequent deposition experiments; which was indeed a very slow, laborious and tiring procedure. Development of small mass spectrometers, auger electron spectroscopy and compact electron diffraction instruments made it possible to characterize the films in-situ while it was getting deposited and Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) was discovered as a result of developing a process for surface characterization [10].In-situ characterization of MBE

Sierra Leone and Child Soldiers during the Civil War Research Paper - 1

Sierra Leone and Child Soldiers during the Civil War - Research Paper Example Lightweight assault weapons increased these children’s lethality while others participated in politically motivated, though unstructured, violence like planting bombs or hurling rocks. While the use of child soldiers is a widespread phenomenon in global conflicts, the case of Sierra Leone was the first case that received widespread media coverage. The issue of child soldiers in Sierra Leone defied gender boundaries with girls joining military drills and activities. Girls made up at least 25% of the rebels in Sierra Leone’s Civil War with typical sexual victimization being rampant as they were forced to service soldiers with sex (Williams 80). This had an especially negative impact on their lives as they were found to be unsuitable for marriage since they were considered impure. Because of desperation, most of them became prostitutes to earn a living. Most child soldiers in Sierra Leone were enlisted through coercion; forced recruitment and mandatory conscription. Whenever the rebels had a shortfall in numbers, they found it convenient to ignore birth dates with no birth records used, except to find out the tribal allegiance of a particular conscript. In fact, even the government turned to the use of child soldiers to counter their use by the rebels. A child who stood as tall as a rifle was considered eligible for consc ription into the army. Village headmen were instructed, by local authorities, to provide a specified number of Sierra Leoneans with children being easier to find and conscript (Williams 81). Some militias in Sierra Leone abducted the children, especially from schools, at gunpoint. Surrounding a school, they would arrest children without explanation and herd them to the forest for training. In other areas, armed militia surrounded public spaces like marketplaces and ordered its occupants to sit before trucking away anyone found â€Å"eligible† for service (Maclure & Myriam 120). Those who were most at risk were teenage boys

APA Research Paper on State Standardized Testing for eng 102 class

APA on State Standardized Testing for eng 102 class - Research Paper Example The response to the questions from all the students is given in a consistent way by all the students. The conditions and the procedures for tackling the questions are also consistent among all the students. In addition, the tests provided are often standardized, that is to say they must be according to the education level and knowledge of the students [Moon, Brighton and Hall 2007]. State standardized testing is common in the schools in the US. However, the practice is accompanied by several problems or challenges. One of the challenges or problems caused by the practice is that it results in frustration and resentment among gifted learners in the educational institutions in the US. In most schools in the US, state standardized testing is a common practice. In schools, there are several students with different abilities. Schools comprise of physically challenged children, mentally challenged children, slow learners, medium learners and lastly the special group of gifted learners. Tho ugh there have been a lot of criticisms of the US, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 has forced the standardized testing in public schools. Standardized tests are often prepared by very talented people who believe that the level of mastery among all students is the same or similar. These people often prepare the test with the aims of testing the knowledge of a student in a certain subject in relation to the knowledge of other students in the same subject. They also test a student’s strength in a certain paper for example mathematics as compared to the student’s strength in a different paper for example science. However, this comparison of the knowledge levels among different students of the same grade level has resulted in frustrations and resentment among the gifted students as earlier mentioned. Gifted students in institutions are students with good memory, high understanding ability and are therefore fast learners. The standardized tests also do not measure to the quality of education that is always expected of the students, [Popham 1999]. In educational institutions where the standardized testing system is practiced, teachers often concentrate so much on the performance of their institutions. Therefore, they tend to concentrate on all students in the classroom. A class consists of students with different abilities. When a teacher concentrates on all the students at ago, this is a great disadvantage to the gifted learners. First, the pace of learning becomes slow as opposed to the expectations of the gifted learners. The slow learning is due to the other physically challenged children, mentally challenged children and the slow learners present in the same class whose pace of understanding is very slow. The learning system also becomes repetitive because the teachers often prefer to re-emphasize on the weak areas of all the learners as shown by their outcomes or results in the standardized tests. The repetitive learning also is a disadvantage to the gifted learners who prefer fresh and new challenging tasks other than the same old content. The slower pace of learning and the repetitive learning is due to the emphasis on the state standardized testing system and this has at a greater level caused frustration and resentment of the gifted learners in the education institutions in the US. "Standardized tests can't measure initiative, creativity, imagination, conceptual thinking, curiosity, effort, irony, judgment, commitment, nuance, good will, ethical reflection, or a host of

Online School vs. Public School Essay Example for Free

Online School vs. Public School Essay Sloan Consortium stated that, â€Å"More than one million students attended classes via the Internet in 2008. Of those million, around 200,000 were enrolled in full-time virtual schools, meaning they attend all of their classes online.† I have been doing Online Schooling for two years but before that I went to public school. Online schooling is a better choice than public schooling because you have more control, there is no drama, and you have more free time. I prefer online homeschooling because I can control my pace. I get to decide when I want to work and I don’t have to study all day, everyday like I normally would. The course schedule is also up to me; courses can be done one at a time or in groups. During my first year at an online school I did five courses at one time. It’s now my second year and I am doing one course at a time, which I definitely prefer. At Public schools, course schedules are picked for me and I would have no control. You also can’t control what is going on in your school environment. One of the best things about online school is that there is never any drama. I really hate gossiping, which is a big problem at public schools. Because I only interact with other kids from my school by way of the internet there is no pettiness between us. Kids my age fight over friends and boyfriends or girlfriends. There’s nothing to fight about when you live as far away from each other as we do. At normal schools though, you see everyone everyday. When your constantly with the same group of people, someone’s feelings are always getting hurt and there is constant arguments. Many of situations involve your â€Å"friends†. If your friends with someone you can’t be friends with anyone they don’t like, which can get very complicated. 3 When doing school online, you have much more free time. If I stay caught up, I’m able to do things after school and on the weekends. When I was in public school, I had far too much homework to do anything. Now I’m able to take a few days off for vacation or because I’m sick and not have to worry about falling far behind. While at public school all of my time was filled by homework, but now I’m able to spend hours after school with my horse or just relaxing. Some of my family has expressed concern about me not  interacting with children my age because I don’t go to public school. Because of online schooling, I’m able to hang out with my friends at our barn. Before I switched I never saw any of my friends outside of school because I never had the time. Online schooling is a much better choice than public schooling. The benefits of online school far outweigh those of public schooling. With Online schooling you have so many more choices, everything is up to you! There are many different schooling choices but online schooling has made my life easier and stress free. I definitely suggest that you look into online schooling as an alternative to public school. It may not be right for everyone, but it might be right for you.

