Jewish Festivals in Israel Essay Example for Free

Jewish Festivals in Israel Essay Jewish festivals are the days celebrated by Jews. Some Jewish festivals happen on the same date every year, while others move around within a range of dates. Here we have provided the dates of the Jewish religious holidays for calendar year 2009. All Jewish holidays begin in the evening after the sunset. Judaism is believed to be one of the worlds oldest religions. Jews believe there is one God who created and rules the world. Judaism believes that people have freewill and are responsible for the choices made. The Torah is the primary scripture of Judaism. Torah means teaching, is Gods revealed instructions to the Jewish People. Why is the Jewish Calendar a Lunisolar Calendar? (Lunisolar = follows the cycle of the moon I.E. lunar, and sun I.E. solar) Background and History The Jewish calendar is primarily lunar, with each month beginning on the new moon, when the first sliver of moon becomes visible after the dark of the moon. In ancient times, the new months used to be determined by observation. When people observed the new moon, they would notify the Sanhedrin. When the Sanhedrin heard testimony from two independent, reliable eyewitnesses that the new moon occurred on a certain date, they would declare the rosh chodesh (first of the month) and send out messengers to tell people when the month began. Who originally obtained the exclusive authority to fix the date for Jewish festivals prior to the establishment of the Jewish calendar? Before the establishment of a Jewish calendar, the identification and designation of Rosh Hodesh (new moon in Hebrew) for a given month was critical in fixing the dates for Jewish festivals for that month. The Jewish high court in Judea, known as the Sanhedrin, based in Jerusalem during Temple times, retained its centralized and exclusive authority for fixing the date of Rosh Hodesh as well as for adding an extra month when it deemed necessary, based on the condition of crops at the end of the 12th month. The Sanhedrin based its authority on the fact that if it didnt have the exclusive authority to fix new moon dates, then different Jewish communities would potentially celebrate festivals on different days. A new month on the Jewish calendar begins with the molad, (pronounced moh-LAHD). Molad is a Hebrew word meaning birth, and refers to what we call the new moon in English. The molad for the month of Tishri (the month that starts with Rosh Hashanah) is the most important one for calendar calculations, and is referred to as Molad Tishri.

Literature Review Of Greenhouse Farming Technology Environmental Sciences Essay

Literature Review Of Greenhouse Farming Technology Environmental Sciences Essay This chapter presents a review of the literature on the topic of challenges faced when introducing greenhouse farming technology for agriculture. The chapter is structured on the basis of the research questions: Awareness of the product and its advantages to the farmers, challenges faced by farmers, legal issues surrounding this new technology and challenges faced by the firm introducing this new technology. Information is the key to making sound decisions. Some farmers are unaware of the availability of a suitable machine, tool, or implement that could aid in their usually tedious work. They might be secluded from the technology by natural barriers and sociopolitical boundaries, Paras et al. (2005). He goes on further to say sadly enough, some farmers are even lackadaisical and seemingly uninterested in mechanization. According to Weiderhold (2007), Industry is rarely ready to accept an innovation when it first presented. There are many reasons for lack of acceptance: the two major ones he cites are: The innovation is not understood by industry because, as a byproduct of the innovation new terms have been defined. The innovation is understood or at least understandable, but there are no resources at that time to try to develop and market the innovation According to Hammond et al (2005) the major barriers to improving food and nutrition security include issues dealing with farming practices, farmers ignorance of sustainable actions to take, and variations in the weather. Over-cropping takes place, which leaves the land choked, degraded, and often infertile. Farmers often grow the wrong crops in the wrong places causing low rates of crop growth and problems with soil degradation. Droughts cause problems because virtually none of the small subsistence farms have other ways of irrigating crops other than the rain. Also, in some areas, nonstop rain drowns fields and farms. Erosion has carried away much of Kenyas fertile topsoil. Searles (2007) states that a subsistence farmer in Kenya, which is the main target market for the greenhouses, cannot produce crops on a large scale if he does not know how to do so. It is hard to prevent problems such as soil erosion and degradation without knowing what to do to stop it. One also cannot eat enough if they do not know how much enough is or other things such as what foods provide how much energy. Also, one cannot eat enough nutritious foods if one does not know what foods are high in certain needed nutrients. There is also the problem of sheer lack of enough food. If a family farm was educated on how to grow enough food to eat as well as sell they would have enough income in order to meet their needs by purchasing food and other things. She also stresses that there has been little effort towards education of the family farmers. In the cities there are resources available in order to educate a farmer but it is not accessible to many rural citizens. There has been no centralized effort to educate the majority of farmers on sustainable development issues. 2.2.2 Limited-Resource Farmers According to the UNDAF (2008) Poverty, especially income poverty, remains one of the most formidable challenges for Kenyans today. Over 45% of Kenyas population still lives in poverty, with some 12.6 million of the estimated 33 million population living below the poverty line of less than one dollar a day. Rural communities, especially those in ASAL (Arid and Semi Arid Lands) areas and those in informal urban settlements, are the most affected. Most of the rural poor in Kenya (75% of poor households) depend on agriculture for their livelihoods (United Nations Development Assistance Framework [UNDAF], 2008) Each farm is fairly small, producing enough food to feed the family and some to sell. There are main crops grown in larger fields while smaller fields exist to grow smaller amounts but larger varieties of foods for the family to eat. Only 17% of Kenyas consumed food is imported to the country and that is mostly for the upper class citizens. With 64% of the people living in rural areas, and 80% of these practicing subsistence farming or cattle herding, the situation of food insecurity is severe. The people living in the urban areas are those that raise the general standards per capita with wage income and calorie consumption. Those in the rural areas, in general, receive less than the average of the per capita measurements. This means that nearly 52% of the population does not earn enough money, eat a well-balanced diet, or receive enough calories. Each person in the country is falling about 115 calories short of the average requirement human beings each day. The average income of each person is very low on the global scale and does not provide for many needed or very helpful supplies in the home or food wise. The poor in Kenya also receive less protein and other nutrients needed for good health. 