The Roman Identity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Roman Identity - Essay Example Traditions were supported with the mos maiorum. According to tradition the father was the one who made decisions in the family. These decisions were as basic as acknowledging parentage when a baby was born to deciding who his children would marry. In a larger sense Roman society had identity defined by where they were (Alban vs. Roman, etc.), city names and traditions specific to cities. In Livy's book one, the first paragraph shows how the Romans took their beliefs seriously especially when it came to hospitality: "To begin with, it is generally admitted that after the capture of Troy, whilst the rest of the Trojans were massacred, against two of them--Aeneas and Antenor--the Achivi refused to exercise the rights of war, partly owing to old ties of hospitality". (Livy, 1.1) Rules, written or unwritten were important to the Romans. Later in the first chapter Livy records how the issue of hospitality reared its head again when Romulus invited all the nearest peoples to a celebration. When the people were in his city they were invited into Roman homes throughout the city. A signal was given and Roman youths carried away the unmarried women. Of course this made a lot of people upset and Romulus was accused of violating the rules of hospitality: maidens retired, complaining of the violated compact of hospitality, and invoking the god, to whose solemn festival and games they had come, having been deceived by the pretence of religion and good faith." (Livy 1.) The compact of hospitality shows commitment of the Romans and their guests to certain rules, principals, or values. By ordering the women carried off Romulus was, in fact, violating the rights of the fathers to decide who their daughters would marry (called patria potestas). This was Romulus' attempt to solve the problem of too few women in his community. It was paterfamilias that gave the father this right to rule over his family. Roman society outside the home was an extension of paterfamilias. Outside the family the Romans belonged to a patron who took care of his charges during good and bad times. This patron in turn received the support of his charges. The selection is quoted to show how committed the people of that time were to their beliefs, religion, and good faith and how their beliefs/laws were violated. The Rome that Livy writes about contains numerous examples of how important family values were. Rome's growth was physical and moral. The Romans were caught up in the beauty of their land and the love for their families: "Before they had become united in spirit by commitment to wives and children and by love for the soil the nation not yet grown up, would have been torn apart by dissension" (Livy, 2.1) The challenge to maintain the values and virtues of Roman society was met with temptations and excesses. Many Romans fell to these temptations: "There has never been any state grander, purer, or richer in good examples, or one into which greed and luxury gained entrance so late" (Preface) "Among the Roman youth there were several of high birth who had lived under the monarchy a more irresponsible and pleasure seeking lifemissed the license that had been theirs and with everyone now enjoying equal rights they began to complain

Profit Maximization An Actual or Theoretical Objective Term Paper

Profit Maximization An Actual or Theoretical Objective - Term Paper Example If the results are observed to have positive impacts on profits, only then that decision is taken into consideration for further implementation. There are number of reasons due to which the model of profit maximization receives attention.it is encouraged because of undeniable and sustainable advantages which it offers to the business. Some of them include: Measurement Standard For identifying the performance of a firm, the first question is asked whether the firm is yielding profits or incurring losses. The higher the profits are earned, the better the performance of the firm. This phenomenon is not merely theoretical but its implications can be seen in the real world also. For instance, before investing into any specific firm, the first thing that investors examine is whether the firm is earning profits or not. Investors never invest in any loss making firm and always make a portfolio of firms that are generating higher profits (Kaneda and Matsui, 2003). Survival of Firm Profits are directly linked with firm’s survival. A company that is incurring losses is more likely to get bankrupt irrespective of its history or past performance (Dwivedi, 2012). The example of Kodak can be quoted here. Despite of its experience of 131 years, the company filed for bankruptcy in January 2012. The company could not hold its position and began to incur losses due to which it could not survive and ultimately, collapsed. Economic and Social Welfare Indirectly, the objective of profit maximization caters to economic and social welfare. In businesses, profits account for allocation of resources and efficient utilization. Making payments and allocating resources such as land, labor, capital, assist in taking care of economic and social welfare (Dwivedi, 2012). A lot of thought has been given to the question of profit maximization by economists. Some large and complex institutions where people of different background work together, the purpose is to maximize profits. In actual situation, profit maximization is so common that in some cases, it leads to severe ethical concerns. In the lust of earning higher profits, companies tend to shun ethical boundaries and violate ethics for earning greater returns. Some popular brand such as GAP, Nike, Levi’s, Converse, have proved to be guilty for ethical violation. Their customer base and headquarters are located in United States whereas their production processes are carried out in Asia; therefore they have been criticized for exploitation of workers. They fail to amend the malpractices at production sites of which they are aware but do not take action to correct them. Profit maximization is the fundamental assumption of economic theory. Although it is undeniably of greatest important however, by itself, it is not an ample criterion for effective business management. In practice, there are number of motivations and considerations that influence the desire for maximum economic efficiency and greatest profit as well as the accompanying assumptions that trigger the firm’s economic theory. Criticism to Profit Maximization Despite of such importance in theoretical and actual context, profit maximization is still criticized due to number of reasons. It is considered as undesirable on account of the reasons mentioned below. It overlooks the means involved to earn

