Are Turkish Dramas Evading Our Culture Essay

The foreign dramas are attacking our culture and these are not according to our culture After a contentious time of the Indian dramas, now numerous Turkish plays are giving rise to curious hype not only in our television drama industry but also in the minds of the general public. As a matter of fact, it is true that our local drama production is invoking the interests of thousands and millions of viewers and most of these spectators are finding these plays appealing enough to follow. However, in recent times it has been noticed that some foreign television content is trying to induce a substantial place in our country. Unfortunately, somehow a Turkish serial â€Å"ISHQ-E-Mamnoon† was aired out and after a few weeks it ended up by getting exultant high ratings. After the broadcast of this particular play, a slipstream is started among the different TV channels to get foreign content and present to the public, in order to gain high ratings. When broadcasters and people are basking this dubbed â€Å"so called† change, they forgot to think all this activity is turning out to be a veridical threat to the local industry as well as the integrity and culture of our nation. There is also a small group of people who is trying to back up these serials, but I think these people might disremember what Indian dramas have done with our acculturation in the recent past. Because of these plays, our adolescents (especially girls) have started out to follow their language. In fact, several words were became the part of their vocabulary and they used these words into their normal discussions. After ascertaining the severity of this issue our civil society and television industry have taken some measures and banned all the Indian channels. But now we have to cope with another scourge which is a lot more dangerous than the previous one. We need to observe what sort of message these Turkish dramas are trying to convey? Are the stories of these plays fair enough to watch with our parents, brothers and sisters? Of course not and that is the main reason why it is considered as infectious to our culture and nation by our producers, writers, actors, directors and now public as well. These Turkish serials are full of bold scenes, which is totally against our moral values and they are just becoming the cause of raising the level of grossness and vulgarity. All in all, our music and film industry is neither cohesive nor strong. This is only the television industry that is producing high caliber dramas and bringing out the talent nd acting of impeccable quality and it should not have to endure the same issues as our film and music industry are confronting. Apart from our cultural and moral values, these Turkish serials are also threatening the future of thousands of actors, directors, cameramen, writers, producers, spot boys and other individuals who are directly or indirectly associated with our local drama industry. Although, a good and positive aspect is that our actors are united and they are unitedly saying the Turkish or any other foreign content should not hijack the viewership of our local dramas. If we take a close look at the history of subcontinent then it is not very hard to find the same interference of the popular East India Company that eventually became the main reason of Subcontinent’s separation. However, right now things are quite under control and still it is too long to anticipate any resemblance with this specific issue. Although our government must have to take impertinent and smart actions in order to avoid the drastic effects on our culture as well as on economy which is depending on our drama and entertainment industry.

