Comparative Study of Personal Financial Planning Essay

It is generally seen that people have a misconception that financial planning is about saving more and spending less but that is not the case, it is more about saving the right amount so that future goals can be met. The objective of financial planning is * To ensure that the right amount of money is available in right hands at right point of time in the future to achieve the desired goals and objectives. It * Provides direction and meaning to your financial decisions. * It allows you to understand how each financial decision you make affects other areas of your finances. Financial planning and investments can be undertaken by anyone with a clear assessment of one’s inflow of funds and the goals that need to be achieved from time to time. Keywords: Financial planning, wealth management, investment instruments, real estate Introduction Financial planning is achieving your financial goals in the most efficient manner. The broad areas of financial planning include Investment plan ning  -Your wealth will only grow over time if you have invested it in assets. Investment planning  deals with the kind of investments an individual should invest in to get the best out of his wealth. In this the risk and return profiling of an individual is done based on his life stage, spending requirements with respect to his income and wealth, time horizon and liquidity requirements and various individual specific constraints. Investment Planning is important because it helps you to derive the maximum benefit from your investments. | Cash flow planning  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ In simple terms, cash flow refers to the inflow and outflow of money. It is a record of your income and expenses. Though this sounds simple, very few people actually take time out to find out what comes in and what goes out of their hands each month. Cash flow planning refers to the process of identifying the major expenditures in future (both short-term and long-term) and making planned investments so that the required amount is accumulated within the required time frame. Cash flow planning is the first thing that should be done prior to starting an investment exercise, because only then will you be in a position to know how your finances look like, and what is it that you can invest without causing a strain on yourself. It will also enable you to understand if a particular investment matches with your flow requirement| | | 3. Retirement planning  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Retirement planning means making sure you will have enough money to live on after retiring from work. Retirement should be the best period of your life, when you can literally sit back and relax or enjoy your life by reaping benefits of what you earn in so many years of hard work. But it is easier said than done. To achieve a hassle-free retired life, you need to make pruden t investment decisions during your working life, thus putting your hard-earned money to work for you in future. Planning for retirement is as important as planning your career and marriage. Life takes its own course and from the poorest to the wealthiest, no one gets spared. We get older every day, without realizing. However, we assume that old age is never going to touch us. The future depends to a great extent on the choices you make today. Right decisions with the help of proper financial planning, taken at the right time will assure smile and success at the time of retirement. Retirement Planning acquires added importance because of the fact that though longevity has increased, the number of working years haven’t.Tax planning  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Tax evasion is illegal but tax minimization is legal. Thus you can reduce your tax liability by planning effectively. With proper tax planning you can increase your after tax income. |   | 5. | Children future planning- It is essential to plan for the future of your children. The purpose of Children’s Future Planning is to create a corpus for foreseeable expenditures such as those on higher education and wedding and to provide for an adequate security cover during their growing years. Savings alone is no longer enough.

