Estimating Informal settlers in the Philippines Essay

In the Housing Backlog Study commissioned by the HUDCC, the Consultants prepared the estimates of Informal Settlers in the Philippines. According to the Spatial Statistics of Informal Settlers in the Philippines component of the Study, informal settler families reached an estimated 550,771 households as of August 1, 2007. This is based on the extrapolation made using the 2000 Census of Population and Housing (CPH) and the 2007 Census of Population. The study showed that the highest concentration of informal settlers was in Quezon City, having more than 90 thousand households. Far second are Rizal in Calabarzon and Davao City in the Davao Region, both with more than 20 thousand households in the informal settler sector. Table 1. Results of the Mapping of Informal Settlers in the Philippines It should be noted that for this specific study, Informal Settlers are defined as those households1 whose tenure status is â€Å"rent-free without consent of owner†. The 2000 Census of Population and Housing (CPH) data provides statistics on households with tenure of lot, â€Å"rent-free without consent of owner† which were then classified as informal settlers. However, the 2007 Census of Population did not include the â€Å"housing aspect†, hence the study used the characteristic observed in CPH 2000 to project the numbers for 2007. The HUDCC then compared the result of the Study with the Survey on Informal Settlers in Metro Manila conducted by the NHA in 2007. In Table 2, the NHA identified 544,609 informal settler families in Metro Manila, while the NS0-CPH figures account for only 199,398 informal settler families. 1 Household- a group of persons who sleep in the same housing unit and have a common arrangement in the preparation and consumption of food. Page 1 of 6 Table 2. Comparison of Estimated Number of Informal Settlers in Metro Manila, 2007 The discrepancy between the Census-derived figures and the data from NHA can be explained by the different definitions and methodologies adopted by the NSO and the NHA. DEFINING AND IDENTIFYING INFORMAL SETTLERS The National Census Office has defined Informal Settlers as â€Å"households occupying a lot rent-free without the consent of the owner†. In Census questionnaires on Tenure Status of the Lot, the respondent is asked, â€Å"Do you own or amortize this lot occupied by your household, do you rent it, or do you occupy it rent-free with consent of owner or rent-free without consent of the owner?† Moreover, the Census questionnaires also generate data on type of building or house, construction materials of the roof, construction materials of the outer walls, state of repair of building/house, year building/house was built, floor area of the housing unit, tenure status of the lot . During Census of Population and Housing held every ten years, additional questions are asked from a 20 percent sample on the following: fuel for lighting, fuel for cooking, source of water supply for drinking and/or cooking, source of water for laundry and/or bathing, tenure status of the housing unit, acquisition of the housing unit, source of financing, monthly rental of the housing unit, usual manner of garbage disposal, kind of toilet/facility, land ownership. Page 2 of 6 The National Housing Authority and Local Government Units, on the other hand, must follow the multi-faceted approach provided in RA 7279 or the Urban Development and Housing Act of 1992 or UDHA in identifying â€Å"homeless and underprivileged citizens† or more broadly, informal settlers. UDHA does not use the term â€Å"informal settlers† nor â€Å"squatters† but adopts the term â€Å"homeless and underprivileged citizens †2 . At the same time, the law mandates LGUs to undertake a Registration3 of Socialized Housing Beneficiaries, subject to eligibility criteria4. Special considerations are also provided for persons and entities who may be subject to eviction and demolition5 particularly those occupying danger areas and other public places, or areas affected by government infrastructure projects, and in lands when there is a court order for eviction and demolition. Moreover, UDHA also distinguishes potential housing beneficiaries from professional squatters and squatting syndicates (Section 27) and new squatters (Section 44) who occupy the area after March 31, 1992. The identification of homeless and underprivileged/socialized housing beneficiary or more broadly â€Å"informal settlers† in UDHA must take the following into consideration several aspects: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ location in urban and urbanizable areas family income non-ownership of housing facilities elsewhere in the Philippines occupancy in makeshift dwelling units security of tenure location of dwelling (danger areas, public spaces, government infrastructure projects, private land) not a member of a squatting syndicate not a professional squatter the business of squatter housing for profit or gain occupancy of the land before March 31, 1992 To this end, the LGUs and the NHA conduct â€Å"censuses† on specific areas that involve physical survey of the area, tagging of every structure, mapping and household listing, ownership of structure, tenure arrangements (rental, sharing arrangements, absentee holdings), as well family composition, source of income, education. â€Å"Censuses† of informal settlers identify all households and even families, as well as structure owners, tenants, sharers, and other occupants, especially if the area will be cleared of structures for infrastructure development; for safety considerations in danger areas, or due to court orders. However, only a handful of LGUs conduct regular â€Å"censuses† of informal settlers and report their findings to HUDCC. 2 Section 3. t.â€Å"Underprivileged and homeless citizens† refers to the beneficiaries of this Act and to individuals or families residing in urban and urbanizable areas whose income or combined household income falls within the poverty threshold as defined by the National Economic and Development Authority and who do not own housing facilities. This shall include those who live in makeshift dwelling units and do not enjoy security of tenure 3 Section 17 Registration of Socialized Housing Beneficiaries – The Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, in coordination with the local government units, shall design a system for the registration of qualified Program beneficiaries in accordance with the Framework. The local government units, within one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act, shall identify and register all beneficiaries their respective localities. 4 Sec. 16. Eligibility Criteria for Socialized Housing Program Beneficiaries – To qualify for the socialized housing program, a beneficiary: a. Must be a Filipino; b. Must be an underprivileged and homeless citizen, as defined in Section 3 of this Act; c. Must not own any real property whether in the urban or rural areas; and d.Must not be a professional squatter or a member of squatting syndicate 5 Section 28. Eviction and Demolition Eviction or demolition as a practice shall be discouraged. Eviction or demolition, however, may be allowed under the following situations: a. When persons or entities occupy danger areas such as esteros, railroad tracks, garbage dumps, riverbanks, shorelines, waterways, and other public places such as sidewalks, roads, parks, and playgrounds; b. When government infrastructure projects with available funding are about to be implemented; or c. When there is a court order for eviction and demolition. Page 3 of 6 It is in this regard that there is a need to improve the data collection techniques for informal settlers in the Philippines. IMPROVING DATA COLLECTION FOR INFORMAL SETTLERS Faced with the challenges of coming up with realistic and systematic information of informal settlers, the HUDCC has taken the lead in several initiatives: Defining â€Å"informal settlers† and designing data collection schemes The HUDCC proposed defining the term â€Å"informal settlers† as those households living in i) lot without consent of the property owner; ii) danger areas; iii) areas for government infrastructure projects; iv) protected/forest areas (except for indigenous people); v) Areas for Priority Development (APDs), if applicable; and vi) other government/public lands or facilities not intended for habitation. The definition is based on the UDHA provision of households that will be affected by eviction and demolition namely those in danger areas such as river/waterways, railroad tracks, dumpsites; those in government lands, and those in private lands. The definition thus focuses on the spatial nature of population distribution of informal settlers. This definition also reflects the operational requirements for clearing of danger areas and those areas affected by government projects which targets all households, regardless of income or even tenure status. In this regard, mapping of such sites to guide the NSO will be crucial. Operationally the HUDCC has made arrangements with the National Statistics Office and the National Statistical Coordination Board through the Technical Committee on Population and Housing Statistics (TCPHS) that this definition be adopted during the 2010 Census of Population. The HUDCC moved for the inclusion of the following question to be answered by the enumerator through observation: Encircle the actual or the nearest physical location of the housing unit of the respondent: 1 Residential area 2 Along river/creek/canal/estero/waterways 3 Along the railroad 4 Easements of road and/or highway and/or under the bridge 5 Inside cemetery 6 Areas for government infrastructure projects 7 Within dumpsites 8 Within protected areas and forest lands Page 4 of 6 9 Within compound of government hospital, school, military camps or other public institution and facilities 10 Within private lands 11 Others, specify______________________ The NSO, through Administrator Ericta considered the request of HUDCC as a post census activity. The HUDCC was also required to come up with maps delineating barangays boundaries, limits of danger areas, and even extent of right-of-way to guide the post-census validation. The HUDCC offered to concentrate first on Metro Manila informal settlers in coordination with Metro Manila Development Authority. To this end the HUDCC coordinated with the Metro Manila Development Authority which committed to generate maps from its member-LGUs. It should be noted that the MMDA was also engaged in its own update of the Informal Settler Families in Metro Manila and welcomed the opportunity to bridge the inconsistency between the generated ISF data of HUDCC with their own database. In this regard the HUDCC facilitated a workshop between NSO and MMDA to harmonize the data gathering system of the two agencies. The National Statistical Coordination Board, through the TCHPS took cognizance of the strong demand for population data for danger areas/zones and recommended that the â€Å"HUDCC first provide an operational definition of these areas and then identify and prepare a listing of these areas by barangays. With the operational definition and listing of danger areas/zones, the HUDCC may coordinate with NSO for the generation of the population data for these areas as part of the post census activities.† The Department of National Defense also supported the concern for more population data on those in danger areas/ zone, with its comments made during the Referendum among the NSCB Board Members (November 11, 2009) when it stated: 2. On Population count for danger areas/zone It may be appropriate to link this up with the work of the Interagency Committee on Security Sector Statistics (IACSSS). The IASCSSS may identify conflict-affected areas and study the correlation, if any, between census-generated data on population and housing with other demographic data, as inputs to policy and strategy formulation. This may be done as an after-census activity. Moreover, there is an ongoing effort to develop the â€Å"hazard map† of the Philippines, showing the vulnerabilities of various regions/provinces in terms of disasters, such as typhoons, earthquakes, landslides and others. Data on population and housing will be very critical in the formulation of policies and disaster management plans. Page 5 of 6 DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER-AIDED SYSTEM OF SOCIALIZED HOUSING BENEFICIARY REGISTRATION SYSTEM FOR LGUs Section 17 of RA 7279, Registration of Socialized Housing Beneficiaries, directs the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, in coordination with the local government units, to design a system for the registration of qualified Program beneficiaries. The local government units, within one (1) year from the effectivity of this Act, shall identify and register all beneficiaries their respective localities.. To this end a simple form indicating family composition, and tenure status was designed to be filled up by the potential beneficiaries during the Registration date designated by the LGU. More than a decade later, the Housing Backlog Study was able to generate a computer program that will assist the LGUs administer the registration. The computer program will facilitate encoding, and even gather biometric data (photos, etc.) and ease reporting requirements. The Computer-based data entry system on beneficiary listing in the CD which was tested in Taguig and Muntinlupa , in which both LGUs expressed their appreciation for the program. NEXT STEPS  The HUDCC continues to coordinate with the MMDA and the NSO with regard to the processing of the 2010 Census of Population and Housing. To date, the MMDA has been able to consolidate the reports of informal settlers in Metro Manila from 15 out of the is 17 component LGUs . Maps have been prepared in  several municipalities. Under the new administration of Vice President Jejomar Binay, the HUDCC has refocused its housing thrusts to building new homes for the poor in partnership with NGOs like the Gawad Kalinga and Habitat for Humanity, and to empower LGUs to assume a bigger role in providing housing for their constituents. In this regard, the Computer-aided system developed by the SRTC could be easily mobilized. The HUDCC will also work with the NSCB and the Interagency Committee on Security Sector Statistics (IACSSS) as suggested by the DND in order to design a better data collection system. To this end, the HUDCC envisions that future population data will also have a spatial component, with mapping incorporated in the data-gathering and reporting – using a GIS approach to identifying potential housing beneficiaries in the near future. CONCLUSION The quest to improve the database on informal settlers was the result of open dialogues and the support of the NSO, the MMDA and the NSCB. The dialogues were able to generate a definition of â€Å"informal settlers† that is based on location and is complementary to the needs of agencies that will address the needs of these households. As the Philippines and the rest of the world grow more urban in nature with the attendant challenges of urban blight, overcrowding, poor quality of life , better data gather methods and baseline data will be crucial in identifying areas and sector that will need interventions. The latest computer programs should be used as tools to And we hope when the next Census of Population and Housing comes around in nine years, we are better equipped so that we can cover the whole Philippines . Page 6 of 6

