The Past, Present and Future of the Hubble Space Telescope :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Throughout the ages, humans have been looking for a way to see into the past. In the year 1990, astronomers from NASA made this possible. Sending the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit with the space shuttle Discovery, NASA would make historical discoveries beyond their wildest dreams. Earlier this year they discovered a galaxy approximately 13 billion light years from Earth. Viewing the object at 750 million years after the big bang, scientists have looked into a time shortly after the "Dark Ages," a time before the first galaxies and quasars were formed. This incredible discovery was made with the aid of a cluster of galaxies known as Abell 2218. Being as massive as it is, Abell 2218 bends and amplifies any light that passes through it, working as a natural telescope ("Hubble"). The Hubble Space Telescope has become a great and valuable astronomic tool that NASA says is too costly and dangerous to keep running, a decision that may be premature. Originally planned to launch in 1986, the Hubble Space Telescope has seen its share of problems. Starting with the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle, the Hubble's birth into space was delayed four years (Raven). On April 24, 1990, NASA put the telescope into orbit, only to discover that its primary mirror had a systematic aberration. To fix the problem, a mission in December 1993 set out on the space shuttle Endeavor. The astronauts of the Endeavor replaced the High Speed Photometer with the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR). This device was designed to correct the aberration of the primary mirror. Even before the Endeavor mission, the space telescope produced many interesting images and was much more accurate than any Earth telescope. With the lack of atmosphere, the HST can look at objects at an angular distance of only 0.05 arcs second apart. The traditional ground-based telescopes can only resolve images about 0.5 arcs second apart, even under perfect sky conditions. With the new improvements, the HST could perform at the level for which it was designed. It could more accurately calculate the rate at which a galaxy is "receding from the Milky Way as a function of their distance" (qtd. in "Hubble"). For those confused by that statement: the HST would take a picture of a galaxy at one point and three seconds later (or any other given amount of time) take another pictur e of the galaxy and measure how much farther away it is.

Marks and Spencer Strategy Insight :: Business Management Retail Consumerism Essays

Marks and Spencer Strategy Insight At the Marks & Spencer AGM, on the 11th July 2001, Luc Vandevelde, the Chairman and Chief Executive of Marks & Spencer, gave a key speech regarding the managements recovery plan for the company, which was launched earlier in the year. The speech and extracts from Marks & Spencer Press Releases, presented below, provide a valuable insight into the nature of strategic planning within large organisations, and the role of the Chairman and Chief Executive in this process. Extracts from the Speech 'Good morning. Welcome to the 2001 Annual General Meeting. I want to pick up exactly where we left off a year ago. In response to the very last question from the floor at the 2000 AGM, I made this statement: 'I am taking charge and I will create shareholder value in the future.' I'd like you to keep that statement in mind. In everything we have done or are planning to do for your Company, we share with you the common objective of increasing the value of your investment by returning Marks & Spencer to its rightful, leading position in the marketplace. As to 'taking charge,' at the last AGM I'd been with Marks & Spencer for less than five months - and I didn't take over as Chief Executive until two months after the AGM in September 2000. At that point, a little over six months in, I came to certain conclusions about the Company's strategy ... and it took six months because Marks & Spencer is a very unique and very complex company. My conclusion was that the recovery plan, then in place, was doing a lot of useful things ... getting us closer to our customers, improving our supply chain, and so on. But it still wasn't good enough to address the real problems of the Company which, as I've already admitted, were more serious than I realised when I first took up this post. The previous plan was like feeding a tree that was already overgrown and unhealthy. What it really needed was serious pruning back. It had unproductive limbs that were hampering its growth and a lot of its best characteristics were lost in the foliage. It became clear that for M&S to grow productively, we had to get back to its core strengths - to those fundamentals that underpinned its success in the past - and begin our recovery from there.' Putting together the right team

Concept of Globalisation

