Sociology As Applied To Dentistry Health And Social Care Essay

Sociology every bit applied to dentistry is an indispensable portion of preparation for tooth doctors. The instance for inquiring, even necessitating, medical and other pupils of the wellness professions to prosecute with the multiple ways in which health-related phenomena, from single behaviors through categorizations of and schemes for get bying with medically defined disease to the support of healthcare systems, are embedded in the societal universe remains undeniable ( Scambler 2008 ) . â€Å" He or she needs it at the really least for protection against the really existent jeopardy of defeat and sadness when it proves hard to implement medical steps ; but above all it is needed if the medical and other health-related professions are to do their greatest possible part to the public assistance of the populations they are privileged to function † ( Margot Jefferys 1981, in Scambler 2008 ) Sociology is the survey of how society is organized and how we experience life ( British Sociological Association 2010 ) . ‘It seeks to supply penetrations into the many signifiers of relationship, both formal and informal, between people. Such relationships are considered to be the A?fabricA? of society. Smaller scale relationships are connected to larger scale relationships and the entirety of this is society itself ‘ ( British Sociological Association 2010 ) . It is a comparatively new add-on to the dental course of study, holding been ab initio introduced in the 1980s. An increasing acknowledgment of the importance of ‘social ‘ factors associated with assorted unwellness provinces has ensured medical sociology a go oning topographic point in learning and research enterprise ( Reid 1976 ) . The General Dental Council ‘s acquisition results for the first five old ages specifically states that as portion of the undergraduate course of study, pupils shou ld be ‘be familiar with the societal, cultural and environmental factors which contribute to wellness or unwellness ‘ ( GDC 2008 ) and many of the other larning results have a sociological attack at their bosom. The General Dental council highlight six cardinal rules that dental professionals are expected to follow ( GDC 2005 ) . The first two of these rules regard a patient centred attack to dentistry. They specifically province that tooth doctors should be ‘putting the patients involvements foremost, moving to protect them ‘ and that as tooth doctors we have to ‘respect a patients ‘ self-respect and picks ‘ . In order to carry through these criterions it is imperative that we understand that each person will see a figure of different influences on their wellness, and how that person will respond to each influence will depend greatly on what has come before and what will come after. Without this basic apprehension, tooth doctors will neglect to of all time understand their patients or supply them with the best attention. How a patient will move in any given state of affairs will really much depend on several factors that have influenced their life. What is accepted as ‘normal ‘ to one patient may be wholly different to another patients position. With peculiar mention to wellness and unwellness, societal and cultural variables have a important portion to play. Aukernecht showed this in 1947 when analyzing a South American folk. The folk had a skin status that harmonizing to biomedical criterions was a ‘disease ‘ . But this ‘disease ‘ was considered ‘normal ‘ by the members of the folk, so much so that if they did non hold it they were non allowed to get married! ( Aukernecht 1947 ) . Although this might be regarded as an utmost illustration, if you consider some of the information from the most disadvantaged countries of the UK, our position on what is regarded as ‘normal ‘ may be challenged. In the most recent kids ‘s review, it was sh own that 52.1 % of primary seven kids in the most disadvantaged class showed obvious marks of decay experience ( Scots Dental 2010 ) . Similarly if we look at the most recent grownup dental wellness study, it was shown that over half the people populating in the most disadvantaged countries ( DEPCAT 6 & A ; 7 ) were reliant on either full or partial dental plates ( ADHS 1998 ) . It is ‘normal ‘ for people in disadvantaged countries to see dental decay. What the people in this group in society respect as ‘disease ‘ may be wholly different than our perceptual experience. The universe wellness administration defines wellness as ‘the complete physical, mental and societal wellbeing and non simply the absence of disease or frailty ‘ ( WHO 1948 ) . It is of import that dentists receive preparation in the sociological influences that determine what wellness means to different people in order that they understand that this definition is unachievable for the bulk of the population. The medical theoretical account of disease causing as localization of function of pathology is flawed. There should be a alteration off from our focal point on disease. Switching tooth doctors perceptual experiences off from a disease orientated position that dental diseases are the consequence of distinct pathology, to the position that wellness or unwellness occurs as a consequence of complex interactions between several factors including familial, environmental, psychological and societal factors is cardinal ( Tinetti & A ; Fried 2004 ) . Our focal point should be shifted to a position of wellness that encompasses an persons ‘ ability to be comfy and map in a normal societal function ( Dolan 1993 ) . It is indispensable that tooth doctors are trained to hold a holistic attack to the attention of their patients, and are able to admit the impacts that socio-environmental factors have on wellness. As described by Dahlgren and Whitehead in 1991, forms of unwritten wellness and unwellness can non be separated from the societal context in which they occur ( Figure 1 ) . hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nap.edu/books/030908704X/xhtml/images/p20008090g404002.jpgFigure 1. Main determiners of Health ( Dahlgren & A ; Whitehead 1991 )Even with this cognition, tooth doctors must be able to associate this to their patient. The universe is non an equal topographic point and tooth doctors must be trained to admit the effects that inequality can hold on wellness. As antecedently discussed, socio-economic position has a major influence on the wellness position of an person. Equally early as 1842, Edwin Chadwick looked at life anticipation of those in different societal categories ( Chadwick 1842 ) . This showed that the mean age at decease in Bethnal Green at that clip was 35 for aristocracy and professionals but merely 15 for laborers mechanics and retainers. Although life anticipation has improved for all categories in Britain since this clip, inequalities have remained. The Black Report, published in 1980, showed that there had continued to be an betterment in wellness across all the categories ( DHSS 1980 ) . But there was still a co-relation between societal category and infant mortality rates, life anticipation and inequalities in the usage of medical services. In 1998 The Acheson Report once more highlighted the turning spread between the richest and poorest in society in relation to wellness and life anticipation ( Stationary Office 1998 ) . Regardless of whether you look at mortality, morbidity, life anticipation or self- rated wellness position, the gradients remain the same and the wellness of those at the underside of the category system is worse than that of those at the top. When looking at Oral Health a similar form emerges. Social inequality in unwritten wellness is a cosmopolitan phenomenon ( Peterson 2005 ) . More disadvantaged countries have higher degrees of disease in the industrialised and non-industrialized universe alike. The inequalities between groups are comparatively stable and persist through the coevalss. In the 1998 Adult Dental Health Survey, dental wellness was reported to be worse in the lower societal categories and that there was a clear gradient between the rich and hapless. Between 1978 and 1998, large betterments in the Numberss of edentate grownups were detected. However, the spread between those in the lower and upper categories was still evident. By 1998, those in societal category IV and V had merely reached degrees of unwritten wellness found in societal categories I, II and IIIm in 1978. In a more recent study of kids ‘s unwritten wellness in 2003 ( Children ‘s Dental Health Survey 2003 ) , similar forms were found. Those in lower societal categories were more likely to see tooth decay, were more likely to hold dentitions extracted due to disintegrate and were twice every bit likely to hold unmet orthodontic demand than their wealthier equals. Entree to dental services has besides been shown to change between societal categories. The 1998 grownup dental wellness study showed that people from a higher societal category were more likely to utilize dental services, and that in-between category grownups were more likely to go to for preventative intervention whereas working category grownups were more likely to go to for alleviation of symptoms. Working category grownups were besides most likely to see jobs in paying for dental intervention, and more likely to go to irregularly. Socio-economic inequality shows no marks of change by reversaling, rather to the contrary. In the last 20 old ages the spread between rich and hapless has widened. Harmonizing to the office for national statistics, informations shows that the top 1 % of the population ain 21 % of the wealth. Possibly more astonishing is the fact that about half the population portion merely 7 % of the entire wealth ( ONS 2003 ) . This has a major impact on how we deliver dental services. Dentists have to be cognizant of the fiscal restraints that face a big part of the population. With a limited budget to manus, dental intervention or so preventative steps such as toothpaste and floss may go a luxury that they can non afford. There is besides a demand for tooth doctors to be trained to recognize the effects of other inequalities such as gender, ethnicity and age on wellness. There are cardinal differences between work forces and adult females that non merely find their place within society, but besides their place in the wellness spectrum. Womans are less likely to keep a place of power and are paid less than their male opposite numbers ( Scambler 2008 p134-140 ) . They are besides more likely to endure sick wellness, although possibly surprisingly they outlive their male opposite numbers, so much so that adult females from societal category 5 unrecorded significantly longer than work forces from societal category 1- ? this ref, in notes but ca n't happen elsewhere! ( ONS 2000- ? 2004 ) . There is argument about the consequence that gender has on unwritten wellness, with some surveies proposing that gender does consequence unwritten wellness, with adult females sing poorer dental wellness than their male opposite numbers ( Todd & A ; Lader 1991 ) ( Downer 1994 ) . Other surveies suggest that the contrary is true ( Scambler 2002 ) . The issue appears to be related to the inability to pull a decision on whether it is gender entirely that is doing the inequality, or if it is by virtuousness of the fact that adult females are in lower societal categories than work forces and are presently populating longer. Age is the individual biggest ground for the lessening in sound and untreated dentitions across the population as a whole, with the following most of import factor being part of the UK, the more deprived the country, the more disease. Older people are more likely to be populating in poorness than any other sector of the population. In 2007/08, an estimated 2 million pensionaries in the UK were populating in poorness ( ONS 2010 ) . As seen in the treatment on societal category, this will hold obvious deductions for their unwritten wellness. Whilst life anticipation is increasing this does non needfully intend that people are populating longer in good wellness and there is some argument about the thought of healthy life anticipation ( in notes ) . It can be surmised that possibly an aging population will convey with it a catalogue of dental disease as they are non merely more susceptible to disease by life thirster, but by virtuousness of them falling down the societal ladder. Older people presently experience higher degrees of hapless unwritten wellness than other groups and overall they make less usage of dental services and receive poorer attention than other groups ( in notes ) . However, the older population is altering. More people are retaining natural dentitions into their old age, and are more likely to do regular usage of dental services. Dentists have to be cognizant of the alterations that are traveling to go on with their patient demographic over the following few old ages. This group of patients will necess itate more renewing and decorative interventions but will be further down the societal ladder and less able to pay for such interventions. Poor socioeconomic position is besides thought to account for the differences that are seen in unwritten wellness of cultural groups ( Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology 2007 ) . Programs have been designed to better dental pupils understanding of and attitudes to patients, such as Otto wagners cross-cultural patient teacher programme to better dental pupils understanding of and attitudes towards ethnically diverse patients ( Wagner et al 2008 ) . But what this type of programme fails to turn to is that the biggest factor in finding the wellness of an person is their socio-economic position ( Watt and Sheiham 1999 ) . Not merely do people in the lower socio-economic groups experience more ill-health, they besides are more likely to comprehend a deficiency of control over their wellness. Cornwell ( 1984 ) found that people in low socio-economic groups would travel to great attempts to turn out deficiency of duty if they became sick. In add-on to this, Blaxter ( 1982 ) found that people in lower socio-economic groups tended to specify wellness in a functional manner. These two points are important for tooth doctors to hold on. On the whole, tooth doctors by nature of their profession autumn into a traditional in-between category position. Middle category people are more likely to take a moral duty for their wellness and to experience that they can make something about it ( Scambler 2002 ) . Given that the bulk of the population in the UK position themselves as working category ( BBC 2006 ) , it is extremely likely that the tooth doctor and the patient will hold really different positions on non mere ly how they define wellness but besides on their personal ability to alter their wellness position. The differences between tooth doctors and their patients do non halt at that place. Recent research suggests that the lower the socio-economic position the less likely that a patient will go to wellness services in the first topographic point. Several ‘barriers ‘ have been suggested including fright ( Todd and Lader 1995 ) , handiness of tooth doctors ( acquire ref ) , cost and dissatisfaction with attention. It is deserving observing that the presence of barriers increases the lower the socio-economic position of the person. Even when people recognise that they are sing symptoms, they do non needfully seek medical aid ( Zola 1973 ) . Decisions about help-seeking are elaborately bound-up with the societal fortunes that people find themselves in. Evidence clearly demonstrates that there is a important sum of unmet demand in the community and that many people who experience symptoms do non seek aid from medical or dental professionals. By far the most common unwellness beha vior is self intervention with nonprescription medical specialties such as hurting alleviation ( Wadsworth 1971 in Scambler pg 49 ) Others have indicated the presence of a ‘lay referral system ‘ , whereby â€Å" the whole procedure of seeking aid involves a web of possible advisers from the intimate confines of the atomic household through in turn more choice, distant and important laypersons until the ‘professional ‘ is reached † ( Friedson 1970 ) . â€Å" A state of affairs in which the possible patient participates in a subculture which differs from that of physicians and in which there is an drawn-out ballad referral system would take to the ‘lowest ‘ rate of use of medical services † ( Scambler 2008:48 ) . This all adds fuel to the fire of the ‘inverse attention jurisprudence ‘ which states that those in demand of the most healthcare have least entree to it ( Tudor-Hart ) . Consulting behavior has besides been seen to non be entirely related to the experiences of symptoms, with every bit many as 48 % of those sing terrible hurting non confer withing a tooth doctor ( Locker 1988- in notes ) . The type of symptom ( i.e. hurting ) is merely one factor and the consequence that the symptom has on daily life is besides an of import consideration. It is indispensable that tooth doctors are educated in sociology as applied to dentistry in order that they are able to handle their patients efficaciously. Without an penetration into the bigger image, tooth doctors will efficaciously be clean uping the deckchairs on a sinking ship. The society in which a individual lives shapes the wellness, unwellness, life anticipation and quality of life of those within it. In order to do any alteration on an single degree, so alterations have to happen on a social degree. From work done by Wilkinson and Picket ( 2009 ) it would look that the best manner of cut downing wellness inequalities would be to cut down the income inequalities that exist in the UK. Their work showed that â€Å" there is a really strong inclination for ill- wellness and societal jobs to happen less often in the more equal states. With increasing inequality, the higher is the mark on our index of wellness and societal jobs. Health and Social jobs are so more common in states with bigger income inequalities. The two are inordinately closely related- opportunity entirely would about ne'er produce a spread in which states lined up like this. † Dentists have to be cognizant of this job. There is a demand for tooth doctors to force for authorities to implement policies that will undertake these inequalities. Dentists ( and other wellness professionals ) need to work together to seek to promote authorities alteration. There has to be a move off from tooth doctors accepting disea se at face value, tooth doctors have to be trained to gain that no sum of Restoration placed within a patients oral cavity is traveling to convey about the alteration that is needed to assist that person have a healthy life. Every oral cavity we see is portion of a individual, which is portion of a household, which is portion of a society. Dentists should be taught to ‘think sociologically ‘ ( Scambler 2008 ) . By believing sociologically we can get down to gain that whilst we are all knitted together in the rich tapestry which is society, we are besides co-creators of the design for that tapestry. Dentists need to take a more active function in the creative activity of that design, a function that is indispensable if we hope to accomplish a more equal society. Unit 1- Health, Disease and SocietyPurpose:To present the relationship between wellness, disease and society and to specify and research cardinal theoretical accounts within wellness and unwritten wellness.Aims:Define Disease, Illness, Health and Oral Health Disease- a biomedically defined pathology within the human system which may or may non be evident to the person Illness- the ballad reading of bodily or mantal marks or symptoms as somehow unnatural Illness and disease exist in a societal model and indices of disease and unwellness produced by alveolar consonant and medical professionals do non ever make sense to the ballad population. Understandings of wellness and unwellness are constructed through the interplay between the symptom experience and the societal and cultural model within which this experience occurs. Health is a many-sided construct that can be experienced in different ways by different people at different times and in different topographic points Oral health- a comfy and functional teething that allows persons to go on their societal function. Describe cardinal historical fluctuations in disease patterns- Knowledge about the organic structure, about disease and about medical specialty, are merchandises of their clip ; they are socially constructed by what is ‘known ‘ or thought to be ‘known ‘ at any point in clip. Diseases themselves are socially constructed and can alter over clip. Describe cardinal theories of disease causation- monism and localization of function of pathology Monism- all disease in due to one underlying cause ( normally one of balance ) in the solid or unstable parts of the organic structure. Balance distrupted, unwellness will happen. Restoration of balance, remedy and unwellness irradicated Localization of function of pathology- Medical scientific discipline developed this theory. Cases Discuss the altering nature of dental disease forms in grownup populations Unit 2- societal construction and health- inequalitiesPurpose:To present the nature of societal construction and how this relates to forms of unwritten disease in the UK populationAims:Introduce and discourse the significance of societal construction and societal stratification Describe ways of mensurating inequalities Discuss the relationship between societal category and wellness Discuss the relationship between societal category and unwritten wellness Discuss accounts for societal category related differences in health/oral wellnessUnit of measurement 5: Social Structure and Health II – Gender ;Ethnicity ; Ageing and Oral HealthPurposes:To depict societal differences between the genders in relation to such factors as equality, work, matrimonial functions, and wellness behavior. To analyze the wellness and unwritten wellness of cultural minority groups in Britain today. To look at the impact of ageing and the lifecourse on wellness experiences, integrating outlooks of old age and differential intervention of older people.Aims:Define gender, ethnicity and ripening. Understand the mortality and morbidity derived functions for work forces and adult females. Understand gender differences in wellness behavior. Outline and discourse gender differences in unwritten wellness. Be cognizant of the inequalities in the general wellness and unwritten wellness of cultural groups. Have cognition of some of the major dental wellness jobs of older people. Be cognizant of the societal impact of ageing on dental wellness.Unit of measurement 5: Health and Illness Behaviour and the Dentist-Patient RelationshipPurpose:To present the constructs of wellness and illness behavior and measure the scope of factors which influence what happens when people become sick.Aims:aˆ? To sketch and discourse different perceptual experiences of wellness and unwellness. aˆ? To discourse the clinical iceberg in populations and its deductions for dental wellness. aˆ? To present and discourse the nucleus variables Influencing illness behavior. aˆ? To discourse the construct of ‘triggers ‘ for seeking dental attention and their deductions for the dental intervention experience. aˆ? To present the construct of entree to wellness attention. aˆ? To discourse the nature of the dentist -patient relationship. In order to get down to look at these inequalities, persons can be stratified into different groups, harmonizing to specified standards and ensuing in a hierarchy with those at the lower terminal agony in comparing with those at the top of the system. â€Å" Social stratification involves a hierarchy of societal groups. Members of a peculiar stratum have common individuality, similar involvements and a similar life style. They enjoy or suffer the unequal distribution of wagess in society as members of different societal groups. † ( Haralambos and Holburn 2000 ) . Webber devised a hierarchal theoretical account, in which category relates to occupational standing. Occupational type is considered along with societal position and power. This theoretical account forms the footing for the two theoretical accounts of societal category which are most frequently used within research in the United kingdom: Registrar Generals Model of Social Class and National Statistics Socio-economic Classification. Social Class has long been associated with degrees of wellness.