Qualitative Characteristics of Financial Information

Qualitative Characteristics of Financial Information The purpose of financial statements is to give financial statements information about the change in financial position, financial performance and financial position of the organization. These can provide data use in decision making such as investment, credit and economic decision making which are useful for various users. There are seven main groups of users which are public, investors, lenders, employees, customers, supplies, government and other agencies and the needs of information is different for each group, for instance, employee will interest on the profitability, retirement benefits and employment opportunities and so on. Financial statement is supposed to relevant, reliable, understandable and comparable. In addition, financial statement may include other information, for example, the uncertainties and risks that influence the organization. Evaluation of the relevance, reliability, comparability and understandability Relevance is about the information that has the ability to influence the economic decisions of users. There are two main points relate to the relevance which are predictive value and confirmatory value. Predictive value can help users to measure the past, present or future performance. Confirmatory value can help users to confirm their past evaluations. The annual reports include ten-year statistics which have the recent ten-year figures. It includes profit and loss account, balance sheet and passenger services figures and so on. It can help the shareholders to confirm the past evaluations, measure the past performance and compare the relevance information at the same time. The annual reports embody a part of operating network with future extensions. In this part, the report has stated all properties that they are developing, constructing, planning and the properties that owned, developed and managed by them. It can help us to predict the present and future performance and verify the past evaluations. In the annual reports, we can find the CEOs review of operations and outlook. This part is the MTRs CEO taking about the MTR past performance which is good and which is bad, it also mentions the next year development of the MTR. It gives us a clear mind about the MTR what will do during the next year and briefly review the previous year performance. Reliability is about the information that is a complete and true representation. There are five major issues involve in reliability, free from material error, a faithful representation, neutral, prudent and complete. MTR use one of the big 4 accounting company that is KPMG. KPMG is a large international company and has a lot of auditing experience and professional staff. Therefore, shareholder can have a great confidence on the financial statements. On the other hand, the audit report state that the KPMG give a true and fair view that means the MTR reports are properly prepared with accounting standards which means the reports are free from material, faithful representation, prudence and complete. Also, the accounting firm is an independent audit firm which can fulfill the point of neutral. As a shareholder, we can have a great confidence on that reports, because it is accuracy and do not have any creative account. MTR is a public organization and it is managed by government. It has been required a high transparency that disclosure all information to public, such as, company policies, therefore, their information must be faithful, neutral, prudent and complete which are required by law. So, their information has a high reliability. From the view of shareholders, we can trust on it. The MTR have an internal audit team which is responsible for the internal control, project review, fraud investigation, due diligence and management review and so forth. It can help the MTR to give us a report that is reliable, free from material error, faithful, neutral, prudent. As a shareholder, we can have great confidence on the annual reports. Comparability is about the similarities and differences can be discerned and evaluated. There are two key matters include in the comparability which are consistency and disclosure. Inside the annual reports, we can find many figures that can give us to compare. Such as the Ten-Year Statistics, it includes ten years data for us to realize. We can see that the earnings per share are increased steadily each year from $0.81 per share in 2000 to $1.69 per share in 2009. Also, the profit is increased rapidly from $7,758 on 2006 to $15,182 on 2007. In addition, in the CEOs Review of Operations and Outlook part, it compare a lot of data, for example, the Average weekday patronage for the Domestic Service in 2009 was 3.5 million, which represents an increase of 0.9% over 2008 and the total revenue from property rental, property management and other businesses in 2009 was HK$2,928 million, an increase of 8.0% over 2008. Moreover, the financial statements have provided two years figures for us to compare which is 2008 and 2009. For instance, the Loans, other obligations and bank overdrafts is decrease significantly from $31,289 in 2008 to $23,868 in 2009 which decline 23.7%. The dividend per share is increase from 0.48 in 2008 to 0.52 in 2009 which increase 8.3%. From the figure that we have analysis above, we can see that the MTR profit is increase each year and the loan decrease each year, therefore, it is a signal for us continue to keep the share or investment more. Understandability is about the significance of the information can be perceived. There are two important points contain in the understandability, users abilities and aggregation and classification. Inside the annual reports, it contains a glossary part. In the glossary, it explains a particular domain of knowledge that uncommon, specialized or newly introduced. For example, operating margin means operating profit from railway and related businesses before depreciation and amortization as a percentage of the turnover and ordinary shares means ordinary shares of HK$1.00 each in the capital of the company and so forth. As a shareholder, it helps a lot during reading the annual reports, because not every shareholder also has that much professional knowledge. The annual report contains many picture, table and chart. An annual report is very thick, because it contains large information about the MTR performance. From the view of shareholder, if the reports are full text, it is hard for us to read it all, because it has a lot of words to read and understand. When reading the annual reports, it is not hard to find pictures, tables and charts, it can help us more easily to realize the information, especially the tables and charts, it convert the figures into a understandability form so that the readers can catch the main point easily. It also includes a content page and classifies similar data to similar group. When we look at content pages, it not only states the title but also state the number page which makes the shareholders more convenience to find the information what they need. This annual reports have different language version which can take care of different users, although this MTR is a Hong Kong organization, as a shareholders, I may be a foreigner and I can not read any Chinese words. Therefore, different language version is important as well. It is easy to find that the MTR annual reports have been prepared by two versions which are Chinese and English. Which one of the four qualitative characteristics of financial information is the most important? In my opinion, the reliability is the most important qualitative characteristic. If the financial statements are not reliable, the shareholders will not have any confidence on the MTR reports, because they feel that the financial statement information of the MTR is not faithfulness and truthfulness. Hence, they will not have any interest to realize the MTR reports, so that the objective of financial statement is invalid. Even though the annual reports has higher quality of relevance, comparability and understandability, but without reliability which will cause the shareholders and potential investors run away. In the opposite side, if the financial statements have a higher degree of reliability, the shareholders will have more confidence on the annual reports, because higher degree of reliability means the annual repot have meet the requirements of free from material error, a faithful representation, neutral, prudent and complete. When the reports meet those requirements, it attracts the shareholders stay and attracts more investors. When seeing the MTR annual reports, we can know that their reports have a good reliability. The MTR employ an external accounting firm which is KPMG to audit their accounting information, it fulfill the point of neutral. The audit firm also give a true and fair view to the MTR which means their information are faithful, complete, prudent and free form material error. From the above discussion, we can see that reliability is the most important qualitative characteristics in the financial statement. Conclusion During analysis the MTR annual reports, I know that the four qualitative characteristics have a great influence to shareholders. It has a significant impact on the decision making, because it can help them to understand, realize and build up the confidence on the MTR reports. The four qualitative characteristics also affect the shareholders invest or not. In my opinion, the reliability is the most important qualitative characteristic, it represents faithfulness and truthfulness. Shareholder will depend on it to decide whether those accounting information can trust or not, thereby to planning the investment decision. Word Count: 1553 words

