Social Networking Essay Example for Free

Social Networking Essay Social networking sites such as Friendster, Linkedin, Spoke, Face book, MySpace and Twitter all vary slightly, yet the one main feature they have is that they enable users to create a profile within the website to represent themselves and allows uses to interact through email, instant messaging and other integrated communication channels within the site (Papacharissi, 2009). The popularity and growth of social networking sites over the past five years has been colossal, as many people from all over the world join up to this social phenomenon for varied reasons. Today, there are more than 500 million active users on face book and users spend over 700 billion minutes per month on this social networking site (Facebook, 2011). As the technology of Web 2. 0 improves and advances, social networking sites have an even bigger impact on society and human relationships, both positive and negative. This paper argues that social networking sites have a negative influence on children, teenagers and adults, increase the ease and prominence of cyber bullying, increase personal insecurities and feed addictions and weaken strong personal ties. This paper also argues that social networks create distraction and decrease productivity and profits within the workplace and can also can jeopardise a company’s reputation. Social networks also increase the ease of identity theft and bring to light other privacy issues as well as lead to an overall decrease in our face to face social skills and confidence. This paper will demonstrate that social networking sites do cause more harm than good. Identity Theft Identity theft is a huge problem in today’s society and has come about as a result of the rapid expansion and availability of internet technology and the increase in personal data found on social networking sites. In fact â€Å"A total of 806,000 Australians aged 15 years and over were victims of at least one incident of personal fraud in or identity theft in 2008† (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008). Sites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter facilate identity theft in two mains ways. The first being is that sites encourage you to ‘edit your profile’ this includes adding your interests, full name, where you live, who your top friends are, your email address and even personal details like your phone number an relationship status. â€Å"Users share a variety of information about themselves on their Facebook profiles, including photos, contact information, and tastes in movies and books. †(Jones amp; Soltren, 2005). This information disclosure causes a huge problem as the more information you have on your profile the easier it is for identity thieves to verify themselves as being you. The second main issue is the privacy settings on these social networking sites also help faccilate personal fraud. Whilst there are built in features that allow users to change their privacy settings and not allow other users to view such personal details, these settings are never default, so that users are usually unaware how much information they are sharing not only with their friends, but with the rest of the world â€Å"By default, profiles on Friendster and Tribe. net are crawled by search engines, making them visible to anyone, regardless of whether or not the viewer has an account† (Boyd amp; Ellison, 2007). A general lack of awareness amongst users and the fact that digital identity can be easily hacked makes social networking sites a hub for identity theft which results in unwanted legal hassles, loss of money and years of trying to re-establish a victim’s credit and good name (Acquisti amp; Gross, 2006). This is why it is important for â€Å"users of social network systems to be aware of the value of the data they are making available online and of the ways that is can pote3nitally be used† (Donath amp; Boyd 2004). Furthermore another privacy issue that social networking sites face is that they encourage users to overshare very private information that can easily be used against them. For example the location based social networking site Foursquare encourages users to ‘check in’ at various locations to win points and earn badges and discounts. However these ‘check ins’ are in real time and essentially users notify others where they are, but more importantly when they aren’t home. For strangers and thieves this is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of such knowledge and rob someone’s house while they are out. A web site called â€Å"Please rob me† has been set up to raise awareness about over-sharing and highlights these kinds of privacy issues that social networks create â€Å"Location based services also raise myriads of privacy issues due to the ability to collect, store, use and disclose the locations of users. † (Anuar amp; Gretzel, 2010). In this respect social networks like these pose serious privacy concerns. Cyber bullying Cyber bullying refers to â€Å"bullying through information and communication technologies† (Webster, n. ), mediums such as, emails, mobile phone text messages, phone calls, internet chat rooms, instant messaging and most importantly and recently, social networking websites such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo (Webster, n. d). Whilst cyber bullying is not physical it’s emotional and psychological effects are devastating for the victim and can often lead to suicide and depression (Hinduja amp; Patchin, 2010). Cyber bulling in terms of s ocial networks is a huge issue as more than 50% of American teenagers aged from 12 to 17 use social networking sites (Hall, 2010). Online bullying is often seen as the easy way out. Social Networking sites act as a platform where bullies can say things they might not usually say to someone in person, anonymity and less physical proximity act as a wall between the bully and the victim, none the less, the words or rumours that are shared are still just as hurtful. Bullies often feel more confident online and they can contact their victims any time, anywhere, day or night, not just in the school yard (Smith et al. , 2008). For example in 2009 a 14 year old girl committed suicide as a direct result of cyber bulling. The daughter’s mother spoke out in an ABC news report and explained that â€Å"Friday night she was on the internet and told me about some message that had come through, and she wanted to die because of the message. I laid