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance Cognitive dissonance is having a thought, idea, attitude, or belief that seems to be out of tune. Cognitive dissonance tends to result in different ways based on the situation that it occurs in. If a person is forced to say an opinion that differs from their own, they experience an out of tune feeling. In Roger Hock’s book â€Å"Forty Studies that Changed Psychology,† he recognizes the study of cognitive dissonance performed by Leon Festinger. In â€Å"Thoughts Out of Tune,† the article specifically explaining Festinger’s study, Hock goes further into detail.He explains that if we are forced to state an opposed view, while preparing for it, we tend to believe it along with out own. This creates confusing, stress, and dissonance. Festinger’s study explains why and when people may or may not feel cognitive dissonance. Festinger proposed whatever you state publicly, will be a reflection of your personal views. If any person must sp eak publicly for any reason that goes against their own private belief, they will definitely feel uncomfortable. However, when offered a reward, the comfort levels can change.If someone offers the speaker a large reward, the speaker will feel more comfort in changing their attitude about the ideas or beliefs being said, even when they don’t believe them. If someone offers the speaker a small reward, the speaker will feel more discomfort because they do not feel there was justification in what they are being rewarded and will have more of a negative attitude than those being greater rewarded. Festinger performed his experiment on a control group, group A, and group B. Each group contained twenty participants. Group A was the group given one dollar to perform the experiment.Group B was given twenty dollars to perform the experiment. All group were interviewed after the performing ‘the experiment,’ which was to empty and refill a tray of 12 spools for 30 minutes and to turn 48 square pegs a quarter of a turn clockwise for 30 minutes. This was done in order to bore the participants and create negative feelings about what they had to do. Afterwards they were asked to fabricate their feelings toward the experiment to another group waiting outside. Group A was given one dollar. Group B was given twenty dollars. The control group was given no money and was able to be interviewed after performing the tasks.Group A and group B were told after speaking their opposed opinions that the experiment was fun and exciting, they were able to be interviewed and leave. The interview questioned their true beliefs on how they felt toward ‘the experiment. ’ They were asked to rate the experiments on a scale that offered the questions: whether the tasks were interesting and enjoyable, how much the person learned about their ability to perform the tasks given, whether they believed the experiment and tasks were measuring any importance or not, and if th ey had any desire to participate in another experiment similar to the one performed.In the findings, the control group had extremely negative ratings on the questions asked. Festinger concluded that when demanded to realize the differences among personal views and attitudes, we would tend to feel cognitive dissonance. This can encourage us to bring change to these views or attitudes to enforce them to become harmonious and agreeable with each other. This will continuously create changing attitudes whether they are big or small. The change will depend on the justification for the behavior.Festinger’s conclusions had shown to support his hypothesis. David Matz and Wendy Wood performed an experiment similar to Festinger’s study. Matz and Wood did a study on cognitive dissonance in groups and the consequences of disagreement. In the first of several experiments done, they tested ‘the nature of arousal induced by attitude heterogeneity in groups. ’ This determi nes if attitude likeness in groups could be related to dissonance. In the study, people were placed into groups. These groups were given one of three possible situations.These situations included what would occur after taking a survey. The groups would either discuss what they decided for a major issue, discuss their decisions and try to come to a consensus, and the last group would not discuss anything about the survey at all. The participants that were educated about the study acted as though they had a particular opinion. After the discussion, the participants, of the decision-making group, filled out a questionnaire about the responses and ease of agreeing for a consensus.The results were that the group having to reach a consensus found it easy and were motivated when the group was able to agree as opposed to when the group disagreed. The participants admitted to feeling anxiety and discomfort when having a disagreement with the group. This relates to Festinger’s study be cause they both relate to feeling uncomfortable. Although Festinger’s experiment was concentrated on a self and not a group, they both explain how different situations can cause discomfort and negative feelings.Festinger explains how someone not expressing their true feelings for any reason will undergo the feelings of cognitive dissonance. Matz and Wood are explaining the same thing but showing how people can understand cognitive dissonance by holding their opinions and not expressing themselves in fear of going against a group. The disagreement creates negative feelings causing the participant to feel out of place or out of tune. These experiments teach us that not expressing how we feel for any reason whether it’s being paid, persuaded, in fearfulness, we will tend to feel negative emotions.Disagreement will always cause discomfort in turn causing cognitive dissonance. References Chen, M. K. , & Risen, J. L. (2010). How choice affects and reflects preferences: revis iting the free-choice paradigm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(4), 573-594. doi: 10. 1037/a0020217 Festinger, L. , & Carlsmith, J. M. (1959). Cognitive consequences of forced compliance. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 58, 203-210. Hock, R. R. (2008). Forty studies that changed psychology: explorations into the history of psychological research (6th ed. ).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Matz, D. C. , & Wood, W. (2005). Cognitive dissonance in groups: the consequences of disagreement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(1), 22-37. doi: 10. 1037/0022-3514. 88. 1. 22 Newby-Clark, I. R. , McGregor, I. , & Zanna, M. P. (2002). Thinking and caring about cognitive inconsistency: when and for whom does attitudinal ambivalence feel uncomfortable? Journal of Peronality and Social Psychology, 82(2), 157-166. doi: 10. 1037/0022-3514. 82. 2. 157 Norton, M. I. , Monin, B. , Cooper, J. , & Hogg, M.A. (2003). Vicarious dissonance: Attitude ch ange from inconsistency of others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(1), 47-62. doi: 10. 1037/0022-3514. 85. 1. 47 Push, S. D. , Groth, M. , & Hennig-Thurau, T. (2011) Willing and able to fake emotions: A closer examination of the link between emotional dissonance and employee well-being. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(2), 377-390. doi: 10. 1037/a0021395 Rosenberg, M. J. (1960). Attitude organization and change: An analysis of consistency among attitude components. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Theory of operation single phase induction generator at load state , Thesis

Theory of operation single phase induction generator at load state , - Thesis Example , the excitation voltage and frequency vary depending on the rotor speed, the values of the capacitance and the winding inductance and the load current. For any value of capacitance, there is a minimum rotor speed at which self-excitation would occur [1]. It is difficult to measure the self inductance of the generator winding directly. An approximation can be made by driving the rotor at synchronous speed and measuring the stator voltage and current. At the rotor synchronous speed, no current is induced in the rotor and it is a virtual open circuit. The measured impedance (V/I) can be approximated for the winding self-inductance. From the above equations, it is clear that the self-inductance of the winding would vary with the voltage induced in the winding. The variation of magnetizing inductance with voltage for a specific induction generator is shown in Fig 2. b) For a given speed of the rotor, the voltage generated in the winding would vary with the value of the connected parallel capacitor. The relationship between the terminal voltage and the value of the capacitor for a specific induction generator is shown in Fig 3. One requirement in any electrical generator is for the terminal voltage to remain constant when the connected load varies. Most electrical loads operate satisfactorily only in a narrow range around their rated voltage. The value of capacitance needed to maintain constant terminal voltage at a given rotor speed is shown in Fig 4 for a specific induction generator. The graph shows that the variation is linear. In addition to the constant voltage, an alternating current generator also needs to supply power at a constant frequency. For the single phase self-excited generator, we know from induction motor theory that as the load current changes, the slip between the rotor and the stator would vary and cause the induced stator frequency to vary. This relationship for a specific induction generator is shown in Fig 5. 1. Robinson, L. and Holmes,

Societies under Shogun RuleThe Ming & Qing Essay

Societies under Shogun RuleThe Ming & Qing - Essay Example This period, which started in 1368 until 1644, is marked by the decline of the decadent feudal system and the emergence of the embryonic capitalism in China. However, Japan’s shogun period was part of the early feudal system that would dominate Japan for more than 700 years. (Morgan 2003, 42) As both Ming/Qing and the Shogun societies were established as feudal societies above all, therefore, they share many characteristics. For instance, both had governments and rulers who enforced control over a highly fragmented society. The shogunate in Japan imposed guidelines for the creation and preservation of a stable national structure. This was achieved by implementing a highly hierarchical society, wherein the primary morality is based upon public rapport between master and subordinate. (Ratti & Westbrook 1991, 62) Such perspective determined the shape and functionality of the major social organizations of the shogunate societies. To illustrate: one of the rules/norms in the Japanese society then was that there was no more despicable crime than that of rebellion against a master. Because of this hierarchical social structure, the shogun was able to elevate the social structure which sealed the subjects of the nation into classes according to a vertical order of pragmatic impo rtance drawing heavily upon the military character and strength of the warriors to whom all other subjects were subordinated. The social pyramid follows this structure with the shogun and his class at the top. From 1615 onward, laws specifically determining the legal positions of and functions of the imperial court and its aristocratic families (Kuge sho-hatto), of the military class (Buke Sho-hatto), of religious orders (Jin-hatto), of the farmers (Goson-hatto), of commoners in Edo and, by analogy, in every town (Edo-machiju-sadame) were issued by the military government of the Tokugawa shoguns.

