To what extent can a democracy infringe Human right through means of Research Paper

To what extent can a democracy infringe Human right through means of torture in order to preserve National security - Research Paper Example Conversely, so much have been talked about ways in which the states are handling the terror suspects. For example, while some people are supporting the idea of detention of terrorist without trial, others are against the idea. They argue that detention of a person without trial is a violation of human rights. International terrorism has been the greatest challenge to every state trying to deal with it. The biggest challenge is however the balance between terrorism and human rights. This paper explains some issues brought forward against states with regard terrorist detention. It also presents steps taken by the states such as the U.S. to stop terrorist. Many people disagree on the definition of terrorism meaning that there is more than one definition of terrorism. According to White (4), terrorism is an act that has to be analysed, measured, and weighed. In addition, the definition of terrorism is presented by different people based on their political and social realities and so there are many definitions. However, there is one that many scholars are using to explain the picture of terrorism. White (4) point out â€Å"that terrorism is an act or threatened act of violence against innocent people for political purposes.† This one definition used by scholars to bring out the picture of terrorism. Department of homeland security have taken quite a number of measures to counter terrorist, this includes, anti-terrorism and counter-terrorism programs. Anti-terrorism is steps taken by state to reduce the threat posed by terrorist. On the other hand, counter-terrorism is offensive measures taken to disrupt, preempt and respond to terrorism. Other measures include terrorism consequence management; the state prepares for consequences of terrorist incidences (Kraft and Marks, n.p). Counter-terrorism measures taken by the U.S. assisted in

Business Law - brief case using FIRAC method. and more Essay

Business Law - brief case using FIRAC method. and more - Essay Example Therefore, a person is considered liable for negligence if he or she has departed or violates the conduct which is expected of a â€Å"reasonably prudent person† who is acting under the same circumstance (Buswell 41). In the case of Duncan vs. Union Pacific, the court sought to establish whether there was negligence on the part of the Union Pacific, and particular how its train was operated. The court found out that there was no evidence to show that the train was operated negligently, and that its warning bells, whistles, and headlight were well activated before approaching the crossing. Paul Kleinman, the operator of the train had seen the car approaching but he believed it would stop. However, the car did not stop and it was too late for him to stop the train and avoid hitting the car. Besides, the Utah Department of Transportation was satisfied that the railroad crossing had met all the required safety standards; the court was thus satisfied that the state of the crossing was good and it could not be attributed to the accident. Even though the court concurred that the railroad crossing is hazardous, its simple existence was not in itself a breach of duty of care (a key element in establishing negligence). John O. Hairstons died as a result of a collision on the South Fork River Bridge on 17 April 1978. Hairston negotiated the purchase of a 1978 Lincoln Continental automobile on Friday, 14 April 1978, at Haygood Lincoln Mercury, Inc. in Lowell, North Carolina. Apparently, as he waited, the service department employees at Haygoods replaced the standard wheels with turbine wheels from another automobile. After travelling for approximately 3.5 miles following conclusion of transaction at Haygood, the left rear wheel of the new Lincoln car came off. Thereafter, he was hit by a G.M.C truck operated by Robert Alexander and he died. Alexander Tank argued that Haygood’s negligence was the proximate cause of Hairston’s death. The rule of law

