Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Aldous Huxley s Brave New World - 1515 Words

Some Sacrifices Are Too Great Even for the Sake of Happiness Although happiness is a subjective concept, there are some connections that can be made between the many interpretations. Most definitions include access to basic necessities, as well as mental, emotional, and social stability. However, Aldous Huxley’s society described in his novel, Brave New World, takes the ideal of stability to disturbing extremes. In futuristic, dystopian London, the authorities governing the country have taken it upon themselves to control every aspect of their citizens’ lives, including intelligence, careers, even emotions. All of these seemingly decision-based parts of life are predestined by the government before birth. This manipulation is disguised as stability by the Controllers of the New World State, and so they can justify the domination over all citizens as necessary to maintain happiness. They do not consider freedom or passion to be contributors to happiness and believe that they cause further distress. In order to protect the structure of their government, they eliminated all sources of passion and other negative emotions: family, disease, monogamy. They fail to realize how vital these things are to life as a human and how they help one grow and learn. Citizens of the World State equate happiness with control and having access to any luxury at the snap of one’s fingers. However, they try to smother most things that contribute to being not just a human, but aShow MoreRelatedAldous Huxley s Brave New World1334 Words   |  6 Pageso read Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is to understand the fear for the future during the 1930’s. Widely considered ahead of its time, Brave New World is one of the most influential novels regarding the destructive outcome of genetic and public manipulation through regime control. The story contrasts two worlds: the traditional world where the â€Å"savages† reside and the new World State: a negative utopia where unrestrained sexual freedom, reproductive technology, and mind numbing drugs run rampantRead MoreAldous Huxley s Brave New World1329 Words   |  6 PagesIn Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, life is peaceful without any rebellion from its citizens. The society is called ‘The World State’, where scientist can finally produce eggs, without women getting pregnant. As a result, there is no such thing as a â€Å"family†, and the word ‘Mother’ and ‘Father’ are consider as obscene. â€Å". . . the loathsomeness and moral obliquity of childbearing –– merely gross, a scatological rather than a pornographic impropriety† (Huxley 159). They use the Bokanovsky Process, inRead MoreAldous Huxley s Brave New World1080 Words   |  5 PagesComplete Control† Today, one s perceptions of happiness are more often than not associated with material achievements, advancements, or perhaps, love. In Brave New World, however, happiness is based upon the pursuit of stability and emotional equilibrium Aldous Huxley s dystopian novel, Brave New World serves as a warning of the ominous. Set in London, the totalitarian regime instills the motto of stability, community, [and] identity(Huxley.1.1) in its citizens. Huxley s dystopia attempts to findRead MoreAldous Huxley s Brave New World Essay1800 Words   |  8 PagesAccording to Webster’s New World Dictionary, bravery is â€Å"possessing or exhibiting courage or courageous endurance† (Agnes 178). Oftentimes, people are commended for acts of bravery they complete in the heat of a moment or overcoming a life-changing obstacle. Rarely one is commended for simply living a brave life, facing challenges they do not even understand. The characters in the Aldous Huxley’s Brave New Wor ld live a peculiar lifestyle demonstrating bravery for just breathing. Although Huxley’sRead MoreAldous Huxley s A Brave New World1649 Words   |  7 PagesAldous Huxley has presented us a compelling story in the 20th-century called a Brave New World. One of the most notable dystopian novels, it calls for a reader to conceptualize a world, in which society and science are synonymous with each other, history had faded far into obscurity, and Henry Ford, the creator of the assembly line, becomes a deity to many uniformed individuals. The book was about how humans are no longer created by the conventional means of mating, rather artificially, throughRead MoreAldous Huxley s Brave New World1904 Words   |  8 PagesAldous Huxley’s Brave New World, published in 1932, is a masterpiece of science fiction. His imagined, dystopian state creatively employs facts and theories of science, as well as his very own thinly-veiled commentary on the future of society. His family backg round and social status, in addition to molding Huxley himself and his perspective, no doubt made impact on his writing and contributed to the scientific accuracy of his presentation. However, Huxley certainly qualifies as a social commenterRead MoreAldous Huxley s Brave New World1564 Words   |  7 Pages Envision a world where everybody is happy, there is no sorrow or suffering, no fear of death, no misery, everything is pleasant, and the government doles out happy pills, known as Soma. Aldous Huxley’s novel â€Å"Brave New World† describes this world. Is everyone truly happy, and what do the citizens sacrifice in exchange for living in this utopia? Huxley helped shape the modern mind with provocative theories about humankind s destiny, and he was concerned with the possible social and moral implicationsRead MoreAldous Huxley s Brave New World1038 Words   |  5 PagesAldous Huxley, the author of Brave New World, portrays a World State that has made consumption one of its centerpieces. Economic stability is essential to the effectiveness of the World State. They are brainwashed by advertisements and organizations that make them feel as though they are free. The people within the World State continuously consume because of the conditioning they obtained when they were younger. They are educated that when an object or good is in need of fixing, they must get ridRead MoreAldous Huxley s Brave New World2645 Words   |  11 PagesTimes: Aldous Huxley was born into a family of renowned scientists in 1894. He lost his mother at age 14, became virtually blind due to illness three years later, and lost his older brother to suicide at age 21. Despite these setbacks, he went back to school after dropping out of Eton and earned a degree in English literature from Oxford. Because of his blindness, he was not able to do the scientific research he had previously wanted to do, and turned to writing. He wrote Brave New World in fourRead MoreAldous Huxley s Brave New World2041 Words   |  9 Pagesâ€Å"I wanted to change the world. But I have found that the only thing one can be sure of changing is oneself†- Aldous Huxley. Throughout Aldous Huxley’s life he encountered malicious experiences that changed him drastically. He found out that he was a great writer through the dreadful and exceptional events in his life. In the novel Brave New World, Huxley uses conflict and characterization to illustrate how the adv ancement of technology can potentially cause human destruction and how individual motivation

Monday, December 16, 2019

Holiday Decision Making Free Essays

Name: Luong Thanh Long Class: FB3A CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND HOLIDAY I- Holiday decision-making is different from the traditional problem-solving model of consumer decision-making: 1) The traditional problem-solving model of consumer decision-making: * Behind the visible act of making a purchase lies a decision process that must be investigated. * The purchase decision process is the stages a buyer passes through in making choices about which products and services to buy. * Five Stages of Consumer Behavior: A. We will write a custom essay sample on Holiday Decision Making or any similar topic only for you Order Now Problem Recognition: Perceiving a Need: Perceiving a difference between a person’s ideal and actual situations big enough to trigger a decision. * Can be as simple as noticing an empty milk carton or it can be activated by marketing efforts. B. Information Search: Seeking Value Two steps of information search| Internal search| External search| * Scanning one’s memory to recall previous experiences with products or brands. * Often sufficient for frequently purchased products. * When past experience or knowledge is insufficient * The risk of making a wrong purchase decision is high * The cost of gathering information is low. * Personal sources, such as friends and family. * Public sources, including various product-rating organizations such as Consumer Reports. * Marketer-dominated sources, such as advertising, company websites, and salespeople| C. Alternative Evaluation: Assessing Value * The information search clarifies the problem for the consumer by: (1) Suggesting c riteria to use for the purchase. (2) Yielding brand names that might meet the criteria. (3) Developing consumer value perception. * A consumer’s evaluative criteria represent both The objective attributes of a brand (such as locate speed on a portable CD player) * The subjective factors (such as prestige). * These criteria establish a consumer’s evoked set * The group of brands that a consumer would consider acceptable from among all the brands in the product class of which he or she is aware. D. Purchase Decision: Buying Value Three possibilities| From whom to buy| When to buy| Do not buy| which depends on such considerations * Terms of sale * Past experience buying from the seller * Return policy. which can be influenced by * Store atmosphere * Time pressure * a sale * Pleasantness of the shopping experience. | | E. Postpurchase Behavior: Value in Consumption or Use * After buying a product, the consumer compares it with expectations and is either satisfied or dissat isfied. * Satisfaction or dissatisfaction affects * Consumer value perceptions * Consumer communications * Repeat-purchase behavior. * Many firms work to produce positive postpurchase communications among consumers and contribute to relationship building between sellers and buyers. Cognitive Dissonance: The feelings of postpurchase psychological tension or anxiety a consumer often experiences * Firms often use ads or follow-up calls from salespeople in this postpurchase stage to try to convince buyers that they made the right decision. In short, in the traditional problem-solving model of consumer decision-making, people tend to consider and investigate all the needs and desires of a product carefully through a range of steps. There are both internal and external factors affect on the decision-making of consumer. ) Holiday decision-making, as described in the case: * The genetic decision about whether or not to go on holiday was not always the starting point; and sometimes this gene tic decision was irrelevant. * â€Å"People have a limited capacity for analysis, and this leads them to break down complex decisions into hierarchical processes and take into consideration a small number of critical variables at each level to make the decision-making process more manageable†. * â€Å"When confronted by a complex problem, the human brain ‘satisfies’ more than it ‘optimises’,† explains Nicolau. In this situation, â€Å"the individual will try to choose an option that is sufficiently satisfying, regardless of whether or not it is the best choice†. 2 * Final decision and bookings are often made very late. * Informants often expressed post-decision regret, which people strove to reduce. * Searching for holiday information tends to be affected by external factors. II- Compare the information search process, as it is described here, with the search process that consumers might follow for one other product category: Holiday information search process| Consumer search process for one product| * Information collection for a holiday tends to be stopped when the holiday has been booked * Real information are collected during the holiday * Consumer will get more conflicted conscious of information. * People do not prepare their trip in much detail. In contrast, they want to discover unexpected things. * Incidental learning seems to play a bigger role than internal learning. * For only one product, consumer will take more time to collect information of a product and analysis in more details and intensive from lots of sources. * Information collection lasts till they ensure that this information is correct and they can make a comparison with other products. * Consumer tries to avoid unexpected situation. * Information search information tends to be stimulus-based (external)| III- The implications of the findings for managers marketing and promoting holidays: 4P principle plays important role in the man agers marketing. Holidaymaker should make a holiday that meets the needs of customer. If we don’t provide a holiday special or offer that helps them with those goals, we are doing them and your business a grave disservice. We also need to survey clients and customers from the current year to see how they can improve in the future. Think about how your channels work together and which channels reach your target customer. Offer a free gift or holiday discount to customers who take the time to complete your survey and do not forget to keep contact with your customer. Customer surplus is a very important area in Marketing mix. Only the marginal consumer is willing to pay just the market price in typical supply and demand equilibrium. The consumers would be willing to pay more than the market price is what makes the demand curve slope downward. The amount that these consumers would be willing to pay, but do not have to pay is known as the consumer surplus. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. 2 The magazine Tourism Management, Juan Luis Nicolau and Francisco Mas analysed data from 2,491 people gathered by the CIS http://www-rohan. sdsu. edu/~renglish/370/notes/chapt05/ How to cite Holiday Decision Making, Papers