The Ethics of living Jim Crow and Euripides Essay

The Ethics of living Jim Crow and Euripides - Essay Example They fought with weapons such as cedar poles while hiding behind trees. That war was taken a notch higher when the white boys started using broken bottles in their warfare, which resulted in Wright getting an injury on the head (Wright 289). As Wright becomes elderly, he is forced to look for a job and the only place he can get one is from white people. His whole experience of working for white people is not smooth since he comes across hostile white people. In some jobs, he is forced to leave since he is tortured and in others he adapts by applying tactics from past experiences (Wright 292). The point of this autobiography is the exemplification of the various survival skills Wright employed as a Negron in a Whiteman environment. Wright learnt how to get what he wanted from a hostile environment and people by applying tactics and strategies which he had learnt the hard way (Wright 298). Medea is a play by Euripides, and its context is based in Corinth. Medea got married to Jason after betraying his father, and they ended up getting two children. The initial stages of the play depict that Jason has changed his mind and wants to marry Creon’s daughter named Glause. At the same time, Jason has intentions of exiling his wife and two children from Corinth. Medea is to be thrown put of Corinth reason being that she is a sorcerer. Creon and Jason see Medea as someone who is clever and capable of fighting against oppression. They decide to exile her from the country, reason being, she is a sorcerer which means she is cleverer that men (Luschnig 10). The play is about Medea, a clever woman who is hated by most people around her. The play’s sole theme is on the issue of women oppression. In particular, Medea goes through injustice when Jason and Creon conspire to banish her out of the country. In the play, women are subjected to subjugation by their male counterparts. The play further shows that women are limited in terms of socializing

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Essay Example What it is to be human is a recurring dilemma that the characters in Do Androids Dream? try to make sense of; and through their actions and the plot itself, the author and readers also navigate this problem. Reaction to the world around them, specifically the display of empathy, is seemingly the most definitive marker of the â€Å"humanness† of human beings. However, one finds that by the end of Do Androids Dream?, this assumption has been turned around on its head and back again many times over. Rather than provide an easy template of humanity for us to accept, Dick uses this novel to instead ask the right questions. The most obvious and repeated assumption is that empathy is what differentiates humans from â€Å"andies† – i.e. androids or humanoid robots that have been created in the post-apocalyptic setting of the novel to help in the process of emigration of humans to Mars. This is reflected in the popular religion: â€Å"Mercerism†, the foundation of which lies on an empathetic worldview and the acceptance of collective experience. Even humans who are relegated to the fringes of society because of their low IQ – â€Å"chickenheads† or â€Å"antheads† – also accept this view of the world. ... Isidore’s need for companionship runs so deep that even though he recognizes that the renegade andies are exploiting him when they take cover in his apartment he lets them stay and even tries to protect them from the bounty-hunter. The androids themselves recognize this quality as that elusive human quality that they cannot achieve. Roy Baty, the leader of the rebel androids, despite his scornful demeanor reveals his longing to experience this at several times, exulting ultimately when Mercerism is declared a fraudulent belief system. Empathy-testing is also the most practical way of detecting androids and â€Å"retiring† or killing them before they can pose any harm to the humans remaining on Earth. As later revealed by Deckard’s rival bounty-hunter Philip Resche, tests other than the Voigt-Kampff Empathy Test, are not nearly as successful in identifying androids. This then is the dominant narrative: Humans empathize, androids do not. However, this statement is not as uncomplicated as it may seem. Firstly, there is the question of being able to duplicate this kind of empathy. As the testing of Rachael Rosen in the first instance proves, even Deckard, for a while, is unable to recognize Rachael as an android when he is fed the story about her having been raised on another planet and therefore being not too adept at empathizing with other humans. Deliberate manipulation of the empathy test can also be done by prevaricating, like in Luba Luft’s case. Luft, who is an android, deliberately refuses to answer questions directly to prevent the test from giving accurate results. Secondly, there is also the question of inherent anomalies in this testing system. As Deckard’s boss, Bryant, warns him at the start of his quest for the six

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Ethics - Essay Example Usually the debate on the issue of abortion is based on the definition of human life, as both sides disagree as to what human life is. In this paper, an attempt will be made to resolve the moral question regarding the issue of abortion using utilitarianism. The issue of abortion will be evaluated using the utilitarian ethics and solutions will be proposed. The issue of abortion will also be discussed and arguments of both sides will also be evaluated. A brief description of utilitarianism will also be included in the paper. The Issue of Abortion Abortion involves human induced ending or terminating pregnancy. In the process of abortion, the embryo is removed before achieving human life form. Abortion is considered a moral issue all over the world. Some regard as taking away an innocent life. Mostly the criticism regarding abortion comes from religious circles. The argument made those who oppose abortion is that it is a process which disallows a life from coming into this world and th erefore it is equal to murder. Moral question regarding abortion is also raised because basic freedom of the living being is violated. People compare it with murder, and therefore abortion remains a controversial issue all over the world. Pro abortionists argue that abortion is not equivalent to murder because it does not involve taking a human life. ... abortionists also argue that parents are in the best position to decide about the future of their life and family, and therefore their decision should not be questioned or challenged when it comes to abortion. The main difference of opinion in both the schools of thought arises from the definition of a human life. Anti abortionist argue that a fertilized egg is a human being and therefore terminating it is equal to termination of a human life (Gutting, 1). On the other end, pro abortionists argue that human life is not achieved until a child takes up a human form, usually after several weeks of the pregnancy. This is the crux of the debate between the two schools of thought and it is not easily possible to take a side. There is no consensus as to what is human life and therefore this debate is yet to be resolved. Utilitarianism: A Brief Introduction Utilitarianism is a well known ethical theory forwarded by John Stuart Mill which argues that the morality of an action can be determine d by analyzing the consequences of that action on the majority members of the society. If an action yields maximum happiness or benefit for a maximum number of people then the action is morally permissible. Utilitarianism is a form of consequentalist ethical theory where morality of the action is determined by the consequences of those actions and nothing else. Utilitarianism determines the wrongness or the rightness by evaluating the action on the basis of the ‘good’ or ‘benefit’ it causes to the overall society or the maximum number of people involved. Utilitarian ethics ignore universal standards or any other standards for evaluating an action and place all weight on the consequences of the action and the positive or negative effect on the action on all parties involved.

Personal statement undefined and My goals Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Undefined and My goals - Personal Statement Example My long term goals is to practice Human Resources Management in an organization which perceives Human Resources not as a selection and motivation department, but rather as a strategic business partner in building up a strong and healthy relation between the personnel and the senior management. Country boundaries are virtually eliminated and e-learning is an alternative way in gaining knowledge and starting a career. My plans are to pursue MSc in Human Resource Management programme in Portsmouth University. My two year programme in Economics and Management at Almaty Economic University enabled me to acquire the necessary skills and intellectual predisposition to actively work on the Human Resource area. Obtaining a degree in Human Recourses/Personnel Management from Portsmouth University will allow me to broaden my education horizon in this field and to seek employment in large corporations where I will make a difference in will add value to securing a sound and professional Human Resources department. Another benefit of the MSc in Human Resource Management programme is that is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. My decision to continue my studies in the MSc in Human Resource Management programme in Portsmouth University has taken a lot of research and I am confident that Portsmouth University is the institution which will provide the courses and ad

