Monday, September 30, 2019

Survival Skills In South Central LA

While a majority of adults continually struggle to cope with the occurrence Of death, this Story tells a tale of children who have practically become accustomed to it. Beauty provides a distinct look at this urban school setting through her inside view of student emotions, evidence of pain within the kids, and the feelings that she evokes from the audience despite her straightforward tone. (simple) While first reading about Ms. Beauty and her inside story into this previously uncharted territory, sensed as though she was a woman who possessed a very intimate bond with the students.In the story, when describing what occurred on days when the students mourned someone who was killed, Ms. Beauty notes that â€Å"boys lingered over handshakes and looked into my eyes solemnly. Girls threw their arms around me and wordlessly moved away. No one said enough. † (Beauty; par. 5). A majority of her descriptions of students and events, as well as her diction, seem somewhat heartfelt yet a bit plainly stated on the surface; however, the cultural distance between Ms. Beauty and the students seemingly increases the more we observe how she interacts with them. When Ms.Beauty discusses how the kids hugged her, the description actually makes her seem somewhat aloof. The way that the author words the sentence makes it seem as though the children approach her with emotions and she is simply present, receiving the actions. As a teacher, Beauty never necessarily makes a huge effort to help the student's cope with these devastating loses, except in the case of Dander where Ms. Beauty does display some emotional involvement. On the day of this peculiar interaction between student and teacher, Beauty â€Å"was not prepared for the sight one day f Dander, standing alone behind the stairwell. (Beauty; par. 6). However, even in this case we see her as an outsider looking in: when a counselor arrives after a failed attempt to comfort her student, Ms. Beauty â€Å"watched them go wi th a mixture of relief and dread. Out of [her] hands. † She obviously had worthy intentions to comfort Dander, but the situation seemed to be bigger than anything she could resolve. Ms. Beats trustworthiness becomes another important factor to focus our attention on and her illustration of events keys us into the devastation that sakes place in South Central Los Angels.The story itself does not appear to include any influence of bias, but the author narrates from a personal point of view and therefore the article contains her opinions and viewpoints on the matter. Ms. Beauty gives credible information because she witnessed all of these hardships and events first-hand; she offers highly trust;rotor information in comparison to, for example, an internet news columnist who would write about different schools in Los Angels. When narrating, she delivers a subjective point of view that would not be attainable from an outside source.The tone throughout the article delivers a sense of authority that is unmatched to anything Vive ever read before, somehow conveying emotion in such a nondescript manner. While describing the tale of events, Beauty utilizes fairly straight forward language. When recounting Dander's story of false accusation, she gives evidence to the type of misfortune that falls upon the shoulders of young teens in this area. The story of Dander evokes both logic and sympathy because no child should have to suffer this type of harassment and blame, especially not in Dander's case because he ad such good intentions of standing up for his sister.Pathos lingers throughout this recap of Dander's accusations When discussing the accusations, the Beauty says that Dander â€Å"was taken into custody, where he was told they already had evidence that he'd killed the boy and were just looking for a confession. The smartest thing he could do, they told him, was to confess, so they could get his sentence down to a few years. If he refused, he would get life. à ¢â‚¬  (Beauty; par. 16). This section of the story really resonated with me, and cannot imagine a person falsely accusing me of murder or coaxed into making reparations for a crime of which did not take part in.Although it appears that Beauty lacks the same cultural background as the students, believe that she could have written her story with more conviction, urging readers to reach out to the hopeless children. Through researching, I found out about multiple organizations and charities that help motivate inner-city kids to graduate high school. When Beauty talked about her â€Å"heavy- footed student who looked too old for ninth grad' (Beauty; par. 3), it made me realize that what some of these students needed was a ray of hope in heir violence-filled surroundings.One charity called the I Have A Dream Foundation pledges college education funding for kids who graduate high school, and this would be a great thing for Beauty to have introduced into the school. Focusing their effort s into schoolwork and attempting to make something out of their lives might be just the spark that South Central Los Angels would need to eliminate teen violence. Beats emotional involvement with her students is never quite enough; her aloofness, insensitivity, and difference in cultural upbringing make it difficult for her to innocent on a deep level with her students.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Othello presents women as the victims of men Essay

To what extent do you agree that in â€Å"Othello† Shakespeare presents women as the tragic victims of men? Throughout ‘Othello’, Shakespeare uses the manipulation of the protagonist, by the antagonist, Iago, to present a play controlled by men. In such a male dominated society, Shakespeare presents the women in the play as tragic victims at the hands of their husbands, in particular Desdemona and Emilia. Throughout this essay I will relate to the Aristotelian and Senecan descriptions of tragedy to come to a conclusion of how in ‘Othello’ Shakespeare presents women as tragic victims of men. Firstly, throughout ‘Othello’ Shakespeare presents men as the dominant characters of the play, whereas the women are portrayed as characters to always be suspicious of. No female character is given as many lines in the play as any male character, in particular Iago. This is reflective of Iago’s dominance in ‘Othello’, therefore meeting one of the Senecan definitions of tragedy presenting women as tragic victims of men. Furthermore Othelloâ€℠¢s suspicious nature towards his wife, Desdemona, is false, and though the women are constantly thought of cheating, they never do. In act 3 scene 4 of the play Desdemona claims that Othello is â€Å"true of mind†. The dramatic irony of that statement once again implies that Desdemona is a character who follows social conventions, yet her husband’s false accusations relate to the Aristotelian definition of tragedy in the Desdemona is pitied by the audience due to her pure feelings of love towards Othello. The use of the adjective â€Å"true† further shows Desdemona as a tragic victim of Othello as she is unaware of Othello’s beliefs that she is cheating on him with Cassio, which is false. Though women may be portrayed as tragic victims in ‘Othello’, Emilia gives the audience reason to believe that women are far from tragic victims in the play. She challenges social convention in that women should be passive to their husbands. In defiance of Iago’s â€Å"Be wise, and get you home†, Emilia here opposes the model of a â€Å"good† wife, who should be silent and marginalised. Though Emilia is undoubtedly ultimately a tragic victim of the play, s he reveals how corrupted a male dominated society is when she clears Desdemona’s â€Å"reputation†. Her death opposes an immoral conviction against her sex, exonerating her part in the tragedy. In act four scene three of the play, Emilia implies that she is equal to men, which suggests to the reader  further that she is a character who once again defies society’s expectations of women. Emilia criticises the way men behave, in which she asks â€Å"have we not affections/desires for sport-and frailty-as men have?† claiming that women’s needs are just the same as men, although it is acceptable for men to cheat on their wives. This is supported earlier in the play when Emilia likens men’s behaviour to that of belching, which itself is a vulgar activity. â€Å"they are all but stomachs, and we all but food/they eat us hungerly, and when they are full/they belch us† this corrupt truth is also reflective of how men treated women, and that it was ok for men to cheat on their wives, but had women done the same, it would have been considered a sin. On the other hand, Emilia could be interpreted as a tragic victim at the hands of men in ‘Othe llo’. As oppose to Desdemona’s marriage to Othello, Emilia’s marriage to Iago has lost all signs of romance and affection, and her victimisation could be interpreted through her satirical attitude towards men. Her death at the hands of Iago, her manipulator, shows that Iago was truly to blame for Othello’s murder of Desdemona, as it was him whom Emilia stole Desdemona’s handkerchief for. Her death is therefore her punishment, furthermore making Emilia a tragic victim as she has died through no fault of her own. Like Emilia, Desdemona is also a tragic victim of the men in ‘Othello’. Her murder, like Emilia’s, is through no fault of her own is a result of Othello’s jealousy and Iago’s interference. What makes Desdemona even more tragic to the audience is the fact that even in death she tries to protect her husband, telling Emilia that she has killed herself, â€Å"nobody, I myself†, this further depicts to the audience that Desdemona is a good and pure character. Her devotion to her husband makes her a tragic victim in the play as she can not be blamed for her death. Contextually it is important to understand how women are presented as t ragic victims of men in ‘Othello’. Contemporary views of women were, according to Sir Thomas Elyot â€Å"to be mild, timorous, tractable, benign, of sure remembrance, and shamefast.† Conversely men were seen to be â€Å"fierce, strong in opinion, covetous of glory, desirous of knowledge, appetiting by generation to bring for his semblable.† Elyot’s views of the contemporary man, though much grander than those of women, could prove to be their downfall in ‘Othello’. Shakespeare’s protagonist’s downfall could be based on the fact that he is desirous of knowledge, and Iago’s manipulation of  Othello’s trustworthy nature suggests that not only are women the tragic victims of men, but it is men who are also victims of men. The use of derogatory language and coarse sexual imagery is used by Shakespeare to show the male character’s misogynistic attitudes towards women, and this is evident whenever Iago speaks of the opposite sex. His lamenting of Desdemon a, a character who is pure and good throughout the play, particularly portrays how women are presented as tragic victims of men. He tells Brabantio that â€Å"a black ram is tupping your white ewe†, referencing Othello and Desdemona’s romance. The contrast of black and white suggests that Iago views Desdemona and women in general as guilty beings, which further suggests to the audience that women are tragic victims of men in ‘Othello’ as it is the men who are guilty, not the women. Desdemona’s father, Brabantio, holds a highly misogynistic view towards his daughter upon hearing of her affection for Othello, when he answers the question â€Å"is she dead?† with â€Å"aye to me†. Iago also views women as objects- â€Å"look to your house, your daughter and your bags†, his materialistic view of women, in which equating Desdemona to material good, suggests that Iago is a misogynist as he does not hold women in high regard at all. In conclusion, women are certainly presented by Shakespeare as tragic victims in ‘Othello’, however it is not completely at the hands of the male characters. Yes, both Emilia and Desdemona die at the hands of their husbands, but it is through socie ty’s expectations of women that they are murdered, as well as Iago’s evil manipulation of The Moor. Desdemona dies through no fault of her own, this making her a tragic victim at the hands of Othello, as she has not committed any sin, and she is only murdered through Iago suggesting to Othello that she had been cheating on Cassio. Desdemona is also a tragic victim as not only has she done nothing wrong, but throughout the play she is portrayed by Shakespeare as a genuinely good and pure character. Emilia is a tragic victim as ultimately she dies from knowing that Desdemona’s murder was due to the actions of her husband. Finally it was the women who were tragic victims at the hands of a society where the man is judge, jury and executioner, as well as manipulating them to satisfy their selfish needs.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