Mutation Testing by Using Formal Method

Mutation Testing by Using Formal Method Jaspreet Singh Abstract Mutation testing was introduced in 1970’s in the field of software testing as a process of testing the test suites by intentionally seeding errors i.e. mutation operators, into the original program’s source code. Its main purpose is to verify the functionality of the test cases which are executed with the aim of catching the variations between the program and the mutants. It’s extremely essential to improve the efficiency and adequacy of test cases. Hence, the goal is to make the mutant program fail. This paper depends upon the literature survey of mutation testing by using formal methods. Keywords- Mutant, Code, Program, Test cases, Kill, PIMS. I INTRODUCTION Since 1970’s, this technique is used by developers for validating the test cases as well as the test data generation. It’s a well know process to computer scientists for years. But due to heaviness of the method, it demanded huge computational power which reduced its usability. But the advancements in software engineering and the era of increased computational power, has laid it continue to serve as the most powerful method of verifying the functionality and performance of test suites. The objective is to improve the aptness and efficiency of test cases where the programmer will intentionally alter the original program’s source code by injecting a faulty piece of code known as a mutant, into it. The resultant code is referred to as mutated code. The mutation procedure will create many versions of the original program. Each version is known as a mutant. The execution of a mutant will verify the proficiency of the test case. If the output of the original program wi ll vary with that of the mutant one causing each faulty version to fail [1]. The resultant mutant is killed and the test case is saved considering it an adequate one. More the number of mutants killed by a test case, the better is the competency of the test case. Mutation testing is proficient in testing programs at the unit level, integration level and the specification level. It has been applied to many programming languages like C, C++, etc. and is a part of white box test technique [2]. II LITERATURE SURVEY Initial concepts of mutation were introduced by Richard Lipton in a class term paper titled â€Å"Fault Diagnosis of Computer Programs†. The first referred publications were presented in the late 1970’s ; the DeMillo, Lipton. PIMS was one of the first mutation testing tools [3]. It originated the basic procedure typically used in mutation analysis of creating mutants, obtaining test cases from the users, and then executing the them on the mutants to conclude how many mutants were killed. The most widely used tool among researchers was the Mothra mutation toolset [3], which provided an integrated set of tools, each of which performed an individual, separate task to support mutation analysis and testing. Several variants of Mothra were created in the early 1990s, including one that implemented weak mutation [4], and several distributed versions. A compiler-integrated mutation tool for C was also developed [5], and tool that was based on program schemata [6]. However, thes e tools were primarily used by the researchers who developed them and the only widely used system besides the original version of Mothra has been the Proteum mutation system for C [7]. A Formal Methods Formal methods are techniques based on mathematics and formal logic. It supports automated consistency checking and testing specifications. It helps finding defects when applied to good quality software. Such methods allow large number of classes of test cases having finite proof with support least dependence on subjective reasoning [8]. B The benefits of using Formal Methods include: Product-focused measure of correctness: The use is used for the of Formal correctness of a system. Early detection of defects: Formal Methods can be applied to earlier detection and elimination of design defects and associated late cycle rework. Guarantees of correctness: Unlike testing, formal analysis tools go through all possible execution paths through the system. If there is any way to reach a fault condition, a tool will find it. In a multi-threaded system where concurrency is an issue, formal analysis can explore all possible interleavings and event orderings[13]. Fig-1 Formal Methods such as model checking examine more system behaviors for safety violations than testing alone III NOTIONS OF FORMAL PROOF: A Mathematical proof: A formal proof is a complete and convincing mathematical argument, presenting the full logical justification for each proof of set of theorems B Machine-checked proof: A formal proof is evidence accepted by a proof checker showing that a conjecture is a valid consequence of given axioms. C Hilbert proof: A formal proof in a theory is a sequence of formulas, each of which is either an axiom of or a direct consequence of preceding formulas in the sequence by virtue of a rule of inference associated with the underlying formal system[14]. IV TYPES OF MUTANTS We define the following classification of mutants as follows: A Killed Mutant; which was killed by a test case which was specifically written to kill it. The concept behind mutation testing is that modifying the source code of a given unit (or mutating it) should cause the test that operates on that unit to fail. Example : Method and Corresponding Unit Test //original code under test public class Example { public boolean is LessThanThree(int number) { return (number Example : Mutated Method public class Example { public boolean isLessThanThree(int number) { return (number > 3); } } Notice that with this mutation, the method testLessThanThree would fail because the mutated method now returns the boolean number > 3, which in this case would be false and the assert statement is checking to see that the desired result is true. The method TestLessThanThreeFail would not fail, however, because 3 is not greater than 3 and the returned boolean would be false, which is what the assert statement is checking for. Because testLessThanThree failed, this mutant is said to be killed; the mutation caused the test to fail, which means the test is adequately catching this kind of mistake[12]. Dead on Arrival (DOA)- Mutant that was killed by the initial test suite found in the test bed. Ignored Mutant which a study participant encountered but did not kill. Living-Mutant which could not be killed due to time constraints (whether or not the mutant was encountered). Crossfire- Mutant that was killed by a test case intended to kill a different mutant. Stubborn.-Mutant that cannot be killed by a test case due to logical equivalence or language constructs. B Ordering Mutants: Let P be an implemented program and P’ be a first order mutant that differs from P at location l. A test case, t1 can distinguish P form P’ provided the following necessary and sufficient conditions hold on executing P and P’ with starting state t1: This has 3 properties: The execution must reach location l ( ); The evaluation of expressions at location l in P and P’ must result in different values at least once ( ) ; The final states on termination of execution of P and P’ must be different ( ). Properties (a) and (b) follow by observing that the location must be reached and in the case of a c-location the two executions must result in two different states if they are to be distinguished. 1) Process of Mutation Testing NO YES YES NO Fig. 2 Working of Mutation process The process of mutation analysis is shown in fig. 2. Steps are as follows: The program is being fed as an input and is executed. The resultant is checked . If the resultant indicates successful completion of the program, then terminate. If not, then create mutants (mutated code). A mutant, as previously mentioned is an intentionally altered program by the programmer. It is fed by some errors termed as mutation operators. Test cases are created to the system to be executed on the program. Execute the test cases against the mutant. If the output of the mutant is correct, then execute the test case on each version of the mutant. If not, then again the output of the original program is checked. Compare the output of the original source code with that of each version’s. A decision is made after determining the output of the original code with that of the mutated one. If the output differs, then the test is considered to be an adequate one and is executed on each of the mutants of the program The mutant that is detected is marked as dead/killed. Whereas, output being same indicates inadequacy of the test case and the program. 2) Mutation Operators- Taxonomy of mutation operators: 3)Statement Mutations: The mutant is produced by replacing the keywords in the statement, like While to do while While to For Example for Switch statement: Program Switch Statements case 0: i++; case 1: i = 4; Mutant: case 1: i++; case 0: i = 4; Operator Mutations The mutant is produced by changing the operator in the original source code. For ex: a=1, b=0 If (a b) { C=1; } else { C=0;} The condition mutation operator would replace with the mutation operator || and gives us the following mutant: If(a||b) { C=1; } else { C=0;} Variable Mutations Replace each variable with another variable declared in the same scope (variable types should be the same). Constant Mutations In constant mutations, the mutant tends to fail as there is no mutation operator to be replaced Ex: If (1) { printf (â€Å"How are you?†); } Else {printf(â€Å"I am fine.†);} In this case, mutation testing fails. [2] Example Original piece of a code: c=a+b; where a=3and b=2 Putting the values for a and b, it will result in 3+2=5 Now, possible mutants are c=a-b; , c=a/b; and c=a*b; Such mutations are mostly easier for a test suite to recognize if (a == b) { //do something } will be mutated to if (a != b) { // do something } Here, == is replaced by !=. V PROS AND CONS Mutation procedure is widely acceptable as an essential way to determine the fault-detecting effectiveness of the test sets. Now software developers and testers everywhere can enjoy the most powerful error- detection capabilities with the speed and ease of use of an automatic running debugging tool [9]. But, at the same time it pertains some disadvantages also, which are as follows: A PRO’S: Providing the testers with a target- One of the major advantages of mutation testing is that it provides the tester with a target. The tester has to generate a test data with the aim of killing all the generated mutants. Therefore, we can generate an adequate test data set that is capable enough to detect errors in the program.[10] Bringing more confidence in customers and testers- The customer also benefits from this technique , as he receives a more reliable and bug free software. This will increase confidence in them which will profit your company where it matters most. Mutation Testing originated as a means of creating more effective test suites by which the tester can be more confident that his program is adequately tested. It’s a powerful fault-based testing approach for competent programmers. B CON’S: Computationally expensive due to lack of automated tool..Mutation Testing is complicated and time-consuming to perform without an automated tool. Often, there are massive number of mutants that are generated for a original program as number of mutants is directly proportional to the mutation operators applied. Hence it is computationally expensive to run. The test cases on each and every mutant. It is also expensive to compile and execute every mutant [9][10]. An example of this is shown in Table No. 2 given below. Table 2 Increase In Computational Cost Such mutants only contribute in increasing the computational cost as the efforts needed to check if mutants are equivalent or not, can be very high even for small programs against the test cases. [2] Equivalent Mutants, one of the biggest problems- Syntactically different from the original program. But, semantically the same. Consider the example given in Table No. 3 given below: The equivalent mutant is generated by changing the operator Table 3 Equivalent Mutants Manual equivalent mutant detection is quite tedious- The other barrier to more widespread use of mutation testing is the amount of manual labor involved in using this technique. Hence, developing mutation adequate test cases can be very labor-intensive.[2] VI CONCLUSION This paper provides a detailed review of mutation testing .It covers the objective, Analysis of previous mutation systems, Formal Methods, working of mutation testing and efficient test case generation, Taxonomy of mutation operators and its Pro’s and Con’s . Mutation testing has given a great contribution in the field of software testing and provided the testers with a matured and affordable technique in detecting best test suites. Future Scope Our future scope is to develop a more advanced mutation testing approach that minimizes the issue of computational cost up to a certain level with the aim of killing all the possible mutants and thereby generating good test cases. REFERENCES [1] Yue Jia ans Mark Harman. An Analysis and Survey of the Development of Mutation Testing. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, King’s College London, Centre for Research on Evolution Search and Testing (CREST), Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK, 2010 [2] Hiralal Agrawal , Richard A. DeMillo, Bob Hathaway, William Hsu, Wynne Hsu, E.W. Krauser, R.J. Martin and Aditya P. Mathur, â€Å"Design Of Mutant Operators For The C Programming Language†, Software Engineering Research Centre, Department of Computer Sciences, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN 47907, Revision 1.02, March 20, 1989. [3] D. M. S. Andre. Pilot mutation system (pims) user’s manual. Technical report GIT-ICS-79/04, Georgia Institute of Technology, April 1979 [4] A.J Offutt and S.D.Lee. An empirical evaluation of weak mutation. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering , 20(5): 337-344, May 1994. [5] R.A. DeMillo, E.W.Krauser, and A.P. Mathur. Compiler-integrated program mutation. In Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC’ 92), Tokya, Japan, September 1991. Kogakuim University, IEEE Computer Society Press. [6] R. Untch, A.J. Offutt, and M.J. Harrold. Mutation analysis using program schemata. In Proceedings of the 1993 International symposium on Software Testing, and Analysis, pages 139-148, Cambridge MA, June 1993. [7] M.E. Delamaro and J.C. Maldonado. Proteum – A tool for the assessment of test adequacy for C programs. Proceedings of the Conference on Performability in Computing Systems, pages 75-95. July 1996. [8] A. Jefforson Offutt, A practical system for mutation testing: Help for the common programmer, ISSE Department, George Mason University,Fairfax, VA 22030, 1994. [9] S. Madiraju ,S. Ramakrishnan and A.J.Hurst, â€Å"Towards Automated Mutation Testing†, March 2004. [10] A. Jefferson Offutt and Roland H.Untch, Mutation : Uniting the orthogonal, A. Jeerson Offutt ISE Department, George Mason University Fairfax, VA USA, Roland H.Untch, Department of Computer Science Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, 2000. [11] David L. Dill, â€Å"Formal Methods Specification and Verification Guidebook for software and computer systems† Vol. 1, Computer Science Department, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, July 1995. [12] Ben Smith and Laurie Williams, â€Å"Software Engineering†, Department of computer science North Carolina State University. [13] Murali Rangarajan, â€Å"Formal Methods†,Honeywell Laboratories 3660 Technology Drive Minneapolis, MN 55418. [14] James G. Williams and Marshall D. Abrams, â€Å"Formal Methods And Models†.