2.2.3 Reluctance, Resistance to Change and Risk Aversion Experience indicates that Kenyan farmers are generally reluctant to changes in their farming activities for this is their way of life. They have the wait-and-see attitude. Although many farmers are very much open to new ideas and technology, there are more farmers who would first want to see a working model or system before they follow the lead states the Kenya-Advisor (2009). Like any new technology, greenhouse technology faces some of the same market problems as other innovations where few people would be willing to try out a new product. We can use the Rogers adoption model to better understand this concept. According to Popelka, Terryn, et al. (2004) the technology adoption lifecycle model describes the adoption or acceptance of a new product or innovation, according to the demographic and psychological characteristics of defined adopter groups. The process of adoption over time is typically illustrated as a classical normal distribution or bell curve. The model indicates that the first group of people to use a new product is called innovators, followed by early adopters. Next come the early and late majority, and the last group to eventually adopt a product are called laggards. According to Knowler, B. Bradshaw (2007) we can see from the model that most people (68%), fall under early majority or late majority, meaning that most people would be unwilling to try out new innovative products such as greenhouse farming because they are uncertain of its success. Diagram according to Knowler, B. Bradshaw (2007). 2.2.4 Lack of Training from Extension Personnel Extension is the battlefront of technology transfer. The people involved in extension must not only be technically updated but must also possess good management and interpersonal skills. With so much on their shoulders, most of them might be lacking the capability to integrate the greenhouse technology into the total farming system. According to Wilson, T.A., (2005) Efforts have been made in Kenya to improve on the policy framework for extension services. In this regard a National Agricultural Sector Extension Policy (NASEP) has been formulated and aims at giving extension a sector-wide dimension and representation to take over from the current National Agriculture Extension Policy (NAEP). It is also to guide and regulate the provision of agricultural extension service in the country. Currently, the NASEP implementation framework is being prepared. 2.2.5 Lack of Education According to the nation encyclopedia (2009) Seventy-four percent of children in Kenya attend primary school, but only 24% move on to secondary school. Kenya has an 82% literacy rate. Children of impoverished subsistence farms often do not attend school due to the necessity of their help on the farms. The more money a family has the higher likelihood the children will attend school. There are public schools in both urban and rural areas for the children to attend. There are fewer schools in rural areas than in urban and many in the rural areas are not the highest quality. 64% of the population is located in rural areas. Rural poor are at a great disadvantage to receiving education. They have little money to find needed resources for knowledge and live far from cities where that knowledge would be available. Urban poor are at a disadvantage, but much less than rural, because they are near the information. The poor also cannot afford to spread the knowledge to other farmers and cannot afford to attend college which would give adequate information on sustainable development. Even some in urban areas may have no access to information about sustainable practices because there are no libraries or institutions of higher learning in the cities. There is more education for subsistence farmers occurring in Kenya, but not on a large scale. According to John Makeni (2009) Kenyans have been offered education on expansion of horticulture and access to credit and business services by USAID, which has led to a small increase in rural incomes. USAID has also trained 6,350 teachers in the Northeastern and Coast Provinces in order to educate children in public schools in those areas, which will give the young a base of information to draw from. This may help with sustainable development in the future. USAID is helping communities manage their resources in more sustainable ways. The program set up by USAID focuses on community-based wildlife management, forestry and environmental management, and coastal zone management. 770,000 hectares of land are being put under improved management, $652,000 U.S. dollars in revenues from nature-based businesses has been earned, and 1,200 new jobs have been created to deal with the many issues. Parliament has enacted an environmental bill and is working on a land policy review process and fore stry and wildlife bill. 2.3 Government The greenhouse farming technology for agriculture is relatively new in Kenya and there is very little if any legislation available. This section of the paper will therefore review legislation from countries that have laws on greenhouses and their impact on the adoption of the greenhouse technology in those countries. 2.3.1 Role of Government in Agricultural Technology transfer Agricultural technologies and knowledge have, until recently, largely been created and disseminated by public institutions. But over the past two decades, biotechnology for agricultural production has developed rapidly, and the world economy has become more globalised and liberalised. This has boosted private investment in agricultural research and technology, exposing agriculture in developing countries to international markets and the influence of multinational corporations. But the public sector still has a role to play, particularly in managing the new knowledge, supporting research to fill any remaining gaps, promoting and regulating private companies, and ensuring their effects on the environment are adequately assessed. According to P. Marenya, C. Barret (2007) Since the end of World War II, the public sector of developed countries has helped transfer agricultural technologies to developing countries. During this period, most developing countries in Latin America and Africa, as well as some countries in Asia (like India and Thailand), have depended heavily on agricultural production to support their economies. So general development activities were often aimed at modernising the agricultural sector. Still P. Marenya (2007) continues that, since the late 1970s, all this has changed. Technologies have become embodied in physical products, like farm machinery or agrochemicals. Exponential growth in such industries has led to a rapid expansion of private firms that create, manufacture and sell technology. Private firms have also seen opportunities to profit by using complex seed improvement research to create and then distribute new crop hybrids. And so, the role of the public sector has also had to change. 