How to Connect a Database and Add/Update/Delete/Record

How to Connect to a Database and Add/Update/Delete Record In this tutorial I will explain to you on how to connect to an Access database and allow you to Add/Update/Delete  a record. To fully understand these tutorials please  download  the source code  How to Add/Update/Delete Record using MS Access Database. This source code is part of the  Hotel Reservation System  that I am currently working. At the end of this tutorial you will learn the basic of database programming. I would like, however, to emphasize especially for beginners that one way to learn programming is to know how to debug a program and devote some of your time to reading.Don't be frightened on how short or long an article should be. The important is at the end of the tutorial you will learn something NEW! If you already know the topic, then don’t bother to study this again. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Let’s get started 3. Database Connection 4. Add and Update a Record 5. Delete a R ecord 6. Final Thoughts Introduction Before I started learning VB. NET one of the topic that I search for in the internet is on how to connect to the database and make some changes to the table. Although there’s a lot of results, but I cannot find one that suit to my needs.Most of the tutorial is using drag and drop features of vb. net editor. Well, this is okay in most cases but what if you’d like to manipulate the data by code? So, I created this tutorial so that beginner programmer will learn from this. Let’s get started It is very important that you use your common sense to understand the logic of database programming. There’s a lot of features built-in to Visual Basic Editor that most programmer especially beginner who overlook it. One of the favorite tools I usually used is the  DEBUGGER. If you only knew how important a debugger is, then you do not even need to study this tutorial.Why? Because you can jump right away to the source code and start firing the F8 command from your keyboard and analyze every line as you step through the code. Anyway beginner is a beginner. You need to start from scratch. If you have already downloaded the source code, then open it in the visual basic . net editor by double clicking the â€Å"HowtoAddUpdateDeleteRecord. sln†. If you want to know what is the object that runs the first time you start the program (by pressing F5) then double click the â€Å"My Project† at the Solution Explorer. Look at the Startup Form.You will see that the value is â€Å"frmCustomersList†. Now, click this object in the Solution Explorer and click the View Code at the toolbar. Look for the Load event similar below: Private  Sub  frmCustomersList_Load(ByVal  sender  As  System. Object,  ByVal  e  As  System. EventArgs)Handles  MyBase. Load   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   sSql =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"SELECT CustomerID, CompanyName, ContactName, ContactTitle, Address FROM Customers ORDER BY Cu stomerID ASC†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Call  FillList() FillListView(lvList, GetData(sSql)) End  Sub frmCustomersList_Load is the second procedure that runs when you hit the F5 Key from your keyboard.If you’d like to know how this code is executed then press F8. Believe it or not F8 is the answer to all your programming question. And I really mean it. When I started programming all I do is to search for free source code and start using the debugging tool. That’s why Visual Basic is being named as Rapid Application Development or RAD. If you follow the debugger the first line it executes is the  Private  Sub  frmCustomersList_Resize(ByVal  senderAs  Object,  ByVal  e  As  System. EventArgs)  then followed by  frmCustomersList_Load  which is actually the important procedure to note here.Another important debugging tool is â€Å"Toggle Breakpoint†. You will be prompted to your code if one of the line is marked by toggle brea k point. This can be done by pressing the F9 key or clicking the Debug menu then Toggle Breakpoint. This tool is important if the form is already loaded and you want to tract the execution of a code say within a command button. For example. Open the form  frmCustomersList  and double click the add button and move the up arrow key once and press F9. You willl have a picture as shown below: [inline:Toggle Breakpoint. jpg]Now, when you run the program and click the Add button you will be directed to the code editor window. This case you will see what is happening when you are executing the program. Isn’t it nice? Database Connection In order to connect to the database you need a connection string like this: Public  Const  cnString  As  String  =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Provider=Microsoft. Jet. OLEDB. 4. 0;Persist Security Info=False;Data Source=.. /data/sample. mdb† Then open it by using this command: Dim  cnHotel  As  OleDbConnection cnHotel =  New  OleDbConnect ion With  cnHotel If  . State = ConnectionState.Open  Then  . Close() .ConnectionString = cnString .Open() End  With You need this whether you use  OleDbDataReader, ExecuteNonQuery or OleDbCommandBuilder  to read or write into the database table. To know more about this class just click this command and press F1 key to open the help files. Be sure you installed the MSDN. Since you have already open the connection to your database this is now the time to fill the ListView with data. This can be done by calling a function like: FillListView(lvList, GetData(sSql)) The line of code will then execute a function: Fill ListView control with data Public  Sub  FillListView(ByRef  lvList  As  ListView,  ByRef  myData  As  OleDbDataReader)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dim  itmListItem  As  ListViewItem Dim  strValue  As  String Do  While  myData. Read itmListItem =  New  ListViewItem() strValue = IIf(myData. IsDBNull(0),  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†, myData. GetValue(0))   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   itmListItem. Text = strValue For  shtCntr = 1  To  myData. FieldCount() – 1   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If  myData. IsDBNull(shtCntr)  Then   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   itmListItem. SubItems. Add(â€Å"†)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Else itmListItem. SubItems. Add(myData. GetString(shtCntr))   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  End  IfNext  shtCntr lvList. Items. Add(itmListItem) Loop End  Sub Again in order to see how this code is being executed just run the program using the debugging tool (either F8 or F9). The rest of the procedure is executed only when they are called. For example, the code below is executed only when you click the Add button. Private  Sub  btnAdd_Click(ByVal  sender  As  System. Object,  ByVal  e  As  S ystem. EventArgs)  HandlesbtnAdd. Click   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dim  CustomerID  As  String frmCustomers. State = gModule. FormState. adStateAddMode   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For  Each  sItem  As  ListViewItem  In  lvList.SelectedItems   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   CustomerID = sItem. Text Next frmCustomers. CustomerID = CustomerID frmCustomers. ShowDialog() Call  FillList() End  Sub This code will open the form  frmCustomers  in add mode and will execute also its own Load Event. If you want to open the form  frmCustomers  in edit mode, then just double click the item in a ListView. The code being executed are: Private  Sub  lvList_DoubleClick(ByVal  sender  As  Object,  ByVal  e  As  System. EventArgs)  HandleslvList. DoubleClick   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dim  CustomerID  As  String For  Each  sItem  As  ListViewItem  In  lvList.SelectedItems   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚   CustomerID = sItem. Text Next With  frmCustomers .State = gModule. FormState. adStateEditMode   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . CustomerID = CustomerID .ShowDialog() Call  FillList() End  With frmCustomers =  Nothing End  Sub The two procedure seems carry the same concept, by opening a form, except they vary on the button invoke for execution. The line frmCustomers. State = gModule. FormState. adStateAddMode will tell the target form to open the connection to the database in add mode and frmCustomers. State = gModule. FormState. adStateEditMode ill open the database in edit mode. Add and Update a Record Now, how to save the data in textboxes within the form? This can be done by calling a procedure calledbtnSave_Click. This procedure is fired when the Save button is clicked. Private  Sub  btnSave_Click(ByVal  sender  As  System. Object,  ByVal  e  As  System. EventArgs)  HandlesbtnSave. Click   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dim  d t  As  DataTable = dsCustomers. Tables(â€Å"Customers†)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If  txtCustomerID. Text =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†Ã‚  Or  txtCompanyName. Text =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†Ã‚  Then   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MsgBox(â€Å"Please fill up Customer ID or Company Name information. â€Å", MsgBoxStyle.Critical)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Exit  Sub End  If Try If  State = gModule. FormState. adStateAddMode  Then   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ add a row Dim  newRow  As  DataRow newRow = dt. NewRow() newRow(â€Å"CustomerID†) = txtCustomerID. Text   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   dt. Rows. Add(newRow) End  If With  dt .Rows(0)(â€Å"CustomerID†) = txtCustomerID. Text   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Rows(0)(â€Å"CompanyName†) = txtCompanyName. Text   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Rows(0)(â€Å"ContactName†) = IIf(txtContactName. Text =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†, System. DBNull. Value, txtContactName. Text)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Rows(0)(â€Å"ContactTitle†) = IIf(txtContactTitle. Text =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†, System.DBNull. Value, txtContactTitle. Text)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Rows(0)(â€Å"Address†) = IIf(txtAddress. Text =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†, System. DBNull. Value, txtAddress. Text)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Rows(0)(â€Å"City†) = IIf(txtCity. Text =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†, System. DBNull. Value, txtCity. Text)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Rows(0)(â€Å"Region†) = IIf(txtRegion. Text =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†, System. DBNull. Value, txtRegion. Text)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Rows(0)(â€Å"PostalCode†) = IIf(txtPostalCode. Text =  Ã¢â‚ ¬Å"†, System. DBNull. Value, txtPostalCode. Text)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Rows(0)(â€Å"Country†) = IIf(txtCountry. Text =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†, System. DBNull. Value, txtCountry.Text)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Rows(0)(â€Å"Phone†) = IIf(txtPhone. Text =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†, System. DBNull. Value, txtPhone. Text)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   . Rows(0)(â€Å"Fax†) = IIf(txtFax. Text =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†, System. DBNull. Value, txtFax. Text)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   daCustomers. Update(dsCustomers,  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Customers†)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MsgBox(â€Å"Record successfully saved. â€Å", MsgBoxStyle. Information)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  End  With Catch  ex  As  OleDbException MsgBox(ex. ToString) End  Try End  Sub The code for adding and u pdating a table is the same except that if you are in add mode you just simply add this command: If  State = gModule.FormState. adStateAddMode  Then ‘ add a row Dim  newRow  As  DataRow newRow = dt. NewRow() newRow(â€Å"CustomerID†) = txtCustomerID. Text dt. Rows. Add(newRow) End If This way you do not need to create a separate command to insert and update a table. Delete a Record Let us go back to  frmCustomersList  form and delete a record. The procedure before will be fired after clicking a Delete button: Private  Sub  btnDelete_Click(ByVal  sender  As  System. Object,  ByVal  e  As  System. EventArgs)  HandlesbtnDelete. Click   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dim  CustomerID  As  String For  Each  sItem  As  ListViewItem  In  lvList.SelectedItems   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   CustomerID = sItem. Text Next If  CustomerID ;;  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†Ã‚  Then ‘Delete the selected record Dim  strDeleted   As  Boolean strDeleted = ExecNonQuery(â€Å"DELETE Customers. CustomerID FROM Customers WHERE CustomerID= ‘†Ã‚  & CustomerID &  Ã¢â‚¬Å"‘†)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If  strDeleted =  Ã¢â‚¬Å"True†Ã‚  Then MsgBox(â€Å"Record's deleted. â€Å", MsgBoxStyle. Information)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Call  FillList() Else MsgBox(strDeleted) End  If Else MsgBox(â€Å"Please select record to delete. â€Å", MsgBoxStyle. Critical)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  End  If End  Sub The important line here is the strDeleted = ExecNonQuery(â€Å"DELETE Customers.CustomerID FROM Customers WHERE CustomerID= ‘†Ã‚  & CustomerID &  Ã¢â‚¬Å"‘†) which call the function  ExecNonQuery  and deletes a record based on the SQL Statement. Final Thoughts The above tutorial will simply teach you on how to connect to a database and make some changes to the database table. It is very important that you read first some tutorials about programming before you dive into the source code if you’re just starting out. If you really wanted to learn faster, then I recommend a book which is my reference also with this article. This book is called  Beginning VB 2008 Databases: From Novice to Professional (Beginning:

Friday, September 27, 2019

Market Research Proposal, With questionnaire (NO PRIMARY DATA Essay

Market Research Proposal, With questionnaire (NO PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION REQUIRED) - Essay Example A survey by Ernst and Young conducted amongst 23 matured and emerging market that were negatively affected by the credit crunch suggested that the customers of UK are seen to have low level of confidence on the banking system. About 63% has reported that their trust on the UK banks has completely fallen, whereas about 36% were completely dissatisfied (Flower, 2012). As all the banks generally deal with similar, undifferentiated category of products, so quality of the service becomes a primary weapon for winning the competition. The banks that display an excellent service quality are supposed to have a distinct marketing edge in terms of improved cross-selling rates, elevated revenues, better customer retention capabilities (Bennett and Higgins, 1988) and prolonged market share (Brown and Hedges, 1993). As defined by Ghobadian, Speller and Jones (1994) quality signifies how well the organizations cater to the requirement of the customers. The definition given by Deming (1986), Ishikaw a (1985), Feigenbaum (1986), and Juran et al. (1974) also fall under the same category. This approach suggests that the organization should first understand and determine the requirements of the customers and then meet unto them. The service quality can only be judged either during or after the consumption is made (Audhesh et al., 2005). The performance of the service provider is the primary source of value creation for the service that is signified as the service quality. It may be very trivial service performance by the service provider but is likely to create a huge impact on the perception of the customers about the service quality of the provider. Barclays Plc, one of the major banks of United Kingdom (UK) has been involved in the scandal of mis-selling of PPI due to which they had to pay huge compensation to the customers (PPI Claim Company, n.d.; BBC News, 2011). Lloyds Banking Group has also suffered problems with the Faster Payments System that is responsible for transferri ng of funds in and out of the accounts of the customers. This problem has given rise to a knock-on effect on the customers of the bank (BBC News, 2013a; Winch, 2013). Earlier in the year 2012 due to system failure the customer of Lloyds using TSB debit cards, online banking and ATM have also faced problem (BBC news, 2012b; Salmon, 2012). Same is the case with NatWest whose customers have also faced problems with online banking, cash withdrawal etc (BBC News, 2013b; Bachelor, 2013; Farrow, 2012). HSBC of UK has also reported the same problems in the year 2011 and 2012 (BBC News, 2012a; Rojas, 2012; Osborne and Bachelor, 2011). This situation has given rise to a growing concern for all these four banks that are eager to know what the expectations of their customers are. Thus the current study tries to find an answer to this question. Objectives The main objective of the research is to understand the perception of the customers towards banks as well as gaining knowledge about the wants of the customers. In this context the closely done study on the current status of the banking organizations suggests that the financial crisis as well as the recent

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Ethics and Public Official Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics and Public Official - Essay Example According to the constitution, assuming a state statute fixes compensation and salaries of an office, the salaries and compensation will be attached to and cannot be separated from the office. In summary, the office will not return the benefits or pay of the second office, or basically refusing to accept the compensation to avoid being taken of holding two emolument civil offices. Additionally, the constitution ascertains that the entity of the government cannot eliminate the benefit or pay to a county officer to avoid the holding issue of a dual office. When Lino takes the additional duties in the Attorney’s office he will not create the violation in the second office. There is no conflict of offices if Lino decides to hold the two offices. This is because under many circumstances, an officer who enforces law is not taken to be an office for the sake of constitutional holding limitations for a dual office. Therefore, it is very possible that Lino can hold both positions as a County Commissioner and an Assistant District Attorney this is because the two offices are not categorized as incompatible. Conflicting loyalties limits the person from holding two offices simultaneously when their interest of the two entities conflict and election of a single public office would compromise other office interest. The position of a county commissioner and that of An Assistant District Attorney have no conflicting loyalties between them. This is attributed to the fact that the policy of objectives of the two offices do not conflict in any area. The compatibility doctrine between the two positions will not protect the county’s institution integrity through promotion of impaired services by the official. Additionally, according to the law, two positions have issues of conflicting loyalty when they are public offices. County Commissioner and Assistant District Attorney Position are both public offers. But

Google Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Google - Assignment Example Google has grown to attract large numbers of users who access the internet daily. The company has been selling text based ads that incorporates search keywords. This has been one of their largest income earners over the past decade. (Google Incorporation, 2014). Larry and Brin obtained their first capital in form of a donation from Andy Bechtolsheim, A Partner at Sun Microsystems. Google has over the past years gained a large pool of capital. Selling its first shares in 2004 where 19,605,052 shares were sold at $85 per share. Google is now operating in different countries of the world and worked with many corporations such as NASA, AOL, and News Corp’s. Google has become part of the largest providers of social media platforms. In corporation with mobile companies, it created the Mobi. top level. This is an area for mobile internet that allows mobile users to access the internet through their phones for quick communication. Most of the scholars have come up with lots of work done on business strategy but most of them have not withstood the test of time. Many people are well familiar with Mintzberg and Water’s strategy of 1985. Mintzberg is one of the best strategic thinkers. In collaboration with James Waters they both developed a model that showed how strategy is developed and how it is ultimately delivered. In their model, strategy delivery is made up of two sides. The deliberate strategy which includes what the organization desires to do and the emergent strategy which indicates what happened during the process (Mintzberg, 2010). The model looks like this; Google incorporation has been one of the company’s in the world that is utilizing this model in connecting up with entrepreneurs and coming up with the latest inventories in the world of technology in order to meet their customers’ demands. Google being one the most important and the largest search engines in the world must ensure that combines with the

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

What have I learned during the programme and how can I apply this in Essay

What have I learned during the programme and how can I apply this in my future career A critical reflection - Essay Example , and during the project which will be defined, highlighting the major ones will form the outline and backbone for what this particular response paper attempts to highlight. One of the most important, and perhaps most helpful, skills that I learned during the course of this particular project has to do with the process of developing new ideas. Ultimately, my group, which consisted of four individuals, found it necessary to develop a business plan and seeks to implement this business plan in a virtual setting. As such, many ideas were developed and analyzed within this group prior to one being selected. Whereas it is of course important to underscore the fact that each member of the group provided an essential role and ultimately help to the project towards completion, it was my suggestion that was determined to be the best and provided the basis for the business plan that was eventually developed (Bouma et al., 2014). The development of the business plan serves as an essential complement, and perhaps the most important aspect of learning that was achieved during this particular semester. The underlying reason for this has to do with the fact that the bu siness plan is far more than a rough interpretation for what service or product should be offered. Instead, the business plan must make preliminary projections and considerations with respect to how this will be affected, feasibility, economic issues, potential threats and weaknesses, and a litany of concerns involving finance and the way in which such a project would be initiated, supported, and projected into the market (Meadows & Buckley, 2014). In this way, rather than the development of the business plan only taking a few days or hours to complete, this process was one that instilled a level of respect in me with regard to the importance of carefully crafting the business plan and going about it in a thorough and analytical manner (Goodwin, 2002). In terms of how this particular aspect of the project could

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Team Participation - Scenario Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Team Participation - Scenario Analysis - Essay Example Team creation and development often offers an efficient environment which is considered to be ideal for encouraging teamwork, cooperation and motivation within the team members to greatly contribute towards the organization by delivering their best possible performances (The Team Building Directory, 2011). Conceptually, it would be tough for any individual to attain goals without team cooperation. It is considered essential for an individual to discuss and evaluate the pros and cons of his/her plan with the other individuals as in certain situations the rationality of a single individual or brain may fail in terms of making the correct decision (Project Smart, 2012). Thus, being in a team helps an individual to learn skills and talent of the teammates. With reference to the mentioned question it can be stated that an individual paper would have been better rather than just mentioning one’s name in a project which had no contribution of that individual. Contributing towards a p roject not only helps in developing confidence but also makes an individual aware regarding his/her capabilities. Joining a team and contributing nothing can be stated to be morally unethical. Once an individual becomes the part of the team, he/she must contribute towards the common goal which needs to be collectively attained as much as possible. Indulging in such activities which are considered to be unethical makes an individual lose his/her confidence regarding one’s competencies and skills. How is the importance of a team and its dynamics? The success of any organization largely depends on its ability to build an effective team. A single individual or an employee cannot perform all the responsibilities of the organization single handedly. Effective team in an organization motivates and creates cordial relation among the team members and enables them to perform their task efficiently (The Team Building Directory, 2011). It is equally important for the team members lucidly comprehend the responsibilities assigned to each members. In addition to this there also needs to exist a proper form of communication between the teammates in order to avoid the occurrence of conflicts among them. The different concepts and thoughts of the team members can be combined to reach the best suited decision which shall ultimately benefit the organization (Rosen, 2011). What are the benefits of being assigned to a team rather than picking the members of your team or volunteering to join a team? Being assigned to a team gives an opportunity to an individual to learn from its team members and acquire new skills. Volunteering to join a team may disturb the balance of the already existing team and may lead to conflicts between the new member and the existing members. Moreover, the role of each member is already assigned and the introduction of a new member may require the team leader to reassign the responsibilities among the team members which might prove to be cumbersome a nd may delay the particular project. Thus, being assigned to a team creates a sense of responsibility within the members and such accountability is found to motivate the team members to perform their assigned tasks efficiently. Moreover, an individual learns to work in groups and to accept greater responsibilities. An individual gets motivated by other teammates to work even in case of adverse situations. Thus, working in a team as a member teaches an