Aspects & Impacts of Porous Pavements Essay -- Pavement Driving Surfac

Short Memo: Aspects & Impacts of Porous Pavements The purpose of this short memo is to discuss aspects of use, applicability, and environmental impacts of porous pavements as gleaned from practical findings and pertinent examples. A porous pavement is one with high enough porosity and permeability to allow rain and snowmelt to pass through it, thereby reducing the runoff from a site and surrounding areas. In intensely built up areas, pavements account for more than half of all the land, and for about two-thirds of total built cover (Ferguson, 2005, 2-3). Parking lots, in particular, account for the majority of paved areas. Pervious paving materials have the capability of providing a dual purpose in parking and other areas with low to moderate traffic; they serve both as a parking/traffic area and to manage stormwater. Components & Function There are several types of porous pavements, namely porous asphalt, porous concrete, and numerous modular paver systems. Both a construction material and a design technique, systems may be used individually or enhanced through a combination of types. Porous asphalt consists of an open-graded coarse aggregate bonded together by asphalt cement. The mixture contains fewer fines than traditional asphalt and sufficient void space between aggregate particles allows water to drain through quickly. Porous concrete also consists of an open-graded coarse aggregate, formulated with Portland cement and water. Modular porous pavers are structural units, such as concrete blocks or reinforced plastic mats, with void areas that are filled with pervious materials, to achieve a load-bearing permeable surface. The pervious fill materials include sand, grass turf, and gravel. Each of these surfaces is typical... ...rent purposes. Residential streets and interstate shoulders have been constructed of porous systems, and more extensive weight-bearing roads are functioning in Europe. More research and site study of porous paving techniques and specifications are needed to continue to increase knowledge and implementation of these systems, and to further their capacity for use. Works Cited Adams, Michele (May/June 2003). â€Å"Porous Asphalt Pavement With Recharge Beds,† Stormwater Magazine. www.forester.net/sw_0305_porous.html Ferguson, Bruce (2005). Porous Pavements. FL: CRC Press. Georgia Stormwater Management Manual (2001). â€Å"Porous Concrete.† Vol. 2, 3.3-33 - 3.3-40. Georgia Stormwater Management Manual (2001). â€Å"Modular Porous Paver Systems.† Vol. 2, 3.3-41 – 3.3-46. U.S. EPA (September 1999). Stormwater Technology Factsheet: Porous Pavement. Washington, DC: EPA 832-F-99-023.

Candy’s Dog being shot dead Essay

I believe that Candy’s dog being shot dead is one of the most important parts of the novel and should definitely be included in a film version. In this scene Carlson starts moaning about how much Candy’s old dog smells. He then suggests that Candy should shoot him and even offers to do it himself. But it is the things that Carlson says in order to justify himself that are important for the readers because it helps us to see why George decided to do what he did at the end of the book. For example, when Carlson says, â€Å"This old dog, just suffers hisself all the time,† and â€Å"you aint been kind to him, keeping him alive,† when he is trying to convince Candy that it is almost cruel to make him live life any longer. Carlson also describes how Candy could kill the dog in a quick, humane way. He says, â€Å"shoot him right in the back of the head – he’d never know what hit him. † This is particularly important because George kills Lennie in this exact way. It is where he got the idea that ‘mercy killing’ was even an option. Slim is then asked to give his opinion and he agrees with Carlson saying, â€Å"That dog aint no good to himself. † As Slim is the only person on the ranch to have natural authority, and his â€Å"opinions were law. † Candy reluctantly agrees to let Carlson shoot his dog. If this scene was left out we would not understand why George would even consider killing Lennie and we would get the impression that George carried it out in cold blood and did not care. The scene should be set in a dimly lit, dark setting. The darkness would help to emphasize the end of life. Carlson should be talking abruptly and quickly showing that he is not thinking about Candy’s feelings and is unaware of how much the dog means to Candy. Slim in contrast should be taking is time over his speech, showing that he wants this to be as painless as it can be for Candy. He shows that he cares when he instructs Carlson to â€Å"take a shovel,† so that he can bury the dog so Candy wont have to see his dog in the morning. The Fight Scene Another important scene is the fight between Curley and Lennie. In this scene Curley has just accused Slim of being with his wife and in return Slim shouts back at him. Carlson and Candy take advantage of the situation by insulting Curley. Curley feels degraded and wants to take it out on someone. Lennie is there and is the perfect person because Curley being small always feels as though he has something to prove and a ‘real chip on his shoulder’ towards bigger guys. Lennie is smiling at the thought of the dream of living ‘off the fat of the land’ and Curley uses it as an opportunity to pick a fight. He says, â€Å"What the hell you laughin’ at? † and punches Lennies face making his nose bleed. Lennie is described as being ‘too frightened to defend himself. † But under the instruction of George, Lennie grabs Curley’s hand and cannot let go, even with George slapping him round the face telling him to. Lennie feels guilty afterwards and he shows it when he says, â€Å"I didn’t wanta hurt him,† and â€Å"I didn’t mean no harm. † It is this scene that enables us to see the extent of Lennie’s strength and how dangerous it can be when combined with such a simple mind. The scene gives us a clue towards the main plot. Without this scene we would not realise what a true accident Curley’s wife’s death was and the reader would not feel as sorry for Lennie as they do. It would make the ending much less effective.

Women in Psychology Mary Calkins

What does it take to be number one? As we know everyone loves a winner. Most people if they were asked who the fastest man in the world was? They would correctly answer with the name Usain Bolt. Nobody remembers number two right? However, let us imagine Mr. Bolt being told that he could compete in track and field but he could not officially win any medal because he was Jamaican. Sounds far-fetched today and against our values and everything we stand for in the 21st century? Well in the 1800s, things were very different especially for women and Mary Calkins was no exception. Mary Calkins not only made countless contributions to the field of psychology, her perseverance changed many perceptions resulting in her indirectly becoming a champion for women’s rights and equality. In this assignment, we will examine Mrs. Calkin’s background, theoretical perspectives and the integral role she played in the field of psychology. Mary Calkins, the oldest of five children was born to Wolcott and Charlotte Calkins on March 30, 1863, in Hartford, Connecticut. Her parents placed a great emphasis on education so in addition to elementary school, she took private lessons so she could learn German. After graduating high school Mary enrolled in Smith College in 1882, but took a hiatus her junior year in 1884, due to the untimely death of her sister and her mother being gravely ill. Mary did not make waste of this time. While at home she decided to learn Greek which was pivotal to her journey in the field of psychology. After Mary finally earned her degrees in Classics and Philosophy, she took a trip to Europe with family and had already decided when she returned that she would be a teacher and as well as tutor students in the Greek Language. However, her plans changed when she was offered the opportunity to teach Greek, at Wellesley, College, one of the few higher learning educational institutions for women in the country. At Wellesley, she taught not only Greek, but philosophy and psychology as well. This ultimately resulting in the university creating a new position for her in the experimental psychology department, although she had no credentialed training in psychology. This was crucial because many schools back then did not even admit women as students much less allow them to hold such a prestigious osition. For Mary to be successful, she knew she would have to further her education and learn more about psychology. Her ambition led her to enroll in two psychology seminars, one being at Clark University and the taught by Edmund C. Sanford and was taught by William James at Harvard University. Initially she was denied entry into Harvard because she was a woman. However, she had the president of Wellesley and her father both write letters on her behalf and was accepted. In 1891, her determination began paying dividends as she was able to set up a psychological laboratory at Wellesley and added scientific psychology to the program of study. From 1892 to 1895, she attended Harvard University. This is where she received some of the greatest resistance to everything she was trying to accomplish. Men and society during this time did not believe that women were fit for any job unless it was something that assisted a man i. e. doctor-nurse, boss-secretary, and homemaker. While Mary was allowed to attend Harvard, it was not without conditions. She could take classes and test, but in the University’s eyes she would be considered as guest. Undeterred and ready for the challenge, Mary enrolled in William James seminar on psychology; all the other students who happened to be men dropped the course in protest. What they believed is that if they did this the professor would boot her from the program because he would not want to lose his other students. Instead Professor James taught her individually and became her mentor. She also studied in the psychological laboratory at Harvard. She did all this while remaining a professor at Wellesley College herself. Mary completed all the required work and passed all her exams to earn a Ph. D. However, she was not awarded one due to the fact the she was a woman and women were not allowed to officially register at Harvard back then. She was later offered a Ph. D. , by Radcliffe College which was the female equivalent of Harvard, but she turned it down, believing that she done all of her work at Harvard, so it should be Harvard that awards her Ph. D. In 1898 is when Mary became a full time professor at Wellesley College focusing on philosophy and psychology publishing a slew of articles. When ten leading psychologists in the field of psychology were asked to rate their contemporaries by the measure of their work, Mary Calkins was listed 12 out of 50. Mary Calkins has given much to the field of psychology. For example there were only twelve colleges that had psychological laboratories in the entire United States and she created one. In her laboratory she had fifty four students dissect sheep brains and carry out studies on sensation, space perception, memory and reaction time. All of which are things that are used today by other scientists and different medical communities. For example, we are always hearing that drunk driving skews your space perception, sensation, memory and reaction time. One has to think this is not a coincidence that her work contributed to their findings. It was the first at a woman’s college and she did this with a mere $200. From 1891-1892 at the behest of G. Stanley Hall who has the editor of the American Journal of Psychology, her articles were normally studies and experiment by her and her studies that included everything from children’s emotions, moral consciousness, drawings, psychological anesthetics, and dreams. From her research in dreams she discovered there was a close relationship between her patient’s dreams and what happens in real life. Her work would not be appreciated during its early stages by most scholars as they were on board with Freudian thought process on dreams. Later this same community would dismiss Freud’s method and make Calkins research integral to dream researching. Through all of her research while pursuing her doctorate one of her most significant things she have to psychology was the Paired Technique. This technique is explained is putting to paired numbers in different colors on cards and flashing them to see what the subject could remember. What she found was bright colors were retained better as well as a new memorization method. It later became a standard means for human learning and remnants of it are still used today by psychologists. Of all of Mary Calkins contributions to psychology, she was most interested in self-psychology and ignited the brainstorm over this that caused many to take up research on the subject. She even published an autobiography in 1930, where her goal was to get psychologists to become self-psychologists. In 1900, she even wrote and published a paper expressing her belief that psychology is a science of the self. This was immediately followed by criticism from other academics. Mary Calkins was never afraid of a challenge and answered those criticisms in work that followed and in her presidential address at the American Psychological Association meeting in 1905. For all that she tried to do in self psychology, unfortunately Dr. Kohut, Dr. Honess, and Dr. Yardley failed to credit to give her any credit in this arena. During her career Mary was really busy evidenced by her writing 67 articles on psychology and 37 in philosophy. She also wrote and had 4 books on psychology published. Mary Calkins exemplary work preceded her and resulted in her being the first woman named president of the American Psychological Association and the American Philosophical Association. What Mary Calkins was able to accomplish in her day and age was simply amazing. She had to overcome numerous obstacles that would have made any other person give up and pursue a different profession. She worked and went to school, dealt with sexism and static thinking, in terms of a womens’ place in society. I say to Mary Calkins you are a winner and we remember you. Not only for your contributions that you have to the respective field of psychology, but the barriers that you broke down so that other women were allowed to be more easily accepted and respected. From my research on Mary Calkins I learned that a group of Harvard alumni petitioned for her to be awarded her doctorate in 1930, but they were denied. I think that it would be fitting if this cause was taken up once again today. For everything Mary Calkins has meant to the field of psychology it is the least we could do to honor all of the blood, sweat, and tears that she put into her work.