2.3.2 Early technology transfer in agriculture: a public sector activity According to C. Doss (2006) After World War II, the United States began a number of initiatives to build up agricultural science in developing countries and help transfer technology. US universities offered training programmes, for example through scholarships for international students, managed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA, the US Agency for International Development and some of the major US foundations, like Ford and Rockefeller, also supported university libraries in developing countries to help scientists access new research. Many of these activities had enormous effects in the developing world. For example, a Ford Foundation programme in Argentina supported close to 40 PhD students, creating a cadre of professionals in the country and consolidating agricultural economic analysis in local institutions like the National Institute for Agricultural Technology. According to J. Oehmke, E. Crawford (1993) In the early 1960s, the International Rice Research Institute and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) were formed in the Philippines and Mexico respectively. These two centres evolved into a network of independent research institutions in Columbia, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru, Syria and the United States. In 1971, the association of donors that supported the research centres became the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and the 15 institutions that exist today are known as the Future Harvest Agricultural Research Centres. Piniero (2005) states that, developing countries created National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs) to do applied research. In Latin America, all countries, with the exception of El Salvador and Paraguay, have such an organisation. There are also similar organisations in Kenya and Uganda in Africa, and India and Pakistan in Asia. Evenson and Gollin (2003) International research centres developed technologies for major global food crops such as rice, wheat, corn, cassava, potatoes, millets and beans. National research institutes used applied research to adjust these technologies to fit relevant ecological and production conditions. The national and international centres worked closely together, sharing training and frequently involving scientists from both sides in visits and seminars. National centres then provided advice and counselling to local farmers, diffusing the new knowledge into the countrys production system. This system worked especially well for disseminating improved crops and new production techniques. For example, plant breeding work at CIMMYT developed a new family of wheat varieties in the early 1970s that were being used by more than 80 per cent of all wheat areas by the late 1990s, Evenson and Gollin (2003). And the research institutes set up during the 1960s and 1970s in the developing world were largely responsible for substantially increasing yields. For example, global cereal yields doubled between 1960 and 1985, Conway (1997). Technology is still transferred to developing countries this way, but recently, public funding for agricultural research has diminished, and science has grown more complex. 2.3.3 A changing role for the public sector According to I. Tzouramani, K Mattas (2004) Over the last two decades, advances in sciences like molecular genetics have enabled rapid development of biotechnology for agricultural production. Meanwhile, economic globalisation and trade liberalisation has increasingly exposed agriculture in developing countries to international markets and multinational corporations. Technologies that exist as marketable products, like seeds, agrochemicals and agricultural machinery, have grown quickly. James (2004) noted that this in turn, fuelled private investment in agricultural research and technology, particularly by international corporations that benefit from economies of scale, and have access to world markets. But research activities in the private sector have limited scope. For example, private research into seed improvement concentrates on just a few crops, like corn and soybeans, that are grown in temperate regions. Such specialisation is even greater in biotechnology, where over 70 per cent of the land planted with transgenic breeds grows just four crops soybeans, corn, canola and cotton, James (2004). Because of this narrow focus, the private sector usually disseminates its advances to developing countries that practise commercial agriculture in temperate climates and have relatively large markets. Small-scale farmers in developing countries still largely rely on the public sector for technology transfer, especially if they cultivate crops that dont interest private f irms. According to H. Zavale (2006) Public institutions are slowly adapting to these new circumstances by redefining their positions and priorities. CGIAR has emphasised its role in developing and transferring technologies that are adapted to small and poorer farms. The organisation is also beginning to consider work on non-food crops. Similarly, national research institutions, like the National Institute for Agricultural Technology in Argentina and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, are concentrating on crops and ecological conditions relevant to small farms. They also research techniques that complement private sector developments, for example by developing production systems and conservation methods that make using new technological products (such as agrochemicals, farm machinery and improved crops) more efficient. 2.3.4 A new way to approach technology transfer According to Thirtle. Et al (2003), The new economic and scientific context requires a new, more complex, model for transferring technology. The evolving model has four main components: knowledge management, gap filling research, promotion and regulation of the private sector, and environmental impact analysis (see Figure 1). Figure 1. A multidimensional model of agricultural technology transfer for the public sector 2.3.4.1 Knowledge management According to D. Scharfstein, C.F. Manski, J. Anthony (2004), The public sector continues to be largely responsible for knowledge management that is, articulating national needs, matching them to scientific opportunities, mobilising available technology, and adjusting them to farmers needs. NARIs and universities undertake this role in many developing countries. They help develop both new and orphan crops, promote successful agriculture in poor ecological conditions and tackle small-scale technological problems, none of which greatly interest the private sector. Such work accounts for much of the research done by local institutions, and needs to be strengthened. Local institutions should provide incentives for their staff to collaborate with international researchers and seek synergies with research done elsewhere. In many ways the CGIAR centres are important in helping integrate local efforts with the knowledge available worldwide. 2.3.4.2 Gap-filling research According to R. Deheija, S. Wahba (2002), National public research institutions also have a major responsibility for research in areas ignored by the private sector. This gap filling research is particularly relevant to technologies that are not embodied in physical products for example, forage management, animal health, soil management and conservation and irrigation practices. Elbehri, A. and S. Macdonald (2004) further support this point stating that Public research into agriculture in developing countries represents about a quarter of worldwide expenditure in agricultural research. But it needs to be managed effectively if it is to produce high quality research to complement internationally available technologies and help developing countries acquire and use them. Some countries, like Brazil, China, India and Vietnam, have already taken action, using careful planning and working with research institutions in developed countries research institutions to help focus research. 