Concept of Globalization Globalization means different things to different people. The three important perspectives of globalization are as follows: †¢ To a business executive, globalization refers to a strategy of crossing national boundaries through globalized production and marketing networks. †¢ To an economist, globalization refers to an economic interdependence between countries covering increased trade, technology, labor, and capital flows. †¢ To a political scientist, globalization refers to an integration of a global community in terms of ideas, norms, and values. Because of these differences in perspectives, globalization has been defined in many different ways. The following are the widely used definitions of globalization: †¢ â€Å"Globalization is a free movement of goods, services, people, capital, and information across national boundaries. † †¢ â€Å"Globalization is a process by which an activity or undertaking becomes worldwide in scope. † †¢ â€Å"Globalization is a process of integration of the world as one market. † Form these definitions; it is clear that globalization leads to an integrated global economy. The process of globalization ultimately converts the huge globe into a small global village. Forms of Globalization Globalization is a multi-dimensional process. It has four important dimensions: economic, cultural, political, and environmental. The process of globalization is now influencing these aspects of an economy. A brief description of these forms of globalization is as follows: ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION: Economic influence is the most obvious part of globalization. Economic globalization is contributed by liberalization, deregulation, privatization, and declining costs of the markets in goods, services, capital, trade, and finance. Economic globalization has speeded up in the recent past. A free-trade doctrine removes the barriers to the flow of goods between countries. The formation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has given impetus to this process. Multinational companies are another force to boost up economic globalization. CULTURAL GLOBALIZATION: Different countries have different sets of national beliefs, values and norms. The expanding process of globalization has brought these cultural diversities together to form a global culture. Advances in communications, television networks, transportation technology have been reducing the barriers of distance and culture. Over the last several years, global communications have been revolutionized by developments in satellites, digital switching, and optical fiber telephone lines. As a result of such developments, reliable system of commercial jet travel has reduced the time it takes to get from one location to another. This has tremendous impact on the flow of tourists across the globe. Television programmers have made people aware of other cultures and languages. These have reduced the cultural distance between countries. The process of globalization has increased mutual understanding, peaceful coexistence, and learning from each other's experiences. POLITICAL GLOBALIZATION: Nations today are more inter-dependent. They are joining hands to participate in creating macro-political framework for development. There are exchanges of views and experiences between nations regarding the establishment of good governance system, legal system, human rights, free media, property rights, decentralized pattern of governance, relatively free access to state information, and so on. The regional grouping of nations has promoted the integration further and created pressure for democracy and human rights. Because of these global influences, the political system worldwide made a shift away from command and mixed economies to the free-market model. ENVIRONMETAL GLOBALIZATION: The globe today is facing unprecedented problems of global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, acute loss of bio-diversity, and trans-border pollution. In fact, ecological problems like floods, soil erosion, water pollution, air pollution, acid rain, and global warming cross national borders without hindrance. To prevent any further degradation of global ecology, the world community is actively engaged in preventing the growing problem of environment. Today, world attention has been drawn toward conservation of environment, harnessing water resources, and judicious use of non-renewable resource. The world community is, therefore, trying to encourage countries to understand these global environment issues and adopt legal and other measures to protect the environment. Nature of Globalization Globalization promotes international business. The international business is composed of four main categories: (i) world trade, (ii) portfolio investment (iii) direct investment, and (iv) multinational enterprises. A brief description of international business is given below: WORLD TRADE: The oldest form of international business is trading of merchandise. Consumers in one country buy goods, which are produced in another country. This is a common phenomenon. Most of the world trade today is among the industrialized countries. World trade is mostly made up of manufactured goods. The service trade has also been rapidly increasing during recent years. Export business is beneficial for a country not only in terms of trade, but also because it creates export-related jobs. With the growing integration of the world economy, world trade would also increase. In fact, expansion of world trade itself has been made easier by two things. Firstly, technological changes in transport, global network of banking and insurance, and information flows have made it possible to undertake world trade more quickly. Secondly, a number of international and regional agreements or arrangements have been established