Depression Treatments

College Writing II 13 September 2012 Depression Treatments Depression is a mental illness affecting millions of people, not just in the United States, but also the world. According to Marcia Clemmitt, it’s â€Å"loosely defined as a mental and emotional disorder with symptoms of constant sadness, lethargy, irritability and a loss of interest and pleasure† (575). Depression can be linked to stressful life events, such as family issues, sexual assault, or losing a loved one.Liubov Kavaliauskiene, Virginija  Adomaitiene, and Rimantas  Peciura add that depressionâ€Å"disrupts the working capacity of the ill person for a long time, complicates the lives of his/her family members and requires additional money for social care services† (92). If left untreated, depression may lead to irrational violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and suicide. Depression treatment options have become widely available over time, ranging from medicine to Web-based therapy. However, issue s with treatment costs have erupted since many depression patients relapse (Kavaliauskiene et. l. 92). Situations like these make determining the best way to treat depression unclear. The CQ Researcher article â€Å"Treating Depression† was written by Marcia Clemmitt and published on June 26, 2009 as Volume 19, Issue 24. Clemmitt, a former high school teacher, has worked for â€Å"The Scientist† and â€Å"Medicine & Health†. She has earned degrees from St. John's College, Annapolis, and Georgetown University. She currently writes social policy articles on CQ Researcher, such as â€Å"Public Works Projects† and â€Å"Preventing Cancer†.The second article, titled â€Å"Medication Rationality in treating depression†, was found using Academic Search Complete. The study was published by Acta Medica Lituanica as Volume 18, No. 2 in 2011, and written by Liubov Kavaliauskiene, Rimantas  Peciura, and Virginija  Adomaitiene. All three work for the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, but they’re part of different departments. Peciura and Kavaliauskiene are affiliated with the Department of Drug Technology and Social Pharmacy, while Adomaitiene’s affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry. Treating Depression† introduces depression, discussing symptoms, causes and effect on society. It also explains limits depression patients face in finding help for their disorder. In 2008, Congress passed a law resulting in a rise in insurance coverage and access to mental-health services (Clemmitt 573). However, some depression patients haven’t benefited since they lack insurance and rely on scarce public-health care programs. Psychiatric help and reliable antidepressants are also scanty since people are different and take different medications.Despite the fact, Clemmitt insists treatment options have improved since â€Å"most primary-care physicians screen for depression and prescribe medications (581). † It’s great news, but if patients don’t improve after being examined and treated the first time, it’s likely they won’t try another way to improve their condition. The first modern antidepressants, tricyclics, were created in the 1950’s (Clemmitt 588). They supposedly made a patient happier and allowed them to be successfully treated as an outpatient by helping their brain’s chemical balance function properly.However, the drug’s considered controversial due to questionable side effects. Clemmitt notes that safer options, like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and cognitive behavioral therapy are available. The article shows that depression needs to be treated aggressively with quality treatment and the importance of preventing future cases. â€Å"Medication Rationality in treating depression† covers depression treatment methods used by Lithuanian doctors. Costs of treating depression patients have been burdensome s ince many of them have relapsed, as mentioned before.The study has had a goal to â€Å"evaluate the use of anti-depressants according to the opinions of three groups of specialists (family doctors, psychiatrists, and pharmacists)† (Kavaliauskiene et. al. 92). The specialists’ opinions were evidently used to determine several different options for managing depression treatment costs better. This may have been begun like this since family doctors, psychiatrists, and pharmacists all have different professions in the medical field. Therefore, it’s assumed they’ve different thoughts on using anti-depressants.Several findings could be drawn from the study with use of critical data on depression cases and information gathered from interviews with Lithuanian â€Å"specialists†. Kavaliauskiene et. al. noted a combination of individually selected medicines and psychological help is needed to treat depression, not just medicine (96). Also, they suggest that e ven though depression treatments are â€Å"handled differently by different professionals (96),† psychiatrists and family doctors should review causes of depression, work with pharmacists, and learn about new antidepressants (96).Doctors need to be trained to correctly recognize depression and to know when to send patients to a psychiatrist (96). If all of these conditions are properly met, treating depression patients is manageable. Looking at the two articles, quite a few conflicts and commonalities appear between them. Kavaliauskiene et. al. mention that â€Å"relapse rates in depression may range from 20% to as high as 44%†¦ with a maintained use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. In contrast, with tricyclic antidepressants, relapse during the ongoing treatment to maintain remission is relatively rare† (93).This conflicts with Marcia Clemmitt’s suggestion that SSRI’s could be more effective than the tricyclics drugs, because the latter h as questionable side effects, such as â€Å"increased heart rate, blurred vision, and weight gain† and â€Å"could be fatal in overdoses† (590). At the same time, however before mentioning the side effects, Clemmitt mentioned how the tricyclic drug effectively fixed chemical imbalances in the brain to make patients feel better. This indicates an ambiguity with the sources on the topic of treatments.An instance of a commonality between the sources relates to a depression patient’s motivation to get treated. If a depression patient doesn’t improve with the first round of treatment, they will likely never seek another way to be cured, according to Marcia Clemmitt’s data. (581). This is supported with a solution presented by Kavaliauskiene and his colleagues, saying to treat relapsing patients more attentively and to act quickly if no signs of improvement are present. They may have been given the wrong diagnosis or wrong type of medication (96).It seem s from these examples that the sources are more similar than they are different. Though they agree on certain topics, the perfect depression treatment is still unknown. Additional research may help one understand what the best approach to properly treat depression patients is. Works Cited Clemmitt, Marcia. â€Å"Treating Depression. † CQ Researcher 19. 24 (2009): 573-96. CQ Researcher. Web. 6 Sept. 2012. Kavaliauskiene, Liubov, et. al. â€Å"Medication Rationality in treating depression† Acta Medica Lituanica 18. 2 (2011): 92-96. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Sept. 2012.