Polluter Pays Principle Case Study

Polluter Pays Principle Case Study I. Introduction The Polluter pays principle (PPP) basically means that the producer of goods should be responsible for the cost of preventing any pollution caused as well as remedy any damage so caused. It will include full environmental costs i.e. cost of pollution or any other harm caused to the ecology and not just those which are immediately tangible costs.[1] The polluter pays principle is preventive and compensatory in nature. It may entail fixing criminal responsibility on polluter, to make him make good the harm or pay eco-tax or carbon tax or at least participate in preserving environment in some way. The principle of polluters pay has been interpreted differently in different countries and there seems to be no common definition. For instance, some countries impose retrospective liability on the polluter and different countries have different definitions for who is a polluter and what constitutes pollution[2]; range of costs to be borne by the polluter differs. It should also be noted that the above principle is more of a regional custom than part of international environmental law. The name of this rule is unnecessarily restrictive if taken literally. Pollution (harm associated with emission of wastes into environment) is only one of many forms of environmental degradation to which the rule has been applied. Initially, PPP was interpreted only as government not doing the clean up job for the polluters or the industries, but today the scenario has changed. The most popular interpretation of PPP is that apart from the government even the specific polluters should incur the responsibility for abating their contribution to a particular pollution problem. This is called equitable internalization. As polluters bear all the cost the distortions in international trade and investment arising from differential pollution abatement financing methods could be eliminated through the adoption of the PPP.[3] The polluter pays principle has been used as the beneficiary-pays principle which favours the costs of providing conservation goods (i.e. prevention or repair of environmental degradation) being allocated to those who benefit from those goods. The strict version requires costs be fully distributed among beneficiaries pro-rata to their shares of total benefits (User pays principle) while the weaker version requires that all beneficiaries cover full costs. (Beneficiary compensates principle)[4] This research paper aims as briefly discussing the development of the PPP, its implementation while referring to its ever expanding definitions as well as its advantages and limitation in the Indian and the International scenario. II. The economic aspect The PPP was initially conceived as an economic theory to maximize resource allocation. Pollution in economic terms simply means improper cost allocation.[5] That is, the cost of one resource, i.e., water or air, is not properly reflected in the product price. Initially, people had the common belief that neither air nor water was a scarce resource and so its use was free to all and producers could discharge waste into the air or water without accounting for the use of that resource as part of production costs. They simply passed the cost of using the air or water for waste disposal on to the future users of those resources. This failure to properly allocate costs stimulates over-production leading ultimately to a market failure. Such failure, if not corrected, will result in pollution which needs to be adequately paid for. This is commonly known as the theory of internalization of external costs. Thus, polluter pays strives to internalize environmental externalities, thereby mandating that environmental harms be factored into market price. This informs consumers of the true costs of industrial activity and discourages environmentally harmful behavior. It could also be used to oblige nations to reflect in market terms the environmental externalities of their industrial development. This would diminish the incentive to pursue comparative advantage through a willingness to impose greater externalities on the environment.[6] PPP favours corrective justice and is concerned very less with idea of fault. When reduced to its most basic logic and applied to the interstate level, the polluter pays principle serves a reparative function: one who causes harm must remedy it. This logic is particularly compelling given that these harms impinge upon common concerns of humanity. Furthermore, under this principle it is not the responsibility of government to meet the costs involved in either prevention of environmental damage, or in carrying out remedial action, because the effect of this would be to shift the financial burden of the pollution incident to the taxpayer.[7] III. International Background The recognition of the vice of pollution and its impact on future resources was realised during the early part of 1970. The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, during a panel discussion in 1971, concluded that the total environmental expenditure required for improvement of the environment was overestimated but could be reduced by increased environmental awareness and control. In 1972, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development adopted the polluter pays principle as a method for pollution cost allocation, including for accidental pollution. This principle was also discussed during the 1972 Paris Summit.[8] It was the EU which took the lead in promoting the PPP when in 1974, it made it mandatory that this principle be uniformly applied to all its member states. The current Fourth Action Programme makes it clear that the cost of preventing and eliminating nuisance must in principle be borne by the polluter, and the PPP has now been incorporated into the European Community Treaty as part of the new Articles on the environment which were introduced by the Single European Act of 1986. Article 130(2) of the Treaty states that environmental considerations are to play a part in all the policies of the Community, and that action is to be based on three principles: the need for preventative action; the need for environmental damage to be rectified at source; and that the polluter should pay.[9] PPP is included in Article 174 of the EU Treaty (1997) and since 1990, when the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation was agreed upon by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the PPP has been acknowledged as a general principle of international environmental law. In US, the principle was adopted by the enactment of Comprehensive Environment response Compensation and liability Act, 1980. World Commission on Environment and Development (1986) also legally supported PPP through sustainable development principle 10.[10] Later international documents like the 1992 Rio declaration: principle 16[11], Agenda 21 and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) i.e. Johannesburg Plan of Implementation reiterated the same principle. Some of the salient principles of Sustainable Development, as culled-out from Brundtland Report include PPP. IV. India and the polluter pays principle Policy: National conservation strategy and policy statement on environment and development, 1992 recommends   â€Å"operationalisation of polluter pays principle by introducing effluent tax, resource cess for industry and implementation of standards based on resource consumption and production capacity so that environmental considerations could be integrated while encouraging industrial growth.† National environment policy, 2006 is more specific in recognizing the polluter pays principle in order to achieve economic efficiency in environmental conservation. This Principle requires that the services of environmental resources be given economic value, and such value to count equally with the economic values of other goods and services, in analysis of alternative courses of action. Judiciary: The judiciary in India first recognised the polluter pays principle as a sound principle in Indian Council for Enviro-Legal Action v. Union of India Ors[12](Bichhri Village case) which interpreted PPP to mean that â€Å"absolute liability of harm to the environment extends not only to compensate the victims of pollution, but also to the cost of restoring environmental degradation. This principle forms an important part of sustainable development†[13]. Explaining the principle, the Court held that it is not the role of the government to meet the cost either in the prevention of such damage or in carrying out remedial action, because the effect of this would be shifting the financial burden of the pollution incident to the tax payers and why should the tax payers share this burden? It should be the polluter who should be made responsible for their wrong doings.[14] Thus, according to this principle, the responsibility for repairing the damage is that of the offending industry. Sections 3 and 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 empower the Central Government to give directions and take measures for giving effect to this principle. The social action litigation initiated in August, 1989 relating to production of ‘H acid in chemical industries near Bichhri village. Since the toxic untreated waste waters were allowed to flow out freely and because the untreated toxic sludge was thrown in the open in and around the complex, the toxic substances percolated deep into the earth polluting the underground water. The water in the wells and the streams has become dirty and unfit, and is no longer potable. Even the land has become barren and can no longer be cultivated. Further it was also observed that even trees like eucalyptus planted in contaminated fields show leaf burning and stunted growth. Many old trees which were badly affected due to contamination are still growing under stress conditions as a result of soil contamination. The resulting misery to the villagers needs no emphasis. It spread disease, death and disaster in the village and the surrounding areas. Most of these industries were never even granted a no objection certificate. Keeping this in mind, NEERI report suggestedthat the principle of Polluter Pays should be applied in this case. The cost of damage to be disbursed to the affected villagers is estimated at Rs. 342.8 lakhs. This cost needs to be borne by the management of the industry in keeping with the PPP and the doctrine of Strict/Absolute liability, as applied to Sriram Food and Fertilizers Industry in the case of Oleum leak in 1985. It was finally directed that the Central Government shall determine the amount required for carrying out the remedial measures over the damage caused to ecology of the region. It was kept open for the villagers to institute suits for suitable relief. The court said that no distinction is to be made in this behalf as between a large-scale industry and a small-scale industry or for that matter between a large-scale industry and a medium-scale industry. All chemical industries, whether big or small, should be allowed to be established only after taking into considerations all the environmental aspects, appropriate directions in that behalf may be issued under Section 3 and 5 of the Environment Act, the Central Government shall ensure that the directions given by it are implemented forthwith. The Central Government and the R.P.C.B. shall file quarterly Reports before this Court with respect to the progress in the implementation of Directions. In S. Janannath v Union of India[15], applying the said principle, the Court held the aquaculture (shrimp culture) industry that had been functioning within the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) Notification as liable to pay the affected persons on the basis of the polluter pays principle. In Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum v Union of India[16], a three judge bench went a step further and regarded both the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle as part of environmental law.