Managerial Economics Essay Example for Free

Managerial Economics Essay 1) The elasticity of one variable with respect to another between two given points. It is used when there is no general function to define the relationship of the two variables. Arc elasticity is also defined as the elasticity between two points on a curve. The P arc elasticity of Q is calculated as The percentage is calculated differently from the normal manner of percent change. This percent change uses the average (or midpoint) of the points, in lieu of the original point as the base. 2) Definition of Law of Diminishing Marginal Returns A law of economics stating that, as the number of new employees increases, the marginal product of an additional employee will at some point be less than the marginal product of the previous employee. The law of diminishing marginal returns means that the productivity of a  variable input declines as more is used in short-run production, holding one or more inputs fixed. This law has a direct bearing on market supply, the supply price, and the law of supply. If the productivity of a variable input declines, then more is needed to produce a given quantity of output, which means the cost of production increases, and a higher supply price is needed. The direct relation between price and quantity produced is the essence of the law of supply. An economic theory that states as additional inputs are put into production, the additional return will be in successively smaller increments. This can be due to crowding, adding less appropriate resources or increasing inputs of lower quality. In More Laymen Terms As the saying goes, Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth, in any production there is a point of diminishing returns where just adding more inputs will not give the same income as it once did. Although many industrial firms strive to reach scale, where their size gives them a cost advantage at higher production levels, no matter what industry a firm finds itself there will always be a point where the additional gain from added input is reduced. 3) The prisoners dilemma is a canonical example of a game analyzed in game theory that shows why two individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their best interest to do so. It was originally framed by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher working at RAND in 1950. Albert W. Tucker formalized the game with prison sentence payoffs and gave it the prisoners dilemma name (Poundstone, 1992). A classic example of the prisoners dilemma (PD) is presented as follows: Two men are arrested, but the police do not possess enough information for a conviction. Following the separation of the two men, the police offer both a similar deal—if one testifies against his partner (defects/betrays), and the other remains silent (cooperates/assists), the betrayer goes free and the cooperator receives the full one-year sentence. If both remain silent, both are sentenced to only one month in jail for a minor charge. If  each rats out the other, each receives a three-month sentence. Each prisoner must choose either to betray or remain silent; the decision of each is kept quiet. What should they do? If it is supposed here that each player is only concerned with lessening his time in jail, the game becomes a non-zero sum game where the two players may either assist or betray the other. In the game, the sole worry of the prisoners seems to be increasing his own reward. The interesting symmetry of this problem is that the logical decision leads both to betray the other, even though their individual ‘prize’ would be greater if they cooperated. In the regular version of this game, collaboration is dominated by betraying, and as a result, the only possible outcome of the game is for both prisoners to betray the other. Regardless of what the other prisoner chooses, one will always gain a greater payoff by betraying the other. Because betraying is always more beneficial than cooperating, all objective prisoners would seemingly betray the other. In the extended form game, the game is played over and over, and consequently, both prisoners continuously have an opportunity to penalize the other for the previous decision. If the number of times the game will be played is known, the finite aspect of the game means that by backward induction, the two prisoners will betray each other repeatedly. 4) Third degree discrimination involves charging different prices to different segments of customers. This method of price discrimination is really an imperfect variation of the perfect type represented by first degree price discrimination. In this method different segments of customers are identified and each segment is charged price base on what price is most profitable for the company in each segment. The most common way of segmentation for this type of price discrimination is by geographic location. A very prominent example of this type price discrimination is charges for operations by surgeons. For the same type of operations surgeons and hospitals charge different fees depending on the type of hospital room and other facilities that the patient chooses during hospitalization for  operation. Other common forms of such price discrimination include discounts such as those for students or senior citizens. SECTION B: CASE LET 1 1) Demand theory indicates that the determinants of consumption are income (I), the price of the good in question ( pi ), the prices of other goods ( po ) and other variables such as tastes: i i q ï€ ½Ã¯â‚¬  q ( i o I, p , p , other variables). Consider the case of an illicit commodity such as marijuana. The consumption of marijuana involves risks of fines, in some cases imprisonment and, possibly, other costs associated with the shame of being caught. Consequently, the price of marijuana in its demand function ( p ) m should be interpreted as being made up of the conventional money cost ( p ) mï‚ ¢Ã¯â‚¬  plus the expected â€Å"other costs† per unit: 2) Legalization of marijuana would eliminate the criminal sanctions and penalties associated with its consumption. As this would decrease the â€Å"full† price, consumption would be expected to rise. Marijuana consumption is significantly higher amongst males than females – 60 percent of all males have consumed it, compared to 46 percent of all females. Consumption of marijuana is estimated to increase by about 4 percent if it were legalised; and by about 11 percent following both legalisation and a 50-percentfall in its price. Price is a significant determinant of marijuana consumption. Whilst marijuana consumption is estimated to be price inelastic, estimates of most of the price elasticities are significantly different from zero. Two types of price elasticities of demand for marijuana were estimated, gross and net. The gross price elasticity includes the effects of both legalisation and a price change, while the net version excludes the legalisation effect. The price elasticity of demand for marijuana differs significantly with the type of consumer. For more frequent users (daily, weekly and monthly), gross and net price elasticities are estimated to be  -.6 and -.4, respectively. Occasional smokers having a gross price elasticity of about -.3 and net elasticity of about -.1. Regarding those who are no longer users, they have gross and net price elasticities close to zero. For a given type of consumer, males and females share the same elasticity value. CASE LET 2: 1) In my opinion Yes, the Indian companies are running a major risk by not paying attention to cost cutting. To illustrate Comparing major Indian companies in key industries with their global competitors shows that Indian companies are running a major risk. They suffer from a profound bias for growth. The problem is most look more like Essar than Reliance. While they love the sweet of growth, they are unwilling to face the sour of productivity improvement. Nowhere is this more amply borne out than in the consumer goods industry where the Indian giant Hindustan Lever has consolidated to grow at over 50 per cent while its labour productivity declined by around 6 per cent per annum in the same period. Its strongest competitor, Nirma, also grew at over 25 per cent per annum in revenues but maintained its labour productivity relatively stable. Unfortunately, however, its return on capital employed (ROCE) suffered by over 17 per cent. In contrast, Coca Cola, worldwide, grew at around 7 per cent, improved its labour productivity by 20 per cent and its return on capital employed by 6.7 per cent. The story is very similar in the information technology sector where Infosys, NIIT and HCL achieve rates of growth of over 50 per cent which compares favorably with the worlds best companies that grew at around 30 per cent between 1994-95. NIIT, for example, strongly believes that growth is an impetus in itself. Its focus on growth has helped it double revenues every two years. Sustaining profitability in the face of such expansion is an extremely challenging task What makes this even worse is the Indian companies barely manage to cover their cost of capital, while their competitors worldwide such as Glaxo and Pfizer earn an average ROCE of 65 per cent. In the Indian textile industry, Arvind Mills was once the shining star. Like Reliance, it had learnt to cook sweet and sour. Between 1994 and 1996, it grew at an average of 30 per cent per annum to become the worlds  largest denim producer. At the same time, it also operated a tight ship, improving labour productivity by 20 per cent. Despite the excellent performance in the past, there are warning signals for Arvinds future. The excess over the WACC is only 1.5 per cent, implying it barely manages to satisfy its investor’s expectations of return and does not really have a surplus to re-invest in the business. Apparently, investors also think so, for Arvinds stock price has been falling since Q4 1994 despite such excellent results and, at the end of the first quarter of 1998, is less than Rs 70 compared to Rs 170 at the end of 1994. Unfortunately, Arvinds deteriorating financial returns over the last few years is also typical of the Indian textile industry. The top three Indian companies actually showed a decline in their return ratios in contrast to the international majors. 2 ) Fast moving consumer goods will become a Rs 400,000-crore industry by 2020. A Booz Company study finds out the trends that will shape its future Consider this. The anti-ageing skincare category grew five times between 2007 and 2008. It’s today the fastest-growing segment in the skincare market. Olay, Procter Gamble’s premium anti-ageing skincare brand, captured 20 per cent of the market within a year of its launch in 2007 and today dominates it with 37 per cent share. Who could have thought of ready acceptance for anti-ageing creams and lotions some ten years ago? For that matter, who could have thought Indian consumers would take oral hygiene so seriously? Mouth-rinsing seems to be picking up as a habit — mouthwash penetration is growing at 35 per cent a year. More so, who could have thought rural consumers would fall for shampoos? Rural penetration of shampoos increased to 46 per cent last year, way up from 16 per cent in 2001. Consumption patterns have evolved rapidly in the last five to ten years. The consumer is trading up to experience the new or what he hasn’t. He’s looking for products with better functionality, quality, value, and so on. What he ‘needs’ is fast getting replaced with what he ‘wants’ Categories are evolving at a brisk pace in the market for the middle and lower-income segments. With their rising economic status, these consumers are shifting from need- to want-based products. For instance, consumers have  moved from toothpowders to toothpastes and are now also demanding mouthwash within the same category. The trend towards mass-customization of products will intensify with FMCG players profiling the buyer by age, region, personal attributes, ethnic background and professional choices. Micro-segmentation will amplify the need for highly customized market research so as to capture the specific needs of the consumer segment targeted, before the actual product design phase gets underway. 3) Industies impressive growth in value added as observed in the previous sub section is not accompanied by a commensurate rise in the level of relative productivity in terms of the cross–country analysis. The fragmented nature of Indian pharmaceutical sector characterized by the operation of a very large number of players, estimated to be about 10,000 units of which just 300 units are medium and large sized7, may be a reason for low level of productivity. The other important factor for low productivity can be due to the nature of technological activities in the sector, which tends to rely more on process than product development. Further, it may be that Indian companies are focusing at the low end of value†chains in the pharmaceuticals like producing generics than opting for branded products or supply bulk drugs to global players than market formulations of their own. 4) The Indian textile industry has been one of the foremost contributors to the countrys employment, exports, and GDP. The industry has been rated as one of the key drivers of the Indian economy and a bold target of exports of $50 billion (currently it’s $22 billion) had been targeted by the year 2012 by the government after the dismantling of the quota regime in 2005. However we are still far away from that target. Though now it can be blamed on the worldwide recession, I think we need to do some soul searching as to was it anyways possible. Globally, the Indian industry is recognized for its competitive advantages, especially in the cotton segment. The government has set huge targets for the industry and expects to attract investments of about Rs 1.5 lakh crore during the eleventh Plan period. This would meet the export and domestic targets, while taking various initiatives like setting up textile parks, training centers, and ‘made in India label promotion’ to global markets. The Indian textile industry is facing tough competition in the US, as exporters from smaller countries like Bangladesh are cornering the lucrative market at a faster pace, a FICCI study said. In addition to China, countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh have managed to perform better than India in the US market in 2009, the study said. Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam managed to increase their share in the US textiles and apparel import in 2009 year on year at a faster rate than India. The Indian textile industry will no doubt survive and move along by the strengths of its traditional position and domestic market. However, the growth envisaged and it being re-classified as sunshine industry over the last three years from a sunset industry may turn out to be a myth Section C: 1) A vision of the impact of free trade can also be gleaned from Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Samuelson (1970) who confidently asserted that: Free trade promotes a mutually profitable division of labour, greatly enhances the potential real national product of all nations, and makes possible higher standards of living all over the globe. It promotes a regional division of labor this means that some regions of the world (or countries) will specialize in certain things. They will specialize in areas where they have a comparative advantage. It enhances national production this means that countries will be able to produce more things if there is trade. That is because they focus on producing things they are good at and do not waste resources on things that they are not good at. It allows higher standards of living because there is more production. If there is more production, there are more things available to be consumed. Another belief in the importance of free trade can be ascribed to its  perceived indirect effect on peace, security and the prevention of war. One of the first articulations of this is by Baron de Montesquieu, who writing in 1748, stated: Peace is the natural effect of trade. Two nations who traffic with each other become reciprocally dependent; for if one has an interest in buying, the other has an interest in selling, and thus their union is founded on their mutual necessities. This theory of mutual interdependence has been explored in some detail by authors such as Keohane and Nye67 and is echoed in attempts to build and protect the mandates of global institutions seeking such co-operation. However few attempts are made to track the results of policy activities on whole population of States, and as a result the overtly negative impact on some groups, usually minorities and indigenous 2) The Decision Trees, used to help with decision making in business ( and many other areas), are a form of diagrammatic analysis. They are used as a tool for helping managers to choose between several courses of action. They provide an effective and clear structure for presenting options and within decision trees the probabilities and financial outcomes of these options can be measured. They also help to form a balanced picture of the risks and potential financial rewards associated with each possible course of action. In many business decision making situations chance (or probability) plays an important role, and the use of decision trees helps build probability into the decision making process. Pictorial representation of a decision situation, normally found in discussions of decision-making under uncertainty or risk. It shows decision alternatives, states of nature, probabilities attached to the state of nature, and conditional benefits and losses. The tree approach is most useful in a sequential decision situation. For example, assume XYZ Corporation wishes to introduce one of two products to the market this year. The probabilities and present values (PV) of projected cash inflows follow: A decision tree analyzing the two products follows: Based on the expected net present value, the company should choose product A over product B.