in bed with her and we discussed it for about an hour and she left me fairly happy. I can guarantee you if she didn’t go on the internet Friday night she’d be alive today. † (Dikeos, 2009). Additionally another well know case of cyber bulling that resulted in suicide was the case of Megan Meier who was constantly teased tormented and riven to her death from intense cyber bulling. â€Å"13 year old Megan began receiving nasty messages from a boy after a few weeks of an online flirtation with him, via her MySpace account, ending with one that suggested ‘the world would be a better place’ without her. Megan, believing she had been rejected by â€Å"Josh,† committed suicide in her home. † Times Topics, Megan Meier. (2011). The sad part was that Josh was ust a fictional character, created by a mother of one of Megan’s former friends. These two case studies bring to light the fact that cyber bulling is a massive problem that is not only exists all over the world, but is only made possible by the use of social networking sites. Without such platforms for bullies to target their victims the rate of teen suicide and depression would most likely drop. Groups on facebook can be created to make fun of or abuse particular people or ideas. On facebook I found groups titled â€Å"I hate Kevin Rudd† and on their wall things like â€Å" F**k you Kevin! and â€Å"I can’t believe they let this di***ead become foreign minister†. Also a recent incident that was covered on the news showed the negative comments towards babies and their parents over facebook surrounding the ‘Bonds Baby Search’. Some comments under a photos said â€Å"A child only a mother could love† and another baby was called an â€Å"ugly duckling† (Cute baby competition turns ugly, 2011). Comments like these are spiteful not only to the babies, but for their parents as well. This in itself is another form of cyber bullying that has been made possible via the increased use of social networking sites. It is clear that social networking sites aid in the prominence of cyber bulling which is just one of the negative impacts that social working sites has on society today. The weakening of strong ties amp; isolation The way we communicate with our peers and with strangers over the internet is changing. Another negative impact that social networks have on our relationships is the fact that whilst they might strengthen our weak ties we have with acquaintances and people we don’t see often, they are in fact weakening our strong ties and also bring about physical social isolation. The term ‘social networking’ misleads people into believing they are being social, â€Å"Facebook isn’t considered a social network but more a public phone book or search engine. Contact is minimal and impersonal (Carr, 2010). The news feed feature on facebook and twitter keeps us in the loop with everything that our close friends and family are doing. Why would one call their friend to ask them what they got up to on the weekend, when clearly all they have to do is look at their news feed and find all the details along with pictures entailing their lives. Traditionally we would regularly call each other, or go out of the way to catch up. Nowadays the urge to contact each other over the phone or even face to face isn’t as important because we feel like we are still connected via social networks ( Thomas, 2007). This idea of constantly being connected is awful in the way that personal interactions between friends are more superficial than they were before Facebook and other social networking sites. Users are also more likely to let more time pass between face to face encounters because they still feel like they are in contact as they constantly have tabs on all of their friends. A case study that was done in America revealed that â€Å" twenty-five percent of the respondents in the 2004 survey appear to have no close ties, up from ten percent in 1984. Additionally a similar study amongst college student found that â€Å"1 in 7 say that social networking sites increase feelings of isolation† (Katonda News Network, 2010) As well as â€Å"Nearly 70% report reading posts from someone close to them that seemed like a cry for emotional help, and while most students would offer support in some way, fewer than half would make a personal visit† (Katonda News Network , 2010). It is clear that the rise of social networks has increased social and emotional isolation and diluted the strength our human relationships. Workplace interference Social networking sites can have a negative impact in the workplace, for both employers for employees and future employees. They create distraction, decrease productivity, cost companies money, can jeopardise a company’s reputation and legal liability and for those users who don’t have their profiles set to private can often result in unemployment. If every employee in a 50-strong workforce spent 30 minutes on a social networking site every day, that would work out to a loss of 6,500 hours of productivity in one year! † (Kelleher, 2009). Social networking sites can also be damaging for prospective employees looking for work ,as facebook and MySpace are fantastic resources for companies as they offer revealing information about a candidate’s true colours. Several profiles often contain awkward and embarrassing information that job seekers would not want their future managers to know about themselves. According to a new study conducted by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder. com, 45 percent of employers questioned are using social networks to screen job candidates† (Wortham, 2009).. Moreover, there have been many instances where personal status updates or blog posts have hurt or damaged a companies reputation, thus seeing many employees loose their jobs over mindless updates that they didn’t think twice about. For example in 2010, Jaguar ambassador and swimmer Stephanie Rice tweeted â€Å"Suck on that f**gots,† (Robertson, 2010) after a rugby game the Wallabies had won. Many twitter users and public figures referred to it as a gay slur and even after a public apology, Jaguar Australia general manager Kevin Goult announced that â€Å"Jaguar Australia today terminated its relationship with Stephanie Rice, who has been an ambassador for the Jaguar brand in Australia since the start of 2010. †(Robertson, 2010). Another fine example of one employee who damaged his reputation before he even stared at his new job was a Cisco employee who tweeted