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Women and Workplace Discrimination in Australian Organization

Question: Discuss about the Women and Workplace Discrimination in Australian Organization. Answer: Brief statement of the problem The workforce of Australia is extremely separated by gender and female dominated industries. It can be categorized in terms of aged care and child care which have been historically undervalued. It has been found that women in Australia are over represented in low paid industries as part time workers (Denissen Saguy, 2014). There are so many organizations that do not provide the leadership role to the Australian women. Along with that it has been found that in 2015-16 the average Australian woman got less superannuation average of $113,660 in comparison of the average male (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2018). As consequences, women are facing issues in their retirement years. It has been estimated in Australian Human Rights Commission that aggression against women and their children put bad impact on the economy of Australia in 2015-16. However, there are various acts are in the zone of Australia such as Sex Discrimination Act which provide effect to Australias international h uman rights obligations (McGann, Ong, Bowman, Duncan, Kimberley Biggs, 2016). Aims and objectives The aim of this research is to study Women and Workplace Discrimination: Overcoming Barriers to Gender Equality in Australian Organization. To show the women and workplace discrimination in Australian organizations. To provide the reasons behind this issues. To find out the solutions for overcoming barriers to gender equality in Australian Organization. Brief methodology Methodology is the important part for the research as it helps to determine the various steps to accomplish the research. To accurately assess the variables affecting the women and workplace discrimination in Australian industry, this method has opted mixed research method to conduct this study. It involves the qualitative and quantitative data to get effective outcome regarding topic. Literature review Literature review will be helpful to assess the current concerns regarding women discrimination at workplace in Australia, which might involve the performance of women in the workplace, economic condition and external factors (French Strachan, 2015). It will be made with the help of government data, academic journals, ratio of men and women working in organizations and internet sources. Data collection Secondary data will be considered to gather the information about the chosen topic. It can be collected from newspaper, journals, articles, online sources and books. It is cost efficient approach which facilitates to gather the data in efficient term regarding the topic. Survey Survey is the efficient approach that helps to know more about the situation of the women due to discrimination in the organization. It can be collected by choosing specific organization where the response of women regarding this topic can be accumulated and evaluated. Qualitative data and qualitative data will be focused in which qualitative approach sets the questionnaire for participants which will be allocated by online sources. Quantitative approach will be used in transforming the collected data into graphs, tables and charts (Palinkas, Horwitz, Green, Wisdom, Duan Hoagwood, 2015). Sources and data Secondary data is opted to accumulate the data regarding women and workplace discrimination. The secondary sources will be comprised of articles, journals, books, articles available on internet and books (Flick, 2017). The data will be collected from government sites, online data available and other sources. After accumulating all data, entire variables such as workplace safety indicators, salary concerns, demographic characteristics and flexibility will be made in an excel sheet. Correlation analysis will be helpful to search the bonding between attraction variable such as flexibility and safety along with demographic variables such as age groups. It will define the various types of correlation such as positive, negative or none. References Australian Human Rights Commission, (2018). Face the facts: Gender Equality 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/education/face-facts/face-facts-gender-equality-2018. Denissen, A. M., Saguy, A. C. (2014). Gendered homophobia and the contradictions of workplace discrimination for women in the building trades.Gender Society,28(3), 381-403. Flick, U. (Ed.). (2017).The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Collection. SAGE. French, E., Strachan, G. (2015). Women at work! Evaluating equal employment policies and outcomes in construction.Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal,34(3), 227-243. McGann, M., Ong, R., Bowman, D., Duncan, A., Kimberley, H., Biggs, S. (2016). Gendered ageism in Australia: Changing perceptions of age discrimination among older men and women.Economic Papers: A journal of applied economics and policy,35(4), 375-388. Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., Hoagwood, K. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research.Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research,42(5), 533-544.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Paper And Papermaking Essays - Papermaking, Pulp, Paper, Hemp

Paper And Papermaking Paper and Papermaking Raw materials for paper Basic process of papermaking Birth of papermaking Papermaking in Europe The main material for paper in the European countries was cotton and linen fiber from rags. It was washed, bleached, and soaked in an alkali solution before pulping. The basic process for papermaking was dipping a mold of wire into a vat of stock and lifting it out. Once that was finished it was removed and placed on wooden cloth for pressing. Sometimes one stack 2 feet high was reduced to 6 or 8 inches. After drying the paper was sized and prepared for printing. It is theorized that paper was first created in 100 BC, but it is credited to a Chinese man by the name of Tsai Lun. Early paper was made with hemp waste in water and beaten with a wooden mallet. After decades of evolution the product called paper finally made its way to Europe. Paper was not readily accepted in Europe, in 1221 the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II declared everything written on paper to be invalid. Things soon would change when the printing press was invented. History

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Dynamic Branch Predictors essays

Dynamic Branch Predictors essays In pipelined processors, an instruction must be fetched at every clock cycle in order to sustain the pipeline. However, in modern processors, the decision of whether or not to take a branch is not made until the memory-access stage of the pipeline, and the pipeline must stall the fetching of the next instruction until the decision is made. Because on average 20% of instructions are fetches, this causes a significant penalty on the performance of pipelined processors. Since the processor must keep working during this delay, modern processors incorporate branch predictors to predict whether a branch will be taken or not, and load instructions from the more likely path to minimize the branch penalty. Dynamic branch predictors use information gathered about the program's branches at run-time to determine the most likely outcome of each branch. There are several different flavors of dynamic branch predictors in use, the most common of which are one-level branch predictors, two-level branch predictors, hybrid branch predictors, and multiple component hybrid branch predictors. In one-level branch predictors, each branch instruction is mapped to an entry in a one-dimensional table of n-bit counters, which are usually designated as saturated counters. A saturated counter works like this: If the branch is taken, the corresponding counter is incremented, and if the branch is not taken, the corresponding counter is decremented. The values are cropped to [0...2^n). If a branch's counter is below 2^n-1, the branch is predicted as not taken, and otherwise the branch is predicted as taken. In other words, the branch is predicted as taken if the first bit of the branch's counter is 1, and the branch is predicted as not taken if the first bit is 0. The simplest counters use 1 bit, which is not the most effective. For instance, if a branch is almost always taken, one not-taken will cause the ...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Causes of the Great Migration (1910-1970)

Causes of the Great Migration (1910-1970) Between 1910 and 1970, an estimated six million African-Americans migrated from southern states to northern and Midwestern cities. Attempting to escape racism and  Jim Crow  laws of the South, African-Americans found work in northern and western steel mills, tanneries, and railroad companies.   During the first wave of the Great Migration, African-Americans settled in urban areas such as New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Detroit. However, by the onset of World War II, African-Americans were also migrating to cities in California such as Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco as well as Washingtons Portland and Seattle. Harlem Renaissance leader Alain Leroy Locke  argued in his essay, â€Å"The New Negro,† that â€Å"the wash and rush of this human tide on the beach line of the Northern city centers is to be explained primarily in terms of a new vision of opportunity, of social and economic freedom, of a spirit to seize, even in the face of an extortionate and heavy toll, a chance for the improvement of conditions. With each successive wave of it, the movement of the Negro becomes more and more a mass movement toward the larger and the more democratic chance - in the Negros case a deliberate flight not only form countryside to city, but from medieval America to modern. Disenfranchisement and Jim Crow Laws African-American men were granted the right to vote through the Fifteenth Amendment. However, white Southerners passed legislation that prevented African-American men from exercising this right. By 1908, ten Southern states had rewritten their constitutions restrict voting rights through literacy tests, poll taxes and Grandfather clauses. These state laws would not be overturned until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was established, granting all Americans the right to vote. In addition to not having the right to vote, African-Americans were relegated to segregation as well. The 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case made it legal to enforce separate but equal public facilities including public transportation, public schools, restroom facilities and water fountains. Racial Violence African-Americans were subjected to various acts of terror by white Southerners. In particular, the Ku Klux Klan emerged, arguing that only white Christians were entitled to civil rights in the United States. As a result, this group, along with other white supremacist groups murdered African-American men and women by lynching, bombing churches, and also setting fire to homes and property. The Boll Weevil Following the end of slavery in 1865, African-Americans in the South faced an uncertain future. Although the Freedmens Bureau helped to rebuild the South during the Reconstruction period, African-Americans soon found themselves reliant on the same people who were once their owners. African-Americans became sharecroppers, a system in which small farmers rented farm space, supplies and tools to harvest a crop. However, an insect known as the boll weevil damaged crops throughout the south between 1910 and 1920. As a result of the boll weevil’s work, there was less of a demand for agricultural workers, leaving many African-Americans unemployed. World War I and the Demand for Workers When the United States decided to enter World War I, factories in northern and Midwestern cities faced extreme labor shortages for several reasons. First, more than five million men enlisted in the army. Secondly, the United States government halted immigration from European countries. Since many African-Americans in the South had been severely affected by the shortage of agricultural work, they responded to the call of employment agents from cities in the North and Midwest. Agents from various industrial sectors arrived in the South, enticing African-American men and women to migrate north by paying their travel expenses. The demand for workers, incentives from industry agents, better educational and housing options, as well as higher pay, brought many African-Americans from the South. For instance, in Chicago, a man could earn $2.50 per day in a meat packing house or $5.00 per day on an assembly line in Detroit The Black Press Northern African-American newspapers played an important role in the Great Migration. Publications such as the Chicago Defender published train schedules and employment listings to persuade Southern African-Americans to migrate north. News publications such as the Pittsburgh Courier and the Amsterdam News published editorials and cartoons showing the promise of moving from the South to the North. These promises included better education for children, the right to vote, access to various types of employment and improved housing conditions. By reading these incentives along with train schedules and job listings, African-Americans understood the importance of leaving the South.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Do European Works Councils represent a major advance in employee Essay