2.3.4.3 Promoting and regulating the private sector According to Sankula (2006), The public sector should also both promote private investment and regulate private companies. Several policies can help encourage the private sector to invest in technologies that are relevant to farmers in developing countries. First, adequate intellectual property rights legislation can be put in place. This allows private companies to protect profits from their research, helping attract investors and promoting research. Second, tax and credit facilities can provide indirect economic incentives to investment. Third, setting up frameworks for turning new technologies, like seeds or agrochemicals, into commercial realities for example consistent biosafety regulations, royalty agreements, profit sharing and reinvestment can be used to encourage interactions between private firms and public institutions, supporting joint activities and, thereby, encouraging technology transfer. 2.3.4.4 Environmental impact analyses According to Young, B. G (2006), policymakers must consider the environmental consequences of agricultural research. New agricultural technologies often use natural resources intensively, potentially damaging the environment, for example through land degradation or water contamination. This is especially true if the new technology is imported without being tested in local conditions. According to Wilson, T.A., M.E.. Rice, et al. (2005) Genetically modified crops are a good example. Developing countries like Argentina largely rely on industrialised nations to provide genetically modified breeds. Close to 90 per cent of Argentinas soybean crop is transgenic, and this has proved highly profitable in the past ten years. But the full environmental effects of expanding to marginal areas, displacing other crops and livestock, and using crop rotations are still unknown. Policymakers can help by developing regulatory measures, like mandatory environmental impact assessments, to minimise potential environmental damage and to protect consumers. 2.3.5 Protection of Patents and other Rights The issue of Farmers rights has brought concerns within the seed industry, farmer communities and policy makers especially in Africa. Organisations such as The African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) recognize the contribution of farmer communities to the conservation and the improvement of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. They balance the important role of the African seed industry in maintaining and improving crop yields through continuous crop breeding to create superior varieties, which benefit farmers and to which they have access stated Bouis, H.E., B.M. Chassy et al. (2003). They support access to genetic resources for breeding purposes by all breeders i.e. farmers themselves, public research institutes and seed companies and is not in favor of any regulations that prevent them from sustainably exploiting available plant genetic resources to add value to their crops. According to UPOV articles (1991), In addition, breeders need to get a reasonable return on their investment in plant breeding so that they can continue developing novel products. Free use of farm-saved seed undermines this principle and would lead to less breeding efforts and eventually prevent the release of new varieties to the detriment of farmers and agricultural development as a whole.In Africa, lack of public and private investment in plant breeding has led to a shortage of improved varieties limiting the choice of farmers. To give incentives to breeders, there is need to protect new varieties using intellectual property rights as provided for under the UPOV 1991 Convention. This Convention gives adequate protection against inappropriate use of protected varieties while having provisions for free access and use for further breeding purposes i.e. breeders exemption and the compulsory exception of acts done privately for non-commercial purposes (Article 15 (1) of UPOV 1991 Convention) allowing African subsistence farmers to save and use seed from their own harvests, specifically for their own use. As stipulated in article 9 (3) of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (IT PGRFA), this right is subject to the national law in force in a given country where such acts may be prohibited or subject to specific requirements and/or limitations i.e. the right is not unconditional for farmers and the Article 9 does not intend to limit any rights granted to them at national level. Under the UPOV 1991 Convention, national laws may allow farmers to replant on their own farm the seed produced on that same farm without the consent of the breeder of the protected variety. This exception however must remain within reasonable limits and is subject to the safeguarding of the legitimate interests of the breeder (Article 15(2) of UPOV 1991 Convention). This optional exception to Plant Breeders Rights should be limited to food and feed crops where farm-saved seed has been used traditionally and subject to the obligation that farmers provide information concerning the use to the breeder and to the payment of an equitable remuneration. However, this UPOV Convention has a provision that allows the free use of farm-saved seed of a protected variety for non commercial purposes by African subsistence farmers. It is very important that governments and all seed stakeholders make efforts in Africa to promote the development of more improved varieties with a view to addressing the needs of the diversified agro-ecological zones of the continent, which is widely ignored by the rest of the world, through effective protection of new plant varieties with clear mechanism of royalty collection for the breeders. 2.4 Firm Introducing the Technology 2.4.1 Training for Farmers Provision of training to small scale farmers is especially difficult due to their low levels of education. 2.4.2 Appropriate distribution channels Kenya has a wide geographical area where farming is done and so it is therefore difficult for one firm to serve the needs of these customers all over Kenya. Appropriate distributors and distributor channels therefore need to be identified to ensure that the technology is available to farmers all over the country. According to Kotler (2000) Distribution (also known as the place variable in the marketing mix, or the 4 Ps) involves getting the product from the manufacturer to the ultimate consumer. Distribution is often a much underestimated factor in marketing. The problem is that retailers may not be willing to devote shelf-space to new products. Retailers would often rather use that shelf-space for existing products have that proven records of selling. This would therefore be a disadvantage to the firm introducing the greenhouse technology since it is new and untested in the Kenyan market. 