Feeding the World: A Challenge for the Twenty- First Century

Feeding the World: A Challenge for the Twenty- First Century Is human originality enough to produce adequate amount of food to provide for the 10 billion people that are expected to live on Earth by 2050 without causing excessive damage to the environment? Vaclav Smil attempts to answer this question in this book; Feeding the World: A Challenge for the Twenty- First Century Vaclav Smil is a ‘Distinguished Professor Emeritus’ at the University of Manitoba, a member of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Additionally, in 2010, he was recorded amongst the top 100 global thinkers. Vaclav Smil is regarded by many as an incredibly productive and resourceful author whose publications span over a plethora of related fields. Smil’s publications predominately reign over the areas of agriculture, food processing and production and human population. As well as being known for his knowledge pertaining to China, Smil work in the areas of crops, the general biosphere and fertilizers is acknowledged by several experts in their respective fields. Moreover, Smil is widely regarded as an informative author whose work focuses on informing its readers through the use of technical data combined with comprehensive reasoning and his own opinions. There have been a significant number of evaluations pertaining to food production and its consumption in the face of today’s rapidly growing society. These evaluations tend to vary in their respective approaches depending on the field of study that their writers stem from. In this regard, biological and physical scientists normally attempt to base their arguments around the ‘carrying capacity’ system which is applied to yearly populations. These scientists can then tap into inquiries such as how many individuals can the Earth’s resources provide for. Economists, however, investigate the growth in the production of food over the course of several alongside recognizing policies and trends that have served as a basis for this growth and using this combined knowledge to make predictions of future food production. Vaclav Smil, being a geographer, utilizes the same concepts biological and physical scientists use in his book. Smil, through his book, presents a case in which he advocates for future food demands to be met through the increase of efficiency rather than the increase of supply through additional inputs. Increasing efficiency, he argues, can not only be done through the more effective and efficient use of crop inputs, such as water and fertilizer but also by reducing the post- harvest losses suffered globally. Moreover, he reasons that these methods of increasing efficiency in the near future should be led by a desire to reduce the environmental impact of high- input agriculture and in doing so, will reduce strains on the environment. Smil’s investigation allows him to arrive at a somewhat warily optimistic conclusion where he believes that a world population of ten billion as predicted by the UN to be the stabilizing human population can in fact be sufficiently fed without excessive damage to the biosphere through the means of a more efficient food system. This optimistic conclusion is predominately cemented by the concept of ‘economic slack’ existing in the present-day production structures and that the chance that this slack can be reduced is quite good. However, this reduction of ‘economic slack’ standpoint needs the challenging task of creating plant breeding and associated research capabilities in order to supply deliver original and effective equipment to deprived farmers Smil wrote this book not only to inform readers but also to counter some of the arguments made by other authors who have also written to express their views on the problem of feeding the world in the near future. Smil, as is made evident through the arguments he presents in his book, does not share catastrophist or techno- optimist views, the latter of which advocate technology as the key for solving the dilemma. Smil argues that in an effort to gain public fear of the current state of agriculture and of the global food stock, catastrophists tend to emphasize and exacerbate relatively short and temporary periods of decline or stasis in order to express their concerns but these concerns, as Smil explains are often misplaced and that ‘perfectly non-catastrophic explanations such as weather and changing policies for fertilizer subsidies, support prices or diets’ can serve to counter most arguments catastrophists present. Smil does agree with catastrophists in the sense that population needs to be stabilized but this stability, according to Smil will happen eventually and the world will in fact be able to feed the individuals at this stable point with negligible impacts on the environment. Smil does not make an effort to find a middle ground between the ‘catastrophes’ as he terms Lester Brown and Paul Ehrlich and ‘ebullient cornucopian’ as he calls Julian Simon like many expected but rather attempts a serious evaluation utilizing the best science applicable to the inquiries being dealt with. First Chapter – ‘Reasons for concern’ Looks at the growing population.Even though its slowing dramatically, the UN predicts the world populatin wll reach 9.9 billion by 2050 in the medium – variant scenario, an increase of 48% from 1999. ‘Dietary transitions’, Smil argues will add to food demands. This phenomenon is where rising incomes created by economic growth in poor countries produce dramatic changes in diet.There is a decrease in staple grain consumption and a substantial increase in meat and other animal products consumed, accompanied by a rise in total fat consumption. In other words, even with the slowing of population growth, in addition to the continuing demand for staple commodities, the increased demand for foods such as milk, eggs, meat, vegetables, and so on will require continued growth in output. Second Chapter Appraises the biophysical basis of agriculture and stresses the importance of microbial ecology of the soil. Smil acknowledges the use and importance of synthetic fertilizers by stating that only food for 2-3 billion people could have been produced without them, depending on the diets of the general populations. Alternative or organic agriculture on a wide scale basis could help?This might be a solution but can argue against their respective uses and whether they will really help or not. C4 crops which include corn are more photosynthetically efficient than C3 crops that include wheat and rice. This is a solution – should we plant more corn? Availability of land, water and nutrients will be adequate on a global basis. However, regional disparities/ scarcities will be made much worse by anthropogenic climate change. Can link to the point of climate change impact on agriculture difficult to access Third Chapter Focuses on the environmental impacts of agriculture. Soil erosion and its effects on yield. Loss of topsoil is often cited as having a major negative impact on food- growing capacity, but how robust is the evidence that degradation- induced productivity losses are rising? The problem may be real and urgent in many regions; for example in large parts of Africa the annual soil degradation equates to millions of metric tons of grains and tubers lost per year. But from a global perspective, the losses may not be significant. The view that emerges from Smil’s account is that the inputs and assumptions underlying calculations of global resources are in many cases debatable. The variations in estimates give comfort that the world as a whole probably has the resources to adapt to demand and produce sufficient food. ‘Fortunately there is nothing inevitable about excessive erosion’ (p. 78). Qualitative soil degradation and how best to maintain soil productivity. Solution Modern high yielding crop varieties are somewhat less sensitive to soil and climate conditions than the farmer- selected varieties- take advantage of this and plant more modern crop varieties. However, these modern crop varieties have not fully escaped the ‘Darwinian’ features associated with natural selection. This means that improved varieties suited to one region in India are not suited to another region. Environmental pollution from pesticides and fertilizer. Even though Smil hyped it up, it can lead to negatives when used in excess. Nitrate concentrations are quite high in the Rhine and other major rivers in Europe. Smil points this out but fails to mention that the heavy fertilizer applications in Europe are encouraged by the subsidies of the Common Agriculture Policy. This failure to mention this fact stems from his reluctance to thread upon political waters. It is difficult to predict the effect of global warming on agriculture due to its complexity and the dynamic nature of its impact.A solution – the yield loss due to heat and moisture stress maybe, at least, partly, offset by the enhancement of photosynthesis and higher water use efficiency. Usually, books on world food prospects are influenced not only by their sources of information but also by then innate optimism/ pessimism of the author, often most apparent in chapters on the environmental changes wrought by agriculture. However, from this chapter, Smil emerges not only as a stern judge but as a long term optimist. For example, ‘there is no shortage of preventive measures for dealing with nearly all of these concerns’ (p 66) Fourth Chapter Here, Smil expresses the core of his vision that agricultural output can be increased through improved efficiency without additional inputs, except for knowledge and genetic enhancement. His ideas are similar in many regards to those of precision agriculture. Smil states that the primary task for agricultural research is not ‘to make every plant transgenic, but rather to come up with more precise solutions for farming’ (pp. 138-39). Precision farming is information- intensive and involves optimizing the timing and amount of inputs. He focuses on the better use of fertilizer and water. Fertilizer can be used more efficiently with better timing and placement, recycling of crop residues and better crop rotation.It is estimated that around 15% of the potassium, 30% of the nitrogen and 40% of the phosphorous is replaced by fertilizers. However, there is a critical need to increase fertilizer use in sub- Saharan Africa. Soil fertilizer is declining there and crop yields falling because of insufficient use of fertilizer. African soil and rainfall make much of the continent subpar for growing food. Despite this, the price of fertilizer in Africa is often two to four times that of the world price. In other words, the region that probably needs fertilizer the most has to pay the most for it. This input problem cannot be fixed through Smil’s ideology, which is heavily against the increase of inputs to solve the dile mma of feeding the world. In order to lower the high prices of fertilizer which results in large because of poor infrastructure and trade networks that are not developed enough to create a low- cost and competitive market, one must invest in them. There are enormous opportunities to improve the efficiency of water use. Possibilities include growing more water- efficient crops and water conservation practises such as reduced tillage. Unlike energy, water once used, can be reused after its quality is restore by appropriate treatment. There is a need to increase water supplies especially in some arid areas, but water harvesting and the use of saline water should be used extensively. Water is generally wasted because it is underpriced. In India, payments for electricity for pump irrigation are by pump size at very low rates and there are many illegal hook-ups that make it free. On the other hand, in Israel, about 60% of irrigation was by drip systems by 1990, with very high rates of efficiency. Which is a major reason water use could drop 30% and crop yields per unit of water application doubled. Reasons against drip irrigation