â€Å"Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty pay check against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work† It wasn’t long before Tim Levad, a channel partner advocate for Cisco Alert, shared this open response, â€Å"Who is the hiring manager. I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web. †( Popkin, 2009)It is clear that social networking sites can have a damaging effect on not only employees but the companies themselves. Users are unfortunately unaware that everything they post on their profile is public information and even if your profile is set to private your boss or work colleagues may still be fronted with this information at some stage in the future. As social networking sites become more popular by the day, the rise of negative social effects within our society also greaten. We have and will see further instances of cyber bullying; more cases of identity theft and additional privacy breaches. We will also see our strong relationships diluted to a more superficial and ‘convenient’ type of relationship. We will continue to see a further decrease in productivity within workplace and also more instances of company’s reputations and names being brought into disrepute. Social networking sites have had a huge negative impact on our mental and social health and will continue to do so into the future. It is also now evident that social networking sites facilitate all these problems, and without them they would cease to exist. Therefore it is undeniably true that Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and the like do in fact cause more harm than good. References: Acquisti, A amp; R, Gross. (2006).

Structure of the judiciary power

Structure of the judiciary power Introduction Every society in the human history confronted the question of how disputes should be resolved. Independence of the judiciary is the principle that the judiciary should be politically insulated from the legislative and the executive power. Courts should not be influenced by the other branches of government. Different nations deal with the idea of judicial independence through different means of judicial selection. An independent judicial branch is one of the main guarantees of democratic system of government and it ensures the rule of law so that it is free from outside influences and judges can render cases only due to the law and facts. The importance of the independent judicial system in England were established in the beginning of 11th century, when William The Conqueror come to throne in 1066 and had started settling new laws in the whole England (today is known as Common Law) and also had fixed by The doctrine of the separation of powers. Whereas, In Kazakhstan legal system the Judicial power as the legal category is rather new. On 30th August 1995 on the basis of the Declaration of Independence the Constitution of The Republic of Kazakhstan had been accepted and it covered the initial principles and appointments of independence of judges (The Constitution of The Republic of Kazakhstan, 1995). Firstly, I would like to return to the past of the UK to observe the formation way of the power structure, which we have today. The ideas based on a modern principle of division of the authorities, for the first time was expressed by Aristotle, in his fourth book named, Politician. He formulated the idea of separating the power in the state on three parts: legislative, official, judicial; each of the authorities should be represented by the separate body. The further development of the theory of division of the authorities is bound to John Lock and Charles Louis Montesquieu, who have carried out the most thorough working out of this principle. Later on, by the end of 18th and the beginning 19th century, the principle of division of the authorities was recognised in many states. Next paragraph separately exposes the origin ways of each power branch in the UK. The Parliament The British Parliament is one of the oldest parliaments in the world. It is often named foremother, but in my opinion it would be more exactly to call it forefather of all parliament systems in the world, and it continues to function throughout the whole political history of the country since the second half of 13th century. Formation and development of The British Parliament occurred during XII and XV centuries. Considerable value of this long process traditionally was attracted by a crown of the higher nobility to the decision of the state, affairs monarchy going back to its origin. Meetings of the Kings vassals, from the middle of XII century, became an obligatory part of the state life and they were the historical beginning of the class representations. The ancestor of legislative system of England was the Curia Regis (the council of tenants-in-chief) it was created by William The Conqueror, who brought to England the feudal system from his native Normandy after the Norman conquest in 1066, and was granting land to his most important military supporters, further the supporters were granting that land to their own supporters thereby creating feudal hierarchy of England. Eventually this council has developed into the Parliament of England, and now includes the head of the state (monarch), chamber of lords (historically chamber of the nobility and the higher clergy) and the House of Commons (historically chamber of commoners). The Monarch and Government Formation of strong English government begun in the beginning of 12th century when English people were victims of intestine wars and feudal anarchy. This severe historical experience had definitively convinced English people that nothing but the strong central power and the wide state organisation can serve for them against those harms. Reducer of the reeled English state order was Henry II Plantagenet (years of board 1154-1189). During Henrys reformatory activities people against feudal lords joined him and it can be said that absolute monarchy formation in England begun with him. The restrictions of the monarchs power began being introduced in the beginning of the 13th century, when the English nobility forced King John to recognize the certain document named, Magna Carta. The constitutional monarchy in that way we see it today, has developed and has become stronger in 18th and 19th centuries when function to administer the affairs of the state has passed to the Cabinet which were appointed from elective parliament. The Cabinet has arisen before the