Monday, September 23, 2019

Economic comparison Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Economic comparison - Research Paper Example Immigration was totally restricted and farming was the main occupation there that time. The period of 1900 – 1910 saw a fall and increase in unemployment. The average unemployment in the period was 1406 (000s), which indicate a decrease in unemployment. The percentage of non-farm employees in the work force was on an average of 7%. The percentage of farm employees was decreased by 1910, which shows that farming activity had increased that time. According to the ‘Historical Statistics of the US 1890-1929’, the GDP in1910 was around 600 billion. From 1900 -1910 the real GDP growth increased, whereas at the beginning of 1910, the GDP recorded a straight decrease. The early 1930s was a period of great depression and the production of goods and services plunged. (Chantrill para. 1). The rate of inflation estimate provided by the US department of labor (Bureau of labor statistics) in 1910 was 3.7%, while in 1920 it was 15.6%. The Emergency Quota Act was passed in US par liament in May 1921 and this restricted free immigration into the US. Until that period immigration was on a large scale in the state. Four groups existed in the labor market in the US in the 1900-1910 era and they consisted of workers from the American federation of labor, knights of labor and the unorganized labor. These groups opposed unrestricted immigration into the US, which created less employment opportunities for the Native Americans. â€Å"Since 1900, the unemployment rate has fluctuated widely, rising during contractions and failing during expansions. During the great depression of the 1930s, the rate hiked to 25%† (McEachem 2009, p. 465). Comparison of 1910 with the Present US Economy: Today’s US economy is a very developed and established economy, even though economic recessions have caused a setback to the nation. Comparing the year 1910 with the present day, the economic development of the nation has grown by leaps and bounds. Although, the US GDP has ex perienced an uncertain trend especially during the times of economic recession, but it always shows signs of fast economic recovery. â€Å"The 1910s was a decade of great change for America. It was during this decade that the United States was first considered a world leader† (America 1910 – 1920: The End of Innocence 1910). A data chart released by Bureau of economic analysis points out that in the third quarter of 2011 the US economy showed a GDP annual increase of 2%, while in the second quarter the real GDP increase was 1.3%. Comparing the US economy of 1910-1920 with the present, it shows that the GDP rate has shown both an increasing as well as decreasing trend. The period of economic depression of 1930s witnessed a fall in GDP. Similarly the period between 1956-1960 also saw a decrease in the GDP. The 1980s also witnessed a fall in GDP. After that period the latest recession of 2007 has also brought an uncertain trend in the GDP of the US economy. World developm ents had also played a considerable influence on the US economy, especially the two world wars. Unemployment also experienced a very high increase in times, when the GDP was high. But during the periods of recession unemployment cropped up in high numbers. An increase in unemployment and an increase in inflation, especially of food products also had negative impact on the GDP of the nation. Even though there were employment opport

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Sonnets And Songs Essay Example for Free

Sonnets And Songs Essay Sonnets and songs share number of things in common. One example is that they both rhyme at the end of each line. Today’s songs don’t usually rhyme, unless if the songs are under the genres of hip-hop and rap, but most of the songs from the 60s, 70s and 90s do rhyme. One of few differences between a song and a sonnet is the way it appeals to the audiences or the readers and the kind of language that is used in these two different two pieces of writing. The song ‘I Will’ by The Beatles and ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the Ways’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. For number of reasons, ‘I Will’ by The Beatles appeals more affectively to the audiences as it has repetitions, exaggerations and it has the tune that will be remembered by the audiences. Firstly, the sonnet ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a sonnet about her love, who is anonymous in the sonnet. She uses many adjectives and poetic devices such as similes and metaphors. She also used some repetitions such as â€Å"I love thee freely, as men strive for right; I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use† Although this sonnet is very sweet, it uses old English from 1800s that people today don’t use. Most of the people can’t understand most of the English that is used in this sonnet. The repetition shows a little bit of the sonnet’s rhyming pattern. It is quite different from the rhyming pattern that is in the song, ‘I Will’. Secondly, The Beatles use some poetic devices just like Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet except with some exaggerations and most importantly, it is a song, which mean that it will have tune in it. The tune in ‘I Will’ is the biggest difference that differentiates songs from sonnets. The tunes in songs make songs more memorable than sonnets; for example, The Beatles’ songs are going to be more memorable than Shakespearean sonnets. Whereas Browning’s sonnet is about her love to this person, The Beatles’ song is about his willingness to do anything for his love toward this person. The Beatles also exaggerated a little bit in the repetitive part of the song such as â€Å"Love you forever and forever, love you with all my heart, love you whenever were together, love you when were apart† The rhyming pattern used n this song can be seen in the example of repetition. The pattern uses ABAC DEDF pattern, which means it rhymes every second lines but random words are in the every other second lines. Furthermore, everyone knows that normal person can’t live forever, so the exaggerations in the song lyrics make the audiences know that this man loves this person so much that he’ll wait until his death. Thirdly, The Beatles were more effective than Browning when conveying the same theme because of the exaggeration, repetition and the tune. The old English from Browning’s sonnet made it difficult for the readers from 2012 to read and understand the meanings behind the sonnet whereas The Beatles used the modern English and had the tune in their sonnet, basically a song, and they used the same theme, similar poetic devices. Furthermore they were able to get the meanings of the song over to the audiences. Having similar structure and theme made it easier to see which piece of writing is more effective in conveying the theme. To sum up, The Beatles’ song, ‘I Will’ was more effective in conveying the theme than Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways’ as it had easily memorable tune, exaggerations and some poetic devices such as similes, metaphors and repetitions. Although Browning and The Beatles used similar themes and poetic devices, The Beatles was more effective only because it was easily understandable by most of the people and had that easily memorable tune. Maybe if Browning’s sonnet had modern English and tunes, it might have been more effective in conveying the theme than The Beatles.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Agama Buddha ialah agama dan falsafah

