Feedback Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Feedback - Essay Example In a speech provided by the White House Web site (2009) titled â€Å"Remarks by the president on the home mortgage crisis,† President Barak Obama highlighted how the mortgage phenomenon challenged the American dream and it frightened our nation’s financial system, the strength of our families and communities. President Obama (2009) said that, â€Å"its a crisis that strikes at the heart of the middle class: the homes in which we invest our savings and build our lives, raise our families and plant roots in our communities.† Millions of this country’s citizens ended up losing their jobs and are still at risk of losing their properties. The foreclosure crisis impacted the United States economy dramatically, and I strongly believe that one way to protect ourselves from foreclosures is to control the risk of our financial activities, and as homebuyers we should be well aware of what type of loans we can afford. As homeowners it is essential to take responsibility and take proper actions when it comes down to correctly distributing the household’s budget. According to Petrovich (2008), usually one individual manages the books in the majority of our households, meaning taking charge for bills getting paid and supervising the finances. Moreover, Petrovich (2008) had written that the person in charge knows if the total income is enough to keep up with the expenses. It is easy to review your expenses increases versus the earnings you are bringing home. Are you considering in your monthly balance sheet costs like utility bills or simply groceries? Determining and examining your spending behaviors is crucial to be successful at managing your finances, and have a lifestyle that meets your budget (Petrovich, 2008). But what do we know and why do we care about foreclosures? According Frame (2010), foreclosure can be defined as a legal

Global Financial Crisis and the Ramifications and Impacts upon Ethics Research Paper

Global Financial Crisis and the Ramifications and Impacts upon Ethics and the Developmen of Ethical Behavior - Research Paper Example As such, this brief paper will analyze some of the ways in which this researcher believes it could have ultimately been prevented, the means whereby ethical standards were violated. Although it is oftentimes noted that hindsight is 20/20, it is worth discussing these mechanisms as a function of gaining a further insight into the way that the market works and seeking to prevent a similar situation occurring within the future. Due to the high level of understanding that current economists have with regards to the Great Depression, many forms of protection have been placed within the current economy as a means of ensuring that the same type of catastrophe, based on the same causal factors, does not occur within the current market. However, these forms of protection were not always present and it can be effectively argued that these were some of the main reasons why the crisis itself was able to be perpetuated and had such long and damaging effects. Finally, as a function of understandin g the crisis, what precipitated it, and what furthered it, this analysis will devote a degree of time to analyzing behavioral bias that existed within the system. Background and Analysis of Causal Factors and Precipitators: As such, it is necessary to know, understand, and discuss the forces which could have prevented or at least greatly assuaged the crisis as it has been presented to the financial markets and subsequent global economies over the period of the past 5 years time. In this way, such an exploratory look into the realm of the financial crisis and its subsequent aftermath can allow for a more informed understanding of how the crisis itself could have been prevented as well as the formulation and creation of new and insightful ideas within the reader with regards to how such a situation might be stopped in the future. The first aspect of anticipation and reduction to the crisis came as early as the mid to late 1990s when a number of lawmakers and political analysts began t o make a series of warnings concerning the untenable nature of the ways in which the financial sector was being deregulated (Liang, 354).1 Although this deregulation has been attributed to both sides of the political spectrum, in all fairness it can be assumed from a moderate interpretation that both sides were complicit in the wholesale deregulation of the financial sector which ultimately caused the collapse of the real estate bubble (The Banking Crisis 9).2 Moreover, the first real and measurable signs of impending difficulties on the horizon were first demonstrated around the year 2006 when the Department of Commerce noted that new home permits had dropped an astounding 28% (Hsu 497).3 Normally incremental increases and/or decrease in the reduction or expansion of new home permits are little cause for alarm; however, when something as earth shattering and innately odd as nearly a 1/3 reduction in the demand for housing should have been a major red flag to the Federal Reserve as well as the entire regulatory system. However, rather than heed such a statistic, the Federal Reserve remained unrealistically optimistic regarding how the economy would likely behave over the next several months and years (Horner 33).4 This allowed for the current situation to continue to extend itself for approximately another 2 years time before the final result of such a failure in oversight and monetary policy was noted by the stock market in the painful round of

Acquisition is a High Risky Strategy Essay Example for Free