Do European Works Councils represent a major advance in employee representation - Essay Example countries with central management of large multinational companies to discuss issues as complex as worker rights and any plans the company may be considering that would affect workers. Meetings also allow employees of one country to share information and experiences with colleagues from other nations. â€Å"Employee participation at a European level became a reality with the introduction of the European Works Council Directive† (Fitzgerald, 2004: 1). The purpose of the Councils: to provide workers within large multinational corporations, through their designated representatives, a direct line of communication to top management. With communication as key, various national councils insure that workers in all countries are provided accurate information about plans and policies of the transnational companies who employ them, and ensure worker representatives of established unions and national works councils the opportunity to consult amongst each other and develop a common response before policies and plans are implemented. Beyond these goals, three main views about why works councils primarily exist include benign goals as stated to improve communication and less benign goals of worker control over bargaining and negotiations and input into company policy when market failures occur that may negatively impact their employment. Based purely on description of purpose, the formation of the councils appear a valid and reasonable response to the advent and power of multinational corporations—impersonal behemoths larger than life with little sense of employee conditions or problems experienced at lower management levels. The success of the councils as regards employee representation is, as might be expected, mixed. This paper examines the reality of the success or failure of the councils, and to what degree they have advanced the cause of worker representation. Fitzgerald (2004) points out that the EWC Directive in its final form was viewed as a watered-down version of

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Strategic Business Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8000 words

Strategic Business Analysis - Essay Example In this paper, the discussion would revolve around the current state of the security management market in United Kingdom. The objective is to provide an overview of the UK security industry and this had been done taking into consideration one of the leading banks of UK – Abbey National Plc.UK security companies and their services are world leaders, achieving success with equipment and services in overseas markets, particularly in America, Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East. The UK security industry was worth  £4.37 billion in 2002, divided into electronic security  £1.4 billion, physical security  £331 million, police and public services  £63 million and manned security  £1.79 billion. The first study that looked at non-public policing sector was perhaps that undertaken during the 1980s by Stephen and Shannon, which investigated the increasing significance of the private security industry in Canada (Stephen and Shannon 1981, 1982, 1995). In the UK, similar stu dies illustrating the importance of the private security industry were also undertaken around this time (Robert 1993; Anthony 1965). The next stage of research was the recognition there was also a wide range of voluntary, public sector and quasi-public sector organizations engaged in security management (Chandler 1962; Stern and Stalk 1998). Such has been the change in the focus of the study of security management that, today; much of the literature now considers the ‘pluralisation’ or ‘fragmentation’ of security (Bayley and Shearing 1996; Chandler 1962).

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Law and Free

Law and Freedom Essay The concept of freedom has been a highly debated topic since the creation of the constitution in the 1700s. Freedom can be defined in many different ways. In each definition, one commonality is apparent. Everyone is seeking freedom although has it ever actually been obtained? Is it possible to reach a state of being completely free? Of course not. Being free means having no limits or restrictions. In our world today freedom is only an idea, an unreachable concept that is constantly being chased. Freedom is not a distinct idea. Its meaning to one person may be completely different to another. The state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint., and Exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc. are two definitions that are given for freedom at Dictionary.com. To me, freedom is the capability to express oneself. To be able to make choices on where you live, what books to read, what music to listen to, and which religion to believe in. Freedom can also be referred to as free hand and opportunity. Free hand is the freedom to act and make decisions. That statement helped me define my concept of freedom. With the absence of the ability to make decisions and act in favor of your beliefs, freedom would not exist. Opportunity is a synonym for freedom, and without it freedom would be inexistent. When someone is restricted from living their own life, fulfilling their own dreams, and making their own decisions, they are not free. The components of freedom are democracy, constitution, and citizens. A democracy must be put into place so the opinion of the citizens is considered, as well as maintaining a peaceful state. Having a democracy will also assure that the majority will rule and the minority will be heard. The United States has had many proposed bills shut down because they have violated the rights guaranteed to the people by the constitution. This is why I believe that a constitution is one of the main components to freedom; one of its main purposes is protecting it. Without a constitution, citizens of our country would have such a frightening lack of rights. The final component necessary for freedom are the citizens. Without the citizens, there would not be a point of having a constitution because there wouldn’t be anyone to establish or fight for freedom. These components help me live my everyday life. The constitution sets out guidelines for the government and for the citizens. The constitution gives the citizens a right to be free and express themselves without any kind of judgment or consequence. These three parts of freedom allow society to express ideas, beliefs, values, and be happy. Freedom is not the inability to express personal beliefs and nor is it easy to obtain. Freedom does not exist in communist societies were a person has to watch what they say about the government. Many people feel differently about the meaning of freedom. Some may believe that they are in fact free. Others feel that complete freedom is inevitable. In my opinion, a free state would only cause chaos and possibly destruction. The free citizen has the ability to make opinions and act according to his or her own free will to achieve happiness. It is impossible to allow every citizen of a country to be free because they would eventually infringe on the freedoms of others. Freedom is a concept, an idea, it is not tangible, nor is it a reality.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Magic and Superstition in the Middle Ages Essay -- superstitions, beli

Superstitions have influenced the lives of human beings perhaps since the beginning of mankind. For millennia, people have clung to beliefs and practices surrounding preternatural activities. Even after science has produced evidence to explain what was once considered supernatural, the superstitious traditions have continued. During the Middle Ages, many new superstitious rituals were developed and some can still be seen in use today. However, the trivial superstitious rituals of today, such as hanging a horse shoe on a door or knocking on wood to bring good fortune, did not begin so simply. Superstition, as defined by the Oxford dictionary is, â€Å"excessively credulous belief in and reverence for the supernatural.† In no other time was the supernatural ever so excessively believed than in the Middle Ages, where witches flew on broomsticks, Jewish sorcerers conjured spells, and sneezes could kill you. In ancient times, mysterious circumstances were explained by the imaginations of our ancestors. Without science, occurrences which seem obvious now were once described as supernatural. For example, a person’s shadow cast on a sunny day was defined as a reflection of that person’s soul. Natural phenonemons were more or less personified. To get to the roots of supernatural beliefs, it is necessary to look at the roots of philosophy. Bernard McGinn, author of The Growth of Mysticism, said that in the ancient Mediterranean world philosophy was defined as, â€Å"the love of wisdom, to express the highest mode of human life, one dedicated to more than the ordinary tasks of survival and self-aggrandizement† (32). The Middle Ages began around the fifth century, when the Roman Empire disintegrated and Christendom began to take shape. The people th... ... Simeoni, Manuela. "European Pagan Memory Day." The Canon Episcopi and the Beginning of the Matter about Witches. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. Trachtenberg, Joshua. "Jewish Magic and Superstition: 1. The Legend of Jewish Sorcery." Jewish Magic and Superstition: 1. The Legend of Jewish Sorcery. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. Trachtenberg, Joshua. "Jewish Magic and Superstition: 2. The Truth Behind The Legend." Jewish Magic and Superstition: 2. The Truth Behind The Legend. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. Trueman, Chris. "The Black Death of 1348 to 1350." The Black Death of 1348 to 1350. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. Williamson, Allen. "Joan of Arc, Brief Biography." Joan of Arc, Brief Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. Wolchover, Natalie. "The Surprising Origins of 9 Common Superstitions." LiveScience.com. TechMedia Network, 19 Sept. 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Formula One Constructors -Strategic Management

