Environment Influences Essay Example for Free

Environment Influences Essay There is a belief among experts that everyone is born as a blank slate. We do not know anything about the world and those around us and we spend our childhood years learning, emulating, adjusting, and finally creating our individual personas based on these experiences. Now the main question being asked by the other experts these days is â€Å"Does the environment influence people?† The environment has an effect on a person in more ways than one can fare imagine. My argument is that the environment does influence people, children most specifically, by building character and freethinking. We can also view the influence of the environment on people in terms of scientific and sociological aspects. In more scientific terms, one can say that an environment is based on the physical, geographic, biological, social, cultural, and political conditions that a person has to deal with on a daily basis and learns to equip himself regarding how best to handle those situations. In terms of society links, the environment has a direct bearing on how lives and societies evolve. People, progress, development, and the environment are like an inter-linking chain where all of these varied aspects converge to form a new form of thinking or character in a person. In terms of childhood development, we can safely say that the environment has the heaviest influence over a child. A child’s environment is not the same as in his home environment where everything is controlled by his parents. Even though parents may raise and rear a child in the best way they know how, that is not the environment that influences him the most because he spends most of his time outside the house. The environment outside the house is where the child begins to develop his character and sense of ones self. Outside the home, a child tries to become part of and to identify himself with a peer group. A child does this by allowing himself to be influenced by the people around him and following their examples and making it suit their own individual needs. . His environment also influences the culture of a child. Culture, is something that a person must experience first hand in order to learn from it. Therefore, since you have to live in order to experience culture, one can consider culture to be a transmission from the environment of the child or adult. Just like influence, culture is passed on from person to person. Even though parents try to provide the â€Å"right† environment for their children, the simple truth is that there is no â€Å"right† anything. The environment will influence the child no matter how you try to control it because a parent can only do so much to influence the child who spends most of his time outside the home. Of course, aside from children, the environment that they interact in can also influence adults. The social environment of a person dictates the way he shall conduct himself in public. There are a large majority of studies that support the argument that the environment does greatly influence the personality of people because the way his environ ment views his physical appearance will determine how he will act out in public. It is this belief that has most experts, such as doctors and mental health professionals debating various theories regarding the mental development of people. Certain theorists are of the opinion that the environment a person grows up in has a direct effect on his mental health and mental development. So there must be a concentration on the environmental development of a person’s mind. So what do these developments and studies about how the environment influences people tell us? It tells us a number of major things. First of all, the environment is not just located in one localized place. It also cannot be in a controlled space for long. The environment of children proves to be a very delicate and intricate part of growing up. The environment of a person directly influences the mental development, and personality of the child or adult. Secondly, the social environment of an individual influences his behavior as these so called â€Å"norms† show us how to act and how to have other people treat us. It is this social influence that trains a person to conform, comply, and follow the dictated norms of the environment he exists in. Yes, the environment does have a direct influence on a person. The direct influence of the environment on people cannot be measured in terms of quantity. This topic is so vast and highly debatable that it will take more than a three page essay with which to defend my stand. Therefore, I would like to conclude my essay on the following note. Each man is placed in an environment where he will best grow as a person. Be it in youth of maturity, that person will have an equal amount of exposure to good and bad environments. The choice of which environment he will allow to influence him solely depends on greatly influenced he is by the environment and his peers. The influence of the environment ends when the person makes the conscious decision to follow a certain path for himself be it in along the path of his environment or in an opposite direction. At the end of all this, the environment gave the individual a unique personality and coping ability that is designed to best help him navigate the perils of his environment. An environment will only influence a person as far as he is willing to be influenced. Everything else pertaining to influencing the individual mentally, socially, and emotionally are all conscious decisions made by the person him or herself based upon the influences of his immediate and past environments Games and Violence Computer games have seriously caught the attention of Mass Media and nowadays every channel considers its duty to remind people how much damage these games cause to children and adults. The increasing amount of games with violent scenes sock the society and makes it very aware of them.It is already common knowledge that violent games cause violence in people. This fact is not even doubted by the majority of people. Every other person says that the reason lies in games being too close to reality. The opinion that games make violent actions normal for the player and therefore make the player pitiless can be often heard. In this case the game is the cause of violence and the act of violence by itself is a consequence. And can real-life violence exist in the reality of a game? Is the transfer of the definition of â€Å"violence† with all its peculiarities from one world to another justified only according to the external similarity of these two worlds? Games originally are entertainment. Contemporary games are very realistic and for this reason they are a source of great experience for the player and develop the imagination. Games are entertainment and even more then that. In addition, the statistics of the New York University lead by Green and Bavelier claim that the player preferring active games get an improvement of some types of brain activity, related to processing of visual information. In particular, game players cope with problems of simultaneously tracking several moving objects at the average level of 30% better then people who do not play active computer video games. The â€Å"gaming† violent experience may not be the cause of violent behavior in reality. None of the playi ng experience will become the priority in making important decisions concerning problems in real life. A game is an abstraction. A player gets abstract tasks and acts according to abstract rules.Games are also the possibility to be however a person wants to be and to rest from the outside world for some time. But what if a person gets so much excited with the game scenes that he becomes violent in reality? Then, it proves that the games cause people to become violent. Let us stop for a moment right at this point. Those who do not participate in this type of activity usually make the conclusion of presence of violence in the game-world. Nobody will ever hear this kind of statement from those who play, from those who know the rules of the game and understand that it is just a virtual world. A psychologically healthy person will never confuse or connect these two different worlds. A game is a virtual world with visual images very similar to human. These images represent by themselves nothing but simple playing obstacles. A game may potentially give the opportunity to â€Å"destroy the obstacles† that may not be destroyed according to the rules but it is more about personal choice whether to do it or not. This leads us to the conclusion that violence is not a consequence but the cause. People who are originally prone to violence may get irritated by games and perform violence in the â€Å"real world†. But in this case violence in games is a simple justification of the violent nature of the player. Is a College Degree Necessary to Become Successful The value of higher education cannot be underestimated considering the contemporary realities of the competitive marketplace. A higher education degree literally serves as the first impression of a jobseeker applying for employment. Namely a college degree is a person’s pass to the business world and so work-related opportunities are enormous. Truth is, college degrees are never the same if we take into account the reputation of higher establishment as well as the prestige of a particular field of studies. The today’s holders of college degrees have unprecedented opportunities of job search since the employment market has largely expanded throughout on-line domain offering freelance and part-time vacancies. Though, in both real and virtual employment, it is always a person’s CV (resume) that is initially considered by employer and in 95% of cases the inclusion of college degree is a must to get a well-paid job. The abovementioned proves that college degree always pays off, and therefore this essay aims to discuss the present-day realities in due respect. Overall, college education provides students with appropriate knowledge and skills to be used later in real life circumstances and working environment. At that career choices do not matter since the contemporary market is vast and enormous. In particular, college education enables students to gain preliminary information about many essential aspects required to cope with real-life challenges. At that students expand their knowledge and acquire practical skills by grasping abstract theories and concepts. A college curriculum teaches students how to clearly express personal standpoints and opinions both in conversation and writing. In most cases students acquire global thinking as well as that relevant to the solution of specific problems. Furthermore, students learn how to work in teams and solve tasks in cooperation; this enables to establish team spirit and ability to make personal contribution to overall mutual achievement. Various case studies based on real-life experiences teach students to better presume and therefore adapt to further complexities. To this end, it goes without saying that a college degree always means more employment opportunities since it is the identification of one’s academic qualification. In comparison, high school education is not enough to meet the ongoing challenges of today’s market place, and therefore the overwhelming majority of jobs require a college degree. In addition to the expanded job opportunities, a bachelor’s degree means higher earning prospects compare to a person with a high school diploma. Therefore, our earnings initially depend on the quality of diploma we receive, and to a great extent college marks (grades) may be compared to the monthly salary rate in the future In actual fact, there is a problem concerning studying at a college. College education does not depend only on student’s talent, successfulness or willingness to study. The cost of education is therefore high issue on the agenda which indicates the affordability of college education. Many students cannot afford college education due to various reasons and/or particular life conditions. Hence, most students rely on loans and/or other means of financial aid to afford their college courses. Apart from financial reasons, of course, the initial factor is high self-motivation to study at college. Whenever there is no family tradition or lack of overall interest, or nobody to recommend college education, a young person may easily opt for other (alternative) choices. In addition to this, college education a ssumes preliminary determination meaning that a person should choose a single subject area (law; medicine; architecture) to master in college and therefore build his/her career. However, the initial indecisiveness does not mean a student should know everything in advance. A college education is therefore designated to provide a student with proper and substantial knowledge and skills; nevertheless, the major direction should be chosen well in advance. One other initial problem is that young people mistakenly assume that a college education is rather difficult. To this end, it is worthy to note that studying at college involves student support and tutoring. Most western colleges are equipped with the necessary technological devices and easily accessible academic database to assist students while performing their assignments. Certainly, there are alternatives (e.g. community colleges) to four-year colleges that provide sufficient level of education, though only bachelor’s and master’s degrees are genuinely valued on the competitive marketplace, and therefore most students try to complete their education at four-year colleges (College Board, 2008) . Considering the aforementioned, the most important issue on the contemporary agenda would be not the importance of a college degree as such, but its real quality. This is actually the root answer to the problem of why some people are becoming more successful, while others not. Specifically, the quality of a college degree indicates that college graduates obtained certain amount of knowledge and managed to process and, most importantly, absorb it. A core subject, such as law or medicine whatever, requires proper understanding, a contribution of solid amount of time and additional resources to make it a future profession that would bring profits. This is to ay a college degree as such is not the panacea in a working world. A proper college diploma therefore assumes that a college graduate is able to prove it with a certain extent of academic