Acquisition is a High Risky Strategy Essay In the literature, several motives for takeovers have been identified. One is the desire for synergy. That is, similarities or complementarities between the acquiring and target firms are expected to result in the combined value of the enterprises exceeding their worth as separate firms (Collis and Montgomery, 1998). A second motive involves the expectation that acquirers can extract value because target companies have been managed inefficiently (Varaiya, 1987). A third motive is attributed to managerial hubris the notion that senior executives, in overestimating their own abilities, acquire companies they believe could be managed more profitably under their control. Agency theory motive is the anticipation that firm expansion will positively impact the compensation of top managers since there tends to be a direct relation between firm size and executive pay. Contemporary specialists contend that managerial ownership incentives may be expected to have divergent impacts on corporate strategy and firm value. This premise has been recognized in previous studies. For instance, Stulz (1988) has examined the ownership of managers of target companies and has proposed that the relationship between that ownership and the value of target firms may initially be positive and then subsequently become negative with rising insider ownership. Moreover, Shivdasani (1993) empirically shows that the relationship of the ownership structure of target companies with the value of hostile bids is not uniformly positive. McConnell and Servaes (1990) have likewise analyzed the relationship of equity ownership among corporate insiders and Tobins q. Their results demonstrate a non-monotonic relation between Tobins q and insider equity stakes. Wright et al. (1996: 451) have shown a non-linear relationship between insider ownership and corporate strategy related to firm risk taking. Ownership Incentives and Changes in Company Risk Motivating Acquisitions An agency-theoretic motive for acquisitions has been used to explain managerial preferences for risk-reducing corporate strategies (Wright et al., 1996). The implication is that both principals and agents prefer acquiring target companies with higher rather than lower returns. In that, shareholders and managers have congruent interests. The interests, however, diverge in terms of risk considerations associated with acquisitions. Because shareholders possess diversified portfolios, they may only be concerned with systematic risk and be indifferent to the total variance of returns associated with a takeover. Senior managers may alternatively prefer risk-reducing corporate strategies, unless they are granted ownership incentives. That is because they can not diversify their human capital invested in the firm. In the literature, it has been argued that agency costs may be reduced as managerial ownership incentives rise. The reason is that, as ownership incentives rise, the financial interests of insiders and shareholders will begin to converge. Analysts conjecture, however, that such incentives may not consistently provide senior executives the motivation to lessen the agency costs associated with an acquisition strategy. Inherent is the presumption that the nature of executive wealth portfolios will differently influence their attitudes toward corporate strategy. The personal wealth portfolios of top managers are comprised of their ownership of shares/options in the firm, the income produced from their employment, and assets unrelated to the firm. Presumably, as senior executives increase their equity stakes in the enterprise, their personal wealth portfolios become correspondingly less diversified. Although stockholders can diversify their wealth portfolios, top executives have less flexibility if they own substantial shares in the firms they manage. Hence, if a significant portion of managers wealth is concentrated in one investment, then they may find it prudent to diversify their firms via risk-reducing acquisitions. In the related literature, however, takeovers and risk taking have been approached differently from the described approach. Amihud and Lev (1999) have contended that insiders employment income is significantly related to the firms performance. Thus, managers are confronted with risks associated with their income if the maintenance of that income is dependent on achieving predetermined performance targets. Reasonably, in the event of either corporate underperformance or firm failure, CEOs not only may lose their current employment income but also may seriously suffer in the managerial labor market, since their future earnings potential with other enterprises may be lowered. Hence, the risk of executives employment income is impacted by the firms risk. The ramification of Amihud and Levs (1999) contentions is that top managers will tend to lower firm risk, and therefore their own employment risk, by acquiring companies that contribute to stabilizing of the firms income, even if shareho lder wealth is adversely affected. Consistent with the implications of Amihud and Levs arguments, Agrawal and Mandelker (1987) have similarly suggested that managers with negligible ownership stakes may adopt risk-reducing corporate strategies because such strategies may well serve their own personal interests. With ownership incentives, however, managers may be more likely to acquire risk-enhancing target companies, in line with the requirement of wealth maximization for shareholders. The notion that at negligible managerial ownership levels, detrimental risk-reducing acquisition strategies may be emphasized, but with increasing ownership incentive levels, beneficial risk-enhancing