In this paper i will analyse and evaluate competetivenes of Formula one Motorsport industry and its dynamic characterictisc influenced by external and internal factors to critically understand and explore strategic management thoery of sustained competetive advantege and its significant importance in order of carrier succes of any Formula one constructors .I will try to clerly identify external and internal issues and changes , affecting (facing ) development of sustainable competetive advantage within formula One Teams , by presenting and demonstrating appropierate strategic management frameworks and approches . F1 industry its one of the most competetive and dynamic popular motorsport and specialist business worth E 350 billion to E400 billion(A. T Kearney Zygband et, 2011) ,within which many teams , effectivelly compete with each other in designing and constructing bolids prototypes to achieve succes and survival and competetive advantege agaisnt other rivals .There is significat questions frustrating F1 constructors since decades , regarding to how most effeectively and efficientyly achieve competetive advantege for thier teams to outperform and step ahead of other competitors in industry and how to achieve sustainable competetive advantege for dominance in numbers of seasons . This essay will be devided on four part in which first part will give brief overview about Formula one Industry, then i will demonstrate theories related to sustiable comepetetive advantege with reflection to achievement of the success in the Formula One motorsport .In the Next part of this paper i will critically eveluate generic model and strategic capabilities based on resource based view and knowledge based view of the startegy which requires constant reference to the resources and knowledge of competitors to achieve competitve advantege . In this section i will focus on the Williams ‘s team during thier dominance and technological reveloution in mid of 1990, where also i w ill provide my own point of view of why they didnet keep thier dominance and what they could do better at this time to sustain thier sucess futher .This is industry is strongly competetive and is perceived as very dynamic and very difficult to sustain at the leading position for numbers of season which is proved by the fact that since the start of of the World Championship (1950) only two F1 constructors won the Chapionship consecuitevely more than four times MClaren(1988-1291) and Ferrari (1999-2004). In the end i will write my opinion of which team has created the best source of the competetive advantege and also finally i will draw conclusion based on my analysys and my findings obtained throughout analysing of this case .Formula one Motorsport became one of the most popular and technologicaly innovative motorsport and sport TV event around the world which enjoyed the third highest audience in the world staright after Olimopics and World cup soocer . Unfortunately being fromula O ne constructor requires to generate sponsor revenues through increasignly sophiticated marketing strategies and also need to design , develop manufacture and race open wheel signle seat racecar.This is extremly expensive and requires huge amount of funds from sponsors and stakholders which are essentila to create competetive advantage againts key marekt competitors by implemeting new revolutionary technology innovation into their bolids sucha as the most powerful and reilable engines with innovative design of the chasis with all aerodymanims . in 2008 the top 3 teams were Ferrari , Mclaren and Williams cvbvd ciag dalszy ,. t is not only an season motorsport event its a strong and competetive individual industry within which F1 constructors are business organisations competing with each other for the survival and the success in the every single F1 season . its seen to to be very simply enough to achieve sustained competetive advantege and succeed in in this indystry while having the best car ,the best driver , the best supporting team and all supported by finanse from sposnsors.Unfortunaterly it does not so simple as not many F1 constructor up to date were not able to manage and linked all available all stretegic capabilieties based on resources and competence to work effectively together to achieve sustained competetive advantege in long term . such as 3 or 4 year or more . Todays strongly competetive and dynamic business environmnet requires from all organsiation and companies to seek developments of their susiable competetive advantege which enables then to stay attractive and innovative for the market and survive in competiton with their competitors .According to Alderson (1965) firms should strive for unique characteristics in order to distinguish themselves from competitors in the eyes of the consumer for a long period of time that is, sustainable competitive advantage. Sustainable competitive advantage is the ability to offer superior customer value on a n enduring or consistent basis, a situation in which competitors are unable to easily imitate the firm? capacity for value creation (Collis and Montgomery, 1995). According to Barney (1991), sustainable competitive advantage arises when the firm? s resources are valuable and the resources help the firm create valuable products and services, they are rare and competitors can not get acces to them, inimitable competitors cannot easily replicate them and appropriate when the firm owns them and can exploit them . .36 KCA JOURNAL OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT: VOL. , ISSUE 1 (2009). The competetive advantege of an organisation such as Formula One construcotors is likely to be based on strategivc capabilities that are valuable and contribute to its long -term survival or competetive advantage . There are two main components of strategic capabilities resources and competence(ksiazka kopiowana)Resources are the asstes that organisation have or can call upon and competence are the ways those assets are used or deployed effectively.In this case of formula one constructores resouresec are machinces ,patents ,computer systems , managers , engenires and deisgners as resources are all assets controlled and possessed by the firm (Barney, 1991) and competences are productivity ,organisational values, managerial competencies, organisational structure, process and technology ,knowldege flexibility and experance ,skills as a core competencies according to Prahalad and Hamel (1990) and which are the collective knowledge about how to coordinate the business.Unfortynately efficiency and effectiveness of physical resources or financial resources or the people in F1 team depend not just on their existence by on the system and processes by which they are managed ,its depend of reletaioshiops and cooperation of the people in the team thier adaptability, thier innovatory capicity and and thier experciance and learnbing about what works well what does not which and develop core competencies wit hin the firm or team .Core competences are crucial as they linked set of skills ,activities and recourses that togehter deliver value,differentiate business from its competitors . To core competences of teams competing in F1 we may include effective communication between the constructors and the driver, ability to negotiate sponsorships, leadership and motivating abilities of CEOs, efficient use of the budget and royalties, skills, knowledge and experience of the team as a whole. According to Teece (Teece, et al. 1997) firm’s capabilities necessary for effective operations ill not support company’s superior performance. Strategic capabilities of the firm or in this case F1 costructors team can not be static they need to dynamic and change ,renew and recreate to meet the needs of the changing environmnet where Formula one Industry is most technologically developed and competretive motorsprort industry . Dynamic capabilities confirms that in order to remain competitive c ompany must possess the competence to renew and adjust their strategic capabilities to operate effectively and efficiently in changing environment.As It is significant for F1 team to work on design and development of both engine and car chassis on everyday changing basis, to maintained existing but also retain new sponsors which are crucial for any F1 team , to continuingly motivate and also recruit the new talents. These knowledge resources and capabilities, resulting from learning processes implies an improvement in response capacity through a broader understanding of the dynamic and competetive environment (Dodgson, 1993; Sinkula, 1994).The organizational learning process such as in F1constructors Team helps tem to discover why problems are seen in a one dimensional frame work posing questions of the current systems and challenging paradoxes as they occur (Murray and Donegan, 2003) . [†¦ ] We believe that the careful study of how capabilities and competition mutually influen ce each other could be one of the next great opportunities for the field of strategy research. †Henderson and Mitchell, introduction to the ‘Summer 1997 Special Issue: Organization and Competitive Interactions’ of the Strategic Management Journal. The issue of firm performance and what startegic approch they should select to achieve sutainale competetive advantege has been disccuesed for decades and encompasses most other questions that have been raised in the field, as for instance, why firms differ, how they behave, how they choose strategies and how they are managed (Porter,1991) (Ansoff, 1976). n this case there are two different startegic approches are presented the positioning approach and the resource based view . In itiated in the mid-1980s by Wernerfelt (1984), Rumelt (1984) and Barney (1986), the resource-based view (RBV) has since become one of the dominant contemporary approaches to the analysis of sustained competitive advantage. A central premise of the resource-based view is that firms compete on the basis of their resources and capabilities (Peteraf and Bergen, 2003). Resource based view theories suggest that in order to take the part of F1 race the team must retain tangible resources such as highly qualified technical staff which would include race engineers, designers, aerodynamicist, composite expert, system specialist, but also CEO, budget, sponsorship and also the driver as the core competent resource inluencing succes of the team .The positioniong approch for business says that the best way to predict the future is to create it, and companies are often able to position themselves in ways which set and exploit the basis of competition to their advantage. The positioning approach is strongly linked with Porter strategic view , who argues that in order to achieve superior performance company must to understand the structure of the industry, in which it operates.This will allow the firm to adjust their strategy and exploit the underlying economic factors within the industry even better than their competitors do which might allow to outperform them . From other point of view of (Barney, 1991, Rumelt, 1984) this approch is criticised , as it assumes that all businesses operates on an equal organisational field. As Formula one industry is quite closed industry , creates field of constant formal or imformal shareing of common technoligies innovations , regulationa as also tacticts and stategic approches .According to Porter (1985) attractiveness of the sector can be defined by the implementation of the five forces model. Implication of this model to F1 motorsport industry presents that this industry is very difficult to enter industry with the low threat of new entrants due to high start-up costs and investments , there is quite low bargain power of customers due considerable number of viewers, power of suppliers is not really strong and very low level of potential substitute within industry but with very strong competetive high intensity of rivalry .F1 has passed trough maturity stage around 1970-1980’s, an this demonstrat that the major players are in industry for good while what makes them well experiance and determined to achive competetive advantege agaist other top F1 constructors . And this raises the question what can be done to obtain and sustain competitive advantage in such environment? According to the positioning approach business can gain competitive advantage either through cost leadership or product differentiation (Porter, 1979).A cost leadership strategy requires that a business define the source of cost advantage, which allows it to sell its products and services cheaper than rivals. Differentiation strategy on the other hand concentrates mostly on developing the product which will differ from those manufactured by a business’s competitors. within this type of industry sucha s Formula one motorsport there is no aplication for cost leadership stertegy as F1 constructor are focused on winning championships not looking at spending cost alomst at all .Formula one Teams using differentiation strategy which is enebling them to used thier avaiable resources in most innovative and attriactive way to achieve competetive advantege which something proved that this is still not enough to suceeddd in the longer term as all F1 constructors are strongly focus on differrttinagn and constant innovating of their teams agaisnt oders competiotrs .Another singnisicant external factor incluencing sucess of any constructors team are shifts anbd changes in environmnt which can suddenly change the value and importance of particular resoures and this is fundamental to understand and predict this before other to sustain advantege and this is what Williams constructors team has done in mid of 1990s. Williams team presents technological revolution in mid of 1990 by focusing on engerring aspetc which enables them to use many of innovations developed by othe rs teams .During the period 1992-1994 Williams cars won 27 out of 48races and they secured F1 consctrucor title for there years and they won Race championship in 1992 aand 1993 . By both Frank Williams and Patrick Head designs which were even more functional and innovative than this used in competitiors teams ,they makes thier bolides both very fast and reliable. The car development process was always top priority for Mr . Willinams and Patrick Head where importance of drivers took second less important place in their management of competetive advantege .Unfortunately they didnet realised importance of the good test driver role which who could help technicain to define and solve the probllems with the car to developed thier deisgn and set up evnen more effectively . Main a source of competitive advantage for Wiilliam team was thier technical excellence created by William and Head and attention in building relationships with thier engine supplier Renault which was very valuable due t o human and finacnial resources invested into the project.Most importnat for Williams’s team was to gain a constructor leadership, by the development of innovative combination of engine and the car chassis. Thier differentiated strategy which focused on the deelopment process of engine and the boilids become also a base of the sustainable competitive advantage where driver was perceived as less important movable resources as they do not belive putting milions in to driver is nessersary , since the development of outstanding bolide . Frank williams and his ‘masculino' approch unfortunateky was negatively effecting drivers relationships within thier F1 team .Actually Williams team dominance in mid 1990 was also resulted of many other internal and external factors such as innovative development of thier competitors such as ground effect and active suspension developed by Lotus , carbon-composite monocoque developed by McLaren and and semi automatic gearbox developed by Fer rari . Close business relations with Renault and priceless long-lasting relationship between Patrick Head and Frank Williams. Frank strategy was successful only for three season in constructors championship, longer due to series of negative events occurring between 1994 and 1995 .Williams team the best driver Ayrton Senna, died in the tragic accident during a San Marino Grand Prix in Imola in 1194. This accident shekad with whole Formula one industry as A. Senna was the most talented driver in F1. After year In 1995 Renault, decided to start manufacture, the engines as well for Benetton team. Furthermore one of Williams ex designers helped Benetton with car development, in which many technological innovations used by Williams in thier boilids influencing slow process of loosing competetive advantege of their tea . Another External factor which imacpt on fuutere ledarship of williams team was that M.Schumacher joined Benneton team . Thankfully for Williams, Schumacher shortly moved t o less competitive Ferrari, giving Williams team a clear way for gaining their sustain competetive advantege lost. Frank strategy was successful only for three season in constructors championship, longer due to series of negative events occurring between 1994 and 1995 . Williams team the best driver Ayrton Senna, died in the tragic accident during a San Marino Grand Prix in Imola in 1194. This accident shekad with whole Formula one industry as A. Senna was the most talented driver in F1.After year In 1995 Renault, decided to start manufacture, the engines as well for Benetton team. Furthermore one of Williams ex designers helped Benetton with car development, in which many technological innovations used by Williams in thier boilids influencing slow process of loosing competetive advantege of their tea . Another External factor which imacpt on fuutere ledarship of williams team was that M. Schumacher joined Benneton team . Thankfully for Williams, Schumacher shortly moved to less com petitive Ferrari, giving Williams team a clear way for gaining their sustain competetive advantege lost.The critical elements which impact Williams losss of sustainable competitive advantage after mid of 1990 were based of their priority focus on developments of engerering resources to win constructors championship , and laack of startegic management of thier capabilieteis and ability to linked then to each other to achieve superrior performance avoinding crating disadvantege threshold capabilities. I am of the opinion that in some way it created disadvantage for the team. Previously mentions Knowledge based view mentioned confirmed how important or even most important are human resources and the ability to share gathered information. nfortynatek within Williams F1 team this approcha was not really respected especially in relation to the role of the dirver and thier proffesional knowledge that they possesed even if they changed each season . Aityan (2012) described that to expect a high level of loyalty from the employee, the organisation should show similar or even higher level of loyalty to them where in Williams team , Patrics Head together with Franks autocratic leadership style to drivers does not practice that at all and was also blocking flow of valuable information between departments . hats why drivers were leaving after one season (e. g. Mansel, Prost). I i have described Formula one indusrty as closed industry with low probabiolity of new entrants FranK did NOT realised that by this management approch he was disadbventing his team by letting drivers and even engeneires share their knowlded and concepts obtiane in williams team with other competitor teams . According to Pickett (2004) when people leave, their knowledge also does. . Tymon et al. 2010) found that the key predictors of employee’s intention to leave are satisfaction with and pride in the organization and perception of it being socially responsible. Williams’s management to secure their competitive advantage should have a better developed career developemnt program for their key employees where they should be empowerd in decision makin process within the team and and drivers should be respect and not treated as the recruits . The best teamFerrari would not be able to achieve the succes even with this all tangible resources without proper and effective management strtegies allow all this available resources to be linked together and effiently Ferrari apooitned new boos who was twenty five year old, connected to Fiat owners, lawyer Luca di Montezemolo perceived as young and not necessary familiar with the industry surprisingly he appeared to be a perfect fit for the role due to his managerial skills and ability to put the order into day to day operations.At the same time new technical director – Mauro Forghieri and a new leading driver Niki Lauda were appointed. Ferrari constructors team with thier autocratic style and thier respect for the import ance of human resoursec in any developmnets precess proved to crrate and sustain the best source of competetive advatege by linkeages all tangible and in tangible resourses working together in appropiete manner wirh great copoeration of the key members of the team within the team .