Immigrants Experience from 1847 essays

Immigrants Experience from 1847 essays The Immigrants Experience In America 1. During the peak period of the pre-Civil War immigration, from 1847 through 1857, 3.3 million immigrants entered the United States; 1.3 million were from Ireland and 1.1 million came from the German States. Most immigrants came essentially because of poor economic conditions in Europe and prospects for a better life in the US. In the 19th century poverty was the main spur to movement. The industrial and agricultural revolutions brought such profound changes in Europe that large numbers of people were forced by circumstances beyond their control to leave their hometowns and move to where they could find jobs. Variety of other impelling reasons like religious intolerance, demeaning social gradations, political upheavals led to mass immigration. Industrial revolution: People, who worked and had different levels of authority, now were on the same level. Machines were doing the jobs for everyone. Agricultural revolution: Farmers who did everything with there own hands now had machines working instead of them. Demeaning social gradations: Oldest son inherited everything, the rest of the family members had to support themselves with other means. Political upheavals: Revolution of 1848- Intellectuals wanted Europe to have more democratic government. They tried and failed. a) The Irish were first of the Europeans to leave to the United States. The Irish Poor Law of 1838, the enclosure movement on the land, and finally the great famine at the end of the 1840s together with potato blight brought the increase to emigration. As the conditions improved in Ireland in the middle of the 1850s, emigration subsided, but another potato rot in 1863 and still another famine in the 1880s increased the Irish emigration statistics. Almost 4 million Irish came to America in the 19th century. b) Along with the Irish came Germans. They were the largest ethnic group arriving in three years between 1854...

Using Standard Normal Distribution in Mathematics

Using Standard Normal Distribution in Mathematics The standard normal distribution, which is more commonly known as the bell curve, shows up in a variety of places. Several different sources of data are normally distributed. As a result of this fact, our knowledge about the standard normal distribution can be used in a number of applications. But we do not need to work with a different normal distribution for every application. Instead, we work with a normal distribution with a mean of 0 and a standard deviation of 1. We will look at a few applications of this distribution that are all tied to one particular problem. Example Suppose that we are told that the heights of adult males in a particular region of the world are normally distributed with a mean of 70 inches and a standard deviation of 2 inches. Approximately what proportion of adult males are taller than 73 inches?What proportion of adult males are between 72 and 73 inches?What height corresponds to the point where 20% of all adult males are greater than this height?What height corresponds to the point where 20% of all adult males are less than this height? Solutions Before continuing on, be sure to stop and go over your work. A detailed explanation of each of these problems follows below: We use our z-score formula to convert 73 to a standardized score. Here we calculate (73 – 70) / 2 1.5. So the question becomes: what is the area under the standard normal distribution for z greater than 1.5? Consulting our table of z-scores shows us that 0.933 93.3% of the distribution of data is less than z 1.5. Therefore 100% - 93.3% 6.7% of adult males are taller than 73 inches.Here we convert our heights to a standardized z-score. We have seen that 73 has a z score of 1.5. The z-score of 72 is (72 – 70) / 2 1. Thus we are looking for the area under the normal distribution for 1z 1.5. A quick check of the normal distribution table shows that this proportion is 0.933 – 0.841 0.092 9.2%Here the question is reversed from what we have already considered. Now we look up in our table to find a z-score Z* that corresponds to an area of 0.200 above. For use in our table, we note that this is where 0.800 is below. When we look at the table, we see that z* 0.84 . We must now convert this z-score to a height. Since 0.84 (x – 70) / 2, this means that x 71.68 inches. We can use the symmetry of the normal distribution and save ourselves the trouble of looking up the value z*. Instead of z* 0.84, we have -0.84 (x – 70)/2. Thus x 68.32 inches. The area of the shaded region to the left of z in the diagram above demonstrates these problems. These equations represent probabilities and have numerous applications in statistics and probability.

Chapter 10 Of Patterns Of World History Essay -- Islam, Muhammad, Quran

The Prophet Muhammad is revered by many as the founder of Islam. As von Sivers, Desnoyers and Stow infer, the Quran and Sunna both depict a theology of Mecca and Medina (Yathrib) as the sacred cities where Mohamed would preach the God’s word to pagans (280). Muhammad’s new Religion Islam became an Arab religion that did not recognize the teaching of Judaism and Christianity (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 280). Islam is distinct from all other religions due to five religious duties that identify Muslims, the profession of faith, prayer, fasting, alms-giving, and pilgrimage to Mecca (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 281). Establishing a new religion was not a seamless process as Muhammad had to overcome before a community of Muslims that were mandated to engage in a holy struggle or jihad against those who believe in other Gods (von Sivers Desnoyers and Stow 280). What resulted was the spread of Islam throughout the Middle East as Muhammad’s successors conquered A rabia, Islam and Arab empires were a crucial component in the developments of Islamic Civilizations and Byzantium that were covered in Chapter 10 Patterns of World History, Volume One. The religion of Islam was brought to pagan Arabia by the Prophet Muhammed who spread the word of Allah to Arabs in Mecca and Yathrib. Islam grew to a point where a rift grew among Muslims forming the Sunni and Shiite sects. First came the Umayyad empire and then the Abbasids, representing the first major Arab empires, however their approach to Islam and Conquest differed were significantly different. The final point was the differences between the Russian version of Vladimir I’s conversion to Christianity on behalf of Russians and the Muslim account. In the end, the development of Islam and Arab empires unified the Arab world and began to wield increasing power over European and Asian empires.

Why I choose my major Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Why I choose my major - Essay Example The mission is inspired by the catholic principles of human dignity, solidarity, manifestation of the human freedom, and the common good. The vision of the organization is also based on the human dignity. The curriculum of the institution, which most motivated the choosing, requires students taking marketing to complete sixteen courses in addition to their business and economic courses (The Catholic university of America, pp. 1-4). The course prepares students on how to research consumer needs and be able to develop products and services which satisfy those needs. The students are also prepared on means on how they can communicate the advantages of services and products via effective promotions that influence demand positively. Majoring in marketing will help boost the management course I did in Bahrain. In addition to this, it will enable acquiring of the best skills that are much needed in any successful organization. Having done management as the first degree, marketing as an additional course will help understand how the whole organization works from management to the juniors through marketing. In order to complete the course, one is required to take philosophy, theology, humanities, literature, writing, and composition. The other courses will very much contribute to the expansion of my career and field. Due to the additional courses offered by the organization as core units, they will assist in flexibilit y in the job market and management of the organization (The Catholic university of America, pp. 1-2). Another point of consideration was the foundation of the university. As the institution is founded on catholic values, it will add upon the understanding of the religious values and teachings as well as diversification of the religious field. The culture of the institution and that of Americans will also help in understanding of the different ways of living by different people.

The Arab-Israeli Conflict Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Arab-Israeli Conflict - Assignment Example The importance of the Middle East can hardly be overstated. Spread across North Africa, Asia Minor and Near Asia, the term Middle East' refers to 22 countries. In geographic terms, these countries are the doorways to Africa and Asia. In economic terms, they are the world's largest repositories of oil and natural gas, holding the majority of the world's known reserves of natural energy. Further, in economic terms, the Arab Middle East represents a valuable source of investment capital which has the potential to significantly contribute to the economy of any nation it is even partially diverted to. In political terms, the Arab Middle East has, officially, been the voice of moderate Islam - a force which the Western world can no longer afford to ignore or dismiss as inconsequential, considering that it is the world's second largest religion and it is fastest growing one. At the present moment, the West and the Arab Middle East are engaged in a conflict which, to date... In other words, the protraction and continued intensification of the Arab-Israeli conflict have negatively impacted on the West and on Middle East-West relationships. The West and the international community cannot afford the continued alienation of the Arab Middle East. From the strategic perspective, they can not afford it from the economic, political or security standpoints. At the same time, the international community cannot compromise on the issue of the survival of the State of Israel or on its right to security. The implication here is that the international community has to devise an approach to the conflict which is founded upon international law.  