Prosperity of India Essay

The way Indian economy is making progress for the last few years, is fairly rapid and impressive. Continuation of the same trend in the next five years should result in substantial advancement in prosperity as compared to developed countries. However, complacency can be disastrous for any country. Also there is no harm to give further fillip to growth rate in future. With this attitude I would like to suggest the following ares of improvement for aster development of India’s economic prosperity and security. 1.India’s achievement in the field of information technology, particularly in software development has been very impressive and very much talked about. But it is worth noting that most of India’s software and other IT services companies, including IT based business process outsourcing derive a very big chunk of their business from overseas business. This means that India is not able to make much use of IT to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its bus iness and other economic operations. This also reflects the low priority given by Indian business to improve quality, effectiveness and efficiency. I believe, that to become a major economic power in the world, it is necessary to develop the best capabilities in much wider sphere of technology, rather than just providing services to other companies and business that use such services to achieve high level of efficiency and effectiveness. 2.Performance of industries is being harmed by narrow considerations of regionalism and casts. While the need to provide support support to under developed regions and under-privileged sections cannot be denied. I very much doubt if their interest is best served by helping them in ways that bring down the level of performance in businesses and public life. Any preferential treatment to specific region or set of people should pass the test of a proper cost benefit analysis. Of the various practices adopted in name of social justice, the one that hurts the country most, is denying opportunities for to those who can serve national interest best, by assigning responsibilities for such work and resul t to the incapable and incompetent. I believe all scheme enforced by government for preferential treatment for employment based on caste or region should be replaced by schemes to develop the capabilities of such under privileged people so that they can contribute to the national wealth. National wealth cannot be increased by just consuming it without contributing to its creation. 3.There is a need to cut down on corruption and inefficiency in the  government. This can be done very effectively by employing information technology. The right to information act has made some impact. But already there are moves from many government to limit the scope of this act on many different pretexts. I believe by developing and implementing effective systems that monitor and control performance of individual in government jobs, performance of the country as a whole will improve automatically. Thank Writer Comment Blurt Anonymous Profile Anonymous answered India need improvement in all spheres so that it could also be counted as the developed country. People should adopt family planning programmes to reduce the population of the country. Better education and medical facilities should be provided. Agriculture should be improved because more than half of the population is farmer. Come on India!!!! Now its our time!!! Thank Writer Comment Blurt Anonymous Profile Anonymous answered India should provide girl education in rural areas so that the girls could also study and can be the future of the nation.Some parents also did not send their child to the school because of the following reasons:- 1.School can be far from the home and there would be no conveyance. 2.Parents could not afford the fees of the school. 3.The child could be discriminated just like Om Prakash Velky. 4.Proper teachers could not be available. So Indian Government should provide proper education in the rural areas specially and should take strict action to the education of the rural areas. Thank Writer Comment Blurt Anonymous Anonymous commented 1.child labour must be band 2.women of the society should be protected Anonymous Profile Anonymous answered India lacks literacy, n literacy can remove all the social evils from the country and making it a secular, safe, n prosperous country. We people living in the Urban areas are not at all satisfied by what is happening then try to imagine of those living in remote areas, they simply lack everything. The things that today have become a basic necessity for us are out of reach for some people or say most of the India’s population like electricity, water supply. Dowry, child marriage are the evils that need to be debarred today from the roots. N Literacy is the only mean to do that. Girl education can make a far improvement. It could remove almost all the evils that India is affected by. Thank Writer Comment Blurt prem R S Profile prem R S answered Common Education, Common law( Civil code) No religious favourism, no cast, majority , minority concepts should be avoided. Nationalsim should be encouraged..India is the world leader. All should be equal without cast and creed. Only one difference should be there, ie, havings and have nots. That means under economic conditions. Give them what they needed. If educationally backward provide them, Money for study give them. If money is there and lack of development in that region, provide it.If health problem arrang for it. Think first and ask first What is the problem in each and every area.No holidays under religious consideration. Only weekend holidays only.Each and every person should have the right to take leave on their respective festivals and enjoy it. All others should come to the office and vice versa.No HINDu law, or christian or Islam. Should take good from all and be implimented. If giving scholorship provide to all poor people without considering his cast and only consider his economic conditions.All students and people should express their views , ideas through proper channel(agency) what they want and to become Provide them help for it afterexamining his qulaity for that. A good Nation without Religous favourism . That could develop. STudy and teach All are brothers. No scams!!! It will destroy the minds of new generation. Think positively and  act positively by policians and leaders who are influencing the society.Should give importance to (50%) agriculture.Without eating we could do nothing. Control population . One or Two. Give the new birth baby full facilities( up to 2 childeren) If more than that number, it is responsibility of their own and it nver of the STATE(Govt) and never give them any assistance. Always in the mind that â€Å"†INDIA THE WORLD LEADER†Ã¢â‚¬ Ã¢â‚¬ 

ISSUES IN PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE Assignment

ISSUES IN PROFESSIONAL NURSING PRACTICE - Assignment Example The achievement of professional nurse autonomy is one of the major milestones that had influenced the development of nursing profession and practice. Holland (1999) defines professional nurse autonomy as the nurse perceived latitude or willingness to act as a responsible professional, independent from medical profession but interdependent to allied-health professions (p. 311). The traditional view of professional autonomy differs among gender. It had been evident during the time of Nightingale and the Crimean War where medical professionals rejected at first the offer of Florence Nightingale to help because of gender and professional prejudices. Male has been viewed as the dominant gender and doctors were superior to the nurses, limiting suggestions and decisions made by a nurse. Physicians viewed that collaborative care was only between physicians and clients and nurses are treated like servantsthan a powerful healer. But urgency of the circumstances had led the physician to accept the help of Florence Nightingale and 38 other nurses. Through Nightingale’s help, it was not only professional recognition of female nurses that has been achieved but the formal nursing education programs, reorganization, and advancement of professional nursing (Cherry & Jacob, 2011, 10). In addition, nurses were often oppressed and salaries were not sufficient during t he 1970s thus, nurses strive for economic stability and to the methods and ideals of science to gain professional recognition, equality, status, and rightful acceptance not only from the medical professions but also from the general public. Nursing has evolved from an indistinct, gender-biased, and physician-dependent profession to a notable field with independent nurse practitioners, both male and female in the health care arena. The struggles made by Nightingale addressed the need for nursing to be established as a profession, free from gender discrimination and separate