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Deception Point Page 95

The communications device on the man's belt crackled. The voice coming out was robotic. â€Å"Delta-Three? Come in. I heard a shot.† The man made no move to answer. The device crackled again. â€Å"Delta-Three? Confirm. Do you need backup?† Almost immediately, a new voice crackled over the line. It was also robotic but distinguishable by the sound of a helicopter noise in the background. â€Å"This is Delta-One,† the pilot said. â€Å"I'm in pursuit of the departing vessel. Delta-Three, confirm. Are you down? Do you need backup?† Tolland pressed the bang-stick into the man's throat. â€Å"Tell the helicopter to back off that speedboat. If they kill my friend, you die.† The soldier winced in pain as he lifted his communication device to his lips. He looked directly at Tolland as he pressed the button and spoke. â€Å"Delta-Three, here. I'm fine. Destroy the departing vessel.† 115 Gabrielle Ashe returned to Sexton's private bathroom, preparing to climb back out of his office. Sexton'sphone call had left her feeling anxious. He had definitely hesitated when she told him she was in her office-as if he knew somehow she was lying. Either way, she'd failed to get into Sexton's computer and now was unsure of her next move. Sexton is waiting. As she climbed up onto the sink, getting ready to pull herself up, she heard something clatter to the tile floor. She looked down, irritated to see that she'd knocked off a pair of Sexton's cuff links that had apparently been sitting on the edge of the sink. Leave things exactly as you found them. Climbing back down Gabrielle picked up the cuff links and put them back on the sink. As she began to climb back up, she paused, glancing again at the cuff links. On any other night, Gabrielle would have ignored them, but tonight their monogram caught her attention. Like most of Sexton's monogrammed items, they had two intertwining letters. SS. Gabrielle flashed on Sexton's initial computer password-SSS. She pictured his calendar†¦ POTUS†¦ and the White House screensaver with its optimistic ticker tape crawling around the screen ad infinitum. President of the United States Sedgewick Sexton†¦ President of the United States Sedgewick Sexton†¦ President of the†¦ Gabrielle stood a moment and wondered. Could he be that confident? Knowing it would take only an instant to find out, she hurried back into Sexton's office, went to his computer, and typed in a seven-letter password. POTUSSS The screensaver evaporated instantly. She stared, incredulous. Never underestimate the ego of a politician. 116 Corky Marlinson was no longer at the helm of the Crestliner Phantom as it raced into the night. He knew the boat would travel in a straight line with or without him at the wheel. The path of least resistance†¦ Corky was in the back of the bouncing boat, trying to assess the damage to his leg. A bullet had entered the front part of his calf, just missing his shinbone. There was no exit wound on the back of his calf, so he knew the bullet must still be lodged in his leg. Foraging around for something to stem the bleeding, he found nothing-some fins, a snorkel, and a couple of life jackets. No first-aid kit. Frantically, Corky opened a small utility chest and found some tools, rags, duct tape, oil, and other maintenance items. He looked at his bloody leg and wondered how far he had to go to be out of shark territory. A hell of a lot farther than this. Delta-One kept the Kiowa chopper low over the ocean as he scanned the darkness for the departing Crestliner. Assuming the fleeing boat would head for shore and attempt to put as much distance as possible between itself and the Goya, Delta-One had followed the Crestliner's original trajectory away from the Goya. I should have overtaken him by now. Normally, tracking the fleeing boat would be a simple matter of using radar, but with the Kiowa's jamming systems transmitting an umbrella of thermal noise for several miles, his radar was worthless. Turning off the jamming system was not an option until he got word that everyone onboard the Goya was dead. No emergency phone calls would be leaving the Goya this evening. This meteorite secret dies. Right here. Right now. Fortunately, Delta-One had other means of tracking. Even against this bizarre backdrop of heated ocean, pinpointing a powerboat's thermal imprint was simple. He turned on his thermal scanner. The ocean around him registered a warm ninety-five degrees. Fortunately, the emissions of a racing 250 hp outboard engine were hundreds of degrees hotter. Corky Marlinson's leg and foot felt numb. Not knowing what else to do, he had wiped down his injured calf with the rag and wrapped the wound in layer after layer of duct tape. By the time the tape was gone, his entire calf, from ankle to knee, was enveloped in a tight silver sheath. The bleeding had stopped, although his clothing and hands were still covered with blood. Sitting on the floor of the runaway Crestliner, Corky felt confused about why the chopper hadn't found him yet. He looked out now, scanning the horizon behind him, expecting to see the distant Goya and incoming helicopter. Oddly, he saw neither. The lights of the Goya had disappeared. Certainly he hadn't come that far, had he? Corky suddenly felt hopeful he might escape. Maybe they had lost him in the dark. Maybe he could get to shore! It was then he noticed that the wake behind his boat was not straight. It seemed to curve gradually away from the back of his boat, as if he were traveling in an arc rather than a straight line. Confused by this, he turned his head to follow the wake's arc, extrapolating a giant curve across the ocean. An instant later, he saw it. The Goya was directly off his port side, less than a half mile away. In horror, Corky realized his mistake too late. With no one at the wheel, the Crestliner's bow had continuously realigned itself with the direction of the powerful current-the megaplume's circular water flow. I'm driving in a big friggin' circle! He had doubled back on himself. Knowing he was still inside the shark-filled megaplume, Corky recalled Tolland's grim words. Enhanced telencephalon olfactory lobes†¦ hammerheads can smell a droplet of blood a mile away. Corky looked at his bloody duct-taped leg and hands. The chopper would be on him soon. Ripping off his bloody clothing, Corky scrambled naked toward the stern. Knowing no sharks could possibly keep pace with the boat, he rinsed himself as best as he could in the powerful blast of the wake. A single droplet of blood†¦ As Corky stood up, fully exposed to the night, he knew there was only one thing left to do. He had learned once that animals marked their territory with urine because uric acid was the most potent-smelling fluid the human body made. More potent than blood, he hoped. Wishing he'd had a few more beers tonight, Corky heaved his injured leg up onto the gunwale and tried to urinate on the duct tape. Come on! He waited. Nothing like the pressure of having to piss all over yourself with a helicopter chasing you. Finally it came. Corky urinated all over the duct tape, soaking it fully. He used what little was left in his bladder to soak a rag, which he then swathed across his entire body. Very pleasant. In the dark sky overhead, a red laser beam appeared, slanting toward him like the shimmering blade of an enormous guillotine. The chopper appeared from an oblique angle, the pilot apparently confused that Corky had looped back toward the Goya. Quickly donning a high-float life vest, Corky moved to the rear of the speeding craft. On the boat's bloodstained floor, only five feet from where Corky was standing, a glowing red dot appeared. It was time. Onboard the Goya, Michael Tolland did not see his Crestliner Phantom 2100 erupt in flames and tumble through the air in a cartwheel of fire and smoke.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

