Latin America ( Physical system ) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Latin America ( Physical system ) - Essay Example 269). Recently, the president of Ecuador (Correa) has been in defense of the oil extractions plans in the Amazon (Laht.com, 2014). According to the president, the plans to carry out the oil extraction will have minimal impact to the people and the environment. The government of Ecuador plans to extract oil from Yasuni National Park located in the amazon forest. This forest contains a high level of biodiversity and acts as an ecosystem to thousands of organisms. Altering the ecosystem in favor of the economy will lead to deforestation and climate change. Cutting down of the trees in order to obtain oil will mean reduced carbon absorption. Moreover, this region offers habitat to a different organism, and it is a source of water for human beings. Once the operations begin, the mentioned advantages will be affected negatively. The extraction of oil has several effects on the country. On the positive side, it is going to improve the country’s economy by increasing GDP and providing employment. On the negative side, this event will destroy the habitat and will contribute a lot to global warming due to the emission of industrial waste into the environment. This move by the president sparked several concerns of displeasure. Environmental organizations were concerned on how this move to destroy acres of land in search for oil. However, this move by the president will have numerous political effects in the country. For instance, there have been rising concerns about the president’s leadership, whether he is fit to rule the country (Smith, 2014). People wonder if he has their interest at heart. The president managed to garner political support through the parliament to facilitate his pursuit. The bill was passed in support of the new project. Non-governmental institutions are infuriated by this act. As a result, they embarked on a campaign to oppose the bill. The country is set to experience a political divide. On one hand, some advocate for oil

Can False Memories be Implanted?