acquisitions may be more prevalent is also suggested in other works (Grossman and Hoskisson, 1998). The conclusion of these investigations is that the relationship between insider ownership and risk enhancing, worthy corporate acquisitions is linear and positive. Some experts assert that CEOs personal wealth concentration will induce senior managers to undertake risk-reducing firm strategies. Portfolio theorys expectation suggests that investors or owner-managers may desire to diversify their personal wealth portfolios. For instance, Markowitz (1952: 89) has asserted that investors may wish to diversify across industries because firms in different industries. . . have lower covariances than firms within an industry. Moreover, as argued by Sharpe (1964: 441), diversification enables the investor to escape all but the risk resulting from swings in economic activity. Consequently, managers with substantial equity investments in the firm may diversify the firm via risk-reducing acquisitions in order to diversify their own personal wealth portfolios. Because they may be especially concerned with risk-reducing acquisitions, however, their corporate strategies may not enhance firm value through takeovers, although managerial intention may be to boos t corporate value. The above discussion is compatible with complementary arguments that suggest that insiders may acquire non-value-maximizing target companies although their intentions may be to enhance returns to shareholders. For instance, according to the synergy view, while takeovers may be motivated by an ex-ante concern for increasing corporate value, many such acquisitions are not associated with an increase in firm value. Alternatively, according to the hubris hypothesis, even though insiders may intend to acquire targets that they believe could be managed more profitably under their control, such acquisitions are not ordinarily related to higher profitability. If acquisitions which are undertaken primarily with insider expectations that they will financially benefit owners do not realize higher performance, then those acquisitions which are primarily motivated by a risk-reducing desire may likewise not be associated with beneficial outcomes for owners. Additionally, it can be argued that shareholders can more efficiently diversify their own portfolios, making it unnecessary for managers to diversify the firm in order to achieve portfolio diversification for shareholders. Risk Associated with HRM practices in International Acquisitions There are a number of reasons why the HRM policies and practices of multinational corporations (MNCs) and cross-border acquisitions are likely to be different from those found in domestic firms (Dowling, Schuler and Welch, 1993). For one, the difference in geographical spread means that acquisitions must normally engage in a number of HR activities that are not needed in domestic firms such as providing relocation and orientation assistance to expatriates, administering international job rotation programmes, and dealing with international union activity. Second, as Dowling (1988) points out, the personnel policies and practices of MNCs are likely to be more complex and diverse. For instance, complex salary and income taxation issues are likely to arise in acquisitions because their pay policies and practices have to be administered to many different groups of subsidiaries and employees, located in different countries. Managing this diversity may generate a number of co-ordination and communication problems that do not arise in domestic firms. In recognition of these difficulties, most large international companies retain the services of a major accounting firm to ensure there is no tax incentive or disincentive associated with a particular international assignment. Finally, there are more stakeholders that influence the HRM policies and practices of international firms than those of domestic firms. The major stakeholders in private organizations are the shareholders and the employees. But one could also think of unions, consumer organizations and other pressure groups. These pressure groups also exist in domestic firms, but they often put more pressure on foreign than on local companies. This probably means that international companies need to be more risk averse and concerned with the social and political environment than domestic firms. Acquisitions and HRM Practices: Evidence from Japan, the US, and Europe In contemporary context, international human resource management faces important challenges, and this trend characterizes many Japanese, US and European acquisitions.   From the critical point of view, Japanese companies experience more problems associated with international human resource management than companies from the US and Europe (Shibuya, 2000). Lack of home-country personnel sufficient international manage ­ment skills has been widely recognized in literature as the most difficult problem facing Japanese compa ­nies and simultaneously one of the most significant of US and European acquisitions as well. The statement implies that cultivating such skills is difficult and that they are relatively rare among businessmen in any country. Japanese companies may be particularly prone to this problem due to their heavy use of home-country nationals in overseas management positions. European and Japanese acquisitions also experience the lack of home country personnel who want to work abroad, while it is less of an impediment for the US companies. In the US acquisitions expatriates often experience reentry difficulties (e.g., career disruption) when re ­turning to the home country: This problem was the one most often cited by US firms.   