bourgeois revolution of 17th century on the basis of secret council, as the narrow board helping the king to quickly solve the important problems of the government. At first this body completely depended on the monarchy. Further, by the end of 18th century and the beginning of 19th century, it was ceased to be a subsidiary organ of the Royal management and should lean against Parliament support. As the result by that time it started being recognised that the Cabinet should have the majority of voices in Parliament and the head of it should be the Prime minister. The Legislative If the legislative and executive powers are assigned on the exactly higher state body then the judicial power is much more difficult. It is assigned to set of judicial bodies from the local Supreme. Each judicial body is independent and it has own place in the system, resolving concrete affairs absolutely independently. The todays judicial power of England has arises from 1178, when Henry II appointed five members of his personal household to hear all the complaints of the realm and to do right, however the role of the Lord Chancellor was still formal and judgements were a prerogative of the King. Such situation had been existing till Glorious Revolution, the acceptance of the Bill of Rights in 1689 and the Act of Settlement in 1701. After those changes the power of the monarch was essentially limited and courts received independence and leadership of the law. The doctrine traditionally demands separate of powers, that the state system of the power must be divided into three branches and each branch is not only supplemented by two others, but also could be balance. As I said above, the judicial power became independent from executive, legislative and Royal powers when The Bill of Rights 1689 was introduced. According to the Bill the monarch was deprived to a duty to support and supervise judicial system, and the right of the Queen was only to dismiss judges on ministerial council. However, until recent time the principle of separate of powers in the Great Britain was not completely observed. So that the Lord Chancellor being the head of the judicial power in the Great Britain simultaneously was the member of the Cabinet and a member of Lords chambers. Moreover, the Lord Chancellor was appointed to the post by the Queen on representation of the Prime Minister. In July 2003, Tony Blairs government tried to make radical changes to a judicial branch of the power and declared plans to cancel a post of the Lord Chancellor to abolish the system of Law Lords and to replace it with separate Supreme Court. These plans caused considerable contradictions, and finally, Prime Minister decided to change, instead of cancelling an ancient role of the Lord Chancellor. Reform of the role of the Lord Chancellor has started the process of separating his various duties making clear distinction between the government, Parliament and the judicial power. Kazakhstan 16 December 1991, the Parliament of the on the Republic declared the independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Republic Kazakhstan was formed. During the period 1991-1995, the political system and Constitutional legislation of the Republic were formed. The first Constitution of sovereign Kazakhstan was adopted in January 1993. Being to some extent a compromise between the old and new political systems, reflecting attempts to introduce into the post-Soviet context a western democratic model, this Constitution initially contained some contradiction which occasionally took the form of unnatural opposition and resistance of power. As a result of the Referendum held on 30 August 1995, a new Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan was adopted, eliminating the shortcomings of the former constitution. The new Constitution established a Presidential Republic, and solved rationally the problem of divided responsibilities among different branches of power, while also welcoming changes to the market system. According to Article 3 of the Constitution states that the state power in the Republic of Kazakhstan is unified and executed on the basis of the Constitution and laws in accordance with the principle of its division into the legislative, executive and judicial branches and a system of checks and balances that governs their interaction. The legislative branch comprises Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan (the Senate and the Majilis). The executive branch comprises the Cabinet of Ministers, state committees, others central and local executive bodies of the Republic. The judicial branch comprises the Supreme Court and Constitutional Council and local courts (regional, district and others). The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the head of state, its highest official determining the main directions of the domestic and foreign policy of the state and representing Kazakhstan within the country and in international relations. He shall ensure by his arbitration concerted functioning of all branches of state power and responsibility of the institutions of power before the people. (Art. 40 of the Constitution). The President is elected every seven years on the basis of universal suffrage. One and the same person may not be elected the President of the Republic more than two times in a row. Nursultan Nazarbaev has been the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan since 1 December 1991. Parliament The highest representative body of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the bicameral Parliament. According to the Presidents Decree having force of Constitutional Law  «On elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan » (1995) the parliament will consist of two chambers the Senate and the Majilis and work on professional base. Parliament at a joint session of the Chambers: introduces amendments and makes additions to the Constitution; adopts constitutional laws, approves the republican budget, the reports of the Government, and the Accounts Committee about its implementation, and introduces changes into the budget; conducts a second round of discussion and voting on the laws or articles of the law; hears the report of the Prime Minister on the Governments program and approves or rejects the program and annual messages of the Constitutional Council of the Republic on the state of the constitutional legality in the Republic or reports on the activity of the commissions; decides issues of war