Agama Buddha ialah agama dan falsafah Pengenalan Agama Buddha ialah agama dan falsafah yang berasaskan ajaran Buddha ÅšÄ kyamuni (SiddhÄ rtha Gautama) yang mungkin lahir pada kurun ke-5 sebelum masihi. Agama Buddha menyebar ke benua India dalam 5 kurun selepas Baginda meninggal dunia. Dalam proses perkembangan agama Buddha, agama ini praktis telah menyentuh hampir seluruh benua Asia. Agama Buddha terus menarik orang ramai menganutnya di seluruh dunia dan mempunyai lebih kurang 350 juta penganut. Agama Buddha dikenali sebagai salah satu agama yang paling besar di dunia. Dalam dua ribu tahun yang seterusnya, agama Buddha telah menyebar ke tengah, tenggara dan timur Asia. Kini, agama Buddha telah dipaparkan sebagai tiga aliran utama, iaitu Theravada, Mahayana, dan Vajrayana (Bajrayana). Latar Belakang dan Kehidupan Buddha Menurut tradisi Buddha, tokoh historis Buddha Siddharta Gautama dilahirkan dari suku Sakya pada awal masa Magadha (546-324 SM), di sebuah kota, selatan pergunungan Himalaya yang bernama Lumbini. Sekarang kota ini terletak di Nepal sebelah selatan. Ia juga dikenal dengan nama Sakyamuni. Setelah kehidupan awalnya yang penuh kemewahan di bawah perlindungan ayahnya, raja Kapilavastu (kemudian hari digabungkan pada kerajaan Magadha), Siddharta melihat kenyataan kehidupan sehari-hari dan membuat kesimpulan bahawa kehidupan nyata, pada hakikatnya adalah kesengsaraan yang tak dapat dihindari. Siddharta kemudian meninggalkan kehidupan mewahnya yang tak ada ertinya lalu menjadi seorang pertapa. Kemudian Baginda berpendapat bahawa bertapa juga tak ada ertinya, dan lalu mencari jalan tengah (majhima patipada ). Jalan tengah ini merupakan sebuah kompromis antara kehidupan berfoya-foya yang terlalu memuaskan hawa nafsu dan kehidupan bertapa yang terlalu menyeksa diri. Di bawah sebuah pohon bodhi, Baginda berkaul tidak akan pernah meninggalkan posisinya sehingga menemui Kebenaran. Pada usia 35 tahun, Baginda mencapai Pencerahan. Pada saat itu Baginda dikenal sebagai Gautama Buddha, atau Buddha(secara harafiah: orang yang telah mencapai Penerangan Sempurna). Untuk 45 tahun selanjutnya, Gautama Buddha telah menyebarkan ajarannya tanpa berhenti di merata-rata tempat. Sejarah Buddhisme di Malaysia Sejarah Buddhisme di Malaysia boleh dibahagikan kepada 2 peringkat: 1. PERINGKAT AWAL: Pada awal kurun Masihi, seperti yang disebutkan oleh Dr. Coedes dalam bukunya, Indianized States of South East Asia, Warisan kebudayaan Orang India di Asia Tenggara dapat dibuktikan daripada corak kebudayaan yang terdapat di Semenanjung dan Tanah Besar Asia Tenggara; Bahasa Sanskrit telah menjadi ansur bahasa tempatan; dan unsur-unsur tradisi orang India masih terdapat di negara-negara yang bertukar kepada Islam. Tetapi Prof. D.G.E. Hall, dalam bukunya A History of South East Asia, percaya bahawa kebanyakan tradisi India telah mengubahsuai apabila bertentangan dengan tradisi tempatan, misalnya sistem kasta tidak pernah dipraktikkan di sini. Akan tetapi fakta ini tidak boleh dihapuskan iaitu aktiviti perdagangan dan perniagaan telah menarik ramai pedagang India datang berdagang di Asia Tenggara. Pedagang-pedagang ini membawa bersama kebudayaan, ugama serta kesenian mereka ke rantau ini. Banyak barangan yang digali dari tanah oleh ahli arkeologi membuktikan bahawa bahagian utara Tanah Melayu, iaitu Negeri Kedah, pernah dipengaruhi oleh kebudayaan awal Buddhisme. Pada pertengahan kurun ke 3 sebelum masihi, selepas Kausil Buddhis Ketiga, Maharaja Asoka telah menghantar dua orang Bhiksu, iaitu Ven. Sona dan Ven. Uttara datang ke rantau ini untuk menyebarkan agama Buddha. Pada kurun yang ke 5, Buddhisme telah berkembang dengan baik di Semenanjung Melayu. Exkavasi arkeologi bukan hanya terhad di Kedah sahaja, tetapi didapati di Kuala Selinsing, Tanjung Rambutan, Lembah Kinta, Bidor dan Sungai Siput di Perak, di Perlis dan juga di Pahang. Langkasuka merupakan sebuah negara Buddhis yang pertama, ia ditubuhkan pada kurun masihi ke 2 dan berpusat di Banjaran Gunung Jelai, kemudian ia mengembangkan kuasanya ke bahagian Selatan Negeri Thai. Pada kurun ke 7, Buddhisme Mahayana telah menjadi sistem Buddhisme yang lebih diterima oleh rakyat Semenanjung Tanah Melayu. Pada masa itu, Tanah Melayu berada di bawah kuasa Srivijaya, sebuah empayar Buddhis yang berpusat di Pulau Jawa. Agama Hindu telah mengalami kebangkitan semula di India pada kurun ke 10, maka Agama Buddha kehilangan sokongan yang diberi oleh istana serta golongan bangsawan. Kejatuhan pengaruhnya di India telah mempengaruhi kekuasaannya di Asia Tenggara. Pada akhir abad ke 12, empayar Srivijaya mengalami kejatuhan, begitu juga halnya dengan pengaruh Buddhisme. Pada awal kurun ke 10, Parameswara mendirikan Empayar Melaka. Apabila Parameswara dan Raja-Raja lain menganuti Agama Islam, agama tersebut telah menjadi agama utama di rantau ini. Sehingga abad ke 15, Islam telah berjaya mengambil alih kedudukan Buddhisme sebagai agama yang utama diterima oleh istana dan rakyat biasa, lantas Buddhisme di Tanah Melayu pada masa itu mengalami kemerosotan. Walaupun begitu, masih terdapat banyak peninggalan kebudayaan Buddhisme di Kedah, Perlis dan Kelantan akibat pengaruh Negeri Thai. Unsur-unsur Buddhisme masih terbukti dalam drama Menora dan wayang kulit. 2. PERINGKAT KOMTEMPORARI: Penghijrahan beramai-ramai orang China ke Tanah Melayu pada abad ke 17 merupakan arus ombak yang kedua. Pada masa itu, Buddhisme hanya merupakah upacara amalan yang penuh dengan kepercayaan dan kebudayaan Cina. Hanya pada tahun 1950, barulah terdapat penganut Buddha yang cuba meningkatkan status dan kedudukan Buddhisme. Dengan tertubuhnya banyak organisasi buddhis, termasuk YBAM (Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia) dan MBA (Malaysian Buddhist Association), maka wujudlah satu suasana yang baru yang menyatupadukan para Buddhis. Satu perkembangan lain yang penting ialah terdapatnya pengaliran masuk bentuk-bentuk Buddhisme yang dipengaruhi oleh kebudayaan-kebudayaan Thai, Sri Langka, Burma, Jepun dan Tibet. Ini telah membentuk Buddhisme di Malaysia yang pelbagai rupa bentuk. Kesimpulan Buddha adalah benar sama rata kepada semua. Setiap lapisan masyarakat tidak kira kaya atau miskin, semuanya dianggap sama rata dalam mata Buddha. Agama Buddha tidak mengabaikan agama lain atau mengutuk agama lain sebagai agama jahat. Dalam ajaran agama Buddha, kenyataan dan ilmu yang diajar bukannya perintah yang mestinya dituruti. Sesiapa yang tidak faham boleh mengemukakan soalannya dan soalan ini akan dijelaskan sehingga mencapai kefahamannya. Buddha pernah berkata: Keraguan yang besar akan mendapat lebih banyak pengajaran, keraguan yang sedikit akan mendapat pengajaran yang sedikit, manakala jika tiada keraguan, maka tiada pengajaran yang boleh dicapai. Rujukan http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agama_Buddha http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejarah_agama_Buddha http://wapedia.mobi/id/Buddhisme http://www.slideshare.net/katherine0111/agama-buddha-2047661 http://dhamma-bm.tripod.com/am/sejarah.htm http://wapedia.mobi/id/Sejarah_agama_Buddha?t=4. .http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:fe_ATowMUWAJ:images.fazaly.multiply.multiplycontent.com/attachment/0/So-PAQoKCJEAAAyqlHw1/zTugas%2520Sejarah.docfzl.doc%3Fnmid%3D277222991+sejarah+agama+buddhacd=200hl=enct=clnkgl=my