Divorce Is Always Bad for Children Essay

One of the most frequently asked questions â€Å"Is divorce harmful to children? †. There are numerous discussions about the effects of divorce on children and most people and researches say that divorce has a negative influence on children. These children have more psychological and behavioral problems than children who live in married two-parent families. I agree with that because I think that normal psychological development and well-being of children are directly connected with whether the children grow up in divorced families or in married two-parent families. There are many factors that account for why children in divorcing families may have difficulties, but I would like to focus on some of them such as parental loss and life stress. Firstly, both parents are important for children, giving emotional support and practical assistance. Children who grow up in two-parent families are happier and have a greater well-being because they live in the atmosphere of love, care and attention from both parents. Each parent gives their children their knowledge, skills and nurture that are important for the formation of children’s personality. Divorce often results in the loss of contact with one parent and therefore a loss of the knowledge, skills and emotional support of that parent. Secondly, divorce of parents is a big stress for children. They knew only one world where their mother and father was a unit. But after divorce life is changed, their world is destroyed and as result they feel pain and further carry painful memories. There are other psychological problems connected with changing residence, conditions of living, changing the school, loss of friends. As a result, children need to adjust to a new life that is obviously a big emotional stress for them. Moreover, children may be faced with inadequate attitudes of other children who live in two-parent families. Children may feel a stress from understanding of such inequality that may lead to a problem when they may became an asocial. All of the abovementioned factors usually may lead to aggressive behavior of children or their depression, and parents may be faced with difficulties how to manage this. In summary, it is apparent that divorce has a negative influence on children, not only in their childhood but also on their future; because some researches have proved that most adults who grow up in divorced families often keep the painful memories in their mind for many years. The risk of negative influence on children may be reduced, if both parents try to keep the friendly relationship between them and maintain the level of support for their children before divorce. Both parents should participate in their children’s nurture equally and show them their love and care.