to promote and coordinate world trade. PORTFOLIO INVESTMENT: International portfolio investment is also known as indirect foreign investment. Portfolio investment is the second main type of globalization. It is the purchase of foreign securities in the form of stocks, bonds, or commercial papers to obtain a return on that investment in the form of dividends, interests, or capital gains. Acquiring foreign stocks and bonds does not confer managerial control of a foreign enterprise on the buyer. Rather, the international portfolio investor is a creditor whose main concern is a decent return on his or her investment. Therefore, the capital flow is greatly affected by relative interest rates and strong currency values, which result in high return for the investors. FOREIGN DERECT INVESTMENT: Foreign direct investment (FDI) is the long-term capital investment. It involves acquisitions by domestic firms of foreign-based factories or any other types of business firms. The investor, thus, enjoys managerial control over the assets of the acquired firm. Direct investment may be financed in a number of ways other than through capital movements. Foreign investments may be financed by borrowing locally, by reinvesting foreign earnings, by the sale to foreign affiliate of non-financial assets such as technology, or through funds generated by licensing fees and payments for management services to the parent company. MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES: FDI is an important vehicle for the birth and growth of multinational companies. A multinational company encompasses both domestic and overseas operations. It is called multinational because it operates across national boundaries. However, its focus is on foreign markets. A multinational company, thus, has all the components of the definition of globalization and international business discussed above. Being multinational in scope and activity, such firms also encounter wide-ranging socio-cultural, political, and legal problems while operating in many different countries. Methods of Globalization There are a number of methods for globalization of business. In each method, there is a choice of strategies to follow. These strategies are sometimes referred to as â€Å"foreign market entry strategies†. If the international business strategy is to be successful, a business firm must carefully analyze the advantages and disadvantages of different entry methods before deciding on its approaches. A brief account of some of the methods of globalization is as follows: EXPORTING: The most widely used and common method of doing business internationally is exporting. A direct export operation is a direct sale by a manufacturer to an overseas customer. Indirect exporting involves selling through an intermediary. Exporting is preferable when the cost of production in the home country is substantially lower than producing goods in foreign markets. Therefore, business firms having cost advantage would like to export their products to foreign markets instead of investing in production facilities there. Exporting is, thus, the first stage in the evolution of international business. Exporting is the best alternative under a given set of conditions. It is the least complex global operations. However, there are some factors, which make exporting less attractive than other alternatives. For example, policies of some governments discriminate against import. In some cases, imports are even banned. There may also be hostility against imports. In these situations, exporting strategy may not be effective. LICENSIG AND FRANCHINSG: Licensing and franchising are important entry and expansion methods. Through these methods, the companies can expand their business. Earnings come to the company through fees and royalties. Today, many western companies have been extensively using licensing and franchising practices. One of the growing trends in international business today has been trademark licensing. This has become a substantial source of worldwide revenue. Licensing offers rapid entry into a foreign market. Under international licensing, a business firm can contractually assign the rights to certain technical know-how, design, intellectual property to a foreign company in return for royalty. In many countries, law regulates such fees or royalties. At times, a licensing agreement may be of cross-licensing type wherein there is mutual exchange of knowledge and patents. In a cross-licensing arrangement, a cash payment may or may not be involved. The advantage of licensing is that the licenser does not have to bear the development costs associated with opening up in a foreign country. The licensee bears the costs. Franchising is a form of licensing in which a parent company (the franchiser) grants another independent entity (the franchise) the right to do business in a prescribed manner. The franchisee buys an established marketing package without the risks of product acceptance, market testing, etc. The franchiser gets foreign market entry at minimum cost, plus a local ntrepreneur. The privilege may be the right to sell the parent company's product, to use its name, to adopt its methods, or to copy its symbols, trademarks and architecture. One of the common forms of franchising involves the franchiser supplying some ingredients for finished products, like coca-cola supplying the syrup to the bottlers. Hilton