Today Japanese corporations report the relatively lower incidence of expatriate reentry diffi ­culties, and it is surprising given the vivid accounts of such problems at Japanese firms by White (1988) and Umezawa (1990). However, the more active role of the Japanese person ­nel department in coordinating career paths, the tradition of semi ­annual musical-chair-like personnel shuffles (jinji idoh), and the continu ­ing efforts of Japanese stationed overseas to maintain close contact with headquarters might underlie the lower level of difficulties in this area for Japanese firms (Inohara, 2001). In contrast, the decentralized structures of many US and European firms may serve to isolate expatriates from their home-country headquarters, making reentry more problematic. Also, recent downsiz ­ing at US and European firms may reduce the number of appropriate management positions for expatriates to return to, or may sever expatri ­ates relationships with colleagues and mentors at headquarters. Furthermore, within the context of the lifetime employment system, individ ­ual Japanese employees have little to gain by voicing reentry concerns to personnel managers. In turn, personnel managers need not pay a great deal of attention to reentry problems because they will usually not result in a resignation. In western firms, reentry problems need to be taken more seriously by personnel managers because they frequently result in the loss of a valued employee. A further possible explanation for the higher incidence of expatriate reentry problems in western multinationals is the greater tendency of those companies to implement a policy of transferring local nationals to headquarters or other international operations. Under such a policy, the definition of expatriate expands beyond home-country nationals to en ­compass local nationals who transfer outside their home countries. It may even be that local nationals who return to a local operation after working at headquarters or other international operations may have their own special varieties of reentry problems. Literature on international human resource practices in Japan, the US and Europe suggest that the major strategic difficulty for the MNCs is to attract high-caliber local nationals to work for the company. In general, acquisitions may face greater challenges in hiring high-caliber local employees than do domestic firms due to lack of name recognition and fewer relationships with educators or others who might recommend candidates. However, researchers suggest that this issue is significantly more difficult for Japanese than for US and European multinationals. When asked to describe problems encoun ­tered in establishing their US affiliates, 39.5% of the respondents to a Japan Society survey cited finding qualified American managers to work in the affiliate and 30.8% cited hiring a qualified workforce (Bob ; SRI, 2001). Similarly, a survey of Japanese companies operating in the US conducted by a human resource consulting firm found that 35% felt recruiting personnel to be very difficult or extremely difficult, and 56% felt it to be difficult (The Wyatt Company, 1999). In addition to mentioned problem, Japanese acquisition encounter high local employee turnover, which is significantly more prob ­lematic for them due to the near-total absence of turnover to which they are accustomed in Japan. The US, European and Japanese companies admit very rarely that they encounter local legal challenges to their personnel policies. However, in regard to Japanese acquisitions large   amount of press coverage has been given to lawsuits against Japanese companies in the United States and a Japanese Ministry of Labor Survey in which 57% of the 331 respondents indicated that they were facing potential equal employ ­ment opportunity-related lawsuits in the United States (Shibuya, 2000). Conclusion This research investigates whether corporate acquisitions with shared technological resources or participation in similar product markets realize superior economic returns in comparison with unrelated acquisitions. The rationale for superior economic performance in related acquisitions derives from the synergies that are expected through a combination of supplementary or complementary resources. It is clear from the results of this research that acquired firms in related acquisitions have higher returns than acquired firms in unrelated acqui ­sitions. This implies that the related acquired firm benefits more from the acquirer than the unrelated acquired firm. The higher returns for the related acquired firms suggest that the combination with the acquirer’s resources has higher value implications than the combination of two unrelated firms. This is supported by the higher total wealth gains which were observed in related acquisitions. I did however, in the case of acquiring firms, find that the abnormal returns directly attributable to the acquisition transaction are not significant. There are reasons to believe that the announcement effects of the transaction on the returns to acquirers are less easily detected than for target firms. First, an acquisition by a firm affects only part of its businesses, while affecting all the assets (in control-oriented acqui ­sitions) of the target firm. Thus the measurability of effects on acquirers is attenuated. Second, if an acquisition is one event in a series of implicit moves constituting a diversification program, its individual effect as a market signal would be mitigated. It is also likely that the theoretical argument which postulates that related acquisitions create wealth for acquirers may be underspecified. Relatedness is often