Nike Case Study Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nike Case Study - Research Paper Example Ballinger was passionate that a company should have a responsibility for its workers even if they are the lowest paid workforce of the company (Spar, 2002). Ballinger was assigned to monitor labor conditions in an Indonesian plant by overseas American companies because he considered that the reason for international companies to prepare a setup in poor countries is to exploit the low-wage labors. This has been true over years that big multinational companies have been shifting their operations to lower wage countries in order to reduce their production cost and collect more profits. The cost of production in America is double the cost of a product which is being manufactured in other countries (Locke, 2002). He claims that Nike has a policy that in order to produce cost effective products, they mistreat their workers and make them work longer hours than required. He believed that even though there were laws for protecting the labor rights, Nike continuously fed the Indonesian governm ent with bribe to overlook their part of misdeed. Ballinger accused Nike that they knew people were dependent on the company and would rarely leave the company, so they mistreated them to get more production with fewer necessities and food provided to the people. Ballinger had strength in his arguments because workers were in a bad situation and when they were interviewed by Ballinger, they agreed with the same (Connor, 2001). Nike’s Response to Ballinger’s Allegations The first response from Nike was clear that their manager said Nike’s not responsible for the actions of their independent contractors. Nike considered that they are not involved in any kind of activity in Indonesia and most likely they would not be responsible for their act. However, Nike asked its public relation officer to draft a code of conduct for its independent contractors (Stoner, 2006). This code of conduct would then be sent to their new contractors in which all aspects of working condi tions of labors, environment regulation and insurance of their workers were addressed. Nike wanted all of their suppliers and independent contractors to agree with all terms that were specified before making any further deal. It was made mandatory that these suppliers would have to give their written consent of their honesty and non-discrimination (Spar, 2002). Nike hired an accounting firm Ernst & Young to conduct an audit of its overseas factories. Auditing would inform Nike with activities of their overseas factories and would identify their problems. But the problem started to mount and criticism had started to rise again with a greater force. Nike denied any act of direct involvement in child labor activity and of worker exploitation. In Washington, Nike was the first company to join Apparel Industry Partnership (AIP) which was aimed to develop reformed labor standards in foreign factories. Nike also included a new department in its company which was known as Labor Practices De partment which role was to monitor labor practices in premises of the factory (Spar, 2002). Recommendations Firstly, Nike should focus on improving its processes in their overseas factories by making strict guidelines and norms for their factories to follow. The company shall motivate their independent

Management (definition) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management (definition) - Essay Example The perspectives hence interpolate the events in the organization for instance rules and regulations, trade unions, conflicts differently, (Dale 2001). The unitary organization is viewed as being harmonious and integrated whole unit just like a united family. The management and the rest of the staff members all shares a common goal and they lay a lot of emphasize on cooperation that is mutual. This perspective approaches the organization paternally where it requires all the employees to be loyal. 1. This perspective approaches the organization as a one harmonious and integrated entity. This makes the employees feel wanted by the organization. They hence develop a lot of commitment, derive job satisfaction from what they do and this in the long run increases the organizational productivity. The organization life is mutual and people are friendly towards each other, (Mark 2001). 2. The organization is guided by a common objective. This is very advantageous as all the members of the organization including the management and staff cohesively works towards the attainment of a common goal which is unanimously agreed upon by the two parties as a whole. There is therefore the spirit of togetherness in the every day life of the organization. 1. ... The trade union serves as a representative of the employees to the employer and assists the employees in making trade agreements, in collective bargaining and negotiations. In a unitary organization therefore, the employees are not represented and their voice is not raised. They remain loyal to the organization and cooperate with the management, (Hoyer 2001). 2. Organizational conflicts are perceived to be disruptive to the normal running of the organization. They are associated and are said to result to the breakdown in communication, friction between individuals, and agitation. By shielding the organization from healthy conflicts, this perspective bars the organization from realizing the benefits of a healthy conflict. Healthy conflicts keep the employees and the management as well informed on the general feeling of the organizational issues. The conflicts also bring home the various points of views from the different people in the organization. 3. The organization only recruits employees who do not demonstrate a pluralistic character. This blacklists potential employees from working in the organization. In regard to this, the organization may leave out the best talent. This may affect the firm's productivity as well as the life of the organization. The pluralist perspective From this perspective, the organization is viewed as having divergent and powerful sub-groups of which each group has its individual loyalties that are legitimate, set objectives as well as its own leaders. These sub-groups primarily are the employees and the management, (Thomson and Rampton 2003). Advantages The responsibilities or the management lessens since all the management does is co-ordinate the employees in the organization as well as the organizational life. The burden

CSR in particular industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CSR in particular industry - Essay Example However, in the early days, many researchers were convinced that CSR strategies and activities were homogeneous across different industries. However, advanced research has revealed that CSR is a heterogeneous field. Such heterogeneity means that some industries have to exhibit more effort in developing effective CSR. Therefore, CSR activities vary across industries. Moreover, assessment of effective CSR strategies also varies across the industries. This paper will discuss the reasons why CSR activities, exhibit such variance across industries. Research has identified that CSR strategies depend on several factors for each organization. These factors include the characteristics of the organization, the national framework of CSR, the nature of business activities, the category of labour involved, the risk of harming the environment, and finally the society where the business is located. Different industries exhibit varied characteristics. They depend on different stakeholder groups, have varied proximity to the consumers, and usually have differential potential in causing social or environmental adverse effects. This only means that industries that are likely to pose potential environmental damages or negative social effects have to define more CSR strategies. Moreover, industries exhibiting a close proximity to consumers have to be more focused on SCR that ensure consumer safety (Mullerat & Brennan 2011, p. 113). Moreover, such industries have to be more critical of their supply chains. On the other hand, some industries do not have the compulsion to define numerous CSR activities depending on the nature of their business activities. In order to illustrate the points described above, examples of different industries and the level of CSR activities expected of them will be presented in this section. Financial institutions do not pose great risks to the environment, but are required to promote sustainability and protect the environment

Humanities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 14

Humanities - Essay Example The Literature is a long and complex and tackles a combination of themes centered on the limits of the human knowledge, the origin of the human ideas as well as religion and morality (Ben-Chaim). The literature presents a theory of belief and knowledge that was established on the principle that most human feelings or ideas are normally obtained through experience. In particular, he names describes this phenomenon as the â€Å"tabula rasa† or the black slate philosophy. This philosophy presumes that human beings are born with a blank mind that is almost similar to a white sheet of paper. However, the various experiences that human beings normally face when growing up serves to fill up the blank min with new thoughts and ideas. In this literature, Locke contests Descartes idea that human ideas are innate. He asserts that most human thoughts cannot be considered as correct unless there is another explanation for the same idea. This means that the fact that two or more individuals can have the same thoughts pertaining to a given situation, their thoughts is not necessary correct (Newman). He explains that understanding is what sets man above the rest of all other sensible beings, which further confers him all the advantage and dominion that he has over them. This therefore implies that human beings are rational agents capable of choice and, hence, acting responsibly. He therefore insisted that learning should be made pleasant so as to facilitate the acquisition of new and meaningful experience bearing in mind that the formation of character for an individual is deemed as very crucial than just mere information (Ward). Indeed, in his paper, Locke further argued that the both human adults and children tend to share a common disposition that motivates them to pursue pleasure while avoiding painful experiences. Moreover, he also presented that there are no innate moral ideas; instead, human knowledge consists only

CSR in particular industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CSR in particular industry - Essay Example However, in the early days, many researchers were convinced that CSR strategies and activities were homogeneous across different industries. However, advanced research has revealed that CSR is a heterogeneous field. Such heterogeneity means that some industries have to exhibit more effort in developing effective CSR. Therefore, CSR activities vary across industries. Moreover, assessment of effective CSR strategies also varies across the industries. This paper will discuss the reasons why CSR activities, exhibit such variance across industries. Research has identified that CSR strategies depend on several factors for each organization. These factors include the characteristics of the organization, the national framework of CSR, the nature of business activities, the category of labour involved, the risk of harming the environment, and finally the society where the business is located. Different industries exhibit varied characteristics. They depend on different stakeholder groups, have varied proximity to the consumers, and usually have differential potential in causing social or environmental adverse effects. This only means that industries that are likely to pose potential environmental damages or negative social effects have to define more CSR strategies. Moreover, industries exhibiting a close proximity to consumers have to be more focused on SCR that ensure consumer safety (Mullerat & Brennan 2011, p. 113). Moreover, such industries have to be more critical of their supply chains. On the other hand, some industries do not have the compulsion to define numerous CSR activities depending on the nature of their business activities. In order to illustrate the points described above, examples of different industries and the level of CSR activities expected of them will be presented in this section. Financial institutions do not pose great risks to the environment, but are required to promote sustainability and protect the environment