Hotels might sell a franchise to a local company in Nepal to operate hotels under the Hilton name. FULLY OWNED MANUFACTURING FACILITIES: Bigger corporations establish their own factories abroad. This strategy has some advantages. The corporation owning the factory has full control over production and quality. There is also no risk of developing potential competitors as in the case of licensing and contract manufacturing. However, there may be some problems while operating in a foreign country. The government may impose restrictions on the use of desired technology. Similarly, constraints such as lack of skilled manpower, infrastructural facilities, production bottlenecks, raw material supply etc. may also be encountered. Above all, the corporation may have to invest a lot in terms of financial and managerial resources to operate the plant in its fullest capacity. JOINT VENTURES A joint venture is a partnership in which the domestic firm and the foreign firm negotiates tie up involving one or more of the the following:equity,transfer of technology,investment,production and marketing. The arrangement defines responsibility for performance,accountability and powersharing. MERGER AND ACQUISITION The most extensive form of participation in global market is 100% ownership,which may be achieved by start up,merger or acquisition STRATEGIC ALLIANCE Various terms are used to describe the linkage between firms to jointly pursue a common goal,such as collaborative agreements,strategic alliance and global strategic partnership. EFFECT OF GLOBALISATION Increasing globalization has many effect and consequences on an indivisual business firm as well as the national economy. These effect are both positive as well as negative. We can identity some 5 major effects of Globalisation Liberalized International Trade Import Penetration Foreign Direct Investment Multinational Companies Competitive Environment

Fiction Analysis of a&P and the Lesson

The theme of desire has been portrayed in many novels and stories. Perhaps the most well-known depiction of desire can be found in the Bible. In the Book of Genesis, a snake tempts Adam and Eve to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge after he convinces them that they will gain God’s knowledge of good and evil and be protected from death. Despite God’s word to not eat of the fruit, Adam and Eve did so anyway. Surely, this story portrays temptation; however, beyond the theme of temptation lays the theme of desire.Knowing it was wrong, Adam and Eve ate the fruit because they had the desire for what the snake promised them. Similarly, Toni Cade Bambara and John Updike also display the theme of desire in their short stories. In â€Å"The Lesson† by Bambara and â€Å"A&P† by Updike, character, setting, and point of view are utilized to project the theme of desire. Though â€Å"The Lesson† and â€Å"A&P† take place in vastly different en vironments, a ghetto in New York and a quaint New England sea-side town, respectively, little separates the symbolic meaning of the setting.The protagonists of both short stories really have no yearn to be in their current surroundings. Sylvia in â€Å"The Lesson† describes her neighborhood as foul smelling. It was so bad â€Å"you couldn't halfway play hide-and-seek without a goddamn gas mask† (Bambara 1). Likewise, Sammy in â€Å"A;P† compares the costumer at his checkout lane to a witch. Within the first few paragraphs of both stories, one can tell that both Sylvia’s and Sammy’s atmospheres are not what they wish. Both the ghetto in which Sylvia lives and the grocery store in which Sammy works symbolize misery.Through the tone of the characters, one can gather that neither is happy and they wish for something greater. Without these particular settings that Bambara and Updike chose, the stories would have no meaning. For instance, if Bambara set Sylvia in a prestigious and wealthy neighborhood, there would be no narrative. â€Å"The Lesson† then would be a useless tale of a girl’s trip to a toy store. No underlying themes or symbols would be present. The setting is very important in both stories in that it defines not only the plot, but the characters themselves.Sylvia and Sammy are products of their environments. Being in an unpleasant environment would definitely put any individual on edge. Because both characters are unhappy with their surroundings, both are quite cynical. Aside from comparing one customer to a witch, Sammy also refers to others as â€Å"sheep† and points out â€Å"house-slaves in pin curlers† (Updike 3). Sylvia is also cynical in the way she talks of Miss Moore. At a point, Sylvia states that she is a â€Å"nappy-head[ed] bitch†, which in no means is a proper way for anyone, let alone a child, to speak (Bambara 1).Despite being so cynical, the reader finds that both ch aracters have another side as well. When faced with desire, Sylvia’s and Sammy’s mannerism changes. The reader sees Sylvia in a whole new way when she sets eyes on the fiberglass sailboat. In fact, Sylvia’s entire persona changes. Not only is she dumbfounded by the price of the sailboat, but she is awestruck by its greatness. She grows quite mad about the price; nonetheless, this is the beginning of the change of her character and train of thought. This is where she realizes the economic imbalance of the world.Similarly to how Sylvia was taken by the sailboat, Sammy is captivated by the girls’ physical