and peace; adopts a decision concerning the use of the Armed Forces of the Republic to fulfill international obligations in support of peace and security at the proposal of the President of the Republic; puts forward an initiative calling for an all-nation referendum; exercises other powers assigned to Parliament by the Constitution. The Government The Government is appointed by the President and accountable to the Parliament. It implements the executive power in Kazakhstan, heads the system of executive bodies and exercise supervision of their activity. Judicial Authority Justice in the Republic of Kazakhstan is exercised only by the court. The judicial system in the Republic consists of the Supreme Court Republic of Kazakhstan, the highest judicial body, and regional, district, town, and city courts. (Art.75) The Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan shall be the highest judicial body for civil, criminal and other cases which are under the courts of general jurisdiction; exercises the supervision over their activities in the forms of juridical procedure stipulated by law, and provide interpretation on the issues of judicial practice. The chairman of the Supreme Court is the judge and is appointed to the post by the President with the consent of the Senate of Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Independence of the judicial power in Kazakhstan completely based on the Constitution and the Constitutional Law named, About courts and the status of judges, and the guarantor of the constitution is the President. However, the theory of division of the authorities does not assume creation of the Chinese wall between various branches of the power. That is also impossible, as their interaction and interdependence are the questions of uniform institutes and the government shall be necessarily differentiated from its branches, generating an interlacing of some elements. The general meaning of the modern legal doctrine are the connection of ideas of unity and division of the authorities, their interactions and system of controls and counterbalances. Such understandings are reflected in the newest constitutions. The most distinctive expression is the point 4 of article 3 of the Constitution of Republic Kazakhstan of 1995 which says: the Government in Republic Kazakhstan is uniform, is carried out on the basis of the Constitution and laws according to a principle of its division into legislative, executive and judicial branches and their interactions among themselves with use of system of controls and counterbalances. Basically the Kazakhstans and English models of the judicial power are very difficult to compare moreover they are based on various legal foundations. English system of the Right is based on judicial precedent and actually courts of England create laws. In Kazakhstan the system is based on the code system of the right, such as the constitution, the constitutional laws, codes etc., and the Kazakhstan courts in contrast to English courts do not have the legislative initiative. It is believed that the judicial power is the weakest branch and it does not lean against wish of voters as the legislature, has no power for compulsion as the Executive. The force of the judicial power is in respect from the civilised society to the right and court. Here again we can see considerable distinctions. In that number, and in relations of other branches of the power both judicial in England and Kazakhstan. The execution institute of court decisions in England is so accurate also punishment for default so serious, that the practical excludes concept  «default of the decision of court » and communication with what, the authority of the judicial power is indisputable. Since independence Kazakhstan has undertaken huge efforts for a raising of courts authority, however corruption and a principle of the telephone right create for this purpose very big obstacles. Also I would like to stop in detail on the status English of judges put in English statutes. According to this statutes judge are appointed for life. In Kazakhstan the similar norm of the law does not exist. And although the legal judge is appointed to the post and dismissed by the President of Republic, the nonflexible system of estimations of activity of the judges allow to the chairman of courts easily release the judges who was not undesirable to him.

What is the Definition of Terrorism? :: Terrorist vs Freedom Fighter

The concept of terrorism is exceedingly difficult to define. Author Gerald Seymour first said in his book Harry’s Game that, â€Å"One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter†. Each individual may view terrorism in a different light. Because of this, there is currently no universal definition of terrorism. However in recent years, it has become increasingly more important to form a definition of terrorism, especially while working in the media. The word terror dates back to the French Revolution. â€Å"A terrorist was, in its original meaning, a Jacobin who ruled France during la Terruer† (Moeller 20). Terrorism has clearly become much broader in the years since its origination. Since the concept was first birthed in France it has been used for separatist, nationalistic, political and religious ends, etc. In the book â€Å"Packaging Terrorism†, author Susan Moeller states that, â€Å"the goal of terrorism is to send a message, not to defeat the enemy†. I think this is an incredibly important concept when one is trying to define terrorism. The goal of terrorism is more about inspiring fear. Terrorists do not generally target high-up government officials, but innocent civilians like those killed in September 11. When an act of terrorism is committed, the effect spreads beyond the victim. When members of Black September killed the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, there were 11 victims of the attack. Black September’s target, however, was greater than just the Israeli athletes. They inflicted a worldwide terror. When defining terrorism, one must realize that the message is often the goal of the attack. The U.S. Department of State defines terrorism as, â€Å"The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological†. Whereas the Belgium Red Cross says that terrorism is committed â€Å"for the purpose of intimidating the population, forcing a third party to act or destablishing or destroying the fundamental structures of a country or of an international organization†.