[17] Kuldip Singh, J. after referring to the principles evolved in various international Conferences and to the concept of Sustainable Development, stated that the PPP now governs the law in our country too, as is clear from Articles 47, 48-A and 51-A(g) of our Constitution and that, in fact, in the various environmental statutes, such as the Water Act, 1974 and other statutes, including the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, these concepts are already implied. The learned Judge declared that these pri nciples have now become part of our law. In fact on the facts of the case before this Court, it was directed that the authority to be appointed under Section 3(3) of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 shall implement the PPP.[18] Next, reference may also be made to the decision in the case of A.P. Pollution Control Board v. Prof. M.V. Nayudu (Retd.) and Ors[19]and Karnataka[20] where, after referring to the principles noticed in Vellore Citizens Welfare Forums Case, the same have been explained in more detail with a view to enable the Courts and the Tribunals or environmental authorities to properly apply the said principles in the matters which come before them. It was in this case that the onus of proof was fixed to be on the polluter. In MC Mehta v. Union of India[21] it was held that even if PPP is not interpreted as a principle of environment law in India as stated in Vellore case, it still remains a principle of international law which has acquired the status of customary international law. It is a well-settled law under the Indian Constitution that rules of customary international law not contrary to municipal law be deemed to be incorporated into the domestic law. And, therefore, once declared as customary international law, precautionary principle naturally became part of Indian municipal law. Relying on the above judgment, in M.C.Mehta v. UOI[22], the SC ordered the Calcutta Tanneries to relocate and pay compensation for the loss of ecology/environment of the affected areas and the suffering of the residents. Similarly, in the Kamalnaths case[23], the court by considering the PPP as the law of the land, ordered that one who pollutes the environment must pay to reverse the damage caused by his acts. Thus, Span Motels who were illegally and callously interfering with the natural flow of Beas were directed to pay compensation by way of costs for restitution of environment and ecology of the area. In the matter of enforcement of Fundamental Rights under Article 21, under Public Law domain, the Court, in exercise of its powers under Article 32 of the Constitution, has awarded damages against those who have been responsible for disturbing the ecological balance either by running the industries or any other activity which has the effect of causing pollution in the environment. The Court while awarding damages also enforces the PPP which is widely accepted as a means of paying for the cost of pollution and control. To put in other words, the wrongdoer, the polluter, is under an obligation to make good the damage caused to the environment.[24]Again in MC Mehta v. UOI[25] a question arose as to the fate of mining activities in the Aravalli range in Gurgaon and if any, payments have to be made by the mine operators and/or by State Government towards environmental fund applying PPP. Also, in Research foundation case[26], PPP was applied to the case where a high power committee on hazardous wastes noticed 133 containers being illegally imported under the garb of lubricating oil. Recommendation of Monitoring Committee that only appropriate course to protect environment was to direct destruction of consignments by incineration was followed and the Importers held liable to pay amounts to be spent for destroying hazardous waste on basis of precautionary principle and PPP. The decision in Deepak Nitrite Ltd. v. State of Gujarat and others[27] laid down a proposition that in absence of actual degradation of environment by the offending activities, the payment for repair on application of the PPP cannot be ordered. In this case a Public Interest litigation was filed   before High Court alleging large scale pollution caused by industries located in Gujarat Industrial Development industrial corporation estate at Nandesari. In Tirupur Dyeing[28] case, public interest litigation was filed against the discharge of effluents into river. A large number of farmers have suffered because of the pollution caused by them. They could not cultivate any crop in the said land. The Pollution Control Board is directed to ensure that no pollution is caused, giving strict adherence, to the statutory provisions. polluter-pays are the integral part and parcel of national environmental law. The appellant is bound to compensate the persons who have suffered the loss because of the activity of its members, as water of the river is neither worth for irrigation purpose nor potable. It was also reiterated that principles of polluters-pay and precautionary principle have to be read with the doctrine of sustainable development. V. Conclusions Even with all its success in Indian scenario, the polluter pays principle is not a cure for all of the worlds environmental problems. It has a potential only for problems that stem from identifiable polluters who have sufficient economic resources to pay their way and even under the broadest definitions of pollution, the PPP cannot assist with serious environmental issues such as declining biological diversity or destruction of ecologically critical habitats. Other problems, though pollution related, are the aggregated consequence of the disparate actions of millions of individuals who are just trying to maintain a subsistence livelihood in overcrowded cities or desertified rural areas. The PPP would be inappropriate in such situations; these impoverished polluters are in no position to pay for their contribution to the worlds environmental burden. Most developing countries are yet to completely subscribe to the polluter pays principle as a major environmental policy guideline due to difficulty in implementing the same and due to its vague nature. The poor households, informal sector firms, and subsistence farmers cannot bear any additional charges for waste disposal while the small and medium-size firms from the formal sector, which mainly serve the home market, find it difficult to pass on higher costs to the domestic end-users of their products. Also, the exporters in developing countries usually cannot shift the burden of cost internalisation to foreign customers due to elastic demand. Lastly, many environmental problems in developing countries are caused by an overexploitation of common pool resources. Yet the Indian Judiciary and the recent national environment policy have enthusiastically applied the policy successfully on case to case basis. Its development into a well rounded principle can   only be judged with time but its present usefulness is very apparent. Bibliography Ashford Nicholas A. and Charles C. Caldert, Environmental law, policy and economics: Reclaiming the environmental agenda, MIT press, London, 2008 Candice Stevens, Interpreting the Polluter Pays Principle in the Trade and Environment Context 27 Cornell Intl L. J. 577 (1994) Cardwell Michael, The polluter pays principle in European Community law and its impact on United Kingdom farmers Okla. L. Rev. 89 Choudhary Himanshu, A short note on the Polluter Pays Principle available at http://www.indlaw.com/display.aspx?2601 last visited on 27 January 2010 Dam Shubhankar and Vivek Tewary, Polluting environment, polluting constitution worse than a polluted environment? 17 J.Envtl. L. 383 Divan Shyam, Demin Rsencraz, Environment law and policy in India, second ed., Oxford University press, London, 2002 De Lucia, Vito, Polluter pays principle at http://www.eoearth.org/article/Polluter_pays_principle last visited on 9 February 2010 Drumbl Mark A., Poverty, wealth and obligation in international environment law 76 Tut.L.Rev.843 Dube Indrajit, Environment Jurisprudence: polluter liability, Lexis-Nexis Butterworths, Delhi, 2007 Fitzmaniaca Malgosia, Contemporary issues in International environment law, Edward elgar publishing inc, USA, 2009 Havenga Peter, A Few Steps Closer Towards Establishing the Polluter Pays Principle (1997) 9 SA Merc LJ Interpretation of Polluter Pays Principle (PPP) In India available at http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l54-Interpretation-of-Polluter-Pays-Principle.html last visited on 27 January 2010 Nash Jonathan R., Too Much Market? Conflict between Tradable Pollution Allowances and the Polluter Pays Principle, 24 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. 465, 466 (2000) Sands Philip, Principles of International law: Frameworks, standards and implementation: Volume-1, CSERGE, New York, 1995 Sanford E. Gaines, Polluter-Pays Principle: From Economic Equity to Environmental Ethos, 26 Tex. Intl L. J. 463 (1991) Senagar Dharmendra, Environment law, Prentice Hall of India ltd, New Delhi, 2007 Shiraz Rustomjee, Global environmental law and India, 36 Intl J.Legal Info.342 Sohn, The Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment, 14 HARV. INTL L.J. 423(1973) Stuart Bell and Donald Mcgillivray, Environmental law, seventh ed., Oxford University Press, London, 2008 Ursula Kettlewell, The answer to global pollution? A critical examination of problems and potential of polluter-pays principle, 3 Colo. J. Intl Envtl. L. Poly 429 (1992) [1] Research Foundation for Science and Technology and Natural Resources Policy v. UOI and Another (2005)13SCC186 [2] According to Pearce, a polluter is a party emitting damaging wastes to the environment. This has often being broadened to any party who degrades the natural environment. Bromley argues, however, that emissions only constitute pollution when a victim is within the realm of emission. In some circumstances the victim may be seen as causing pollution by oming to nuisance and should therefore, by Bromleys reasoning be regarded as the polluter. [3] (Bell and Mcgillivray, 344) [4] (Havenga, 19) [5] (Kettlewell, 429) [6] ( Nash, 455) [7] (Dam and Tewary, 383) [8] ( Cardwell, 94) [9] M.C.Mehta v. Kamalnath (2000)6SCC213 [10] States shall prevent or abate any trans-boundary environmental interference which could cause or causes significant harm. [11] Principle 16 of the Rio Declaration provides that national authorities should endeavour to promote the internalization of environmental costs and the use of economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution, with due regard to the public interest and without distorting international rade and investment. [12] (1996) 3 SCC 212 [13] N.D Jayal v. Union of India 2004(9)SCC362 [14] M.C.Mehta v. Union of India (Taj Trapezium Case) 1996(8)SCC 462 [15] (1997) 2 SCC 87 [16] (1996) 5 SCC 647 [17] The same was reiterated in Narmada Bachao Andolan v. Union of India 2000(10)SCC664 [18] This obiter was later applied in the case of A.P. Pollution Control Board v. Prof. M.V. Nayadu (Retd.) Others AIR1999SC812 [19] [(1996) 5 SCC 718] [20] (2006)6SCC371 [21] 1997(3)SCC715 [22] 1997(2)SCC411 [23]M.C.Mehta v. Kamal Nath and Ors (1997) 1 SCC 388 [24] M.C Mehta v. Kamalnath (2000)6SCC213 [25] (2004)12SCC118 [26] Supra to 1 [27] (2004)6SCC402 [28] (2009)9SCC737