More, generally, what Smil is advocating is the substitution of increasingly plentiful capital and knowledge for increasingly scarce natural resources. Fifth Chapter Explores ways to improve animal efficiency of animal food production. Although consuming animal products is fundamentally inefficient compared to vegetarianism, in a fascinating examination of human evolution, Smil sees a case for 10- 20 kg of meat in the average annual diet of humans, a level which is far exceeded in affluent countries. Close to half of all cereal grains produced globally are now fed to animals. Smil calculates the feed efficiency of different animals per unit of edible product.The most efficient is milk, followed by herbivorous fish, eggs, and chicken, with beef being least efficient Eat and produce less beef? Aquaculture – advocates. Fish yields on continental shelves is, on average two orders of magnitude higher, and that of ponds is ten times higher still. However, narrow genetic basis is a challenge to aquaculture: the practise is dominated by a handful of freshwater herbivores and the contribution from marine species rests on even fewer carnivores. Smil believes that transgenic fishes may offer many advantages by growing faster and by tolerating cooler or warmer waters. For example salman with an anti- freeze protein gene from the winter flounder is already available which allows them to survive is very cold environments Sixth Chapter Opportunities to reduce post- harvest losses, which may be as high as 40% and more for some African crops. Smil notes how little attention has been given to post- harvest losses and that there is not a single national or international organization that focuses exclusively on the topic. Insect pests and plant pathogens, which account for huge losses in some conditions should be a target. China for example, suffers heavily from post- harvest losses resulting from improper storage of crops (roughly one- seventh of its cereal harvest every year), low efficiency of animal feeding Seventh Chapter Discusses human nutrition needs and how our understanding of them has evolved. Global average per capita energy requirements are about 2000-2100 calories daily, much less than the estimated supply of 2800. So malnutrition is the result of unequal assess Eighth Chapter Examines the dietary transition in detail and considers what the available evidence suggests would be an optimum diet. Smil agrees with others who have concluded that traditional Mediterranean diets, with lots of complex carbohydrates, fruits and vegetables and moderate amounts of meat, are the healthiest. Ninth Chapter Deals with the question of ‘Who will feed China’ asked by Lester Brown by saying that ‘the Chinese will’. Smil makes it clear that China clearly has the potential to feed its future population. ‘A combination of well-proven economic and technical fixes, environmental protection measures, and dietary adjustments can extract enough food from Chinas agroeconomic systems to provide decent nutrition during the next generation s without weakening the countrys environmental foundations.’ (p. 315) China provides an excellent country to examine in detail because of the constraints faced, the widespread opportunities for improved efficiencies and the implications for the rest of the world leading to the idea of if China can do it, so can the rest of the world Water shortage is becoming an increasing problem in Northern China and there are vast plans to move water from the South to the North. However, water in China is substrantially underpriced like in India and thus used wastefully. Smil has a wonderful example of water in Beijing costing only a fifth as much as in Winnipeg, which is his home and has plentiful water supplies. Smil also provides ample evidence that the amount of farmland in China has been substantially undercounted, and hence the yields are lower than what they could be and the room for yield improvement is considerably greater Smil appeals to the experience with the energy price increases in the 1970s to show that producers and consumers did reduce inefficiencies in energy production and use when price incentives were provided to them Sexual Trauma Intervention: A Case Study Sexual Trauma Intervention: A Case Study Responding to Sexual Trauma: Sandra’s Case Effects of sexual trauma Sexual assaults have severe immediate and also long-lasting effects which can be devastating on the emotional, on the physical and also the relational health of the sexual assault victims (Gilliland James, 2013). The overwhelming stress of sexual assault normally alters personal adjustment, the psychobiology and the systems of the victims. A traumatic experience usually impacts the entire person; how we learn, how we think, our way of remembering things and the feelings about ourselves, how we feel about others and our ability to make sense in the world. All the above factors are rooted in our psychobiological development and also in our experience of human evolutionary (Gilliland James, 2013). Sexual assault trauma can affect person’s adjustment in all levels, posttraumatic stress disorder is a very disabling and chronic condition and the magnitude of PTSD is extremely high after rape. Just like Sandra, rape victims are likely to suffer from a severe depression, become substance abusers and make suicidal attempts. In the case of Sandra, she seeks counselling because she was depressed, after several sessions she discloses that she was raped by her uncle from an age of 4 to 9 and she also experienced two other rape cases while in high school and these trauma experiences made her to be completely depressed. Sandra had also developed substance problems. As she discloses, she spend most of her time drunk from the age of 18-22. As a result of PTSD she ended up sleeping with several men because she was traumatized and depressed after undergoing several rape experiences. Sandra also discloses several suicide attempts; she had one suicidal attempt but fortunately the car tire blew out before she reached her target. This is one of the effects of sexual assault to Sandra. She is a survivor of child sexual abuse and this makes her vulnerable to re-victimization. Victims of sexual assaults tend to be powerless, helpless and hopeless (Walker, 1994). This explains why Sandra slept with more than 70 men; in order to avoid feeling powerless and helpless. Thus, Sandra’s behaviour is an outcome of sexual assaults. Intervention strategies Psychoeducational Effective treatment for Sandra’s case includes psycho-educational intervention strategy. Although this approach alone does not fully eliminate the symptoms in the long term, it has proved to be the most effective when combined with anxiety management strategy. Rape victims usually feel more relieved when they realise that they are not crazy, but are experiencing PTSD manifestations, which is a reaction experienced by most raped women. I advocate for the use of this intervention strategy in the treatment of Sandra since she needs to accept understand that her symptoms as response to trauma but not pathology (Hunter, 2009). This will enable her strengthen self-esteem and also boost her sense of self-worth. As Sandra needs to raise her daughter the use of this method will help her identify inner strengths which were not disrupted by the trauma, including perseverance, the coping skills and intellect (Kress, Trippany, Nolan, 2003). Cognitive Therapy Intervention Strategy This intervention strategy is most appropriate when addressing symptoms such as shame, loss of interest in specific activities, detachment, numbing and guilty (Hunter, 2009). While using this method the victims are trained on how to identify the beliefs and particular thoughts which they experience during the state of negative emotions. In this intervention strategy, the victim is assisted in evaluating challenges and validity of various ideas and hence replaces most irrational beliefs with the more rational as well as with beneficial thoughts. I would use this intervention strategy in the treatment of Sandra as it will help her stop maladaptive beliefs that all her familymembers are abusers and hence replace it with positive thought. This method will also help her to challenge self-blame and the blame which is perpetuated by her mother and the significant others (Kress, Trippany, Nolan, 2003). Cognitive therapy treatment is normally designed in a manner that it assists victims to restore their personal power disrupted during the assault (Walker, 1994). Since all the perpetrators use violence and power, women tend to view all power related issues as negative. This refrains victim from gaining personal power. Cognitive therapy on Sandra will enable her replace the negative views of power and control with positive beliefs of adequate power. As a result, Sandra will gain courage to so stop using substances and hence use her power to control her life as well as that of her daughter. Cultural, legal and ethical issues Women reaction to sexual assault should be considered within sociocultural context. To some extent, rape is not just a crime of sex and should be further conceptualized as part of crime of power. Sandra’s rape case is one of the patriarchal system tools which demonstrate gender inequality as well as devaluation of women in the society (Vonk, 1999). Sandra’s rape experience restricts her freedom and ability to use power. Although most feminists examine rape on the lines of power and gender, various cultural variables such as class and ethnicity are keys factors in women’s response as well as the trauma recovery. Factors to consider include her cultural differences while accessing the services, the feelings she have while reporting the crime, and how her community receives rapes disclosures (Vonk, 1999). Perpetrators of rape should be given heavy penalties including life term sentences. If Sandra was a male victim The effects of sexual trauma are more severe on female than in men. However, in some instances some men find it challenging to recover from the sexual assault trauma. Men become more powerless and hopeless when sexually assaulted than women, a man will do anything just to avoid feeling powerless and if Sandra was a man he could possibly turn away from the victim’s role and assume the victimizer’s role. This is one of main effects of sexual trauma in male as they try to identify themselves with the power of their victimizers (Hunter, 2009). Notably, men becomes more addicted and attracted to substance abuse than women. In that regard, if Sandra was a male, it could be difficult for her to stop substance abuse. Male victims are also likely to seek ravage on their perpetrators more than the female victims (Kress, Trippany, Nolan, 2003). Thus, in addition to psychoeducational and cognitive therapy intervention strategies, exposure therapy has proved to be more appropriate. This strategy assist victims to overcome the painful memories encountered during the assault. It is done by confronting the victim with specific emotions, situation and thoughts which are related to the incidence of rape (Walker, 1994). Male victims are more likely to recount feelings, thoughts as well as the memories and hence, a well-structured approach will be more appropriate in helping male victims face these realities. References Gilliland, B. E., James, R. K. (2013). Crisis intervention strategies. Page 194 Hunter, S. V. (2009). Beyond Surviving Gender Differences in Response to Early Sexual Experiences With Adults. Journal of family issues, 30(3), 391-412. Kress, V. E. W., Trippany, R. L., Nolan, J. M. (2003). Responding to sexual assault victims: Considerations for college counsellors. Journal of College Counselling, 6(2), 124–133. Vonk, M. E. (1999). An ethic of care: A framework for ethical decision making with survivors of sexual assault. Social Thought, 19(1), 49-62. Walker, L. E. (1994). Abused women and survivor therapy: A practical guide for the psychotherapist. American Psychological Association.