multifaceted, suggesting that the resources of the target firm may be of value to many firms, thus increasing the relative bargaining power of the target vis-a-vis the potential buyers. Even in the absence of explicit competition for the target (multiple bidding), the premiums paid for control are a substantial fraction of the total gains available from the transaction. For managers, some implications from the research can be offered. First, it seems quite clear from the data that a firm seeking to be acquired will realize higher returns if it is sold to a related than an unrelated firm. This counsel is consistent with the view that the market recognizes synergistic combinations and values them accordingly. Second, managers in acquiring firms may be advised to scrutinize carefully the expected gains in related and unrelated acquisitions. For managers the issue of concern is not whether or not a given kind of acquisition creates a significant total amount of wealth, but what percentage of that wealth they can expect to accrue to their firms. Thus, although acquisitions involving related technologies or product market yield higher total gains, pricing mechanisms in the market for corporate acquisitions reflect the gains primarily on the target company. Interpreting these results conservatively, one may offer the argument that expected gains for acquiring firms are competed away in the bidding process, with stockholders of target firms obtaining high proportions of the gains. On a pragmatic level this research underscores the need to combine what may be called the theoretical with the practical. In the case of acquisitions, pragmatic issues like implicit and explicit competition for a target firm alter the theoretical expectations of gains from an acquisition transaction. Further efforts to clarify these issues theoretically and empirically will increase our understanding of these important phenomena. Bibliography Sharpe WF. 1964. Capital asset prices: a theory of market equilibrium under conditions of risk. Journal of Finance 19: 425-442 Markowitz H. 1952. Portfolio selections. Journal of Finance 7: 77-91 Grossman W, Hoskisson R. 1998. CEO pay at the crossroads of Wall Street and Main: toward the strategic design of executive compensation. Academy of Management Executive 12: 43-57 Amihud Y, Lev B. 1999. Does corporate ownership structure affect its strategy towards diversification? Strategic Management Journal 20(11): 1063-1069 Agrawal A, Mandelker G. 1987. Managerial incentives and corporate investment and financing decisions. Journal of Finance 42: 823-837 Wright P, Ferris S, Sarin A, Awasthi V. 1996. The impact of corporate insider, blockholder, and institutional equity ownership on firm risk-taking. Academy of Management Journal 39: 441-463 McConnell JJ, Servaes H. 1990. Additional evidence on equity ownership and corporate value. Journal of Financial Economics 27: 595-612. Shivdasani A. 1993. Board composition, ownership structure, and hostile takeovers. Journal of Accounting and Economics 16: 167-198 Stulz RM. 1988. Managerial control of voting rights: financing policies and the market for corporate control. Journal of Financial Economics 20: 25-54 Varaiya N. 1987. Determinants of premiums in acquisition transactions. Managerial and Decision Economics 14: 175-184 Collis D, Montgomery C. 1998. Creating corporate advantage. Harvard Business Review 76(3): 71-83 White, M. 1988. The Japanese overseas: Can they go home again? New York: The Free Press. Bob, D., ; SRI International. 2001. Japanese companies in American communities. New York: The Japan Society.

The Celts Religion And Society Religion Essay

The Celts Religion And Society Religion Essay The Celts are traditionally ignored in world history textbooks and course, but the Celtic way of life, Celtic institutions, and the Celtic world view were superimposed onto Germanic and classical culture. The later monolithic European culture is greatly influenced by these early peoples. Most of what we know about Celtic life comes from Ireland-the largest and most extensive of the Celtic populations, the Gauls in central and western Europe, we only know about through Roman sources-and these sources are decidedly unfriendly to the Gauls. We know that the early Celtic societies were organized around warfare-this structure would commonly characterize cultures in the process of migration: the Celts, the Huns, and later the Germans. Although classical Greek and Roman writers considered the Celts to be violently insane, warfare was not an organized process of territorial conquest. Among the Celts, warfare seems to have mainly been a sport, focussing on raids and hunting. In Ireland, the institution of the fianna involved young, aristocratic warriors who left the tribal area for a time to conduct raids and to hunt. When the Celts came into contact with the Romans, they changed their manner of warfare to a more organized defense agains a larger army. It was these groups that the classical writers encountered and considered insane. The Celtic method of warfare was to stand in front of the opposing army and scream and beat their spears and swords against their shields. They would then run headlong into the opposing army and s creamed the entire way-this often had the effect of scaring the opposing soldiers who then broke into a run; fighting a fleeing army is relatively easy work. If the opposing army did not break ranks, the Celts would stop short of the army, return to their original position, and start the process over agina. Celtic society was hierarchical and class-based. Tribes were led by kings but political organizations were remarkably plastic. According to both