Rail Transportation Engineering System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Rail Transportation Engineering System - Essay Example Engineering Systems like the rail transportation system analyzed in this report, are characterized by a high level of technical complexity, social intricacy, and elaborate processes that are aimed at fulfilling important functions in the society. Usually, various disciplines are required for input into developing solutions for Engineering Systems, and adopting a systems approach is quite beneficial. The aim of this analysis is to identify the key elements of the rail transportation system and the interactions involved in operating such a system. This rail transportation system was selected for this report because rail transport is an emerging field of engineering and transport that seeks to provide solutions for some important socio-technical problems in society. There have been numerous studies in the past, carried out with the aim of investigating the individual aspects of socio-technical problems in order to find solutions to these problems. Some of these studies went to great lengths to isolate the smaller pieces of the bigger problem. (Sterman, 2000) Although Engineering Systems seek to expand perspectives form smaller pieces to a bigger picture, the bigger picture should be viewed as a system, with interactions explored within the system. Rail transportation systems can be classified as engineering systems because rail transportation involves a high degree of technical complexity and elaborate processes with the goal of fulfilling the function of cost-efficient transportation of goods and personnel in the society. The key elements of the rail transportation system include environmental friendliness, speed, low energy consumption, high safety standards and limited land usage. Rail transportation also makes use of its own transportation lines and is relatively free from time wastage as a result of traffic jams and hold-ups. (Ellis, 1986).

The Developing Manager Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words - 2

The Developing Manager - Assignment Example rther, this report examines my current position in terms of personal development needs, current performance and future needs in the excellence of this career. Managers have different skills and aspects which help them when dealing with different issues in order to bring out the best out of a situation. Skills of a manager should be aligned with the need to achieve the set goals of the organization. I’m a team leader and I have been involved with leading and coordinating people to achieve the set objectives of the hotel where I plan to work as a manager in the future. My knowledge, strengths, and abilities have enabled me to influence control in most of the groups in have worked with. This is because I’m a transparent, honest leader with high public relation skills. This has enabled me to communicate effectively with my team. I have also managed to use my skills to motivate hard work which has seen my team provide enormous support to our target. As a leader, I’m internally motivated and my resilient capacity allows me to go on even at tough times which are mostly prevalent in the disadvantaged places (Sandra, C., 2009) . I have good conflict resolution skills. While I have successfully managed to be a very effective facilitator, my efforts are mostly dragged behind my criticism which threatens to wreak havoc while we are working. Some members may offer criticisms which are not well taken by the recipient resulting to conflicts. My knowledge, strengths, and abilities as an effective leader allow me to be effective in such areas as conflict resolutions, delegation capacities and organizational skills. This helps me organize and manage tasks without being perceived to be unfair by some members. I believe that possession of such abilities enables me to improve the performance of my groups to achieve our purpose as outlined in our objectives. Organizational skills help me manage the team’s resources properly as our situation requires as to be very economical and

Information Processing Theory Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Information Processing Theory - Research Paper Example This paper will highlight the theory and model and analyze how its application in understanding the issues of children with special needs. For the brain to perform any of its functions, it adopts a logical order of processing information. The information processing theory is analogous to the functioning of a computer. The theory touches on three parts of the brain. These include the sensory memory that receives all sensory input. The short memory actively processes the perceived stimuli through several cognitive processes. The aspects of pattern recognition and attention come in closely to help the short memory process the stimuli. After processing, other complex procedures transfer the information to the long-term memory. Retrieval often occurs from the long-term memory. Information in the short-term memory is accessible for limited amounts of time and often undergoes decay after time elapses. In the social context, Crick and Dodge constructed a model that highlights the stepwise ma nner in which the human mind processes social cues from the point of reception to the production of response. In this model, it becomes clear that the brain does not respond to stimuli without processing. On the contrary, several steps are necessary for the human brain to produce a relevant response (Flood, Hare, and Wallis, 2011). In the initial stages of the social information processing, the brain indulges actively in the encoding and making interpretations out of cues from the social context or internal sources. The interpretation process includes analysis of causes, consideration of both self and inferences from others, goal assessment and past performance evaluation. In the next step, the brain employs several mechanisms in order to clarify the goal of the process. After attaining clarity on the social goals expected, the brain then indulges in mechanisms that result to relevant strategies aimed at producing effective response. Memories, social norms, and familiarity of the si tuation play a crucial role in determining the strategies adopted. The brain then analyzes the resulting response critically according to moral values, societal expectations, and assessing the potential reaction from the others. Lastly, the human mind weighs its capacity to enact the final response. In the end, selection of the best response and the associated behavioral code occurs (Flood, Hare, and Wallis, 2011). Children with special needs portray deficiencies in the social information processing. An illustration is the case of children with Asperger syndrome who portray a range of disabilities in the processes described in the Crick and Dodge model. Previous research suggests that children with this syndrome presented difficulties in attribution of their intents, generation of appropriate responses and evaluation of the relevance of the response (Flood, Hare, and Wallis, 2011). It becomes essential for special needs teachers to understand the difficulties of children suffering f rom this syndrome in order to help them improve in the processing of social effectively. Tur-Kaspa (2004) used the same social information-processing model to assess the learning disabilities

Engineering managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Engineering managment - Essay Example It also facilitates growth of the company’s telecommunication and financial services. Moreover, data mining has improved in Luscombe’s period and customers’ buying habits are better examined to customize the organizational policies according to them. There has occurred a general improvement in the standards of the store. Weaknesses: In the 8 year reign in which Corbett served as the CEO of Woolworths and his policies resulted into the increase in the returns of shareholders by 300 per cent. On the contrary, the policies implemented by Luscombe since 2006 have increased the return of shareholders by no more than 40 per cent in the whole 5 years. Thus, the competition is between 8 years and 5 years of governance, and 300 per cent and 40 per cent of increase on the return. This clearly speaks of the fact that the strategies implemented by Corbett as a CEO were more conducive for the increase in shareholders’ return as compared to those of Luscombe. Although t he organization has overall remained in profitability in Luscombe’s period, yet much of this can be attributed to the long term effects of the rational policies of Corbett instead of the policies adopted by Luscombe. Opportunities: Woolworths has conventionally managed to attract a large volume of talented young candidates for employment. Woolworths provides its workforce with training over a vast range of disciplines in order to improve their competence and inculcate sound management skills in them. It is the very training that is one of the cardinal reasons of success of Luscombe in his management of the company. Luscombe has served in Woolworths for 28 years, in which he received training and polished his skills on various levels as a manager. On job training is one of the most attracting characteristics of an organizational culture for the employees because they avail it as an opportunity to enhance their skills and become an asset for the organization. Having received th e training, they feel their skills improved, which offers them a feeling of assurance that their job is secure. They know they are better positioned to fulfill the needs of a particular business and hence, have both job satisfaction and job security. Threats: Corbett had maintained a culture in which all employees made their best effort to enhance the company’s profits and reduce the costs. However, Luscombe does not approve of the fact that employees work for as many as 12 hrs and sometimes even more than that. He thinks that the staff is putting in unnecessary effort to make the business profitable. Luscombe needs to realize that it is the same work pattern that had increased the return on shareholders’ investment by 300 per cent and that had doubled the revenues to $ 36 billion. The rate of increase in the return of shareholders’ investment has already decreased more than 3 times what it was in Corbett’s period. The current strategy of Woolworths: Curr ently, Luscombe is the CEO of the company. Luscombe is a very open and easily approachable kind of CEO. He has maintained very open relations with the senior management as well as the staff of the company. His attitude with the company staff is quite friendly, and he encourages team work. During his reign, all of the personnel of the company have united as a strong team. The staff is making all efforts to comply with the instructions of Luscombe. Their compliance has recently caused the

Role and Importance of Fieldwork in Learning Geography Research Paper

Role and Importance of Fieldwork in Learning Geography - Research Paper Example One way of achieving the goal is by engaging children in fieldwork activities frequently. In teaching practical lessons the first-hand experience plays a vital role as it makes learning more interesting to students while also enabling students to acquire certain vital skills that may not be easily acquired in the classroom setting. During fieldworks students basically, collect, analyze and present data. In geography, fieldwork plays a vital role in helping students to learn about the environment, places and human behavior. Several constraints have however come in the way of primary school teachers seeking to engage their students in geographical fieldwork. Some of these include unavailability of time throughout the academic year, non-availability of insurance policies to cover students and their teachers on fieldwork missions, lack of resources for carrying out fieldwork activities and pessimism from parents or school administrations regarding such exercises among other reasons. This paper seeks to analyze the role and importance of fieldwork in primary education, and more especially in learning geography. There has never been, in the past, so much talk about biodiversity, sustainability and citizenship as it is today. It can, therefore, be confidently said that it is very important for citizens to appreciate at a tender age the value of the environment and understand how the great ecological dilemmas that face the world are scientifically related to it. In fact, according to Professor May of Oxford, â€Å"it is in the field†¦ where acting locally becomes thinking globally† (May, Richardson and Banks, 1993, pp2-5).