Opposition between Art and Reality in Shakespeares The Tempest Essay

Opposition between Art and Reality in The Tempest      Ã‚  Ã‚   The Tempest is a self-reflexive play that explores the boundaries of art and reality. Shakespeare's island is a realm controlled by the artist figure; where the fabulous, the ideal and the imaginative are presented as both illusory and palpable, and where the audience is held in an indeterminate state, a "strange repose". The juxtaposition of the world of art with political and social realities explored by representative characters is the central contrast of the play, and is foregrounded by the use of non-verbal techniques. These techniques allow the audience to appreciate the art that facilitates the spectacle they watch, as well as understand that the ideal remains an illusory state impinged on by concerns of the real world. This contrast does not resolve itself; rather, it remains inconclusive and leaves us, according to Russ McDonald, in a "marginal condition between expectation and understanding, affirmation and skepticism, comedy and tragedy".    The opening storm scene represents the collapse of all the civility and social order of the known world. The effectiveness of the storm is made possible by the opening "tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning" which pre-empts the events to come. The storm immediately catapults the reader into an understanding of the characters on board the ship. It exposes us to the way in which the characters' social assumptions capitulate when they are exposed to adversity; and leads us to expect that on their arrival on the island they will be reformed. However, quite the reverse is true - in the second act we are presented with men who appear even More zealously political now that they are free of havin... ...tion between art and reality is developed simultaneously by dialogue and a series of non-verbal techniques.    Works Cited and Consulted Alan Durband. (Ed.) (1984). The Tempest. Hauppauge, New York: Barron's Educational Series Inc. Deborah Willis, 'Shakespeare's Tempest and the Discourse of Colonialism', Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, 29, no.2, (1989) Eric Cheyfitz, The Poetics of Imperialism: Translation and Colonization from The Tempest to Tarzan, (Oxford University Press, 1991) Ritchie, D. and Broussar, A. (1997). American History: The Early Years to 1877. New York: Glencoe Kanoff, Acott. (1998). Your Study Guide to William Shakespeare: The Tempest. Cleveland: The Cleveland Play House Education Department William Shakespeare, The Tempest, ed. Frank Kermode, with an introduction by Frank Kermode, (Arden, 1964)   

Psychological Anaylsis of the Virgin Suicides

Novels have more to them than meet the eye. Past the cover and the first read, there is yet an extra element involved in superb books. Jeffery Eugenides clearly had an understanding of this. Written in 1991, The Virgin Suicides is not just a story. † Bizarre, abnormal, and tragic† is how Jeruen Dery describes the book in his review of it. As more than pages in a cover, The Virgin Suicides has some magic to uncover. To fully understand a novel, one must recognize a precritical response to key element that amount to a written work of art. The setting of the novel is one that is familiar to many Americans.In essence, it is a modern suburbia, complete with youth, adults, and the elderly, along with the old, and the new. This directly contributes to the plot, which involves a man versus society struggle with more than one set of characters. Two main sets of characters are prevalent and neither group show purely protagonist or antagonist characteristics. Both the Lisbon girls a nd the neighborhood boys share the two roles throughout the duration of the novel. When reacting to the structure of the novel, one notices the straightforwardness of the piece.After a glance at the end events, the rest of the book goes through the progression of a year in chronological order while also following a typical rising action-climax-falling action format. The style of the book keeps a continuous flow throughout the piece. The words are sophisticated, as well as the general structure of the sentences and the way they flow together. The words and sentence structure contribute to the atmosphere of the work as a whole. In his review of the piece, Dery says, â€Å"Every aspect of the novel is just dark, and contributes to the overall macabre mood of the piece. The general theme of the novel seems to be how suicide doesn’t only affect those who are directly involved, such as family, teachers, and close friends. It shows how suicide affects the entire community. While re ading the novel, a particular set of characters caught my eye. The narrators have what would be a textbook definition of obsession with the Lisbon girls. They are more than just teenage boys being obsessed with teenage girls. In their case, this is not just a normal obsession like society thinks of today, but something much more psychological than that. This obsession is more of a disorder.By the words of Alex Lickerman obsession is â€Å"a giant tidal wave that crashes through our minds and washes away all other concerns. † In an article from Psych Central symptoms of an obsession disorder include preoccupations with organization, lists, or rules, unable to discard old or worn out items, and has a consciousness of specific details. The neighborhood boys display all of these things. Their preoccupations with organization are clear throughout the novel when looking at how they kept track of the girls’ things through a numbering system similar to that of police evidence. They are also seemingly unable to discard the things they collected from the girls. A third symptom appears through the entire work as a whole, because the boys are speaking as though all of these events took place many years ago, yet they seem to remember almost every detail of the year of the suicides. Just through these symptoms, it is clear that the boys have an obsession with the Lisbon girls, even into their adulthoods. The American Psychiatric Association characterizes obsessions as,†irrational thoughts which keep reoccurring. In the conclusion of the book, the boys are going over a summary of the year and they admit to this kind of behavior. They even kind of blame the behavior on the girls by saying, â€Å"They made us participate in their own madness, because we couldn’t help but retrace their steps, rethink their thoughts, and see that none of them lead to us,† (Eugenides 248). This statement shows an obvious obsession with the Lisbon girls. Therefore, one can see that the neighbor hood boys have an obsession that goes further than just a stereotypical teenage obsession. The other set of characters also have a psychological disorder of sorts.With the exception of Cecilia, the other four Lisbon girls appear to have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). People acquire PTSD by living through a traumatic event in their life. In the case of Lux, Mary, Bonnie, and Therese, the event that sparked the disorder was not a single event, but two with one common source. The first being Cecilia’s wrist cutting and hospital stay. The second is the actual event of her death. Characteristics of PTSD include staying away from places and things that remind one of what happened, feeling alone, and outbursts of acts which are normally out of character.The girls all displayed these in the time between Cecilia’s death and theirs. The narrators have told us through a number of different ways that the girls felt alone as a group. They are pictured as being alone together, meaning that the four of them feel as though they are the only ones that understand themselves. The girls also engage in activities that seem out of character compared to who the rest of the community thought they were. In Lux’s case this is the high amount of sexual activity. For the group as a whole, it is clinging together, not having other friends, and staying in the house and complying with their parents.For the most part the girls seem so uninterested in the activities of their peers it seems as though they died with Cecilia. Another characteristic of PTSD is having suicidal tendencies according to the National Center for PTSD. In conclusion, one can see how the Lisbon girls developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after the death of Cecilia. When looking at the evidence presented, it is clear that the two main groups of characters have psychological disorders. In the case of the neighborhood boys, their obsession with the Lisbon girls goes further than just being interested.This becomes apparent when one compares the boys with textbook symptoms of obsession disorders. Lux, Mary, Bonnie, and Therese also have a psychological disorder. In their case it is PTSD. This can be proven when examining the year leading up to their death under a lens filtered with the characteristics of PTSD. Because of these facts we are able to see how The Virgin Suicides is more than just a story about five girls’ deaths told by the boys they grew up with. As one can see, the novel is more than meets the eye. Works Cited American Psychiatric Association. â€Å"Anxiety Disorders. †Ã‚  Www. Psychiatry. rg. American Psychiatric Association, 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. Dery, Jeruen. â€Å"Book Review: The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. †Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ Blogcritics Books. Technorati Inc. , 11 Oct. 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. Eugenides, Jeffrey. The Virgin Suicides. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux, 1993. Print. Lickerman, Ale x, M. D. â€Å"Obsession. †Ã‚  Www. psychologytoday. com. Sussex Publishers, LLC, 26 Apr. 2010. Web. 30 May 2013. PsychCentral Staff. â€Å"Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder – PsychCentral. †Ã‚  Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder – PsychCentral. PyschCentral, 1 June 2010. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. Suicide and PTSD. †Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ NATIONAL CENTER for PTSD. United States Department of Veteran Affairs, 1 Jan. 2007. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. The National Institute of Mental Health, and National Institutes of Health. â€Å"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Easy-to-Read). †Ã‚  NIMH RSS. National Institutes of Health, 15 June 2012. Web. 30 Mar. 2013. U. S. National Library of Medicine, U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, and National Institutes of Health. â€Å"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: MedlinePlus. †Ã‚  U. S National Library of Medicine. U. S. National Library of Medicine, 28 Mar. 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2013.