Review Low Back Pain Treatment Health And Social Care Essay

In publically provided health care systems, limited resources coupled with limitless demands result in determinations holding to be made about the efficient allotment of scarce resources. This rationing of the services raises inquiries of how services should be provided ( for illustration, how should patients with alone wellness conditions such as nephritic failure/cancer be treated? Should centralised clinics with increased expertness, but increased travel clip for patients, be introduced? ) . Should we prioritize certain wellness conditions more than others based on quality added life old ages? Given the deficiency of a market for wellness attention ( Free wellness attention in UK ) , economic rating techniques try to inform such determinations. This essay aims to critically research the Outcome rating techniques such as QALY ‘s, Contingent Valuation ( Willingness to pay ) and distinct pick experiment for the intervention of Low back hurting and dementedness.Low Back hurting & A ; Dementia:Low back hurting is a common ailment and although non dangerous, it causes great uncomfortableness and has significant economical impact. In Netherlands, the entire costs of low back hurting have been estimated at 1.7 % of the Gross National Product. It has been estimated that the costs of production losingss account for approximately 84 % to 96 % of the entire costs for low back hurting in Western societies. In the UK, an estimated 16 % of the grownup population consult their general practician for aid with back hurting in a 12-month period. The one-year cost of lower dorsum hurting to the NHS has been estimated at approx ?480 million and the load of lower dorsum hurting is estimated at over approx ?10 billion per twelvemonth in foo tings of lost productiveness and illness benefits. The major societal and economic loss due to moo back hurting indicates the demand to find the most cost-efficient intercession for these patients. Low back hurting is a slackly coined term as it encompasses multiple and complex conditions which requires a varied direction attack. The direction of the status is based on its anatomy, physiology and continuance of the symptoms and hence the cost of handling it varies. Therefore accurate economic rating of low back hurting may be end far in front. However for the intents of this essay Low back hurting is dealt as one status for economic rating techniques. â€Å" Dementia is a progressive and mostly irreversible clinical syndrome that is characterised by a widespread damage of mental map † ( NICE 2006 ) . Although many people with dementedness retain positive personality traits and personal properties, as their status progresses they can see some or all of the undermentioned: memory loss, linguistic communication damage, freak out, alterations in personality, troubles with activities of day-to-day life, self-neglect, psychiatric symptoms ( for illustration, apathy, depression or psychosis ) and out-of-character behavior ( for illustration, aggression, sleep perturbation. Dementia is associated with complex demands and, particularly in the ulterior phases, high degrees of dependence and morbidity. This attention needs frequently challenge the accomplishments and capacity of carers and services. As the status progresses, people with dementedness can show carers and societal attention staff with complex jobs including aggressive behavior, restlessness and roving, eating jobs, incontinency, psychotic beliefs and hallucinations, and mobility troubles that can take to falls and breaks. The impact of dementedness on an person may be compounded by personal fortunes such as alterations in fiscal position and adjustment, or mourning. These two conditions are distinguishable in nature as the affected age groups vary between these two conditions and hence the economic impact on society. Furthermore direction of dementedness involves an integrated attention between wellness and societal systems.Quality Adjusted Life Year ‘s ( QALY ‘s ) :â€Å" A quality-adjusted life-year ( QALY ) takes into history both the measure and quality of life generated by healthcare intercessions. It is the arithmetic merchandise of life anticipation and a step of the quality of the staying life-years. â€Å" ( NICE, 2008 ) A QALY places a weight on clip in different wellness provinces. A twelvemonth of perfect wellness is deserving 1 and a twelvemonth of less than perfect wellness is worth less than 1. Death is considered to be tantamount to 0 ; nevertheless, some wellness provinces may be considered worse than decease and have negative tonss. QALYs provide a common currency to measure the extent of the benefits gained from a assortment of intercessions in footings of wellness related quality of life and endurance for the patient. When combined with the costs of supplying the intercessions, cost-utility ratios result ; these indicate the extra costs required to bring forth a twelvemonth of perfect wellness ( one QALY ) . Comparisons can be made between intercessions, and precedences can be established based on those intercessions that are comparatively cheap ( low cost per QALY ) and those that are comparatively expensive ( high cost per QALY ) . However, the usage of QALYs in resource allotment determinations does intend that picks between patient groups viing for medical attention are made expressed and commissioners are given an penetration into the likely benefits from puting in new engineerings and therapies. While QALYs provide an indicant of the benefits gained from a assortment of intervention processs, in footings of quality of life and endurance for patients, they are far from perfect as a step of result ( NICE, 2008 ) . For illustration, the usage of QALYs as a individual result step for economic rating means that of import wellness effects are excluded. QALYs besides suffer from a deficiency of sensitiveness when comparing the efficaciousness of two viing but similar drugs and in the intervention of less terrible wellness jobs. Chronic diseases, where quality of life is a major issue and survival less of an issue, are hard to suit in the QALY context, and there is a inclination to fall back to the usage of disease-specific steps of quality of life ( Philips, 2009 ) Similarly, preventative steps, where the impact on wellness results may non happen for many old ages, may be hard to quantify utilizing QALYs because the importance attached to each of the wellness dimensions is extremel y dependent on age, life context and life duties. For illustration, it is really hard to compare the wellness position of a possible title-holder who suffers a hamstring pang in the warm-up session with that of an aged individual who has been restored to some step of mobility as a consequence of an intercession. Further unfavorable judgments have surrounded the unequal weight attached to emotional and mental wellness jobs, and the deficiency of consideration of the impact of wellness jobs on the quality of life of carers and other household members, while much argument environments who should be involved in puting values on wellness provinces ( Nord et al 1999 ) . Discussion has besides focused on how much society should be prepared to pay for a QALY. While there is a grade of consensus that it should by and large be between ?20,000 and ?30,000, considerable argument has arisen in relation to, for illustration, interventions used at the terminal of life or for ultra-orphan condition s, where higher thresholds have been advocated and used. However, the usage of QALYs in resource allotment determinations does intend that picks between patient groups viing for medical attention are made expressed. Commissioners are progressively faced with resource restraints and have to prioritize their outgo against an ceaseless flow of new engineerings and therapies that all claim to heighten the wellness position of peculiar patient groups. QALYs and cost-utility analysis provide extra information for decision-makers as they grapple with turn toing the healthcare quandary of where to apportion resources to bring forth the maximal wellness benefits for their communities and society as a whole ( Philips 2009 ) . Although the usage of QALYs is backed by a strong research docket, of import methodological issues still remain to be resolved. For illustration, different rating techniques give rise to incompatibilities in public-service corporation values for similar wellness provinces, doing serious dependability jobs. Another good known but unsolved issue concerns the difference between the public-service corporation of a wellness province expected by healthy individuals and the public-service corporation of this wellness province really experienced by patients, frequently confounded by version to disablement and disease. This raises farther concerns about the content cogency of derived QALYs.Low back Pain- QALY ‘s as Outcome Measure:Management of Low back pain chiefly constitutes of Physiotherapy, Osteopath, stylostixis and other curative modes with lesser medical/surgical intercessions. This displacement of direction attack has added benefit in economic footings. A assortment of these in tercessions are available for low back hurting but the effectivity for most intercessions has non yet been assessed. Recent literature indicates that exercising therapy, behavioral therapy, and back school plans are the most promising intercessions. Several cost-effectiveness analyses of exercising therapy was performed. However, the analyses were hard to compare due to heterogeneousness in the survey population and therapies to which the intercessions were compared. Goossens et Al, 1998 found no statistically important differences in cost effectivity between behavioral therapies. A cost-effectiveness survey of back schools showed that a low strength back school was more cost effectual than usual attention and a high strength back school. Two surveies found a important decrease in absenteeism for a ranked activity plan in occupational wellness attention. Van Der Roer et Al, 2008 studies the consequences of an economic rating performed alongside a randomized controlled test comparing an intensive group developing protocol to physiotherapy guideline attention. They studied the cost effectivity of an intensive group developing protocol versus guideline physical therapy in patients with nonspecific chronic low back hurting. The direct wellness attention costs were significantly higher for patients in the protocol group, due to the comparatively high costs of the protocol itself. No important differences were found for functional position, hurting strength, general perceived consequence, and quality of life. As there were no important differences in entire costs, they concluded that the intensive group developing protocol was non cost effectual compared with guideline physical therapy. A restriction of this survey is the limited figure of patients who participated in the test. Particularly for observing relevant differences in costs, big Numberss of patients are required, because cost informations have a typically skewed distribution. A matter-of-fact survey by Duncan et Al, 2007 compared the effectivity and cost-effectiveness of three sorts of physical therapy normally used to cut down disablement in chronic low back hurting. This survey used QALY as one of the result step to inform the economic benefits of these intercessions. Economic analysis is still unusual in rehabilitation surveies ; yet in this test, it reveals of import differences between intercessions that are non evident from clinical result steps. Promoting self-help is an of import purpose in back hurting direction and economic analysis is a agency of quantifying how successfully this has been achieved. Because low back hurting has such high societal and wellness service costs, including an economic analysis in future rehabilitation tests helps policy-makers to make up one's mind how to pass limited health care resources. This highlights the benefits of usage of QALY ‘s in Low Back hurting surveies.QALY ‘s in Dementia:Using QALY ‘s as an economic rating tool for measuring dementedness has invited immense unfavorable judgments by medical opposite numbers every bit good as the pharmacological medicine industry. One of the statements is that Dementia is a multifaceted job which spans across wellness and societal attention and QALY ‘s are non sensitive plenty to pick up these issues. The value set by NICE for per QALY twelvemonth is non sufficient in dementedness as primary intervention involves drug intervention and value added life for a aged individual is non reflected good plenty utilizing a QALY. Furthermore, the effort to utilize a individual QALY criterion on all patients has non been without contention. The recent determination by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence ( NICE ) , to curtail usage of Alzheimer ‘s disease ( AD ) drugs in all but the most earnestly sick patients, those with advanced phases of the disease, was met with a whirlpool of unfavorable judgment by patient protago nism groups, doctors, and industry administrations. The controversial NICE determination was based on the judgement that the four available AD drugs ( donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine, and memantine ) were non â€Å" cost-efficient † ( NICE 2006 ) . Due to this complex wellness and societal attention impact caused by dementedness the result rating utilizing QALY ‘s does non reflect the existent demand whereas a WTP and Discrete pick experiment might be an more appropriate tool. Furthermore QALY ‘s does non measure the impact of the wellness status on the carers and relations which will be the instance with dementedness whereas a WTP or a DCE will take this into history.Discrete Choice Experiment ( DCE ) :Discrete pick experiments are an property based step of benefit that is based on the premises that foremost, healthcare intercessions, services, or policies can be described by their features ( or attributes ) and secondly, an person ‘s rating depends on the degrees of these features ( Ryan et al 1997 ) . Discrete pick experiments were introduced into wellness economic sciences as a technique to travel beyond the quality adjusted life twelvemonth ( QALY ) paradigm. Users were concerned with many facets of wellness attention beyond wellness results. Such factors included waiting clip, location of intervention, type of attention ( for illustration, surgical or medical ) , and staff supplying attention ( adviser or specializer nurse ) and were referred to as procedure properties. Discrete pick experiments allow probe of the tradeoffs between such procedure and wellness results attributes ( Ryan et al 2003 ) . Applications of distinct pick experiments have been extended to see supplier penchants such as strength of infirmary advisers ‘ penchants for assorted facets of their work. More late the technique has been used to value wellness results in the proviso of attention ( frequently beyond those valued within the QALY ) . At the methodological degree, surveies find that respondents will finish distinct pick experiments in an internally valid and consistent mode ( Viney et al 2002 ) . An of import inquiry in the usage of any study technique is that of external validity-that is, do persons act in world as they province in a conjectural context? Although limited research has been conducted in this country and future research is clearly of import ( which is the instance for all economic rating techniques, including those used in the QALY model ) , experience from other countries such as the rating of environmental goods and services implies that we can be optimistic. Given the function of the NICE in doing recommendations refering optimum interventions, can it do usage of DCE? The institute is under increasing force per unit area to take history of patients ‘ penchants. To day of the month systematic consideration of such penchants has been limited. Typically public penchants are required to arouse quality weights in the QALY paradigm. This is non adequate since patients may value outcomes otherwise to the populace and have penchants over facets of attention beyond QALYs. NICE plans to hold a patient centred rating of engineerings in add-on to the current appraisals of clinical and cost effectivity. Using the attack of distinct pick experiments allows the integrating of patients ‘ values on all facets of attention in one step. We will be able to see how patients trade different wellness results every bit good as procedure type attributes, aboard each other. Evaluation of procedure and wellness results from the patients ‘ positio n may good take to decisions that struggle with the recommendations of the cost per QALY attack. This is more likely to be the instance in comparings of engineerings that differ with regard to outcomes beyond those measured in a QALY, every bit good as procedure properties. However DCE external cogency is problematic in wellness context as opposed to QALY. Hence in footings of dementedness DCE is a better attack to QALY and in instance of Low back hurting QALY is a better attack than DCE.Willingness to Pay ( WTP ) :Willingness to pay is the conjectural step where a person is willing to pay a pecuniary value for a intervention or merchandise and it can besides be expressed as the sum of trade off a individual is prepared to see for one intervention to another due to budgetary restraints. The suggestion is that wellness economic sciences lags behind other countries of economic sciences that have embraced these methods, in peculiar environmental economic sciences. Two chief methods hav e been employed in WTP: the ‘contingent rating method ‘ ( CVM ) and ‘choice experiments ‘ ( CE ) – the method once known as conjoint analysis. These methods have by and large been used to put a pecuniary value on a bundle of wellness and/or non-health benefits in the context of a specific intercession. Yet economic rating within the wellness attention field remains dominated by cost-effectiveness and cost-per-QALY analysis. Health attention remunerators have been loath to encompass cost-benefit analysis based on WTP methods ( Cookson, 2003 ) . And most wellness economic experts have preferred to polish the cost effectivity attack instead than to develop new WTP methods ( Cookson 2003 ) . Why is this? Advocates of WTP methods suggest it may be partially due to a common but erroneous perceptual experience that WTP surveies are ‘somehow supportive of policies aimed at taking the proviso of state-supplied wellness services ‘ ( Hanley et al 2003 ) . It may besides be due to the fact that stated penchant WTP methods suffer from two serious ( and perchance related ) measuring biases that render them unattractive to wellness attention determination shapers. First, WTP responses tend to be under sensitive – although non needfully wholly insensitive – to the magnitude of benefit ( Bateman et al 1997 ) . This includes both ‘scope effects ‘ , affecting different measures of the same good, and ‘nesting effects ‘ ( or 'embedding effects ‘ or ‘part-whole prejudice ‘ ) , affecting one good incorporated within a larger package of goods ( Bateman et al 1997 ) . Scope effects are peculiarly strong in relation to wellness hazards. Using high quality contingent rating study designs, and strict experimental methods, research workers have found that people tend to province a similar sum – approximately ?50 – for any given magnitude of decrease in the hazard of decease or hurt ( Beattie et al 1998 ) . This has the consequence of overstating implied pecuniary values for life and wellness for comparatively little hazard decreases. More by and large, under-sensitivity to the magnitude of benefit tends to blow up ratings of intercessions that yield comparatively little benefits. Second, WTP methods tend to blow up ratings of the specific intercession that respondents are asked about, comparative to intercessions that respondents are non asked about. Asking respondents to concentrate on one specific intercession in isolation Acts of the Apostless as a sort of amplifying glass for stated WTP, When asked to see an intercession in isolation, people are willing to pay amounts of money far in surplus of what they are willing to pay when asked to see the same intercession in relation to a scope of other intercessions. This is sometimes known as ‘budget restraint prejudice ‘ ( Mitchell et al 1989 ) . Unlike the rational economic adult male of standar d economic theory, study respondents may be unable to budget at the same time for the full scope of possible public and private goods and services they require. So valuing each point in isolation can take to sum sums of WTP in surplus of the available budget. WTP methods therefore tend to be biased in favor of ( 1 ) intercessions that deliver comparatively little benefits, and ( 2 ) the peculiar intercession being evaluated, as opposed to other 1s non being evaluated. These are serious defects in a wellness attention context, where the majority of economic rating activity is directed towards informing reimbursement determinations about dearly-won new wellness attention engineerings. These engineerings tend to offer incontrovertible but comparatively little wellness benefits. WTP methods take history of chance costs more exhaustively than cost-effectiveness analysis ( Oliver et al 2002 ) . Cost-effectiveness analysis takes history of chance costs utilizing an incremental cost-effectiveness threshold, which represents an expressed premise about the cost-effectiveness of a ‘typical ‘ alternate intercession. By contrast, WTP methods take history of chance costs by giving respondents the Willingness to pay and DCE in footings of Low back hurting is hard to quantify as it usually consequences in a conjectural value and QALY ‘s inform wellness related results in a better mode. However in instance of complex Low back pain a combination of these economic rating techniques will be more efficient instead than utilizing a QALY ‘s in isolation. With respects to dementia DCE and WTP tends to turn to the tradeoff every bit good as the Complex demands placed on the wellness and societal attention.DecisionEconomic rating techniques are important for the hereafter wellness attention resource allotment as rationing of these resources are acquiring harder due to fiscal restraints. Each of the economic rating techniques has its strengths and failings. However applied on the right context and in appropriate conditions makes it more efficient. Low back hurting and dementedness are alone wellness conditions with complex multifaceted jobs necessitating different economic rat ings to be efficient. However a combination of these techniques is important to turn to the inefficiencies of these techniques. Further research in these countries is indispensable to find the economic ratings of the wellness attention industry.