appearance, especially Queenie. This is made evident by the imagery of the text from his physical description of them. Bambara and Updike especially, quite effectively use the characters’ point of view to further engage the reader to explore for theme. In â€Å"A;P† and â€Å"The Lesson†, both protagonists narrate the story in first per son. This is especially important because the reader better connects with the character. One can better relate when they feel as if they are part of the plot.With Updike’s combination of first person point of view and powerful imagery, one not only feels like they are there, but they can picture it as well. The reader can visualize the girls walking through the maze of isles in the store. Every detail Updike sketches is important, even the â€Å"two smoothest scoops of vanilla† Sammy sees in Queenie’s top-piece (Updike 6). This tells the reader that Sammy is not an experienced lover. He is running wild with his thoughts and can barely control himself. Sammy is enthralled by Queenie and the other girls.So much, in fact, that he quits his job after Lengel, the manager, ridicules the girls about wearing proper attire when entering a grocery store. This particular event shows the true desire Sammy has for these girls and their attention. Likewise, Sylvia has a true desire to change her ascribed status. The reader sees this when Sylvia states â€Å"ain't nobody gonna beat me at nuthin† at the end of the story (Bambara 6). Sylvia becomes a dynamic character with this statement. Influenced by her desire for the Fifth Avenue world, like purchasing the sailboat, Sylvia makes a vow that she is going to change.She has the desire to leave the ghetto, to be something greater than the ghetto. She is going to strive for the rewards of Fifth Avenue she so much desires. Although the central theme of â€Å"The Lesson† and â€Å"A&P† may be something more than desire, Updike and Bambara definitely portray it through setting, character, and point of view. Perhaps even more interesting are the characters themselves. They seem almost life-like because of their relatability. It is conceivable that the protagonists in these stories by Updike and Bambara are the authors themselves.Toni Cade Bambara grew up in Harlem, a setting very close to th at found in â€Å"The Lesson† (Schirack) and John Updike lived in a seaside-town in Massachusetts, eerily similar to the setting of â€Å"A&P† (Moyer). It is very possible that these short stories contain characters based off the authors. It is also quite possible that these stories are actual life events that occurred while the two were still living. It is certainly very interesting to think about the fact that the characters could be linked to the authors in some way and what other influences life events may have had on other pieces by the authors.Works Cited Bambara, Toni Cade. â€Å"The Lesson. † Blackboard. ed. ENG 102-329. Ed. Gina Yanuzzi. Mount Laurel: BCC, Spring 2013. 1-6. Electronic. Moyer, Steve. â€Å"John Updike Biography. †Ã‚  Neh. gov. N. p. , n. d. Web. 07 Mar. 2013. Schirack, Maureen. â€Å"Toni Cade Bambara. †Ã‚  Voices From the Gaps, University of Minnesota. Ed. Lauren Curtright. N. p. , 11 Aug. 2004. Web. 07 Mar. 2013. Updike, John. â€Å"A&P. † Blackboard. ed. ENG 102-329. Ed. Gina Yanuzzi. Mount Laurel: BCC, Spring 2013. 1-8. Electronic.

Promote the wellbeing and resilience of children Essay

1.1 Explain 5 factors that can influence the wellbeing of children and young people. 1.Social – The social environment will influence the child’s wellbeing – it can affect how a child is perceived by others, eg, if a child comes from a economically deprived area, people my think that they are unlikely to achieve, and refer to stereotypes rather than judge each child on their own merits 2.physical – If a child has a physical disability, they will require extra support to enable them to perform to their best potential, without it they may not develop their social skills, have fewer job opportunities and will ultimately affect their wellbeing. 3.Poor diet –a poor diet will affect a young person in many ways – a lack of a balanced diet will stop the child receiving essential vitamins and minerals required for a healthy lifestyle, it can also have a negative impact on the child’s physical development. A poor diet involving too much food will affect the child just as much. Too much food, coupled with a lack of exercise, can lead to lots of medical issues EG, obesity, the onset of childhood diabetes etc. It may also affect the child’s social skills development and community involvement. 4. Lack of rest/Sleep – a lack of sleep, either through parental influences (neglect, abuse or simple poor parenting) or through choice (staying up late to watch TV, playing on video games etc) will have a huge influence on a child’s wellbeing. 5.Lack of preventative health measures – This will affect the wellbeing of children. Not immunising against common, and potentially serious diseases and infections such as: measles, mumps, rubella or meningitis can cause very  serious side effects and in extreme circumstances even death. 1.2 Why is it important to encourage resilience in children and young people? Building resilience in children and young people is very important as it helps gives them a way of coping with negative experiences and helps them to become independent, empathetic and responsible. Resilience in a child will help them to become confident, improve problem solving and the ability to deal with both their own emotions and those of others. 