2.4.2.1 Manufacturer Distribution Preferences According to Savadogo, Reardon and Pietol (1998), Most manufacturers would prefer to have their products distributed widelythat is, for the products to be available in as many stores as possible. This is especially the case for convenience products where the customer has little motivation to go to a less convenient retail outlet to get his or her preferred brand. Soft drinks would be an extreme example here. The vast majority of people would settle for their less preferred brand in a vending machine rather than going elsewhere to get their top choice. This is one reason why being a small share brand in certain 2.4.3 Sample Farms The firm may need to create sample farms since farmers have a way of convincing other farmers to adopt a technology that they have successfully and profitably utilized. This is the basis for the model farmer, model farm strategy. However, this is double-edged; a bad experience by a farmer regarding a certain technology could spread like wildfire and could create reluctance rather than acceptance. However, a sustainable working system being used by a farmer cooperator would enhance receptivity to the greenhouse technology. 2.4.4 Revitalizing Government Policies According to Paras et al, (2005), Reviewing the policies on tax regarding the importation of agricultural machinery and parts (engines, pumps, sprayers, etc.), and all other materials and equipment for the manufacture of agricultural machinery would have a large effect on mechanization. At the same time, the government should try to make arrangements for companies to manufacture the greenhouse materials and parts locally. This in effect would also bring down the cost of greenhouses in the market. 2.4.5 Inability of Farmers to pay for Products As stated earlier, many of the small scale farmers in Kenya are unable to adopt this new method of farming due to the high initial cost of installation. This means that companies that sell these products do not have enough clients to sell their products to. However, some companies such as Amiran in Kenya are now entering into partnerships with financial institutions such as Equity bank to bridge this gap. A copy of the agreement is attached in the appendix. 2.5 Chapter Summary This chapter aims to review the relevant literature in relation to the research questions presented in this study. It identifies the barriers that exist in introducing the greenhouse farming technology from the farmers point of view, the governments role and from the view of the firm introducing this product. Subsequent chapters will try to provide the challenges from a Kenyan perspective from actual farmers and business people.

A Whale of a Passion for Psychology :: Graduate Admissions Essays

A Whale of a Passion for Psychology    A beluga whale helped me first realize my true academic passion. I spent my high school summers and weekends volunteering at the New York Aquarium, first in the education department, and later in the training department. It was there, through casual and research-oriented observations of cetaceans, that I began to wonder about animal and human minds. I later had the opportunity to participate in an observational research project, helping to record data on the behaviors of new whale calves and mothers. My informal and formal observations fed my interest in the phylogenetic and ontogenetic bases of cognition and language. As a psychology student at [my school], I had numerous opportunities to research and observe human psychology, both in and out of the classroom. As a sophomore, along with a professor and fellow students in a seminar class, I helped design and run a study on categorization and user's intentions. Later that year we presented our findings at the annual American Psycholog ical Society meeting. In that same year I also assisted a professor in conducting a study on the effects of familiar and unfamiliar music on reading comprehension. I spent the summer following my sophomore year (1997) as a research assistant in the [my school] Psychology Department, funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Foundation. I collaborated with a professor, a fellow undergraduate student, and a visiting high school student to research, design, and run a study on attitudes towards germs and illness. This included conducting an extensive literature review, specifying research questions, and designing questionnaires that would help us effectively answer our research questions. In addition to strengthening my research abilities, this experience gave me the invaluable opportunity to interact with fellow researchers as a student, a peer, and a mentor. My extracurricular research experience during my sophomore and junior years of college gave me the tools to independently develop and carry out research projects. During my senior year at [my school], I completed a long term library-based research project on the evolution of the human linguistic ability. As a person who tends to look at the big picture when conducting research, this project was the perfect opportunity for me to integrate research from numerous fields and subfields in order to answer a psychologically based question.       Through the study of anthropology, paleoneurology, neuropsychology, linguistics, and psycholinguistics, I explored theories debating the neurological and behavioral bases for language evolution. A Whale of a Passion for Psychology :: Graduate Admissions Essays A Whale of a Passion for Psychology    A beluga whale helped me first realize my true academic passion. I spent my high school summers and weekends volunteering at the New York Aquarium, first in the education department, and later in the training department. It was there, through casual and research-oriented observations of cetaceans, that I began to wonder about animal and human minds. I later had the opportunity to participate in an observational research project, helping to record data on the behaviors of new whale calves and mothers. My informal and formal observations fed my interest in the phylogenetic and ontogenetic bases of cognition and language. As a psychology student at [my school], I had numerous opportunities to research and observe human psychology, both in and out of the classroom. As a sophomore, along with a professor and fellow students in a seminar class, I helped design and run a study on categorization and user's intentions. Later that year we presented our findings at the annual American Psycholog ical Society meeting. In that same year I also assisted a professor in conducting a study on the effects of familiar and unfamiliar music on reading comprehension. I spent the summer following my sophomore year (1997) as a research assistant in the [my school] Psychology Department, funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Foundation. I collaborated with a professor, a fellow undergraduate student, and a visiting high school student to research, design, and run a study on attitudes towards germs and illness. This included conducting an extensive literature review, specifying research questions, and designing questionnaires that would help us effectively answer our research questions. In addition to strengthening my research abilities, this experience gave me the invaluable opportunity to interact with fellow researchers as a student, a peer, and a mentor. My extracurricular research experience during my sophomore and junior years of college gave me the tools to independently develop and carry out research projects. During my senior year at [my school], I completed a long term library-based research project on the evolution of the human linguistic ability. As a person who tends to look at the big picture when conducting research, this project was the perfect opportunity for me to integrate research from numerous fields and subfields in order to answer a psychologically based question.       Through the study of anthropology, paleoneurology, neuropsychology, linguistics, and psycholinguistics, I explored theories debating the neurological and behavioral bases for language evolution.