Roman and Irish sources, Celtic society was divided into three groups: a warrior aristocracy, an intellectual class that included druids, poets, and jurists, and everyone else. Society was tribal and kinship-based; ones ethnic identity was largely derived from the larger tribal group, called the tuath (too-awth) in Irish (meaning people) but ultimately based on the smallest kinship organizational unit, the clan, called the cenedl (ke-na-dl), or kindred, in Irish. The clan provided identity and protection-disputes between individuals were always disputes between clans. Since it was the duty of the clan to protect individuals, crimes against an individual would be prosecuted against an entire clan. One of the prominent institutions among the Celts was the blood-feud in which murder or insults against an individual would require the entire clan to violently exact retribution. The blood-feud was in part avoided by the institution of professional mediators. At least an Ireland, a professional class of jurists, called brithem, would mediate disputes and exact reparations on the offending clan. Even though Celtic society centered around a warrior aristocracy, the position of women was fairly high in Celtic society. In the earliest periods, women participated both in warfare and in kingship. While the later Celts would adopt a strict patriarchal model, they still have a memory of women leaders and warriors. Celtic society was based almost entirely on pastoralism and the raising of cattle or sheep; there was some agriculture in the Celtic world, but not much. The importance of cattle and the pastoral life created a unique institution in Celtic, particularly Irish, life: the cattle-raid. The stealing of another groups cattle was often the proving point of a group of young warriors; the greatest surviving Irish myth, the TÃ ¡in BÃ ³ Cualingne, or The Cattle Raid of Cooley, centers around one such mythically-enhanced cattle-raid. There was no urbanization of any kind among the Celts until the advent of Roman rule; in Ireland, urbanization did not occur until the Danish and Norwegian invasions. Society was not based on trade or commerce; what trade took place was largely in the form of barter. Celtic economy was probably based on the economic principle of most tribal economies: reciprocity. In a reciprocal economy, goods and other services are not exchanged for other goods, but they are given by individuals to individuals based on mutual kinship relationships and obligations. (A family economy is typical of a reciprocal economy-parents and children give each other material goods and services not in trade but because they are part of a family). Religion From the nineteenth century onwards, Celtic religion has enjoyed a fascination among modern Europeans and European-derived cultures. In particular, the last few decades have seen a phenomenal growth not only interest in Celtic religion, but in religious practices in part derived from Celtic sources. For all this interest, however, we know next to nothing about Celtic religion and practices. The only sources for Celtic religious practices were written by Romans and Greeks, who considered the Celts little more than animals, and by later Celtic writers in Ireland and Wales who were writing from a Christian perspective. Simply put, although the Celts had a rich and pervasive religious culture, it has been permanently lost to human memory. We can make some general comments about Celtic religion based on the often-hostile accounts of classical writers. The Celts were polytheistic; these gods were ultimately derived from more primitive, Indo-European sources that gave rise to the polytheistic religions of Greece, Persia, and India. The Romans in trying to explain these gods, however, linked them with Roman gods as did the Romanized Gauls-so we really have no idea as to the Celtic character of these gods and their functions. We do know that Celtic gods tended to come in threes; the Celtic logic of divinity almost always centered on triads. This triadic logic no doubt had tremendous significance in the translation of Christianity into northern European cultural models. It is almost certain that the material world of the Celts was suffused with divinity that was both advantageous and harmful. Certain areas were considered more charged with divinity than others, especially pools, lakes and small groves, which were the sites of the cental ritual activities of Celtic life. The Celts were non-urbanized and according to Roman sources, Celtic ritual involved no temples or building structures-Celtic ritual life, then, was centered mainly on the natural environment. Celtic ritual life centered on a special class, called the druides or druids by the Romans, presumably from a Gaulish word. Although much has been written about druids and Celtic ritual practice, we know next to nothing about either. Heres what we can gather. As a special group, the druids performed many of the functions that we would consider priestly functions, including ritual and sacrifice, but they also included functions that we would place under education and law. These rituals and practices were probably kept secret-a tradition common among early Indo-European peoples-which helps to explain why the classical world knows nothing about them. The only thing that the classical sources attest is that the druids performed barbaric or horrid rituals at lakes and groves; there was a fair amount of consensus among the Greeks and Romans that these rituals involved human sacrifice. This may or may not be true; there is some evidence of human sacrifice among the Celts, but it does not se em to have been a prevalent practice. According to Julius Caesar, who gives the longest account of druids, the center of Celtic belief was the passing of souls from one body to another. From an archaeological perspective, it is clear that the Celts believed in an after-life, for material goods are buried with the dead. http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MA/CELTS.HTM