Can False Memories be Implanted? Ajantha Uvaraju Abstract This study is to find out that is it possible for memory to be implanted in students. It is hypothesized if the memory constructed for implanting is highly a plausible event then it is more likely for creation of false memory to occur. Thirty participants of first year Monash University students are recruited. Each of them is accompanied with a partner who is closely related to the subjects (ie: parent, sibling or close relative who knew the subject too well). The partners are asked to read descriptions of 2 events happened to subjects when they were 5 years old and a false event. The one plausible false event is describing of the subject being lost in a mall while shopping depicted from Loftus and Pickrell (1995). While the other is a less plausible memory is an overnight hospitalization for a high fever with possible ear infection made up by Hyman et al (1995). Subjects are split into half where one group receives the plausible event while other the less plausible. Subjects are ask ed to recall everything that they could remember about each event.After that, they are also asked to the rate the confidence from scale of 1 to 5 (1=not confident and 5= extremely confident that it has happened). Here participant would remember the more plausible false memory comparing with lesser one. As memory that is more plausible tend to have higher rating in confidence and in clarity. It is found that the more plausible the event is more likely to be planted in memory than the less plausible event. Introduction People equate of memory as to a recording device, ability to accurately documenting and storing everything that happens with perfect accuracy and clarity. In reality, memory is very prone to fallacy. This is due to existence of false memory. Bartholomew, (2001) describes false memory as a mental experience which mistakenly taken for a representation of an event from one’s personal past It consists of either remembering items or events that never happened, or remembering them differently from the way they actually occurred. Memory of false event has practice especially by psychologist. One of it is repressed memory recovered from a witness via hypnotism of an event that had happen 20 years ago is used to testify against a convict of murder. In spite of this without hypnosis, studies show that people’s memories are open to influence. For instance, Loftus and Pickerel (1995) who conducted research on adults regarding memories of their childhood event that happened and asked them to remember these events with a false memory added into as well. Experiments demonstrated that memories for entirely false events can be implanted. It has been argued that there are limits to the types of events or beliefs that can be suggestively implanted, and that only events that are plausible can be implanted in memory ( Hyman, Gilstrap, Decker, Wilkinson, 1998 ; Hyman Kleinknecht, 1999 ; Lindsay Read, 1994 ; Pezdek, Finger, Hodge, 1997 ). In support of this statement, a report by Pezdek at. al (1997) shows successfully implanting a memory of being lost in participants, but being unable to implant a memory for a less plausible event (receiving a rectal enema). Although, few past research like Loftus was indeed an illustration of planting false event in subjects. Nevertheless there are drawbacks. The memory used in implanting here is common thus suggestively implanting a memory like getting lost in the mall have high chance of succeeding. Therefore this study is to find the role of event plausibility in memory planting by comparing the type of false memory implanted like high plausible false event and implausible false event and its effects on confidence rating among university students. It is hypothesized if the memory constructed for implanting is highly a plausible event then it is more likely for creation of false memory to occur. Method As mentioned the participants of this study are students of first year from Monash University consisting of 15 females and 15 male students and age must be 18 years or older. Each subject is required to bring a partner who is: (1) no more than 2 year younger than subject, (2) was close relative or sibling of the subject and (3) have been in contact with subject at age 5 to 6. The sampling method used here is convenience sampling.The procedures will be approved by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee Design In this study the independent variable is type of false event which isplausible and least plausible event.Plausible event is subject being lost in shopping mall and the least possible event is overnight hospitalization due to fever with possible of ear infection. As for the dependent variable is confidence and clarity rating. This experiment is design in an experimental strategy and between-subjects experiment design. Materials The dependent variable is measured in terms of clarity and confidence where in clarity rating is a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 as unclear to 10 being very clear and also the rate of confidence from scale of 1 to 5 (1=not confident and 5= extremely confident that more could be remember. Procedure Study begins with the subjects’ partner in writing the participants’ childhood memories in a booklet, and from that list of the childhood memories two memories are chosen and together with the constructed one. Participants are randomly and evenly assigned into groups of two with each group has its distinct condition. In Group (1): Subjects are provided two memories of true event and one memory of false plausible event, group (2): two memories of true event and one memory less false plausible event. The partners are instructed to read a brief description of the chosen entree given to them to respective subject which include the name of event and age of subject when it happened. After reading the description participants will be asked to recall themselves of the event and to talk about what they can remember space is also provided in filling in their part of the memory. At the end of the session they are asked to think about the event discuss and were later call for anoth er session in a week time. After a week they were presented rate their memory in terms of confidence. They the rate the confidence from scale of 1 to 5 (1=not confident and 5= extremely confident that this event did happen in their childhood. Finally after complete rating they are to be inform on the research objective and also regarding that the certain memory suggested are fictitious. The participants do receives our apologies for our deception and are asked to guess which memory is true and which is false. Results In this study result involves in number of subjects who remembered the more plausible events versus less plausible events and confidence rating given its upmost importance. Data on subject remembering true event is overlooked. The data will be analyses as such: 1) counting number of subjects believe plausible events in each condition in group 1, group 2. Same goes for number of subjects who believed the less plausible event. 