knowledge. Regarding practical skills, they are further acquired within internship, practice and actually working environment. Many people, howeve r, fail to prove their knowledge acquired during college years with practical skills and therefore are made to change profession/occupation. Historically education has been regarded as a key to prosperity, and college system of education starting from the 17th century has proved this approach to be right. Also, throughout historical evolution, conventionally males have gained better education compared to females. However, times have changed and starting from the second half of the 20th century the situation has been equalizing. The today’s working environment is highly diverse providing vast opportunities to the qualified specialists and therefore knowledge has been regarded as a decisive factor. Religious, sex, colour, socio-cultural diversities are more and more eliminated since companies need qualified college graduates that can prove their knowledge in practical conditions. This is the way most companies win a competitive advantage for qualified employees are regarded as an invaluable asset by most corporations. Such fair treatment based on professional qualities rather than individual features is reasonable an d justified. Based on qualifications, there is hardly any difference between pay rates; nonetheless, in most industries men still earn more than women. This indicates that discriminatory issues are more and more tolerated and the quality of education approved by a college degree is a real value at the contemporary marketplace (Leonhardt, 2008). One more aspect to consider is the vast employment opportunities accessible to college graduates. The point is that the modern world has become flexible and changing as never before. Internet and cutting-edge technologies indicate the permanent progress and thus success is now associated with s permanent change. Successful people permanently adjust to changing circumstances and diverse environments to reap most benefits. Thereafter, the work-related relationships between employees and employers have also altered dramatically. There are millions of freelance job opportunities enabling people to work form the comfort of their home and rationally maintain work-life balance. To keep workforce loyal most companies need to establish flexible working practices, including part-time jobs, paternity leaves, childcare leaves, swapping shits etc. Therefore, HR departments lessen work stress and enable their employees to lead reasonable (normal) lives. In addition to this, employees are granted with numerous bonuses and incentives that often serve as sound motivators to keep loyal to the corporate policies (Walton, 1985). Due discussion might be continued and further expanded – though the core theme remains the same – only proper extent of knowledge and skills approved by a college degree enable a person to change jobs and seek better option for career-building and professional advancement. A college degree is a precious asset we use during lifetime to properly build up our professional growth and development. Therefore, whenever there is a chance, a person should use four college years to acquire this asset and ensure his/her further career prospects. As a rule, college graduates make social strata regarded as elite and many of them are becoming very successful to donate money to charities and therefore reduce poverty. Hence, knowledge brings profit and profit is used for prosperity. In the 21st century this particular formula should be applied in all walks of life to make the world a better place. 1. Argumentative Topic (Alcohol danger for under age drinking) Alcohol addiction is largely featured by general tolerance for alcohol with periodically increasing amounts to achieve the same degree of satisfaction, having a persistent desire or the inability to lower the amount of consumed dozes, and continuing consuming great amounts of alcohol despite realizing that the habit causes physical, psychological and socio-economic problems. Such dependence is much intensified during the teenage period (13-19 years) when young organism acquires negative effects that eventually destroys the rest of a person’s life. Alcohol addiction is mostly featured by psychological and physical dependence on daily basis. Hence, physiological, behavioral and cognitive perceptions are mainly centered on alcohol rather other life values. Alcohol desire is deemed a central descriptive characteristic of the dependence syndrome (Mental Health Matters, 2005). In addition, alcohol dependence is featured by irresistible desire or compulsion to frequent alcohol takings, and consequently difficulty to control alcohol-taking behavior including post-consumption consequences; disregard of outer difficulties caused by enormous alcohol consumption. As is proved by numerous under-age examples of alcohol consumption and addiction, the dependence syndrome is mostly revealed in either alcohol taking or a desire to take alcohol (Mental Health Matters, 2005). The need for alcohol is present when a person craves alcohol and cannot limit actual amounts or whenever a drinker enlarges alcohol consumption to feel high. Then, this state is called alcoholism which is particular to the majority of drinkers who practiced alcohol consumption during the underage stage. Differences between men and women at their workplace Introduction: A very important issue concerning diversity is the difference between men and women at workplace. As the matter of international experience of hiring people it is very important to point out that there have been a great number of cases connected with discrimination. We consider this to be a vital problem even nowadays, in spite of the change of the reasons for discrimination. If in the past it was a major problem for women to find a job and to prove that they can provide results equal to men, in the present time the situation has quiet changed. In addition to that women start getting benefits and are sometimes the only possible employees for a given workplace. Women establish a very strong emotional contact with the client; at the same time they are treated as being less professional than their male colleagues. Male workers according to the opinion of the employers are more rational. They complement and substitute the women’s emotional â€Å"contamination† by the rational aspect of the matter they are working with. Due to this employers sometimes prefer to eliminate either the â€Å"emotional†, or the â€Å"rational† factor and put â€Å"labels† on the employees taking their gender as an evaluating criterion. But nowadays everything has changed and men and women perform each other’s work excellently. We have observed in practice this difference, when a job, considered to be a â€Å"male job† was done perfectly by a woman but did not get the well-earned recognition in the company. One of the psychological reasons for that, as we assume, is the incapability of the authorities of the company to deal with a stereotype and change their ways according to the changing world around them. So therefore, it is the lack of flexibility. Women nevertheless are treated with a higher loyalty in any decent company. And sometimes their work results may be viewed as just needing some correction in comparison to the same work presented by men that would be considered wrong. But all these are exaggerated examples. The cultural component of this issue should be taken in count, too. For example is we take a black male and a white woman we may meet with a â€Å"special† treatment to the first one, due to the company’s respect and desire to show that they do not have any racial prejudices. We, believe, that the difference between men and women still exists and women and the quality of their work nowadays displace men. Nevertheless, we have examined another opinion that concerns women. Rose Mary Wentling suggested another point of view on the differences between men and women at workplace. The author asserts that women are still experiencing difficulties in their workplaces. The main arguments that are brought are the next: women are not given the standard of work performance when they apply for a â€Å"male† job, therefore do not get the detailed and clear picture of their involvement; women are not included in all the kinds of communication throughout a company; women lack the opportunity to †grow, develop, and contribute to company profitability†. According to this point of view women are not given the opportunity to introduce their ideas and innovations to the company’s functioning. But the main issue to work on is that the expectations of the employers concerning women are different than the ones concerning men. Conclusion: Women are ready to travel and move and relocate, and to make â€Å"the same commitment to the company as men aspiring to leadership positions† due to the reassessment of the woman’s role in the society. Analyzing this different point of view we came to a conclusion that both men and women face gender difficulties at any kind of job. So therefore we consider providing them with equal conditional vital for the benefit of the company itself in the first place. A modern company should not pay attention to the gender attribute. Both men and women need to have career advancement opportunities and counseling. Men and women are potential employees of any company, no matter what position we are talking about. From with combination of two points of view we get an understanding that both men and women have examples of being not treated properly at their workplace in spite of having the required skills for the place. And it is not possible to say that either men or women are facing greater difficulties in their professional lives. So it can be said that the difference did not disappear, but it is not a single-sided issue. Dorm life vs. Home life Almost every young person entering the period of college education faces the necessity to leave home and to live in the on-campus dormitory. The on-campus dormitories have been â€Å"survived† by many people and some of them have absolutely opposing opinions. The change from home to dorm life can be called one of the most important event in the life of any young person first of all because it is the first extreme life change and also because the consequences are still unknown. Home life and dorm life represent two different ways of living in different conditions. Nevertheless they have their similarities and differences that can be seen only after a deep analysis of the issue. The choice between home life and domestic life can lead to complete transformation of the life of a young man. On-campus life inevitably affects the life of the person and along with home life have their pros and cons. On-campus dormitories may be a pleasant experience for one person and a terrible test for another one. For some people dorm living is a necessity. There are several objective facts concerning dorm living. First of all any individual living at the dorm will have to face the necessity sometimes to live together with up to three students. Only those individuals who have an exclusive position within the university may count on having a room without roommates. The quality of the beds sometimes requires repair and the closet very often cannot fit in all the belonging of the roommates. The dorm does not provide the individuals with an actual kitchen and has small space for refrigerating food. The dorm offers public baths which are not comfortable under any condition. The next fact is about one of the most important ones – the dorm cuts individual space to its possible minimum as the person can hardly ever be alone. Another aspect of the dorm living is that the individual can make a lot of friends and find a lot of people who have the same interests. At the same time dorm living sometimes leads to early sexual intercourses and a false â€Å"feeling of complete independence†. Home living is another option sometimes chosen by young people. First of all home living proved the student with the possibility to get healthy food, freshly cooked on a normal kitchen. The fact that the meal can be actually cooked is a plus for the saving in the individual’s budget. Home living requires having personal chores and complete responsibility for the place the person lives in. As for personal hygiene at home, it is private and the individual can spend as much time on it as he desires. Home living guarantees the fact that people come to visit the person most often under the condition of a beforehand notice. The individual may do whatever he feels like doing and not get involved in activities he has no actually desire for. In other words, home living requires a lot of responsibilities but at the same time offers personal space and the opportunity to relax, study or work any time of the day. Home and dorm living have a lot of contrasts such as: food, privacy, hygiene, leisure, etc. and similarities such as certain expenses required for living. If to compare home living to dorm living a few fact are worth of mentioning. In home living the individual has at least one full room which is completely under his â€Å"jurisdiction†. Home living offers all the required personal space and the individual’s movement within the house are not limited as they are in the dormitory. The dormitory does not have a comfortable bed and also the individual cannot equip everything in the most suitable manner for him. A home living individual has all the required space for his belonging and an equipped kitchen to cook food. Nevertheless, in the dorm the food expenses can be spited among the roommates. The dorm’s public bath has obvious disadvantages as compared to a private home bath. Also home, as compared to dorm living provides more individual space as the person at home still has time to be alone and in the dorm it is practically impossible. If the person does not want to party all the time, home living is the best option. In order to conclude it is important to say that the basic differences between the dorm living and home living are the individual interests of the person and his aims in life. If dorm living is a necessity for one individual but he has a high motivated for education – dorm living will not change anything. And at the same time if a individual without motivation is a subject of home living there is no guarantee that all these personal space and freedom will lead to a better future. Therefore the main factor here is the personality of the dweller.