Artificial Intelligence :: Essays Papers

Artificial Intelligence The computer revolution has influenced everyday matters from the way letters are written to the methods in which our banks, governments, and credit card agencies keep track of our finances. The development of artificial intelligence is just a small percentage of the computer revolution and how society deals with, learns, and incorporates artificial intelligence. It will only be the beginning of the huge impact and achievements of the computer revolution. A standard definition of artificial intelligence, or AI, is that computers simply mimic behaviors of humans that would be regarded as intelligent if a human being did them. However, within this definition, several issues and views still conflict because of ways of interpreting the results of AI programs by scientists and critics. The most common and natural approach to AI research is to ask of any program, what can it do? What are the actual results in comparison to human intelligence? For example, what matters about a chess-playing program is how good it is. Can it possibly beat chess grand masters? There is also a more structured approach in assessing artificial intelligence, which began opening the door of the artificial intelligence contribution into the science world. According to this theoretical approach, what matters is not the input-output relations of the computer, but also what the program can tell us about actual human cognition (Ptack, 1994). From this point of view, artificial intelligence can not only give a commercial or business world the advantage, but also a understanding and enjoyable beneficial extend to everyone who knows how to use a pocket calculator. It can outperform any living mathematician at multiplication and division, so it qualifies as intelligent under the definition of artificial intelligence. This fact does not entertain the psychological aspect of artificial intelligence, because such computers do not attempt to mimic the actual thought processes of people doing arithmetic (Crawford, 1994). On the other hand, AI programs that simulate human vision are theoretical attempts to understand the actual processes of human beings and how they view and interpret the outside world. A great deal of the debate about artificial intelligence confuses the two views, so that sometimes success in artificial intelligence's practical application is supposed to provide structured or theoretical understanding in thi s branch of science known as cognitive science. Chess-playing programs are a good example.

Essay --

The United States was founded on the right to pursue happiness, just as it was founded on the right for everyone to be considered equal. According to Americas forefather’s equality is innate and the truth to this is undeniable. If our forefather’s saw the kind of equality the world was striving for in today’s society, our forefather’s would be turning over their graves. Being separated from what is socially acceptable is not always easy. When most people are being normal, are they really acting normal- or are they just pretending? There are benchmarks that society has drilled people into believing to be true. These benchmarks are inherently unrealistic expectations that people deem to be true. In the Coca-Cola commercial a girl tries many times through trial and error to look socially acceptable, after much frustration she realizes that the only way she can be happy is if she puts on clothes and makeup she’s comfortable with. Yes society is broken, but we are society so let the change begin with us. By being around people that like us for who we are, accepting our faults, and finding ourselves in society- we can learn to be ourselves. One of the most important qualities in life is being able to find peace of mind but this quality is hard to find if society is constantly following other people’s rules. In the Coca-Cola commercial the girl realizes that even though she look’s socially acceptable, she will only be happy if she wears clothes she’s comfortable with. In today’s society it’s hard to find people that go against what everyone else has conformed to, and when this is seen it makes it even more special, because it creates a chain reaction. When this occurred, the girl acquired insight and emerged as her own person, now being ... ...because that way we can be comfortable and let down out walls that expose our real personality. If we spend time trying to meet this benchmark that society tries so hard to make true- we will always be frustrated, just like how the protagonist was in the commercial. Our faults and weaknesses only make us human and are always inevitable, but when we are surrounded with people that love us for who we are, we learn that these so called â€Å"flaws† only make us unique and are at peace with who we are. Society is at fault for setting this cookie cutter image that a lot of people deem to be true, but these benchmarks are always farfetched which is why people aren’t happy with who they are trying to be. Being able to step in the world without caring what other people think is a great and empowering feeling. Because we only have one life to live- we might as well be ourselves.