Entrepreneurs Personality for Being Successful in Business

Entrepreneurs Personality for Being Successful in Business Miss. Sarita Ghanshyam Tiwari, (M. Com. M. Phil. ) e-mail: [email  protected] com Abstract Business success may causes due to many factors, but the greatest determinant of the business success is the entrepreneur himself / herself. Therefore, the question of what makes a successful entrepreneur is very important. There have been many answers to this question. Some people think entrepreneurs are born, others that they are made. Some see entrepreneurs as passionate leaders with a vision that is totally focused on one objective, while others describe them as compulsive controller. Some says entrepreneurs are risk takers while others say they are risk averse. All of these words may describe some entrepreneurs but they do not describe all successful entrepreneurs. There is no doubt that entrepreneur’s diploma’s, business knowledge and skills play an important role in business growth and success, but the personality of the entrepreneur is even more important. Recent researches in the field of psychology suggest that personality has a great deal to do with being a successful entrepreneur. This paper highlights the personality traits and essential factors of personality determinant of a successful entrepreneur and how does an entrepreneur’s personality can influence a business. The paper also reviews some notable Indian entrepreneur’s and their entrepreneurial work for justification of the topic. Introduction: Why certain people successfully starting and growing a business and others are not? Is it just luck or being in the right place at the right time? Someone can say it is just luck while others can say it is timing. But it also involves other factors too. Recent research in the field of psychology suggests that personality has a great deal to do with being a successful entrepreneur. This may raise many questions in one’s mind such as what is meant by personality? Can it be developed or is it inborn? Which aspects does it carry? Is it really necessary for an entrepreneur? Does it have any impact on the business growth? etc. Personality Meaning: Many people mistake the meaning of personality. They take the physical appearance and various external characteristics of an individual as his or her personality. As they talk about a marvelous personality they may refer to the height, weight, stature and complexion. Well, if you think that it is just the appearance of the physique of a person that determines the personality, then it is time to have a rethink. It is true that physical appearance does matter. However, since most of them are beyond our power and control. Physical appearance is just 10% of the total personality of an individual and not having a long lasting impact on others. There are many other aspects that contribute greatly to one’s personality, which are 90% of the total personality. These aspects involve character, behavior and attitude. Basically, personality development is the improvement of behavior, communication skills, interpersonal relationships, attitude towards life and ethics. Character can be considered the basic factor in determining an individual’s personality. It is the fact that all other factors behind a powerful personality will become useless if the person lacks a good character and behavior. Personality is like a building. Just a building can exist only when it has a strong foundation, a personality can impress others only when it has a formidable basis. And the strong foundation is supplied by character and behavior. If personality is developed on the solid base of values and ethics, it will last forever. Fake smiles and mannerisms may attract others for a comparatively short period. However, they are short-lived and do not help in improving one’s personality. In order to pinpoint this exactly take a look to a simple example. A book with decorative cover page may attract a person’s attention towards it but after looking inner contents of that book a person can predict his opinion regarding it i. e. whether is it a nice book or not? Here a decorative cover page does not carry a long lasting impact on that persons mind. Therefore, personality includes both factors i. e. physical appearance and formidable foundation of good behavior and character. Physical appearance is that personality which creates first impression in front of others that’s why it can be taken as the ‘primary or outer’ personality of an individual, while foundation is considered as ‘secondary or inner’ personality because it has second impact on others. It is not necessary that one should possess physical appearance because it is sometimes depends on the heredity factors of that person. It is inborn type of personality and sometimes depends on the luck factor too. If a person got good looks then it adds to his plus point. We should remember that a person’s height, weight and complexion are not in his hand but he can take care to keep himself neat and clean to impress others. Thus, working on primary personality is necessary but only putting concentration on it is not sufficient. The best personality is based on the solid foundation of character. Good behavior and co-operation makes a man popular. But this strong foundation is not an inborn quality of a person. It can be developed from one’s childhood and has impact of family, family background, friends, working area, society, regions and experience etc. These factors also contribute in developing one’s character and behavior. Does it require Certain Personality Traits to be a Successful Entrepreneur? Business may succeed due to many factors, but the greatest determinant of the business’s success is the entrepreneur himself/herself. Every year thousands of people start a business with the hope of being a successful entrepreneur. But many more business either fails or discontinues and others transfer ownership or control. Unfortunately only 20% of those businesses will survive long enough to celebrate their 5th anniversary and only 20% of those will survive long enough to celebrate their 10th anniversary. To save you doing the math, only 4% of all new businesses formed will survive at least 10 years. Therefore, for anyone who are starting a new business or already running a business the question of what makes a successful entrepreneur is very important. Because if business fails, it may not only cause for a loss with your personal savings and other assets, but it could give your ego a tremendous blow. So that, before making an extraordinary investment of time, energy and money to start a business, an entrepreneur needs to engage himself in some personal soul-searching. He needs to develop some personality traits in himself so that he can successfully handle his business affairs. Without it the business can fail as quickly as it started. An entrepreneur is a business owner, a franchise owner, or CEO of the company. And entrepreneur’s duties include managing employees, acquiring resources, seeking venture capitalism, handling finances, planning, time management, human resources, and more. Thus, being an entrepreneur requires special skills. There is no doubt that entrepreneur’s diploma’s, business knowledge and skills play an important role in business growth and success, but the personality of the entrepreneur is even more important. â€Å"How strongly does the businessman believe in himself and the success of his business? † â€Å"How decisive can the entrepreneur be in changing threats into business opportunities? † These are just a few of the situations that businessman must deal with, and not everyone can cope with these situations. So people who start up and run business need to know their own pluses and minuses, strengths and weaknesses, because self-knowledge through self-analysis is very important. However, self–analysis demands an understanding of one’s own personality in relation to one’s behavior. There is no ‘ideal’ entrepreneurial personality- successful entrepreneurs can be analytical, creative, fearless, flexible and focused. However, psychologists and other business people describe that successful business entrepreneur; whether male or female have some common traits. Personality traits determines the behavior of an entrepreneur in certain ways i. . how he perceive situations, solve problems, interact with people and carry out the job responsibility. Factors Determining Personality Of A Successful Entrepreneur: According to Webster’s dictionary, an entrepreneur is one who organizes, manages and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. Entrepreneurs live i n the future. They have creative personalities, are innovative, and succeed on change. Starting and growing own business requires many skills to be successful. The traits and characteristics of an entrepreneur’s personality can blend with the needs of the business. If one better understand his/her business personality, then he/she can give a company the best part of them. An entrepreneur is determined by the following few outer personality factors, which are only 10% of his/her total personality: 1. Physical Appearance: It’s having a 50/50 born/made ratio and includes sound health, endurance, living style etc. 2. Good Health: An entrepreneur has to put in hard work. This requires tremendous physical stamina to work long hours for extended periods of time. 3. Family Background: It’s an environmental factor and determines environmental heritage. 4. Age and Education: It’s a functional matter . Work Experience: Most entrepreneurs first gain some work experience in the line of business and then start up. In spite of the above outer personality an entrepreneur must have inner personality factors, which are the formidable basis of his/her personality and contributes 90% of his/her total personality. Thus, all successful entrepren eurs will have the following personality traits in common. ? Never stop learning and growing ? Self confident ? Intelligence ? Respect to Others ? Motivating Others ? Communication Skills ? Looking for opportunities everywhere ? Seeking advice from qualified people ? Invests in their future Supports their own business ? Problem solving skills ? Always desire to work hard ? Competitive and have attraction towards Challenges ? Strong management skills ? Willing to pay a price ? Sense of Urgency ? Comprehensive Awareness ? Conceptual Ability ? Emotional Stability ? Always developing people’s skills ? A blessing to their community ? Takes responsibility ? Realistic Outlook and Possess Long term thinking ? Objective Approach ? Set goals and works towards those goals ? Organisational skills ? Decision making skills ? Optimism (Live by the philosophy that this is the best of times and that anything is possible) ? Orientation to excellence (often desire to achieve something outstanding that they can be proud of. ) ? Profit oriented ? Devotion towards his work ? Humanism ? Never quit tendency This is the most concise collection of the characteristics of an entrepreneur and is truly the heartbeat of what characteristics are necessary to truly succeed as a business owner. These traits can be learnt through study, practice and experience. An Entrepreneurs Personality can really influence a Business: We are in a more entrepreneurial period than we were in before the Second World War. With the close of the Second World War, a number of changes with far-flung effect on business world took place. Establishment of World Trade Organisation (WTO) obliged many countries to open up their boundaries and welcome industries, trade and service companies. This added complex dimensions to the intensity to competition. While these changes were taking place in organizational environment, customers attitude were also changed. Customers started demanding more value from the product and services that they bought in the market. Naturally customer satisfaction and delight become the goal to be achieved by organizations. This emerges the need for developing entrepreneurial personality in business owners. Therefore today an entrepreneurship is more than the mere creation of business. An entrepreneur has to do more than just fight hard to win their market share. They must ‘live in the world of action’ and often ‘need thinking several steps ahead’. Entrepreneur’s sense of opportunity, their drive to innovate, and their capacity for accomplishment have become the standard by which an enterprise is now measured. The presence of entrepreneurs in an economy is a sign of economic growth. Entrepreneurs with their personality traits will continue to be critical contributors to economic growth through their leadership, management, innovation, research and development effectiveness, job creation, competitiveness, productivity and formation of new industry. Some Notable Indian Entrepreneurs and their Entrepreneurial work: Dhirubhai Ambani : Born: December 28, 1932 Died: July 6, 2002 Achievements: Dhirubhai Ambani built India's largest private sector company. Dhirubhai Ambani was the most enterprising Indian entrepreneur. His life journey is reminiscent of the rags to riches story. He is remembered as the one who rewrote Indian corporate history and built a truly global corporate group. Dhirubhai Ambani alias Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani was born on December 28, 1932, at Chorwad, Gujarat, into a Modh family. His father was a school teacher. Dhirubhai Ambani started his entrepreneurial career by selling â€Å"bhajias† to pilgrims in Mount Girnar over the weekends. After doing his matriculation at the age of 16, Dhirubhai moved to Aden, Yemen. He worked there as a gas-station attendant, and as a clerk in an oil company. He returned to India in 1958 with Rs 50,000 and set up a textile trading company. Assisted by his two sons, Mukesh and Anil, Dhiru Bhai Ambani built India's argest private sector company, Reliance India Limited, from a scratch. Over time his business has diversified into a core specialisation in petrochemicals with additional interests in elecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics. Dhirubhai Ambani is credited with shaping India's equity culture, attracting millions of retail investors in a market till then dominated by financial institutions. Dhirubhai revolutionised capital markets. From nothing, he generated billions of rupees in wealth for those who put their trust in his companies. His efforts helped create an ‘equity cult' in the Indian capital market. With innovative instruments like the convertible debenture, Reliance quickly became a favorite of the stock market in the 1980's. In 1992, Reliance became the first Indian company to raise money in global markets, its high credit taking in international markets limited only by India's sovereign rating. Reliance also became the first Indian company to feature in Forbes 500 list. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) named Dhirubhai Ambani the Indian Entrepreneur of the 20th Century. A poll conducted by The Times of India in 2000 voted him â€Å"greatest creator of wealth in the century†. Ekta Kapoor: Born: June 7, 1975 Achievement: Creative Director of Balaji Telefilms. Ekta Kapoor can be aptly called as the reigning queen of Indian television industry. The serials produced by her company Balaji Telefilms are a great hit with the masses and are dominating all the major T. V. channels in India. Born on June 7, 1975, Ekta Kapoor is daughter of former Bollywood uperstar Jeetendra and sister of current Bollywood hero Tusshar Kapoor. Ekta Kapoor did her schooling from Bombay Scottish School and later on joined Mithibai College. She was not interested in academics and on the advice of her father ventured into TV-serial production at the age of 19. And soon she changed the face of Indian television industry and completely dominat ed it. Today, Ekta Kapoor is the creative director of Balaji Telefilms. Her company has produced more than 25 serials and each one is being shown, on an average, four times a week on different television channels. Ekta Kapoor's serials have captured the imagination of masses. She has broken all previous records of TV serial production and popularity in India. Her most famous television venture has been â€Å"Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi† which began in 2000 and has leaded the TRP ratings in India. Her other famous serials include â€Å"Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki†, â€Å"Kahiin To Hoga†, â€Å"Kavyanjali†, â€Å"Kyaa Hoga Nimmo Kaa†, â€Å"Kasamh Se†, â€Å"Kahin Kisii Roz†, â€Å"Kasautii Zindagi Kay†, â€Å"Kkusum†, â€Å"Kutumb†, â€Å"Kalash†, â€Å"Kundali†, â€Å"Bandini†, â€Å"Kitni Mohabat Hai†. For her entrepreneurial skills and achievements Ekta Kapoor was awarded with Ernst & Young (E&Y) Startup Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2001. Conclusions: Today an entrepreneurship is more than the mere creation of business. An entrepreneur has to do more than just fight hard to win their market share. This emerges the need for developing entrepreneurial person ality in business owners. †¢ An entrepreneurs personality includes two factors: 1) Outer Personality Factors i. e. Physical Appearance, Work Experience, Family Background, Age and Education, Good Health etc. 2) Inner Personality Factors i. e. Personality Traits Personality traits can be learnt through study and practice, they are the formidable basis for building inner personality of an entrepreneur. While physical appearances, age, education, work experience are environmental factors, which are just outer part of an entrepreneur’s personality. †¢ It is not necessary that one should possess physical appearance, family background, age, education and work experience but he should possess the personality traits to tackle business operations successfully, because an entrepreneur is not determined by age, gender, race, religion, intelligence or education but successful entrepreneur do have some common personality traits. Personality traits determines the behavior of an entrepreneur in certain ways i. e. how he perceive situations, solve problems, interact with people and carry out the job responsibility. †¢ Entrepreneurs with their personality traits will continue to be critical contributors to economic growth through their leadership, management, innovation, research and development effectiveness, job creation, competitiveness, productivity and formation of new indus try. Bibliography: 1) Entrepreneur Characteristics: Personal Qualities of an Entrepreneur http://www. orebusiness. com/getting_started/primer/d943458887. brc 2) Bill Bither's Insights 5 Personality Traits of an Entrepreneur http://www. atalasoft. com/cs/blogs/billbither/archive/2006/01/03/inception-of-a. aspx 3) The 9 Personality Types of Entrepreneurs By Darrell Zahorsky, About. com Guidehttp://sbinformation. about. com/cs/development/a/personality_2. htm 4) What Are the Characteristics of a Successful Entrepreneur? http://www. aw-wrdsmth. com/FAQ/characteristics_successful_entre. tml 5) Entrepreneurship is More Than Just Being Your Own Boss Article by nicolelamarco (8,967 pts ) Edited & published by Ronda Levine (24,269 pts ) on Dec 23, 2009 http://www. brighthub. com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/60059. aspx 6) The Four Types of Entrepreneurs Article by R. Elizabeth C. Kitchen (12,490 pts ) Edited & published by JScheid (23,995 pts ) on Dec 26, 2009 http://www. brighthub. com/off ice/entrepreneurs/articles/60187. aspx 7) Entrepreneurial Stress and its Causes Article by William Busse (729 pts ) Edited & published by Ronda Levine (24,269 pts ) on Dec 23, 2009 http://www. brighthub. com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/60057. aspx 8) Successful Entrepreneurs – Those Who Have Made It Big http://blog. franchiseindia. com/events/2009/11/successful-entrepreneurs-those- who-have-made-it-big/ 9) Dhirubhai Ambani Biography http://www. iloveindia. com/indian-heroes/dhirubhai-ambani. html 10) Ekta Kapoor http://www. iloveindia. com/indian-heroes/ekta-kapoor. html