Polygamy reasons in Islam Essay Example for Free

Polygamy reasons in Islam Essay Polygamy is a Greek word that means the practice of multiple marriages. Polygamy was considered to fulfill men’s desires on the grounds of strong cultural considerations. Nowadays, Polygamy is considered in Islamic countries and some rural areas around the word. However, it was difficult to provide statistics on the issue of polygamy because of the lack of communication. The man can marry up to four wives. Each wife constitutes a separate household with the husband visiting his wives in turn. Human Rights: Human rights deny gender differences and strive to maintain equality in social rules. Gender equality means an equal visibility, empowerment and participation of both sexes in all spheres of public and private life. Human rights discourse prohibits polygamy and the act of practicing it. Human rights theory is against the notion of polygamy. Human rights discourse states that polygamy is against the dignity of women and their human rights. Polygamy violates the right of equality between men and women; indeed, by allowing men to have more than one wife but preventing women from doing it, the right of equality is violated. In addition, human rights discourse is against the practice of polygamy. It violates women’s right of spending enough time with their husband and children’s right to be raised within a stable family. The idea of allowing the husband to choose polygamy is not considered as slavery or exclusion of the women’s right to decide; on the other hand, it is considered as traditional family life in which the husband is the head of the family. However, the wife can take the place of her husband as the head of the family when the law deprives his civil rights, as if the husband is in jail. On the other hand, polygamy violates the rights of children. Men that have more than one wife do not have enough time to spend it with their children compared with men that have one wife. In addition, their wives try to compete with other wives in order to impress and entertain the man. As a result, children will not have enough time to spend it with their parents. Polygamy requires a lot of time and money; indeed, the man is ordered to fulfill the needs of his wives equally. That will decrease his financial status and this will result in a decrease in health and educational status. Kent acknowledges that polygamists refuse the common life styles and beliefs they live apart from public scrutiny or association, and are more vulnerable to violating civil rights (Kant, 2006). Canadian civil marriage act (2005) defines marriage as â€Å"the lawful union of one two persons to the exclusion of others†. This definition of marriage excludes polygamy. Even though there were laws in Canada prohibiting polygamy before 2009, Winston Blackmore and James Oler were the first polygamists arrested in Canada in January 2009. The maximum penalty for polygamists is 5 years in jail. Although Canadian law assures freedom of religious expression, Polygamy is prohibited. Legal experts say the case promises to pit Canadas antipolygamy law against the countrys Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees freedom of religious expression. Divine Command: Divine command theory in Islam respect gender differences and it maintains equality between men and women. However, it is different in some cases. Divine command explains gender differences as being compatible to each other, which explains the differences in some cases. One of these few cases is polygamy. Islamic law allows polygamy as stated in the quran â€Å"And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice between them, then marry only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course† (4:3). There are several conditions to be maintained in order for the man to marry more than one woman. The first and most fundamental condition is justice, the man have to maintain equality between his wives. He has to be equal in the time spent with the wife and the financial matters, but not his heart inclination. The man can love a wife or her children more than the other but he should keep that to himself and do not show it to his other wives by his behavior. A man should have a reasonable issue to have more than one wife, he should not have more than what he wants. As a result, if two women are enough their husband does not have to marry a third wife and so on. In addition, the man should be able to aid his family, so he cannot marry more than one wife if he is not able to satisfy all of his wives equally. There are several types of aid: financial aid that extends to his children, the ability to satisfy the wives sexual desires. If the man is not able to satisfy the sexual desires of one wife, then he is not allowed to marry more than one. If a women states that her husband does not satisfy her sexual desires, she has the right to ask for divorce. To sum up, the man has to apply justice in the concepts of expenses, sex, and treatment in order to be eligible to have more than one wife. Polygamy is allowed in Islam due to several reasons. First of all is increasing the population. Although one says that increased population causes problems on the society, it results in increased labour, which will increase economy. For example, China has the largest population in the world and they have a strong economical force. Another reason is the increased number of women compared with men in some countries. For example, an official statistic in Germany shows that in 1990 there were approximately 2.7 million more females than males; moreover, the incidents of dying men are more then women. This means that there will be many women without a husband that will lead to a decrease in the population and an increase in adultery and sexually transmitted disease. Childs of adultery are missing the traditional family life and that will reverse it on their behaviour. There are many men that can not handle their sexual interactions and they need more than one women, so if they had more than one that will prevent them from adultery. In addition, men are prohibited to have sex during menstruation or confinement due to its medical harm. The most reason that makes men marry is to make a family, but this dream is impossible if the woman is infertile or has an illness. As a result, it is fair to marry another fertile women. One says that polygamy will cause problems to the family and the wives will be competing with each other. The response for this critique is that problems can occur in every family even if there is one wife. Moreover, each wife has the right to live in her own house and the man can not force them to live in the same house. Another one argues that if polygamy is allowed for men, it should be allowed for women as well. The response to this critique is that women are the carrier of the off spring and by having sex with more than a man the child’s identity will be lost. The children will not be able to recognize their father and it will confuse the society. In addition, the ties of the fatherhood with the children are going to be weak. On April 15th, 2009 Afghanistan women protested in a Shia mosque in the country’s capital city because of a new law that was passed which forbid women to leave their homes without permission from a male relative and these women were also not allowed to refuse to have sex with their husbands. The 300 women who protested were young and organized by women’s rights activists. These Afghan women believed this new law was unacceptable and was a return to Taliban rule. Many local men were outraged by the protesting of these women and threw gravel and small stones at them. As a result, polygamy will decrese these problems. Conclusion: From my point of view, I think that polygamy have more advantages and disadvantages. We can adapt and solve the disadvantages to make polygamy more successful. For example, one can spend more time with his family to make sure that the women and children are satisfied. On the other hand, polygamy should not be allowed without its provisions. Indeed, courts should make sure that polygamy conditions are accomplished, especially the right of justice and equality. References: Kent, S. (2006, August). A matter of principle: fundamentalist Mormon polygamy, children, and human rights debates. Nova religio, 10(1), 7-29. Retrieved June 18, 2009, from ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials database. Polygamists arrested for first time in Canada. (2009, February 10). Christian Century, Retrieved June 18, 2009, from Humanities International Complete database. Polygamy Is Against Womens Human Rights and Their Dignity, Experts Say, (2000). Retrieved June 14, 2009, from http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/51DA40508951B238C1256988002EE12E?opendocument Polygamy reasons and conditions in Islam, (2007). Retrieved June 17, 2009, from http://akhawat.islamway.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=49647 Polygamy reasons in Islam, (2002). Retrieved June 14, 2009, from http://www.islamway.com/?iw_s=Articleiw_a=viewarticle_id=218#(1)