Outline of the key models of working memory

Outline of the key models of working memory Memory has long fascinated cognitive psychologists and cognitive theories as to the nature of memory go as far back as the late 19th century and William James (James, 1890). He was the first to propose a multi-store model of memory. In it he distinguished between primary and secondary memory. He stated that primary memory consisted of information that remained in the consciousness immediately after it had been perceived and secondary memory which constituted memories that had left the consciousness but were still readily obtainable. His theories became the benchmark for cognitive research in the area of memory and were expanded upon with the terms short-term memory and long-term memory soon becoming coined instead of his primary and secondary memory model. This was then developed into a three stage model by Atkinson and Shiffren in 1968 (Passer Smith, 2009). This multi-store model was a quite a large advancement; however it was very basic in design as regards the workings of short t erm memory (Eysenck Keane, 2010). It wasnt until the 70s and Baddeley and Hitchs model of working memory, that a more developed theory on short term memory was properly explored (Baddeley and Hitch, 1974). They believed that the three stage model of memory was too passive in its explanation on short term memory. This was the most complex theory in this area that had been put forward at the time, however Baddeleys Working Memory theory is not universally agreed upon and other contrasting views exist. For example Shah and Miyake disagree with some of Baddeleys assumptions in a paper published in 1996 (Eysenck and Keane, 2010). In this essay different theories on working memory will be explored, also to be taken into account is how they compare and contrast. It will also be evaluated whether working memory can be understood in terms of attentional control by taking into account various studies. The Working Memory model has been greatly expanded on over the years since it was first published yet its core arguments remain the same. Working memory is a limited capacity system that temporarily stores and processes information (Passer Smith, 2009). According to Baddeley, working memory is split into four components, a phonological loop, a visuo-spatial sketchpad, a central executive and an episodic buffer. The phonological loop is where sounds are briefly stored in working memory. It is active when listening to spoken words or sounding out words while reading. Baddeley and Hitch proposed that the phonological loop is made up of two mechanisms, a phonological store and an articulatory rehearsal system. The articulatory rehearsal system silently repeats the information in order to access the phonological store which is connected with the perception of speech. As shown in Eysenck Keane (2010) there is fairly good evidence to support its presence through research with brain damaged patients. However the point should be raised that the phonological loop seems to have little purpose as people with deficient phonological loops seem to manage very well. The visuo-spatial sketchpad oversees the brief storage of visual and spatial information (Passer Smith, 2010). Similar to the phonological loop Baddeley proposed that it also can be separated into two mechanisms, the visual cache which stores information concerning the image from and colour and the inner scribe which processes spatial and movement information. It also transfers the information from the visual cache to the central executive. It should also be noted that the Baddeleys working memory theory allows for the phonological loop and the visuo-spatial sketchpad to be used simultaneously, this can be seen when a word is linked with an image in memory. Evidence by a variety of researchers supports the idea of separate spatial and visual components including research by Quinn and Mc Connell in 1996 and Beschin et al in 1997 however very little is yet proven about the processes which integrate both of these (Eysenck Keane, 2010). The central executive is the most important, yet least understood, of Baddeleys four components in his working memory model. It directs the overall action of the other components and is theorized to be contained in the frontal lobes of the brain. It is also theorized to be responsible for the switching of attention between tasks, the planning of sub-tasks to achieve a goal, the updating and checking of the contents of the working memory system and coding representations in working memory for time and place of appearance (Eysenck Keane, 2010). Baddeley used the impairments displayed by individuals who suffered from damage to the frontal lobes on their brain as evidence to support the presence of the central executive. He hypothesised that it was because of a malfunctioning central executive that these individuals acted as though they lacked a system to control their processing resources appropriately. Baddeley called this dysexecutive syndrome (Eysenck Keane, 2010). The final component of Baddeleys model is the episodic buffer; this was only added to the working memory theory in 2000. It was believed that the model was lacking a general storage system that is not limited to just one form of information but can manage several types. This is the role that the episodic buffer fills. It takes information from both the long term and working memory and integrates and manipulates it so that it can be consciously used. Baddeley also believed that the episodic buffer comes into play when chunking information. He proposed that the episodic buffer expands on the phonological loops limited acoustic range and allows the brain to remember larger chunks of information in the short term by putting them into meaningful phrases and linking them together with what is already known in the long term memory (Passer Smith, 2009) Baddeley and Hitches working memory model is extremely comprehensive and is a very valid alternative to Atkinson and Shiffrens short term store model as it has more evidence to support its theories then the other way around (Eysenck Keane, 2010). However not all researchers agree with all aspects of this working memory model. Shah and Miyake (1996) disagreed with Baddeleys notion that there is only one central executive. They put forward the theory that there are in fact separate central executives that deal with verbal and spatial working memory systems respectively. They obtained evidence that supported their view through a study in which students were presented with tests of verbal and spatial working memory, in their results the correlations between reading span and spatial span seemed to agree with their hypothesis on separateness. This showcases that Baddeley and Hitches model is not omnipotent. Another working memory model is Cowans Integrated Framework theory (Cowan, 1995). Here Cowan doesnt regard working memory as a separate system, but as a part of long-term memory and he believes that working memory is organized into two levels. The first level is made up of the activation of long-term memory stores; he believes that there can be many of these and that there is no limit to activation of these stores in long-term memory. The second level is called the focus of attention. The focus is regarded as capacity limited and holds up to four of the activated stores. Cowans model is not as expansive as Baddeleys and it goes against the grain as it promotes a single-store model which could be viewed as dated by many researchers today. However it does attempt to understand working memory in terms of attentional control, a view shared by many. A study on adults with ADHD sought to prove whether working memory ability could explain group differences in brain activity between those with ADHD and a control group during attentionally demanding situations (Burgess et al, 2010). Their results seemed to suggest that a link does indeed exist between working memory and attentional control. Also, Baddeley himself said that the central executive and the supervisory attentional system (SAS) described by Shallice (1982) were one and the same. According to Shallice, the supervisory attentional system is a limited capacity system that is used for a variety of purposes, including the monitoring of tasks involving planning or decision making. In conclusion this essay examined the working memory model and some of its offshoot models. Baddeley and Hitchs original model has been developed and most researchers use it as the base model for their studies in this area. It has been expanded upon many times over the years and seems to be able to incorporate more modern ideas into its basic structure. As a result the argument can be put forward that it is currently the best model of working memory. As regards working memory and attentional control, they appear to be linked and studies seem to have shown that link as shown by

Research Strategy of Service Quality Assessment