The Continental Congress :: History

The Continental Congress The Continental Congress met in one of the most conservative of the seaport towns from which the revolutionary movement stemmed. Philadelphia patriots complained that there was more Toryism in Pennsylvania than in all the colonies combined; certainly the Quakers who dominated the province were more concerned in putting down radicalism at home than resisting tyranny from abroad. The character of the delegates who assembled in Philadelphia in September 1774 was likewise a good augury to the conservatives. The Continental Congress was composed of "the ablest and wealthiest men in America"; Chatham pronounced it to be "the most honourable Assembly of Statesmen since those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, in the most virtuous Times". John Adams calculated that they were "one third Tories, another Whigs, and the rest mongrels"; and he found "Trimmers & Timeservers" upon every side. Fifth columnism was at work, as the patriots soon learned; despite the best efforts of Congress to preserve secrecy, the British government was informed of all its proceedings (Stephen Sayre to Samuel Adams). The work of the Continental Congress soon demonstrated that the American aristocracy was divided against itself and that this division worked in favor of the triumph of radicalism. In May 1775, Congress resolved that "these colonies be immediately put into a state of defense"; the Massachusetts militia was taken over by Congress; an army of twenty thousand men was ordered to be raised; and George Washington was appointed to command. Congress directed that paper money be printed and in July 1775 Benjamin Franklin drew up "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union," which, although too bold to be entered upon the journals of Congress, were openly discussed by the members. The liberties enjoyed by the colonists prior to 1763, which before Lexington seemed fully ample for American prosperity and happiness, now appeared to many Americans little better than slavery. "Good God," exclaimed a Virginian, "were we not abject slaves (in 1763)? We wanted but the name. . . . It was not till 1763 that we were openly insulted, and treated as slaves" (Virginia Gazette, Purdie) By returning to 1763 fundamental grievances would be untouched: American trade and manufactures would be cramped by British restrictions; colonial laws would have to be approved by the British government; and Americans would "always be peeled and pillaged" for the benefit of English pensioners and courtiers. Moreover, the sacrifices already made for American liberty would have been in vain if such a poor palliative were accepted as the terms of peace (Principles and Acts of the Revolution).

Self-Absorption in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms Essay -- Hemingway F

Self-Absorption in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms Catherine Barkley and Frederick Henry, the main characters in Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms are two of the most self-absorbed characters I have ever come across. Frederick Henry thinks only of what he wants while Catherine worries only about what Frederick thinks and wants. They are constantly thinking only about themselves, which is why I believe that it was a good thing that the baby was not born alive. They are too absorbed in themselves to think of anyone else. Shortly after meeting Catherine, Frederick attempts to get her into bed. By complimenting her hair, admitting that she had every right to slap him, and holding her hand, he uses these words and actions to get a kiss, the first step towards his goal. He does not stop to think that she might still be grieving for her lost boy and so he should take it slowly. Instead, he plunges right into trying to get her into bed without thinking about how she might feel. When he is hurt and in the hospital, he demands that the nurses pay attention to him although they are not ready for an injured soldier. He gets upset because they do not want to do anything without the doctor’s permission. They were trying to do their job and he just made it more difficult for them. He also did not notice that Catherine was getting tired from working so much. All he saw was that they got to spend time together and so did not think that she might be wearing herself down. It was only with a lot of convincing t hat he finally saw that she needed some time off. Catherine did not even realize herself that she was getting worn down because of how absorbed she was in Frederick. She put his needs and desires before her own and believed that if sh... ...ch other very much, but they did not want to include anyone else in that love. Catherine was more concerned with being a good wife than being a good mother. Frederick just did not seem to think of anything that was not Catherine or himself. They did not think much about the child before it was born and said things like "She won’t come between us, will she? The little brat." "No. We won’t let her." (304). They were too wrapped up in themselves to worry or care about anyone else. If the child had been born alive, it probably would have been neglected or not treated as well as it should be. "Aren’t you proud of your son?" "No, he nearly killed his mother." (325). The hostility that Frederick shows is evident of how the child would have been treated if it had actually lived. Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest. "A Farewell to Arms" Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1929.