Friday, September 20, 2019

View Of Politicians Police And Criminal Nexus Criminology Essay

View Of Politicians Police And Criminal Nexus Criminology Essay The various crime syndicates/mafia organizations have developed significant muscle and money power and have established linkages The existing criminal justice system, which was essentially designed to deal with the individual crimes, is unable to deal with government functionaries, political leaders and others to be able to operate with impunity. The tragedy is not that the evils afflicting society and the emerging system are not known, but the indifference of the leaders across the spectrum to the damage they are doing to the political system is abysmal. Enjoyment of power is wrecking the system from within. There is a need to nip the budding criminal in early stages which will be helpful in ending nexus considerably. INTRODUCTION The rule of law is a hallmark of democracy. To put it simply, it means order and stability in the society.  [1]  Politicians need money and muscle power to maintain their positions of power and authority. Criminals thrive on wrongdoings and need some help to keep the police personnel out of their way. Police is dependent upon the politicians for promotions and smooth service in business. So there exists a mutual benefit relationship between police, politicians and criminals. Once the politician reaches a particular stature and develops a clout, he dictates terms to Police and Bureaucracy much to the delight of the criminal elements. The bonds become stronger and either finds it difficult to survive without the help of the other and the point of no return is reached.  [2]   POLITICAL POLICE AND CRIMINAL NEXUS The police are a foundation of rule of law and play an essential role in establishing it. They maintain the law and order in the society and protect the right and freedoms of the citizens. The rule of law presumes that police should serve the citizen and remain free from the influence of political establishment  [3]  . Police has varied duties from serving the people to protecting the state. The local in India, are corrupt by and large and the reality is often disputed. Most police officers associate themselves with criminals in their locality as the police are often involved in the same crimes and/or in many cases seek to claim a share of the money collected by the criminals.  [4]  The police provide assistance to the criminals by refusing to register a case against them. Police are considered to be criminals in uniform who work according to the wishes of the political parties in power at the expense of state funds. Most police officers associate themselves with criminals in their locality as the police are often involved in the same crimes and/or in many cases seek to claim a share of the money collected by the criminals. The police assist the criminals by ei ther refusing to take any action against them or, if under pressure, by registering cases but failing to properly investigate them. Some policemen have not got over their old colonial mentality and are persisting in barbaric acts in a free country which claims to be run by democratic constitution and rule of law. The nexus between criminal gangs, police, bureaucracy and politicians has come out clearly in various parts of the country.  [5]  The history of police and criminal nexus is very old. Report on the nexus between the Bombay City Police and the Bombay under-world was prepared by CBI in 1986 which shows that police and criminal nexus is not new. An organized crime syndicate or mafia generally commences its activities by indulging in petty crime at the local level, mostly relating to illicit distillation/gambling/organized satta and prostitution in the larger towns. In port towns, their activities involve smuggling and sale of imported goods and progressively graduate to narcotics and drug trafficking. In the bigger cities, the main source of income relates to real estate forcibly occupying lands/buildings, procuring such properties at cheap rates by forcing out the existing occupants/tenants etc. Even in the smaller towns and rural areas, muscle-men have become the order of the day . Hired assassins have become a part of these organizations. The various crime syndicates organizations have developed significant muscle and money power and have established linkages with government functionaries, political leaders and others to be able to operate with impunity. The existing criminal justice system, which was essentially designed to deal with the individual crimes, is unable to deal with the activities of the Mafia; the provisions of law in regard economic offences are weak; there are insurmountable legal difficulties in attaching/confiscation of the property acquired through Mafia activities. In certain States, like Bihar, Haryana and UP, these gangs enjoy the patronage of local level politicians, cutting across party lines and the protection of governmental functionaries. Some political leaders become the leaders of these gangs and, over the years, get themselves elected to local bodies, State Assemblies and the national Parliament. Consequently, such elements have acquired considerable political clout seriously jeopardizing the smooth functioning of the administration and the safety of life and property of the common man, causing a sense of despair and alienation among the people. The big smuggling Syndicates, having international linkage s, have spread into and infected the various economic and financial activities, including Havana transactions, circulation of black money and operations of a vicious parallel economy causing serious damage to the economic fibre of the country. These syndicates have acquired substantial financial and muscle power and social respectability and have successfully corrupted the government machinery at all levels and wield enough influence to make the task of Investigating and Prosecuting agencies extremely difficult; even the members of the Judicial system have not escaped the embrace of the Mafia. Certain elements of the Mafia have shifted to narcotics, drugs and weapon smuggling and established narco-terrorism networks, specially in the States of JK, Punjab, Gujarat and Maharashtra. The Bombay bomb blast case and the communal, riots in Surat and Ahmedabad have demonstrated how the Indian underworld has been exploited by the Pak ISI and the latters network in UAE to cause sabotage, subv ersion and communal tension in various parts of the country. The investigations into the Bombay bomb blast cases have revealed extensive linkages of the underworld in the various governmental agencies, political circles, business sector and the film world. It is evident that the muscle power of the crime Syndicates is sustained by their enormous financial power which, in turn, is, secured by the Mafia elements by committing economic offences with impunity. the various economic intelligence/investigative/enforcement agencies under Secretary (Revenue) operates are Central Board of Excise Customs (CBEC) it is responsible for the prevention of smuggling, In this and other tasks, it is assisted by the by the Director General of Revenue Intelligence (DGRI) and the Directorate General of Anti-Evasion (DGAE). The DGRI deals with the evasion of customs duties; the DGAE with Excise duty evasion. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) The CEIB is res ponsible for coordinating and strengthening the intelligence gathering activities and the investigative and enforcement actions of the various agencies responsible for investigation into economic offences and the enforcement of economic laws. Its main tasks are Identification of major sources generating black money; directing and developing intelligence about such sources; planning and coordinating action and operations against such sources. Enforcement Directorate This Directorate is concerned with the enforcement of the investigation and penal provision of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act; collection of intelligence relating to foreign exchange offences; enquiries into suspected violations of the provisions of FERA, etc. Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) The NCB is responsible for the administration of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. It is responsible for coordination with different Central and State Government Departments/Ministries and the various Central and State law enforcement agencies for the implementation of the NDPS Act. These are the main agencies to tackle the crimes related to the tax and narcotic substances but the functioning of these agencies is hampered by the pressure which is result police political and criminal nexus The linkages developed by crime Syndicates get generally confirmed when pressure is mounted on the concerned agencies not to take action against the offenders or to go slow in the cases against them. Such pressures are mounted either immediately after a raid is conducted or at the time when prosecution is about to be initiated. Pressures are also exerted whenever corrupt and undesirable officers are shifted from sensitive assignments (Preventive Customs Divisions at the Airports, sensitive Collect orates in the Central Excise etc.) In the narcotics arena, which includes cultivation of opium, manufacture of alkaloids, prevention of narcotics, smuggling etc. the financial stakes are astronomically high. Consequently, the level of corruption is of a very high order in this area of functioning and enormous pressures are brought to bear even when subordinate officials are posted away especially when the shift of an officer adversely affects the interests of those who are making easy money. Narcotics trade has a world-wide network of smugglers who also have close links with terrorists. Terrorists indulge in narcotics trade to amass huge funds, in various foreign currencies, from which they source their procurement of weapons etc. the consequences of the this nexus between criminal and politicians is very harmful and to deal with the consequences we have to empower these agencies with the more effective power and machinery. The tragedy is not that the evils afflicting society and the emerging system are not known, but the indifference of the leaders across the spectrum to the damage they are doing to the political system is abysmal. Enjoyment of power is wrecking the system from within. It is matter for most serious concern that an increasing number of police officers are serving jail terms or facing trials for serious offences There is an emergence of the politico-bureaucratic-criminal nexus which has assumed command in several parts of the country. It is indeed a matter for utmost concern that many functionaries, who are elements of the criminal nexus, may also be occupying sensitive positions in the security management apparatus. According to a recent study the present Lok Sabha has the unique distinction of having as many as 125 members with criminal background.  [6]  There are serious charges of rape, murder, kidnapping and extortion pending against many of the honorable members. They have not been convicted yet and there is no chance for it in the near future. Cases against them have been pending since ages and can never be disposed off. Saner elements in civil society and concerned citizens are beginning to be worried at the spectre of full-fledged criminalisation of politics and politicisation of criminals to use the formulation of one of our Prime Ministers.  [7]  If the present trend of criminalization among the elected representatives continues, the doomsday of rule of law in India would soon arrive. The present day politicians have proved late Churchill right when he said that scoundrels would rule India. Rather the situation today is far worse. The language of politics has changed over the years. Celebrations over, the politicians will now be back at the games they play in the pursuit of power and all that goes with it.  [8]  Politicians are busy , they cannot spare time for the people and are engrossed in the chase for power. They do not have a moment to ponder over what they have done to the Constitution. In fact, politicians of all sorts have hijacked the democratic system to run it for their own convenience and not for serving the people. If any organ of the State chooses to block their way, they try to bend it to their will by means fair and foul.  [9]  In the past two decades and more there has been a growing increase in complaints of corruption, particularly at the levels which hurt the common man the most. Consequently, people have lost trust in the commitment and capacity of the governments, at the Centre and in the States, to promote their welfare.  [10]   Elections involving money and muscle power have failed to produce desirable results. The communalisation and criminalisation of politics, endemic corruption and ineffectiveness of the governmental machinery have tarnished the image of governance and severely eroded its effectiveness.  [11]  White collar criminality is fairly prevalent in Politics. The standards of conduct are high among politicians as they are in commercial life. White-collar crimes violate trust and create disgust, which lowers social morale and produces social disorganization on a large scale. Other crimes produce relatively little effect on social institutions or social organization.  [12]  Some people believe that there are still innocent and honest politicians in the country, but nothing is being done by these honest people to control the pervasive corruption in the country. The politicians are busy playing blame games. There is hesitation to call a spade a spade. The rule of law is a legal maxim that states no person is immune to law. it means that law is equal for every man and no one is above the law is supreme this is purely a concept of democracy where peoples will are supreme and laws are made to meet the expectations of the public. India is the democratic country and rule of law is the hallmark of it we have a vast machinery to protect the rule of the law in our country we have CBI, IB and other investigating agencies they are there to protect the rule of law but because of the police political and criminal nexus the functioning of these agencies are affected very much because agencies like CBI, CID and other investigating agencies start their investigation on the recommendation of state government or central government or SC or HC state governments which are dominated by the MLAS who have their glorious criminal records generally not preferred to give investigation charge to CBI and they preferred to give the matter to CID which is a p uppet at the hands of state government which has made them useless. The functioning of these agencies are dominated by the political masters who hamper it at every level for the primary information of the crime as well as information of the local activity. These agencies are dependent upon the police which corrupt in the present time. they are the criminals in uniform who provide every facility to criminals and help them at every level from the time of registration of the complaint inside the police stations, prisons and even the courts. Sometimes they are involved in escape of criminals from the lockup As the Supreme Court rightly observed that if the protector becomes the predator, the civilized society would cease to exist. This phrase can be to describe the current scenario of India. CONCLUSION At present, there is no mechanism which is specifically designated to collect and collate intelligence pertaining to the linkages developed by criminals with the governmental set up. Nonetheless, the  various intelligence agencies collect, in the  normal course of their functioning, information about the nexus between  the bureaucracy and politicians with the Mafia gangs, smugglers and the  underworld. These agencies use such available inputs only within the  narrow confines of their work charter and choose not to take undue  cognisance and follow-up action, leave alone sharing with any other  agencies. Thus, all these agencies function within their own cocoons,  with the result that a plethora of information fails to get specific and  purposeful attention needed for the exposure of the linkages. It is,  therefore, necessary to immediately have an institutionalized system  which while giving total freedom to the various agencies to pursue their  charter of wor k, would simultaneously cast on them the onus of sharing  such inputs to a nodal outfit whose job will be to process this information  for attention of a single designated authority. This will enable the  nodal Group to provide useful leads to the various agencies and, over  time, a progressive database will get generated to facilitate periodic  reviews and analysis which could then be passed to a designated body Fighting the nexus between the politicians and criminal elements should become a National agenda transcending party politics. Conscious efforts should be made by all parties to prevent infiltration of criminal elements in their ranks. They should lend their support to amend the Representation of Peoples Act to deny opportunities to people with criminal records of moral turpitude and violence, to contest the elections. They should also lend support to pass legislation to deal firmly with organized crime. . There is need for a special legislation like other countri es to deal with this menace. We need special courts and suitable modifications in the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Acts to make justice swifter. A stitch in time saves nine. The inability of the criminal justice system to deal firmly with infractions like gambling, prostitution, drugs lead to development of organized crime. Yesterdays petty criminals are todays dons. Hence, there is a need to nip the budding criminal in early stages which will be helpful in ending nexus considerably.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Essay --

In the arriving court , the judge exemplifies a lot of challenges , as a quality aspect of the court. According to research a judge is an officer who has been elected to bring justice and reap the law throughout the court of justice (). As a judge, common requirements are measured in order to pursue the job qualification. Therefore , the U.S. Bureau of Labor stated that , â€Å" a judge must attend undergraduate school , which a study of choice is not mandatory. Judges must hold a prior legal practice and hold a Juris Doctor degree. While obtaining the degree , one must complete a series of legal classes at law school approved by the ABA (). After , successfully completing the level of achievement an aspiring must pass a bar exam to move to the next level. After successfully passing the bar exam ,one is appointed as an attorney in till obtaining judgeship. Having a strong board behind you for support can boost one's promotion opportunities into being elected for the judge position. Next , on the personnel staff is the District Attorney best known as the D.A.. A district attorney is a prosecuting officer who shows presentation throughout the state in specific trails (). Duties vary for a DA , duties like educating the public and the enforcement of law about how crime prevention can be stopped. District attorneys have a load of employees working hard their wings. According to significant sites , a DA must hold a legal education and a state licensure. Before , the acquirement of DA requires , a high school diploma and a undergraduate degree of four years is required (). Yet , a Juris doctor from a ABA school is required . As the list of personnel continues on ,the next listed job is the hearing officers. Hearing officers make change over ... ... information giving to him/her (1). Moreover , one must not currently have any felony charges nor been convicted of a felony. The only way that one will not have to complete any form of jury duty is if one is in the armed forces being active duty or working for any professional departments. Juror's really play an important part of the court personnel when making verdicts for the courts. Being on a Juror committee can really be stressful if the case is very popular. If the case is local the juror shouldn't have to stay no longer than a week in till the case is closed. Juror's are not to talk about the case in open conversations with peers beside in the court room , while making serious decisions . The juror's have their own claimed section in the court room where the judge has a close distance between them. The next presented personnel in the courts is the defendant