Research Strategy of Service Quality Assessment Methodology: For this study survey, strategy will be used in order to collect data. Survey researchers are quite distinct from the general surveys conducted for different purposes, including marketing survey. According to Tanur(1982) surveys are generally meant of collecting data related to characteristics, actions, or opinions of a large group of people, referred to as a population. The surveys conducted for research purposes are focused on advancement of knowledge within a specific domain. Research survey data can be collected through different methods, including interviews, questionnaires and observations. In terms of questionnaires, the data can be collected either through open-ended questions in which participants need to provide details answer or closed questions in which participants need to provide select single or multiple answers from the choice of answers. According to Groves et al. (2013) survey data will be biased if the process of the survey is not properly followed, which includes designing, writing, collecting and analysing sub-processes. Figure 1 presents the typical data collection process as describe by Groves et al.(2013)   Ã‚   Figure 1: A survey from process prospective (Groves et. al. 2013,pp.149) For the research survey, strategy will be used and data will be collected through set of questionnaires which respondent will be able to complete themselves. The reason for using questioner as data collection method was because, firstly, this research is using survey strategy and according to Saunders et al. (2012) questioner is one of the most widely used data collection methods within survey strategy. Secondly, since this research will be providing the closed answers which will be used for quantitative data analysis, therefore, questionnaire data collection method is more suited for this research. In terms of sampling, since its pilot data collection and research is focused on general consumer perception about the service delivery and expected quality evaluated through the prism of culture, therefore, as describe by Saunders et al. (2012) probability based sampling technique will be used to identify a group from population for data collection. For quality of data, research has applied stratified random sampling by using the one attribute that has the basic level of experience in terms of service delivery from the population. The validity or according to Saunders et al. (2012) content validity, questions in a survey provide adequate representation for research questions. As describe by Saunders et al. (2012) validity of the content can be evaluated through literature review, which has been provided for this research. For the reliability and consistency in response to the questionnaire, the research is confined to only closed questions with multiple-choice single selection answe rs, and questions are all design using simple language. The questions on the survey are design based upon the research questions, and all the questions in the survey are closed question that is multiple-choice single selection in order to collect consistent data. The order and flow of the questions are carefully design to avoid confusion and misinterpretation. Similarly, in order to avoid blank or missed questions the questions are presented on the same page, Please see the Appendix for actual questionnaire in the survey. Although the research is evaluating the research question using qualitative research methodology, but the data collected through a survey is processed by quantitative data analysis. The data collected through a survey is considered to numerical data, and exploratory data analysis(EDA) approach will be used to process it. According to Saunders et al. (2012) EDA approach for data analysis emphasis on using diagrams and tables for understanding and exploring data. Sin ce this is pilot research, therefore, as describe by Saunders et al. (2012) EDA approach is useful for initially stages of the research. Research instrument and data collection: The survey is divided into two sections first section contains demographic questions two get more understandings about the respondent and their classification. The second section contains the statement about the service encounter which participants had to rate using 7-points Likert scale starting from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Before attempting to rate the statements participants were asked to think of the service they have received from the industries like banks, retail, etc. and use the experience to rate the statements. The survey is conducted electronically by creating the questionnaire on a free online survey conducting website which provides functionality to share a link to the survey. The link to the survey is shared through email and also via different electronic forums, The data collected through the survey is analysed and evaluated after downloading it from the website. Sample data comprised of two sources that is the student of universities and colleges. A total of hundred responses was received out of several hundred survey requests. As the research aims to analyse the effect of culture on customer perception of service, therefore, the sampling framework was clustered into two major group based on their ethnicity that is white and non-white. Population targeted for this research was local consumers living in UK and had received service from industries like banks, retail, etc. in last few months. Participants from the sample are chosen using researchers own intuition and chosen with purpose. (Tellstrom et al., 2006). In order to further evaluate participant demographic information like age and education has also been collected. Measurement: In order to measure a perception of service quality and evolution process, in this SERVQUAL scale will be used, which was developed by Parasuraman et al. (1991). SERQUAL provides 22-items scale, spanning five dimensions (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy), of service quality expectations and, which has been evaluated and validated in numerous studies (Donthu and Yoo, 1998). Although researchers have identified some shortcoming in using SERVQUAL, but the model is most widely referenced and practiced among various industries. The questionnaires in this study were design to capture the customer perceptions of service quality based on five quality dimension of SERVQUAL. For gauging the culture of the survey participant, the study will use the Hofstedes framework of cultural dimensions. Several scholars have proposed alternative frameworks to conceptualize and operational culture to overcome the shortcoming of Hofstedes framework. However, Hofstedes framework is still the most widely used cultural framework in different fields of study, including psychology, sociology, marketing, or management (Soares et al., 2007). The research has used the approach of grouping the participant according to their individual scores on Hofstedes cultural dimension scale resulting in better understanding the role of culture in shaping service perception (Guesalaga et al ., 2016). The survey has been conducted within UK, and participants predominantly belong to western culture but some of the participant involved has a different culture which can give better understand of cultural effect on service quality perception. References Guesalaga, R.; Pierce, M. and Scaraboto, D. (2016), Cultural influences on expectations and evaluations of service quality in emerging markets, International Marketing Review, 33(1), pp. 88-111 Parasuraman, A.; Berry, L. and Zeithaml, V.A. (1991), Refinement and reassessment of the SERVQUAL scale, Journal of Retailing, .67(4), pp. 420-450. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2012) Research methods for business students. 6th edn. Harlow: Pearson. Tanur, J.M.(1982) Advances in methods for large-scale surveys and experiments, in R. Mcadams, N.J. Smelser, D.J. Treiman (eds.), Behavioral and Social Science Research: A National Resource, Part II. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. Groves,R. M., Fowler, F.J., Couper, M.P. Jr., Lepkowski, J. M., Singer, E. and Tourangeau, R. (2013), Survey Methodology, First Edition,John Wiley Sons Donthu, N. and Yoo, B. (1998),Cultural Influences on Service Quality Expectations, Journal of Service Research,1(2), pp.178-186 Soares, A. M.; Farhangmehr, M. and Shoham, A. (2007), Hofstedes dimensions of culture in international marketing studies, Journal of Business Research, 60, pp. 277 284

Suicide: Facts, Misconceptions, Causes, And Prevention :: Suicide Essays

A sixteen-year old boy sat in his fourth period class crying because he had just broken up with his girlfriend. As he sat there, he tried to think of a way to ease the pain in his heart of the whole situation. His only conclusion was to try and take his own life. This is an attempt of suicide, which was luckily stopped because of a note that he had given to his girlfriend describing his plans that she, in turn, had given to the Guidance Counselor of the school. The truth is that an attempt of suicide is not always the person’s fault, there are several factors, which are contributed to the cause of suicidal thoughts, or feelings that lead to suicidal attempts, and with various treatment methods these conditions can be controlled not necessarily eliminated. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people ages fifteen through twenty-five. After making that statement one would come to the conclusion that this age group is responsible for the most suicides, but that is not true the elderly ages sixty-five and older account for more then twenty-percent of all suicides. Considering on average eighty-four people die a day from suicide, that means, that there is an elderly person dying every ninety minutes from suicide, and fifty-four percent of all elderly suicides are committed with a firearm, but after saying that consider this that the elderly only account for thirteen-percent of the U.S. population, and suicide is the eighth leading cause of death among the U.S. population (SAVE). Sixty-percent of suicides among young people are committed with a firearm, and more young people die from suicide than cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease combined (Centers for Disease Control). There are plenty of misconceptions and myths, when it comes to understanding if someone is suicidal and if they already are what makes them that way. One myth is that someone who talks about suicide or jokes about it will not commit suicide. This is not true most of the time; someone who is going to commit suicide will give hints that they are going to do so. These hints are not necessarily as clear as we think they should be, but maybe that is because we are too ignorant to see the warning signs that are put right in front of our face.