Publix Super Market and the Effect of Hurricanes Research Paper

Publix Super Market and the Effect of Hurricanes - Research Paper Example Hurricanes result to enormous damages and devastation within the local communities. These natural disasters tend to deter and disrupt supply chains of major products due to the damages inflicted on infrastructure such as roads, rails, and communication channels. Consequently, businesses (especially those that operate a Just-in-Time manufacturing methodology) incur significant supply shortages that run for long durations, resulting to losses due to lost revenues. Other losses emanate from damage on goods and insurance claims that may run into hundreds of million of dollars. One such business that experienced huge losses in the 2004-2005 hurricanes in Miami, Florida is Publix Supermarket and its chain of stores. This paper seeks to examine the effects of external events to a business, drawing from the impacts of hurricanes on Publix supermarket, especially the disruption of its supply chain, damages to goods, and insurance claims (Publix AMC). Publix Supermarket Inc is an employee-owne d chain stores operating primarily in the United States. The company has grown rapidly since its establishment to dominate the retail industry in Florida and the US at large, operating 1086 retail stores, 8 centers for grocery distribution, and nine brand-manufacturing facilities. The product portfolio of the company is majorly grocery, foods and beverages, and other finished products, groceries and food products being dominant. With the headquarters in Florida, the retail giant has over 757 stores, with a grocery distribution center in Miami (Publix AMC). The company has a solid establishment in the Florida region, but the fact that the area is prone to hurricanes and tornadoes downplays its development. Due to the delicate nature of its products portfolio, Publix operates a primarily Just-in-Time manufacturing method. This production methodology emphasizes on problem solving and waste reduction for continuous improvement, thus improving organizational performance. The fundamental principles include having adequate inventory only, improving quality, reducing setup time and queue length, and reducing costs. This production method has quality and cost benefits, but the most significant challenge is supply chain disruptions. Supply chain disruptions occur because of failure of one element of the supply chain and the subsequent failure in the rest of the chain. There are two categories of supply chain risks: disruption or operation. Operational risks refer to uncertainties such as uncertainty in costs, customer demand, and supply. Disruption risks are associated with economic crises or manmade and natural disasters. This paper focuses on the disruption risks in the supply chain of Publix Supermarket Inc. In Miami, the most significant disasters are hurricanes. About eight years ago, the region experienced three catastrophic hurricanes in barely two month, with hurricane Charley in August 13 2004, hurricane Ivan in September 2004, and hurricane Jeanne in September 2004. The impacts of the events were enormous to the people and business in that community. Among the most affected was Publix Super Markets, recording well over $60 million in product losses alone (SEC 17). According to the organization’s Form 10-K submission for the fiscal year 2006 to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the 2004-2005 hurricanes had significant financial

Deciphering Quotes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Deciphering Quotes - Assignment Example This eternal failure depresses people. The whole area of morality and justice involves official laws and courts, which can constrain people with more and more detailed prohibitions. Perhaps officialdom brings out the worst in people, and laws which are intended to be helpful are often used as weapons for people to humiliate and punish each other in public, rather than sorting out their differences in an informal discussion. The last statement about industry and profit is a very good one for our present times because it highlights the danger that comes when people build up huge amounts of wealth and possessions. This enrages people who are poor, and encourages them to steal from the rich, because the gap between rich and poor is so extreme. It seems that Lao-tzu recommends a quiet and modest life, in which each person lives by his or her own conscience, looking after self and others in a gentle way, rather than chasing after high ideals or great wealth which do not make people happy. 2 Plato: â€Å"The prison house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which at your desire, I have expressed whether rightly or wrongly God knows.† In this quotation Plato explains the true meaning of his famous allegory of the cave. He has just been describing a â€Å"prison house† which is a cave in which human being are chained facing one wall, unable to see each other, or look in any other direction except at the wall in front of them. This makes me think of the way that many people have very fixed ideas about things, and can only see one perspective. In this allegory, however, the intention is not to point out the error of one particular way of thinking, but instead Plato wants us to think about the limitations of human understanding in general. The prisoners can only see shadows which are ref lected on the wall, because they are physically constrained to do so. This is an analogy for the way that human beings are forced to apprehend the world through their physical senses. They see some of the attributes of things in the world around them, but they cannot see others, for example the naked eye cannot see microscopic creatures or distant planets, but these objects do exist. The notion of the â€Å"ascent of the soul into the intellectual world†, which Plato represents as a journey out of the cave and its shadows into the full light and space of the world outside, shows the huge benefit that people gain when they use their mental faculties to complement the partial understanding that they gain from their senses. In a way this journey of the soul is a definition of philosophy, and an encouragement for students of Plato to step outside the purely physical dimension and think about higher things. 3 Aristotle: â€Å"The study of humankind requires awareness of peopleâ⠂¬â„¢s differences of background, education, habit, temperament, and other similar factors.† Aristotle is making a very important point about human nature, which is the great diversity that exists in society. It may be that Aristotle is arguing against the kind of philosophy that generalizes about human beings, as if they were all the same, or as if there is one model of