Kantianism and Utilitarianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Kantianism and Utilitarianism - Essay Example This paper will focus on evaluating a euthanasia case of Brophy, using utilitarianism and Kantianism. Brophy is a patient in persistent vegetative state, whose wife expressed the intent of carrying out passive euthanasia.Kantianism. Immanuel Kant described a deontological ethical philosophy titled as ‘Kantianism’. He made it evident that in his view, duty, good will, and moral worth were critical aspects in determining of the action taken. In his view, one could only settle on morally worth decisions when guided by goodwill and duty. He opined that duty was the only reason that should motivate an ethical action (Abel 24). According to him, human beings are moral agents that should use reasoning while making ethical decisions. He highlighted that certain maxims were critical as guidelines of making ethical decisions. These principles were the product and reason and were namely duty, goodwill, and categorical imperative. Goodwill is a critical moral maxim because he highli ghted that without goodwill, any positive trait or action does not qualify to be good (46). Therefore, the will determining why an individual carries out a certain action cannot receive underestimation in deontology. He advanced his views to highlight that the only way in which an individual could exhibit good will was through taking action out of duty.In Kant’s definition, good will denotes the ability of human beings in taking decisions based on principles.

Best diet centers in kuwait( fainal) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Best diet centers in kuwait( fainal) - Essay Example Diet Centre is the first health nutrition centre in Kuwait launched in 2004. Since that time, some other diet centres opened in Kuwait including Diet Care, Eat Gourmet, Lofat, etc. These centres provide customers with a perfectly balanced plan that can help them achieve their desired weight. In most cases, weight loss is not the customer’s only goal. Customers visit such centres in order to have a healthy lifestyle and to overcome some chronic disease symptoms by eating healthy food. These diet centres deliver freshly prepared balanced meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks) daily to each customer. It is like having your own personal chef who prepares, packs and delivers meals to your front door. If there is only the need for picking the food from such centres, then they also provide home delivery which completely eliminates the planning, purchasing and preparation of diet-compliant meals. In addition, most diet centres provide other services to their customers such as health advice, meal planning guides, flexibility of programs and frequent personal contact with the nutritionist. We used both quantitative and qualitative data collection approaches in our study. First, we searched the Internet to find all diet centres in Kuwait. We mainly used Google, as it was more accurate than other search engines. For the quantitative research approach, we developed a preliminary survey, which listed 10 diet centres in Kuwait. The purpose of this preliminary survey was to narrow down the list to the top 3 diet centres in Kuwait. The survey was created through surveymonkey.com, which gave us a web link that could be copied and pasted in any website’s page. We sent the survey link to all students and faculty members at GUST, and to our families and friends, through e-mail, Face book, Twitter, and WhatsApp messenger. We also posted the survey’s link

Article Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Article Review - Essay Example egal business issues raised in SOX Act include corporate and accounting scandals,corporate board responsibilities,criminal penalties,auditor independence,internal control assessment,corporate fraud accountability,financial disclosure and corporate governance. This legal issues in the SOX Act require Securities and Exchange Commission to implement rulings on requirements to comply the law Holt (2008). According to Holt (2008) the SOX Act may affect ethical decision making in today’s business environment positively by improving the confidence and behaviours of investors with regard to the uprightness of corporate financial statements. The SOX Act introduced a regulatory business environment into the United states financial markets hence the investors are safe to conduct their businesses without corrupt business practices. Weak corporate governance procedures made had made it impossible for businesses to grow but with the enactment of the SOX Act this problem was reduced. Other legal issues that affected businesses prior to the SOX Act are auditor conflicts of interest,boardroom failures and inadequate funding from the Securities Exchange Commission. These problems were however solved with the anactment of the SOX Act. The act had a code of conduct containing requirements regarding corpoarte governace,financial practices, criminal penalties for those who violate the rules and accounting controls. The SOX Act provides criminal penalties for influencing United States agency investigation. Section 802 of Sarbanes-Oxley Act states that anyboby who destroys or makes a false entry in any record or document with the intent to influence proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department of the United States or any case filed under title 11,shall be fined or imprisoned not more than 20 years,or both. Other criminal penalties are taken against corporate officers who fail to certify financial statements and reports and those that harm others

Reflection paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Reflection paper - Essay Example One of my married friends often finds faults in the actions of his wife such as being a nagger when he himself drinks a lot. Most likely, marriage counselors hear the social exchange theory most of the time when a spouse says that â€Å"I am tired of doing all the work in this marriage†. It is but typical for couples to present themselves socially desirable especially when they are faced with counselors. They never want to be blamed for a failed relationship in the first place. On larger groups such as sports teams, a coach is needed who can objectively assess the game since the players would have a tendency to blame each other. Anchors would often be used to categorize team members who made the team win last season as against who made it lose this time. Although social psychology is basically ordinary psychology, it can contribute a lot in analyzing organizational behavior. It is not just interesting but very educational as well. â€Å"The self† is what we refer to as our own selves; our own separate identities. People see themselves in different cognitive dimensions called self-concepts. A self-concept is one’s definition of his or herself whether it is positive or otherwise. Many people see themselves in different forms of self concept. These concepts are manifested by the choice of clothes a person wears and the way they speak to others. This can give access to knowing a person’s self-esteem. Self-esteem is an emotional dimension of self-awareness that is given by one’s self-value. There are people with high self-esteem who generally get along with other people and enjoy being in the spot-light. In contrast, those with low self-esteem tend to be more self-centered and timid. Self-conscious people tend to fall victim to the spotlight effect. The spotlight effect is when a person feels like they are being given more attention than they are being given in reality. In my experiences, I often feel the effects of the spotlight e ffect. The spotlight effect tends to intimidate me from my surroundings but other times it makes me feel like a star. The social self feels a yearning to belong. People will always try to find a niche for themselves in society. This is where they can find like-minded people with similar interests. The social self is the sense of self that takes over when in a social environment. Group standings also influence the actions of the social self whether it is conscious or sub-conscious. Some social selves are expressed through supplication. These people want to be seen as pathetic. Relatively, there are people who express themselves through ingratiation. These people try to gain others’ attention in order to satisfy their own petty. People who express themselves through self-promotion try to make themselves look good to others. These people tend to be show-offs and there are those who present themselves with exemplification. These people try to put on a mask to satisfy themselves o r others. I find this information to be interesting because I meet people who fit these characteristics every day. Social cognition is our perception of others. Social cognition can be shaped by external as well as internal influences. My expectations of others require that people must be fair to others treat everything and everyone with respect, but I know

SCC Caf Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

SCC Caf Proposal - Essay Example The chapter begins with the invention of a proposal in which it discusses the factors to consider before creating a proposal. This it explains requires the identification of a need and possible solutions. By analyzing the solutions, it becomes possible for one to develop a realistic proposal that addresses the problem. Organizing and drafting a proposal is yet another vital chapter in the book that explains the structures of proposals and tools available to students to enable them to develop effective proposals. The authors maintain that the use of language is a major factor that affects the effectiveness and usability of proposals among other types of writings. The authors advise the use of simple sentence structure in order to enhance the communication. Use of jargons is advisable only when writing professional proposals since each profession has a set of jargons. Â  The chapter is indeed vital since it addresses the essential type of writing to both students and professionals. However, students are earners and therefore require a reliable point of reference. The chapter offers an effective reference since the authors of the book use simple language and a point-by-point explanation of the process of writing a proposal a feature that makes the book easy to use. Additionally, the authors use the various example just in order to enhance the learners’ comprehension of the facts and ideas they present in the book. The various illustrations in the chapter coupled with the descriptive language the authors use in the chapter are among the factors that enhance the usability of the chapter thus the book. Â  In retrospect, the chapter offers an effective and elaborate explanation of the topical issue. The authors try their best to develop an effective learning material targeting young learners.