4 Tips for How To Double Major in 4 Years

4 Tips for How To Double Major in 4 Years SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips One of the hardest parts about going to college is deciding on a major. Most universities offer tons of majors in many different fields, so it can be tough to choose just one! Good news, though: many universities allow students to earn a double major. It’s a great option for students who want to gain in-depth knowledge in a second field of study. But while many people have heard of double majoring, many aren’t quite sure how to double major. That’s why we’re going to introduce you to the general requirements for double majoring, then give you two real world, step-by-step guides for how to double major at two top universities. Finally, we’ll wrap things up with four top tips for finishing a double major in four years. So let’s dive in! Albert Herring/Wikimedia Commons The Double Major: A Brief Introduction Before we jump into the ins and outs of how to double major, let’s look a little more closely at why someone would double major in the first place. What Is a Double Major? In order to graduate from your university, you’ll have to declare a major and fulfill all of its requirements to earn a degree. Your major places you within a specific degree field, which is the degree you’ll ultimately earn when you graduate from college. Here’s what we mean: Mark and Stephanie have just been accepted to Columbia University, one of the top schools in the nation. Mark wants to design incredible buildings, so he’s decided to major in architecture, which will ultimately earn him a Bachelor of Arts degree when he graduates. Stephanie, on the other hand, wants to help communities take better care of the environment. That’s why she’s decided to major in sustainable development. Even though her major is very different from Mark’s, it is also part of Bachelor of Arts degree program at Columbia. In other words, even though Mark and Stephanie have different majors, they will both earn B.A. degrees when they graduate from school. A student can earn a double major when they fulfill all the requirements for two separate majors within one college or school! So let’s go back to our example above. Mark decides that he’s specifically in designing buildings that are good for the environment. To learn about both architecture and sustainability, he decides to double major in architecture and sustainable design, since they are both part of the same degree program and housed in the same college (i.e. they both earn a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College at Columbia University). The best part about double majoring is that it’s super flexible. You can pick any two majors as long as they’re within the same school or college. Here are a few double majors you could choose at Columbia: Physics and philosophy (Bachelor of Arts) Applied mathematics and data science (Bachelor of Arts) Electrical engineering and engineering mechanics (Bachelor of Science) So when it comes to double majoring, the sky’s the limit! Ken Treloar/Unsplash Why WouldYouWant to Double Major? When you decide to double major, you’re committing to studying two different fields in depth. Often, that means you’ll be taking on more work with extra classes, more advising sessions, and more study time. But earning a double major has some pretty awesome perks, too. Here are our top three reasons for #1: It Helps You Stand Out From the Crowd Because double majoring is challenging, not very many students opt to do so. In fact, the 2015 American Community Survey census data showed that only 12.5% of the people between the ages of 20 and 29 had a double major. Perhaps more importantly, this percentage has decreased even though the number of people with college degrees has been increasing from year to year! That means that earning a double major can help you stand out in a competitive job market. It’s also a testament to your ability to plan ahead, work hard, and achieve your goals. #2: It Makes You a Better Problem Solver When you double major, you have to learn to problem solve in different ways. For example, the way you have to think about a physics problem isn’t necessarily the way you’d tackle an economic one! Double majoring teaches you to look at things from new and inventive perspectives. In fact, many of the world’s best inventions happened when someone looked at a problem through fresh eyes. Take the invention of Coca-Cola, for instance. John Pemberton, the inventor, was a pharmacist who had created â€Å"Pemberton’s French Wine Coca† as a cure for headaches. But when Atlanta banned the sale of alcohol, he removed the wine from his medicine and turned it into the world’s most popular soft drink brands. This story just shows you how looking at a problem in a new way can change the worldand double majoring gives you the tools to do just that. #3: It Opens up More Career Opportunities Many students choose to double major because they have a specific career in mind. For instance, double majoring in psychology and biology would be useful for a student trying to get into a competitive psychiatry program! Having a double major has the potential to make you a better, more specialized candidate for your dream job (or your top grad school program)! Additionally, when you double major, you gain the knowledge you need to enter two different career fields. So not only does a double major make you a more impressive job candidate, it qualifies you for more jobs than a single major would! Can You Double Major at Every University? While most schools allow students to double major, not every school has a double major program in place (Princeton doesn’t, for example). Additionally, not every school calls a double major the same thing (we’ll look at Stanford, that refers to a second major as a â€Å"secondary emphasis† in just a moment). So if you have your heart on two majors, make sure you check that your dream school allows for double majoring. A little research now can save you a lot of frustration in the future. Glenn Carstens-Peters/Unsplash General Requirements for a Double Major Now that you’re familiar with what a double major is, let’s talk a little more about how to double major. A good way to get a sense for what double majoring requires is to start with some of the general requirements. (Don’t worry: we’ll give you real world examples of double majoring at two schools with different requirements in just a minute!) #1: The Core Courses In general, universities require students to have completed at least 120 course hours- or around 40 classes- in order to graduate. A chunk of those hours come from your core courses, or the cycle of classes that every student must complete before graduation. Most liberal arts universities create a core that asks students to take a variety of classes from across multiple disciplines, including math, science, and the humanities. Actually, your core courses are kind of like high school: you’re taking a variety of classes to learn more about many different subjects to build up your knowledge in many different areas. And just like high school, the goal of your core courses is to help you learn more about the world around you to prepare you to â€Å"deal with complexity, diversity, and change.† This helps you become a more well-rounded person, which is always a good thing! So the first step of double majoring is to understand your university’s core requirements and make a plan to complete those courses. Want to see some examples of universities’ core requirements? Look no further! Check out the core requirements for Purdue and Georgetown here. #2: The Major Courses On top of your core courses, you’ll have to take more advanced classes in your specific major in order to graduate. Once you choose a major, your university will give you a list of requirements you’ll need to fulfill to complete your major and earn your degree. In general, you’ll have to take somewhere between nine and 14 classes to complete your major. These are generally a mix of low- and upper-level courses designed to give you comprehensive knowledge in your chosen field. (Quick note: the number and difficulty of classes you’ll need to take in your major field varies between programs, so it’s very important that you double check on the requirements for your specific major at your specific university.) Okay...so what does all of this mean for a double major? Well, unlike a student with just one concentration, a double major will need to complete every requirement for two separate majors! That means you’ll have some additional courses to take before you graduate. The second step to double majoring, then, is taking a close look at the requirements for both of your majors and understanding what you’ll have to do to complete the programs in a reasonable amount of time. Are you not sure what major requirements look like? Take a minute and glance through what it takes to major in chemistry at Northwestern, MIT, and Duke. (You’ll notice that it’s a little different at each school, which is why you have to do your research!) #3: The Elective Courses At this point, double majoringespecially in four yearsmight sound impossible. Trust us: it isn’t! That’s why the third step to double majoring involves your elective credits. One of the biggest tricks to getting it done is putting your elective course requirements toward your second major. But first, a little about electives. Your electives are a series of classes (usually somewhere between five and 10), that are included in your core curriculum. Unlike your other credits, which have to come from a certain subject, your electives are essentially â€Å"freebies†: you can take almost any class on campus and use it to fulfill one of your elective credits! Because there are no stipulations on how you spend your electives, you’re free to use them however you’d like. With a little planning, you can knock out some maybe all!of your second major with elective credits. For example, let’s say Vivian has decided to pick up a second major in Chemistry at Northwestern. A chemistry major requires 16 classes, but she’s allowed to take 5 elective courses as part of Northwestern’s core curriculum. If Vivian puts her elective credits toward her chemistry major, she’ll only have to take â€Å"additional† chemistry courses to earn her second major! Double-dipping is for more than just ice cream! Rachael Gorjestani/Unsplash #4: The Double Dip The fourth step to double majoring involves what we like to call the â€Å"double dip,† which is taking classes that fulfill two separate requirements. Most universitiesbut not all, so double check!allow for one course to count toward fulfilling two different majors. By double dipping, you can maximize the efficiency of your course load! So what courses can be counted twice? The short answer is: it depends on your university’s requirements. While most schools allow your elective courses to count toward a second major, that’s not the case everywhere! The same goes for core coursessome universities allow core courses to count toward a second major while others don’t. And neither of those scenarios accounts for programs specifically designed to help students double major (like Rice’s double major in Art and Art History). So it boils down to this: while most universities allow for some amount of double-dipping, how this works varies from school to school. So be sure to check on your university’s specific requirements. Okay, now let’s look at an example of double-dipping can work: Christen has decided to double major in economics and political science. The political science offers a junior-level class on international economics, which the economics department has listed as accepted elective. If Christen takes that class, she can double dip by counting it toward both her political science and her economic major! That makes double dipping like a two-for-one deal, and it can help reduce both the time and financial burden of double-majoring. #5: The Time Frame The fourth step to double majoring is planning how long it will take to complete your double major. Many of the top universities, like Yale, require students to get approval before double majoring to make sure they can complete their studies in a reasonable amount of time. Other schools, like Brown University, only allow double majors that can be completed in four years. While most universities understand if it takes you extra time to finish a double major, it’s important that you’re aware that more time in school can translate to more expense. Knowing how much time it will take you to finish your degree is important for your education and your budget! #6: The Verification The last step to double majoring is actually the most important. While a lot of the general guidelines for double majoring are the same across universities, the specificslike which classes count for credit and if one class can count toward two majorsdiffers not only by university, but by program. That’s why it’s important to double-check with each department to understand their individual requirements for double majoring. That’s why you’ll need to meet with your academic advisors early and often, too. They’ll be your guides (and sometimes, your advocates!) on your journey to a double major. A bird's-eye view of Vanderbilt University Real Life Example: How to Double Major at Vanderbilt Okay, now it’s time to take what you’ve learned and apply it to a real-world example. We’re going to walk you through the entire process of declaring a double major at two of the top universities in the United States. We’ll kick things off by looking at double majoring at Vanderbilt University, which is ranked as one of the top 20 universities in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Vanderbilt has four different undergraduate schools, so for this example, we’ll focus on the largest: the Vanderbilt College of Arts and Science. #1: The Core Courses Like most universities, Vanderbilt requires students to have taken at least 120 credit hours (or between 30 and 40 courses) to graduate, and the first block of courses students have to tackle are in the school’s core curriculum. Vanderbilt’s core is called the AXLE program, which requires every student regardless of major to take three to four writing courses (depending on AP credit) and thirteen other liberal arts courses in six different categories. Vanderbilt gives students a lot of leeway in which courses they can take to fulfill the core requirements as long as it falls in the six general categories specified, which is good news for double majors! #2: The Major Courses Now it’s time to take a look at what the College of Arts and Sciences requires for double majoring. (Remember: these differ between colleges and programs, so it’s important to do a little research!) Luckily, the College of Arts and Sciences gives students a clear outline on their website about what it takes to double major. They write that students who choose to double major â€Å"must include at least 24 credit hours that are being counted solely toward the major.