The Difference Between Shade and Shadow

The Difference Between Shade and Shadow The Difference Between Shade and Shadow The Difference Between Shade and Shadow By Maeve Maddox Øystein Sveum Moen poses an interesting question about shade and shadow: I constantly end up in discussions whether somethings in the shade or shadow. Is there a clear definition of the difference between these two? Where I come from (Norway) we have a single word covering all forms of light blocking darkness. Both shade and shadow come from the same Old English word sceadu, shade, shadow, darkness. The general definitions given for both words are almost identical in the OED: shadow:  I. Comparative darkness.  1. a. Comparative darkness, esp. that caused by interception of light; a tract of partial darkness produced by a body intercepting the direct rays of the sun or other luminary. shade: I. Comparative darkness. 1 a. Partial or comparative darkness; absence of complete illumination; esp. the comparative darkness caused by a more or less opaque object intercepting the direct rays of the sun or other luminary. Both words have numerous uses. For example, shade can mean the ghost or spirit of someone dead. Capitalized, Shadow is a term given by Carl Jung to the aspect of the human personality formed by fears and unpleasant emotions. The OED entries for shade and shadow include about 40 different definitions for each of the words. Used in the sense of comparative darkness, the words are sometimes, but not always interchangeable. Shade is what one seeks on a hot sunny day. We sit or walk in the shade. Plants that do well in the shade are called shade-loving plants. Shadow usually refers to a shape cast by an object that blocks the sun. A person casts a shadow in the shape of the human body. Figuratively, however, one might say that a younger brother lives under the shadow or in the shade of an older brother. Both words have emotional connotations. To those of us who live in hot climates, shade has pleasant and soothing associations. Shadow is evocative of something mysterious or threatening, especially in the plural. Stalkers lurk in the shadows. As the sun sets, evening shadows fall, concealing what was formerly visible and making the ordinary strange. Addressing the difference between shade and shadow in Modern English Usage, H.W. Fowler concludes that shadow is to shade as pool is to water. He points out that shady means full of shade, but shadowy like a shadow. Shade, therefore, denotes a general state, while shadow implies a shape. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 English Grammar Rules You Should Know50 Latin Phrases You Should Know12 Misunderstood and Misquoted Shakespearean Expressions

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Every IB English Past Paper Available Free and Official

Every IB English Past Paper Available Free and Official SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips In this article, I cover IB English Literature SL/HL, IB English Language and Literature SL/HL, and IB Literature and Performance SL. These are the core language A options for English speakers. When preparing for one of these IB English exams, you should take a practice test. Where can you find IB English past papers, free and paid? I will answer that question and let you know how to get the most out of these past papers. Where to Find Free IB English Past Papers The IB has been cracking down on illegally uploaded past papers for the past few years, so a lot of previous sources are no longer available. IB has however, uploaded a few official past exams that you can view for free online. Below are links to the IB English Past Papers. English A: literature higher level/standard level: papers 1 2 English A1 higher level: paper 2 English standard level A2: paper 2 I haven’t seen any unofficial IB English exams (ones created by someone that is not from the IBO). If you find any, don’t use them for practice!You need REAL IB English past papers to get realistic practice. Where to Find Paid IB English Past Papers The only safe and reliable place to buy IB English past papers is from the IBO at the Follet IB Store. The IBO sells past IB English Literature SL papers, IB English Literature HL papers, IB English Language and Literature SL papers, IB English Language and Literature HL papers,and IB Literature and Performance SLpapers from 2013 onward. The site is somewhat hard to navigate, but using the search bar several times got me where I wanted to be eventually. How to Get the Most of Each Past Paper One complete test will take you 3 hours for SL or 4 hours for HL. If you are going to invest that much time, you need to be maximizing your learning. To do so, follow these rules. Rule 1: Take Paper 1 and Paper 2 on Separate Days IBO splits up all of the IB English tests over two days. You should too. That way you get realistic practice, mimicking the actual testing schedule. Rule 2: Time Yourself You need to get used to the timing. Here is the time allowed: English Literature SL Paper 1- 1 hour 30 minutes Paper 2- 1 hour 30 minutes English Literature HL Paper 1- 2 hours Paper 2- 2 hours English Language and Literature SL Paper 1- 1 hour 30 minutes Paper 2- 1 hour 30 minutes English Language and Literature HL Paper 1- 2 hours Paper 2- 2 hours Literature and Performance SL Paper 1- 1 hour 30 minutes Paper 2- 1 hour 30 minutes Make sure you stick to this exact timing. Don’t give yourself any extra time. Otherwise, you will not be prepared for the pacing of the actual test. Research to Action / Flickr Rule 3: Review With the Mark Scheme After completing your full test, review your answers. You must review to learn from your errors and not make them on the actual test. Take an hour to review. While this may seem like you are wasting time that you could be spending on other practice, it’s not. You need to emphasize the quality of your practice and no the quantity of practice. I’d rather you take two practice tests with good review than eight tests with no review. What’s Next? Want more tips for IB English?Then check out our completeIB English study guidefor all the info you need. Impatient to get your IB scores?Learn when IB results and scores come out. Did you know thatyou can take some IB classes online?Check out our complete guide to online IB courses, including which classes you can take online and if you can get an online IB diploma. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Case Study No. 1, McDonalds Senior Restaurant (p. 648)

No. 1, McDonalds Senior Restaurant (p. 648) - Case Study Example of McDonald’s would not suffer as a result of this strategy since the senior citizens flock the restaurant in the morning when young customers do not usually come. Lisa should encourage senior citizens to come and enjoy their meals at McDonald’s. This is because the restaurant would not want to be famous for its discrimination against its customer based on their age. Also the senior customers usually leave before noon which is already a slow time for the restaurant. Lisa is getting a good opportunity for her slow time and should bank upon it. Since the senior customers spend as much as normal customers, she would not have to worry about generating profits and sales for the restaurant. Bingo games would be a suitable activity for senior citizens and would act as a promotional campaign to attract such customer (Clow and Baack, 2011). She could further use the idea of bingo game to her advantage. She could do this by allocating a special time for the bingo game, one when normal customers usually do not visit the restaurant. By doing this, Lisa would be ensuring that her senior customers prefer to come during this time and do not crowd the restaurant during the peak hours when young customers visit. Since young customers usually visit after noon, Lisa should not have to worry about crowding discouraging the young customers or that her restaurant would be labeled as ‘an old people’s