Analysis of the “Doctor in the house” by Richard Gordon

This text is an extract from the book â€Å"Doctor in the house† written by Richard Gordon. He was born in 1921. He has been an anaesthetist at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, a ship's surgeon and an assistant editor of the British Medical Journal. He left medical practice in 1952 and started writing his â€Å"Doctor† series. The novels were very successful in Britain during the 1960s and 1970s. â€Å"Doctor in the House† is one of Gordon's twelve â€Å"Doctor† books and is noted for witty description of a medical student's years of professional training.The text under analysis belong to the psychological type and description type as it is concerned mainly with the emotional actions of the characters. This text is narration with elements of dialogues. The style of written prose is formal. Author mainly uses past tenses, but present – in dialogues. The events in the text refer to the real world and the author seeks to judge the text subjectively. The tex t under consideration is a witty and humorous description of such a hard and important thing in students’ life as their final exams.The author shows us the condition of students before, during and after exams, therefore, the aim of the text is to describe the students’ feelings, emotion and preparations for them. The subject-matter of this text is about sitting for examinations. The author tries to show the reader different actions and feelings during the passing the examinations. The composition of this text consists of the following components: exposition, when the author gives the concept of an examination. narration, when the author describes passing the examinations, an interesting story about passing an examination at Cambridge.climax, when the author shows the examination results. The ending is absent it means that the structure is opened. In that text Author shows us in detail the process of examination, but tries to show it through different actions and feelin gs of students during the passing the exams. The main character is medical student R. Gordon and his student-colleagues. The story takes place at the examination room when their fate is being decided. The atmosphere in the text is filled with tension and pressure that is drawn on hero by the situation and conflict he is facing.We learn about the students well, because the author has created true-to-life characters, even more so the Author was passing the examinations himself. The author proves to be a real master. And he employs a lot of expressive means and stylistic devices to make the story vivid and bright. The text is emotionally moving, and some details produce an emotional reaction. The conflict is to be considered as tension in the story. This particular extract of the book gives us the idea of uncontrollable force impersonated by examinations against the student whose fate is in their hands.At some point oral exam becomes some kind of a lottery for the hero â€Å"to winâ⠂¬  the question he know answer to. However the real answer here is with the hero himself, struggling against his lack of self-confidence which marks the inner conflict and the unfairness of life The type of conflict here is Person and Self. The story is told from first person narration and we can see the situation with his own eyes. The main character – medical student R. Gordon is round and dynamic character. Author tells us about him nothing, because he wants to say that Gordon is an ordinary student.Author uses indirect method of characterization, and we can learn something of him only through his feelings. The general slant of the text, judging from the peculiar usage of epithets and metaphors with intentionally tragic coloring towards common life situations is comic. Let`s simply remember the comparison of written papers exam room with the court hall, the doors of which are flanked by dispassionate porters and the judge sits above all, just the way the invigilator was placed.Another vivid example is the simile of viva waiting room to the condemned cell, which seemed incredibly accurate to the student but to the reader it only proved how very afraid of viva the narrator was. For example by a simile â€Å"the final examinations are something like death† the author shows condition of a student before an examination as close to death, â€Å"like a prize-fighter† also shows a contest, then the author compares, using the simile, the students that want to produce a certain impression and looking at professor like the â€Å"impressionable music enthusiasts gazing at the solo violinist†.Author uses a lot of very bright and vivid similes in order to give us a chance to feel the nerves and stress characters felt – â€Å"My palms were as wet as sponges†. Medical textbooks compared through metaphor to a â€Å"well-trodden paths†. Also the usage of hyperbolas lets us to understand how the hero felt while expecting the results â€Å"room had suddenly come to a frightening, unexpected silence and stillness, like an unexploded bomb†. The author brilliantly uses the allusion referring to the Bible’s Judgment day. We discover that final exams are death and the Secretary as an archangel corresponds where they would go to the paradise or to hell.â€Å"The candidate would step up closely to the Secretary, who would say simply â€Å"Pass† or â€Å"Failed†. Successful men would go upstairs to receive the congratulations and handshakes of the examiners and failures would slink miserably out of the exit to seek the opiate oblivion. † This extract is constructed around the single theme which can be formulated as procedure of the exams. The author uses numerous thematic words, such as: the student, the final examinations, the exams, to prepare, the examiners, cheating, textbooks, to swot up, the written papers, uniformed, examinees, knowledge, tripos, viva, marking, grading, to pass and so on.Besides the basic theme the text touches upon many very important secondary themes: the psychological types of students, cheating at the exams, students’ prejudice, disadvantage of women student at the exams, the psychological pressure of the process of the examination on the students. The main idea conveyed by the author may be expressed as: the final examinations are reason for a great psychological pressure and a real challenge for the students. The following key words can prove it: student, exams, viva, writing papers, contest, prize-fighter, fighting spirit, to hope, to hit, depressing and others.Thanks to an interesting subject this story occupies the reader’s attention. It makes us to empathize with the students and feel their psychological state. But despite of numerous frightful similes we may see ironical slant of text which make it interesting to read. Having read only one fragment from the â€Å"Doctor in the house†, I found that Ri chard Gordon is a talented writer, who could perfectly reflect the students’ emotion avoided usage of cliches and shown the common issue of young people with self-confidence and self-esteem from the angle of irony.