2) The amount are compared with each other. It is normally that number of subjects remembering the plausible events exceeds more than the less plausible events. Subjects rated their confidence rating on each event on the term that how positive they are of that the event happened. With a scale of 1 to 5 (1=not confident and 5= extremely confident that it has happened). It can be forecast that the mostly rating score for plausible event will be more than 1 compare to the relative less plausible event. Based from scores the mean for confidence rating will be calcula ted for both event. If the hypothesis is supported the mean confidence in plausible event will be high and less for less plausible event. As well as the median will show the similar pattern with a higher valu compare with the less plausible event. Discussion The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that the memory constructed for implanting is highly a plausible event then it is more likely for creation of false memory to occur. It is expected of the finding that relatively plausible events are more likely to be recall than less plausible events. According to Pezdek, Blandon-Gitlin and et. al (2006) the reason behind this is because of the significant interaction of plausibility and imagination is that if people find that event to be plausible, they tend to search more of their autobiographical memory for relevant details of the event. Study provided by Pezdek, Finger and et. al (1997) shows the finding that relatively plausible events are more likely to be planted in memory than relatively implausible events has implications for the cognitive processes underlying suggestibility. In their study three events were falsely recalled and that all three were relatively plausible event. This can be explained via literature of script processing on understanding cognitive process. Based on Grasser, 1981: Grasser and Nakamura, 1982), a specific memory trace is formed by the comprehender when a scripted activity is experienced. This is because memory trace consists of pointers to an epitome script that has been copied from a permanent generic script. As a result the epitome script for the specific event includes all the script-relevant action triggered by the experienced event as well as script-relevant actions that were triggered by default due to script-based inferences that occurred during comprehension. This means when a description of a specific occurrence of an activity suggested to a person and asked if it has happened to the individual, instantly the person will cross check the memory suggested with his or her’s own memory for related occurrence of that activity to verify if a match is found. If described memory and memory of individual overlaps there is more likely a match and the described event is evaluated to be true. However there are cases that when it comes to planting memory implausible memory can be planted. Mazzoni et.al (2001) in the effects of suggestion new information could make events seem less implausible. Mazzoni (1991) exposing people to new information designed to enhance plausibility removes two of the three major ways in which they know that an event did not happen to them. When a person initially thinks an event did not happen, they may base this on three sources of information. First, is not having memory of the event. Second, knowledge about the event is insufficient to realize that they may have experienced it. Third, is having the knowledge about it then allows them to reject it as part of their own autobiography. Limitation of this study can be mentioned such as this study is restricted to university student only as it does not represent the whole population. In future research manipulation of event plausibility should be done on different degree of plausible event and different suggestive technique. In addition, instead of convenience sampling a better alternative sampling method need to apply. References Hyman, E I; Husband, T H; Billings, J F;. (1995). False memories of childhood experiences. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 181-195. J, B. D. (1984). False Memories, Psychology of. International Encyclopedia of the Social Behavioral Sciences, 5254-5259. Loftus, E.F, Pickerell, J.E. (1995). The Formation of False Memory. Psychiatrics Annals, 25(12), 720-725. Hyman, I. E. Kleinknecht, E. E. (1999). False childhood memories: Research, theory, and applications.(In L. M. Williams V. L.Banyard (Eds.),Trauma and memory(175—188). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.) Hyman, I. E., Gilstrap, L. L., Decker, K. Wilkinson, C. (1998). Manipulating remember and know judgements of autobiographical memories. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 12, 371-386 Pezdek, K., Finger, K. Hodge, D. (1997). Planting false childhood memories: The role of event plausibility. Psychological Science, 8, 437-441 Lindsay, D. S. Read, J. D. (1994). Psychotherapy and memories of childhood sexual abuse: A cognitive perspective. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 8, 281-338 Hyman, I. E., Gilstrap, L. L., Decker, K. Wilkinson, C. (1998). Manipulating remember and know judgements of autobiographical memories. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 12, 371-386 Lindsay, D. S. Read, J. D. (1994). Psychotherapy and memories of childhood sexual abuse: A cognitive perspective. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 8, 281-338 ( KATHY PEZDEK; BLANDON-GITLIN, Iris;, 2008) PEZDEK K., BLANDON-GITLIN, i;. (2008). Planting False Memories for Childhood Sexual Abuse Only Happens to Emotionally Disturbed PeopleNot Me. Applied cognitive psychology, 1466. Graesser, A.C., Nakamura, G.V (1982). The Impact of a schema on comprehension and memory.The psychology of learning and motivation:Advances in research and theory.,(16).New York Academic Press.