50 First Dates Essay Example for Free

50 First Dates Essay The movie 50 First Dates is a romantic comedy film directed by Peter Segal. The movie is a notion of a day that keeps repeating itself. However, in this movie the recycling takes place entirely inside the mind of Lucy Whitmore played by Drew Barrymore. Barrymore plays a young woman who was in an accident that caused her to suffer from Goldfield Syndrome, a fictional form of anterograde amnesia in which each day’s events disappear from her memory overnight. This is caused by damage to the hippocampus, inside the temporal lobe, as the hippocampus controls memory functions. Furthermore,she also innocently believes every day to be the birthday of her father which happens to be the day of the accident. In order to shield her from the pain of repeatedly learning about the accident, Marlin and Lucy’s brother, re-enact the activities of Marlin’s birthday every day. The character Oola is a friend of Sandler, whom helps come up with clever ideas to help Lucy fall in love with Henry everyday. Oola is affecting his neurotransmitters by the daily use of marijuana. Marijuana works as an agonist, in this movie. Adam Sandler, a womanizing marine life veterinian whom cares for animals in an aquatic amusement park has too many sexual conquests until he realizes that he is falling in love with Lucy. Sandler, sheds his philandering ways and devises new ways to meet her again every day, hoping that one day she will retain her memories and feelings for him. He eventually convinces Marlin that hiding the truth from Lucy is worse than explaining it to her each day, so they begin to leave video tapes for her to watch each morning, explaining her situation and her relationship with Henry. Lucy also writes notes to herself in a diary. Over time, she begins to reciprocate Henry’s feelings, even accepting his marriage proposal. Lucy is surrounded by a great deal of support and love throughout her dilemma. Lucy also receives deception from her brother and father and the basically the whole town because they protect her from knowing the truth. Personal Reflection: The results of this movie provide evidence that people suffer with anterograde amnesia which can effectively evaluate aspects of their quality of life and that the quality of communication life style. This movie also provides evidence that people with Amnesia also refers to an inability to recall information that is stored in memory. The causes of amnesia may be organic or functional. Organic causes may include brain damage through injury, or the use of specific drugs but usually sedative drugs. Amnesia may be one of the symptoms of some degenerative brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Functional causes are psychological factors, such as defense mechanisms. People with amnesia also find it hard to imagine the future, because our constructions of future scenarios are closely linked to our recollections of past experiences. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis used advanced brain imaging techniques to show that remembering the past and envisioning the future may go hand in hand with each process sparking strikingly similar patterns of activity within precisely the same broad network of brain regions. Fortunately, in the majority of cases amnesia resolves itself without treatment. However, if an underlying physical or mental disorder is present, it should be treated. Psychotherapy may sometimes be effective for some patients. Hypnosis can be an effective way of recalling memories that have been forgotten. Family support is crucial in helping a patient with amnesia get better. Psychologists and psychiatrists say that reality orientation aids may help to nudge patients back into their environment if they are surrounded with familiar objects, photographs, smells, and sounds. Personal Implications: In 50 First dates, it was designed to tell the story of Lucy a woman whom suffers from a severe memory loss and can not remembered anything that is happening but remembers the past. Goldfield’s syndrome is a fictive name for a specific form of Anterograde amnesia used in the romantic comedy. The condition causes Lucy to lose of all her memories of the day, save the memories prior to the accident, due to that she is unable to convert her short-term memories to her long-term memories during her sleep. This results in her waking up every day believing it is the day of the accident, October 13, 2002. So, while the name is fiction, it is based upon a real condition. The neurological condition that Lucy suffers from, Goldfield Syndrome, is entirely fictional. True anterograde amnesia affects either short-term memory, which can last minutes or seconds, or intermediate-term memory, which can last days or weeks. Although, falling asleep has nothing to do with the condition, and sleep actually intensifies many chemical effects which help memory.