Deontological And Teleological Ethical Theories

Deontological And Teleological Ethical Theories The word ethics comes from the Greek ethos, meaning something like morals. In fact, ethics is defined as the systematic reflection on what is moral. In this definition, morality is the whole of opinions, decisions and actions with which people express what they think is good or right. So, in short, to think ethically, you need to systematically reflect on what people think is good or right. Ethics is not a manual with answers on how to act. It is only a search for the right kind of morality. We can distinguish two kinds of ethics. The descriptive ethics is involved with the description of existing morality. It is about facts. Descriptive judgments are therefore true or false. On the other hand, there is the prescriptive ethics, also known as the normative ethics. Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes utility, specifically defined as maximizing happiness and reducing suffering. Classic utilitarianism, as advocated by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, is hedonistic. It is now generally taken to be a form of consequentialism, although when Anscombe first introduced that term it was to distinguish between old-fashioned Utilitarianism and consequentialism. According to utilitarianism the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome although there is debate over how much consideration should be given to actual consequences, foreseen consequences and intended consequences. Two influential contributors to this theory are Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. In A Fragment on Government Bentham says it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong and describes this as a fundamental axiom. In An Introduction t o the Principles of Morals and Legislation he talks of the principle of utility but later prefers the greatest happiness principle. Utilitarianism can be characterized as a quantitative and reductionist approach to ethics. It is a type of naturalism. It can be contrasted with deontological ethics, which does not regard the consequences of an act as a determinant of its moral worth; virtue ethics, which primarily focuses on acts and habits leading to happiness; pragmatic ethics; as well as with ethical egoism and other varieties of consequentialism. Task 2 Business Ethics importance to business and to the society. (P2.1) Ethics are the backbone of American industry, well, they should be. Whether an organization has good or bad ethical standards, ethics is an issue for all people. Ethical problems arise not only from the difficulties experienced in making a valid moral judgment, but also from practical obstacles to the execution of even a correct decision. Often, it is harder to go through with a morally correct decision even though you know it is the right thing to do. More often than not, the temptation to take the easy way out is overwhelming. There are many definitions of ethics, but, according to author Herbert Johnston, ethics is concerned with two things: human conduct and what ought to be done. It also involves people s perceptions about what should be done. People have duties to do what is right and to not hurt other people. More or less, ethics involve obligations. Johnston also defines ethics as a practical, philosophical science by which we may reach conclusions concerning the rightness or wrongness of voluntary acts as related to our last end. Johnston is saying that ethics are judgments based on society s set moral standards that result in good outcomes or bad outcomes, depending on the goodness or badness of the judgment. More specifically, business ethics are an attempt to develop and apply basic principles in the area of human economic relations. With the definition of ethics now clarified, the reasons for being ethical arise. Why do/should businessmen act ethically. Based on Ray Baumharts 1998 survey of 1,031 businessmen, the most influential incentive for being ethical was a man s personal code of behavior. Most people are ethical because of what they believe to be right. Most people want to take the credit for doing the right thing when they will be recognized or even rewarded. The true test is seeing what people do when no one is looking. The following lists are the other top choices in descending order of importance to the surveyed businessmen: formal company policy, the behavior of a man superior, the ethical climate of the industry, and the behavior of a man s equals in the company. From these rankings, it appears that when a businessman acts ethically, he attributes it to his own ability to resist pressure and temptation, with some credit due to his superiors and the company policy. People want the reputation of being ethical. They feel like they are a good person if they are known as being ethically good. On the other hand, the human reluctance to blame oneself for ethical failings helps to explain why our respondents [to the survey] rank personal financial needs as least important of the five factors influencing unethical behavior .In some instances, people believe good business is good ethics (Lewis 48). Of those Baum hart surveyed, 98% believed that sound ethics is good business in the long run. However, after being questioned further, and when defining good business as maximized profit, then most disagreed that good business is good ethics. They stated that good ethics are not going to bring in maximized profit. Others argued that you can catch more bees with honey than with vinegar. This study leads one to conclude that businessmen are only ethical to make they look good and all is fair when it comes to making a dollar. The popular image of today s American businessmen includes the notion that they are relatively unethical. The standard consensus seems to think that most businessmen will do anything, honest or not, for a buck. An overwhelming 77% regarded business as a dog-eat-dog proposition. The sources of this popular image of businessmen are, of course, personal experience, but also, the stereotype is produced by communications media (television, radio, daily newspapers, and weekly magazines), plays, movies, and political speeches. Unfortunately for businessmen, their wrongdoings and shortcomings are what most often make the news. This negative press gives the overall impression that businessmen are unethical. Are they really unethical, or are they just getting the bad end of the deal due to negative press. According to Sal Marinos study, the results are bittersweet. Although the majority of those interviewed said they had never been propositioned to do anything unethical at work, a relatively high percent of those who had been propositioned had indeed done the dirty deed that they were asked to do. Marino made the following comment on the results of his study: The good news is that seventy-six per cent of the respondents said that they had never been asked (or ordered) to do anything they considered unethical pertaining to work. The bad news is that twenty-four per cent confessed that they have been asked (or ordered) to do something that they considered unethical. And the really bad news is that forty-one of those asked eventually did the dastardly deed that was requested of them without objecting. The ever-prodding Marino then asked the respondents what they would do if they discovered that their employer was asking them to do something unethical, dishonest, or unlawful. An alarmingly low five per cent said they would quit on the spot, another nine per cent would look the other way, and an overwhelming majority, seventy-eight per cent, would try to talk to their bosses or try to resolve the problem in some way that would not cause them to lose their job. The remaining eight per cent were uncertain about what they would do or they refused to fess up. Today, Americans, workers and non-workers, have developed an alarming tolerance for intolerance. People are not bothered as much by dishonesty, crookedness, or lack of respect. They have come to think of it as normal. People just do not expect anything more than a crooked businessman these days. In an interview with Marino, Alvin Toffler, a futurist, replied that, the sophistication of deception is increasing at a greater rate tha n the technology for verification. That means the end of truth. Many of our leaders are liars, skilled at deception. Lying has become tolerable, if not acceptable. (Bill Clinton: Are you listening?) Accountability has slipped. Lawyer lies, those technically true but misleading statements are prevalent. Why is this happening? Two reasons: Greed and poor ethics. Present day Americans are not ethical. They are selfish, deceitful, egomaniacs only looking out for them. Today, if the economy is good, it is tolerable to be bad. Today, if you merely apologize for a heinous crime, it is tolerable to be forgiven. Today, if you misrepresent the goods, it is tolerable if you are selling yourself. Today, if you work for a cheater, it is tolerable as long as you benefit from it (Marino 23). Ethical leaders, honest people who serve rather than deceive, will be increasingly cherished in the future. Right now we live in a time when the ends justify the means. 2.2 The social responsibility and the environmental consideration (P2.2) The growth of large multinational corporations (MNCs) in recent decades has produced some undeniable benefits. The ability of large corporations to seek out low-cost production opportunities provides a benefit to consumers in the form of lower prices. The prices of many manufactured goods, such as televisions and home appliances, have declined in real terms through improvements in technology and cheaper labor. In addition to low prices, large corporations are also capable of providing a familiar product of consistent quality in different regions of the world. For example, the fast-food restaurant chain McDonalds serves food with similar standards in more than 30,000 locations in over 120 countries. Large corporations offer some advantages to their employees, who are more likely than workers in small firms to receive fringe benefits such as health care and pensions. Average wages in the U.S. for employees in firms with more than 500 employees tend to be higher than in firms with fewer employees. Also, many large corporations that have been in existence for decades are unlikely candidates for bankruptcy (although there are some recent exceptions to this such as United Airlines and K-Mart). The stability of large corporations is attractive to investors seeking security and relatively stable returns. Large corporations implicitly recognize their interconnection with society in their donations to non-profit organizations. For example, Wal-Mart donated a total of $200 million in 2002 to thousands of organizations. Exxon-Mobil describes how they helped create the Save the Tiger Fund, which has collected about $9 million since 1995 to fund conservation projects around the world. General Motors reports on their cooperative efforts with Detroit-area schools to curb youth violence. In the late 1990s, annual contributions by American companies and their foundations amounted to over $8 billion. Corporate Scandals Perhaps the most obvious responsibility of corporations is that they obey existing laws. The regulation of corporate business practices has received increased attention in response to a wave of corporate scandals in the last few years. While the specific circumstances vary in each scandal, the primary issue has been the exaggeration of profits, and consequently stock prices, using unethical or illegal accounting practices. In most cases, top corporate executives sold billions of dollars worth of stock at inflated prices, while ordinary investors suffered large losses when the firms financial problems eventually became known. The accounting scandals in recent years can be linked to the widespread use of stock options as a means of executive compensation in the late 20th century. Many economists supported this practice arguing that executives would manage corporations for the benefit of all shareholders if their compensation were linked to the firms stock price. In addition to a regular salary, top executives are given shares of the firms stock. Unfortunately, economic theorists and corporate regulators failed to address a critical problem with the practice. Executives with large stock holdings also have an incentive to temporarily inflate the firms stock price and sell their shares at elevated prices. By the time the firms stock price eventually falls, executives can make huge profits while those holding the stock during the crash lose billions. Complex accounting methods often permitted executives to keep losses and liabilities off the books. Consider the case of WorldCom, the telecommunications firm whose stock price fell from over $60 a share to just pennies as it became evident that the companys profits had been overstated by nearly $4 billion. While WorldComs bookkeeping deception has been the largest measured in dollars, the scandal at Enron is perhaps the most famous because of its fast-paced culture of greed and influence at the highest levels of government. Social and Environmental Impacts of Large Corporations Economic activities often impact those who are not involved in the activity. For example, a corporation manufacturing automobiles generates pollution and the cost of this pollution is borne by nearby residents. External costs (or benefits) arising from economic activities are referred to as externalities. While firms of any size can create externalities, multinational corporations can use their political influence to avoid bearing responsibility for significant external costs. Given the close relation between minimizing costs and maximizing profits, it is natural to assume that an organization that seeks profits and has significant political power will feel some motivation to use that power to externalize costs, where possible. This motivation may be held in check by ethical considerations, by regulation, or by a fear of backlash from groups that might harm the organization; for example, consumer groups, or others who could mobilize effective public opinion. The benefits firms obtain from being able to impose externalities and shift costs to others are difficult to measure in economic terms. The only available estimate of the total public cost incurred to support the operations of private corporations was $2.6 trillion for 1994 in the United States. 2.3 Apply stakeholder theory and virtue to Avco Environmental Services.(P2.3) Pioneering work in the area of stakeholder management was provided by Freeman (1984), who outlined and developed the basic features of the concept in a book entitled Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Freemans work, even though it formally recognizes the importance of corporate constituents in addition to shareholders, leaves the 406 Academy of Management Review April status of the stakeholder concept as theory unclear. Donaldson and Preston (1995) argued that stakeholder theory explicitly or implicitly contains Theory of three different types-descriptive/empirical, instrumental, and normative. Descriptive/ empirical formulations of the theory are intended to describe and/or explain how firms or their managers actually behave. Instrumental theory purports to describe what will happen if managers or firms behave in certain ways. Normative theory is concerned with the moral propriety of the behavior of firms and/or their managers. Briefly summarized, descriptive/empirical, instrumental, and normative theories address the questions: what happens. Proponents of stakeholder theory strive to describe what managers actually do with respect to stakeholder relationships, what would happen if managers adhered to stakeholder management principles, and what managers should do visa-a-versa dealing with firm stakeholders. Donaldson and Preston (1995) concluded that normative concerns underpin stakeholder theory in all of its forms. Although quality scholarship on the normative facets of stakeholder theory is indeed needed, instrumental and descriptive/empirical aspects need attention as well. Thus, this article focuses on the instrumental realm. It should be noted that the term instrumental theory is used here in a manner that differs from its historical usage. Traditionally, in the philosophy of science literature, instrumental theories were deemed useful for explaining certain phenomena regardless of their truth or falsehood (Angeles, 1992). In short, they worked, albeit (perhaps) for the wrong reasons. The theories themselves were used as instruments to achieve some ends. The usage of instrumental theory employed in this article follows that used by Donaldson and Preston (1995), which appears to be original. For these authors, instrumental theory establishes (theoretical) connections between certain practices and certain end states. There is no assumption that the practices will be followed or that the end states are desirable. In instrumental theory, statements are hypothetical-if X, then Y or if you want Y, then do X. In this sense, X is an instrument for achieving Y. The truth or falsehood of instrumental theories of this latter type is an important issue. Task 3 3.1 The moral obligation of employee and employer relationship(P3.1) Employee obligations Employers can expect staff to fulfill certain obligations during training. Staff must: Understand and abide by all aspects of the training agreement. Make all reasonable efforts to complete the training and acquire the required skills. Inform you of any concerns they have with the training or training provider. Handle training resources supplied with reasonable care. Treat proprietary company knowledge learnt during the training as confidential. Respect the rights of colleagues during the training. Apprenticeships and traineeships Apprentices have to observe work and training responsibilities set out in the Apprenticeship/Traineeship Training Contract; Training Plan and the National Code of Good Practice in New Apprenticeships. These responsibilities include: Making every effort to acquire the skills and knowledge required to successfully complete their apprenticeship or traineeship Attending training sessions or supervised workplace activities and taking advantage of learning opportunities. Employer obligations As an employer you have both legal and moral obligations when training your staff. Legal obligations All employers who provide training to their staff are obliged to: Provide a healthy and safe training environment for all staff including those with special needs such as disabled employees Ensure staffs do not experience discrimination or harassment during the training Provide adequate supervision and support during training Have appropriate insurance policies for staff who undertake specialized training, such as heavy machinery training Inform employees of their rights and responsibilities throughout the training Commit resources necessary to complete agreed training such as safety equipment or computer hardware Good practice There are obligations that are not enforced by law, but represent good workplace practice during training. These include: Reporting and record keeping of training and its outcomes. Adequate resources to support the business while staff are absent for training. Management strategies to deal with issues associated with the training such as individual problems with the training or changing staff roles. Informal in-house training For informal in-house training, create a written training agreement to be signed by you and your staff. This will ensure that all parties understand what they can expect from one another. A training agreement will provide you with a reference document from which you can address any concerns that might arise in relation to the training. Throughout the training, employers must also observe their usual duties and statutory obligations, such as: Workers compensation Occupational health and safety Duty to pay appropriate remuneration Anti-discrimination Privacy 3.2. Own opinion about Dave Lamb and Angela van Wilgenburgs reactions towards this situation (P3.2) Chantale Leroux performs as a clerk for Avco Environmental Providers, a tiny toxicà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ waste disposal company. The company has a contract to dispose of healthcare waste from a neighborhood hospital. During the program of her perform; Chantale comes across paperwork that recommends that Avco has truly been disposing of some of this medical waste in a neighborhood municipal landfill. Chantale is shocked. She is aware this practice is illegal. And even though only a tiny portion of the health-related waste that Avco handles is being disposed of this way, any quantity at all seems a worrisome menace to public health. Chantale gathers with each other the proper documents and will take them to her instant superior, Dave Lamb. Dave says, Look, I do not feel that sort of point is your problem, or mine. Were in cost of recordà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ keeping, not producing selections about where this thing gets dumped. I propose you drop it. The subsequent day, Chantale decides to go one step more, and speak to Angela van Wilgenburg, the companys Operations Supervisor. Angela is clearly irritated. Angela says, This is not your concern. Seem, these are the sorts of costà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ cutting moves that allow a tiny firm like ours competes with our large rivals. Apart from, absolutely everyone understands that the regulations in this location are overly cautious. Theres no genuine danger to everyone from the very small sum of health care waste that slips into the municipal dump. I consider this issue closed. Chantale considers her predicament. The message from her superiors was loud and clear. She strongly suspects that creating further noises about this issue could jeopardize her task. More, she typically has faith in the companys management. Theyve often appeared like truthful, reliable individuals. But she was troubled by this obvious disregard for public safety. On the other hand, she asks herself whether or not possibly Angela was right in arguing that the danger was minimal. Chantale seems up the phone amount of an aged friend who worked for the regional newspaper. 3.3. Own opinion about organizational integrity and making integrity explicit of Avco Environmental Services (P3.3) Environmental ethics considers the ethical relationship between people and the natural world and the kind of decisions people have to make about the environment: Should we continue to cut down the rain forests for the sake of human consumption. Should we continue to manufacture petrol-driven cars when we have the technology to make cars which do not pollute the environment. Should we knowingly cause the extinction of other species. What are our environmental obligations to future generations. Should humans be forced to live a simpler lifestyle in order to protect and preserve the environment. Most people recognize that our planet is in a bad way and we all seem to have an opinion on environmental issues, such as climate change or the use of four-wheel drive cars in cities. The importance of environmental ethics is brought home daily by the news of global warming and its effect on our lives, both now and in the future. There has been a rapid growth in knowledge and technology, so that humans now face choices we have never had to face before that affect the continuation of humanity and the world within which we live. Environmental ethics has grown in importance in our times because to make no decisions about environmental issues is to decide in favor of the status quo, and that, we are told, is no longer an option. However, there is no agreed ethics for environmental issues, and no international environmental code. Environmental ethics simply tries to answer the questions of how humans should relate to their environment, how we should use the Earths resources and how we should treat other species, both plant and animal, but there are also those who are of the opinion that constant change is simply a fact of this planet and the planet will readjust to new conditions as it did in the past. There are differences among scientists as to the exact cause and nature of environmental problems and how to solve them, and so there are differences in the approaches to environmental ethics; some think the traditional forms of ethical thought are good guides and some that these traditional forms (at least in the West) are too human-centered. There are also the views of Christians and other religious believers who have a particular take on their role and responsibility towards the natural world. Task 4 4.1. Current issues in Business Sphere (4.1) Avco Environmental Services is a small, toxic waste disposal company. It has a contract to dispose medical waste from a local hospital. However, some of the waste was actually disposed in a local landfill; the company can save lots of money from the transportation and disposing technology of toxic wastes. This practice is illegal and can cause threaten to public health. Avco noticed the problem but it determined to ignore it. Avco thought if the problem is being exposure, their competitors will get more opportunities and therefore, they will receive bad reputation and less profit. As far as I am concerned, this action violates the business ethics. It ignores the public health in order to make more profit and have fewer costs. The company only cares about its own profit. Avco Company should deal with the problem as soon as they find it. Business ethics is the basic principle for a permanent firm. The company has a contract to dispose medical waste from a local hospital. During the course of her work, Chantale comes across documents that suggest that Avco actually disposed of some of this medical waste in a local municipal landfill. Chantale is shocked. She knows this practice is illegal. Even though only a small portion of the medical waste that Avco handles is being disposed of in this way, any amount at all seems a worrisome threat to public health. Chantale gathers together the appropriate documents and takes them to her immediate superior, Dave Lamb. Dave says, Look, I dont think that sort of thing is your concern or mine. Were in charge of recordkeeping, not making decisions about where this stuff gets dumped. I suggest you drop it. The next day, Chantale decides to go one step further, and talk to Angela van Wilgenburg, the companys Operations Manager. Angela is clearly irritated. Angela says, This isnt your concern. Look, these are the sorts of cost cutting moves that let a little company like ours compete with our giant competitors. Besides, everyone knows that the regulations in this area are overly cautious. Theres no real danger to anyone from the tiny amount of medical waste that slips into the municipal dump. I consider this matter closed. Chantale considers her situation. The message from her superiors is loud and clear. She strongly suspects that making further noises about this issue could jeopardize her job. Further, she generally has faith in the companys management. Theyve always seemed like honest, trustworthy people. But she is troubled by this apparent disregard for public safety. On the other hand, she asks herself whether maybe Angela is right in arguing that the danger is minimal. Chantale looks up the phone number of an old friend who worked for the local newspaper.