Hybrid Cars Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hybrid Cars Research Paper - Essay Example You never plug in these cars to recharge the battery -- you simply fill the gas tank. The Toyota Prius, a five passenger hybrid about the size of a Corolla, gets 52 miles per gallon around town and 45 on the highway. The smaller Honda Insight gets 70 miles per gallon overall, making it the highest-mileage car ever to hit the mass market -- ideal for today's soaring energy prices. Hybrid technology also works on a larger scale. In 1999, five hybrid busses ran up to 18 hours a day in New York City. The 40-foot busses used a diesel engine running at constant speed. The hefty batteries were used to accelerate and recover energy from braking. Hybrids combine the best of electricity and gasoline. Instead of recharging through a plug, the batteries get their juice from a small, light gasoline or diesel engine. When you hit the brakes, kinetic energy is converted into electricity, and then stored in the battery. At a stop light, the engine shuts down entirely. Hybrids sound good -- they are, for example, exempt from the range limitations of battery-powered cars. But even hybrids could seem passed by 2004, when major auto makers promise to start selling cars powered by fuel cells. Fuel cells make electricity without burning anything. They don't even have moving parts. In the effort to cut auto pollution, hybrids and battery cars are a step forward, assuming anybody will buy them. But they're far from perfect: Hybrids burn gasoline, making air pollution. Batteries run down, and even though battery cars are called "zero emissions" vehicles, they generally just move the pollution rather than eliminate it (Lovins 1995, pp.73). On the horizon, however, is a car where "zero emissions" meets truth-in-advertising. Bye-bye catalytic converters and associated pollution-control gadgetry. In fact, it will be so long to pollution entirely. In fuel-cell cars running on hydrogen, the waste products amount to water and heat. The fuel cell, furthermore, is a new kind of engine -- one without moving parts! Even if fuel cells burn alcohol or gasoline, they will be far more efficient than today's internal combustion engines, and will produce less carbon dioxide, the primary culprit in global warming. Fuel cells have been producing power since the start of the space age. But bulky, expensive and relatively weak, the cells seemed unlikely to find a place under the hood of Detroit's finest. Then, in the 1980s, Canadian engineer Geoffrey Ballard began tinkering with fuel cells in search of a cleaner way to move people and goods. Among the several possible varieties, Ballard selected the proton-exchange membrane, a technology that operates at low temperature and starts up quickly; making it suitable for a machine that would replace the Buick Road Master (Polokovic 2000, p.A1). Like batteries, fuel cells make electricity from chemical reactions. But while batteries have a limited supply of chemical energy, fuel cells get chemical energy from the fuel, so they drive until the tank runs dry. Like a battery, a fuel cell has a cathode, with a positive charge, and an anode, with a negative charge. The cell uses a catalyst -- often platinum -- to dissociate some electrons from atoms. These liberated