Ethics and Law in Health Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ethics and Law in Health Care - Essay Example On the other hand after amputation Fran would need a lengthy recovery period and would be tied to a wheelchair. The other option offered is to revascularise the leg which might save the limb but it is more risky. With Fran unable to make any informed decisions, her family members are to be he ones to make them. Fran lives with her daughter June in her basement for the past few years. Her son Marcus, who is the eldest of her children, lives an hour drive away and visits often. Fran is separated, although not divorced, from her husband Derek for the last three years. Outside her family Fran does maintain an independent lifestyle. She goes out with her friends on regular basis, and especially enjoys to attend weekly bowl games at her nearby club. Fran , according to her daughter, on many occasions expressed the feeling that she does not want to be stuck in bed like the poor people in nursing homes. Her weekly social interactions were most important in her life. Fran’s case opens many legal and ethical questions. It is clear that the latter stem mostly from the legal framework that does not exist in this case. Fran, although sick for years, did not put in place any legal documents that would help in the case like this. There is no written statement that would give any of her family members right to sign medical consent forms. This fact leaves a lot of confusion and opens a lot of questions. Unfortunately, as usual, the time constraints of her condition leave no room for any of those. Decisions need to be made soon and for the best of Fran. If we look into people involved we know that Fran is separated, but not divorced from her husband Derek. As a spouse Derek in legal terms comes ahead of her children when it comes to making decisions about Fran’s health care. However, the fact they don’t live together must be taken into account. Marcus is the eldest child and is next on the list in order of

Why Do I Need This Scholarship Essay Example for Free

Why Do I Need This Scholarship Essay My name is , and currently I am a senior at . After high school I plan to go to college and major in Nursing and minor in Physical Therapy. Throughout my life there have been a number of people giving me advice, but the one person that stuck on me the most is Minister George M. Howard Jr. my youth minister. This man has been like a father to me knowing that he will always be there when I need lifts my spirit. Minister George M. Howard Jr. told me that â€Å"It’s not about who you know, it’s about who knows you because there will always be someone watching you†. See more: how to write a winning scholarship essay My dreams and aspirations are to be so successful so that I’m not dependent on anyone else. Ever since I was little I have wanted to be in charge of everyone and everything. To in charge, I first have to obtain the knowledge and in order to do that I have to go to college. I have seen so many people become dependent on others as well as the emptiness in the lives of people who can only do one thing well and I don’t want that happening to me. I plan to work and study hard, make good grades and become the head nurse in the biggest hospital. However, with my new-goal oriented mind, I realize that I am working towards my Nursing degree and my successful future. I finally understand that my least favorite subject will greatly contribute to my ultimate goal of living a rewarding life and fulfilling my career goals. I know that the courses will be challenging, but I am willing to do what it takes to achieve my ultimate goal. Now my appreciation of those classes is stronger than ever because those classes are what will prepare me for my college education. The colleges that I have chosen will not only provide me with hands-on training, but it will also teach me real life skills and communication.

American TV comedy Essay Example for Free

American TV comedy Essay Sit-coms in television history have been one of the most important genres for expressing the values of the middle and lower classes in our society, not in order to make fun of them but to express the best of them in a softer way. For the general public today, the sit-com is like the pantomime was for the Victorians. British comedy still has a Victorian taste, but it is one that is only recognized and truly appreciated by the British, which makes the British sitcoms less universal, and it does also express a more localised British culture. In reality, the appeal of American sit-coms in relation to the British is clear. In the UK, the use of social class stereotypes is more intense; they rely on a more complex social background than the US. Although it is generally felt that UK culture is gradually becoming less defined by the stereotypes of social class, it is notable that in the last five years of television, many sit-coms in UK television continue to approach mainly social class issues, which have more to do with the working class than ever before. For example, in the last year there were two productions that clearly illustrate this point: Shameless and Little Britain, recent productions by Channel 4 and the BBC, used the stereotype of the English working class. In one way it is not a universal appeal, the cultural facts make these productions localised for the UK audience. Shameless was about a family living on benefits in a council flat in Manchester. The main theme was their struggle to survive every day life. The central characters are seven children who where abandoned by their mother and are now looked after largely by their older sister because the father is an irresponsible, but arguably charming, alcoholic living on benefits. Little Britain centred around two actors who created a series of sketches; different situations which portrayed many peculiar stereotypes in English society, from a shoplifting seventeen year old girl living in east London, to a disabled man in Birmingham on benefits who shamelessly uses his generous best friend to help him with the basic daily tasks, despite the fact that he is perfectly capable of doing these tasks himself. These cultural issues make British sit-coms funny to those who recognise the social types, but if it is to be shown to an American audience the essential part of the funny elements are lost, principally because it is not related to Americans in the same way it relates to the English. In American sit-coms the appeal is more universal; there are more general jokes and the use of class is less than in the UK. Sit-coms like Friends and Will and Grace have a more general approach and the dramatisation of social issues is almost nonexistent. The jokes are directly related to the actors. When Will from Will and Grace wants to make a joke he makes one, it is not his background and his social status which is the joke but what he says. In Friends, the audience can observe the same phenomenon. Joes jokes have more to do with himself, or other members of the cast, than about his new girlfriend or the fact that she is from a working class family. Situation comedy in Britain evolved from radio comedy which in turn had its roots in music hall and variety. American sit-com developed from radio soap opera, weekly drama series which were devised to attract audiences in order to sell products. The domestic setting predominated in both variations of the form. Many early American sit-coms were transferred from radio to television. 1 Radio comedy assumed a sit-com format to attract a broader audience and to encourage listeners to listen to the shows on a regular basis. Stopping to listen to a sit-com radio show at a certain time of the week became a habitual form of entertainment for many families. For the television industry, the formula was already developed by the radio and, like everything else which is successful, copying this form was inevitable. Most sit-coms fit into our reality principally because they try to use real people in realistic situations. The programmes only last half an hour and for a fixed number of episodes. In the basic sit-com, the location is the same and every episode is self-contained; it has an end (most of the time happy) in the thirty minute slot, which allows the narrative to flow at a different pace in different weeks. The stereotypical fashion of the characters and their social types provide the humour and the ideology of the sit-com. Sit-com cannot function without stereotypes. In a space as brief as a thirty-minute sit-com, immediacy is imperative, and for a character to be immediately funny that character must be a recognisable type; a representation or embodiment of a set of ideas or a manifestation of a clichi. 2 For the American sit-com, the stereotype has to have a more universal appeal, where in Britain these stereotypes are more easily recognized in our local society, and the male and female stereotype interacts with the surroundings, making it part of the actors character. However, audiences can notice a change in American sit-coms in the last five years. They are using a more straight-forward form in sit-coms like Will and Grace. In this show, there is a new use of gay stereotypes being very open but with a universal appeal. Will is a camp butch gay guy whereas his best friend is camp and feminine, perhaps the funniest of the two of them. In Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, there is the camp gay guy who interacts with an ugly and fat flatmate. But the jokes and situations in which they are involved do not have a universal appeal because their jokes exploit additional stereotypes in English society that make the programme incomprehensible for anyone other than the British. The use of such stereotypes promotes the illusion of community which can be recognized by an audience. Making fun of any strange behaviour which is not acceptable in society, one way or another, is part of the sit-com format. Situation comedy is seen as light entertainment. According to TV producers, its function is to attract funding and to catch the audience early in the evening, offering a laugh which temporarily gives them an escape from reality. In the early days of television they were seen more as a kind of family programme. Nowadays, this light form of entertainment appeals more to a middle class part of society where after a hard day of work individuals want to watch TV without stress. It is more a form of general entertainment than anything else. Such entertainments were deliberately escapist, in that they allowed audiences to briefly recapture the sense of community destroyed by industrialisation and urban expansion. 3 There are three possible locations in which a situation comedy takes place. The first is the home and it is generally based around a family situation. The second is the workplace and the situation that occurs as a result of interaction between characters in the work environment. The third area is less clearly defined but involves a group somehow connected in a situation outside that of the workplace. 4 Shameless uses the characters neighbourhood to plot the situations, where Friends uses a flat and a local cafi , in which the characters usually meet. The use of similar locations guarantees a more realistic experience for the viewer. For Shameless viewers, the association is automatically recognised by an English audience. However, for the American audience the association would not be clear. The English audience is used to the number of council areas around many of its cities where Americans are not. In Friends, the locations appeal to both nationalities; friends meeting in a coffee shop and living together can be recognized in either country in the same way. The connection with reality engages the public more and makes Friends a more universal and commercial program than Shameless, where the scenery can only be recognized by an English audience. Despite the fact that most English sit-coms use local stereotypes, some English sit-coms have been successfully translated to American television. The show Absolutely Fabulous was originally a successful show in the UK and became one of the rare examples of a show which was screened in America and achieved the same success as it did in Britain. The only problem was that before the series could go on view, the producers decided to change many of the jokes which, for the American audience, were considered to be too rude. Plans to show the series in the USA met with problems because it was regarded as too vulgar and too pro-drug, as were the scripts for an American remake submitted to ABC TV after Roseanne Barr acquired the rights. In the end, the first British series was screened in the USA in 1994 and met with success, winning two Emmys (televisions equivalent of the Oscar). It achieved a cult status in the USA, as it did in Australia. 5 What the American producer judged as too vulgar was only a representation of British society during the Thatcher era. Absolutely Fabulous is no more than a production which explores the 70s and 80s in the present context. In one way or another, it is a portrait of English feminism and a society where post-industrial Britain had strong capitalist roots. The past and the Thatcherite present are, at times, played off against each other to produce comedy and social comment while at other points they meld together in hilarious confusion. 6 The main characters spend most of their time shopping and drinking, where Edinas daughter is more linked to nature and late twentieth century values (the post-feminism era). She only drinks natural drinks and dresses with a feminist attitude. It is the clash of both present and past which makes the comedy. The exchange of values in the way that the mothers role, which is to look after her daughter, is inverted, and the confusion with the past by Edina and Patsy which transforms Absolutely Fabulous into an international sit-com. In conclusion, there is one answer for the question Why is the English sit-com not that universal? British TV productions have had some success exporting their productions. However, the answer rests with the cultural aspects of the programmes themselves. The English audience is more open to American productions due to the fact that they are more universal; the jokes, the plots, and the sceneries can be incorporated into any culture with no need of any adjustment. The British sit-coms usually explore a more local stereotype and surroundings which make the export of these productions almost impossible. The amount of cultural ideology, which makes them funny, cannot be translated in many cases. Productions like Friends and Will and Grace explore more the actors personalities and lives than their surroundings. The cultural aspects in many cases are nonexistent. When the shoplifter from Little Britain appears, the joke is often not what she says but her accent and the way she dresses. It is a clear association with somebody who lives in the east end of London the stereotype which makes it funny, the association of the audience with reality. For a Londoner, this association comes automatically because each viewer probably knows someone like that, or would have seen somebody or even heard such an accent before. This kind of aspect cannot be translated, and in the British sit-com these references play an integral part. American productions are more appealing to an international audience because they do not focus excessively on local cultural aspects. Bibliography: Coner, J.; Harvey. S. (1996) Television Times: A Reader. Arnold Geraghty, C.; Lusted, D. (1998) Television Studies Book. Arnold Goodwin, A.; Whannel, G. (1990) Understanding Television. Routledge Marris, P.; Thornham S. (1996) Media Studies A reader. Edinburgh University Press. Neale, S; Krutnik, F. (1990) Popular film and Television Comedy. Routledge Palmer, J. (1987) The Logic of the Absurd: On film and Television. BFI Books. Strinati, D.; Wagg, S. (1992) Come on Down? Popular Media Culture in Post -War Britain. Routledge 1 Goodwin, A.; Whannel, G. (1990) Understanding Television. Routledge P130 2 Corner, J.; Harvey, S. (1996) Television Times: A Reader. Arnold P111 3 Corner, J.; Harvey, S. (1996) Television Times: A Reader. Arnold P112 4 Goodwin, A.; Whannel, G. (1990) Understanding Television. Routledge P132 5 Geraghty, C.; Lusted, D. (1998) Television Studies Book. Arnold. P289 6 Geraghty, C.; Lusted, D. (1998) Television Studies Book. Arnold. P289