Antz :: essays research papers

In the movie â€Å"Antz† the ants posses very many qualities which are similar, and some the same as humans. The first quality that is similar to humans, is that the ants all try to work themselves to the top of the ant colony, this is one quality that the character Z has more then the others. Another quality that the ants have to live by which is they live, and follow instructions by one controller. The ants also posses many similar human characteristics. They also show similar emotions that us humans show. The ants in the movie also posses the same actions, and there is great similarity to their interaction with each other, as us humans have. These qualities are all clearly shown throughout the whole movie, and are very much similar, and some are exactly the same as human qualities. As we all know, a humans dream in general, it to get to the top of their society somehow. Humans usually seem to think that what they do is worthless, and that they have no choice but to do something that they don’t want to. Humans will always try to work as hard as possible until they are the best at what they do. This quality is similar to that of Z’s. Z is the average working ant. He is depressed about how his life is going and he feels like he is not going anywhere. He tries his hardest to not be the average working ant by switching places with his soldier ant friend. He does this because he meets the princess Bala in a bar one night, and he falls for her very quickly. He then realizes that the soldiers have to go for the royal inspection where the princess will also be. Z realizes that if he switches places with his soldier friend, then he will be able to see the princess Bala again. This is a form of working himself to the top because, in my opinion, he fell for the princess as badly as he did because she was â€Å"the princess of the colony† and if they ever were a couple then Z would eventually become the princesses mate. I think that this is some what similar to humans ways of trying to work themselves to the top. In general, humans try to find a mate who is a successful, and high to the top. If a person unsucceeds in finding a successful mate, he or she will find another person to fall in love with. If that person turns out to be a highly successful

Forward the Foundation Chapter 28

27 It was a lovely day, neither too warm nor too cold, not too bright nor too gray. Even though the groundskeeping budget had given out years ago, the few straggly perennials lining the steps leading up to the Galactic Library managed to add a cheerful note to the morning. (The Library, having been built in the classical style of antiquity, was fronted with one of the grandest stairways to be found in the entire Empire, second only to the steps at the Imperial Palace itself. Most Library visitors, however, preferred to enter via the gliderail) Seldon had high hopes for the day. Since he and Stettin Palver had been cleared of all charges in their recent assault and battery case, Hari Seldon felt like a new man. Although the experience had been painful, its very public nature had advanced Seldon's cause. Judge Tejan Popjens Lih, who was considered one of, if not the most influential judge on Trantor, had been quite vociferous in her opinion, delivered the day following Rial Nevas's emotional testimony. â€Å"When we come to such a crossroads in our ‘civilized' society,† the judge intoned from her bench, â€Å"that a man of Professor Hari Seldon's standing is made to bear the humiliation, abuse, and lies of his peers simply because of who he is and what he stands for, it is truly a dark day for the Empire. I admit that I, too, was taken in-at first. ‘Why wouldn't Professor Seldon,' I reasoned, ‘resort to such trickery in an attempt to prove his predictions?' But, as I came to see, I was most grievously wrong.† Here the judge's brow furrowed, a dark blue flush began creeping up her neck and into her cheeks. â€Å"For I was ascribing to Professor Seldon motives born of our new society, a society in which honesty, decency, and goodwill are likely to get one killed, a society in which it appears one must resort to dishonesty and trickery merely to survive. â€Å"How far we have strayed from our founding principles. We were lucky this time, fellow citizens of Trantor. We owe a debt of thanks to Professor Hari Seldon for showing us our true selves; let us take his example to heart and resolve to be vigilant against the baser forces of our human nature.† Following the hearing, the Emperor had sent Seldon a congratulatory holo-disc. On it he expressed the hope that perhaps now Seldon would find renewed funding for his Project. As Seldon slid up the entrance gliderail, he reflected on the current status of his Psychohistory Project. His good friend-the former Chief Librarian Las Zenow-had retired. During his tenure, Zenow had been a strong proponent of Seldon and his work. More often than not, however, Zenow's hands had been tied by the Library Board. But, he had assured Seldon, the affable new Chief Librarian, Tryma Acarnio, was as progressive as he himself, and was popular with many factions among the Board membership. â€Å"Hari, my friend,† Zenow had said before leaving Trantor for his home world of Wencory, â€Å"Acarnio is a good man, a person of deep intellect and an open mind. I'm sure he'll do all that he can to help you and the Project. I've left him the entire data file on you and your EncyIopedia; I know he'll be as excited as I about the contribution to humanity it represents. Take care, my friend-I'll remember you fondly.† And so today Hari Seldon was to have his first official meeting with the new Chief Librarian. He was cheered by the reassurances Las Zenow had left with him and he was looking forward to sharing his plans for the future of the Project and the Encyclopedia. Tryma Acarnio stood as Hari entered the Chief Librarian's office. Already he had made his mark on the place; whereas Zenow had stuffed every nook and cranny of the room with holo-discs and tridijournals from the different sectors of Trantor, and a dizzying array of visiglobes representing various worlds of the Empire had spun in midair, Acarnio had swept clear the mounds of data and images that Zenow had liked to keep at his fingertips. A large holoscreen now dominated one wall on which, Seldon presumed, Acarnio could view any publication or broadcast that he desired. Acarnio was short and stocky, with a slightly distracted look-from a childhood corneal correction that had gone awry-that belied a fearsome intelligence and constant awareness of everything going on around him at all times. â€Å"Well, well. Professor Seldon. Come in. Sit down.† Acarnio gestured to a straight-backed chair facing the desk at which he sat. â€Å"It was, I felt, quite fortuitous that you requested this meeting. You see, I had intended to get in touch with you as soon as I settled in.† Seldon nodded, pleased that the new Chief Librarian had considered him enough of a priority to plan to seek him out in the hectic early days of his tenure. â€Å"But, first, Professor, please let me know why you wanted to see me before we move on to my, most likely, more prosaic concerns.† Seldon cleared his throat and leaned forward. â€Å"Chief Librarian, Las Zenow has no doubt told you of my work here and of my idea for an Encyclopedia Galactica. Las was quite enthusiastic, and a great help, providing a private office for me here and unlimited access to the Library's vast resources. In fact, it was he who located the eventual home of the Encyclopedia Project, a remote Outer World called Terminus. â€Å"There was one thing, however, that Las could not provide. In order to keep the Project on schedule, I must have office space and unlimited access granted to a number of my colleagues, as well. It is an enormous undertaking, just gathering the information to be copied and transferred to Terminus before we can begin the actual work of compiling the Encyclopedia. â€Å"Las was not popular with the Library Board, as you undoubtedly are aware. You, however, are. And so I ask you, Chief Librarian: Will you see to it that my colleagues are granted insiders' privileges so that we may continue our most vital work?† Here Hari stopped, almost out of breath. He was sure that his speech, which he had gone over and over in his mind the night before, would have the desired effect. He waited, confident in Acarnio's response. â€Å"Professor Seldon,† Acarnio began. Seldon's expectant smile faded. There was an edge to the Chief Librarian's voice that Seldon had not expected. â€Å"My esteemed predecessor provided me-in exhaustive detail-an explication of your work here at the Library. He was quite enthusiastic about your research and committed to the idea of your colleagues joining you here. As was I, Professor Seldon†-at Acarnio's pause, Seldon looked up sharply-â€Å"at first. I was prepared to call a special meeting of the Board to propose that a larger suite of offices be prepared for you and your Encyclopedists. But, Professor Seldon, all that has now changed.† â€Å"Changed! But why?† â€Å"Professor Seldon, you have just finished serving as principal defendant in a most sensational assault and battery case.† â€Å"But I was acquitted,† Seldon broke in. â€Å"The case never even made it to trial.† â€Å"Nonetheless, Professor, your latest foray into the public eye has given you an undeniable-how shall I say it?-tinge of ill repute. Oh yes, you were acquitted of all charges. But in order to get to that acquittal, your name, your past, your beliefs, and your work were paraded before the eyes of all the worlds. And even if one progressive right-thinking judge has proclaimed you faultless, what of the millions-perhaps billions-of other average citizens who see not a pioneering psychohistorian striving to preserve his civilization's glory but a raving lunatic shouting doom and gloom for the great and mighty Empire? â€Å"You, by the very nature of your work, are threatening the essential fabric of the Empire. I don't mean the huge, nameless, faceless, monolithic Empire. No, I am referring to the heart and soul of the Empire-its people. When you tell them the Empire is failing, you are saying that they are failing. And this, my dear Professor, the average citizen cannot face. â€Å"Seldon, like it or not, you have become an object of derision, a subject of ridicule, a laughingstock.† â€Å"Pardon me, Chief Librarian, but for years now I have been, to some circles, a laughingstock.† â€Å"Yes, but only to some circles. But this latest incident-and the very public forum in which it was played out-has opened you up to ridicule not only here on Trantor but throughout the worlds. And, Professor, if, by providing you an office, we, the Galactic Library, give tacit approval to your work, then, by inference, we, the Library, also become a laughingstock throughout the worlds. And no matter how strongly I may personally believe in your theory and your Encyclopedia, as Chief Librarian of the Galactic Library on Trantor, I must think of the Library first. â€Å"And so, Professor Seldon, your request to bring in your colleagues is denied.† Hari Seldon jerked back in his chair as if struck. â€Å"Further,† Acarnio continued, â€Å"I must advise you of a two-week temporary suspension of all Library privileges-effective immediately. The Board has called that special meeting, Professor Seldon. In two weeks' time we will notify you whether or not we've decided that our association with you must be terminated.