Invisible Man Essay: Ethics and Invisible Man :: Invisible Man Essays

Ethics and Invisible Man    The issue of ethics is central to the theme of The Invisible Man.   This essay will examine the ethical issues presented in Ellison's novel in the context of Kenneth Strike's "Principle of Equal Respect".    In one incident Invisible Man is in his third year at a Negro college and is regarded by the President, Dr. Bledsoe, as bright and trustworthy, a young man who has potential. Dr. Bledsoe assigns him to drive a prominent trustee, Mr. Norton, on a tour of the vicinity. Invisible Man inadvertently drives Norton to the old slave quarters, past the home of Jim Trueblood, a local pariah who has committed incest with his young daughter; both his wife and daughter are pregnant by him. At Norton's insistence, the student stops. Norton feels compelled to hear Trueblood's spellbinding version of his crime. Embellished several times over, it is so effective that Norton has a mild stroke. Before leaving, however, Norton gives Trueblood $100, a gesture which angers Invisible Man, who sees it as a reward for a heinous crime. He is careful, though, to mask his emotion.    When he returns to campus, Invisible Man is severely reprimanded by Dr. Bledsoe for betraying his trust and for exposing the trustee to such "trash" as Jim Trueblood. Invisible Man is made to feel as though he should have acted in a deceptive manner; he should have had sense enough to deal with white folks. Then he is led to believe that he is being given a semester off, but the young man is, in fact, expelled from college. Bledsoe gives Invisible Man sealed letters to powerful men in New York City, saying that they will help him get a job. However, when Invisible Man visits the offices of these men, he is unable to get even one interview. Finally one man reveals that the letters call the bearer an enemy of the college who should not be helped but should be given the illusion of hope.    The reader may wonder whether Bledsoe behaves ethically or uses his power abusively. One may argue that, as president of the college, Dr. Bledsoe is responsible for the lives and education of hundreds of students. In this regard, he must be careful not to offend powerful supporters necessary for the institution's survival. But does this permit his sacrifice of Invisible Man?

Bacons Rebellion Essay -- essays research papers

Bacon's Rebellion "Where we do well know that all our causes will be impartially heard and equally justice administered to all men," as stated by, Nathaniel Bacon. 1 In 1676 an uprising known as Bacon's Rebellion occurred in Virginia. The immediate cause of this revolt was the dissension between the planters and the Indians. Because Sir William Berkeley, the Governor of Virginia had willingly denied support to the farmers, Bacon assumed leadership of an unauthorized expedition against the Indians. When Bacon learned that Governor Berkeley was rising a force against him, he turned away from the Indians to fight with Berkley. This had now become a serious problem for the governor. When news of this revolt had reached King Charles II, it alarmed him so that he dispatched eleven hundred troops to Virginia, recalled his governor, and appointed a commission to determine the causes of the dissatisfaction. Bacon's Rebellion is considered to be the most important event in the establishment of democracy in colonial America because the right to vote and social equality were denied to the farmers by the local government. The right to vote is a small but crucial part of the democracy. During the first half of the 17th century the farmers on the plantations in Virginia were not able to exercise their right to vote. The only people that were able to vote during this time were the wealthy men who owned land. Overall the colonists had not been treate...

Machiavelli’s Premise Essay

1. Do you agree with Machiavelli’s premise that if given the choice between the two, the prince is better served by being feared than loved? How does Machiavelli make the case for his position (details, modes)? Are his arguments convincing? If you took the self-analysis on high-Mach or low-Mach, what were the results, and were you surprised by your score? 2. What is the thesis of Neil Postman’s forward? Do you agree or disagree with his point of view? Provide support for your position. 1- The prince is better feared than loved, although striking a balance between the two would be best. As Machiavelli stated that the prince should do his utmost to escape hatred and too much fear would create hatred. The prince should try to balance love and fear based on his people and the situation at hand. 2- Both authors have different point of views; Orwell’s view is that we will be deprived of things by externally imposed oppression and by inflicting pain while Huxley’s view is that we will be distracted from our real goals with lust and pleasure. I agree to some extent on both points of views, except for the part that states that what we hate will ruin us. If you hate something that is bad then I don’t see anything wrong with it; I don’t think it can ruin us in any way. On the other hand I agree that lust and desire only lead to greed and other sins which corrupt us. Would time traveling be cool? Time travelling would not be cool. In fact many scientists have done a lot of research on black holes and time warps. Einstein did work on it as well as Stephen Sawking to no avail. Actually Stephen changed his theory on the black holes losing and retaining information twice. If time traveling was possible we would be open to endless opportunities and nothing would be a challenge. Life would be stale without surprises, discoveries and evolution.