Jack Londons To Build a Fire Essays -- Papers London Jack Build Fire

Jack London's To Build a Fire In his short story entitled "To Build a Fire," Jack London portrays a bitter conflict between man and nature. The nature in this story is the harsh environment of the Yukon Trail. London chose to use nature as the antagonist, almost as a force working against the main character in his struggle for survival. London accomplished this personification of nature by giving the environment many human characteristics, by creating numerous things going wrong that really should not have happened, and by foreshadowing the protagonist's fate all throughout the story. The author used such a struggle with man versus nature in many of his stories. He liked to portray a sort of struggle for survival, a rising up against the odds, theme to appeal to the masses at the time. He wrote passionately about the many tough questions of life and death, the struggle to survive while retaining one's sense of dignity and integrity, and he wove these fundamental themes into stories of high adventure based on his own firsthand experiences, whether it was trying to tough out a storm in Alaska or out at sea, or working in a factory or in the fields in California (California State Park Historians 1). Jack London gives the environment many human characteristics. During the entire story, the reader gets a feeling of the man being challenged by the "threats" that are placed in front of him by the Yukon Trail. "à ¢? ¦The mysterious, far-reaching hairline trail, the absence of sun from the sky, the tremendous cold, and the strangeness and weirdness of it all-made no impression on the man" (London 116). Nature also throws some potent... ...pened, and by foreshadowing the protagonist's fate all throughout the story. In the end, however, the antagonist of this story wins, proving to the man that it is the stronger of the life forces. Works Cited California State Park Historians. "Jack London - His Life and Books." February 9, 2003. http://www.parks.sonoma.net/JLStory.html "John Griffith London." Contemporary Authors Online. Literature Resource Center. GaleNet. Lake-Sumter Community Coll. Lib., Leesburg, FL. 9 Feb. 2003 http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/LitRC?c=1&stab=128&ai=55459&ste=9&docNum=H1000061094&bConts=16047&tab=4&vrsn=3&ca=1&tbst=arp&ST=jack+london&srchtp=athr&n=10&locID=lincclin_lscc&OP=contains#Writings London, Jack. "To Build a Fire." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. United States: Longman, 2002. 117-128.

Advocates for a New Social Order: Dickens, Marx, and the Trade Union i

Advocates for a New Social Order: Dickens, Marx, and the Trade Union in Hard Times For over a century, Charles Dickens has been praised as being the working man's advocate, and the lower classes have played a major role in peopling his vast world of characters. Always, the reader is left with a sense of sympathy and pity for these characters as Dickens' journalistic descriptions of their plight are often dramatic, stirring, and pathetic. Although he renders the living conditions of the poor in such a way that no reader can escape feeling sympathy for such characters, Dickens never once offers a solution to such distress. In Hard Times we find a man who suffers not only the degradations of the industrial city, but also the ostracism of his own kind when he refuses to join the ranks of a budding trade union. Dickens has often been deemed a reformer by many modern critics. However, if he truly sought reform for the treatment of the lower classes in Victorian England, why, then, does he refuse Stephen Blackpool a chance to take a part in that reform? Like Karl Marx an d Friedrich Engels, Dickens realized and reported upon the conditions of the working classes, but he chose to offer a more spiritual form of aid rather than to suggest a complete political reformation. Dickens published his views on labor issues in several of his journals, and he spoke on the subject frequently as well. Although he was moved by the plight of the workers, he could not understand why they would become violent at times. Peter Ackroyd cites a letter to Angela Burdett-Coutts, describing Dickens’ views on trade union violence. The reason for such violence, Dickens contends in the letter, is that the lower classes were being brainwashed and swindle... ... both a charitable and noble soul. He could not have joined the union as he did not believe it would help matters any, and he maintains his dignity even though he pays the ultimate penalty for it in the end. Works Consulted The Oxford History of Britain. Ed. Kenneth O. Morgan. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1984. Ackroyd, Peter. Dickens. New York: HarperCollins, 1990. Bowditch, John and Clement Ramsland. Voices of the Industrial Revolution. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan P, 1961. Dickens, Charles. Hard Times. Ed. George Ford and Sylvere Monod. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1990. ---. "Locked Out.† Household Words 8 (1854): 345-8. Faber, Richard. Proper Stations. London: Faber and Faber, 1971. Marx, Karl. The Grundrisse. Ed. and trans. David McLellan. New York: Harper, 1971. Williams, Raymond. Culture and Society: 1780-1950. New York: Harper, 1958.