Catherine the Great in Russian History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Catherine the Great in Russian History - Essay Example Peter the Great (1682 – 1725) was fascinated by Western Europe and its advancements in the late 1600s so he took steps to modernize Russia and set up economic programs, a strong armed forces and a centralized administration. However, due to hostilities with his son, Peter the Great failed to designate a successor. This led to a power vacuum after his death. In 1762, Peter III became Tsar but he was weak and incompetent so he was overthrown and murdered. His wife, Catherine, a German Princess from Pomerania took over affairs of the Kingdom when Peter III passed on. Catherine ruled till 1796. This paper looks at the plans of Catherine the Great and the major areas she changed in Russia as well as an evaluation of her contribution to Russia's Westernization and modernization. Plans of Catherine the Great The plans of Catherine the Great can be seen in some inherent elements of her lifestyle and the principles she embraced as a ruler. â€Å"Catherine showed more originality than any previous ruler of Russia and than most rulers at the time in Europe† (Madariage 206). This means that there are some elements in her actions that showed her intentions to improve her country. First of all, her background as a Western European showed that she had a tendency to tilt Russia towards a modernized nation that was on the same level as her German homeland. Thus, it comes as no surprise that she had several inclinations that were similar to Peter the Great who also had a connection to Western Europe. Secondly, there is evidence that Catherine had strong connections to the Enlightenment that was going on in Western Europe during her reign. Gillespie writes that â€Å"Although she was quite young, Catherine was deeply invested in acquiring knowledge and became intellectually and politically astute, mainly through reading and writing,† (285). This shows that from the onset, she had a vision of changing her kingdom to match up with other Western European nations . A further evidence is given by Viault who states that Catherine â€Å"corresponded actively with Voltaire and other prominent eighteenth-century thinkers† (130). This indicates that Catherine was open to new ideas and was ready to link up the country with the other changes that were going on around her kingdom. From these pointers, it is logical to infer that Catherine the Great had a plan and an intention of Westernizing Russia when she took power. However, the realities on the ground made it quite difficult for her to attain her plans. Implementation of her Plans In order to Westernize Russia, Catherine believed that there was the need to change and modify the educational system of the country. One of the earliest things that Catherine did was to put in place an educational system that was designed to develop individuals intellectually and morally with the end of equipping them with knowledge and skills that would support a sense of civic responsibility and allegiance to the state (Riasonovsky 12). This is because there was a sharp contrast between Russia and Western Europe. And this contrast lied in the fact that the vast majority of Russians were serfs who were forced to remain loyal to the nobles who ruled them. Thus, to promote a sense of national unity and national pride as Russians, she put in place an educational system that promoted national integration as well as independent thinking in order to prepare the people for a Westernized model of nationhood. With the educational system in place, Catherine set off to nurture a system of governance that was similar to the Western nations. Catherine went on to issue the Instructions which was a set of laws that were meant to recognize and respect the rights of

Nazi Germany and Virginia Holocaust Museum Essay Example for Free

Nazi Germany and Virginia Holocaust Museum Essay In this paper, I articulate my experience at the Virginia Holocaust museum, paying particular attention to my emotional and cognitive reactions. As a student of social work, I benefit from knowledge of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics, which I employ in reflecting upon the dichotomization and construction of the other that fueled the Nazi intolerance towards Jews and other ethnically diverse populations and led to their genocide. By examining the current genocide in the South Sudan, I highlight commonalities between the Holocaust and the modern plight of marginalized South Sudanese populations. Finally, I utilize the NASW ethical principles of Social Justice and Dignity and Worth of the Person to imagine how I would have reacted, as a social worker, to the Holocaust. Through this process of reflection, I gain insight into the mechanisms of intolerance and better position myself to be a positive change agent. Keywords: dichotomization, ethics, genocide, holocaust, Nazi, social work, Sudan Examining the Holocaust from a Social Worker’s Perspective Introduction The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon my experience at the Virginia Holocaust Museum on September 11, 2012. By providing a detailed and thoughtful examination of one of the most shameful chapters in human history, the Virginia Holocaust Museum elicits a strong emotional and cognitive reaction. As a student of social work and an active participant in the current political landscape, I am able to use current events and my understanding of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics as a lens in which to examine the atrocities of the Holocaust. By understanding the threads of intolerance that connect the Holocaust to the current genocide in the Sudan and applying the NASW ethical principles of social justice and the dignity and worth of the person, I am able to gain a richer understanding of the Holocaust and the millions of lives it affected. My Experience Growing up in the Virginia public school system, impersonal statistics and broad textbook generalities taught me about the Holocaust in history class. While I remember feeling unsettled and recognizing in some undefinable way that this event was truly terrible, the emotional weight of sadness and terror that the Holocaust commands did not truly sink in until my family brought me to visit the National Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. Walking slowly through the exhibits, I recall vividly the feeling that I was being turned inside out, my emotional nerve endings exposed to the pain and depravity of the collective nightmare of 11 million individuals. This was a profound experience for my young mind. The question â€Å"How could this happen? † tattooed itself on my consciousness and never received a truly satisfying answer. This question took on a renewed resonance as I took part in a School of Social Work fieldtrip to the Virginia Holocaust Museum. Returning for another in-depth look at the Holocaust, this time as an adult with infinitely more life experience, I again found myself emotionally raw. From the moment we arrived our docent, John Hagadorn, began immersing us in the facts and contextual details of the Holocaust. John overwhelmed us with the blunt statistics, sharing about the 6 million Jews and 5 million Czechs, Hungarians, Gypsies, LGBT and disabled persons who were systematically destroyed before the Allied forces of Great Britain, France, Russia and the United States were able to intervene. Hearing these numbers and the multitude of groups affected, I was struck by the Nazi’s tendency to aggregate, or lump together, different groups that did not meet the German’s ethnocentric, heteronormative, and physicalist perspectives (Rosenblum Travis, 2012). After aggregating these groups, the Nazi’s were able to dichotomize, or set themselves apart from these groups and declare them non-German and impure, their very existence in opposition to Nazi ideals (Rosenblum Travis, 2012). Despite knowing that racism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism were forces at play in the everyday German culture of the time, I find it hard to imagine that even the most relentless socialization could lead a human being to actively participate in or take a passive (but complicit) part in the extermination of millions of people based upon arbitrary differences. I know that fairness requires that I acknowledge istorical and cultural relativism when examining the Holocaust. However, as a person benefiting from an upbringing rich in openness and respect for the innate worth of all living beings, it is difficult for me to understand how so many Germans could let such atrocities culminate in the destruction of 11 million lives, and even help to perpetuate those atrocities. After being emotionally primed by the facts about the massive populations affected by the Nazi’s racist, ethnocentric, sexist, heteronormative, and physicalist campaign of hatred, I was profoundly affected by the photographs of the personal lives destroyed. From the moment we began the tour in the â€Å"Liberation† section, photograph after photograph of decimated humans greeted me with a palpable sense of sadness. Seeing the glassy eyed, hollow cheeked portraits of Jewish men, women and children reduced to emaciated skeletons gave me an entirely new perspective on human suffering. I imagine the slow, methodical torture of feeling my body wither away, day after day, and the madness of feeling powerless to feed my family or myself. Our docent, John Hagadorn, reminded us that even the most oppressive cultures often recognize children as especially vulnerable and spare them some of the abuses that adults endure. This was not the case in Nazi Germany and the photographs of children wounded and disfigured by â€Å"medical experiments† involving chemical burns, skin grafts, and â€Å"exploratory surgeries† made my stomach curdle. The replication of the experimental chamber the Nazis employed to test high altitude oxygen deprivation on concentration camp prisoners was especially gruesome. Imagining the terror and agony of the victims who endured this torture gave me a deeper understanding of the depth of dehumanization the Nazis felt for Jews. The photograph that stood out the most for me included no terrorized faces or emaciated bodies, but was simply a huge crate filled with wedding rings. With tens of thousands of rings piled atop one another, I could imagine all the families destroyed by this evil. I imagined the love that united untold couples, the dreams of children, homes, and experiences shared that were shattered. I thought of the stories created through a lifetime of shared love and humanity, destroyed before ever being written. As I imagined my parent’s wedding bands in that crate, I felt an overwhelming emptiness. I realized that mine and my sisters lives and all the moments of joy and love we have shared as a family would have been snuffed out before ever having the chance to flourish, all based on some arbitrary distinction of race, ethnicity or religious affiliation. Today’s Issues Sadly, the systematic genocide of the Holocaust is not an isolated incident in human history. Since the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps in Poland in 1945, intolerant despots have carried out numerous other genocidal campaigns in Rwanda, Bosnia and Iraq. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, today one of the largest genocidal and humanitarian crises of the 21st century continues to unfold in the Sudan, with over two million civilians murdered and four million displaced (United states holocaust, 2012). According to the Virginia Holocaust Museum, since taking power of the Sudanese government in 1989, Omar al-Bashir has recruited Arab tribal militias, or Janjaweed, to eliminate the ethnic Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa tribal groups (2012). These Nuba mountain ethnic groups and any civilians who represent a perceived threat to Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP) continue to be targets of aerial bombing, mass starvation and displacement, torture, rape, and enslavement (United states holocaust, 2012). Just as the Nazis used the ethnic variance of Jews, Czechs, Hungarians and other â€Å"Non Aryan† populations as the basis for violence and oppression, the NCP based their current violence in South Sudan upon perceived ethnic differences. While the Nazis dichotomized anyone who did not fit their definition of the German race, the NCP continues to dichotomize the Nuba, Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa populations because of their ethnic differences. By employing this process of dichotomization, both the Nazis and the NCP are able to marginalize entire populations and construct them as â€Å"others† who are distinctly different and â€Å"in opposition to the dominant group† (Rosenblum Travis, 2012). This extreme process of othering plants the seeds of intolerance and hatred that later manifest as systematic violence, as the current rape, displacement and murder of millions in South Sudan illustrates. NASW Code of Ethics Social Justice  The NASW Code of ethics defines the principle of Social Justice as â€Å"challeng[ing] social injustice† and â€Å"pursu[ing] social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people† (NASW Delegate Assembly, 2008). When considering the Holocaust there are abundant opportunities to apply the principle of social justice. As a social worker, I would have had an ethical responsibility to take action to relieve the suffering of the Holocaust victims. The Nazis systematically oppressed the Jewish, Czech, Hungarian, disabled, and LGBT populations in horrific ways. Had I been a social worker at the time, I would have made it my priority to encourage social change by educating anyone I could about the violence and oppression that decimated these vulnerable populations. By spreading knowledge and encouraging others to raise their awareness of the suffering in Nazi Germany, I could have organized rallies and campaigns designed to apply pressure to our government to intervene earlier. I could have encouraged sensitivity to these diverse cultures by constructing a dialogue about diversity and challenging apathetic civilians to challenge themselves to empathize with these oppressed groups and imagine themselves as victims. Dignity and Worth of the Person The NASW Code of Ethics describes the principle of Dignity and Worth of the Person as â€Å"respect[ing] the inherent dignity and worth of the person† and â€Å"treat[ing] each person in a caring and respectful fashion, mindful of individual differences and cultural and ethnic diversity† (NASW Delegate Assembly, 2008). The very foundation of the Holocaust and the genocide of 11 million individuals was a lack of respect for cultural and ethnic diversity. The Nazi regime targeted anyone who did not meet its narrow perception of the â€Å"pure† German race. The Nazis considered any physical or mental divergence from the Nazi racial, ethnic, heteronormative, and physicalist norms a threat. Had I been a social worker at the time, it would have been my obligation to resist these oppressive views and aid marginalized people in any way that I could. By encouraging others to recognize the innate value of all human beings and the arbitrary nature of racial and ethnic distinctions, I could have assisted others in achieving a more empathetic awareness that could serve as motivation to take action to end Nazi oppression. Conclusion The Holocaust remains one of the darkest, most disturbing scars upon modern human history. Examining the mechanisms of intolerance that fueled the decimation of over 11 million lives allows me insight into the subversive nature of evil. These mechanisms of socialization, dichotomization, and the various ways in which human beings construct differences in others must be understood if such evil is to be prevented in the future. Unfortunately, as in the case of the Sudan and other marginalized regions of the world, these mechanisms are still fueling the widespread oppression of entire populations. By raising my awareness of historical and modern oppression and endeavoring to embody the NASW ethical principles like social justice and the dignity and worth of the person, I can better position myself to be an active change agent and a better human being.