1.3 Using examples from your setting analyse effective ways of promoting wellbeing and resilience. We promote wellbeing and resilience in our setting by: Keeping them safe (secure environment, appropriate staff ratios, DBS checks on all staff etc) Listening to their opinions – residents meetings, key work sessions Involving them in decisions that affect them – Independent multi-agency reviews, key working sessions etc Encourage opportunities – offer physical activities, help with opportunities for developing hobbies and interests or group activities Involve parents where appropriate in planning Promote independence 1.4 Using examples from your setting describe ways of working with carers to promote wellbeing and resilience in children and young people. I work in a residential Children’s home. As carers we promote the wellbeing of our service users by: Circulating pertinent information to colleagues to ensure a consistent approach happens Keeping them safe (secure environment, appropriate staff ratios, DBS checks on all staff etc) Listening to their opinions – residents meetings, key work sessions Involving them in decisions that affect them – Independent multi-agency reviews, key working sessions etc Encourage opportunities – offer physical activities, help with opportunities for developing hobbies and interests or group activities Involve parents where appropriate in planning Promote independence – cooking, cleaning, planning and budgeting skills 2.1 Explain why social and emotional identity are important to the wellbeing and resilience of children. Social and Emotional identity are important to a child’s wellbeing and resilience as it helps children and young people to recognise and value their place in the family, the community and wider society by developing a sense of belonging and citizenship. It helps them to form positive relationships and feel emotionally secure by having a positive self image. Young people with a positive self image will have a greater disposition to learning. 2.2 Using 5 examples from your setting explain how you can support children and young people to identify with their own self-image and identity. 1.We ensure every child is represented in displays, posters and other materials 2.The children and young people are given the opportunity to dress in a way that reflects their own self image and individualism 3.We show recognition of respect for individuality of the child and plan activities accordingly 4.We also encourage the young people’s cultural and ethnic networks, and celebrate all cultures and ethnicities within the unit. 5.We also promote life story work, work as positive role models and encourage the same from visitors and visits to relevant establishments. 2.3 How do you encourage children and young people to recognise and value their own abilities, talents and achievements? I try and spend time with the young people i am assigned to work with to talk  about their thoughts and needs. This is either through 1-2-1 discussions or through activities. I will always try and encourage the young person to be open and honest, while being open and honest in return. I try and encourage focus on the positives – their strengths and achievements rather than weakness and failure. We celebrate success and progress and show that skills developed in one area can be transferred into another. 2.4 Using examples from your own practice describe how you support children and young people to be involved in decisions. We hold monthly residents meetings where all sorts of things are discussed, including trips and activities, rules and best practise, menus etc. I always encourage the young people to participate in these meetings and make their views heard. During Key worker sessions, we get the young people to ‘buy in’ to plans by encouraging them to formulate the plans themselves, and agree a way in which these can be monitored. 2.5 Explain how goals and targets you have identified for individual children in your setting contribute towards building the self esteem of the child or young person. Completion of targets and reaching goals give children and young people a sense of achievement and success; has a positive impact on the self- Esteem and motivation of child or young person; goals should be challenging but realistic and achievable for child or young person. Setting realistic S.M.A.R.T targets at Valley View helps both with the young person’s self esteem and their behaviours, reducing the negative behaviours also has the knock on effect of helping with self esteem. 3.2 Explain how a solution focused approach will encourage children and young people to have a positive outlook on their lives. A solution focused approach gets a child or young person to look at how they would like to see their future. This focus allows a child or young person to look at what is going well for them, and identify the actions they need to take to continue on in way to achieve their preferred future. This will help the child and young people develop a sense of responsibility and will allow them to identify benefits of taking a positive approach to their life, and the choices they make, it will also allow them to identify the negative aspects  in their life and give them the opportunity to change these for the better.