Thursday, October 31, 2019

NIST 800-64 rev2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

NIST 800-64 rev2 - Essay Example The problem I choose to discuss is poor communication between the employers and employees. In managing IT systems and their progress, an Information system security process is put in place to help identify risks, plan and mitigate problems that may arise at the workplace. Implementing a risk management – based approach serves to integrate security systems throughout the agency. However, throughout the system and its working, communication plays a major role in how well everything is understood and implemented in order to ensure high productivity with lesser number of problems. Communication is an indispensable part of any organization because its success or failure depends a lot on it. One of the critical assets of any organization is proper communication between employers and employees as well as among the management and workers. Proper communication helps to instill integrity and solidarity among the workers and helps them to focus better on the goal ahead. System managers c an make use of good communication as a tool to build strong relationships not only among the workers but also the clients that deal with them. Proper communication is a fundamental asset for decision – making, negotiation, implementation and assessment of the whole developmental process. One of the dilemmas that could arise in the workplace is miscommunication that leads to anger, fear, mistrust and lack of understanding among the parties involved. This problem is quite evident especially within a multicultural organization. The five phases such as Initiation, Development, Implementation, Operation and Disposal that contributes towards the smooth working and productivity of the organization could be hampered if there is no proper communication among its staff and workers. In implementing and executing a risk management based approach, it is both crucial and vital to help employees understand the integrated security component of the organization because each of them plays a si gnificant role in its successful achievement. Miscommunication in any one of the areas could bring about heavy losses to the agency or organization. In the Security Considerations in the System Development Lifecycle (SDLC) different individuals play different roles with different responsibilities and in order to ensure the systematic progress and success of the organization, they have to interact with each other during each stage of activity. In such a scenario, effective communication involving security requirements and expectations is inevitable. Every member is accountable in the position they hold responsibility within the organization. Employing an appropriate Information security personnel at the initiation juncture would be the right thing to do, so as to avoid communication mishaps during the process of any project. The individual carrying out this job has a big responsibility since it is a high risk job involving the organizations operations as well as its assets. However, all the other officials and managers each have their own role to play and their own responsibility which is clearly defined and they are accountable for things that go wrong. In such a set up effective communication plays a very important role because it helps to keep the security system in tact and in an effective working order. Since every person is highly responsible and accountable for their actions, it is inevitable that the first thing that should be put into place is a proper

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Theory without practice is fantasy but practice without theory is Research Paper

Theory without practice is fantasy but practice without theory is blind. Internships in organizations - Research Paper Example This could be the reason that students in universities and colleges are usually encouraged to apply for internships in organizations dealing with their various courses of study during school breaks over the vacation periods. Indeed, many students find it difficult to relate what they study in school and what they have to do in the real world of corporates. On the one hand, there are academicians who study trends and historical data to come up with solutions to problems in the real world, which can be adopted and used in practice. On the other hand are business executives and their workers who usually criticize academicians for coming up with solutions that are either too ideal, complex or which have too many assumptions to be applied in real businesses (March, 1994). This group approaches problem-solving through past experiences or by applying what is appropriate with the prevailing economic, political an social conditions. However, the reality of the matter is that none can exist wi thout the other, as summarized by Professor Vincent Ostrom in the above phrase. One important aspect that organizations’ managers usually deal with is decision-making. Many companies usually operate with the sole reason of making profits. This can only be possible by maximizing revenue while keeping costs down. The management of companies is usually tasked with the duty of making decisions that will lead to the above. However, decision-making is a very complex activity that requires more than just the basic knowledge of how the economic conditions prevail (Scott and Davis, 2007). In addition, wrong decision-making could deal a severe blow to a company which would take years to undo, failure of which the said company would go under. In this sense, decision-making requires the use of theories set out by people who have studied the process in order to be effective. Decision-making is further complicated by the fact that human beings are not always rational; hence they are prone to make decisions that are subjective rather than objective. One theory put forward to try to explain the decision making process is one called ‘Bounded Rationality’ put forward by Nobel Price winner, Herbert A. Simon in his paper Administrative Behavior which he wrote in 1947. In this theory, Simon points out that there are several reasons as to why it may not be easy for executives to make the most rational decision. One reason is due to the uncertainty of the future. Every decision made has a consequence which might be beneficial or harmful to an organization. Some of these consequences can be anticipated, but many more cannot be known at the time of the decision-making. Therefore, managers make what they perceive to be the best decision with the information they have at hand at the period, taking into consideration known risks (Herbert, 1947). Relating to this is the fact that decision makers cannot fully evaluate the worth of their decisions in the future, but only in the present. The third impediment to rational decision making is that decision makers need to be aware of all alternatives to the decision they are about to make (March and Herbert, 1958). This is not always available, making it difficult to choose the most optimal decision. With such theoretical knowledge, decision makers are in a better position to understand the decision-making process, hence be in a better position to defend their actions. Another illustration of Professor Vincent Ostrom’s phrase is applicable in the normal operations of a company. Companies usually spend large sums of money to train their employees and managers to