Contemporary Concepts of Innovation and Organisation Changes

Contemporary Concepts of Innovation and Organisation Changes INNOVATION AND CHANGE MANAGMENT Q1. Describe contemporary concepts of innovation and organisational change. Ans. The concept of changing an idea or invention into a valuate service that create values or for which you can earn money/profit. The innovation idea must be satisfying all the needs and must be changeable at an economical cost. It includes deliberate application of imagination and information in creating greater and different values. If we talk about todays business environment innovation is very important to survive Change management entails thoughts planning and sensitive implementation and consultation with the involvement of the people affected by the changes. If the force change on people normally problem arise. Change must be realistic, measurable and achievable (Business dictionary). Q2. Describe the forms and types of innovation. Ans. There are more than 10 types of innovation, here i am explain some of them. SERVICE INNOVATION: it is very clear that god service is very important to run any business, if any business is not giving good service they cant survive in business environment. It also makes permanent customers if you give good service. SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION:- its all about describing your product that what are you selling, whats the product configuration and in every promotion what you introduced new or improved about your product. BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION:- In business environment there is lots of competition, so if you want to survive in the market you have to bring changes, come with new products to attract more customers. INCREMENT INNOVATION:- This innovation is all about improving you service, products. Make their product cheaper but good quality. PROCESS INNOVATION:- the processing of product, what we can change in that process to make them cheaper and good (Mok). Q3. Assess the role of innovation and organisational change at a strategic level for New Zealand organisations. Using innovative plans at different type of levels. To achieve the professional objectives making strategies and giving them direction is very important. VOLPARA Solutions is a wholly owned sales and marketing arm of MATAKINA Technology Limited of New Zealand. The company was founded with the vision to enable radiologists to give women the most accurate information about their breast health. VOLPARA Solutions gives an innovative range of volumetric breast imaging solutions that are specifically designed for the early detection of breast cancer. The company has been introduced new and improved solutions all over the globe, including the US, Europe, Asia and Australia. VOLPARA Solutions breast cancer detection technology used on 4 million women and GE Healthcare tie-up set to ramp up global sales. GE healthcare is one of the largest medical device companies. VOLPARA Solutions is the only company that offers a dose measurement tool specifically designed for breast imaging. (volpara solutions wins technology innovation awards, 2014) . Q4. Describe contemporary innovation frameworks. Ans. When employee are working on innovation first of all they make a plan/idea that how to innovate the company. They have to make proper plan and distribute work between the company members. It starts from the idea generation. The next step is making a decision that which project are persuade and which are not. Then they decide the idea to tangible technology or services and then they start making the technology and test them that it works in a good way or not. Then they launch it in the market and learn how the process works. There are some key points which implement innovation in an organisation Platform for success Principle should be correct. Role of employees/their ideas. Focus should be on innovation. VOLPARA SOLUTION FRAMEWORK VOLPARA is running with 53 employees and they all are the expertise. Any technology introduced are checked and tried by all expertise. VOLPARA was a slow service before developing the technology VOLPARA DENSITY. VOLPARA DOSERT provides clinicians with patient-specific x-ray dose. Now they got a technology from which they can detect breast cancer in earlier stage (INNOVATION MANAGMENT.SE, 2013) . Q5. Identify the factors that foster innovation. Ans. Great communication:- if there is a communication gap between the staff members, then the company may have to face lose/unsuccessfulness. There should be a good communication network between the staff, so they can talk to each other understand each other and work together. In VOLPARA there are 53 members, all have their own work and own expertise. Better monitoring of results:- To be successful you have to monitor your products , your past and you also have to think about future. VOLPARA introduce VOLPARA DENSTITY which is fast, from that technology their company is going up. After that they come with a software from which they do high quality breast screening. They are monitoring their older technologies and coming with the new ones to help patient. There are also some external and internal factors External factors: Costumers feedbacks Innovation Change in political or economical cycle. Needs of public Internal factors: Change in leader. Company performance rate Business facing problems (ONLINE JOURNALISM) . Q6. Describe different types of innovation strategy with appropriate examples from NZ organisations. Ans. Basically there are four types of innovation strategies that can be used by VOLPARA SOLUTIONS like Proactive strategy Active strategy Reactive strategy Last but not the least passive strategy PROACTIVE STRATEGY: In this approach companies tries to do more and more research and spend huge expenses to gain each and every information regarding new inventions so that they can adopt the new techniques quickly and become the market leader. In other words we can say they are the high risk taker in the market. The best example for proactive strategy is Singapore airlines and Apple. There are two types of technological innovations used in the proactive strategy is Radical and incremental approach. In incremental approach company tries to bring constant changes in their products and services till they get satisfied. VOLPARA is a research based company, they are researching day by day to bring new technologies. The latest technology they introduced is high quality breast screening, from which they can detect breast cancer in earlier stage. ACTIVE STRATEGY: Another strategy is Active strategy. In this type of strategy company tries to protect or defend their existing technology. Companies who follow this approach have broad knowledge about the market and even technology and they are treated as medium to low risk taker in the market. As per the case study, it is very clear that VOLAPARA has only 4 products in the market and they are best in what they are doing. REACTIVE APPROACH: Reactive strategy is used by the company who are treated as followers of other in the market and they mainly focuses on the operations, apart from this they always looking for low risk opportunities in the market. PASSIVE STRATEGY: last strategy is passive strategy company doesnt bring any change in their products and services until customer wants a change in their products or services (BUSINESS DICTIONARY, 2017) . Q7. Describe The Place Of Professional Values And Ethics In Innovation. Ans. PROFESSIONAL VALUES AND ETHICS IN INNOVATION: There is a relationship between ethics and innovations. Company do innovation to get more profit and ethics is a thing which stops them to take wrong decision/ wrong things for environment and health of public. Companies that foster one they mostly foster the other just because of critical values and respect and trust even they are encouraged and rewarded. Now a day company tries to hear more and more ideas or opinions from their employees and they try to adopt their ideas so that their employees get motivated and feel satisfied. Managers generally have huge responsibilities they have to balance the cost, innovations moreover they have to take care of corporate social responsibility. Even they have to forecast or monitor the ethics dilemma. VOLPARA SOLUTIONS got the award for innovation in health and science. Also, an organization which fosters ethics and values will easily attract good, talented and honest workforce which will eventually be instrumental in shaping the organizations future If we talk about VOLPARA SOLUTIONS their ethics and values are: Achieve the goals effectively and efficiently by taking care of the interest of the customers. Research for new technologies. Whatever they research they first it check it, for public safety. Like it may have side effects. Burdens of public health measures must be recognised. Burden should be minimized and there should be another alternative to reduce the burden. There should be balance between burden and benefits. Treating people with dignity. Treating people fairly. Supporting patients choices (NATIONAL DEFENCE UNIVERSITY) . Q8. Explain why innovation may require change in organisations. Ans. If the company wants to grow, they have to stay firm with their resolution and ethics moving ahead with technologies. VOLPARA has a mission o reduce the mortality and cost of breast cancer by providing clinically-validated software that underpins personalized, high-quality breast cancer screening. also they need to innovate their software so they can research better and come with new technologies in market. Innovation is always better for organisation (VOLPARA SOLUTIONS). Its very clear that if the organisations is coming with changes or coming with new products. Customers/clients always like change. Its always attracted. If you are investing money in changing something in your organisation, it will definitely give you double time profits. VOLPARA is technology/research based company. Their expertises are always trying to find some new technology which can make people healthy. In past VOLPARA is not dealing with phone, now they launched VOLPARA DENSITY (ABOUT VOLPRA, 2017). Q9. Critically analyse the role of leadership and different leadership styles on innovation and change management. Ans. Role of leadership and different leadership styles on innovations and change management: No doubt successful implementation of change depends upon the leaders or managers of the organization. A leader plays an important role in innovation and change management like: Understanding the scope of change: A leader tries to find out the areas where there is a need to bring change in the organization and them also set the priorities that who will guide the change. They also try to measure the affects of change and innovations in the organization. Being to implement the change or bring innovations this requires focusing on who is most affected by new business processes and they also require leaders to take care of their whether they wants to adopt the change or not. Last but not the least makes adjustments. Focus on the outcomes and if there is requirement of bring changes then leaders should take care and make adjustments (IVEY BUSINESS JOURNAL, 2017) . Q10. Using individual ADKAR model or group Lewins model describe the effectiveness of various approaches to the management of resistance. Ans.LEWINS MODEL OF CHANGE: LEWINS model is 3step model. The three steps are: Unfreeze Change Refreeze UNFREEZE: In the first step the change is communicate within the whole organization and should motivate the employees to adopt these changes because these changes are necessary for them. If the organization is suffering from decrease sales, decrease in financial results and profits then should communicate with employees that they cannot work with the older ways or existing ways in the organization they should adopt new changes. It is the most difficult part of the process. Without motivation change cannot be bring in the organization. More participation is required to discuss about the change in the organization. CHANGE: In this people start working in a new way and start thinking new ideas and start supporting the new changes. Change cannot bring overnight in the organization. People takes more time and commit mistakes because everything is new for the whole organization. More contribution should be there so that change can be implemented successfully. People need to understand these changes organization should provide quickly solutions to the mistakes done by the employees. REFREEZE: Refreeze is the last step of LEWINS model. In this stage change become normal for the whole organization. Identify the more things that support the change and removing all barriers that create problem in adoption of changes. Leaders should support each and every employee. There must be rewards system to motivate the employee moreover frequently feedback should be taken from each and every employee. If there is a need of training then training should be given to the employees. Every information and support should be given and success of the organization should be celebrated in the organization. Q11. Draw conclusions about the place of innovation and change management for contemporary organisations. Ans. VOLPARA Is running successful with only 53 staff members, its difficult to manage everything if you got less staff. For the future innovation, researching for the solutions of other cancer, it will increase the business and profit too. For that we have to hire more staff and we can also open new branch, so people can come easily to us. As cancer is very dangerous diseases now a days and it causes death. So finding solution to prevent cancer is a better thinking for our business and public health also. References ABOUT VOLPRA. (2017). Retrieved 02 26, 2017, from VOLPARA SOLUTIONS: http://www.volparasolutions.com/about-volpara/ Business dictionary. (n.d.). Retrieved 02 15, 2017, from what is innovation : http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/innovation.html BUSINESS DICTIONARY. (2017). Retrieved 02 26, 2017, from WHAT IS INNOVATIVE STRATEGY: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/innovation-strategy.html INNOVATION MANAGMENT.SE. (2013). Retrieved 02 26, 2017, from SEVEN STEP TO CREATING A SUCCESSFUL INNOVATION FRAMEWORK: http://www.innovationmanagement.se/2014/01/27/seven-steps-to-creating-a-successful-innovation-framework/ IVEY BUSINESS JOURNAL. (2017). Retrieved 02 26, 2017, from THE LEADERSHIP ROLE: http://iveybusinessjournal.com/publication/the-leadership-role/ Mok, C. (n.d.). Decision Innovation. Retrieved 02 15, 2017, from types of innovation: http://www.innovation-management.org/types-of-innovation.html NATIONAL DEFENCE UNIVERSITY. (n.d.). Retrieved 02 26, 2017, from VALUES AND ETHICS: http://www.au.af.mil/AU/AWC/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch15.html Online journalism. (n.d.). Retrieved 02 15, 2017, from five factors that foster innovation: https://onlinejournalismblog.com/2009/11/05/five-factors-that-foster-innovation-in-the-online-newsroom/ ONLINE JOURNALISM. (n.d.). Retrieved 02 26, 2017, from FIVE FACTORS THAT FOSTER INNOVATION: https://onlinejournalismblog.com/2009/11/05/five-factors-that-foster-innovation-in-the-online-newsroom/ volpara solutions wins technology innovation awards. (2014, 09 19). Retrieved 02 27, 2017, from health managment.org: file:///C:/Users/india/Downloads/volpara-solutions-wins-technology-innovation-award.pdf

Why do Companies Continue with Mergers and Acquisitions when so many Fa

Why do Companies Continue with Mergers and Acquisitions when so many Fail? The phenomenon of mergers and acquisitions (M&A’s) triggers an array of opinions and viewpoints. Often it is a strategy that is seen as a perfect way of achieving growth. It is by no means an organic or natural route to success, but has tended to be a quick and easy way of increasing an organisations size and power. However although there have been ‘waves’ of popularity and success since its introduction in the 1960’s it has also suffered criticism due to the number of failures it has accounted for. Despite the strong suggestion that this strategy has been the architect for many an organisation's downfall there still remains a propensity in the current business environment for managers to adopt it. Throughout this essay I am going to examine some of the areas that explain M&A’s volatility and attempt to discover why managers are persevering with the strategy when it is seemingly flawed. Over the last few decades it has become increasing apparent that the effect of mergers and acquisitions is not as beneficial as once thought. When the growth strategy was pioneered in the middle part of the nineteen hundreds it was looked upon as a way of creating an empire across different sectors and countries. Many experienced managers were sucked into the strategy, only having eyes for the apparent synergistical and positive affects of M&A’s. Although over the following years there has been many success stories concerning M&A’s, when the big picture is examined it displays a more ugly side of the phenomenon. Hodge (1998) discovered that ‘in the go-go ‘80s, 37% of mergers outperformed the average shareholder return in that period; in the fi... ...nal, Autumn; Customer text-section 2, topic 11. - Kieran et al (1994) ‘Planning the deals that generate value and gain advantage’, Mergers and Acquisitions, March-April; Custom text, topic 12. Journals - Doitte S & Smith G (1998). ‘The morning after (avoiding mistakes in acquisitions and mergers)’. Winter v63 i2 p32(8). - Davenport, T (1998). ‘The Integration Challenge (managing corporate mergers’ Management Review. - Heitner M (1998). ‘The thorny business of merging rival firms’, Mergers and Acquisitions. - Hodge, K (1998), ‘The art of the post deal (outcomes of mergers)’. Management Review. - Price, A & Sloane, J (1998). ‘Global Designs: Tough Challenges for - Acquirers’. Mergers and Acquisitions.. - Whipple J & Frankel R (2000), ‘Strategic Alliance Success Factors’. The Journal of Supply Chain Management.