Analysis of the E-brokerage Industry

Analysis of the E-brokerage Industry Executive Summary The financial brokerage industry has undergone dramatic changes worldwide in the last decade, due to the rise of the Internet. E-brokerage brought huge opportunity to the industry as it introduces enormous amount of on-line traders but at the same time posted serious threat as it open up the market to new competitors. In this thesis, we investigate past and current challenges the brokerage industry faced. From our literature review, we studied the impact of online trading to the brokerage industry and the online traders, and proposed solutions pinpointed to the facts we found. We studied the challenge the brokerage industry faced from the perspectives of strategy, marketing and technology and carried out strategic analysis using value chain and framework of five forces by Michael E. Porter. A small scale survey was conducted to collect local people attitude towards online/mobile trading and we used the data collected to justify the information we found during our literature review. F inally, we proposed a basket of suggestions for the brokerage industry in various aspects including product enhancement, customer education, partnership, differentiation, customer segmentation and more. An in-depth interview with a local broker firm was organized to value our suggestions, their feedback are positive. Introduction The tough challenge among e-brokerage industry is still going on and in fact, it is getting even more furious. The situation was more rigorous during bearish market after the burst of IT foams, SAR outbreak and the recent financial tsunami. The strategy the brokerage firms adopted to handle the challenges they faced determine who will survive the competition and stay in the market. Losers will soon be squeezed out of the market. This is especially true for small to median size local brokerage firms who are now facing new competitors like direct banks and oversea online trade provider like E-Trade. Confronted with growing competition, old-guard brokers are being forced to restructure and re-focus their market offerings. Various strategies were adopted, some brokerage firms seek to maintain their lead in value-added services through a focus on knowledge/advise more financial planning and investment advice rather than transactions -processing trades. Other firms attempted to comprehen d how to offer on-line services without alienating their brokers, to minimize channel conflict. The purpose of this article is to analysis the current e-brokerage practices and device new service directions and enhancement to existing products to increase competence of our local brokerage industry. We will first present the evolution of security trading in Hong Kong and characteristic of different types of brokerage firms and customers. From our literature review, we found that online trading exerted great impact on both brokerage industry and online traders. For brokerage firms, they faced vigorous competition due to new competitors, reduced customer loyalty and market fragmentation due to low entry barrier. While illusion of knowledge and control, lack of personal advice and overwhelmed by information were the hurdle online traders faced. We have presented the strategic challenge faced by the brokerage industry and analysis their strategy using value chain and framework of five forces algorithm. We have devised a basket of suggestions and discussed with a brokerage firm the f easibility to comprehend our research. Financial Broker Industry In Hong Kong Evolution of security trading in Hong Kong The ultimate goal of a well-functioning stock market is to bring together all possible buyers and sellers, so that the market price reflects the combined preferences of all participants. The history of securities trading in Hong Kong can be traced back to 1866. The present Sock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEx) was established as a result of the unification of four exchanges during the big market boom in 1986, while the first stock exchange began its operation in 1891. Exchange System Architecture Computerized trading system was first introduced on 2 April 1986 and in 1993 the exchange launched the Automatic Order Matching and Execution System (AMS), which was replaced by the third generation system (AMS/3) in October 2000. AMS/3 is the core system used to serve securities trading which has significant enhancements in central market functions, open connectivity and system capacity as compared with AMS/2. AMS/3 supports multiple trading facilities for market access. Most of the participants developed their own Broker Supplied System (BSS) which interfacing with AMS/3 via the Open Gateway (OG) facility for greater control to the front-end solutions instead of the Multi-workstation System (MWS) by HKEx. The open connectivity of OG has made possible the large-scale automation of Participants operations, enabling Participants to offer new investor services and experience efficiency gains. In 2002, a new generation of the system, CCASS/3, was launched for clearing and settlement. MD S (Market Data Feed System) is the key system used for delivery of securities price data to about 60 local and international information vendors. HKATS (Hong Kong Futures Automated Trading System) is the electronic order matching system operated for the derivatives market. Advancement in information technology, especially the Internet, is revolutionizing traditional commerce. Obviously the securities industry, and in particular the on-line brokerage, is at the forefront of this revolution. Here in Hong Kong, retail online trading as a proportion of total retail investor trading continued to grow in 2008/09, reaching 43 per cent from 39 per cent in 2007/08. Its contribution to total market turnover was 10 per cent, up from 7 per cent in 2007/08. For stock options, retail online trading contributed 23 per cent of total retail investor trading (up significantly from 15 per cent in 2007/08) and 2 per cent of product turnover (1 per cent in 2007/08). For other derivatives, retail online trading contributed 49 per cent of total retail investor trading and 18 per cent of total product turnover (up from 44 per cent and 15 per cent respectively in 2007/08). Types of Brokerage Firm The basic function of a brokerage firm is to execute buy and sell orders for clients. Traditionally these firms have offered the investigation of the quality and the possibilities of investing in a variety of investment products. It is still accustomed for brokerage firms to offer information about possible investments free of charge. This activity of bringing free of charge stock investment reports is one of the main tools that are utilized by brokerage houses to compete against other firms. To investors, it continues to be an important service. However, with the bloom of communication technology, especially the Internet, more and more investors rated that investment reports as less important service. Instead, those investors preferred other types of services that charged less commission and service fee, by forfeiting those investment reports. In order to capture this vast diverse clientele, the brokerage industry segmented itself. After the restrictions in commissions were eliminat ed, several brokerages began to open up their doors as discount brokerage firms. At that time, brokerage firms were classified into two types: full service brokers and discount brokers. Full service brokerage firms continued to offer informative stock reports and a level of service much higher than other brokerage houses. They looked for purchasing and selling opportunities for clients and offering more customer and portfolio advisory service than was available from discount brokers. Discount brokerage houses, on the other hand, only dedicated themselves to execute orders for clients with minimal services. These differences in services and philosophies led to great differences in commission costs. It was evident that these differences were an important factor in the return of an investment. Type of customers in brokerage industry In Hong Kong customers of brokerage firm can be divided into three typical categories: l Prestige Group: These are customers with large amount of capital put in to the brokerage firm for investment. They have granted total authority to the brokerage firm to execute trading decision on behalf of them. Although they are minority in terms of the customer base of brokerage firm, they contribute a great portion of revenue to the brokerage firm. l Middle Group: Customer of this group usually trade through account agent of the brokerage firm. They utilities financial information, report and analyzing tools provided by the brokerage firm to make trading decision. Account agent will also actively contact these customers whenever they see an investment opportunity fit for them. l Basic Group: Customer mostly uses service of brokerage firm to maintain account balance and execute trading order on the own. Although multiple channels are supplied to them, they mostly adopt on-line trading as their first choice of trading media. Although the first two groups of customers contribute quite a large portion of the revenue of brokerage firm, we will concentrate our research on the third group for two reasons. First, there is a clear trend that this group of customer is increasing in a fast pace. Second, by investing and improving the on-line system, the other group will also be benefited. Literature Review Online-Brokerage Simply put, â€Å"On-line brokerage† can be defined as selling of securities which encompasses equity like stocks and warrants and derivatives like bonds, mutual funds etc, on the Internet. Although traditional banks and brokers also provided online trading after year 2000, new entrants like direct banks and new brokers offered a genuine e-commerce business model. Direct banks are internet-only banks or virtual banks. These banks were designed without a traditional banking infrastructure with physical branches. This cost-saving advantage enabled many of them to offer savings accounts with higher interest rates, loans with lower interest rates and minimal management fee and commissions than most traditional banks. More and more customer joined in as online trade and a peak was hit on year 2000. At the same time, new competitors like traditional brokers and virtual banks joined in proactively by acquiring existing brokerage firm or using their own business model. At that time, t hen customer base and knowledge of the traditional institutions was still advantages for online trading enhancement. The strategy online brokers adopted was customers segmentation and directed their offer to the most preferred customer group, the active private investors, which allowed them to swiftly catch up the market. Compared with banks, absence of physical branches thus low overhead costs gave these internet brokers an advantageous in cost structure. They competed with each other rigorously to achieve the biggest market share in the shortest time frame to reach the break even point. The strategy to conquer and develop loyalty of new customers was invested massively in marketing. They also adopted a cut-throat commission rate to attract private individuals who were more sensitive to this cost of investment. The position of banks and traditional brokers in the brokerage business was deeply undermined by the pressure caused by these new entrants. Bloom of on-line trading For the first time ever, investors could, from the comfort of their own homes, accessed a wealth of financial information including breaking news developments and market data on the same terms as market professionals did. In addition, on-line brokerage provided investors with tools to analyze this information, such as research reports, calculators, and portfolio analyzers. Finally, on-line brokerage enables investors to act quickly on this information. The technological and regulatory barriers that gave traditional brokerage and securities companies edges were rapidly becoming extinct. First, new provider quickly gained access to the market by leveraged on the use of Internet technology. Without expensive branch networks and labor-intensive advisory services, new competitor like direct banks and new online brokerage firms were able to process retail clients orders in relatively low cost. Second, the bull markets in year 2000 attracted large number of new online customers. For example , lot of local residents became online investors and started to hold security when frequent and gigantic scale IPO activity were taking place during 2006. These new customers welcomed the new internet investment style that encompassed vast amount of free of charge real time information, enhanced market transparency, convenience and low commission. Together with the rising share prices in bull market atmosphere, these new customer, in particular, heavy traders quickly got accustomed to doing online trade. The Internet also made other comparisons easier. For example, it increased price competition for products for which price comparison was previously more difficult. New information applications enabled investors to compare the quality of trade execution provided by different brokerages and thus extend the trading costs that investors consider beyond commissions. Companies scrambled to create viable strategies that balance many priorities. Typical considerations included: Should they defend their existing customer base or enter into new customer segments? Grow their existing business or expand into new products? Acquire, partner or go alone? Basically, companies were competing not only to offer different and better products and services, but to design robust, lucrative business models that took advantage of emerging forms of electronic commerce. Electronic commerce the facilitation of exchange of value over computer networks fundamentally changed the brokerage business in part by increasing the velocity of financial services [1]. Impact of on-line brokerage Hurdle on brokerage firm Rigorous competition With the advancing Internet technology, investors had became less reliant on stockbrokers for trade execution or obtaining research information as such services were readily available on the Internet. In addition, the Internet was a convenient and efficient channel for doing stock trade transactions and for providing information support to investors. Indeed, the trend of self-investing led to the proliferation of Internet brokerages around 2000, offering trading services on the Internet at very low commission rates compared to using traditional brokerages. Reduced customer loyalty Lower transaction costs online led many investors to e-brokerages and away from traditional brokers to place their trades Another concern was that since investors feel that they can distinguish between the good and bad advice that they find on the Internet, they therefore were not be willing to continue to pay a financial planner solely for their expert opinion. This was in part due to the information illusion discussed in next section: illusion of knowledge and control, where investors feel that since they have access to so much information that they had no need to pay for such service and can do it better on their own. Reduced customer-broker cohesiveness Before on-line trading is prevalent, a single stock trade typically involves multiple telephone conversations between a customer and a broker. The broker may take the opportunity to reinforce the personal relationship with the customer by discussing pros and cons of the trade or offer tailor-made investment package. On the contrary, on-line traders are more on their own. Together with the convenience to switch broker, the loyalty of the customer to the brokerage firm is largely weakened. Although transactions are the bread and butter of brokerage