Emperor Hirohito Essay

Emperor Hirohito ruled for 53 years, during those years, Japanese civilians invaded China, the Rape of Nanking happened, they attacked Pearl Harbor and Japan rose to become the world second economic superpower. He was the first Japanese Emperor to be welcomed into Europe. He married at age 16, was crowned prince in November 1921. He died in his 80’s of a sickness called Myocardial Infraction. In his early life at age 7 he was taught proper behavior by Maresoke Nayi at Peer’s School. Also, his parents hired two Confucian tutors for him to learn. A few years later at age 11 his father was crowned Emperor because the formal Emperor had died of old age. Hirohito was to marry at age 16 to a young Princess which name is Nagako Kuni who was only 14 at the time. Before he had married the princess he went and traveled around Europe and was the first Japanese prince who was welcomed by the royal queen herself. During the time he had traveled he became very interested in the study of Marine Science. He also developed an interest in golf, drinking tea and eating bread. After coming back from Europe he changed the law that said that royal family members could not travel the world and make new traditions. His main inspiration was watching how in Europe people could do as they please and not get judge for it. Around that same time his family had heard a rumor that said the Princess Nagako Kuni was colorblind, so Hirohito’s family decided to delay the wedding until they figured everything out. They didn’t get married until a year later in 1924. Just a couple of years later he had to become Emperor because of his father death (due to a mental illness). People refused to him as a god because of the way he ruled. Also, because nobody ever saw him. Hirohito was one who believed in democratic politics over any other thing. Due to this he everyone believed that Japan wanted to go to war with every single country. So many people had judged him very harshly for not putting himself together in the right time before the war. And his own military wanted to get someone more worthy of the thrown, not Hirohito. It was hard on him and even more because of the surprise attack f the two atomic bombs which were dropped an August 6-9, 1945 (O’Neil 1). Nobody knew what to do or how to do it. The only person that knew what to do was Hirohito. He had decided to surrender to Great Britain and United States and to see if that would make his people follow him again. Or maybe put him on their good graces. He ordered his government to make an unconditional surrender. Hirohito had to make a fast action and an effective plan for seizing power (Oâ€℠¢Neil 1). Even though he had to do all those things he never wanted to give in to those countries. He knew he could do better if he had done some military service. But he didn’t he had married young and did everything so fast due to his father’s death. But still no one gave him the credit for doing it. For this, he deserves considerable credit (O’Neil 1). He toured Europe in 1971, the first reigning Japanese monarch to visit abroad, and traveled to the United States in 1975 (Leaders 1). He was one of the first Japanese Emperor’s to do this. Later on in life he wrote a few books on Marine Science. It was one of the things that interested him in his younger ages. He has 7 children named: Akihito, Prince Hitachi, Atsuko Lkeda, Takako Shimazu, Shigeko Higashikuni, Kazuko Takasukasa, and Princess Hisa Sachiko. Hirohito’s reign was designated Showa, or â€Å"Enlightened Peace† (Leaders 1). But some people were relieved when he died and his son Crown Prince Akihito became Emperor. Even though they were glad there were disappointed because the Prince had married a commoner. Some contemporaries who lived in his time were Hitler and Hideki Tojo. Their roles in his life were that both of them had lived in the same days as Hirohito. And they never met in person but they had heard of each other. Emperor Hirohito was a very important person in his days because of the way he had treated his people he didn’t make any decisions with out considering the way they would have felt about it. After the war he had said â€Å"That most unfortunate war, which I deeply deplore. † The main reason he had said that was because of all the people who had lost their life just because of that war. Another quote he had said was â€Å"I made efforts to swallow tears and to protect the Japenese Nation. †

Agency Problem – Essay

I partially agree with the statement that managers have a severely limited amount of discretion to pursue actions inconsistent with shareholder wealth maximization. By investing in a company, shareholders aim to maximize their wealth and achieve portfolio diversification. The objective of managers is assumed to be to further these interests by maximizing the firm’s share value. This can be achieved by taking on projects with positive NPV and good management of short-term capital and long-term debt. However, shareholders and managers are assumed to want to maximize their utilities; so this objective may not always be the priority for managers as they may rather prefer to maximize their own wealth or further other personal interests of theirs. This conflict of interest between the two is an example of the principal agent problem. The principal agent problem occurs due to two reasons. The first is the separation of ownership from control – the principal or the shareholders may own a corporation but it is the agent or manager who holds control of it and acts on their behalf. This gives managers the power to do things without necessarily being ‘detected’ by shareholders. The second is that shareholders may not possess the same information as the manager. The manager would have access to management accounting data and financial reports, whereas the shareholders would only receive annual reports, which may be subject to manipulation. Thus asymmetric information also leads to moral hazard and adverse selection problems. The following are areas where the interests of shareholders and managers often conflict: Managers may try to expropriate shareholders’ wealth in a number of ways. They may over consume perks such as using company credit cards for personal expenses, jet planes etc. †¢Empire building: Managers may pursue a suboptimal expansion path for the firm. They may expand the firm at a rationally unfeasible rate in order to increase their own benefits at the cost of shareholders’ wealth. †¢Managers may be more risk ave rse than shareholders who typically hold diversified portfolios. †¢Managers may not have the same motivation as shareholders, likely due to a lack of proper incentives. Managers may window dress financial statements in order to optimize bonuses or justify sub optimal strategies The principal agent problem normally leads to agency costs. This has been identified by Jensen and Meckling(1976) as the sum of: 1. Monitoring costs: Costs incurred by the shareholders when they attempt to monitor or control the actions of managers. 