† Here, Acarnio stopped speaking and, placing his palms on the glossy, spotless surface of his desk, stood up. â€Å"That is all, Professor Seldon-for now.† Hari Seldon stood as well, although his upward movement was not as smooth, nor as quick, as Tryma Acarnio's. â€Å"May I be permitted to address the Board?† asked Seldon. â€Å"Perhaps if I were able to explain to them the vital importance of psychohistory and the Encyclopedia-â€Å" â€Å"I'm afraid not, Professor,† said Acarnio softly and Seldon caught a brief glimmer of the man Las Zenow had told him about. But, just as quickly, the icy bureaucrat was back as Acarnio guided Seldon to the door. As the portals slid open, Acarnio said, â€Å"Two weeks, Professor Seldon. Till then.† Hari stepped through to his waiting skitter and the doors slid shut. What am I going to do now? wondered Seldon disconsolately. Is this the end of my work? 28 â€Å"Wanda dear, what is it that has you so engrossed?† asked Hari Seldon as he entered his granddaughter's office at Streeling University. The room had been the office of the brilliant mathematician Yugo Amaryl, whose death had impoverished the Psychohistory Project. Fortunately, Wanda had gradually taken over Yugo's role in recent years, further refining and adjusting the Prime Radiant. â€Å"Why, I'm working on an equation in Section 33A2D17. See, I've recalibrated this section†-she gestured to a glowing violet patch suspended in midair in front of her face-‘taking into consideration the standard quotient and-There! Just what I thought-I think.† She stepped back and rubbed her eyes. â€Å"What is it, Wanda?† Hari moved in closer to study the equation. â€Å"Why, this looks like the Terminus equation and yet†¦ Wanda, this is an inverse of the Terminus equation, isn't it?† â€Å"Yes, Grandpa. See, the numbers weren't working quite right in the Terminus equation-look.† Wanda touched a contact in a recessed wallstrip and another patch sprang to life in vivid red on the other side of the room. Seldon and Wanda walked over to inspect it. â€Å"You see how it's all hanging together fine now, Grandpa? It's taken me weeks to get it this way.† â€Å"How did you do it?† asked Hari, admiring the equation's lines, its logic, its elegance. â€Å"At first, I concentrated on it from over here only. I blocked out all else. In order to get Terminus to work, work on Terminus-stands to reason, doesn't it? But then I realized that I couldn't just introduce this equation into the Prime Radiant system and expect it to blend right in smoothly, as if nothing happened. A placement means a displacement somewhere else. A weight needs a counterweight.† â€Å"I think the concept to which you are referring is what the ancients called ‘yin and yang.' â€Å" â€Å"Yes, more or less. Yin and yang. So, you see, I realized that to perfect the yin of Terminus, I had to locate its yang. Which I did, over there.† She moved back to the violet patch, tucked away at the other edge of the Prime Radiant sphere. â€Å"And once I adjusted the figures here, the Terminus equation fell into place as well. Harmony!† Wanda looked pleased with herself, as if she'd solved all the problems of the Empire. â€Å"Fascinating, Wanda, and later on you must tell me what you think it all means for the Project. But right now you must come with me to the holoscreen. I received an urgent message from Santanni a few minutes ago. Your father wants us to call him immediately.† Wanda's smile faded. She had been alarmed at the recent reports of fighting on Santanni. As Imperial budget cutbacks went into effect, the citizens of the Outer Worlds suffered most. They had limited access to the richer, more populous Inner Worlds and it became more and more difficult to trade their worlds' products for much needed imports. Imperial hyperships going in and out of Santanni were few and the distant world felt isolated from the rest of the Empire. Pockets of rebellion had erupted throughout the planet. â€Å"Grandfather, I hope everything's all right,† said Wanda, her fear revealed by her voice. â€Å"Don't worry, dear. After all, they must be safe if Raych was able to send us a message.† In Seldon's office, he and Wanda stood before the holoscreen as it activated. Seldon punched a code on the keypad alongside the screen and they waited a few seconds for the intragalactic connection to be established. Slowly the screen seemed to stretch back into the wall, as if it were the entrance to a tunnel-and out of the tunnel, dimly at first, came the familiar figure of a stocky powerfully built man. As the connection sharpened, the man's features became clearer. When Seldon and Wanda were able to make out Raych's bushy Dahlite mustache, the figure sprang to life. â€Å"Dad! Wanda!† said Raych's three-dimensional hologram, projected to Trantor from Santanni. â€Å"Listen, I don't have much time.† He flinched, as if startled by a loud noise. â€Å"Things have gotten pretty bad here. The government has fallen and a provisional party has taken over. Things are a mess, as you can imagine. I just put Manella and Bellis on a hypership to Anacreon. I told them to get in touch with you from there. The name of the ship is the Arcadia VII. â€Å"You should have seen Manella, Dad. Mad as anything that she had to go. The only way I was able to convince her to leave was to point out that it was for Bellis's sake. â€Å"I know what you're thinking, Dad and Wanda. Of course I would have gone with them-if I could have. But there wasn't enough room. You should've seen what I had to go through just to get them onto the ship.† Raych flashed one of his lopsided grins that Seldon and Wanda loved so much, then continued. â€Å"Besides, since I'm here, I have to help guard the University-we may be part of the Imperial University system, but we're a place of learning and building, not of destruction. I tell you, if one of those hot-headed Santanni rebels comes near our stuff-â€Å" â€Å"Raych,† Hari broke in, â€Å"How bad is it? Are you close to the fighting?† â€Å"Dad, are you in danger?† asked Wanda. They waited a few seconds for their message to travel the nine thousand parsecs across the Galaxy to Raych. â€Å"I-I-I couldn't quite make out what you said,† the hologram replied. â€Å"There's a bit of fighting going on. It's sort of exciting, actually,† Raych said, breaking into that grin again. â€Å"So I'm going to sign off now. Remember, find out what happened to the Arcadia VII going to Anacreon. I'll be back in touch as soon as I'm able. Remember, I-† The transmission broke off and the hologram faded. The holoscreen tunnel collapsed in on itself so that Seldon and Wanda were left staring at a blank wall. â€Å"Grandpa,† said Wanda, â€Å"what do you think he was going to say?† â€Å"I have no idea, dear. But there is one thing I do know and that is that your father can take care of himself. I pity any rebel who gets near enough for a well-placed Twist-kick from your dad! Come, let's get back to that equation and in a few hours we'll check on the Arcadia VII.† *** â€Å"Commander, have you no idea what happened to the ship?† Hari Seldon was again engaged in intragalactic conversation, but this time it was with an Imperial navy commander stationed at Anacreon. For this communication, Seldon was making use of the visiscreen-much less realistic than the holoscreen but also much simpler. â€Å"I'm telling you, Professor, that we have no record of that hypership requesting permission to enter the Anacreonic atmosphere. Of course, communications with Santanni have been broken for several hours and sporadic at best for the last week. It is possible that the ship tried to reach us on a Santanni-based channel and could not get through, but I doubt it. â€Å"No, it's more likely that the Arcadia VII changed destination. Voreg, perhaps, or Sarip. Have you tried either of those worlds, Professor?† â€Å"No,† said Seldon wearily, â€Å"but I see no reason if the ship was bound for Anacreon that it would not go to Anacreon. Commander, it is vital that I locate that ship.† â€Å"Of course,† the commander ventured, â€Å"the Arcadia VII might not have made it. Out safely, I mean. There's a lot of fighting going on. Those rebels don't care who they blow up. They just train their lasers and pretend it's the Emperor Agis they're blasting. I tell you, it's a whole different game out here on the fringe, Professor.† â€Å"My daughter-in-law and granddaughter are on that ship, Commander,† Seldon said in a tight voice. â€Å"Oh, I'm sorry, Professor,† said an abashed commander. â€Å"I'll be in touch with you as soon as I hear anything.† Dispiritedly Hari closed the visiscreen contact. How tired I am, he thought. And, he mused, I'm not surprised-I've known that this would come for nearly forty years. Seldon chuckled bitterly to himself. Perhaps that commander had thought he was shocking Seldon, impressing him with the vivid detail of life â€Å"on the fringe.† But Seldon knew all about the fringe. And as the fringe came apart, like a piece of knitting with one loose thread, the whole piece would unravel to the core: Trantor. Seldon became aware of a soft buzzing sound. It was the door signal. â€Å"Yes?† â€Å"Grandpa,† said Wanda, entering the office, â€Å"I'm scared.† â€Å"Why, dear?† asked Seldon with concern. He didn't want to tell her yet what he had learned-or hadn't learned-from the commander on Anacreon. â€Å"Usually, although they're so far away, I feel Dad and Mom and Bellis-feel them in here†-she pointed to her head-â€Å"and in here†-she placed her hand over her heart. â€Å"But now, today, I don't feel them-it feels less, as if they're fading, like one of the dome bulbs. And I want to stop it. I want to pull them back, but I can't.† â€Å"Wanda, I really think this is merely a product of your concern for your family in light of the rebellion. You know that uprisings occur all over the Empire all the time-little eruptions to let off steam. Come now, you know that chances of anything happening to Raych, Manella, or Bellis are vanishingly small. Your dad will call any day to say all is well; your mom and Bellis will land on Anacreon at any moment and enjoy a little vacation. We are the ones to be pitied-we're stuck here up to our ears in work! So, sweetheart, go to bed and think only good thoughts. I promise you, tomorrow, under the sunny dome, things will look much better.† â€Å"All right, Grandpa,† said Wanda, not sounding entirely convinced. â€Å"But tomorrow-if we haven't heard by tomorrow-we'll have to-to-â€Å" â€Å"Wanda, what can we do, except wait?† asked Hari, his voice gentle. Wanda turned and left, the weight of her worries showing in the slope of her shoulders. Hari watched her go, finally allowing his own worries to come to the surface. It had been three days since the hologram transmission from Raych. Since then-nothing. And today the naval commander at Anacreon denied ever having heard of a ship called Arcadia VII Hari had tried earlier to get through to Raych on Santanni, but all communication beams were down. It was as if Santanni-and the Arcadia VII-had simply broken off from the Empire, like a petal from a flower. Seldon knew what he had to do now. The Empire might be down, but it was not out. Its power, when properly wielded, was still awesome. Seldon placed an emergency transmission to Emperor Agis XIV. 29 â€Å"What a surprise-my friend Hari!