Monarchy In United Kingdom Essay Example for Free

Monarchy In United Kingdom Essay At an estimated cost of  £202 million a year the British monarchy is the most expensive in Europe and is more than double the cost of the Dutch monarchy.  £202.4 million is equivalent to the cost of 9,560 nurses, 8,200 police officers and more than the total annual Ministry of Defence spending on food (Royal Finances, 2012). What we really have to question is, is it worth it? What do we, as British citizens, gain from paying for such an expensive monarchy when the money could be spent on nursing, policing or the Ministry of Defence? Many believe that the monarchy has run its course and is no longer beneficial to our modern day society; whilst others feel that the monarchy is a symbol of Britain and our patriotic pride. Supporters of the monarchy would argue that the monarchy is one of Britain’s key features to its tourism industry, with nearly four million people visiting the palaces last year, supplying many citizens with temporary seasonal jobs to meet their demands (should Britain scrap the monarchy, 2012). However 2010 online statistics from Visit Britain reveal there are no monarchy related attractions in Britain’s top ten tourist attractions (top 10 English tourist attractions, 2010). This suggests that the British tourism industry could survive without the monarchy and possibly even increase as tourists would be granted full access to Buckingham palace. Currently Buckingham palace is not open to tourists all year round, and when it is the public are only allowed to see a few of the rooms. Therefore if the palace was open all year round, tourist visits could potentially increase. This could generate more revenue and potentially create jobs which may help our country out of the recession (Tourism, 2010). To further support the case that tourism may not be affected, we only have to look at other countries throughout the world. From the 2011 data found by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, we can see that out of the five most visited countries in the world which are France, USA, China, Spain and Italy only Spain has a monarchy (Rosenberg, 2011). For that reason alone we could argue that having no monarchy might not affect our tourism revenue in a negative manner at all, it just further highlights the unnecessary cost of maintaining British monarchy. Without the monarchy in place we would become a republican nation with a president in power. Statistics have revealed that the British monarchy is nearly 112 times more expensive to run than the Irish presidential system and more than twice as expensive as the French semi-presidential system (Royal finances,  2012). This is perhaps further evidence to illustrate that the monarchy is an unnecessary expense, and we should possibly head towards becoming a republican nation with a president who has earned the right to be there; and not just had the power handed to them through hereditary links. Graham Smith (2010), the chief executive of â€Å"Republic†, which campaigns for a democratic alternative to the monarchy believes that the monarchy should be abolished, as hereditary links to the throne are not justifiable. He said in an article online at CNN. â€Å"Were supposed to be a democratic society, in a democratic society there is no room for a head of state who is put there for life and by birth. A hereditary monarch has no place in a society that believes we the people should be in charge.† Power is something that should be earned and whoever is in charge should have the right credentials to exercise power. If power is just handed down to somebody how do we know they are capable of the task in hand? Our current system with a monarchy in place is very out-dated and many other commonwealth countries, for example Australia, are now looking at abolishing the monarchy and becoming a republican nation. The argument here is perhaps it is time for us to look at doing the same and hand over the power to an individual who has earned the right to be there. Many people are strongly of the belief that the monarchy should be abolished and Graham Smith (2010) of the ‘Republic’ asks a very good question â€Å"After 60 years who can quote a famous speech or point to a moment of crisis or celebration when the queen offered leadership and inspiration?† This is the question many people may be asking, and using to question why the monarchy should not be abolished. Although republicans will point towards this to back the abolishment of the monarchy there are many reasons to support the monarchy and not abolish it. The monarchy is a symbol of Britain and with this comes a feeling of great pride and history. In a BBC poll in 2007 80% of people said they wanted to retain the monarchy. This shows how much the monarchy really means to Britain as a nation and symbolises the pride the nation feels towards the monarchy (Should Britain scrap the monarchy, 2012). The monarchy is not just symbolised across Britain, the British monarchy has a world-wide respected status of authority and symbolises nationhood and stability. Without the monarchy in place many monarchists would argue that the country would lose some of its pride and respect throughout the world; they question whether a president would really command the same respect as  the royal family? The respect the monarchy has throughout the world creates good relations with other countries through st ate visits. This is vital in many of our country’s business deals and probably would not be possible with a president in place (Should Britain scrap the monarchy, 2012). The British public have a low perception of and a general disliking for politicians and this would be a disadvantage of a presidential system. The general view of monarchists on politicians is that they have one path minds, their way is always correct and they are only interested in their own personal gains (Heffer, 2011). However, the queen is viewed as a neutral figurehead and brings a level of balance and equality into society where the democratic aspects appear corrupt and full of scandal. We only have to look at the recent expense scandals that tarnished the government to see this. From this we can question: is this really how we want our country run? I imagine the majority of people would answer this with a â€Å"no†. Although there are many good points from tourism statistics that back the abolition, there are also statistics that are in favour of the monarchy, in relation to tourism. Perhaps the country would increase its revenue from tourist attractions alone without a monarchy. However, those statistics do not take into account the royal events that bring millions of pounds into the British economy. The royal wedding in 2011 generated an approximate revenue of  £1-2 billion, and with over two billion estimated television viewers worldwide it shows the popularity of our monarchy throughout the world (Impact on British economy, 2011). With a president in place it is unlikely that you would achieve figures like this for a â€Å"president’s wedding†, it doesn’t have the same appeal. The queen’s diamond jubilee also had a massive boost on the UK economy with a boost of  £409 million. Monarchists would argue that these figures alone are enough to keep the monarchy in place as it out-weighs the counter argument provided by republicans. Overall, after viewing arguments for and against the abolishment of the monarchy, I believe the monarchy should not be abolished. I believe this because without it the country would lose a lot of its worldwide respect. The queen is a symbol of our authority throughout history and commands respect which I feel could not be achieved with a president in place. Whilst everything in society appears corrupt why should we trust a democratic system that would have a president with his own interests at heart? Throughout all of the government’s recent scandals the  monarchy has remained a figure of respect and portrays this image across the world. I do agree with some of the arguments to abolish the monarchy, for example power should be earned not passed down through hereditary links. Nevertheless even though the throne is handed down to them, royalty spend all their lives preparing for the tasks they are required to do. With the inheritance of the throne they also inherit the worldwide respect and I believe that could not be earned by a president. Taking these views into consideration I believe the monarchy should remain intact, and should do for a long time to come.