Virtual Merchants

A Virtual merchant is any website which offers the sale of goods or services in a return for remuneration. [ (Tatum, 2010) ] Virtual merchants are essentially the same as a retail outlet, except they only operate online, example Amazon. They allow the consumer easy and instant access to view/purchase merchandise at the click of a button anytime and anywhere. Online stores are now being called e-tailers as they are highly popular with the general consumer. For example in 2008 Amazon had over ‘’76 million active customers accounts and order fulfilment to more than 200 countries’’. [ (DaveChaffey, last modified 13-03-2008) ] Amazons success and domination in the market place is well known. Customers tend to stay loyal to the e-tailer as they are extremely reliable on delivery, have an easy and user friendly online interface and are constantly learning and establishing trading relationships with its customer’s example possible likes e-mails. This loyalty aspect is one problem which most virtual merchants face and in Amazons case the customer orientated strategy they employ seems to be very effective at maintaining brand loyalty. ‘’Relentlessly focus on customer experience by offering our customers low prices, convenience, and a wide selection of merchandise’’ [ (DaveChaffey, last modified 13-03-2008) ] Many trading merchants offer the virtual trading aspect to their existing physical business to stay competitive and diverse within in the market place. This retail outlet coupled with the virtual merchant allows the business to appeal to a larger target market of potential customers, example the convenience shopper (online) and the physical shopper. This type of merchant can be referred to as bricks and clicks merchant example Wal-Mart. The value proposition defines how a company’s product or service fulfils the needs of customers (Kambil, Ginsberg and Bloch 1998). In Amazons case the value proposition is quiet simple as it aims to offer the world’s biggest choice of certain goods and be extremely customer focused and orientated. Amazon offers a personalised and customized service at a very competitive cost to their customers at the click of a mouse. According to Kambil 1997 and Bakos 1998, offering personalization, customization of product offerings and a reduction on product search costs are extremely important factors in developing a company’s value proposition. A company’s revenue model defines how they intend to generate profit and return on investment. In the virtual merchant market place there are several ways where profit can be generated. Firstly there is the direct sales profit margin and in amazons case they don’t have to rent retail outlets in busy high streets etc only merchandise warehousing storage etc, this accompanied with its online trading medium means that overheads, example direct contact with customer and reduction in sales support costs, are kept to a minimum allowing Amazon to offer an unrivalled selection and value for money. This places Amazon extremely competitive within the market place. Secondly they offer other businesses space to advertise on their webpage for example Hewlett pacard, Thompson holidays, Travel lodge etc. Virtual merchants are constantly looking to be dynamic and diverse in their service which they provide and different ways in targeting new customers. The e-tailer market is constantly growing as new users and accounts are set up every day. Amazon began in 1995 and have gained there competitive advantage within their market, they generated over 5 billion in sales in under a decade. When we compare this statistic with Wal-Mart (a bricks and clicks merchant) it took them twenty years to hit this sales figure. This is an indicator of how big and expanding the e-tailer market is.