† Agis's visage beamed at Seldon through the holoscreen. â€Å"I am glad to hear from you, although you usually request the more formal personal audience. Come, you've piqued my interest. Why the urgency?† â€Å"Sire,† began Seldon, â€Å"my son, Raych, and his wife and daughter live on Santanni.† â€Å"Ah, Santanni,† the Emperor said as his smile faded. â€Å"A bunch of misguided wretches if I eve -â€Å" â€Å"Sire, please,† broke in Seldon, surprising both the Emperor and himself with this flagrant breach of Imperial protocol. â€Å"My son was able to get Manella and Bellis onto a hypership, the Arcadia VII, bound for Anacreon. He, however, had to remain. That was three days ago. The ship has not landed at Anacreon. And my son seems to have disappeared. My calls to Santanni have gone unanswered and now the communication beams are broken. â€Å"Please, Sire, can you help me?† â€Å"Hari, as you know, officially all ties between Santanni and Trantor have been severed. However, I still hold some influence in selected areas of Santanni. That is, there are still a few loyal to me who have not yet been found out. Although I cannot make direct contact with any of my operatives on that world, I can share with you any reports I receive from there. These are, of course, highly confidential, but considering your situation and our relationship, I will allow you access to those pieces that might interest you. â€Å"I am expecting another dispatch within the hour. If you like, I'll recontact you when it arrives. In the meantime, I'll have one of my aides go over all transmissions from Santanni for the past three days to look for anything pertaining to Raych, Manella, or Bellis Seldon.† â€Å"Thank you, Sire. I thank you most humbly.† And Hari Seldon dipped his head as the Emperor's image faded from the holoscreen. Sixty minutes later Hari Seldon was still sitting at his desk, waiting to hear from the Emperor. The past hour had been one of the most difficult he had ever spent, second only to the hours after Dors's destruction. It was the not knowing that did Hari in. He had made a career of knowing-the future as well as the present. And now he had no idea at all about three of the people most precious to him. The holoscreen buzzed softly and Hari pressed a contact in response. Agis appeared. â€Å"Hari,† began the Emperor. From the soft slow sadness in his voice, Hari knew this call brought bad news. â€Å"My son,† said Hari. â€Å"Yes,† replied the Emperor. â€Å"Raych was killed, earlier today, in a bombardment on Santanni University. I've learned from my sources that Raych knew the attack was coming but refused to desert his post. You see, a good number of the rebels are students and Raych felt that if they knew that he was still there, they would never†¦ But hate overcame all reason. â€Å"The University is, you see, an Imperial University. The rebels feel they must destroy all things Imperial before rebuilding anew. The fools! Why-† And here Agis stopped, as if suddenly realizing that Seldon did not care about Santanni University or the plans of the rebels-not right now, at least. â€Å"Hari, if it makes you feel any better, remember that your son died in defense of knowledge. It was not the Empire Raych fought and died for but humanity itself.† Seldon looked up out of tear-filled eyes. Weakly he asked, â€Å"And Manella and little Bellis? What of them? Have you found the Arcadia Hl?† â€Å"That search has proved fruitless, Hari. The Arcadia VII left Santanni, as you were told. But it seems to have disappeared. It may have been hijacked by rebels or it may have made an emergency detour-at this point, we just don't know.† Seldon nodded. â€Å"Thank you, Agis. Although you have brought me tragic news, at least you have brought it. Not knowing was worse. You are a true friend.† â€Å"And so, my friend,† said the Emperor, â€Å"I'll leave you to yourself now-and your memories.† The Emperor's image faded from the screen as Hari Seldon folded his arms in front of him on his desk, put his head down, and wept. 30 Wanda Seldon adjusted the waistband of her unisuit, pulling it a little tighter around her middle. Taking up a hand hoe, she attacked some weeds that had sprung up in her small flower garden outside the Psychohistory Building at Streeling. Generally Wanda spent the bulk of her time in her office, working with her Prime Radiant. She found solace in its precise statistical elegance; the unvarying equations were somehow reassuring in this Empire gone so crazy. But when thoughts of her beloved father, mother, and baby sister became too much to bear, when even her research could not keep her mind off the horrible losses she'd so recently undergone, Wanda invariably found herself out here, scratching at the terraformed ground, as if coaxing a few plants to life might somehow, in some tiny measure, ameliorate her pain. Since her father's death a month ago and the disappearance of Manella and Bellis, Wanda, who had always been slim, had been losing weight. Whereas a few months ago Hari Seldon would have been concerned over his darling granddaughter's loss of appetite, now he, stuck in his own grief, seemed not to notice. A profound change had come over Hari and Wanda Seldon-and the few remaining members of the Psychohistory Project. Hari seemed to have given up. He now spent most of his days sitting in an armchair in the Streeling solarium, staring out at the University grounds, warmed by the bright bulbs overhead. Occasionally Project members told Wanda that his bodyguard, a man named Stettin Palver, would badger Seldon into a walk out under the dome or try to engage him in a discussion of the future direction of the Project. Wanda retreated deeper into her study of the Prime Radiant's fascinating equations. She could feel the future her grandfather had worked so hard to achieve finally taking shape, and he was right: The Encyclopedists must be established on Terminus; they would be the Foundation. And Section 33A2D17-in it Wanda could see what Seldon referred to as the Second, or secret, Foundation. But how? Without Seldon's active interest, Wanda was at a loss as to how to proceed. And her sorrow over the destruction of her family cut so deep that she didn't seem to have the strength to figure it out. The members of the Project itself, those fifty or so hardy souls who remained, continued their work as well as possible. The majority were Encyclopedists, researching the source materials they would need to copy and catalogue for their eventual move to Terminus-when and if they gained full access to the Galactic Library. At this point, they were working on faith alone. Professor Seldon had lost his private office at the Library, so the prospects of any other Project member gaining special access were slim. The remaining Project members (other than the Encyclopedists) were historical analysts and mathematicians. The historians interpreted past and current human actions and events, turning their findings over to the mathematicians, who in turn fit those pieces into the great Psychohistorical Equation. It was long painstaking work. Many Project members had left because the rewards were so few-psychohistorians were the butt of many jokes on Trantor and limited funds had forced Seldon to enact drastic pay cuts. But the constant reassuring presence of Hari Seldon had-till now-overcome the difficult working conditions of the Project. Indeed, the Project members who had stayed on had, to a person, done so out of respect and devotion to Professor Seldon. Now, thought Wanda Seldon bitterly, what reason is left for them to stay? A light breeze blew a piece of her blond hair across her eyes; she pushed it back absentmindedly and continued her weeding. â€Å"Miss Seldon, may I have a moment of your time?† Wanda turned and looked up. A young man-she judged him to be in his early twenties-stood on the gravel path next to her. She immediately sensed him to be strong and fearsomely intelligent. Her grandfather had chosen wisely. Wanda rose to speak with him. â€Å"I recognize you. You are my grandfather's bodyguard, are you not? Stettin Palver, I believe?† â€Å"Yes, that's correct, Miss Seldon,† Palver said and his cheeks reddened slightly, as if he were pleased that so pretty a girl should have given him any notice. â€Å"Miss Seldon, it is your grandfather I'd like to talk to you about. I'm very worried about him. We must do something.† â€Å"Do what, Mr. Palver? I am at a loss. Since my father†-she swallowed hard, as if she were having difficulty speaking-â€Å"died and my mother and sister disappeared, it is all I can do to get him out of bed in the morning. And to tell you the truth, it has affected me very deeply as well. You understand, don't you?† She looked into his eyes and knew that he did. â€Å"Miss Seldon,† Palver said softly, â€Å"I am terribly sorry about your losses. But you and Professor Seldon are alive and you must keep working at psychohistory. The professor seems to have given up. I was hoping that maybe you-we-could come up with something to give him hope again. You know, a reason to go on.† Ah, Mr. Palver, thought Wanda, maybe Grandpa has it right. I wonder if there truly is any reason to go on. But she said, â€Å"I'm sorry, Mr. Palver, I can think of nothing.† She gestured toward the ground with her hoe. â€Å"And now, as you can see, I must get back to these pesky weeds.† â€Å"I don't think your grandfather has got it right. I think there truly is a reason to go on. We just have to find it.† The words struck her with full force. How had he known what she had been thinking? Unless-â€Å"You can handle minds, can't you?† Wanda asked, holding her breath, as if afraid to hear Palver's response. â€Å"Yes, I can,† the young man replied. â€Å"I always have, I think. At least, I can't remember not doing it. Half the time I'm not even consciously aware of it-I just know what people are thinking-or have thought. â€Å"Sometimes,† he continued, encouraged by the understanding he felt emanating from Wanda, â€Å"I get flashes of it coming from someone else. It's always in a crowd, though, and I can't locate whoever it is. But I know there are others like me-us-around.† Wanda grabbed Palver's hand excitedly, her gardening tool tossed to the ground, forgotten. â€Å"Have you any idea what this might mean? For Grandpa, for psychohistory? One of us alone can do only so much, but both of us together-† Wanda started walking into the Psychohistory Building, leaving Palver standing on the gravel path. Almost to the entrance she stopped and turned. Come, Mr. Palver, we must tell my grandfather, Wanda said without opening her mouth. Yes, I suppose we should, answered Palver as he joined her. 31 â€Å"Do you mean to say I have been searching Trantor-wide for someone with your powers, Wanda, and he's been here with us for the past few months and we never knew it?† Hari Seldon was incredulous. He had been dozing in the solarium when Wanda and Palver shook him awake to give him their amazing news. â€Å"Yes, Grandpa. Think about it. I've never had occasion to meet Stettin. Your time with him has primarily been away from the Project and I spend the majority of my time closeted in my office, working with the Prime Radiant. When would we have met? In fact, the one time our paths did cross, the results were most significant.