What The Socratic Method Is

What The Socratic Method Is First, we must understand what the Socratic Method is, and how it applies to the notion that the unexamined life is not worth living. The Socratic Method is a process of questioning in which Socrates would have an opponent state a thesis and would then deconstruct their argument through the use of questioning and critical thinking. Better ideas are found by identifying and eliminating those that lead to contradictions. The Euthyphro offers a wonderful example of the application of this methodology. Socrates questions each of Euthyphros definitions as to what piety is, and constantly shows how these definitions fail when examined critically. Socrates contention is that Euthyphro is only giving descriptions and examples of pious things, rather than actually offering an objective answer to the essence of which makes a thing pious. Socrates complains that Euthyphro is stringing him along as he is not teaching him what piety actually is. It is important to note the way in which Socrates u ses his method with Euthyphro. Socrates acts as the student, and elevates Euthyphro to that of a mentor, which allows Socrates to lead Euthyphro though the process of critical analysis, as opposed to simply dictating information directly to him. In this way, Socrates allows Euthyphro to examine his own argument, and realize the mistakes that plague it. This begins to give an understanding of what Socrates meant by his notion of the unexamined life. What Socrates was trying to convey with his notions of the unexamined life was not that one must examine their own life for it to have worth, but rather that if one would claim that their life is worthy, they would need to examine it themselves to understand its worth. Socrates argues that living a life where one does not realize their ignorance is a life not worth living because he views knowledge to be directly tied to virtue. In order to live a worthy life, one must seek knowledge, which is a necessary component of his ethics. Using this parallel we can infer that because knowledge can be learned, it must also be possible to learn virtue. From this it follows that virtue can be taught, and we begin to understand that the Socratic Method is Socrates attempt to act as a catalyst for others self-examination. This is exactly what Socrates does with his dialogue in the Euthyphro. He feigns ignorance to elevate Euthyphro to a higher level, and guides him along the path of self-examinati on with his Socratic Method. Virtue then, becomes the pursuit of knowledge through self-examination. To put this in other words; one finds their life to be virtuous or ethical through the answers to the questions that are brought forth through internal examination. Without asking the questions, one will never receive the answers. The Apology and Crito offer strong examples of Socrates ethical philosophy. The Apology deals with the defense offered by Socrates to his accusers for allegations of impiety and corruption of the youth of. Socrates usages of the Socratic Method for the purpose of promoting others into self-examination lead him to question those who claimed to have wisdom, and ultimately he exposed them as ignorant. Questioning the beliefs of the wise men led to his charge of impiety, and the admiration he gained by the youth of Athens as a result of his actions led to his charge of corrupting the youth. Part of Socrates defense in the trial was that through his actions he was simply trying to act as a catalyst for the people of Athens to ultimately find knowledge and gain an understanding of virtue. Socrates is found guilty of the charges against him, and is sentenced to death by ingestion of hemlock. In the face of death, Socrates had the option to flee the city of Athens, but refused as it would h ave been in direct violation of his moral principles. In the Crito, Socrates discusses why he has a duty to stay and face his charge, as well as why the action of fleeing would be unethical. To Socrates, breaking one law would be an injustice to all laws and would cause great harm to the city of Athens. To escape would have been an injustice to Athens itself. As a citizen of Athens, Socrates was endorsing, and willing to abide by the law, and to break the law now after 70 years of life would in effect negate everything that he had advocated throughout his life. The Phaedo discusses notions of life, death, and the soul. With his sentence looming overhead, Socrates contemplates the idea of death and suicide with Cebes and Simmias. He says that a true philosopher should look forward to death, but at the same time however, Socrates also says that though philosophers should be willing to die, it is wrong for them to commit suicide, as he views the gods as the guardians of people and views suicide as a destruction of the gods possession void of any permission to do so. Because death is the separation of the body and the soul, the philosopher is then able to shed all of the distractions of the body wants, desires, and fears which gives them the ability to acquire the knowledge and wisdom that theyve been seeking in their lives. The practice of philosophy then, according to Socrates, is likened to a sort of training for dying in which the philosopher is called to remove himself from his bodily attachment. This offers a stark contrast between the philosopher and the layman. The layman has an illusion of virtue, while the philosopher truly becomes virtuous. The philosopher approaches death with courage, gained from the pursuit of knowledge, while the layman can only have an illusion of virtue as they do not participate in the practice of philosophy, and therefore cannot receive the knowledge and wisdom, and cannot separate themselves from the hindrance of bodily attachments. The Republic establishes that justice is in the class of things that ought to be practiced for their own good, as well as for the good of their consequences. In order to understand exactly what justice is and what it means to live ethically, Socrates gives an example of a city as a large scale concept, and then examines it on a smaller more specific level. He discusses how the people of a city will have their own basic needs, but that the city as a whole will be shared and will have a structured system of education. Socrates also explains that there are four excellences in the city: wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice. Socrates compares the city to a person and says that these four excellences must also exist in a person within the soul. Since they all exist in the soul and can often contradict, it is established that the soul is made up of parts and is not a whole. The soul consists of the rational, which judges truth, and makes wise and knowledgeable decisions in accordance wi th an examined life. The spirited part of the soul is the source of desires within a person such as love, and honor, while the appetitive aspect of the soul is the source of basic cravings that act as an anchor to the material and menial word. Within the city exists different classes of individuals; the guardians, the auxiliaries and the working class, all of which represent a different aspect or nature of the soul. The guardians are considered to be the rational, and ought to be the rulers of the city as they will be the best suited to attain knowledge and live and act ethically because the guardians act on their own knowledge and wisdom through their inherent rationality, just as the rational part should rule of the soul should rule over the other three aspects. From this, Socrates says that justice is establishing the parts of the soul so that they dominate and are dominated by each other according to nature and allow for the person and for the soul to pursue wisdom. In conclusion, it is shown that the ethics of Socrates can be understood by examining the works of the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, and Republic. Socrates uses the Socratic method as a tool to catalyze self-examination of others so that may seek out knowledge. From this quest for knowledge, virtue is obtained, and this is the main goal of philosophy in Socrates mind. Laws must be made in accordance with wisdom by those who practice philosophy, and must seek to benefit the city as a whole. Breaking one law is an injustice to all laws, and is an act of ignorance. Ethics, virtue, justice and morality all stem from what Socrates calls the examined life, in which philosophy is used as a means to gain wisdom and knowledge which act as the basis for these values. Philosophy then, is not just an occupation, but rather an integral part of life, and a necessary component of what it means to be ethical.

Hybrid Cars Essay -- essays research papers fc

Hybrid Automobiles The technology of the electric vehicle has been around for a long time but faded as the gasoline powered engine became more popular. Now, the future of electric vehicles is very bright. Their impacts are very significant that ranges from the economic point of view and also from the environmental. Imagine driving a quieter, cleaner car with the windows down letting the clean pollution-free air flow throughout the car. Production of the advancing technological electric vehicle can trigger this idea to come into effect. The problem of this technology was to research the development and impacts of the electric vehicle. At the turn of the 19th Century, when automobiles were new, electric vehicles outnumbered gasoline-powered vehicles. The problem for the electric car was that electric battery technology did not improve nearly as fast as gasoline technology and by 1910 the interest in the development of the electric vehicle had all but ceased (Sedgwick 15). Today, the current surge of interest in electric vehicles replacing the internal combustion engine, or ICE, is due to mostly one concern, air quality. The world’s population of cars is polluting the world’s cities, producing large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The electronic vehicle is driven by a battery that runs exclusively on electric. The batteries that exist today have a limited range between fifty and seventy-five miles per full charge. Newer prototype batte...

Free Essays - Catcher in the Rye :: Catcher Rye Essays

J.D Salinger gives his personal vision of the world successfully through his persona Holden Caulfield in the ‘Catcher in the Rye’.   Caulfield struggles with the background of New York to portray Salinger’s theme – you must live the world as it is, not as you would like it to be.   There by exposing Salinger’s vision on the world. Salinger went through many of the experiences Holden went though.   Salinger much like Holden had a sister that he loved very much, in the novel Phoebe is the only person that Holden speaks highly of; both men also spent time in a mental institution; Holden is telling the story from inside a institution; they were both kicked out of prep school and most importantly they were both a recluse from society.   This is why Salinger uses Holden as his persona all though out the book.   The ‘catcher in they Rye’ is almost like an autobiography for Salinger. He is using Holden as his persona to let us, the reader, dive into his thought pattern and find out some of the thoughts that he kept locked up in there. Salinger’s view of the world is lived out thought Holden – his persona. The novel is Holden’s steam of conscience as he is talking to a psychoanalyst â€Å"what would an psychoanalyst do†¦gets you to talk†¦for one thing he’d help you to recognise the patterns of your mind†. At the start of the novel it is addressed directly to us â€Å"if you really want to hear about it†. This gives us a sense of reality as though it is us that is the psychiatrist. We see the random thought patterns of Holden’s mind as he starts to feel more comfortable, Holden goes off on to many different tangents while he is talking. Salinger is using Holden as a type of easy way out to confess his view of the world.   This view is portrayed though two main aspects of the novel.   Firstly theme - you must live in a world as it is, not as you would like it to be.   Holden can’t seem to accept the world as it is and finds New York extremely â€Å"phoney†.   Holden has a great disliking for the movies, he finds them the phoniest of them all â€Å"I hate the movies like poison† and he cant believe that people actually make time to go to the there.