† Okay, let’s break that down a bit. First, we know that Vanderbilt does allow double majoring, which is great news! Second, they require a certain number of courses be specific to each major. In other words, a student will have to take somewhere between six and eight courses that only count toward each major. That gives a little space for double dipping, which we’ll talk about in step #4 below. Lastly, the outline points out that 24 hours is a minimum requirement. That means most departments will require more than 24 hours of coursework to complete a major. This is where it’s important to visit each department’s website and look closely at the major requirements. (Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science has 54 majors to choose from, so this might take a little time. But trust us...it will pay off in the long run!) #3: The Elective Courses Vanderbilt doesn’t specifically list electives as part of their core curriculum, but a little simple math reveals that on average, a student will have about five classes of elective credit, or hours they need to take to graduate that aren’t accounted for as part of the university core or major. That means that a double major can use those five classes to fulfill part of the requirements for their second major. #4: The Double Dip Vanderbilt does allow for some double dipping, meaning some of your classes can count toward both majors. As long as each major has a minimum 24 hours of dedicated credit, students can double dip with their remaining classes. (Again, the minimums are different from program to program, so this number might go up depending on your majors.) Here’s an example of how this might work: if Marco is double-majoring in English and Creative Writing, he’s required to take courses in the History of Literature and Diverse Perspectives in Literature to fulfill each degree. An English degree requires 12 hours of these courses, and a Creative Writing degree requires 6 hours of these courses. So instead of taking 18 hours, Marco can take the requisite 12 hours and fulfill the basic requirements for both degree tracks. He can do this as much as possible, but he’ll have to have 24 hours of coursework that only counts toward his English degree and 24 hours of coursework that only counts toward his Creative Writing degree. So depending on whether a student’s chosen majors overlap, they will be able to double dip on a few classes to kill two birds with one stone! #5: Declaring the Double Major Once you’ve decided to double major at Vanderbilt, it’s time to declare your double major to the school. This happens after you’ve enrolled at the university because Vanderbilt doesn’t allow students to declare a double major as part of the admissions process. In fact, double majors are usually declared when a student is either a sophomore or a junior. When you decide that a double major is right for you, the first step is to print off a Declaration of Major form. Once you fill it out, you need to deliver it to three places: the College of Arts Science and both departments you want to major in. You can’t just drop the form off, eitheryou’ll have to meet with a college advisor to go over your declaration. This is to make sure that your plan is feasible and reasonable. If everything looks good, the advisors will sign off on the form. Once you’ve collected the necessary approval and signatures, you file the completed form with the College of Arts Science, and you’re good to go! The beautiful Stanford Commons at Stanford University King of Hearts/Wikimedia Real Life Example: How to Double Major at Stanford At Stanford, things work a little differently. Unlike Vanderbilt, you can only declare a double major within the same bachelor degree program. So if you’re already working toward a Bachelor of Arts, you can declare a second major that will also earn a Bachelor of Arts. You can’t declare a second major that would earn a Bachelor of Applied Science. So for this example, we’ll focus on the steps it takes to double major and graduate with a Bachelor of Science from the Stanford School of Engineering. #1: The Core Courses In order to graduate from Stanford, students must complete 180 units of University work. This starts, of course, by tackling the school’s core courses. Like Vanderbilt, Stanford gives students a lot of flexibility in fulfilling their core curriculum. Every Stanford student has to complete what Stanford calls their â€Å"General Education Requirements,† which include sixteen different courses in four different categories. (Stanford accepts AP and IB credit, so this number might be less depending on what classes you took in high school.) While it’s important for to explore all the opportunities Stanford has to offer, the School of Engineering cautions students to take math and science credits early so they can hit the ground running when they start to work on their major. #2: The Major Courses The College of Engineering separates the major coursework into two categories: the engineering core courses and the Depth of Major courses. Every engineering student, regardless of major, has to take a series of core courses that are unique to the school. These would include: 36 units in mathematics and science Three units (or one course) in technology and society Two courses in engineering fundamentals Like Stanford’s General Education Requirements, these engineering core courses will count toward both majors. That means you only have to take the core courses once while earning your Bachelor of Applied Science degree. Once those are complete, a student can begin tackling their Depth of Major courses! The Depth of Major courses are the classes that are specific to each engineering major and must be fulfilled separately in order to graduate. For instance, if you’re double majoring in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, you’d have to fulfill these requirements separately. Even if a class is listed as counting for both majors, you’d have to apply it to one major over the other. That means you’ll have to take around 60 additional creditsor somewhere between 15 and 20 additional coursesto get a double major in engineering from Stanford. #3: The Elective Courses Also like Vanderbilt, Stanford does not include a set number of elective courses as part of their core curriculum. Additionally, the major requirements for each program vary quite a bit! Because engineering programs are so intensive, most students only have a few elective units available, so it’s important to make each one count! #4: The Double Dip As we discussed earlier, Stanford’s rules are very clear: they don’t allow students to double dip to fulfill their major requirements, no matter what college they’re enrolled in. So while the General Education Requirements and the engineering core courses can count toward both majors, the specific, additional criteria for each major has to be completed independently. In other words, you’ll have to take all the classes for each major with no overlap! #5: Declaring the Double Major To declare a double major, you have to do this after you’ve already declared your first major through the Office of the University Registrar. Double majors are approved through the same office by submitting the Major-Minor and Multiple Major Course Approval form. Unlike Vanderbilt, there’s no formal departmental approval process, though it’s very important you independently meet with departments to get advice for success. As a school, Stanford is very picky about letting students double major. They are committed to helping students graduate in four years regardless of how many majors a student wants to tackle. In fact, Stanford reserves the right to limit a student to a single major if it’s taking too much time even if the school previously approved a student’s double major. Here’s the explanation from the registrar’s website: â€Å"If the pursuit of multiple majors (or joint majors or secondary majors, or minors) unduly delays an undergraduate's progress through Stanford, the University reserves the right to limit a student to a single major, and/or to confer a degree on a student who has completed all of the requirements for a degree even though the student has not applied to graduate; such an individual would then be subject to the University's usual rules and restrictions regarding future enrollment or registration. That means it’s super important for a double major to map out their coursework ahead of time! We've got some great tips for how to fast-track your double major George Hodan/PublicDomainPictures 4 Tips to Double Major in 4 Years One of the most frequently asked questions is can you double major in four years. The answer is absolutely, but it takes some planning and a lot of hard work! Here are four ways you can make sure that you finish your double major in four years. Tip 1: Start in High School You can get a double major done in four years once you get to college, but it’s even better if you start that work in high school! Here are a few ways that you can maximize your time now to save you time later. Take Dual Credit Courses Some high schools allow students to enroll concurrently in a local college to earn freshman course credit for basic classes like composition or math. Enrolling in a program like this can help you earn transferable college credit that counts toward your university core! However, we advise that if there’s an option, you take AP/IB courses instead of dual credit since AP/IB courses are generally accepted by all universities, whereas dual credit is awarded on a case-by-case basis. (This is because AP/IB tests are standardized, whereas the rigorousness of dual-credit courses varies between schools.) If you want to make sure you’re getting the credit you deserve, AP/IB courses and tests are the safer bet. Take AP/IB Courses AP and IB courses are often referred to as â€Å"college prep† courses for a reason. Not only are these classes designed to prepare you for the college workload, they also give you the opportunity to test outand sometimes even earn credit!of certain college courses. Loading up on AP and/or IB classes in high school can help save you time and money as a double major. Don’t Be Afraid to Test Out If your high school didn’t offer college prep courses, there’s still hope! Many universities offer exams (like the CLEP test) that you take the summer before your freshman year. These function a bit like AP tests, only you don’t have to take an AP class to qualify for the exam! Depending on your score, you can be exempted from or earn credit for certain college courses. The availability of these tests varies from school to school, so be sure to check with your university to see which ones they offer. Tip 2: Plan Ahead As Antoine de Saint-Exupà ©ry, the author of The Little Prince, said, â€Å"A goal without a plan is just a wish.† In order to double major in four years, you need to have a solid plan. Here are three tips for building a road map for your double major. Map Out Your Ideal 4-Year Graduation Plan as Soon as Possible Planning your courses out early is key to maximizing your time and effort. Meet with your advisor and departmental advisors to build a plan of action. They help students pursue double majors all the time, so they’ll have excellent insight and advice to help you graduate on time. Stick to the Plan Once you have your road map, stick to it! If you have any issueslike overlapping class timesbe sure to meet with an advisor. But working your plan is a key component to managing your workload while graduating on time. (And hey, lots of students find that a four-year plan makes things less stressful since they know exactly what to take every semester!) Double Dip Whenever Possible If your university allows for double dipping, take advantage of it at every possible moment. Take a look at the course catalog and departmental websites to figure out which classes, if any, can count toward both majors. Also don’t be afraid to talk to your professors and advisors about whether your university has independent study or interdisciplinary programs that can help you customize your degree while still graduating on time! OTA Photos/Flickr Tip 3: Be Smart About Picking Your Majors In order to double major, you first have to choose which two majors you want to study. This can be a bit tricky, especially if you’re curious about many different fields. Here are three tactics that can help you narrow down your choices. Pick a Passion and a Profession One way to pick a double major is coupling one of your passionswhich might not have many career optionswith a professional field. For example, you may love to sing, but you don’t want to become a professional singer; you’d much rather work as a financial planner. A double major is a perfect choice for you since it lets you study your passion (vocal performance) while coupling it with a major that will help you in your future profession (business finance). Work Toward a Specific Career Like we mentioned earlier, there are some career paths that require very specialized knowledge. A double major is a good way to study both fields while earning a degree that sets you apart in a competitive job market! A good example of this is someone who wants to be a museum curator. Often, museums look for curators with knowledge about the museum’s subject as well as a background in public education, so a double major in art history and education would be especially valuable! When building your double major, ask yourself how you can create a â€Å"customized† course of study that will land you your dream job. Choose Majors That Naturally Overlap There are some majors that naturally fit with one another, so much so that many of the courses overlap. These are natural fits for a double major, since a student will often take classes that count toward both degrees regardless of whether they actually plan to double major or not! This usually happens with related fields, like English and journalism, or international relations and foreign language. In some cases, students can find themselves just a few classes shy of double majoring with little extra effort. Be sure to check your departmental website to see if there are complementary majors that you can take advantage of. Tip 4: Get to Know Your Advisor This might seem scary when you first get to college, but remember: your advisors are people who are passionate about helping you chase your dreams. They’re specially trained to help students like you! Here are some of the ways your advisors can help you on your path to double majoring: They Can Approve Your Course of Study At some schools, your advisors have to sign off on your double major before you can start working on it. This is to make sure students are in the best possible position to succeed! Getting to know your advisors is an important step in making sure you’re approved for your double major in the first place. They Provide Guidance You aren’t the firstor the laststudent to double major, so your advisor already has a good sense of how to help you finish two majors on time. They will be able to help you pick classes, balance your schedule, and declare your major. They Can Help Override You Into Classes Classes can fill up fast! If your advisor knows you, they can work to make sure you get into the classes you need to finish on time. This includes the ability to enroll you in a â€Å"full† class to make sure you take the courses you need when you need to take them. Crystal/Flickr What’s Next? Now that you know what a double major is, you might be more interested in a dual degree. Here’s a great explanation of the similarities (and differences!) between the two. If you’re a junior or senior in high school thinking about double majoring, make the most of your time now. A good place to start is learning more about how universities treat AP credit. Did you know you can earn transferable college credits while in high school? Take a look at how those courses differ from AP classes to learn more about whether a college credit course is for you. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in.