Fast Food Nation Essay

Whether we like it or not, fast food and its detrimental effects have become an epidemic. For many years, people have been oblivious to the growth of the fast food industry. However, over the past three decades, the fast food industry has nearly taken over our American society; almost anywhere, one can see its vast influence. As a result, in his book, Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser portrays the influence of the industry. By implementing pathetic appeals for injustice and disgust, statistics from reputable sources, and fear of the consequences of fast food, Schlosser shows the average adult how the fast food industry is ruining American culture as a way to reform its problems. Throughout his book, Schlosser consistently tries to create an emotional appeal, particularly to one’s injustice and disgust to depict his opinion. When one hears things such as, â€Å"The hamburger habit is just about as safe†¦as getting your meat out of a garbage can† (Schlosser 195), he or she cannot help but to be disgusted. Of course no one wants to be told that he or she is eating trash. Moreover, Schlosser discusses other vomit-inducing truths such as, the numerous amounts of cannibal animals among the animals whose meat becomes the food that people eat at a fast food restaurant (202). He also talks about how every year there are millions of dead animals purchased to be fed to the animals that restaurants provide as meat (Schlosser 202). Lastly, Schlosser writes, â€Å"There is shit in the meat† (197), which immediately grabs the reader’s attention and hence shows his pathetic appeal to persuasively convey his opinion. Would anyone really want to eat a feces burger for lunch? In addition, out of 355 detailed pages, Schlosser’s statistics are omnipresent. He constantly uses them to back up his statements with evidence, even dedicating one sixth of the book to notes full of statistics with reputable sources. Although he already states his facts persuasively, they become more convincing with this use of logos. For instance, at many times, authors will make up a statement and act as if it were a true fact. However, when he writes, â€Å"There is a 100 percent turnover rate annually† (Schlosser 325) and quotes it from a published article, one can actually know the turnover rate without having to question its validity. Furthermore, when Schlosser writes about how 7. 5% of all ground beef samples are contaminated with Salmonella and quotes it from a Nationwide Microbiological survey, one does not have a hard time believing its legitimacy (Schlosser 333). One of the most persuasive strategies Schlosser uses in his book is his appeal to his audience’s consequential fears of fast food. For most people, living life is a wonderful gift and if anything could be able to take it away, people would doubtlessly avoid it. Schlosser does an effective job at listing the harmful consequences; since he clearly detests the fast food industry’s influence, he does this to help reform against the influence of it. For example, when Schlosser brings up the existence of E. coli O157:H7 in fast food, he does not simply say, â€Å"It is bad† (199). He goes on and elaborates with great detail, giving a story of a six year old boy named Alex who died because of the bug (200). Not only does he dramatize the story but he also narrates the events chronologically to draw the greatest response from the reader. Schlosser writes, â€Å"It progressed to diarrhea†¦Doctors frantically tried to save Alex’s life, drilling holes in his skull to relieve pressure, inserting tubes in his chest to keep him breathing†¦ Toward the end, Alex suffered hallucinations and dementia, no longer recognizing his mother or father† (200). These events, individually, already seem terrifying. Together, it magnifies the effect. Pathos and logos play an important role throughout Schlosser’s entire book. He is clearly against the fast food industry’s ubiquitous influence and as a result, he writes with pathetic appeals, reputable sources, and fear evoking descriptions to abolish its influence on American culture. What he writes has shown to be true; fast food has had a negative effect on society. While fast food may have some benefits, it’s detrimental in the long run. Day by day, the influence of fast food continues to grow and harm the American culture.

Trial and Error

Trial and error is an experimental method of problem solving, repair, tuning, or obtaining knowledge. â€Å"Learning doesn't happen from failure itself but rather from analyzing the failure, making a change, and then trying again. † This approach can be seen as one of the two basic approaches to problem solving and is contrasted with an approach using insight and theory. However, there are intermediate methods which for example, use theory to guide the method, an approach known as guided empiricism.The nature of the response is molecular in trial-and-error learning and molar in insightful learning. Practice and repetition are extremely important in trial-and-error learning, while insightful solution is important for insightful learning. Of course, certain amount of trial- and-error occurs before insight takes place. But the trial-and-error form of learning primarily does not involve insight. The physical and motor skills are acquired mostly through trial-and-error.The insightf ul learning is of higher order, and is involved in cognitive and verbal learning. The cats in the key experiments conducted by Edward Thorndike were able to learn through operant conditioning. In Thorndike's experiment, cats were placed in a various boxes approximately 20 inches long, 15 inches wide, and 12 inches tall with a door opened by pulling a weight attached to it. The cats were observed to free themselves from the boxes by â€Å"trial and error with accidental success.In one test the cat was shown to have done worse in a later trial than in an earlier one, suggesting that