Legitimation Problems in Late Capitalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Legitimation Problems in Late Capitalism - Essay Example The term 'legitimation' is derived from Weberian sociological tradition, whereas the term 'crisis' is a derivative of and from the Marxist analysis of Capitalism (Ramussen.1976). Let us first attempt to discuss the key terms 'legitimation and crises and how these terms although derivatives of earlier thought have been given new meanings through Habermasian analysis. It needs to be understood that Habermas has drawn critical distinctions, blurred but distinct boundaries between sociological evolution on the partly historical and partly sociological continuum. His estimation of advanced Capitalism is different from what Karl Marx analyzed and prophesied about. Marx had analyzed the Capitalism of liberal capitalism variety which functioned without state intervention; an Adam Smithsonian Laiisez-Fare capitalism. It had its own crisis, which Marx analyzed and perhaps predicted. Whereas the object or rather subjective focus of Habermasian analysis is modern, advanced capitalism with its un ique attributes of state intervention and its concomitant urge for a value structure of its own, it therefore has its own particular form of crisis relating to 'legitimation and eventually motivation' (ibid. pp.350). The term Legitimation has its roots in the Weberian tradition, 'in weberian usage the term occurs with its counterpart of domination' (Ramussen.1976), a legitimate stratification of order and for order in the society, expressed in the form of legal system, a codification of dominant values, whereas Habermasian Legitimation is devoid of its excess baggage of domination, and is based on 'communicative competence' (Habermas. 1975). Having discussed the key terms and their basis of occurring in the Habermasian analysis, let us now move on to attempting to trace the roots of this conceptualization. It may be argued that Habermas's point of departure about history of development of social theory is derived from Aristotle's distinction between episteme and phronesis, between science and prudence (Ramussen.1976). This distinction provides a useful preserve for politics from the stark and empiricist basis. Because ' the philosophy modeled on (pure episteme) would give priority to an elitist control, as natural science sought to control nature'(ibid). Therefore it may be understood that the precedence of phronesis over episteme forms the basis of core assumptions for Habermas. Moving further from these premises a brief reference can be made to Habermas's critique of Marx in interpretation of relationship of philosophy and science. The relationship between the two has been termed as ambiguous at best (ibid). However th e Habermas does not seem to agree with Marx's assumption that science itself would provide the grounds for the salvation of modern society. In Habermas's own view 'it is necessary, in light of the adjudged failure of Marx's analysis, to continue the quest of a critical theory of society which will eventuate in human liberation' (Habermas. 1976). It is now pertinent to take recourse to what Habermas has conceptualized. At the outset the argument begins with the stated purpose of achieving " A Social scientific Concept of Crisis" inimical to " State-regulated capitalism" (Habermas.1976.pp.1). Initially a theoretical framework is defined based on 'an

What was the short-term contribution of William Wilberforce to the Coursework

What was the short-term contribution of William Wilberforce to the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 - Coursework Example William Wilberforce was instrumental in abolishing slavery in 1807. Astute group William Wilberforce joined an astute group of United Kingdom politicians who focused all their time, energy, and money to abolishing the United Kingdom slave trade (Wilberface & Wilberface, 1838). The group includes historical greats in the anti-slave trade movement during the 1800s. Charles Fox is one of the active members of the same group. Henry Thornton is another member of the anti-slave trade. The group agreed to sponsor the 1807 anti-slavery trade. The group is one of the active coalition sectors of the United Kingdom House of Commons. The final product of the group’s many years combined anti-slavery efforts had precipitated to the historic passing of the United Kingdom 1807 anti-slavery act. 1807 Anti-Slavery Act Prior to the passing of the 1807 anti-slavery act, the United Kingdom Parliament had passed into law the slavery quota benchmarks. The law sets the maximum number of slaves that c an be transported in a ship. A research conducted by the 1789 Privy Council explained the atrocities suffered by the slaves from the time of their kidnapping or sale to the time of their transfer or sale to the new slave owners. During 1791, a group of anti-slavery politicians tried their best to stop the slave trade. However, the United Kingdom Parliament voted to disapprove the proposed anti-slavery laws. Unfortunately, the voting showed that 163 law makers in the House of Commons voted disapprove the proposed anti-slavery law. Only 88 law makers preferred the approval of the proposed anti-slavery laws (Rodriguez, 1997). As a law maker, William Wilberforce contributed his law making prowess to the abolition of slavery (Wilberface & Wilberface, 1838). William Wilberforce is a member of the United Kingdom Parliament. As member, William Wilberforce votes on certain law proposals. When the majority vote wins, the wish or petition of the majority voters will be implemented. William Wil berforce spent many years generating support for the abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom. After William Wilberforce succeeded in passing the 1807 that abolished slavery, William Wilberforce went farther. William Wilberforce supported group moves to abolish the slave trade outside the United Kingdom. After many years of persuasive convincing, countries like Sweden, Portugal and Holland, other European Union countries adhered to William Wilberforce’s insistence that slavery should be stopped within the soonest possible time (Rodriguez, 1997). Further, William Wilberforce was able to unite several individuals to focus on one main goal, abolishing the slave trade. Wilberforce worked for more than 15 years to see his dream of a free African British environment a reality. Wilberforce successfully convinced his fellow United Kingdom lawmakers to approve his desire to stop the inhuman slave trade. During those more than 15 years, William Wilberforce’s loyal followers co ntinued to grow in force. With the needed numbers in place, William Wilberforce finally saw the lives of the kidnapped African British slaves’ iron chained unlocked. Furthermore, William Wilberforce was very honest and sincere in explaining the religious consequences of continuing the slave trade. William Wilberforce uses his religious concepts to convince the religious members of the United Kingdom parliament to cancel the prevailing slave trade. William Wilberforce was able to connect with the religious members of the United Kingdom Parliament (Rodriguez, 1997). Voting In 1792, 230 law makers voted to gradually end United Kingdom slavery practices (Rodriguez, 1997). Only a meager 85 law makers disapproved the anti-slavery