Is Latin America a More Democratic Place Today Than It Was in 1945

Is Latin America a more democratic place today than it was in 1945? Given the word and time restrictions, an in depth analysis of each Latin American country’s democratic progression across the time period would simply not be feasible. Instead I will attempt to look at Latin America’s progression as a whole and will provide examples of specific countries situations where relevant, in particular Venezuela. Firstly it is important to distinguish between two ideas. One is democracy. For democracy to work, there must be free and fair elections.There must be more than one political party. The people of the country should have a good education so that they can make informed choices. They should share a common culture. All must accept the idea that everyone has equal rights. Finally, there must be rule by law, not by power. In other words there must be a separation of power, which means that the judiciary has to be a completely different body from the governing power of the co untry. Many nations in Latin America have had dif? culty achieving democracy because all these factors are not present.The second idea is that of democratic culture. This involves the existence of constitutions, respect for rights, transparency when it comes to policies and governmental decisions and crucially, no corruption. Latin America, when viewed as a whole, is generally viewed as a more democratic place now than in 1945 but it would be wrong to assert that during the past 68 years Latin American countries have undergone a steady increase in democracy. Brazil is a prime example of a country that has gone through fluctuations in democracy throughout the period.Currently in Latin America, despite being in a state of relative poverty when compared to the rest of the world, the majority of countries have become, at least formally, electoral democracies. 13 countries are now classed as free, 8 as partially free, with only Cuba and Haiti being deemed as not. Venezuela, following the recent passing of Hugo Chavez, is at a crossroads on its journey to democracy. However many question how democratic a ruler Chavez actually was in his time as president. One of two very important relationships to analyse is that of democracy and the level of development in a country or in this case Latin America.This leads on to what is one of the most stable relationships in social sciences, the positive correlation between high levels of wealth and established democracy (Lipset 1959). To back this statistic up, a democratic regime has never fallen after a country has reached a certain level of income per capita, which is said to be $6055 (Przeworski 2000). In 1945 Latin America was still recovering from the economic shockwaves caused by the great depression of 1930. This global economic crisis meant that the rest of the world was not demanding any imports from Latin America.At the time these would have been mainly raw materials and this lack of export revenue for the South Americ an countries had a detrimental effect on their situations in the majority of cases. During the decade or so after the great depression, around 1945, the effects will have trickled down and income per capita and GDP levels will have been significantly reduced. This will in turn have destabilised democracy attempts and can be viewed as a reason for why Latin America was less democratic then than it is now. Without the economic and financial means it is very difficult to achieve a fully functioning democracy.Of course it is worth pointing out that we are nearing the end of a fairly gruelling global economic downturn today but the consequences for Latin America are far less in this instance. The economic growth in Latin America has been very modest throughout the 68 years in question but more importantly it has been volatile. Periods of prosperity in several countries have been followed by long periods of stagnation and even negative growth. This volatility can be seen in Latin American countries progression since independence in terms of democracy as well.Take Brazil as an example. The country became independent in 1822 and was ruled by a monarchy. In 1930 this monarchy was overthrown and the country was under a dictatorship for a couple of decades. In 1956 an elected leader was installed only to be replaced by military rule 10 years later. Finally in the 1980’s, as a result of yet another economic decline, Brazil was yet again ruled by an elected president. The other significant relationship that needs to be looked at is that of democracy and corruption.Corruption is usually defined as a violation of the norms of public office for personal gain (Nye 1967). It has been suggested that corruption permeates everyday life in Latin America with only very high profile cases ever being unveiled in a court of law and even then this only happens in the more democratic countries (Blake and Morris 2009). Here are a few statistics to back this assertion up. In a 2004 survey 42 % of respondents ranked the probability of paying a bribe to the police as high, while 35% expressed the same ease of bribing a judge (Blake and Morris 2009).In a 2005 survey, 43% of respondents in Paraguay and 31% in Mexico admitted to having paid a bribe just within the past twelve months (Blake and Morris 2009). Democracy has a complex and multifaceted relationship to corruption (Doig and Theobald 2000). It provides alternative avenues to obtain and then use power and wealth. This leads to brand new opportunities for corruption. However despite the fact that democracy makes it easier for corruption to exist, when there is a democracy it becomes of even greater importance to supress corruption as it strikes at the very meaning of democracy itself.To sum this idea up, corruption undermines the essence of citizenship, distorting and crippling democracy (Blake and Morris 2009). It is clear from the statistics in the previous paragraph that corruption continues in today†™s Latin America to have a tight grip over many if not all of its countries. Therefore it is very difficult to say that democracy has come on in leaps and bounds since 1945 when as crucial a factor as corruption is still such a plague to the region. Another factor when looking at democracy in the continent is the level of education.People must be aware of the fact that there is more than one option in a democracy. It is also crucial that the population of a country understands the concept of propaganda. A democracy can only work in a country with a certain level of education otherwise it can easily be classed as brainwashing, especially with the level of influence that the media can have over an ill-educated population. An example of what a lack of education can do in a democracy is that during the elections in which Chavez was voted in, he very nearly missed out on the appointment because his main rival was a former Miss Venezuela.The implication of this is that a worrying amount of the Venezuelan public didn’t vote for Chavez because there was a far better looking female alternative. Of course this could just be cynicism and she may well have had a very impressive manifesto and realistic yet progressive goals. During Chavez’ time in power though, he managed to substantially increase literacy along with reducing poverty by over half. Chavez had many positive effects on Venezuela, not least providing them with 14 years of stable rule. However his recent death has thrown the country off its feet and they are at risk of descending into political turmoil.Further examples of why Latin America was less democratic in 1945 include the fact that leading South American countries such as Columbia and Argentina had still not given women the right to vote. Universal suffrage is something that can be found in certain definitions of democracy for example Dahl’s and was definitely holding those countries back at that stage in their bid for democracy (D ahl 1971). To conclude, it is safe to say that Latin American countries are in a better overall place than in 1945 but that corruption in particular is holding them back.A country needs to be not only ready for democracy but also willing to accept it. It can definitely be argued that not all Latin American countries are ready for democracy but one final point may indicate that they are nearing acceptance of it. This is that something the Latin Americans care greatly about is their national identity, an idea that is very closely linked to democracy. Therefore with the rapid increase in globalisation endangering this coveted national identity, South American countries are rapidly warming to the idea of being democratic. Bibliography: Charles H. Blake & Stephen D. Morris (1999), Corruption and Democracy in Latin America, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. * R. A. Dahl (1971), Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition, published by Yale University Press. * Alan Doig and Robi n Theobald (2000), Corruption and Democratization. * S. M. Lipset (1959), Some Social Requisites of Democracy, Economic Development and Political Illegitimacy. * A. Przeworski (2000), Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-being in the World 1950-1990, Cambridge University Press. Is