no learning from the previous trials was retained in long-term memory. The scientist considered the cat to have the capacity for learning due to the law of effect, which states that responses followed by satisfaction (i. e. a reward) become more likely responses to the same stimulus in the future. An experiment was conducted in 2009 where cats could pull on a string to retrieve a treat under a plastic scr een. When presented with one string, cats had no trouble getting the treats.When presented with multiple strings, some of which were not connected to treats, the cats were unable to consistently choose the correct strings, leading to the conclusion that cats do not understand cause and effect in the same way that humans do Thorndike was skeptical of the presence of intelligence in cats, criticising sources of the contemporary writing of the sentience of animals as â€Å"partiality in deductions from facts and more especially in the choice of facts for investigation. Research was made to identify possible observational learning in kittens.Kittens that were able to observe their mothers performing an experimentally organised act were able to perform the same act sooner than kittens that had observed a non-related adult cat, and sooner than the ones who, being placed in trial and error conditions, observed no other cat performing the act. Experimental investigation of primates show th at the chimpanzee possess some limited insight in regard to observational learning (see Kà ¶hler), whereas this capacity is wholly absent in the domesticated cat Sultan, one of the brightest of the early chimpanzees used for psychological research, was tested by Gestalt psychologist Wolfgang Kà ¶hler.Sultan is particularly recognized for his insight in solving numerous problems, including stacking or manipulating boxes to reach a reward and use of two sticks as a unit to rake food to a reachable distance. While other Chimpanzees in Kà ¶hler's study were also quite adept at problemsolving—namely, obtaining an out-of-reach fruit suspended above a playground or perched just beyond arm's reach outside the bars of a cage—Sultan proved to be peculiarly advanced.He and his peers were also known to stack crates to reach the fruit, and even scramble up a hastily balanced stick to grab the banana before falling back down. Chimpanzees helped Kà ¶hler to prove that animals are capable of learning beyond simple trial and error, and that, given the right conditions, many species—particularly the more â€Å"human† species of primates—will demonstrate a deeper understanding of the constituents of a problem. For example, several chimpanzees who had proven capable of reaching the banana via a stack of crates found that in a crateless room, a table or chair worked to meet the same end.When nothing else was available, Kà ¶hler himself could even be used: â€Å"On one occasion, Sultan did something even more impressive: he came over to Kà ¶hler, pulled him by the arm until he was under the banana, and then showed that in a pinch even the director of the Prussian anthropoid station would do as a climb-upon-able. † (Gleitman 2004) difference insightful learning involves perception of the whole situation, as the organism has to see the relationship among various stimuli. The nature of the response is molecular in trial-and-error learnin g and molar in insightful learning.Practice and repetition are extremely important in trial-and-error learning, while insightful solution is important for insightful learning. Of course, certain amount of trial- and-error occurs before insight takes place. But the trial-and-error form of learning primarily does not involve insight. The physical and motor skills are acquired mostly through trial-and-error. The insightful learning is of higher order, and is involved in cognitive and verbal learning. The two forms of learning differ with respect to the role of the organism in the learning situation.Animals lower in the phylogenic scale acquire through trial and error. Their role in the learning situation is only mechanical and passive. The organism's approach in trial-and-error consists of random blind activities and the solution comes by chance. On other hand, the organism in insightful learning, surveys, inspects, observes, and examines various aspects of the problem situation, and t hereby takes an active role in learning. Higher- order animals including chimpanzees and human beings are capable of insightful learning.Both the trial-and-error and the insightful learning differ with respect to the strength of learning. The trial-and-error learning is more or less temporary, depends on continued practice, and weakens when practice is discontinued. The insightful solution, once acquired, stays for a long time and does not easily fade away when the practice is discontinued. Finally, in trial-and-error, the transfer of learning is poor; skills acquired in one situation are not easily transferred to another situation.On the other hand, learning by insight is easily transferred from one situation to other similar situations. The cat in Thorndike's puzzle box learns to connect a response with a stimulus, which is subsequently rewarded. The learning by trial-and-error is a matter of S-R connection. Kohler's chimpanzee learns to perceive the relationships between various aspects of the stimulus situation. Establishing the relationship between one stimulus and the others forms the core of the insightful learning.The insightful learning is of S-S type. The trial-and-error learning is gradual. The cat in Thorndike's puzzle box takes a number of trials and learns step-by-step to reach the correct response. The insightful learning occurs all on a sudden. The organism moves from a state of no solution to a state of solution very quickly. While pulling the string in Thorndike's puzzle box, the cat is showing responses to only some specific stimuli. It does not have to attend to the whole stimulus field.