Aestheticism: Philosophy of Beauty Essay

Aestheticism is presently defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica as â€Å"intended to designate a scientific doctrine or account of beauty, in nature and art, and for the enjoyment and originating beauty which exists in man†. In other words, aestheticism is a philosophy of beauty. An Aesthete has a great appreciation for nature. One may look at an object, place, or person and perceive it a different way than another person may perceive it. For an Aesthete to obtain pleasure, â€Å"it is the perspectives of perception that is necessary to an understanding of both appreciation and creation†. Aestheticism is a very deep and meaningful philosophy whose meaning has been changed and interpreted by many historical figures such as Alexander Baumgarten, Immanuel Kant, and Oscar Wilde. The philosophical discipline of aesthetics did not receive its name until 1735, when the twenty-one year old Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten introduced it in his Halle master’s thesis to mean episteme aisthetike, or the science of what is sensed and imagined. Initially, the focus of aestheticism was not so much on art as it was on the experience of, and judgments about, beauty in all its forms. Aesthetics is necessarily interdisciplinary and may be interpretive, prescriptive, descriptive, or a combination of these. The younger Baumgarten started at the university at sixteen (in 1730), and studied theology, philology, poetry, rhetoric, and philosophy, especially Leibniz, whose philosophy was not banned. He began teaching there himself in 1735, upon the acceptance of his thesis on poetry, and published his Metaphysics in 1739. In 1740, the same year as he published his Ethics, he was called to a professorship — or more precisely, ordered to accept it — at another Prussian university, in Frankfurt an der Oder. The first volume of his Aesthetica appeared in 1750. It was written in Latin, like Baumgarten’s other works, and was the first work ever to use the name of the new discipline as a title. The next year, however, Baumgarten’s health began to decline and a second volume of the Aestheticacame out only in 1758, under pressure from the publisher. Baumgarten’s Meditations on Poetry conclude with his famous introduction of the term â€Å"aesthetics†: â€Å"The Greek philosophers and the Church fathers have always carefully distinguished between the aistheta and the noeta,†that is, between objects of sense and objects of thought, and while the latter, that is, â€Å"what can be cognized through the higher faculty† of mind, are â€Å"the object of logic, the aistheta are the subject of the episteme aisthetike or AESTHETICS,† the science of perception. However, in the 18th century, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant defined aestheticism as both â€Å"the analysis of taste† and â€Å"the analysis of sensible cognition or intuition†. Immanuel Kant was a Prussian philosopher who is widely considered to be a central figure of modern philosophy. He argued that human concepts and categories structure our view of the world and its laws, and that reason is the source of morality. One part Kant’s philosophy of aestheticism was the â€Å"Deduction of Taste†, which instilled that everything interesting and fundamental happened in the formation of concepts, or in the receiving of intuitions. But now Kant argues that judgment itself, as a faculty, has an fundamental principle that governs it. This principle asserts the purposiveness of all phenomena with respect to our judgment. In other words, it assumes in advance that everything we experience can be tackled by our powers of judgment. Normally, we don’t even notice that this assumption is being made, we just apply concepts, and be done with it. But in the case of the beautiful, we do notice. This is because the beautiful draws particular attention to its purposiveness; but also because the beautiful has no concept of a purpose available, so that we cannot just apply a concept and be done with it. Instead, the beautiful forces us to grope for concepts that we can never find. And yet, nevertheless, the beautiful is not an alien and disturbing experience – on the contrary, it is pleasurable. The principle of purposiveness is satisfied, but in a new and unique way. For Kant, the other basic type of aesthetic experience is the sublime. The sublime names experiences like violent storms or huge buildings which seem to overwhelm us; that is, we feel we ‘cannot get our head around them’. This is either mainly ‘mathematical’ – if our ability to intuit is overwhelmed by size (the huge building) – or ‘dynamical’ – if our ability to will or resist is overwhelmed by force (e. g. the storm). The problem for Kant here is that this experience seems to directly contradict the principle of the purposiveness of nature for our judgment. And yet, Kant notes, one would expect the feeling of being overwhelmed to also be accompanied by a feeling of fear or at least discomfort, whereas, the sublime can be a pleasurable experience. In contrast, Oscar Wilde prefaced his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, with a reflection on art, the artist, and the utility of both. After careful scrutiny, he concludes: â€Å"All art is quite useless† (Wilde 4). In this one sentence, Wilde encapsulates the complete principles of the Aesthetic Movement popular in Victorian England. That is to say, real art takes no part in molding the social or moral identities of society, nor should it. Art should be beautiful and pleasure its observer, but to imply further-reaching influence would be a mistake. The explosion of aesthetic philosophy in fin-de-siecle English society, as exemplified by Oscar Wilde, was not confined to merely art, however. Rather, the proponents of this philosophy extended it to life itself. Here, aestheticism advocated whatever behavior was likely to maximize the beauty and happiness in one’s life, in the tradition of hedonism. To the aesthete, the ideal life mimics art; it is beautiful, but quite useless beyond its beauty, concerned only with the individual living it. Aesthetics found that through their great interest in beauty, pleasure that is derived from objects of art is more beautiful than other pleasures. Overall, many philosophers have interpreted the principle of aestheticism in their own ways. Without aestheticism, the deep understanding we now have of the connection of our lives with all forms of art would not be possible. Therefore, after centuries of conceptual making, aestheticism remains as a very complex subject which any poetic heart would be delighted to learn for the benefit of further understanding the purpose for the existence of art. Art through music, paintings, dance, and performance are all unique, but alike in one way: they are products of an artist’s ability, and desire, to create beauty. Works Cited Burnham, Douglas. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Immanuel Kant: Aesthetics. n. d. 9 February 2014 . Duggan, Patrick. The Conflict Between Aestheticism and Morality in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Darian Gray. n. d. 9 February 2014 . Guyer, Paul. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: 18th Century German Aesthetics. 16 January 2007. 9 February 2014 . Rohlf, Michael. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Immanuel Kant. 20 May 2010. 9 February 2014 .

Forbidding Mourning’ by John Donne Essay

The principal theme of the poem is that lovers remain united even when they are physically separated. Donne proves his idea by argument, conceits, passion, and thought. It is believed that Donne left for France in 1611. He gave this poem to his wife at the time of his departure. The poet advises his wife not to mourn the temporary separation, because their love remains intact despite their parting. Parting brings their souls even closer. The biographical details of the poet, however, are not essential to the appreciation of the poem. The poet has universalized a personal experience. The poem is a remarkable illustration of intellectualization of passion and has Donne’s famous conceit of compass towards the end. The poem quietly begins with a metaphysical conceit. Virtuous people are not afraid of death. They visualize the life beyond death. So they pass away quietly. To the Elizabethans, separation is the death of the lovers. The poet believes and convinces his wife that separation strengthens love. Otherwise, separation is unimportant, even impossible. Even parting lovers don’t part. And separation is the expansion of their love. The poet asks his beloved to part quietly without creating a scene : So let us melt, and make no noise. The word ‘melt’ has many meanings. It implies ‘separation’, ‘death’, ‘tenderness’, etc. Let there be no floods of tears and no tempests of sighs, so characteristic of the Elizabethan lovers. It would be vulgarization of their love. Love is a mystery to the world, but not to the lovers. Let this mystery not be revealed to the world. Then the poet contrasts the physical love and spiritual love. The ordinary lovers are earthly, but spiritual lovers are divine. An earthquake causes great damage. People calculate the damage and the threat. On the other hand, the movement of heavenly bodies, though much greater, is harmless. The poet wants that his wife should let him part quietly. The earthly lovers cannot separate from the beloved, because their love or lust is tied to the limbs of the lady. They cannot afford to be away from those lips, eyes, and hands. The love between the poet and his beloved is spiritual and springs from mutual faith and understanding. It is mutual mental assurance. Theirs is the union of the minds and souls. The lovers unite into a single being, sharing a single soul. Their unity is not damaged by physical separation. The greater the distance, the stronger the soul. Separation is no breach, no break. Their love is precious like gold. It is expansive. Gold beaten thin covers an unexpectedly vast area. So their love will not break because of separation, but becomes rare and refined : Our two souls, therefore, which are one, Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion, Like gold to airy thinness beat. The phrase ‘airy thinness’ has divine associations. It suggests angels in the air and the angelic or divine love between the lovers. If the lovers do not share a common soul, Donne argues that their individual souls are joined together at the top, like the legs of a compass. Perhaps no other image is used so often to illustrate metaphysical poetry and metaphysical conceit. The beloved who stays at home is like the fixed foot, fixed at the centre. It is fixed. It does not seem to move, but it does when the other foot moves. It leans and follows the roving (moving) foot. The roving foot, i. e. the lover, having completed the circle, returns to the centre and is reunited with the fixed foot. Donne believes in the love that has faith and firmness of the beloved which helps the lover to complete his circle (or journey) accurately. Eventually, he returns home to his beloved. They are face to face with each other. She is the focus of his life, the beginning and the end of his journey, and of all he wants : Thy firmness draws my circle just, And makes me end, where I begun. Donne’s use of conceit here and elsewhere is not ornamental but functional. It convinces, persuades, amplifies, and illustrates. Coleridge admires ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’. The poem is quiet triumph of the marital romance. It shows a remarkable restraint using a simple poetic form. The poem is even more meaningful today when the marital understanding it celebrates is fast vanishing. A great poet like Donne can produce good poetry out of a geometry box. ‘A Valediction : Forbidding Mourning’ is passionate logic turned poetry.