Latin America a More Democratic Place Today Than It Was in 1945 Is Latin America a more democratic place today than it was in 1945? Given the word and time restrictions, an in depth analysis of each Latin American country’s democratic progression across the time period would simply not be feasible. Instead I will attempt to look at Latin America’s progression as a whole and will provide examples of specific countries situations where relevant, in particular Venezuela. Firstly it is important to distinguish between two ideas. One is democracy. For democracy to work, there must be free and fair elections.There must be more than one political party. The people of the country should have a good education so that they can make informed choices. They should share a common culture. All must accept the idea that everyone has equal rights. Finally, there must be rule by law, not by power. In other words there must be a separation of power, which means that the judiciary has to be a completely different body from the governing power of the co untry. Many nations in Latin America have had dif? culty achieving democracy because all these factors are not present.The second idea is that of democratic culture. This involves the existence of constitutions, respect for rights, transparency when it comes to policies and governmental decisions and crucially, no corruption. Latin America, when viewed as a whole, is generally viewed as a more democratic place now than in 1945 but it would be wrong to assert that during the past 68 years Latin American countries have undergone a steady increase in democracy. Brazil is a prime example of a country that has gone through fluctuations in democracy throughout the period.Currently in Latin America, despite being in a state of relative poverty when compared to the rest of the world, the majority of countries have become, at least formally, electoral democracies. 13 countries are now classed as free, 8 as partially free, with only Cuba and Haiti being deemed as not. Venezuela, following the recent passing of Hugo Chavez, is at a crossroads on its journey to democracy. However many question how democratic a ruler Chavez actually was in his time as president. One of two very important relationships to analyse is that of democracy and the level of development in a country or in this case Latin America.This leads on to what is one of the most stable relationships in social sciences, the positive correlation between high levels of wealth and established democracy (Lipset 1959). To back this statistic up, a democratic regime has never fallen after a country has reached a certain level of income per capita, which is said to be $6055 (Przeworski 2000). In 1945 Latin America was still recovering from the economic shockwaves caused by the great depression of 1930. This global economic crisis meant that the rest of the world was not demanding any imports from Latin America.At the time these would have been mainly raw materials and this lack of export revenue for the South Americ an countries had a detrimental effect on their situations in the majority of cases. During the decade or so after the great depression, around 1945, the effects will have trickled down and income per capita and GDP levels will have been significantly reduced. This will in turn have destabilised democracy attempts and can be viewed as a reason for why Latin America was less democratic then than it is now. Without the economic and financial means it is very difficult to achieve a fully functioning democracy.Of course it is worth pointing out that we are nearing the end of a fairly gruelling global economic downturn today but the consequences for Latin America are far less in this instance. The economic growth in Latin America has been very modest throughout the 68 years in question but more importantly it has been volatile. Periods of prosperity in several countries have been followed by long periods of stagnation and even negative growth. This volatility can be seen in Latin American countries progression since independence in terms of democracy as well.Take Brazil as an example. The country became independent in 1822 and was ruled by a monarchy. In 1930 this monarchy was overthrown and the country was under a dictatorship for a couple of decades. In 1956 an elected leader was installed only to be replaced by military rule 10 years later. Finally in the 1980’s, as a result of yet another economic decline, Brazil was yet again ruled by an elected president. The other significant relationship that needs to be looked at is that of democracy and corruption.Corruption is usually defined as a violation of the norms of public office for personal gain (Nye 1967). It has been suggested that corruption permeates everyday life in Latin America with only very high profile cases ever being unveiled in a court of law and even then this only happens in the more democratic countries (Blake and Morris 2009). Here are a few statistics to back this assertion up. In a 2004 survey 42 % of respondents ranked the probability of paying a bribe to the police as high, while 35% expressed the same ease of bribing a judge (Blake and Morris 2009).In a 2005 survey, 43% of respondents in Paraguay and 31% in Mexico admitted to having paid a bribe just within the past twelve months (Blake and Morris 2009). Democracy has a complex and multifaceted relationship to corruption (Doig and Theobald 2000). It provides alternative avenues to obtain and then use power and wealth. This leads to brand new opportunities for corruption. However despite the fact that democracy makes it easier for corruption to exist, when there is a democracy it becomes of even greater importance to supress corruption as it strikes at the very meaning of democracy itself.To sum this idea up, corruption undermines the essence of citizenship, distorting and crippling democracy (Blake and Morris 2009). It is clear from the statistics in the previous paragraph that corruption continues in today†™s Latin America to have a tight grip over many if not all of its countries. Therefore it is very difficult to say that democracy has come on in leaps and bounds since 1945 when as crucial a factor as corruption is still such a plague to the region. Another factor when looking at democracy in the continent is the level of education.People must be aware of the fact that there is more than one option in a democracy. It is also crucial that the population of a country understands the concept of propaganda. A democracy can only work in a country with a certain level of education otherwise it can easily be classed as brainwashing, especially with the level of influence that the media can have over an ill-educated population. An example of what a lack of education can do in a democracy is that during the elections in which Chavez was voted in, he very nearly missed out on the appointment because his main rival was a former Miss Venezuela.The implication of this is that a worrying amount of the Venezuelan public didn’t vote for Chavez because there was a far better looking female alternative. Of course this could just be cynicism and she may well have had a very impressive manifesto and realistic yet progressive goals. During Chavez’ time in power though, he managed to substantially increase literacy along with reducing poverty by over half. Chavez had many positive effects on Venezuela, not least providing them with 14 years of stable rule. However his recent death has thrown the country off its feet and they are at risk of descending into political turmoil.Further examples of why Latin America was less democratic in 1945 include the fact that leading South American countries such as Columbia and Argentina had still not given women the right to vote. Universal suffrage is something that can be found in certain definitions of democracy for example Dahl’s and was definitely holding those countries back at that stage in their bid for democracy (D ahl 1971). To conclude, it is safe to say that Latin American countries are in a better overall place than in 1945 but that corruption in particular is holding them back.A country needs to be not only ready for democracy but also willing to accept it. It can definitely be argued that not all Latin American countries are ready for democracy but one final point may indicate that they are nearing acceptance of it. This is that something the Latin Americans care greatly about is their national identity, an idea that is very closely linked to democracy. Therefore with the rapid increase in globalisation endangering this coveted national identity, South American countries are rapidly warming to the idea of being democratic. Bibliography: Charles H. Blake & Stephen D. Morris (1999), Corruption and Democracy in Latin America, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. * R. A. Dahl (1971), Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition, published by Yale University Press. * Alan Doig and Robi n Theobald (2000), Corruption and Democratization. * S. M. Lipset (1959), Some Social Requisites of Democracy, Economic Development and Political Illegitimacy. * A. Przeworski (2000), Democracy and Development: Political Institutions and Well-being in the World 1950-1990, Cambridge University Press.