companies, brokerage firms were also strived to developing client relationships in order to provide total solution to their customers. The income by providing strategic planning, advisory services, financial advices, margin loan and other client services are also vital to brokerage companies.. Market fragmentation Market fragmentation occurs when too many competitive suppliers enter an active or new market. It happened starting from 1998 and peaked around 2001, when online trading started to take off and attracted many different competitors. They all aimed attract on-line investors and to achieve the largest possible market shares by all means, for example, by giving them some extra bonuses. However, the sudden downturn of the market quickly turned a lot of these new investors to passive customers, if not entirely retired, due to lack of knowledge and experience. This phenomenon was even more obvious after market started to plunge beginning at 2001. As a matter of fact, it is too risky for e-brokers to over-rely on commission as the main source of revenue. After all, the demand for brokerage services highly depends on investment atmosphere of stock market. The number of on-line executed orders during bullish and bearish market varies significantly. These large variation experts high risk for those who base their income on commission. In order to safeguard possession of active traders during both bullish and bearish market, it is very important to educate them and foster a correct investment culture. Lower entry barrier The Internet changed how information is delivered to investors and the ways in which investors can act on that information. On-line brokerage provide a effective and convenient access media between customers and the brokerage firm, the unit cost of operations is much reduced. It had lowered both the fixed and marginal costs of producing financial services, thus enabling newer, smaller companies to challenge established providers of these services. On-line brokerage firms, such as E*Trade, are among the most vivid and successful financial service firms to provide on-line financial advice, research tools, and financial information that emerged in the last decade. These e-commerce firms transformed the way traditional services were delivered and offered a vast assortment of new services. Hurdle on customer Investors in general and on-line investors in particular now make decisions in a very different environment than investors in the past. They have access to far more data. They often act without personal intermediaries. They can conduct extensive searches and comparisons on a wide variety of criteria. Although the quantity they can produce may be large, it is the quality that matter. As a consequence, they trade more actively, more speculatively but less profitably than before. On-line trader stress heavily on commission and management cost when choosing broker firm to use. However, there are other unobservable costs that are unaware by them: information-processing costs, information illusion, illusion of control, frequent trading behavior, and the lack of personal advice. Information-processing costs Information-processing costs are the costs that online investors sustain before they actually make a transaction and it is defined by the time and energy that the investor expands trying to reach an investment decision. Because of the huge volume of information found on the Internet that it can take investors a lot of extra time to find, sort, and analyze all of the relevant information. This in turn can out-weigh the benefits of online trading for some investors because they might not be able to afford the opportunity. In fact, the overwhelmingly huge amount of information available on the Internet scales many investors away, let alone their validity or intentional hoax. Illusion of knowledge The proposition that more information leads to better decision-making is intuitively appealing. But the truth of the proposition depends on the relevance of the information to the decision and on how well-equipped the decision maker is to use the information .The vast amount of on-line investment data available will enable investors to confirm their prior beliefs and may lead them to become overconfident in their ability to pick stocks and other securities. Faster feedback may focus investors attention on recent performance. Psychology shows that when people who initially disagree on a topic are given arguments on either side of the issue, they become further polarized in their beliefs. They are impressed by the arguments with which they already agree and they discount opposing views. Not only are people more impressed by arguments they favor, but they actively seek out confirming evidence. For this reason, investors are more likely to visit chatrooms or forum of like-minded investor s. If controversies ensue, they are likely to be convinced by those with whom they already agree. Investors who believe that additional information makes them better investors are unlikely to seek out or attend to evidence that indicates otherwise. Thus, on-line investors are likely to become overconfident. They may believe that they have more ability to perform tasks such as stock-picking than they actually do. In theoretical models, overconfident individual investors trade more actively and more speculatively than they otherwise would, hold under diversified portfolios, have lower expected utilities, and contribute to increased market volatility. In an empirical study of investors at a large discount brokerage who switched from phone-based to personal computer-based trading by Barber and Odean, they find that after going on-line, investors tend to trade both more actively and more speculatively. Illusion of control This illusion results when investors think that because they have access to so much information via the Internet that they have an advantage over the entire market and this can lead them to make bad investment decisions. These investors then have an exaggerated sense of control over the outcomes of their investments. Frequent trading is another cost associated with online investing. Low transaction costs can encourage frequent trading and day-trade strategy according to Konana, Menon and Balasubramanian. As an example, in Singapore, 71.1 per cent of online investors say that they trade more frequently than they did prior to online trading (Teo, Tan, Peck, 2004). Researches show that most of the on-line traders adopt short term trading strategy: a risky strategy rather than the believed buy and hold strategy. The Internet also seems likely to change what information investors focus on, because it reduces the cost of some kinds of information more than others. For instance, the Intern et especially facilitates comparisons of real time data, and thus has changed investors focus by emphasizing the importance of speed and immediacy. While the serious individual investor of a decade ago may have checked stock positions once a day in the morning paper, casual investors now may check theirs several times an hour. Many more investors pay attention to short term-even intraday- return trends than ever before. Worse still, many firms advertise their ability to deliver real time data or to execute investors orders rapidly, making the situation even worse. Lack of personal advice The downside of investing online is the lack of personal advice from those in the financial field (Vakil Lu, 2005). According to Phelan (2001), the Web will never be able to substitute for the judgment and expertise of financial planners, nor will it be able to protect investors from all of the scams that are abundant on the Internet. In reality, the news and new information people found on the internet might not be as new as they think. Moreover, many online traders only focus on the here and now and do not look at the whole picture or at the future as financial advisors are trained to do, thus jeopardizing their investment. Challenge Our research examines the pressures for change over the past decade that was overcoming the inertia in the brokerage industry. We viewed the challenge from the perspectives of traditional brokerage firm and electronic brokerage firm. Traditional brokerage firm To provide online trading, traditional brokerage firms were forced to decide on which of the two approaches to go, either establishes new subsidiary with a new brand name or provide under its own name. For the first case, brokerage firm suffer from overlapped company structure and considerable marketing expenditure to build the new name, which prolonged the period to reach break even point. The later case, though easier to setup, brokerage firm is putting their reputation at stake when the service do not meet customers expectation. The strategy adopted was to have differentiated brands serve the younger, more tech-savvy investors that gravitated to on-line trading without nibbling full-commission business. With the advent of the World Wide Web, discount brokerage firms face a comparable disintermediation dilemma. Commissions were suddenly under pressure, customers wanted to trade directly, and competition is coming from non-traditional sources like direct banks. To address the competitive threat, some entrenched firms adopted the supermarket approach by providing other supplementary services like providing financial information and news. However, such approach was in fact a typical re-intermediation path that directly competed with full service brokerage firm which offered a wider portfolio of products and services. Nevertheless, creating a financial services supermarket was a misguided strategic choice for three reasons: First, many successful 1990s businesses have rediscovered the virtues of adhering to their core competencies and the power of strategic outsourcing in order to gain agility. Most of the conglomerates which attempted to enter the financial services arena learned the hard way that adding unfamiliar lines of business can dilute their ability to compete, weaken shareholder and customer loyalty and multiply management complexity. The reason for failure was economic. Risk and cost sharing in the production or delivery process can enable better time to market and make providing a product/service bundle more efficient than integrating everything in-house. Second, offering additional products to an existing customer base does not prevent customers from leaving. Also, the decision to add new products to an existing portfolio is complicated by an uncertain environment such as the Internet. In an uncertain techno-marketplace, a firm is often making an informed guess about what it thinks is best for a customer without fully knowing what that customers preferences and goals are. Third, technology-enabled firms like ETrade were taking the â€Å"re- intermediation† path in a new way by providing customers with interactive and personalized services at little or no cost. This branding and trust-building approach enables the service providers to learn directly and accurately from each customer whats actually important to him or her. Armed with this intimate customer knowledge, these companies are better positioned to build loyalty and increase profits for the long term. Clearly, re-intermediation was a difficult strategy as sustainable competitive advantage was becoming rare in the on-line environment. High performers today look for a series of short-term advantages over a long period of time instead of attempting to plot a far-sighted course in an environment with too many unpredictable variables. Innovative Internet-based intermediaries were the real threat to the entrenched players. These firms were adopting dramatically more effective means of forging interactive relationships with customers added value, which was essentially the incremental benefit that the new in the middle firm brings to the customer. They were looking to exploit synergism across different product lines. They innovated more frequently and organized to seize opportunities much faster than their competitors. The reason was: concentrated focus on traditional sources of competitive advantage such as cost, technology, and differentiation was inadequate because competitors were quick to replicate advantages. They seek to identify and rapidly responded to subtle changes to the finest ingredient: the individual customer. To sustain competitive advantage, it was important to embrace business practices that encourage deep customer insight and thinking about how to materially improved the customers value proposition. Electronic brokerage firm Online brokers rushed to pour money to increase their capacity to absorb the fast growing demand during dot.com boom in 2000. The only way considered effective to increase market share at that time was advantageous offers and promotions, combined with enormous marketing expenses exposing them to a very high costs. The development of the online brokerage market was highly dominated by such marketing approach. Absence of physical branches and thus reduced operation cost entitle internet brokers the advantageous cost structure. Instead, they allocated this saving and invested on massive marketing campaign in order to achieve the biggest market share as soon as possible. By attracting and developing the loyalty of new customers, these brokerage firms were expecting soon to reach the break-even point. The bull market during the dot.com boom had dusted the eye of these online brokers. They failed to anticipated adverse situation when significant downturn in capital investments occurred and stroke their over investment. The stock markets had proved its volatility in a year time, when the dot.com boom burst in 2001. The serious regression caused by global slump of economy and the later SAR outbreak during 2003 had made the situation even steeper for the industry. The depression lasted for a couple of years before reaching a rising track started on 2007. Stock market transaction was drastically dropped from hundreds of billion down to tens of billions and last for years. Investors were either scared away or suffered from great lost by the sudden market plunge and prolonged recession. The once admirable capacity had turned into the biggest burden for brokerage firm. Naturally, all of them suffered from great investment lost, if not bankrupted altogether. All the internet brokerage firms had paid a huge price for this costly experience. The lesson they learnt made them re-evaluated the challenges ahead and the goals to attain. They have learnt that low commission rates or excessive marketing expenses would not give them competitive advantages and made the break-even point harder to reach. Instead, they had to revise the services they offered and discover alternative source of revenue. Suffered from the great impact of market volatility, they were looking for a flexible enough business models that is able to cope with the huge capacity demand during a bull market while enable them to safely transit bearish market. We can classify the challenges facing online brokerage firms into three categories: strategy, marketing and technology. Strategic challenge The characteristic of online brokerage had fundamentally changed the brokerage industry. New competitors like insurance companies, banks and financial portal had entered the arena. With the competitive advantage in possessing technology, a large customer bases and knowledge of their customers, they posted great threat to traditional brokerage player who want to participant in online brokerage. The large customer bases not only significantly reduced marketing cost but also helped to minimize development and operation cost due to economy of scale. Coupled with the open standard characteristics, traditional brokerage players had an up hill battle to fight. The value chain of the brokerage was invaded by these new competitors, forcing traditional p