2. Bonding costs: Bonding refers to contracts that bond agents' performance with principal interests by limiting or restricting the agent’s activity as a result. The cost of this to the manager is the bonding cost. 3. The residual loss: Costs incurred from divergent principal and agent interests despite the use of monitoring and bonding. However the manager’s discretion is quite limited in practice. There are a number of internal and external solutions to agency costs for shareholders. Internal: †¢Well-written contracts ensure that there are fewer opportunities for managers to over consume perks. †¢An external board of directors could be appointed to monitor the efforts and actions of managers. This board would have access to information and considerable legal authority over management. It could thus safeguard information and represent shareholder interests in the company. †¢The board could hire independent accountants to audit the firm’s financial statements. If the managers don’t agree to changes proposed by auditors, the auditors issue a qualified opinion. This signals that managers are trying to hide something, and undermines investor confidence. †¢Compensation packages where the reward to the manager is linked to firm performance. This includes performance related bonuses and the payments of shares and share options. Ambitious, lower managers are a threat to the jobs of inefficient, evading ones. External: †¢The lenders of a company also monitor; a bank for instance would track the assets, earnings and cash flows of the company it provides a loan to. †¢Managerial labor market: Poor managers may not get another job or get a much poorer one. Ultimately the most important indicator to the labor market of managerial performance is share price. †¢Capital Markets – A falling share price increases the threat of a take-over, which can often result in redundancies. More concentrated shareholding by outsiders can lead to monitoring by them and improve managerial performance. However there are a few problems with these solutions though, which make it possible for managers to circumvent them to a small extent. In order to keep the share price high, managers may focus more on short term profitability at the cost of long term profitability. They may use gimmicks to temporarily boost the share price and neglect spending on research, development and H. R. They may also provide sub standard products and cease providing services for old, or relatively less important products in order to reduce costs and make a quick profit. This damages the company’s reputation, reduces its competitiveness in the future and thus affects long-term shareholder value negatively. While block holders may act as external monitoring mechanisms, they can also have private incentives to go along with management decisions, which may be detrimental to firm performance. Writing better contracts may reduce the problem of asymmetric information, but not fully solve it. This is because the design of such contracts is technically infeasible due to various reasons such as the difficulty of foreseeing all future contingencies. Dispersed shareholders often do not exercise the few controlling rights that they have. This leads to a free rider problem where shareholders would prefer to let other shareholders do the task of monitoring as they cannot justify spending on it over the few shares that they each own. In order to resist takeovers, managers may design contracts that compensate them in the event of loss of control due to the takeover. They may also undertake targeted repurchases and devise a poison pill, which changes the fundamental aspects of the corporate rules without the knowledge of shareholders. While incentive schemes such as shares and share options are effective, they are still reactive in the sense that they provide no mechanism for preventing mistakes or opportunistic behavior. Managers may continue to focus mainly on quarterly goals rather than the long term as they are allowed to sell the stocks after exercising their options. By focusing on quarterly performance, managers could boost the stock price and avail higher personal profits on their subsequent sale of stock. Managers may also sell their shares as soon as they are high, leading people to think that they lack confidence in their own operations. This may adversely affect share price. Share options also increase the risk of EPS dilution from an increase in shares outstanding. Managers may often ‘window dress’ financial statements as the company must be seen to perform well in order to improve share valuations. They may report inaccurate information, especially if their short-term rewards outweigh their long term ones such as pensions. It also encourages shareholder approval, and so would lead to less difficult AGM’s. Many managers may hide the true value of assets in order to hide the losses they incurred while buying them. Window dressing also involves managers presenting statistics such that they highlight the perceivably best bits about the company’s performance and avoid emphasis on the worst aspects of the previous year’s business. Other common practices of this include disguising liquidity problems and fraudulent representation of liabilities. This gross misrepresentation of debts has been seen with Enron in the US, where $billions of long-term liabilities were hidden off the balance sheet. Its executive Jeffery Skiller, initiated the use of mark to market accounting, while hoping to meet Wall Street expectations. Enron ultimately became bankrupt while its shareholders suffered huge losses. Despite having model board of directors and a talented audit committee, Enron’s managers were able to make it attract large sums of capital to fund a questionable business model and hype its stock to unsustainable levels. Worldcom, a telecommunications company in the US, inflated profits by disguising expenses as investment in assets and inflated revenues with bogus accounting entries from corporate, unallocated revenue accounts. In mid 2000, its stock price began to decline and CEO Bernard Ebbers persuaded WorldComà ¢â‚¬â„¢s board of directors to provide him corporate loans and guarantees of over $400 million to cover his margin calls on Worldcom stock. The board had hoped that the loans would avert the need for Ebbers to sell the substantial amounts of WorldCom stock that he owned, as this would have further reduced the stock's price. However, the company ultimately went bankrupt and Ebbers was ousted as CEO in April 2002. The shareholders suffered massive losses as they watched World Com’s stock price plummet from $60 to less than 20 cents. Thus, we can see that while there is room for managers to indulge in personal wealth maximization, it is quite difficult to do so. Usually, the solutions tend to be adequate enough to correct the conflicts, and restrict manager’s discretion.