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The True Tragedy of AIDS :: AIDS

The True Tragedy of AIDS Â   When I was in South Africa, I spent some time in a township called Crossroads, which essentially began as a squatter camp for immigrants looking for work near Cape Town. In the late 80s and early 90s, to make room for an alleged development project, the apartheid government tried to relocate the settlers. Whatever the reasons, entire sections of the settlement were razed. Many people did not want to move and, consequently, their resistance was met with arson and both random and targeted violence; many of the victims were women and young children. The settlers' sense of security, albeit loosely bound with wood and corrugated iron, was destroyed. In 1994, as democracy came to South Africa, the settlers who remained began to rebuild their community out of the wreckage of apartheid, only to be confronted by a powerful new enemy: AIDS. Â   For me, Crossroads became an example of the conflicting reality in South Africa today - destruction and resilience, hope and continual struggle. Â   Crossroads is now home to Beautiful Gate, a home for dozens of children living with HIV/AIDS whose parents are either unable to take care of them or have already died. Converted from what was once a place for troubled youth, Beautiful Gate is surrounded by an imposing fence; I thought this was unusual to have around a place for sick children. On the windows are metal bars, which I originally thought were there to protect the children from violence caused by the stigma surrounding AIDS. I was wrong. In fact, the bars are there because people had tried to steal food...because in Crossroads only half of the people can find work and they are desperate to support themselves. Some of us were able to visit Beautiful Gate a couple times, and I remember talking to Francis Herbert, the social worker there. I asked her why she continued to work there. How could she continue to work when essentially no one was listening, when the government was faced with so many problems it couldn't pay attention, when she knew that for every child that stays at Beautiful Gate, dozens, actually thousands, more have no place to go. Why? Francis looked at me with a puzzled face. She does what she does because it has to be done. I see now how obvious that answer was. And I realize now that Francis and others working in similar conditions will keep hitting a brick wall unless people like myself use our knowledge of the severity of AIDS to mobilize international support.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Virtue Ethics Notes

Virtue Ethics Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who lived between 384 and 322 BCE. He was deeply interested in the idea of cause and purpose. On the Foundation Paper, you will have explored the ideas of the Four Causes and the Prime Mover. Both of these theories look at the idea of how things are caused and how they move towards their purpose. In ethics, any theory that looks at how we become better people over time, or that looks at how we move towards our purpose is called a teleological theory, from the Greek word telos meaning goal or purpose.Virtue ethics is teleological because it argues that we should practice being good, or virtuous people over time. Virtue ethics is therefore not deontological (like Kant’s ethics) and it is also not normative. It is known as aretaic ethics from the Greek word arete meaning excellence or virtue. Virtue ethics is not concerned with what we ought to do, but with what kind of person we should try to become. Aristotle argued that every act ion we perform is directed towards some purpose, that it tries to achieve something. He then argued that there are superior and subordinate aims.Subordinate aims are what we have to achieve first, before we achieve superior aims, for example, if you are hungry (which might be a superior aim) you need to make a sandwich to achieve that aim. Making the sandwich becomes a subordinate aim. The aim of life Aristotle argued that the superior aim of human life is to achieve something called eudaemonia. Eudaemonia is a Greek word that roughly translates to mean ‘happiness’ or ‘flourishing’. Aristotle argued that this is the aim that should govern our lives: the pursuit of happiness or pleasure.Eudaemonia is achieved when we become virtuous and Aristotle argued that this is a process that we grow towards by practising virtues. It is much like learning to play a musical instrument: the more you practise, the better you get. Some of you will have come across the word daemon before in the ‘His Dark Materials’ trilogy by Philip Pullman. All the characters in the books have daemons and Pullman says of them: ‘the daemon is that part of you that helps you grow towards wisdom. ’ Lyra, the central character in the trilogy has a daemon called Pantalaimon who is instrumental in helping her deal with situations wisely as the story progresses. [Pleasure] is also thought to be most important for the forming of a virtuous character to like and dislike the right things because pleasure and pain permeate the whole of life and have a powerful influence upon virtue and the happy life, since people choose what is pleasant and avoid what is painful. ’[1] Aristotle did realise however, that one person’s view of happiness might be very different from another person’s view of happiness. He distinguished between three types of pleasure/happiness: 1. Pleasure seekers: these are people who are driven by their basic desires and simply live from one pleasurable experience to the next: e. . eating good food, sleeping, drinking and having sex. 2. Seekers of honour: Aristotle saw politicians as seekers of honour. These are people who try to find solutions to important problems and get a sense of honour from doing that. 3. Those who love contemplation: these are philosophers and thinkers. Aristotle believed that the lowest forms of happiness are those found by the pleasure seekers. He wrote: ‘The utter servility of the masses comes out in their preference for a bovine [animalistic] existence. ’[2] For Aristotle, the distinguishing feature of humans is their ability to reason, which they get from their soul.In plants, the anima or soul produces the search for nourishment and food, and in animals, the anima produces the ability to move. Humans have these two characteristics, but also the ability to reason. Aristotle called humans ‘rational animals’. It is for this reason that he beli eved we should strive to achieve something better with our lives than simply living from pleasure to pleasure. Happiness for Aristotle is an activity of the soul, i. e. the correct and full use of the soul can help us to discover happiness. Aristotle divided the soul up into two parts, the rational part and the irrational part.Both parts of the soul are then divided in two. The rational part contains the calculative and scientific parts. The scientific part of the soul holds types of knowledge that are factual and not up for debate: in other words, a priori knowledge. The calculative part does what it says; it calculates. It weighs up knowledge and helps us to arrive at decisions. The irrational part of the soul contains the desiderative part and the vegetative part. The vegetative part of the soul is concerned with basic needs that keep us alive and is effectively our survival instinct.The desiderative part helps us to distinguish between needs and wants. For Aristotle, a correctly functioning soul uses all of the parts well and properly. Vardy and Grosch use the example of a fruitcake to demonstrate this. If the vegetative part recognises that I am hungry, it tells me to eat. The desiderative part may desire cake to alleviate the hunger: something I want, but don’t necessarily need. The scientific part of my soul knows that fruit is better for me than cake and the calculative part, weighing up the evidence, comes up with the suggestion of fruitcake. Thus all the parts of my soul have been used in the decision.This is very important, as only a soul that functions correctly can find happiness, or eudaemonia. The Virtues Now that we have seen the basic ideas that Aristotle had about humans and how they function, we can look at the virtues. Aristotle believed that the correct way to live, was to follow something called the doctrine of the mean, the middle way or temperance. Aristotle realised that human behaviour is made up of extremes which he called vic es of excess and vices of deficiency. Aristotle argued that the best course of action falls between the two and that this is the virtue.For example, if courage is the virtue, then cowardice is the vice of deficiency and foolhardiness is the vice of excess. Aristotle believed that there are two types of virtue: intellectual virtues and moral virtues. The intellectual virtues are learned through instruction i. e. they are taught. The moral virtues are developed through habit. The intellectual virtues are developed in the rational part of the soul and the moral virtues are developed in the irrational part of the soul. There are 9 intellectual virtues, as follows: †¢ Art or technical skill (techne) †¢ Scientific knowledge (episteme) Prudence or practical wisdom (phronesis) †¢ Intelligence or intuition (nous) †¢ Wisdom (sophia) †¢ Resourcefulness or good deliberation (eubolia) †¢ Understanding (sunesis) †¢ Judgement (gnome) †¢ Cleverness (deinotes) The 12 moral virtues, with their corresponding vices are set out in the table below. |Vice of deficiency |Virtue |Vice of excess | |Cowardice |Courage |Rashness | |Insensibility Temperance |Intemperance | |Illiberality |Liberality |Prodigality | |Pettiness |Munificence |Vulgarity | |Humble-mindedness |High-mindedness |Vaingloriousness | |Want of ambition |Right ambition |Over-ambition | |Spiritlessness |Good temper |Irascibility | |Surliness |Friendliness/civility |Obsequiousness | |Sarcasm |Sincerity |Boastfulness | |Boorishness |Wittiness |Buffoonery | |Shamelessness |Modesty |Bashfulness | |Callousness |Just resentment |Spitefulness | Aristotle recognised that not all people will attain to the virtues, but he did argue that a balance between the intellectual and moral virtues was essential. Practising the moral virtues alone, might result in conformity and being an automaton. Aristotle urged us to think about the life we lead too. He believed that the virtues were essential to a harmonious society.Aristotle believed that the overall well being of the group is much more important than the well being of individuals alone and argued that it is through encouraging the practise of the virtues that society will be a harmonious place. It is friendship that is the main aim of the moral life, for without friendship, justice is meaningless. Aristotle was not a deep believer in the after-life. Aristotle was a man who valued empirical (sense) evidence above all else and believed that if anything lived on, it would be our memories. Because of this, the point of being virtuous is not to achieve unity with God, or win a place in heaven, it is good because it is the right way to live.Modern virtue ethics In 1958, Elizabeth Anscombe wrote an essay entitled ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’. In this essay, she argued that deontological ethics had become outdated. The existence of God had a considerable shadow cast over it and she argued that the religious basis to ethi cs and morality (i. e. that God gives rules to humans to follow and they must follow them if they wish to get to heaven) could no longer be trusted. She also felt that ethics had moved away from a focus on a person’s character and had instead become obsessed with lots of rules and laws. Anscombe argued that it was time for a return of virtue ethics. Alasdair MacIntyreIn 1981, Alasdair MacIntyre (left) wrote a book called ‘After Virtue’ in which he argued that we should give serious consideration to Aristotle’s theory. In his book, he traced the history of virtue ethics and tried to establish a system of virtue ethics for the modern age. His basic complaint was that modern ethics put too much emphasis on reason and not enough stress on people, their characters and the contexts of their lives. MacIntyre noticed that as societies developed 2,500 years ago, so different virtues developed too. In the age of Homer (who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey), the follo wing virtues were paramount; †¢ Physical strength †¢ Courage †¢ Cunning †¢ Friendship These are known as the Homeric Virtues. As cities (the polis) developed, life slowly became more civilized.Aristotle developed his theory of virtues for the city of Athens and his virtues became known as the Athenian Virtues. They were (briefly) as follows: †¢ Courage †¢ Friendship †¢ Justice: retributive (getting what you deserve) and distributive (making sure that the goods of society are fairly distributed) †¢ Temperance †¢ Wisdom The emphasis on strength and cunning, needed in time of war, was gone. MacIntyre argued that the Athenian virtues of Aristotle were the most complete. For MacIntyre, the problems with ethics began during the Enlightenment, a period of time during the 17th and 18th Centuries when Science became more important for discovering truth.It was thought that a single, rational cause for morality could be discovered and thinkers such as Hume and Kant attempted to do this. MacIntyre realised that whilst the theorists in universities were trying to work morality out, society still needed virtuous people in everyday life; people who run jumble sales to raise money for the local hospital for example. MacIntyre argued that despite the theories of people like Kant and Hume, the virtues have lived on. What’s more, society depends for its very existence upon people who exhibit the virtues. MacIntyre argued that living a virtuous life depended upon getting into the habit of being moral and of striving towards being virtuous. He argued that this can give life an overall purpose and meaning.The virtues for MacIntyre, are any human quality which helps us to achieve the ‘goods’ in life. MacIntyre’s virtues are as follows: †¢ Courage: courage is very important as it helps us to face up to challenges that may come our way. †¢ Justice: this is a very important virtue. Justice is fairness and it is the art of giving someone what they deserve or merit. To be unjust is to be unfair. †¢ Temperance: this prevents us from acting rashly; losing our temper for example. †¢ Wisdom: this is not knowledge: it is the ability to know how to act in the right way in particular situations. †¢ Industriousness: hard work. †¢ Hope: being optimistic. †¢ Patience.Underneath the virtues must be the good will of the person. To be virtuous, one must desire to do virtuous things, rather than do them involuntarily. An act is not virtuous if it is not intended. MacIntyre also used the idea of internal and external goods, a version of which is seen in Natural Law. An internal good is specific to the activity itself; for example, giving money to charity results in helping others and developing a sense of satisfaction. An external good, is a good that is not specific to the act. For example, when giving to charity, your example may inspire others to do the same. MacIntyre al so warned that being virtuous does not prevent you from being open to vices.He gives the example of a great violinist who could be vicious, or a chess player who could be mean spirited. The vices would prevent these people from achieving maximum virtue. MacIntyre suggests that the three most important virtues are justice, courage and honesty. We can only achieve moral excellence through practising these three. They are core virtues that help to prevent organisations and institutions from becoming morally corrupt. It is largely through institutions that traditions, cultures and morality spread: if these institutions are corrupt, then vices become widespread. Philippa Foot Philippa Foot has also put together a modern version of virtue ethics.She has argued that the wise person directs their will to what is good and a good is something that is both intrinsically and extrinsically good (see MacIntyre above). The wise, or virtuous person also knows that there are particular ways of obtai ning certain goods and it is these ways of obtaining goods that are the virtues. She also argues that virtues and skills are different things. We may make a deliberate mistake with a skill, but not damage our character or reputation; for example, a teacher who deliberately misspells a word to draw their students attention to it. However, if you deliberately act in a non-virtuous way, your reputation and character will suffer. Foot also characterises virtues as ‘correctives’. She likens humans to planks of wood that are left out to season.Wood naturally warps and changes shape and it needs continuous straightening to make it straight. Virtues do the same for the human character: they continually straighten us out so that eventually we can, through habit, become virtuous. Evaluation of virtue ethics argued that justice and truthfulness are not a middle way, but are ethical absolutes that we have a duty to follow. Grotius argued that there are absolute moral laws that we h ave a duty to obey and that can be worked out by anyone of sufficient intelligence. ———————– [1] Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics, X 1172a. [2] Ibid: I, 1095b. ———————– The five primary intellectual virtues The four secondary intellectual virtues