Piagets Theories Essay Example for Free

Piagets Theories Essay The summary of Piaget’s theories includes stages of learning through cognitive development. The cognitive perspective was revolutionized by Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist. Piaget proposed â€Å"that all people pass in a fixed sequence through a series of universal stages of cognitive development†. (Feldman, 2008, p. 20) Piaget’s theory outlined four stages of development. Piaget’s Four Stages of Learning The four stages of learning are sensorimotor, birth to 2 years old, preoperational, ages 2 to 4, concrete operations, ages 7 to 11, and formal operations, ages 11 to 15. Campbell, 1976, p. 1) Piaget’s four stage learning model demonstrates how the mind processes new information encountered at different ages. The child does not move from one stage to the next until it has reached physical maturation and has experienced relevant situations. (Feldman, 2008, p. 151) In the sensorimotor stage the infant learns through interaction with the environment, which could include mouthing and touching items to build an understanding of oneself at this stage of cognitive development. The infant is unable to speak therefore learns through assimilation. (Campbell, 1976, p. 1) Catherine P. Cook-Cottone used Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development to analyze student counseling sessions. In her article â€Å"Using Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development to Understand the Construction of Healing Narratives† she identifies the stages of learning of students in sessions. Students in the sensorimotor stage â€Å"may enter the counseling situation with a very limited ability to conceptualize and describe their presenting problems†. Cook-Cottone, Fall 2004, Volume 7, p. 182) In the pre-operational stage conceptualizing abstractly is not possible. There needs to be concrete physical situations for the child to understand there is a difference. The child needs to see objects in simple ways with important features setting it apart from other objects. (Feldman, 2008, p. 151) In â€Å"Using Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development to Understand the Construction of Healing Narratives† there is a sequence of learning for the students in therapy who work through resolving their problems. Cook-Cottone, Fall 2004, Volume 7) In pre-operational stage students are able to label the areas of concerns. â€Å"As students gain therapueutic experience with concepts or issues, they begin to develop increasingly organized schemata for the problem-related experences†. (Cook-Cottone, Fall 2004, Volume 7, p. 182) Concrete operations stage the child begins to think abstractly and is able to conceptualize. (Feldman, 2008, p. 151) The child creates logical explanations for the physical experience it is relating to or sees. Catherine P.  Cook-Cotton states â€Å"Once labels are consistently used in the counseling situation, students narratives become increasing more focused on making many connections among experiences. (Cook-Cottone, Fall 2004, Volume 7, p. 183) The fourth and final learning stage is formal operations. This stage is the final learning phase for an individual. There is no longer a need for concrete objects to reason, and hypothesis begins. (Campbell, 1976) In â€Å"Using Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development to Understand the Construction of Healing Narratives† the students â€Å".. ave achieved a formal integration of the problem-specific content, they begin to make a sophisticated associations among more abstract ideas in addtion to being able to make associations amoung concrete experiences†. (Cook-Cottone, Fall 2004, Volume 7, p. 183) Piaget’s Theory vs. B. F. Skinner Operant Theory With â€Å"operant conditioning, formulated and championed by psychologist B. F. Skinner, individuals learn to act deliberately on their environments in order to bring about desired consequences†. (Feldman, 2008, p. 19) Cognitive Development operates on the individual assessing, learning and developing through inner self and their experience with the environment. With operant conditioning the individual learns by reinforcing a behavior through a series of rewards or consequences to avoid the behavior. In other words, positive or negative consequences determine the learning, and ultimate behavioral outcome. Conclusion Piaget’s theory of cognitive development revolutionized the way learning was observed. The focus turned to how an individual learns from within instead of observing the environment and what the individual learns from their surroundings.