Primary and Secondary Reflection Examples

1. This lecture is started by Marcel after discussing about truth as a value, the setting of any kind of thought but there is this distinctive character of philosophical thought that is reflection. It is about not just the meaning of something at first glance but by probing more deeply to the meaning of things and experiences that we encounter. 2. Marcel is going to illustrate how reflection is rooted in daily life by giving examples that show the importance of probing more deeply into thought. 3. Reflection happens due to an occurrence of a phenomenon that is a break from the daily normal life. If the phenomenon involves something that is valuable to me then, the reflection becomes a personal act where no one can reflect for oneself but oneself. If the watch was not valuable to me in the first place no reflection would have occurred for it would just have been something that occurred and not something that one would call as an experience. 4. The lie that I made in the example was the occurrence that was a break from the normal everyday life. I considered myself as trustworthy and honest therefore telling the lie was indeed a phenomenon for me. The same things can be said for this situation just like in the previous one. The phenomenon has led me to reflect for myself and probe deeply to the lie that I made. I reach such questions as who I really am for I was already not the man who I thought he was. 5. This example is about being disappointed to someone for something that they did and then, remembering a memory where I have done a similar thing. Being disappointed to someone was the break from normal everyday life because disappointments only happen when your expectations do not meet with the reality. This has led to the question of who I really am because I am disappointed at someone who was exactly just like me before. I am not the man who I really thought I was anymore. This conclusion comes from the reflection for oneself where one explores deeply into the meaning of one phenomenon. The reflection can leave me in anguish but I am liberated. 6. In the last example, realizations come to me from the things I have explored to more deeply. I am already a better communicator to myself and to my friend for I have destroyed the barrier that once stood there to block our communication. This is the liberating part of reflection. Where I was once anguished by the thoughts that I had because of what I reflected yet it brought something liberating to my life. 7. The third example as I stated was about communication. This clearly shows the importance of the notion of intercourse. This shows that I need others and that other people need me. I need people who need me to make me assure myself of my awareness that I am aware of myself. 8. Life is one with reflection yet there seems to be and objection that differentiates life with reflection. Life is hot while reflection is cold. Life is like a fire burning with voices and experiences waiting to happen. Bursts of energy come for never-ending sources of emotions of joy and sadness. Reflection tends to make this thought as something that one would only analyze and not experience. Just like a car broken into pieces and analyzed. 9. The reflection in the intoxicated young man comes to him when realizes things that are important to him like his future. This is the something that is valuable to him that makes him reflect upon his actions. The rash things he said due to his intoxication was the phenomenon that made him reflect. His life was the thing that was at stake so then he had to reflect upon the things that he did and explore more deeply the consequences one action of his might do to his life. The other examples like the prisoner and the mother make me ask myself questions like â€Å"What am I really living for? † â€Å"Who am I living for? â€Å"What things do I live by? † These are questions whose answers make a great impact upon my life for these are the things that fuel my everyday life. I have to know what I live for and know for sure that is something that is valuable to me. It has to be something worth living and dying for so I can say to myself that I have lived my life to the fulle st every day. 10. Reflection should be one with my life. It is not the bad guy in the movie anymore but the one that saves the day. Reflection makes us probe deeply into things and liberate us from our narrow thinking. But if we use reflection to reduce life to animalism, then this makes reflection the antagonist and as something that is an unintelligible concept. 11. Experience and reflection are analogous. One goes with the other. Experience is not just a passive memory but an active participation of the other. We can say therefore that one is more reflective if one has more experience and vice versa. But there are two levels of reflection that we need to differentiate. The first is primary reflection. Our immediate consciousness of what happens in our experience is our primary reflection. We must further break this down in order to come up with a deeper understanding. From this point, we reconstruct the experience while integrating what we have discovered from it, thus a transcendence of knowledge through reflection on experience. This is our secondary reflection or a reflection upon our reflection. Through this process, we become aware of our awareness. We experience exclamatory awareness. This is when we feel truly alive. 12. The question who am I still hangs and yet remains to be the most important one we must answer. Through primary and secondary reflection we might be able this question finally. 13. Because of the secondary reflection I am able to realize that I am like this person wearing someone else’s clothes. I have this feeling that I am not who I am now and who I was before. These realizations of mine makes me uneasy because I cannot myself of the question â€Å"Who really am I? † 14. The civil servant asking the question are you Mr. so and so may think that I am insane if I answer â€Å"Certainly not† but this is how I feel. I think that I am not the man who I was anymore. I am not the person I have written myself to be. My name already sounds different to me because of the realizations it brings to me. Who really am I? 15. The uneasy feeling that I am not who I am anymore leads me to the question again of who I really am. 16. I have realized that am a not a definite somebody. I am just this non-somebody linked in a profoundly obscure fashion, with a somebody about who I am being questioned about and about whom I am certainly not free to answer just what I like at the moment because I am not the person that the civil servant is describing anymore. 17. The uneasy feeling leads us to realizations that I am not a definite somebody. We have to explore deeply and probe deeply to this problem and hopefully answer this question. 18. I have to recognize the fact that I am not a definite somebody and therefore accept the facts that there is another sense in which I am somebody and that other somebodies also exist. 19. Marcel criticizes the relationship that I have with myself because of the paradox of how I appear to myself – as a definite somebody and not a somebody. I could be anybody who I think I could be. A master, a friend, a teacher, a servant. This paradox is in relation to myself as a subject. It is in relation of myself as these definite characteristics are contingent. 20. The questions come whether we can consider this not being a definite somebody exists. Exists in a way that I have something to define myself, something I live for and something I live by. Definitely the answer to this question is negative. But this does not mean that I am imaginary, for it does not mean that what is not actual is imaginary. 21. Now I come to ask myself. Does anything really exist? Do I know of anything to prove that I myself exist? These questions ask for a centrally significant existence without which I cannot possibly judge anything else to exist. We should however expound and probe more into this statement of existential indubitablity otherwise we might have a collision with total or modified skepticism. 22. Total skepticism doubts the existence of anything. In the phenomenological level, total skepticism is meaningless. Our day to day experiences prove to us what exists and what does not. Experiences that we reflect upon further makes us aware of the existence of other people and objects. There is a clear distinction of what really exists or not through reflection. 23. Relative skepticism on the other hand makes me ask myself if I do really exist since I am the one questioning about existence of other things I should be able to answer my own existence. The separation of I and exist in the question â€Å"Do I really exist? † proves that the â€Å"I† is never a â€Å"that† and also that existence is not a predicate. 24. The â€Å"I exist† is an indubitable touchstone of experience therefore it cannot be separated. Marcel points out that â€Å"I exist† lies in another level. It is not something that one can infer so quickly for â€Å"I exist† lies in the banks of every possible current of inference. Therefore the substitution made by modern philosophers could be criticized since â€Å"Sentio, ergo sum† still hides a Cogito because of the ‘ergo’. 25. To say that you exist cannot be separated from the fact that you are existing, that is, others are aware of your existence as well, to truly exist is to manifest. With it, doubting oneself cannot be avoided and by doing so we become more aware of ourselves as likened that a child’s expressions. 26. To exist and the awareness of existence cannot be separated because that is the character of the self that cannot be doubted. It is inherent to the self that he exists for himself and for others and that cannot be apart from the datum that is my body. 27. The author talks about applying primary and secondary reflection on â€Å"my body†. Primary and secondary reflection means to look at my body the same way as all other bodies, subject to destruction and non privileged. It is detaching this body from the thought that is mine. 28. Secondary reflection is reuniting the ideas se apart by primary reflection and that is to unite the body back with the center. 29. There is difficulty in proceeding to secondary reflection without contradicting what was proposed in the primary reflection that both body and soul are distinct. 30. It is a matter of perspective that we proceed in reflection by considering that body and soul are distinct but interrelated. If we should reflect on what makes up my body then, we should reject the distinction that both are things. 31. To refer to my body as the â€Å"my† that I mean it to be then, I must reject a psycho-physical parallelism belief that me and my body are mere things but rather have an intimacy of relationship with each other. This intimacy manifests through the actual real life experiences of the body and the real thing from which we should get implications from and not put ideal meanings to it. These experiences can cause us either to behave as a master of our body or a salve to it but either way, it is the â€Å"my† in my body that I own it to be. 32. The author relates a person’s ownership of the â€Å"my† of â€Å"my body† as the same with saying that â€Å"the dog is mine† for such dog to be really mine, there must exist a positive relationship like accepting that I have claim and all responsibility to it and it too will give the same positivity by responding to me. 33. It cannot be argues that you are the owner of your body as you are the owner of the dog in the previous analogy but in slave very, such is not the case for the master of a slave who claims to have ownership of his slave’s body but a slave cannot help but persist that his body is his especially after the injustices of slavery. 34. I have a responsibility to look after my body by providing for it the same as I do for my dog. But we must be aware of an upper limit of a situation that we are in, that we are now capable of dissociating ourselves from our lives saying â€Å"that this body is not mine† or â€Å"looking after this body is not my responsibility. 35. My body is mine to a point where I am capable of controlling it like your dog’s obedience, but there is this time where an inner limit has to be considered as in the case of illness where you don’t have the same control of your body as you used to have. This is expressed in the phrase â€Å"I am no longer myself†. 36. The likeness of â€Å"my dog† as well as other objects that are mine is distinct from the spatio-terminal being that I am but here exists a link between us that we could be associated with each other. 37. There must be a link between me and my body from which is the means for me to relate all other ownerships and at every single ownership that there is. There is also that desire to personally experience that my body is mine. 38. To own something requires oneself to claim it and take care of it , therefore some one who owns things cannot be reduces to a dematerialized ego who cannot claim nor care for something. 39. Another observation made that when I become too attached with what I possess, it tends to become a part of my body. And when such possessions are threatened like in the case of being lost, it feels as if my body has also been affected. 40. The strength of possession is as reliant with how united you are with your body, but as of external possessions, when they get lost. it leaves the owner at vulnerable state form being affected with the loss leaving him to want more to possess things that are not identical or that do not define him, most especially, a person from which the very idea cannot be owned. 41. The link between me and my body cannot be asserted to be independent from each other but once that link breaks as by means of death, no experience could ever tell us now what we can still become. 42. Looking at the previous situation at a different view by means of secondary reflection. 43. My body can be thought of as being an instrument from which I can act what I intend to manifest myself into the world, this requires us to think what being an instrument would imply and under that conditions would that be. 44. An instrument could be understood as something that would increase the efficiency of an existing power that is present in the person using the instrument like an optical apparatus for seeing. Therefore my body can be seen as a united body with a group of powers. 45. I have to understand that my body is mine to avoid narrowing my body as an object. Also that I am my body is an instrument, an extension of another body’s powers. Such infinite reveres could be avoided by claiming my body as mine and not an instrument. 46. In claiming that I am my body, care must be observed so as not to reduce me as an object but rather as a subject, a being that has a relationship. Sympathetic meditation was a term used by Marcel to describe how my body was at first in accordance with my feelings. 47. Using my body to feel mu body is using it as an instrument and it has been described in the previous numbers that my body should not be reduced to an apparatus and in this case just to view my feelings. 48. Marcel ends it by introducing the inquiry to feelings that in doing so we do not begin with searching for explanations but rather look into how we get to feel in an everyday set up and how we represent it.