Monday, September 16, 2019

Frederick Douglass vs. Martin Luther King Jr. Essay

MLK Jr and Frederick Douglass both have the same thoughts on how African Americans should be treated different. The main difference between there thoughts are how they feel about how African Americans get treated by white people. Frederick Douglass was a slave who escaped form slavery but while in it he was treated horrible. Since he was treated so bad his point of view and perspective on white people is that there all evil no matter whom they are. But from MLK’s perspective he just wants African Americans to have equal rights just like they should. Frederick Douglass was born a slave and has been around slavery all his life. During slavery the slaveholders never held back and never showed mercy when they punished slaves. Frederick Douglass was punished so much and to him slaveholders and white people are evil. So since Frederick Douglass has only really seen white people when there mad and when they harm him, that is why his point of view on them is so different then MLK’s. That is also why Frederick Douglass’s speech is different from MLK’s letter they both have two different perspectives on white people. Martin Luther King on the other hand is totally different. He really just wants peace for his people and the same rights. He believes that all humans are the same and created from the same person so why don’t African Americans have equal rights as everyone else. He knows the nicer white people and he also knows the white people who don’t care at all about what he wants. So unlike Frederick Douglass who didn’t know any nice white people MLK knew people who were on his side and the people who were totally out to get him. That is why MLK’s letter is different than Frederick Douglass’s speech. They both do have there similarities though. They both want the same for there people and that’s peace and to be equal. MLK enforced it a lot more than Frederick Douglass but in the end they both wanted the same thing for there people. They both suffered a lot from wanting equal rights but they made it. MLK got put into jail for awhile and was humiliated and Frederick Douglass was nearly beat to death everyday and was humiliated so much  everyday but in the end it was all worth it because now African Americans are equal and have there rights. In the end these two men got what they worked so hard for, there rights for there people and equality. They both had a goal and achieved it they never gave up no matter how hard it got or no matter how much trouble they got into they strived for there goal and achieved it. These two men are inspirations to most people because of what they have don’t to help there people and themselves.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Industrial Grinders Case Essay

G’s large quantity of steel rings are on hand and the substantial inventory of special steel for their manufacture. And this steel as inventory can’t be sold. I. G had manufactured industrial machines for sale in numerous countries for nearly 70 years. It means it has market to sale rings no matter whether it is steel or plastic ring. These rings could be supplied for their own machines too. In general the plants were allowed considerable leeway in administering their own affairs. Bridgeman has right to make market strategy in time. During slack periods, company has a policy of employing excess labor on various make-work projects rather than laying the men off. At that time, the salary is at about 70% of regular wages. Low labor cost will decrease the cost of production. There are a lot of steel rings on hand and can’t be sold. The total book value of these inventories exceeded $93,000. Large inventory means less liquid cash. Maybe it influences operation in the future. Now I. G only has steel rings and these rings have higher cost than plastic rings. Also the lives of steel rings are shorter than plastic rings. I. G’s competitor Henri Poulenc has already started selling plastic rings at the same price as steel rings. And if I. G makes plastic rings, it can start selling only after 4 months so by then Henri Poulenc will take over more market shares. The competitiveness of I. G is very weak now. The ring innovation is an opportunity for I. G, but also a kind of threat. When instead of steel rings, plastic ring I. G starts using it gives I. G a chance to reform. It could cut down the cost and improve the quality of rings. If I. G switches from steel rings to plastic rings successfully, it could expand business and get more profits because of low cost, so it’s an opportunity. However, the competitor had plastic rings in advance than I. G, so it’s threaten for I. G. Competitor could use this advantage to get more business. It maybe threat to I. G’s operation and profits. In the early 1970, Japanese manufacturers had successfully entered the field with low priced spare parts. Other companies also had appeared with low quality and lower price machines. The competition would become more intense. More competitors share one market, so each supplier needs to improve competitiveness. It’s a new challenge. After analyzing internal and external situation of I. G, we can say that I. G has strong operational capacity. However, the core problem is what to be done about the steel inventory. I. G should start developing plastic rings as soon as possible and start using those. Because the core of competition is production, even though steel ring still has its value now, the plastic ring will substitute for it sooner or later. The strong competitor of I. G is Henri Poulenc. It has already introduced plastic rings. Only if I. G produces plastic ring in time it can compete with Henri Poulenc and stop them from grasping more market share. In addition, plastic ring has lower cost and longer life than steel ring. The Table A shows the cost of 100 plastic rings is $66. 60, but 100 steel rings cost $263. 88. Obviously, if they sale at the same price, 100 plastic rings will get $197. 25 more profit than steel rings. However, Anders Ericsson, the development engineer, estimated that the plastic rings could be produced by mid-September, so before mid-September, I. G has to sell steel rings on hand. Fortunately, Henri Poulenc was said to be selling the plastic ring at about the same price as the I. G steel ring, so I. G wouldn’t get strong shock from Henri Poulenc. Of course, Henri Poulenc will get higher profit, but only analyzing from the price, I. G and Henri Poulenc are in the same position, so it depends on demanders’ preference which kind of rings they like. And I. G could sell the steel rings in different markets, which are not covered, by plastic rings of Henri Poulenc. It avoids direct conflict. Steel inventory is a big weakness of I. G, so it’s a good time to consume a large amount of steel. Assuming the sales continued at the current rate of 690 rings per week before mid-September, it would consume 19400 steel rings. During the slack time, I. G could ask labors to convert the steel inventory into rings to satisfy the supply amount before mid-September, because at that time, the labor cost will be about 70% of regular wages so that decreases the cost to produce steel rings. Those steel rings only need to satisfy the supply amounts for 4 months using, because after mid-September, plastic ring will be used instead of steel. If there are more steel rings converted than demanded, I. G will pay for labour cost from their pocket. It will waste resources, time and money. So nothing definite can be said about the steel inventory.