† â€Å"When was that?† asked Seldon, searching his memory. â€Å"Your last hearing-before Judge Lih,† Wanda replied immediately. â€Å"Remember the eyewitness who swore that you and Stettin had attacked those three muggers? Remember how he broke down and told the truth-and even he didn't seem to know why. But Stettin and I have pieced it together. We were both pushing Rial Nevas to come clean. He had been very steadfast in his original claim; I doubt that either one of us would have been able to push him alone. But together†-she stole a shy glance at Palver, who was standing off to the side-â€Å"our power is awesome!† Hari Seldon took all this in and then made as if to speak. But Wanda continued. â€Å"In fact, we plan to spend the afternoon testing our mentalic abilities, separately and together. From the little we've discovered so far, it seems as if Stettin's power is slightly lower than mine-perhaps a five on my rating scale. But his five, combined with my seven, gives us a twelve! Think of it, Grandpa. Awesome!† â€Å"Don't you see, Professor?† Palver spoke up. â€Å"Wanda and I are that breakthrough you're looking for. We can help you convince the worlds of the validity of psychohistory, we can help find others like us, we can help put psychohistory back on track.† Hari Seldon gazed up at the two young people standing in front of him. Their faces were aglow with youth and vigor and enthusiasm and he realized it did his old heart good. Perhaps all was not lost, after all. He had not thought he would survive this latest tragedy, the death of his son and the disappearance of his son's wife and child, but now he could see that Raych lived on in Wanda. And in Wanda and Stettin, he now knew, lived the future of the Foundation. â€Å"Yes, yes,† agreed Seldon nodding forcefully. â€Å"Come you two, help me up. I must get back to my office to plan our next step.†

Positive Negative Impacts Of Globalai Essay

What is meant by western culture: Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, is a term used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and technologies. The term has come to apply to countries whose history is strongly marked by European immigration or settlement, such as the Americas, and Australasia, and is not restricted to Western Europe. Western culture stems from two sources: the Classical Period of the Greco-Roman era and the influence of Christianity. The artistic, philosophic, literary, and legal themes and traditions; the heritages of especially Latin, Celtic, Germanic, and Hellenic ethnic or linguistic groups; as well as a tradition of rationalism in various spheres of life, developed by Hellenistic philosophy, Scholasticism, Humanisms, the Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment; and including, in political thought, widespread rational arguments in favour of free thought, human rights, equality and democracy. The facts of bengali people which are affected by westernalization- 1.Cultural forms 2. Festivals and celebrations 3.Acculturation theory 4.Impact on language 5.Impact on education 6.Impact on food habit 7.Impact on dress pattern 8.Impact on family 9. Impact on social customs and values 10. Impact on rcommunication and technology 12.Impact on film and literatureeligion 11.Impact on 13. Impact on profession related issues Positive impacts of westernization Due to globalization, westernization is spreading out all over the world. Westernization has been placed in different countries because of globalization and needless to say, it has had an impact on the lifestyle of  Bangladeshi peopl. It has out-rooted the traditional Bengali culture and the rate at which westernization is happening to Bangladesh is surprising. Regional languages are on the process of redefined. In many ways instating of regional language people have been used to English especially in urban areas youngsters. It had started get fixing with western clothing, western languages, western mannerisms and everything else westernized.Bangladeshi culture is influenced by three great religions- Hinduism, Buddhism band Islam in successive order, with Islam having the most pervading and lasting impact. Like a colorful montage, the cultural tradition of the country is a happy blending of many variants, unique in diversity but in essence greatly symmetrical. Beside, the festival of PohelaBaishakh, people is now celebrating like other western cultural festivals especially in young group such as-  · Valentine’s Day,  · Friendship Day,  · Mother’s day,  · Father’s day.  · And other international celebrations. Now a day people are concern about how we think about globally, what the other country are doing in their cultural issue, just we observe and absorbing them. There is lot of issues that we automatically know about it; even he/she has a little knowledge about westernization. But, people are moving with it in all the way. Now a day’s every country in this world is treated as village, you can imagine whatever you can. That’s the way people are communicate easily to each other make things differences. Globalization has only one overarching feature–integration. It is all about collectiveness and ever increasing interconnectedness. It in effect influences everything, whether it is a company or a country. But here is a fact, is globalization all the way keeps help to connect to each other or build a strong communication in â€Å"borderless world†? If it is a question, then how it impacts in our society as well as in our culture? The Cable television has made different attraction in around  the world as well as in Bangladeshi household. Foreign movies have come and have reflected their culture in it. This has made a huge impact on the minds of the Bangladeshi people. Not to mention the easy availability of Internet whose reach even extends till rural areas? The internet has opened up opportunities for people to learn more about foreign cultures and places. It has made Bangladeshi more acceptable and open-minded towards change. Globalization has broken all borders. As a result, the new generation of Bangladeshi is more knowledgeable, more aware and more interested in the world around them. In our society, women who were once the exploited and ignored part of the population, now assert their rights of being a woman. Women now have more access to education and know more about their rights and their identity as a woman. Nowadays, you find women in the society who work alongside men. Men-dominated fields see the coming up of the woman. Men and women are slowly being treated equally. Negative impacts of westernization At the side of the positive, Bangladeshi people are involving day by day with negative activities which is destroying our own culture because of following western culture. However no matter have occurred by this way, what people are doing in our society.western dress is another factor that creates an imbalance in our society especially for woman group (whenever girls wear a shirt, t-shirt, and pant in our society, due to feel or sensation of comfortable) which does not permit within our culture as majority of Muslim nationality. For wearing that kind of dresses men are mostly thinking in negative sense. Children are involving some bad works which derived from western culture particularly from cable connection at their home. In some cases, young generation forget to respect their elder one., boys and girls are very much interested on going to DJ party at different night club. And, sometimes they want to live together before marriage which is extremely prohibited by our culture. Boys are using Tattoos on their body also. Bangladeshi people are now a day’s changing their behavior and habit in food. Easily converted to western ideas some cases it makes a question mark in our ethical perspective also. We referred those western materials by like fast food which is harmful for our health. Mostly, the young generation is very much interested on English movies, western music, dresses, foods and other things rather than Bengali culture. Now, young generation and even  also middle age people are not that much conscious about Bengali culture because of the globalization. In this way, Bengali culture is now no more originated by own culture, even it is losing her own value. Culture is the set of patterns of human activity within a society or social group and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Customs, traditions, laws, social standards and popular styles mainly constitute the cultural elements. There are many cultures currently existent in today’s modern world. Some cultures originated about a hundred of years back and are still surviving, whereas a few have evolved by absorbing the exciting and major elements of these already existent cultures. In this article, i am mainly going to focus on the two most talked about cultures of the world, the western culture and the Indian culture. The strength that this topic has been holding and the endless number of debates held over it has attracted me to express my opinion on it too. Undoubtedly, western culture and Indian culture are poles apart. There is a significant difference between the two in all aspect. Amongst all others the most noticeable difference between the two is that India has been a family oriented society, whereas America has been an individual oriented society. Openness and self dependency are a few words that define western culture, but Indian culture is the complete opposite of this. Globalisation and mass media has laid the basis of the merger of western culture with Indian culture and this collision can better be termed as westernisation. The damage that Indian culture has experienced can be broken down into three parts which are, pursuit of wealth, complex of the west and the most essential of all the power of western media. Cinema is the most powerful media, hence it is not only an entertainment industry, but is also seen as a role model. According to me, majority of the western ideas such as cohabitation, etc, have travelled through this medium. In other words, Hollywood has definitely influenced Bollywood and is responsible to a large extent for this clashing of culture. Respect for human rights, democracy, free speech and women’s rights are concepts which have had a wide ranging influence on Bangladesh. Even if they  have not as yet completely permeated to the level of the masses. The media is an effective way of influencing people. But unfortunately, in Bangladesh, always the negative side of all good things seems to influence people the most Bangladesh Television, which actually aired really good US TV serials, the Bangladeshi people soon began to become addicted to the Indian culture. They ate, drank, walked, talked, shopped, and slept like Indian people. They still do. As days passed, the number of Indian channels began to increase. Now there are more channels than there were channels on a TV set back in the 90s. The strongest influence of this culture is on children and women. There was a time when teenage boys never watched a single Hindi movie. Nowadays, from child to men all watch Hindi programmes including movies.This success is not for the Bangladeshi culture, but for Indian culture. Indian culture is eating up the creativity and productivity of many talented Bangladeshi individuals.