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Study Analysis: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Study Analysis: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Kwong Ho Kuen Everyday Social Psychology: Report on Media Article #2 A news article from The Independent reported that modern gentleman preferred â€Å"brains† rather than â€Å"blondes† (Lusher, 2014). Why do men value educational levels or intelligence over physical attractiveness? Is this argument just objective opinion or is it scientifically proved? If the phenomenon is true, can it be explained by social psychology? In this paper, we will take a closer look at the issue with the help of concepts and theories of social psychology. We will first review the news article and capture the main ideas of it. Then, we will further investigate the scientific evidence referred by the news article. Afterwards, we will define the main issue going to be discussed. Finally, we will examine related empirical journal articles and apply the findings to the explanation of the issue. Introduction of the Issue Review of the news article At the very beginning, let’s review the news article and summarize its main points. The news article is titled â€Å"Gentlemen prefer brains: similarly educated couples last†. It was published in The Independent on July 27, 2014. It reports some findings from a recent study of marriage about associations between educational levels and divorce rates. It says that marriages between a better educated wife and less educated husband from 1950 to 1979 were 34 percentage more likely to divorce than the opposite one. Furthermore, it is reported that couples having similar levels of education have a lower rate of divorce than marriages between a better educated husband and a less educated wife. Therefore, the article suggests that â€Å"similarly educated couples last†. The article quotes the title of a classic film called Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. It suggests that there was a common belief in the past that men preferred a less educated and maybe physically attractive wife. However, the research result suggests the opposite of it. Closer look at the study being referred to Does this article reflect the study finding subjectively? Is there are any personal opinions added to the article? With a view to examine the accuracy of report and gather further details about the study, the research being referred to in the news article is found. It is an empirical journal article titled â€Å"The reversal of the Gender Gap in Education and Trends in Marital Dissolution† (Schwartz Han, 2014). It was published in the American Sociological Review, an academic journal, in 2014. In this study, the researchers try to examine the risk of marital dissolution among marriages of couples with different combinations of educational level. These combinations include hypogamous marriages which a higher educated wife is married to a lower educated husband; hypergamous marriages which a lower educated wife is married to a higher educated husband; and a homogamous marriage which a couple with similar educational level get married. The study makes use of demographic data in American from the National Survey of Family Growth, Panel Study of Income Dynamics and Current Population Survey from 1950 to 2009. It examines the divorce rate of hypogamous, hypergamous and homogamous marriages. In addition to comparing the divorce rate, the study also tries to examine the changes in relative risk of divorce among three types of marriages over decades. Two major results are found. First, as reported in the news article, it is found that hypogamous marriages had a higher divorce rate than the hypergamous marriages before 1980. However, the association of higher divorce rate and hypogamous marriages no longer exists since 1990. In another word, the marriages between higher educated wives and lower educated husband are no longer more likely to break up in recent times. The study further asked if these hypogamous couples are less likely to divorce than hypergamous couples, but no conclusive evidence is found. In addition to what the news article reports, the study also attempts to find out factors behind this change. It suggested that an increase in education level may affect. Although the relative educational attainment of wives in hypogamous marriages is still higher, the data showed that the individual educational attainment of both wife and husband in hypogamous marriages increase over the decades. However, no evidence can be found by using Cox proportional hazard model, a statistical analysis method. On the other hand, the study also discovers that homogamous couples are less likely to divorce compared to hypergamous couples, as reported. What the news article does not include is the change of stability in these homogamous marriages. In 1950s, homogamous couples are no more likely to divorce than hypergamous couples. However, they are even less likely to divorce than the hypergamous couples after 1990. Going back to the news article, it is partly true to say that â€Å"similarly educated couples last†. It is true that homogamous couples are less likely to divorce compared to hypergamous couples. However, it is not completely accurate to say homogamous couples are least likely to divorce among all. It is because the study did not run any three group comparison like Analysis of Variance to find supporting evidence. Also, it is accurate for the news to say that â€Å"gentlemen prefer brains to blonde†. In the study, physical attractiveness was not measured and analyzed in any stages. Defining the issue to be discussed There are three ideas described in the news article. First, it is the mating preference of men to choose â€Å"brains† which is believed to be education level or intelligence over â€Å"blondes† which is believed to be physical attractiveness. As mentioned above, it is the reporter own comment rather what the research study finds. So, we are not going to focus on this idea. The second idea is the relative divorce rate among hypogamous couples comparing to hypergamous couples. There is a change from positive correlation before 1980 to no association afterward. However, it is still inconclusive whether a reversed situation has occurred. At the same time, researchers have attempted, but fail to discover the contributing factors behind. The phenomenon is still being studied by researchers. We cannot illustrate much about this idea at the moment. Finally, it is worth noticing about the stability of homogamous marriages. It is found that couples with similar educational background has less chance of marital dissolution comparing to hypergamous marriages. In this paper, we are going to illustrate this issue by social psychology concepts. We will see why people with similar educational background are attracted to each other. And we will see why couples of similar education background stay with each other. Empirical Journal Article and Application to the Issue (1) Attraction between People with Similar Educational Level To become a stable marital relationship, the couples should be attracted to each other at the very first place. The news article said that similarly educated couples are less likely to divorce. In another word, people with similar educational background are attracted to each other. Can social psychology concepts illustrate that similar people attract each other? To be more specific, do people of similar educational level attract each other? In Search of Empirical Journal Article In order to find supporting evidence, a search of empirical journal articles is conducted. The search is carried out in a database of peer reviewed psychology scholarly journals called PsycINFO. To find the linkage between education and mating selection with similar others, the keywords of â€Å"education† and â€Å"assortative mating† are used. With a view to include results of words with similar meaning, the search further includes â€Å"educational attainment† and â€Å"educational level† as alternative keywords to education. This is done with the help of the advanced search function. The preliminary searches gave 61 results in total including 55 scholarly journals, 5 dissertations or thesis and 1 book. To further refine the search, the results are limited to scholarly journals. Results are also limited to, publication after 2000 in order to obtain most updated evidence. Afterwards, 33 results are left. Related Empirical Journal Article Found Among the 33 journal articles, one titled â€Å"Match Makers and Deal Breakers: Analyses of Assortative Mating in Newlywed Couples† published in the Journal of Personality is selected (Watson et al., 2004). It tries to answer what qualities people look for in their spouses. It proposes that there are two ways in answering the question. One is to examine which traits or characteristics like social status or physical attractiveness people found desirable. The other method, which is used in this study, is to examine whether couples look for similarity or complementary in various aspects in their partners. To see whether similarity or complementary people found desirable, the study looks into newly married couples. It is supposed that newly married couples are attracted to each other well enough so that they decide to get married. If similarity rather than complementary in most aspects is found among them, it may be inferred that people look for similarity in their romantic partners. To take one step further, it also examines the similarities in which aspects are more important. The study uses a sample of 291 couples married in less than one year in Iowa. They were invited to attend a small group session lasted for around two hours. During the session, participants were asked to complete questionnaires and took different tests. Information was collected regarding their demographic background, personality, emotional expression style, adult attachment style, religious attitudes, political attitudes, values, and intelligence. After data collection, the researchers calculated the simple two-tail correlations between the husbands’ and wives’ scores on each aspect. If a strong correlation is found, similar in that aspect is significant for newlywed couples. In fact, strong similarity is found in age, religious and political views. Moderate similarity is found in educational attainment and verbal intelligence. Modest similarity is found in values. Little similarity is found in other aspects like personality and attachment styles. In summary, this study finds significant similarities on various aspects among newly married couples in American. Newly married couples usually love each other to a certain extend that they decided to get married. Therefore, similarities in newlywed may suggest that people are attracted to similarities rather than complementary to others, especially in age, religion, political views, education and intelligence. Application to the issue Is similarity related to attraction as the news article writers? This is an issue in social psychology termed as assortative mating which is defined to be the â€Å"nonrandom coupling of individuals based on their resemblance to each other on one or more characteristics (Buss, 1984). It is called positive assortment when significant similarity is found between husbands and wives. Conversely, it is called negative assortment when significant complementary is found among couples. To date, there is much more evidence on positive assortment rather than the negative assortment (Bouchard Loehlin, 2001; Mathews Reus, 2001). It suggests that people do prefer similarity in their romantic partners rather than differences. In fact, the empirical journal article above also confirms that many similarities are found among newly married couples (Watson et al., 2004). To be more specific, moderate similarity in educational attainment is also found among newlywed in the study (Watson et al., 2004). This may illustrate why similarly educated couples get together as said in the news article. Empirical Journal Article and Application to the Issue (2) Relationship with Similar Education Background Last Similarly educated couples getting together is only half of the story. The news article suggests that these couples also last longer. To be more accurate, the study being referred to finds that these couples have a lower risk of divorce comparing to couples with higher educated husbands. Why do similar couples divorce less? Do similar couples enjoy higher marital satisfaction? To be more specific, does similar education background associate with marital satisfaction? In Search of Empirical Journal Article Again, in search of supporting evidences, we make use of the scholarly journal database PsycINFO. To find the linkage between similarity in couples and satisfaction in their relationships, the keywords of â€Å"similarity† and â€Å"marital satisfaction† are used. There are 240 results in this preliminary searches, including 152 scholarly journals, 77 dissertations or thesis and 11 book. To further refine the search, one more keyword â€Å"socioeconomic† is added to explore specific if the similarity in socioeconomic status predicts marital satisfaction. Afterwards, 6 results are left. Related Empirical Journal Article Found Among the 6 results, an article titled â€Å"Does Similarity Breed Marital and Sexual Satisfaction† published in the Journal of Sex Research is selected (Zhang, Ho Yip, 2012). In this study, the researchers want to know if the similarity in couples is associated with marital satisfaction and sexual satisfaction. To take one step further, they also try to find out similarity in which aspects correlated stronger with marital satisfaction and sexual satisfaction than other aspects. This study makes use of the data from Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice survey in 2002. It is the longest running survey of family planning in Hong Kong. 1,083 couples are chosen randomly from groups stratified by their living districts. They were invited to an individual interview answering a number of questions. Information is collected on their marital satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, socioeconomic background, religion, age, educational attainment, employment, and birthplace. For each aspect, the researchers group the respondents according their similarity. For example, they divide the respondents into three education homogamy groups, namely husbands with higher education level, wives with higher education level and couples with the same education level. Then, for each group, the researchers further divide the respondents into martially satisfied or dissatisfied groups according to their scores of marital satisfaction. Finally, the researchers calculate the correlation between different groups and their marital satisfaction using chi-square tests. If significant correlation is found, it may suggest that similarity in certain aspect is associated with the marital and sexual satisfaction. In fact, this study finds out that education homogamy is a significant factor related to marital satisfaction especially the wives’ marital satisfaction. There are other influencing factors like employment homogamy, while some of them are not influencing like religious homogamy and birthplace homogamy. Application to the issue The news article says that â€Å"similarly educated couples last†. First of all, let’s look at what makes a marriage last before discussing why similarly educated couples last. In social psychology, there are sufficient evidences that marital satisfaction predicts divorce (Hirschberger et al., 2009). Marital satisfaction is defined as the global evaluation of the marital relationship, which depicts a general picture of the relationship (Glenn, 1990). Generally speaking, the more the couples are satisfied with their relationships, the less likely they will divorce. In layman terms, happy marriages last. If happy marriages last, is similarity related to marital satisfaction? There are evidences that couples with different age, religion, education or cultural have more conflicts than the counterpart (Cao, Fragmiere, Gauthier, Sapin Widmer, 2010). To be more specific, does similarity in educational attainment associate with marital satisfaction? In fact, the empirical journal article we found do suggest that education homogamy is correlated with marital satisfaction (Zhang, Ho Yip, 2012). This may illustrate why marriages of similarly educated couples last. To look at the reason behind, social psychologists suggest that similarity in attraction is enhanced by the positive feeling resulted from consensual validation (Byrne, 1971). Similar people usually share the same values and attitudes and they socially validated each other. We may guest that similarity in education predict similarity in other aspects, because education is correlated with socioeconomic status like occupation, lifestyles, and abilities (Zhang, Ho Yip, 2012). Therefore, more consensual validation may be found in education homogamy couples. As a result, the satisfaction resulted from social validation may influence the stability of their marriage. Conclusion In a nutshell, we read a news article from The Independent says â€Å"similarly educated couples last†. We first ask why similarly educated couples get together. Social psychology concepts show that people are attracted by similarity of others. We also find the first empirical journal article supporting that similarity in educational background is desirable in marriages (Watson et al., 2004). Then, we ask why similarly educated marriages last. A second empirical journal article shows that similarity in educational background is related to higher marital satisfaction (Zhang, Ho Yip, 2012). And marital satisfaction is associated with divorce (Hirschberger et al., 2009). These all together illustrated the issue that marriage between a similarly educated couple is less likely to divorce. References Bouchard, T. J. Jr., Loehlin, J. C. (2001). Genes, evolution, and personality. Behavior Genetics, 31, 243–273. Buss, D. M. (1984). Marital assortment for personality dispositions: Assessment with three different data sources. Behavior Genetics, 14, 111–123. Byrne, D. E. 1971. The Attraction Paradigm. New York: Academic Press. Cao, N. V., Fragmiere, E., Gauthier, J. A., Sapin, M., Widmer, E. D. (2010). Optimizing the marriage market: An application of the linear assignment model. European Journal of Operational Research, 202, 547–553. Glenn, N. D. (1990). Quantitative research on marital quality in the 1980s: A critical review. Journal of Marriage the Family, 52, 818–831. Hirschberger G., Srivastava S., Marsh P., Cowan C. P., Cowan P. A. (2009). Attachment, Marital Satisfaction, and Divorce During the First Fifteen Years of Parenthood. Personal Relationships, 16, 3, 401–420. Lusher, A. (2014, July 27). Gentlemen prefer brains: similarly educated couples last. The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/ science/gentlemen-prefer-brains-similarly-educated-couples-last-9631871.html Mathews, C. A., Reus, V. I. (2001). Assortative mating in the affective disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 42, 257–262. Schwartz, R. Han, H. (2014). The Reversal of the Gender Gap in Education and Trends in Marital Dissolution. American Sociological Review, 79(4), 605-629. Watson D., Klohnen E. C., Casillas A., Simms E.N., Haig J., Berry D.S. (2004). Match makers and deal breakers: analyses of assortative mating in newlywed couples. Journal of Personality, 72, 5, 1029-1068. Zhang H., Ho S. Y., Yip S. F. (2012). Does Similarity Breed Marital and Sexual Satisfaction? 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