Poor Parents Must Educate Their Children Essay example -- Solutions to

A child does not show up for school for the third day in a row and the teacher notices that a pattern of absences has appeared. Is it the child’s fault? The parents’ fault? Can the school do something to stop this trend? There is a definite association between the parents of a child in poverty and the education that child does (or does not) receive, and there are many factors that play into this connection: intimidation the parents feel, expectations put on the child, parent employment, location and condition of the school, and health issues. Unfortunately, all of these issues mean that children in poverty are on an unequal plane when it comes to education, compared to children in higher classes of socio-economic status. Lord Acton wrote of the United States over 140 years ago, â€Å"In a country where there is no distinction of class, a child is not born to the station of its parents, but with an indefinite claim to all the prizes that can be won by thought and labor . It is in conformity with the theory of equality . . . to give as near as possible to every youth an equal state in life. Americans are unwilling that any should be deprived in childhood of the means of competition.†1 It is sad and ironic how this statement is not true in the United States today. Parents may not want to get involved in their child’s school life because schools have a negative connotation in their minds. Many adults in poverty grew up in poor families and have bad memories of school from their childhoods. They may have been bullied or did not make good grades. There may be an association for them between school and feeling stupid. Also, some parents of students in poverty have a lower level of education than the people working at schools. When talking to principals or teachers, a parent does not want to feel inferior in the conversation. The more diverse vocabulary used by the faculty and staff at schools can be intimidating. This is one reason why parents are reluctant to get involved in reading programs, the Parent Teacher Association, and other extra-curricular activities. In order to distance themselves from the feeling of inferiority, parents distance themselves from their children’s schools. In addition to being physically distant from the place their children receive their education, parents of children in poverty may not breach the topic verbally. Parental encouragement ... ...91. Philipsen, Maike Ingrid. â€Å"The Problem of Poverty: Shifting Attention to the Non-Poor.† In Late to Class: Social Class and Schooling in the New Economy, edited by George Noblit and Jane A. Van Galen, 269-285. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007. Polakow, Valerie. â€Å"In the Shadows of the Ownership Society: Homeless Children and Their Families.† In Invisible Children in the Society and Its Schools, edited by Sue Books, 39-62. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2007. Pollitt, Ernesto. â€Å"The Relationship between Undernutrition and Behavioral Development in Children.† The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 125, No. 8S (August 1995). http://www.unu.edu/ (accessed on April 6, 2015). Sato, Mistlina, et al. â€Å"Poverty and Payne: Supporting Teachers to Work with Children of Poverty.† Phi Delta Kappan Vol. 90, No. 5 (January 2009): 365-370. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com (accessed April 6, 2015). Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. New York: Random House, Inc., 2004. Weissbourg, Richard. â€Å"The ‘Quiet’ Troubles of Low-Income Children.† The Education Digest Vol. 74, No. 5 (January 2009): 4-8. http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com (accessed April 6, 2015).

‘’Reunion’’ by John Cheever

A. An essay analyzing the short story This essay is going to be an analysis and interpretation of the short story ‘’Reunion’’ by John Cheever. It will begin with a summary of the short story. Afterwards the plot, the conflict and the setting will be analyzed. Then I’ll move on to the characterization, the possible surprise ending and the theme and message. Finally I will draw parallels between the short story ‘’Reunion’’ and the essay ‘’Living With Strangers’’ by Siri Hustvedt. ‘’Reunion’’ is a short story about a boy called Charlie and his last interaction with his father.Charlie was travelling by train from his grandmother’s to a cottage his mother had rented. He would be in New York for about an hour and thirty minutes while waiting for the new train and therefore he wanted to meet his father. He hadn’t seen his father for three years and Charlie was exi ted to see the man he looked up to again. Because of the lack of time, they couldn’t go and see the father’s club, so they had to find a restaurant in the area. They went to four restaurants and they get more or less thrown out of all four. The father in this short story was either really drunk or/and very arrogant.In all occasions he talked down to waiters or behaved bad in one way or the other. In spite of his bad behavior they managed to get a ‘’Beefeater Gibson’’ at one place. It all ended with the father going up to a newsstand, again with a bad attitude, which was the final straw for Charlie who said ‘’Goodbye, daddy’’ and walked towards the station. That was the last time Charlie saw his father. This short story is one big flashback. The whole story is a flashback that concedes chronologically. It starts with a very short introduction in which Charlie just says ‘’The last time I saw my father was in Grand Central Station.’’, and from thereon he tells the story as a flashback.The conflict in this story is the high expectations from Charlie. Charlie admires his father very much, but when he meets him, he’s an arrogant and probably drunk jerk. Three years have gone, since they last saw each other and that is a long time. People can change a lot during three years and this is probably what also happened to the father or else Charlie just remembered him differently. The end shows that the conflict was too much to bear for Charlie as he says ‘’†¦that was the last time I saw my father. ’’.The reason why it was the last time they saw each other is probably because of the disappointment Charlie must have felt. Probably he doesn’t want to see his former ‘’hero’’ anymore, because he actually is a jerk. The setting takes places in New York City or more precisely around the Grand Central Station. Furt hermore it takes place in four restaurants and by a newsstand. It is most likely to take place in the last half of the 20th century. It was first published in 1962, but the scene could still take place today. The fact that Charlie’s parents are divorced also makes the story more modern, since that problem is very common nowadays.Back in that time where it was written it was unusual to be divorced, actually it was almost weird. Now let?s move on to the characterizations. Charlie is the main character and he’s probably a young boy. He lives with his mother, as his parents are divorced. His age is not mentioned, but in the text there is a line that makes him sound young: ‘’I knew that when I was grown I would be something like him’’. This makes the reader picture him as a child as he says ‘’when I was grown’’. But o the other hand later on he drinks alcohol with his father, which makes him seem to be almost a grownup.T o begin with, he looks very much up to his father, that changes and it all ends with him not wanting to be with his father and actually never wanting to see him again. During the story he doesn’t really say much. Of course he’s the narrator, but it is the father who leads the conversations. The father owns a club and has a secretary. He smells of ‘’†¦a rich compound of whiskey and after-shave lotion, shoe polish, woollens, and the rankness of a mature male. ’’. The fact that he smells partly of whiskey suggests that he had been drinking. His behavior could also verify that, as he behaved like an unstable person.He could also just be very, very arrogant as he almost feels that he is more than for example the waiters. He talks down to people and is generally very unpleasant. Neither his name or age is mentioned, but he might be in the mid-forties. The characters are directly told about by the narrator for example in this part of the text à ¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬â„¢I smelled my father the way my mother sniffs a rose. It was a rich compound of whiskey and after-shave lotion, shoe polish, woollens, and the rankness of a mature male’’. He describes his father directly with a comment on his smell.It is called ‘’direct characterization’’ The father is a flat character – he remains the same throughout the story. He remains being a jerk, while Charlie is a round character as he develops throughout the story. At first he is excited to see his father again, but he ends up not wanting to ever see him again. We are dealing with a first person narrator, who in this story is the protagonist. The ending could be seen as a surprise ending since Charlie starts being excited to see his father but ends up saying ‘’Goodbye’’ and never wanting to see him again.On the other hand it isn’t really surprising, as the father throughout the story seems very unpleasant and may be even embarrassing to be around. It is a case of argument. The themes in this short story are love, father and son relationship, expectations, abuse of alcohol, disappointment (the grass isn’t always greener on the other side) and the hard word ‘’goodbye’’. The message here must be not to have too high expectations and that people change. Now it’s time to draw parallels between ‘’Reunion’’ and ‘’Living With Strangers’’. These two stories both take place in New York and they both touch the subject ‘’the meeting with strangers’’.In ‘’Living With Strangers’’ the narrator tells us about strange strangers, but in ‘’Reunion’’ Charlie’s father actually is the strange stranger. He marks the people he talks down to, with his boisterousness. They will maybe think back some time of the ‘’drunk/arrog ant jerk, who thought he owned the world’’. Generally these two stories show the two sides of a story. Another parallel could be the ‘’not making a big deal out of something’’. The waiters f. ex. don’t make a big deal out of the boisterousness, they just send Charlie’s father outside. That is the ‘’PRETEND IT ISN’T HAPPENING’’-rule.