Quantitative Research Design Essay

Business research is, arguably, founded on the study of social interactions within the realm of commerce and trade. Until recently, such research has seen staunch counter-position of two research paradigms: quantitative and qualitative, the first deriving from positivism, the latter from interventionism. Indeed, the positions taken by individual researchers vary considerably between those like Bryman (1988) who argues for a â€Å"best of both worlds† approach by suggesting that qualitative and quantitative approaches be combined to those of scholars like Hughes (1997) whom counteracts by stating that such technicist solutions underestimate the politics of legitimacy that are associated with the choice of methods. It is the purpose of this essay to analyze these two research frameworks highlighting the positive aspects as well as the flaws and limits, and highlighting the rise of what is often referred to as the â€Å"mixed† method. All of this will be seen within a business contest. Specifically, looking at the author’s proposed future research in the realm of commercial negotiations, the arguments presented will reflect this sphere of research. Quantitative and qualitative research are based on different philosophical approaches and methodologies. Quantitative research derives from neo-positivist philosophy which underlines the belief in the presence of an absolute truth as its core foundation. This perspective of seeing the world translates in the utilization of research approaches founded on scientific analysis through statistical elaborations and mathematical models. The qualitative approach by contrast, does not highlight the presence of absolute truths but rather truths which are dependent on the particular perspective from which a phenomenon is observed through. This off-course entails that qualitative research is undertaken primarily through the adoption of narrative and logical deduction. These differences appear encapsulated in Best & Khan’s (1989: 90-90) statement: â€Å"Quantitative research consists of those studies in which the data concerned can be analysed in terms of numbers†¦Research can also be quantitative, that is, it can describe events, persons and so forth scientifically without the use of numerical data†¦Quantitative research is more open and responsive to its subject. † From a first glance, it appears clear that there are substantial differences between the quantitative and qualitative approaches. Indeed, the way data is obtained, the flexibility in methodological application, the objective and subjective nature of the results obtained, are just a few of the most evident points of contrast. Such contracts has resulted in what has been defined as the â€Å"paradigm wars† which has highlighted and emphasized the incompatibility of the two approaches. For a protracted period of time the quantitative approach has been seen the best form of research for two main sets of reason. Firstly, scientific progress in the last century has projected the notion of the scientific approach as the most apt for explaining the world around us. Secondly, the advent of the â€Å"information age† from the 1980’s has seen the ability of elaborating a vast amount of data electronically thus further promoting the scientific approach as the best method to adopt for research. Recently however, the divide between the quantitative and qualitative has diminished to the point of many scholars advocating a debate on the merits of a mixed research methodology utilizing the strengths of both schools of thought. Indeed, the quest for obtaining the best possible research result has seen a reconceptualization of research methods with an integration of the two main philosophies which may be used to converge and convalidate (defined as â€Å"triangulation†), refute data or indeed inform new paths of enquiry. Indeed, research papers today often contain statistical data derived from the quantitative methodology which is then presented and formulated in interviews which put the data into the â€Å"real-world† perspective. The integration of the two approaches also makes sense when one starts to look at the commonalities between them. Indeed, both approaches share the following characteristics: -Research project design -Identification of information -Information management -Analysis of data -Empirical observations There are many other characteristics which instead differentiate quantitative and qualitative research, but a growing group of scholars are now perceiving these differences as positive in that they may reinforce rather than detract from each other. This is often referred to as â€Å"triangulation† and I believe this to be of paramount importance within the context of business research. Indeed, just like the integrated approach, the business sphere also is a mixture and fusion of statistics, and â€Å"hard† financial data in conjunction with â€Å"softer† narrative explanations derived from interviews, and focus groups. Delving even more specifically into my proposed realm of research which centers around the commercial negotiation methodologies adopted in multicultural environments and frontier markets, the integrated approach is, in my opinion, the only approach capable of providing a true and accurate framework for developing such research. This claim is further upheld if one considers the eleven ways in which it is possible to combine qualitative and quantitative research methods: 1)Logic of triangulation in which the findings from one type of study can be checked against the findings from the other type as above highlighted; 2)Facilitation of qualitative research for quantitative research. In this instance the qualitative research informs the quantitative method by providing essential background information and a context; 3)Facilitation of quantitative research for qualitative research. In this occurrence quantitative research methodology helps to inform the qualitative one by providing a filter and narrowing down the subjects which merit further investigation. 4)Quantitative and qualitative approaches are combined into one thereby furnishing a more in-depth analysis. 5)Structure & process.