Strategies Of Success From Stanford :: essays research papers

Everything that has ever ‘come about’ in the world, started in the beginning as an idea. In order for anything to be invented, the inventor had a dream, an idea to make something that would help them and the people around them. Schools today, teach students to change the world- to take charge and stand up for things you believe in. The former president of Stanford University, Clark Kerr, once said, â€Å"The university is not engaged in making ideas safe for students. It is engaged in making students safe for ideas.† This statement can be taken two ways, both positive and negative.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We’ll save the best for last and, for now, start with the negative. This whole statement can be taken as a pessimistic view of the future. It seems to say that we, the young men and women of the next generation, are unable to continue doing things the way they were done in the past. It seems to say that we need to be taught how to think, and be told that what we want to gain isn’t the right thing. It’s like telling a little child that there is no Santa Claus- everything we believe in is completely changed. â€Å"†¦Making students safe for ideas.† Reading this alone makes it seem as if Julian, Erika the students are not smart enough to decide on his or her own which ideas to take advantage of. As if, the ideas are the ultimate prize and we, the students, are the contestants in a game show, competing to the death to have the best idea of all. It seems to say that we need to be conditioned and shown just what an ‘idea’ is and what to do with one. If you compare it to a gun, for example, you need to be taught how to take proper care of a gun, what to do with one and what not to do with one. The same idea can be put as a meaning for this quote. If you look at it through my eyes, the positive side of the quote has a much bigger impact on me than the negative side does. The optimism seems to jump out at me, blazing like a beachside sunset. This entire quote seems to say, in it’s own way, that schools are here to show the students that their imagination is completely limitless.

Too Much, Too Soon Essay -- Diseases, Disorders

Children are full of energy naturally, but there are some people who determined this to be a problem. According to Julian Haber, â€Å"More than 90 percent of methylphenidate (Ritalin) is produced and prescribed for children and adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder† (2). Doctors, teachers, and parents who support this medication claim that it helps children focus their energy and stay task oriented. However, they should also take a close look at possible long term effects this type of medication may have mentally and physically. Children today are tomorrow’s adults so it is critical to make the right choices when dealing with the future. American children are being prescribed medication for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) more than ever before because this is a relatively new disease, which contributes to the lack of options available for treatment and creates a greater chance of not only being over diagnosed but also misdiagnosed. ADHD is a name that is becoming more relevant in households across America. The characteristics that define ADHD have been around as long as mankind. This disease is defined as: â€Å"a childhood mental disorder with onset before 7 years of age and involving impaired or diminished attention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity† (Mosby’s Medical Dictionary 166). There have always been differences in people that allow some to be more/less outgoing, more/less focused, or more/less impulsive. The change is not the actions of people with these differences, rather, the change comes from the perception of society as a whole and whether this behavior is acceptable or not. A child that is accompanied with erratic behavior is viewed as a problem and the assumption is occasionally made ... ...cine were not available and this gives most people an open mind about taking medication but there must be extreme caution used when dealing with something as potent as certain medications. The main goal is to prepare future generations for success and provide a clear understanding to children about when it is necessary to take medication and when it is not. Doing the right thing starts with the leaders of today. Works Cited Breggin, Peter R. Talking Back To Ritalin. Revised ed. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing, 2001. 5, 6, 64. Print. Haber, Julian S. The Great Misdiagnosis ADHD. Dallas, Texas: Taylor Publishing Company, 2000. 2, 22. Print. "ADHD." Mosby's Medical Dictionary. 8th ed. 2009. 165-66. Print. Taylor, John F. The Hyperactive Child And The Family The Complete What-To-Do Handbook. Pickering, Ontario, Canada: Beaverbooks, 1980. 17, 61. Print.

Compare and Contrast Presidents Essay

Like any two people in the world Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan both have their own views about war, women’s rights, gay rights, foreign policy, and many other problems facing our country. These two presidents have greatly impacted our country since they were in office. Roosevelt and Reagan have helped shape our country into what it is today. Franklin D. Roosevelt was born in 1882 in New York. He went to Harvard University and Columbia Law School. He was elected New York senate in 1910. In 1921 he was diagnosed with poliomyelitis. In 1928 Roosevelt became the Governor of New York. He was elected the 32nd president of the United States in November 1932. There were thirteen million unemployed by March and nearly every bank was closed. Roosevelt made it his main goal to restore businesses and agriculture. Three years later our nation had achieved somewhat recovery. Businessmen and bankers still blamed the horrific economy on the current president. His idea was called the Roosevelt’s New Deal program. Not too many people were thrilled about this program to say the least. He took the nation off the gold standard and allowed deficits in the budget. After this program failed, Roosevelt made a new program or Hanson 2 reform known as Social Security. This put heavier taxes on the wealthy, new controls over the banks, and a huge relief program for the economy. While Roosevelt was president he also added the United States to the â€Å"good neighbor† policy. Its main principle was that of non-intervention and non-interference in the domestic affairs of Latin America. Another goal was to keep the United States out of war in Europe. A huge event all of us know was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This officially got us involved in World War II. Although Roosevelt didn’t like confliction he announced a global war. Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 in Illinois. He attended Eureka College and studied economics and sociology. As Reagan grew older his political views went from liberal to conservative. In 1966 he was elected governor of California then re-elected in 1970. In 1980 Reagan won the Republican Presidential nomination then took office on January 20, 1981. He won the presidential race easily due to the inflation and secret of Americans in Iran. Only sixty-nine days later after he took office he was shot. While Reagan was in office the economy grew, inflation lessened, employment increased, and national defense was strengthened. He helped the economy by cutting taxes and government expenses. In 1984, Reagan won a second term due to his brilliance in his first. At the end of his presidency the nation had the longest period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression. Both Roosevelt and Reagan dealt with major events involving foreign affairs. During Reagans two terms he increased defense spending 35 percent, but sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union. He attended meetings with Soviet leader Hanson 3 Mikhail Gorbachev and negotiated a treaty that would eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. Reagan also declared war against international terrorism, sending American bombers against Libya after evidence came out that Libya was involved in an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub. While Roosevelt was president he wanted to increase the influence and prestige of the United States on the world and make the country a global power. One of Roosevelt’s famous quotes was â€Å"speak softly and carry a big stick†. He was willing to use force when needed but also using persuasion instead of violence. One of the biggest foreign policies involved in his presidency was that of the Panama Canal. Roosevelt was aggressive with foreign policy and so was Reagan. During Reagans presidency the economy was in pretty good shape. The economy grew, inflation lessened, employment increased, and national defense was strengthened. He helped the economy by cutting taxes and government expenses as well. Roosevelt on the other hand wasn’t as lucky with the economy as Reagan. Roosevelt took presidency during the great depression. He had to make huge efforts and changes to try to get the economy back on track. Over the next eight years, the government instituted a series of experimental projects and programs, known collectively as the New Deal. This was aimed to restore some measure of dignity and prosperity to many Americans. Both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan had very eventful office terms. They also had their differences. While Roosevelt was president the 22nd Amendment wasn’t made so the presidential term was longer than it is today. Both presidents had to deal with wars, foreign affairs, tax cuts, and reduction on government Hanson 4 spending. Also, before Reagan and Roosevelt were elected president they were Governors of states as well. Ronald Reagan and Franklin D. Roosevelt played major roles in making our country into what it is today. Without these two presidents I don’t know where our country would be. Both helped our economy tremendously, strengthen our foreign affairs, and made America a global leader. Granted they had different views on some things; they still were two great presidents. Hanson 5 Work Cited Beschloss, Michael, and Hugh Sidey. The Presidents of the United States of America. White House Historical Association, 2009. Web. . Beschloss, Michael, and Hugh Sidey. The Presidents of the United States of America. White House Historical Association, 2009. Web. . Garrison, Justin. â€Å"A Covenant with all Mankind: Ronald Reagan’s Idyllic Vision of America in the World.† Vol. 21.Issue 1/2 (2008): p34-63, 30p. Print. PIOUS, RICHARD M. Presidential Studies Quarterly. Mar2012, Vol. 42 Issue 1, p190-204. 15p. DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-5705.2012.03948.x.