Christianity vs. Greek Mythology Essay

Throughout many ages religion has been a very important part of history. It shaped many cultures and allowed us to better understand many civilizations. Two of these cultures are those of the Christians and Greeks. Both have similarities and differences in their religious beliefs that have been compared often and I have chosen to discuss the similarities and differences of Christianity and ancient Greek mythology. Christianity is a monotheistic religion, or belief in only one God, and spiritual practices are based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as written in the New Testament of the Bible, with the role of Jesus as savior and the Son of God. Greek mythology is a polytheistic religion, which is the belief in and worship of multiple deities, called gods and goddesses, belonging to the culture of ancient Greece. Even though their definitions are different, the faith of Christianity and one God and the culture of the Greeks in mythology of many gods are alike in a number of ways. To begin, in both religions humans believe that there are speakers for their God/gods. These people include pastors, priests and nuns in Christianity, and storytellers or prophets in Greek times. Furthermore, the people believe that their God or gods are above humans. Both cultures believe a god is above all mortal and of this earth, and he or she listens to people when they need help, and have supernatural power to help. This is why both the Christians and the Greeks pray to their God and gods for forgiveness. Another similarity between the religious beliefs of these two cultures is that they have explanations for many of ancient mysteries of life and major events on earth. The ancient Greeks and early Christians tried to find an explanation for the evil in the world, and both blame a woman for man’s downfall. Greeks believe a woman named Pandora opened a forbidden box and released all evil into the world. Christians believe a woman named Eve released evil after eating from a forbidden tree. Also, in both the ancient Greek and Christian beliefs of the early world, there exist stories of great floods that destroyed most of humankind. In Greek mythology, Zeus orders a man named Deucalion to make a chest in which he and his family can survive  the flood Zeus was going to bring upon the earth. In the Bible, the account of Christian beliefs, God orders a man named Noah to build an ark in which he and his family, and two of each animal, can survive the destruction from a flood God was going to send. War was also a common characteristic of both the ancient Greek world and of the Biblical world. For example, the Trojan War is a major event in Greek history, and is written about most famously in Homer’s Iliad. The gods always seemed to play important roles in this war, especially Zeus, Ares the god of war, and the other and goddesses living on Mount Olympus. Wars between Greek city-states were also common, with gods and goddesses almost always involved in them in some way. In similar comparison, the Bible accounts many stories of wars between different countries and religious groups, with God being involved in some way in the outcome or fate of the peoples. One of the most famous examples is the war between the Philistines and the Israelites. In this war, God interfered and sent a small shepherd boy David to save the Israelites. David does so by killing the giant Goliath, a super-human thing he would not have been able to accomplish without God’s help. These examples show the cross-cultural belief that war was an important event in the ancient world, and the gods, and God, played significant roles. While Christianity and ancient Greek mythology have many similarities, there are key differences. The main and most obvious difference is that Christian belief is about only one God, and its beliefs and commandments are written about in the Bible. Christians regard the stories told in Bible as actual historical accounts of important people, events and concepts of faith. Greek mythology had 13 major gods and goddesses, and many lesser gods. Different Greek cities also worshipped different deities. There is no book like the â€Å"Bible†, rather many collections of stories that shaped early Greek culture. In short, Greek mythology was created to be the Greek’s science for why things happened. Once they thought they figured out how things really happened, the belief in gods and goddesses faded away from Greek culture. The final difference I want to discuss to compare the ancient Greek creation story and that of Christian belief. In the ancient Greek story, at first there was only Chaos, a shapeless mass of darkness and meaninglessness. Out of Chaos came Nyx (night) and Erebus (the unfathomable deep). The first god to come into existence was Gaea, Mother Earth, though no one knows where she came from or how she came into being. Uranus, Father Sky, was born of Gaea as she slept. He became her husband, and together they had many children. One of these first gods’ descendants was Zeus. After much war between the gods and goddesses, Zeus became most powerful and assigned two lower gods the task of populating the earth with mortal creatures. With that task, one of the two gods granted so many gifts on the lower animals that when the time came to create man, there was nothing left. The beasts already had the sharp teeth and claws, the warm fur and feathers, the tough, protective hides, the wings and shells, speed, size, and strength. The wiser of these two lower gods was given task to figure out what gifts to bestow on man. The gods gave man a more noble, upright stance, so man would be above the beasts, with his face turned toward the heavens rather then down toward the ground. He also gave man an intelligence that reached much higher than the beasts’ mere cunning. In the Christian creation story, God was present in the beginning and He created the universe. At first the earth was shapeless and covered in darkness, and God’s spirit hovered over the waters. God said, â€Å"Let there be light†. And there was light. God divided the day from the night, naming them ‘ day’ and ‘night’. On the second through fifth day God made the heavens, commanded the waters to fill with living creatures and the air to fill with birds. On the sixth day God commanded the earth to bring forth all kinds of living creatures and He saw that it was good. God then said † Let us make man in our own image†. So God created man and woman in his own likeness and gave them authority over all living things. Adam, the first man, was created by God out of soil and given life by God’s breath. Adam named all the animals and birds that God had made, But Adam had no companion of his own so God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and created woman – Eve- from one of Adam’s ribs. In addition, unlike the beginning void of Chaos in Greek mythology, God is not a void of nothingness, but the beginning of all  things. God also remains the ruler of the entire world in Biblical stories, while the Greek Chaos is forced out by several actual divine beings, the most important and permanent of those being Zeus. In conclusion I found there to be many interesting similarities between Christian faith and ancient Greek religious culture, but one final difference is that Christianity is practiced today and the Bible widely read in many countries and published in many languages, while ancient Greek belief system has faded away and become the stories of fantastical books, myths and legends.my