How A Report Writing Course Can Tame Big Data

How A Report Writing Course Can Tame Big Data Once upon a time, there was a warning was that big brother could be watching. Well, today big data is doing his job. Big data is everywhere all the time. Gartner, the information research technology and advisory company posits: Big data is high-volume, high-velocity, high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight and decision making. Wikopedia pipes in with: data sets so large that traditional data processing applications are inadequate. If computers need help making sense of big data, pity the person charged with writing a report summarizing the results. Big data is creating a culture in which businessand IT join forces to realize value from data. Companies make decisions based on big data but first it has to be visualized and translated into a report that can communicate the results to key decision makers and ensure they understand it. Communicating Big Data in a Business Report Since reports are one of the most important forms of written communication in the business world, the key is to find someone who both understands the brave new world of big data and also has a knack for the type of clear concise writing a report calls for. However raw talent is not enough. Skills needed for report writing, like the ability to differentiate the essential from non-essential, organizational judgment, and clarity of communication, are acquired more often than inherited, it's a good ideal that the person charged with the task first attend a report writing course. Basic Insights Language and layout are important if a report is to be accurate and understandable. No matter whether it is a scientific report, financial report, research or medical, there there are a few basic insights of good writing to keep in mind. A well-written report..... anticipates the readers' questions. In order to accomplish this, the writer should periodically review what he is writing and attempt to see it from the point of view of a reader, especially one skeptical about the world of big data. is like a good teacher. It strives to explain the facts is like math. It has logic and structure. It takes a pile of facts and assembles them into a clear accessible, understandable structure. is simple. Simple is not to be confused with simplistic. Big data is complicated. A skilled report writer knows how to deconstruct it and make it comprehensible. avoids jargon. The world of big data is full of its own language. A good report uses accessible language. A Few Well Put Words of Advice These tenets can be applied to any type of writing, but as with any written undertaking, preparation is the key. In the case of big data, it involves sifting through the facts. For a few words of advice on this who better to look to than Albert Einstein ? "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." - Albert Einstein While all data is important, only essential data needs to be included. Writing a report calls for self-editing, especially when dealing with data. It is easy to become overwhelmed by the amount, but understanding what's important to the business can help decide what to include and what to leave out. "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." - Albert Einstein No matter how well the report writer understands the findings, he is essentially keeping them to himself if he can not communicate them to those reading the report. If they are to act on his insights, he has to simplify the message so that it resonates with them. Since today's business world feeds on information, report writing is an essential and marketable skill. To learn about how to write the type of reports that can further your career, contact us for information about our report writing courses. Or, download the report writing course outline.

Adverse possession makes it de facto

Adverse possession makes it de facto Disclaimer: This work has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work produced by our Law Essay Writing Service . You can view samples of our professional work here . Adverse possession makes it de facto It is the policy of the Limitation Acts that those who go sleep upon their claims should not be assisted by the courts in recovering their property, but another, and I think equal policy behind these acts, is that there shall be an end to litigation. Irish law interprets a person’s right to land as being based on the fact that another person cannot claim a better title over it. Thus in Ireland the person usually with the best title to land, is the person whose title vests in possession. This is why the courts recognise a person who has had control of land for twelve years or more, even if it’s adverse possession to be the rightful owner. Adverse possession has been described as primitive and outmoded, however as this essay will show that it is still as relevant and important today as it was when it was created. Elements of adverse possession 1.1 To encourage owners not to sit on their rights Prevention of stale claims Quieten title s and facilitated conveyance Boundary disputes Adverse possession and registered land Economic impact of adverse possession Irish reactions to Pye, Law Reform Commission Reports. Possible ways to improve and enhance adverse possession. 5.1 Alternative Dispute Resolution. 5.2 Sharing the costs 5.3 Penalties To encourage owners not to sit on their rights The equitable maximum of, â€Å"Vigilantibus non dormientibus, jura subveniunt† is seen as a way of encouraging paper owners to utilise their land to the best of its abilities, as land is seen as a vital natural resource, and if they fail or neglect to do this then a squatter who is prepared to make use of the land has a legal right to take possession from the paper owner. See the comments of Lyall.   [ 4 ]    The law cannot be expected to protect the interests of a landowner who either has failed or even has no interest in the current state of his land, or where the owner has just not taken action in time to prevent the li mitation period from running out. However there is a need to be careful when courts do apply this maximum strictly, as it can lead to unjust outcomes, particularly where the paper owner had in mind a future use for the land, because it can be difficult to figure out whether the adverse possessors use of the land or the real owners future use of the land will yield the most benefits. This is what happed in the case of Pye   [ 5 ]   and resulted in the loss of land worth around thirty five million. Nueberger J discussed the â€Å"sleeping Theory† and found there to be no justification in the circumstances, where the paper owner â€Å"was content to let another person trespass on the land for the time being.† The judge could find no logic in the court’s decision here. The case contradicted the previously held believe that there could be no adverse possession, once the paper owner had a future use in mind.   [ 6 ]