Explain and Evaluate Two Approaches to Explaining Moral Development Essay

Moral development is what we consider to be right, wrong, good or bad. It is developed from infancy through to adulthood and is the principles we use to determine what is right or wrong, fair or unfair. Each individual has their own understanding of what morality is, however generally this is determined largely by the culture or society we live in and the rules that we conform to within this society. In psychology there are many theories around the beliefs of moral development, and how morality is developed from childhood to adulthood. The reason for the different theories is due to the methods, ways of study adopted by the psychologists to study human behaviour. These theories allow us to compare and gives us the opportunity to take into consideration all views and ideas and not to settle for just one argument or approach around this subject. (http://www.sid.ir/en/VEWSSID/J_pdf/97420082403.pdf) The aim of this assignment is look at the two different approaches to moral development, firstly the cognitive explanation to moral development by Jean Piaget. Then moving on to the social learning theory, and Bandura’s contribution to how morality develops. Criticisms of these theories will be discussed and evaluations based on the two studies will be made. Piaget was the first psychologist to study cognitive development in children. His work dates back to 1932 and his findings stated that morality develops through childhood and adolescence. He believed that children pass through different levels of morality according to their cognitive development. Piaget conducted a number of experiments and from these tests concluded that children up to the age of three or four could not make moral judgements as they were not able to understand rules at this age. He stated, if the children were unable to understand the rules and that they were breaking then they were unable to make moral judgements. He believed that once children could understand the rules, and that they were breaking them then this was the age that moral development began. From his research, this started at the age of about eight years old. Woods B, (2004 pg.72) Piaget believed that moral development in children of this age takes place in two stages. Stage one- heterononmous morality described as morality imposed from outside. This is when children see the rules as been made by parents, teachers or God and that they are unchangeable. Morality at this stage is based on moral punishment, you do something wrong and you will be punished. This stage is described by Piaget as the pre-operational stage of development where the child is only able to make his judgement based on the consequence of the action. The second stage- Autonomous morality described as morality which is based on the child’s own rules is apparent when the child is able to decentre and distinguish the intent behind the action along with the consequence of the action. It is the stage at which children are able to understand that rules are flexible to change and according to the situation. Woods B, (2004 pg.72) From Piagets experiments he was able to conclude that morality is based on the amount of cognitive development, how intelligent one is. The strengths of Piaget’s theory are that whilst conducting his experiments he did focus on children alone as learners. He contributed hugely to our understanding of education and believed that this was the key to saving our society. Piaget’s moral theory was described by his experiment with children that involved rules whilst playing a game of marbles. Children under the age of five showed they had no rules, children aged between ages 5-10 saw the rules as fixed and children 10 and above realised the rules and also adopted them by mutual consent. Moral dilemmas were also presented to children by Piaget to develop his theory further. He gave children a pair of stories where there first child deliberately caused a small amount of damage due to his actions. The second child caused much more damage but his actions were a result of an accident. Piaget asked the children to describe which character deserved to be punished in his attempt to understand children’s reasoning in their answers. His conclusion from his experiment was that younger children focused more on consequences, whilst the older ones took into consideration intent. From Piaget’s theory we have a greater understanding on the influence of mental processes on behaviour, we have greater understanding on perception and thinking. Along with the above, Piagets theory has had practical benefits such learning skills to improve memory and improving problem solving skills. Dwyer D & Charles C (2006 pg318) Both of the above experiments have been criticised. Other theorists have claimed that games of marbles do not represent a child’s entire perception of morality. Piaget’s use of moral dilemmas has also been criticised. It has been claimed that younger children only focused on consequences because the story was narrated, however the results may not have been the same if the stories were watched on video. Younger children may have been better able to consider intentions if they were. Other theorists conducting similar research found that, although younger children had some conception of intent, they still preferred to judge in terms of consequences because they found this easier. Piaget’s theory has also been criticised to be culture specific. It has been said that it is based on moral universals. It has been claimed that the moral development of children in non western cultures may differ from that of the children Piaget investigated. (http://everything2.com/title/ Piaget%2527s+theory+of+moral+development) Critics of Piaget’s theory have also stated that his research was not very scientific, that his findings were biased as he worked alone. Researchers conducting scientific experiments need to have two or more observers; Piaget observed and noted his findings alone. He was criticised for making generalisations with his findings by being culture specific and not taking into account background, tradition and upbringing of each child. An example of this is using clinical interviews to study the thinking of children. His sample size was criticised for being too small and did not give much consideration to social understanding. Due to all the criticisms above regarding Piagets work we can evaluate his theory as weak hence leading to errors in his conclusions. Haralambos M & Rice D. (pg 522). Social learning theory approach to moral development is based on the idea that moral development happens as a result of observing and imitation. Albert Bandura 1977 studied this concept and came up with findings that concluded that children learn through recognition, reward and punishment. Social learning theorist, focus particularly on observational learning, imitation, recognition and reward. Woods B, (2004 pg. 126) Bandura conducted a number of experiments observing children’s behaviour towards an inflatable doll also called a Bobo doll. The children were separated into groups and the first watched an adult behaving aggressively towards this blown up inflatable doll. This was the aggressive model conditioning. The second group of children, the adult played with the other toys and was the non aggressive model condition. Along with a control group, which included children from the group who had witnessed an adult being violent and aggressive towards the Bobo doll. This group was then left in a room with a number of toys but not allowed to play with them in an attempt to build up the children’s frustration. The children were later left in a room and results were noted. The children who witnessed the adult being aggressive towards the Bobo doll imitated this behaviour and those from the non aggressive model displayed lower levels of aggression and violence, hence showing that children learn through imitation. (http://psychology.about.com/od/classicpsychologystudies/a/bobo-doll-experiment.htm) Bandura also believed that children learn from their social environment, this he believed provides models of behaviour and expectations of appropriate behaviour. He believed that children learn through observation, imitation and reinforcement which are all closely linked. Woods B, (2004 pg. 126) Along with Piaget’s theory, Bandura’s theory also has its criticisms. Bandura’s social learning theory takes into consideration cognitive learning but concentrates more upon the idea that morality is developed through positive reinforcement, imitation and the social environment. Woods B, (2004 pg. 71) When evaluating Bandura’s, experiment in attempt to understanding moral development, it is important to point out that the experiments were conducted in a laboratory and hence the results may not be true in the real world. Critics have also pointed out that there may be selection bias as the children in the experiment were all from the same socio economic background, making the results invalid and not true to society. The long term effect of this experiment is not known as the results were noted immediately, and the reality is very different to an experiment. Even though the children displayed violent behaviour towards the doll this does not prove that they would be violent towards another person. The children could also have demonstrated this behaviour to please the adult, again making the findings of this experiment inaccurate. (http://psychology.about.com/od/classicpsychologystudies/a/bobo-doll-experiment.htm) The aim of this essay was to explain and evaluate Piaget and Bandura’s theory. Both the theorists have contributed to understanding of moral development in today’s society and both equally face criticisms to their work. The main aspects that have been pointed out and open to attack are that both Bandura and Piaget have given little consideration to feelings, culture and religious beliefs. There sample was small not allowing general conclusions and findings to be widely acceptable. There experiments have been attacked for not being scientific. They failed to recognise that moral development has different content and meaning in different cultures and moral judgement is hugely influenced by society’s common law and traditions. Parents role and child nourishment are vital in how children and adolescents develop morally. Both Piaget and Bandura failed to take these important points into consideration when conducting their research. Piaget has studied cognitive development and his contributions are invaluable in the development of today education and the human development theory. Bandura looked more at social learning model one is amongst one of the most influential psychologists of our time. (http://www.sid.ir/en/VEWSSID/J_pdf/97420082403.pdf)