Children and Culture Essay -- Culture Cultural Racial Essays

Children and Culture As children we are automatically taught to be open-minded. We are taught not to stare at people which teaches us not to be disrespectful to one another. Also we are taught to respect and be kind to everyone regardless. As kids we are still untouched by he worlds ways of thinking and if we unattached our self’s from someone that’s of a different race it’s because we can't relate to them and we sill don't know how to handle ourselves in different situations. I believe it's still an unknown fact how some people grow up and become adults who want nothing to do with anyone that isn’t like them. In one of our discussions in my RHT class Kathaleen Mayan wrote about a set of Asian triplets that weren't very out going, and very shy to the other children. She said "kids aren't cruel like they are when they’re older so none of the kids would make fun of them or make comments or anything like that to them when they tried to say something, they just didn't interact with them very much, because they couldn't communicate very well†. When I read this I just started to wonder what it is that makes use become the type of people that go out of their way to make sure other people know they're are different and don't fit in. What part of our growing up do we learn this trait, and is it nurture or nature? I was born in Zerka, a small city in Jordan. My family and I moved to the United States when I was about four years old. After 14 years of living here and regardless on the numbers of trips to the Middle East I consider America to be my home. I love it here and don't see my self ever living anywhere else. I love how there are so many open-minded people and so many different religions and cultures interlocked. Yet reg... ...e about how he wanted to keep America as a English/European country and stick to those languages, I responded to that saying â€Å"just like how he wants to keep his culture and upraising alive, we want the very same thing†. There is always going to be Thomas Brays that have to be deal with, its just part of growing up in a foreign country. Regardless of the racism, hate, and discrimination, and regardless how much words really do hurt I see my self-lucky to have the chance to be able to write about the way I feel. Not all teenagers around the world have the chance to express their feelings on muliticulturesiam or any other issue, their forced to believe what their parents believe. Whenever I get upset with how closed minded some people are I just remind my self that at lest I the chance to do something about it, and I don’t have to just sit and take it.

The Rationality of Probabilities for Actions in Decision Theory Essays

The Rationality of Probabilities for Actions in Decision Theory ABSTRACT: Spohn's decision model, an advancement of Fishburn's theory, is valuable for making explicit the principle used also by other thinkers that 'any adequate quantitative decision model must not explicitly or implicitly contain any subjective probabilities for acts.' This principle is not used in the decision theories of Jeffrey or of Luce and Krantz. According to Spohn, this principle is important because it has effects on the term of action, on Newcomb's problem, and on the theory of causality and the freedom of the will. On the one hand, I will argue against Spohn with Jeffrey that the principle has to be given up. On the other, I will try to argue against Jeffrey that the decision-maker ascribes subjective probabilities to actions on the condition of the given decision situation. Spohn's (1977, 1978) decision model, an advancement of Fishburn's theory (1964), is valuable for making explicit a principle which is used by Savage (1954/1972) and Fishburn (1964). The principle is the following: "Any adequate quantitative decision model must not explicitly or implicitly contain any subjective probabilites for acts." (1) (Spohn 1977, p. 114) This principle is not used in the decision theories of Jeffrey (1965, 1983) and of Luce and Krantz (1971). According to Spohn (1977) this principle is important, because it has implications for the concept of action, Newcomb's problem, theory of causality and freedom of will. On the one hand I will try to argue against Spohn (1977, 1978) with Jeffrey (1965, 1968, 1977, 1983) that the principle has to be given up. On the other hand I will try to argue against Jeffrey (1965, 1968, 1977, 1983) that the decision-maker ascri... ..., I. (1982), "A Note on Newcombmania", The Journal of Philosophy 79: 337-342. Lewis, D. (1981), "Causal Decision Theory", Australasian Journal of Philosophy 59: 5-30. Luce, R. D. and Krantz, D. H. (1971), "Conditional Expected Utility", Econometrica 39: 253-271. Nozick, R. (1969), "Newcomb's Problem and Two Principles of Choice", in N. Rescher et al. (eds.), Essays in Honor of Carl G. Hempel, Reidel, Dordrecht: 114-146. Savage, L. J. (1954/1972), "The Foundations of Statistics", Wiley, New York, Dover. Skyrms, B. (1980), "Causal Necessity", Yale University Press, New Haven, London. Spohn, W. (1977), "Where Luce and Krantz Do Really Generalize Savage's Decision Model", Erkenntnis 11: 113-134. Spohn, W. (1978), "Grundlagen der Entscheidungstheorie", Monographien: Wissenschaftstheorie und Grundlagenforschung vol. 8, Scriptor Verlag, Kronberg/Ts.