Critically Analyse Two Theoretical Approaches to Cognitive Development Essay

The rationale for the essay will be to discuss how early childhood memories can contribute to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) later in adult life. Negative early experiences such as child abuse can have a major impact on the development of the brain. Similar to adults with PTSD, children have trouble sleeping, can not control their memories of the trauma and are constantly on alert (Kuafman, Plotsky, Meyerhof & Charney 2000). Memory alterations connected to PTSD represent a complex interrelationship between brain and mind (Wilson & Keane 2004). The essay will therefore address a psychological and neurobiological approaches which have been typically associated with the diagnosis of PTSD. The psychological approach for discussion will be Freud’s(1896) psychodynamic model of neurosis which was one of the first paradigms to place emphasis on external stressor events (Wilson 2004). The essay will concentrate on the hippocampus, a brain area involved in memory and briefly discuss the amygdala. Saplosky (1996) neurobiological study in relation to stress, glucorcotoids and hippocampus, a brain area involved in memory functioning. These brain areas will be discussed in relation to disturbing memories and deficits in memory functioning (Silver, McAllister & Yodofsky 2011). Firstly it will be necessary to discuss what the term â€Å"memory† means. A simple definition of memory would be a persons power to remember things or the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information (Oxford 1964). A psychological definition is more complex and although memory is seen as a single term it refers to a multitude of human capacities (Medin & Pashler 2002). There are three major processes involved in memory: encoding, storage and retrieval each operation represents a stage in memory processing (Sternberg 2009). Encoding is the process by which a memory is formed where information is changed into a useable form and stored in memory for later use (Nevid 2009). The information can be encoded in different ways; acoustically, iconic and semantically. Stored memories are quite often in the unconscious, implicit part of the mind and the retrieval process allows s to bring most memories back into the conscious mind (Sternberg 2009). William James (1890) was one of the first to suggest memory was not a single system but rather comprises of a short and long term memory. James (1890) distinguished between primary memory as being conscious of what has just happened and secondary memory as the knowledge of events that have left our consciousness (Thorn & Page 2009). Hebb (1949) later supported James (1890) and suggested there was a neuro-physiological distinction between primary and secondary memory. Hebb (1949) proposed primary memory reflects temporarily reverberating electrical activity where as secondary memory results from permanent synaptic change (Bernstain, Penner, Clarke-Stewert & Roy 2008). Waugh and Norman (1965) elaborated on James (1890) theory and proposed the multi-store model of memory. The multi-store model proposed verbal stimuli was perceived in the primary memory which had a very limited capacity. As new stimuli were considered and as the capacity of the primary memory was reached the stimuli were displaced and forgotten (Baine 1986). However when stimuli was rehearsed it was either retained in short term storage in the primary memory or it was transferred to long term storage in the secondary memory. The more often information was rehearsed in primary memory the more likely it would be transferred to secondary memory (Baine 1986). Waugh and Norman (1965) model was extended by Atkinson and Shiffron (1968) they suggested that for information to become a memory it had to flow through a system. The system starts with the sensory memory or immediate memory associated with visual (iconic) and auditory (echoic) perceptual processing. This is where information is first detected and if attended to will then enter the short term memory (STM). If the information which is now in the STM is rehearsed it will enter the long term memory (LTM). However if no rehearsal occurs the information is forgotten and lost from STM through the process of displacement or decay. The encoding or transferring of information into long term storage therefore depends on short term memory (Dehn 2011). The psychobiology of learning and memory suggests that traumatic memory is uite different from ordinary memory and investigators such as Van der Kolk (1996) suggest symptoms of PTSD result from multifaceted nuero-hormonal changes that occur as a result of chronic stress. These changes can be accompanied by the release of adrenalin through the noradrenergic system which may play an important role in the enhancement of encoded, stored and retrieved information. PTSD can be defined as an incident where a person is exposed to serious threat of injury or death and experiences extreme fear (Shiromani, Keane & Le Doux 2009). There are typically two types of memory disturbances identified in PTSD, intrusive memories and impoverish memory functioning (Mace 2000). Intrusive memories are events that are retrieved involuntarily and experienced as flash backs of the original trauma, and triggered automatically by situations that reflect aspects of the traumatic event (Mace 2000). Impoverish memory refers to diminished encoding or impaired retrieval abilities, and deficits in declarative memory. Fragmentation of memories may occur, both autobiographical and amnesic trauma related gaps in the memory, which occur for minutes to days and not due to ordinary forgetting. In extreme cases it is suggested that extremely stressful experiences particularly in child hood maybe forgotten for a period of years (Friedman, Keane & Resick 2010). Human learning involves the interactions of memory systems mediated by distinct cerebral networks, of which can be divided into the declarative (explicit) or facts that can be assessed verbally and non-declarative, behaviours associated with emotional stiuations (implicit). These memory systems are mediated primarily by the hippocampus and amygdala, brain areas involved in learning, and emotional memory (Layton & Krikorian 2002). There is interestingly a biological distinction between these areas which is mediated by structures outside the hippocampus. In the famous case of HM where damage to the hippocampus impaired declarative memory however non-declarative memory was unaffected (Scolvile, Milner 1957). The declarative memory can be split into two categories; episodic which stores specific personal experiences, such as remembering a first day at school and semantic; which stores factual information such as knowing the capital of France. Freud (1893) early theory of neurosis known as â€Å"seduction theory† was one of the first to place emphasis on external stressor events, he suggested the symptoms could only be understood if they were traced back to a traumatic events specifically early child hood experiences of â€Å" sexual† seduction or assault (Leys 2000). However it was not the experience itself which was traumatic but its delayed revival as a memory this was after the individual had reached sexual maturity and could therefore grasp its meaning (Leys 2000). Freud (1893) drew upon the notion that childhood sexual experiences resulted is dissociation, denial, repression and other primitive defence mechanisms (Friedman, Keane & Resick 2007). Freud (1893) suggested that during development a child could potentially experience a range of traumatic events. As a result the victim typically uses repression an â€Å"ego† defence to suppress traumatic memories and once in the un-conscious or implicit mind, neurotic symptoms might occur as a result of active forces being applied to the un-conscious or explicit memory (Wilson & Lindy 2004). The repressed memories do not change when they are retained in the un-conscious (implicit) memory and will emerge via the activation of situational reminding cues (Wilson & Lindy 2004). His theory however was not well received in Conservative Vienna and he revised the seduction theory in 1896, he concluded that the memories of his patients may have in-fact been fantasies and have their origins in the libidinal drives and conflicted attachments to parental figures ( Mason 2003). Freud’s early thinking regarding trauma was largely based on children as sexual beings from birth onwards, and that this sexual instinct was based on libidinal forces that could lead to intra-psychic conflict: the Oedipal complex (Mason 2003). This led to psychodynamic theory, a complementary approach emphasising unconscious influences on issues related to memory and PTSD, and seeing suceptability as a result of factors like poor childhood relationships, insecure attachments & sexual abuse (Friedman, Keane & Resick 2010). Current empirical data however clearly supports Freud’s (1893) original theory regarding the psychological impact of child abuse and as a result children have been shown to suffer from PTSD and symptoms associated with cognitive, emotional and behavioural development (Deblinger, McLeer, Atkins, Ralph & Foa 1989). Current research has brought into debate Freud’s (1897) suspicions of imaginary fantasies, the recovered memory/ false memory debate† brings such childhood memories into question. The theory suggests child hood memories are not reliable and it is relatively easy to plant memories for events that did not really occur through ideas suggested by over enthusiastic therapists the media or self help books related to sexual abuse (Pezdek & Banks 1996). Hyman and Billing (1998) conducted a study to investigate if students would create false child hood memories. The study found approximately 25% of students created false childhood memories after being encouraged to imagine the suggested child hood event (Hymann &Billing 1998). A study by Clancey, Schacter, McNally & Pitman (2000) also pointed to gender bias in relation to false memories, they used the Deese/Roediger-McDermott paradigm using four control groups of women. The study found women with PTSD had a higher rate of false recognition of critical lures than women with abuse histories without PTSD, non abused non PTSD women, or men with out abuse or PTSD (Bremnar, Krause, Shobe & Kihlstrom (2000). Women with PTSD were also found to have poorer memory for previously studied words, which is consistent with the findings of declarative memory deficits in PTSD (Bremnar et al 2000). Studies such as Sapolsky (1996) have led to the idea that external stressor events could have a profound impact on the biology and behaviour of organisms. Just as Freuds theory suggests, external stressor events have an impact on triggering unconscious implicit memories through their retrieval via situational cues. Neuro biological studies have shown retrieval is accompanied by adrenaline release which may further aggravate the traumatic memory (De Kloet, Oitzl & Vermetten 2008). The noradrenergic system is responsible for the â€Å"fight or flight† rapid response to stress. This is associated with increased firing of noradrenalin neurons in the brainstem which enhance the release of noradrenalin in the brain and strengthens memories connected to emotional events (Bremner, Krystal, Southwick & Charney 1996). Cahill and McGaugh (1998) suggest adrenaline is shown to enhance the memory in a â€Å"dose dependant way†, it seems to enhance retention thorough its effects on the limbic structures, including the amygdala complex. There fore when a stressful event is experienced adrenaline is released, the noradrenergic system may then play an important role in the enhanced encoding of trauma related memories. The accompanied release of adrenaline when a traumatic event is experienced may further strengthen the traumatic memory trace. A positive feed back loop may then result in deeply engraved memories, which are expressed as intrusive recollections and flash backs (Cahill & McGaugh 1998). Child abuse and other stressor events can have lasting effects on the hippocampus, the brain area involved in declarative, implicit, unconscious memory. The hippocampus is part of the limbic system, and part of a group of structures that surrounds the brain stem. These structures play an important role in the experience of emotions motivation and memory (Litwack 2010). Sapolsky (1996) conducted studies on rats in his Stanford University laboratory, he concluded that glucocorticoids can cause rats brains to shrivel as the dendrite branches that communicate with other neurons wither away. Sapolsky, Romero, Munk (2000) found prolonged exposure to stress causes irreversible damage in rats, the findings therefore suggest long term exposure to glucocorcitoids in humans with PTSD may also result in permant nueron damage to the hippocampus and deficits in declarative memory. Further neuroimaging studies have found smaller hippocampus volume in people with PTSD, this was found in MRI imaging of Vietnam veterans and adults with a history of child abuse relative to healthy comparison subjects (Francati, Vermetten & Bremner 2007). The subject and theory which has been discussed far exceeds the parameters of this essay, however the greatest attempt has been made to cover as much of the subject as possible. It would seem there is mounting evidence to support Freud’s (1893) original â€Å"seduction theory† that early traumatic childhood experiences can lead to memory disturbances later in adult life. Memories have been found to be engraved even deeper by the noragenric system and the increased release of adrenaline caused by exxecive stress associated with PTSD. Sapolsky (1996) and Sapolsky, Romero, Munk (2000) have further discussed the impact of stress on the brain and effects on the hippocampus an important structure in the functioning of memories. Nueroimaging has further shown shrinkage in the hippocampus in adults whom have been diagnosed with PTSD and have experienced a history of child abuse. There has however been studies by hyman and billing and Clancey, Schacter, McNally & Pitman (2000) that suggest some memories can be planted or imagined, via the influence of media and other factors, and a gender bias concerning deficits in declarative memory. However with scientific evidence it would seem early childhood trauma could result in PTSD later in adult life.