Street Violence and the Media Essay example -- Argumentative Persuasiv

Violence Imitates the Media    In this essay we explore the increasingly apparent connection between the violence brutalizing teachers and kids in our schools, and the violence which the media regularly serves us through films, TV shows, shock jocks, and other supposedly innocuous outlets. Is it any wonder that reporters and journalists are picking up the John Paul II phrase "culture of death" to refer to America's culture? In the anxious hours following the Columbine High School shootings, America's television screens repeatedly showed a slow-motion film clip in which a black-clad, shotgun-toting boy bursts into a classroom and fills his fellow students full of buckshot. The gunman was teen idol Leonardo DiCaprio, the star of Titanic, and the clip came not from a surveillance camera but from Scott Kalvert's The Basketball Diaries, the 1995 movie said to have been a favorite of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the black-clad, shotgun-toting boys who strolled into their school one bright April morning and murdered a teacher, twelve of their classmates, and themselves, leaving behind 51 homemade bombs for the police to defuse. (Basketball) Though The Basketball Diaries was promptly pulled from video stores by the studio that released it, the long-simmering debate over graphic portrayals of violence in the media had long since boiled over. Not that anything new was said-the only difference was the glib immediacy conferred by the shedding of blood. The argument itself remains as agonizingly familiar as a family quarrel: Did movies and television make us what we are today, or do they merely show us what we have become? In the case of The Basketball Diaries, the thing speaks for itself. To watch that horrific clip is to... ...philosophically trained pope is not given to shallow sound bites, and when he speaks of the culture of death, he has in mind a deep-seated, collective nihilism of which illegal drugs, idiot shock jocks, and mindlessly violent movies are mere symptoms. How to break its stranglehold? We all know the answer, but rarely is the question put so starkly to any of us as it was to 17-year-old Cassie Bernall. Trapped at gunpoint in the library of Columbine High School, she was asked by one of her attackers whether she believed in God. "Yes, I believe in God," she replied, and then he shot her dead. It is hard to imagine a more dramatic scene-and harder still to imagine that anyone in Hollywood, least of all Doug Liman, would dare to put it into a movie. Sources Consulted: The Basketball Diaries  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1995/04/975715.html