Solar Powered Auto Irrigation System

Solar Powered Auto Irrigation System CAREER EPISODE 2 CE 2.1 INTRODUCTION My second career episode describes about my project named Solar Powered Auto Irrigation System, which deals with irrigation technique helpful for farmers. I made this project during my 7th semester of engineering. It was completed in six months semester duration. It was completed under the supervision of Prof. Ashima Kalra, electronics lecturer. I completed my Bachelors degree in Electronics and Communication from Surya School of Engineering Technology, Punjab, India. CE 2.2 BACKGROUND Solar energy is the most abundant source of energy in the world. It is a friendly form of energy as well as an answer to energy crisis. My project solar powered irrigation system will be useful for farmers. It just requires an initial investment and then it provides a free energy and is a green way for energy production. This system uses solar power that drives the water from bore well to tank via water pump. The controller automatically regulates the output valve of the tank. It also controls the flow rate of water and optimizes it for the use of water using moisture sensor. Thus, it needs to be used with available telecommunication technology. Plant growth and their produce are to govern or increased directly or indirectly by automating the agricultural field that monitors and controls climatic parameters. CE 2.3 The idea and goal behind opting for this project was to provide a system in which automatic irrigation can be done to plants which would help in saving water and precious time of farmers. It is designed and fabricated in such a way that it would provide fresh water to irrigate the crops to all the farmers. The idea for pursuing this project clicked to me when I was analyzing the problems faced in daily life by common people. And then I realized that the methods of irrigation that is used is one of the oldest technologies having various methods in it. And we always want methods that are fast, efficient, and effective to deliver adequate water to crops. So, the new Agricultural solar method would ensure that the crops are being maintained and the farmers no longer need to slave themself to manual grind of having to carry water in their buckets. CE 2.4 I made a work flow plan for my project. I divided it into various parts to process through it systematically and assigned a time so that my project is completed in that period. First step involved to do some research work on the project and abstract realization. Then analysis on the components to be used was done. Then I started to prepare a block diagram and schematic diagram of the project. I also gave time to learn about the controller and its way of interfacing. And the last stage involved implementing the hardware and software part and gave a troubleshoot before writing the final report thesis. CE 2.5 PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING ACTIVITY The pre-implementation research work on the topic helped me gain knowledge on the components that are required. It involves: PIC18F4520 microcontroller it is faster than other series of microcontrollers and can also be interfaced through USB and allows to simulate the program before it can be downloaded on it. Soil moisture sensor many soil moisture sensors make a soil moisture probe that can measure the content of water in the soil. Senses the high/low level of moisture than the threshold set. Solar panel it is directly mounted on the support structure and is a photovoltaic module, a set of solar photovoltaic modules or solar thermal energy panels. LCD display used to get the details of process taking place at that time. Motor two motors are used to give a rotatory movement to the irrigation system. These described above are the main building parts of my project. With the help of all these components its block diagram was prepared which is shown below. CE 2.6 The next step was to put this block diagram in practical implementation. I started with soldering component parts on the circuit and interfacing the LCD, sensor, and motor to the PIC18F4520 microcontroller. It was a little complex structure and involved deep concentration as any mistake would short the whole circuit. The later part involved designing the program on MPLAB software. It is a software that runs on PC and can be used to develop applications for microchip microcontrollers. It provides a single integrated environment that can be used to write programs for embedded microcontrollers and are also known as IDE, Integrated Development Environment. CE 2.7 The development cycle for writing an application code involves various stages. This controller allows embedded system design engineer to progress through this cycle without interruption between an array of tools. It allows engineers to concentrate on writing the code without any interruptions of separate tools and different modes of operation. The basic development system for my project involves the below stages. Using various available tools, a code is written, there is a project manager who organizes all file and databases and settings information. There is some hardware or software part that is useful in connection to the targeted controller and an assembler that is used for code conversion i.e. source code to machine code. CE 2.8 A flow chart was prepared based on the programming code that was used for my irrigation system. The steps and process along with the flow of program can be described using an algorithm as: Step 1: start of the process Step 2: GSM gets the initial power Step 3: it will check for moisture level Step 4: if the level is more than 50%, irrigation is not required Step 5: irrigation is required if moisture level falls below 50% Step 6: it initializes the motor Step 7: gives a brief report about the process/progress Step 8: after the completion of complete process it goes back to the original state. CE 2.9 And the final stage involved to perform a test run and troubleshooting. I tried to solve the maximum problems and errors in the software by myself. If I was unsuccessful in them, I made a list of problems and errors so that I could approach my project guide for the help and learn the technique that would be helpful in solving such errors and later implement it by myself. This type of irrigation system can be customized as per the need and the type of crop and is also having low maintenance. It is designed and developed in such a way that it can be scaled and customized for large open fields or for greenhouses. It has lot of scope for future expansion. One can make use of temperature monitoring in compost production or internet controlled duplex communication can be implemented which would help in taking powerful decisions. Such systems require low maintenance and attention and give long term benefits economically and is environment friendly. CE 2.10 There were many stages which involved complication and trouble pursuing it. The very first and big challenge was to complete it on time. As the process and implementation was a long and tedious process it took time for making it perfect. I made lot of mistakes while synchronization and interfacing of the components with the controller on the circuit board which intern was a delaying my project and making it costly as many components were not interfaced properly and got broken. Even after all such problems I didnt held myself back, I went on with my project by taking steps of guidance and consulted my professors as and when needed. In the end, it was completed and was made as I planned for it. CE 2.11 SUMMARY My project solar based irrigation system was completed on time and proved to the control system that gave real time feedback on monitoring and controlling of all the activities involving auto irrigation system very efficiently. It is a system that proved to be a manpower saver, that would incur profit and improve the production. It is a modernized structure in the agriculture industry with the optimum expenditure. In future, pesticides and fertilizer system can be implemented and added to this system so that it can be added automatically. It can also be developed so that it would measure the ambience temperature, humidity level or light intensity required. This project was a building block in my career. It broadened my views in terms of technology and helped me develop and grow myself as an engineer and market ready. It taught me to handle difficult situations and made me strong enough.