Internet Addiction Disorder

Theme : Science and Technology Topic : Internet Addiction Disorder Good morning, everybody. I’d like to show you a presentation about Internet Addiction Disorder. Let’s start. First of all, ask yourself â€Å"without your computer or the Internet what would you do? † In the world of quickly advancing technology, it is hard to ignore the Internet which is becoming more and more important in lives of users worldwide. But the ugly truth is that the Internet is as addictive as it is useful. IAD is a speculated mental disorder made and introduced by Ivan Goldberg in 1995. With the increased role of the Internet in society and business, some of its users have become addicted; these addicts show a set of symptoms that are accompanied by a variety of negative consequences. Internet addiction could be categorized into individual groups. Each group has their unique and distinct characteristics. For effective treatment it is essential to diagnose the correct type of Internet addiction. Soule, L. C. , Shell, W. & Kleen, B. A. in their article â€Å"Exploring Internet addiction: Demographic characteristics and stereotypes of heavy internet users† describe types of IAD (2003). They are Cybersexual Addiction, Computer Addiction, Net Compulsion, Information Overload, Cyber-Relational Addiction. Let's look at some types in more detail. Firstly, Cyber-Relational Addiction. People who suffer from an addiction to chat rooms or social networking sites become over-involved in onli ne relationships or can participate in virtual adultery. Online friends quickly become more important to person often at the expense of real life relationships with family and friends. In many cases, this will lead to a marriage disagreement and family instability. Authors say that Net Compulsion is an addiction to online gaming, online gambling. It is quickly becoming new mental problems in the post-Internet Era. With the instant access to virtual casinos, interactive games, addicts loose excessive amounts of money and even destroy other duties connected with work or essential relationships. Let me turn now to causes of IAD. Release of graphic intensive online games has lead to innumerable teenagers getting addicted with the Internet. Blogging and Youtube are also some of the temptations that many individuals find difficult to resist. However, these are just the obvious reasons. There are much more than it seems at first sight. Jennifer Ferris in article â€Å"IAD: Causes, Symptoms, and Consequences† describes several causes of IAD (2005). Firstly, it’s Psychodynamic and Personality. Psychodynamic and personal opinions explain addiction through emotional shocks through childhood which has left a person with problems as an adult, together with other personality attributes and/or other disorders, and inherited psychological characters. Certain people, because of set of the reasons, are inclined to developing an addiction, such as heroin, gambling and sex. For example, even if a person only sometimes drinks alcohol, he may develop an addiction to alcohol if he increases consumption continuously. The same hypothesis remains for Internet addiction. Given the right combination of time, person and case, addiction can take place. The next cause is Cyber-relationships. In almost 75% of cases, Internet addicts use applications like chat rooms, instant messaging, or online gaming as a safe way of establishing new relationships and more confidently relating to others. This is because some people may have lack the social skills that would enable them to meet people in person instead of online; hence they prefer to make friends without direct contact to people. In addition, they get rid of any stranger or people who they don’t want to chat with just by â€Å"blocking† them. Another causes are anonymity, hunger for knowledge and convenience. I'd like now to say about consequences of IAD. Kimberly Young in her article â€Å"Internet addiction: Symptoms, evaluation, and treatment† says there are several consequences of IAD. The first is Familial Problems (1999). Dr Kimberly Young discovered that serious relationship problems were reported by 53% of Internet addicts surveyed. Marriages, dating relationships, parent-child relationships, and close friendships have been noted to be heavily damaged by Internet. The second is Academic Problems. Survey has shown that 86% of responding teachers, librarians, and computer coordinators are convinced that the use of the Internet by children does not raise quality of academic performance. The next is Occupational Problems. Employees who are addicted to the Internet, can be fired, if they aren’t able to suppress the desire and are caught using network resources of companies for their own entertainment. Let's look now at treatment of IAD. Kimberly Young gives some types of treatments. Firstly, Practice the Opposite. A reorganization time is a major element in the treatment of the IAD. For example, if your habit involves you checking your e-mail or the Net first thing in the morning, try taking a shower and breakfast first instead. Then, make yourself a positive reminder card. Write a list of the five major problems caused by your addiction to the Internet. Next, write out the five major benefits of reducing your Internet use. This simple reminder will help you subconsciously. Next treatment is Family Therapy. It will be necessary for addicts whose family relationships have been destroyed under influence of Internet addiction. A strong feeling of family support can help patient to recover from Internet addiction. To sum up, everybody should remember that Internet Addiction is a very real thing. It will not only continue to be a problem but it will become more popular as technology develops and becomes more widely used. However, despite of negative consequences of the Internet, it is very useful thing. The Internet is not bad just because people become dependent on it, Internet has many important and necessary advantages.