Dow Chemical’s Bid for PBB in Argentina Essay

1. (5 pts) Using the values from exhibits 9, 10 and 11, a terminal growth rate of 0%, and a discount rate of 20%, what is the value of each of the three investment stages? 2. (30 pts) Describe the two most relevant factors (only those related to the fact that the acquisition is in Argentina and not in the U.S.) that in your opinion add uncertainty to those cash flows. Please list each factor with a short explanation of why it is relevant, whether it is a diversifiable risk (assume Dow’s investors are global) and the likelihood that it will affect PBB. 3. (20 pts) For question 3 please state which statement you agree with and why. The numbers shown are there to provide an idea of sensitivity, they are not precise and there is no precise answer to these questions. That is, in the absence of much, much more information, there is no clear â€Å"right† answer (though there are many â€Å"wrong† ones). Your reasoning is what matters most. Suppose that â€Å"today† is 1997 (there’s nothing particularly special about 1997, I could have chosen any other year near 1995, the beginning of the valuation). a. The sensitivity of 1998 revenues, measured in US$, to 1997 changes in the Argentinian peso against the dollar is such that: a.i. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 40% fall in revenue, measured in US$, a.ii. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 20% fall in revenue, measured in US$ a.iii. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into no fall in revenue, measured in US$, a.iv. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 20% increase in revenue, measured in US$, a.v. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 40% increase in revenue, measured in US$. b. The sensitivity of 2010 revenues, measured in US$, to 1997 changes in the Argentinian peso against the dollar is such that: b.i. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 40% fall in revenue, measured in US$, b.ii. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 20% fall in revenue, measured in US$, b.iii. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into no fall in revenue, measured in US$, b.iv. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 20% increase in revenue, measured in US$, b.v. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 40% increase in revenue, measured in US$. c. The sensitivity of 1998 costs, measured in US$, to 1997 changes in the Argentinian peso against the dollar is such that: c.i. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 40% fall in costs, measured in US$, c.ii. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 20% fall in costs, measured in US$, c.iii. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into no fall in costs, measured in US$, c.iv. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 20% increase in costs, measured in US$, c.v. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 40% increase in costs, measured in US$. d. The sensitivity of 2010 costs, measured in US$, to 1997 changes in the Argentinian peso against the dollar is such that: d.i. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 40% fall in costs, measured in US$, d.ii. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 20% fall in costs, measured in US$, d.iii. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into no fall in costs, measured in US$, d.iv. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 20% increase in costs, measured in US$, d.v. a 40% devaluation of the Argentinian peso would translate into a 40% increase in costs, measured in US$. 4. (10 pts) Based on your answers to question 3, a. What would Dow’s short-run net exposure to the Argentinian peso be? b. What would Dow’s long-run net exposure to the Argentinian peso be? c. If Dow wanted to hedge its short-run net exposure to the Argentinian peso, what would it have to do? Please provide three different alternatives it could use to hedge that risk and explain which one is likely to be the cheapest. d. If Dow wanted to hedge its long-run net exposure to the Argentinian peso, what would it have to do? Please provide three different alternatives it could use to hedge that risk and explain which one is likely to be the cheapest. 5. (30 pts) In light of what you’ve answered in questions 2 through 4 and other material from class, please state whether the discount rate that Dow should use for this valuation is larger, smaller, or the same as in the U.S. 6. (5 pts) Based on your previous answers, should Oscar Vignart bid for PBB, and if so, how much? (Maximum 100 words.) 1. (Exhibit 1) The first stage has a value for the 51% of PBB of 160.833 million of dollars. The second stage has a value (100%) of 182.62 million of dollars. The third stage has a value of 92.66 million of dollars. The first problem that involves a risk factor for investors to Dow is political risk. The economic and monetary policy implemented by the Argentine government at this time, in recent years has allowed the country to recover from a decade of crisis and seems to work pretty well. However, the risk that these maneuvers are counterproductive in the long run is alive. In that case Dow suffer some problems. In fact, most of the production in the three stadiums and sold locally (PBB 100%, 89% Polisur, 31% of capacity due to the widening of stage 3) and, if there were problems due to the political instability, most of its current and potential customers (formed by small and medium-sized businesses that use POLYETHILENE to produce good consumer) could struggle and eventually fail. That would be a serious reduction in the margins of the Dow and in its cash flows. The second problem is related to foreign exchange risk. Regarding this risk factor should make some clarifications. For the moment the government is pursuing a policy of currency pegging, for which the exchange rate and artificially set at 1. However, this condition may no longer be sustainable. In this case if it were abandoned is easy to imagine the effect it would have on markets, putting in serious condition, the Argentine economy because of lack of confidence in its solvency and this would lead to a sharp appreciation of the dollar on the weight. This situation is not particularly influential on the budgets of 3 stages where Dow is going to invest because both revenues and the variable cost (about 90% of total costs) are in dollars and only a small amount of variable and fixed cost are in Peso, and anyway with devaluation of Argentinian currency would lead to an advantage per Dow (needed fewer dollars to pay in Peso, and those costs are slower to adapt to new exchange rates). On the contrary the negative effect of the abandonment of the peg you would in Argentine petrochemical market. In fact, polyethilene prices are in U.S. dollars and with the devaluation of the peso (the currency in which the players downstream of Dow are cashing) Dow’s Argentinian customers could find themselves in difficulty to support prices in dollars, which are international based. That would lead to a radical decline in the profitability of Dow. Finally, it is important to emphasize that, also selling outside the country, Dow would see margins decline due to higher costs of transportation and duties. 3. a. ii. PBB Is cashing in dollars so a fall of 40% of Peso would not have a direct impact of translating the cash flow of PBB into dollors. However PBB operates in Argentina, and its revenues are tied to the ability of its customers to buy in dollars. With such a devaluation of the Argentine pbb customers may find it difficult to pay but it is said that everyone is unable to do so because they could be covered in the market for coins. pbb also may move and take advantage of the amount of unmet demand in Latin America. However, this in a year is not feasible to perfection then a reduction in revenues of 20% is predictable. b. iii. The reasoning is similar to that outlined above. However, in this case one can imagine that pbb reacted to the change occurred 3 years before or however that the situation has changed. If the economy has recovered, it’ll be exporting outside of Argentina for the amount of capacity can not be sold in argentina, decreasing their margins because of the cost of export revenues, but keeping to the level in the case of PEG. c. ii. Talking about the good things are different costs. Even tough much of the costs are in U.S. dollars for pbb there is a part of them that is paid in pesos. It is part of the variable costs and fixed costs. However a devaluation of the peso would be a gain for PBB, which, cashing in dollars, will convert fewer dollars to pay in pesos. As mentioned, however, this effect would be taken with a not too substantial part of the costs of pbb, and also it can be assumed that during the year some of these costs are aligned in part to the conversion values ​​before the write-down for an inflationary process. d. iii. The reasoning is similar to that described above, however, it is assumed that in the course of 3 years, the monetary costs of PBB align to those pre devaluation, thus not allowing to benefit from the effect devaluing. a. the net peso short run exposure is about the fixed cost, other variable cost and taxes, for an amount of (EXHIBIT 1) of 116.7 million of dollars. b. the net long run peso exposure is 374.22 million of dollars. c. to hedge a currency risk the alternatives are: forwards (or future) contract options currency swap. The best alternatives in the short run are the forward, they are cheap (no entry expense) and very versatile. To hedge the amount the just have to enter in a contract of the opposite direction of what they need. In this case they have to buy the total cost in pesos ad the current exchange rate in dollars. Using options it would much costly because of the option premium which has to be paid once you entered in such a contract. Anyway, because you will only exercise your right if it the exchange rate is favorable, they leave gain opportunities in exchange rates. The currency swap doesn’t fit well the short run exposure because of the length of such a contract and and the cost to be inside that kind of contract if there is not an existent debt. d. In the long term forward could be costly for the premium that the controparty may put in the exchange rates (they are commonly banks in over the counter markets), and because for long term the market could be illiquid. In this particular case the long term are just 3 years so using forward could still be a good choise. Options in the long term are not good because it is difficult to find in markets contract with such long expiring date (and exact date in order not to incur in basis risk) and because you have to buy several contract. Swap could be an idea, but as forward don’t allow gains on favorable exchange rate; a currency swaption (option on a currency swap) could be an idea, but looks costly at time of entering in the contract. The discount rate that Dow should use, should be higher than that used for evaluating such an investment in the United States. This is due to the fact that the rate of between 8-10% used in US incorporates a risk premium relative to the U.S. market, which is different from that required for a similar investment in the Argentine market. In fact, looking at the performance of American and Argentine sovereign bonds, we see that the latter are higher than the U.S.. this difference is no more than the country risk premium that an investor requires to invest in Argentina compared to investing in the U.S.. this spread can be introduced into the calculation of the value of the correct discount rate using the following formula: Keu is identified with the unlevered cost of capital, or the return required to invest in certain asset class. With rf the risk-free return to us, ï  ¢u with the unlevered beta for the sector (plastic and specialized chemicals) with rm the market return and cpr country risk premium. Now, in the specific case under investigation in research on international databese you identify that the unlevered beta of the sector is close to the unit. You can also add that in the long term all beta approaching market beta (as a consequence of the Efficient Market Theory that states that as all information becomes known, the market will settle to its proper level as everyone will be able to make correct choices), and therefore since our beta in databese is equal to one, the hypothesis of adjusted beta only reinforce this assumption. So in this particular case it can be assumed that the country risk premium can be simply added to the discount factor used for an American investment. The problem is now correctly assessing the market risk premium. You can see from the exhibits proposed (Exhibit 2) that in recent years, with the PEG CPR has fluctuated around an average of about 700 basis points. Despite the markets already incorporate the possible abandonment of the peg and its causes is not difficult to think that if that happened the â€Å"cpr† suffer a considerable leap and this estimate might be not prudent, but we must remember that the market is not only Argentina in the presented 3 stages, and potentially due to the increased demand in Latin America (exhibits 3), Dow could be exported elsewhere. A CPR of around 5-7% is so reasonable, for a total discount rate between 13-17%. By using the rate of growth proposed in the case of 3.3% per annum and a discount rate of 16%, the NPV of 51% of PBB is of U.S. $ 207,476 million. This amount is not however the correct the price of the bid. Just the cash flows are not enough to assess the correct price to offer the Argentine government. As first analysis the two competitors do not seem serious bidder in the auction because they do not meet the request of combined 5 billion net worth. There are still 10 days at the closing of the auction and if they succeed caming forward with a capital increase bringing their combined wealth over 5 billion, then Dow should also consider the fact that it can benefit not only the cash flows of PBB but also those of the 3 stage of the project, which provide in part an increase in production capacity of PBB and especially of its efficiency. A price around $ 300 million should keep out other potential bidder, which they cannot reach the advantage of being the mainly argenitian producer . However, this scenario is not credible given the close smebra operating times were competitors to meet the demands of the government, then the minimum bet request for $ 150 million should be sufficient and would allow Dow generate a significant positive NPV. 150 ultimately is ultimately the value to offer.