American Women of Science Since 1900 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

American Women of Science Since 1900 - Essay Example The paper will compare their roles during those times with the recent times. It will also dwell the factors linked to rise or fall in the involvement of women in Mathematics. Role of American Women in Mathematics in Twentieth Century Mathematics refers to a theory of application of symbols and numbers in the calculating of measurements, shapes, patterns, and spatial relationships. Mathematics is applicable in a variety of ways and acts as the foundation for science, social science and applied sciences (Wayne 134). However, the status of women in the field of Mathematics have been affected by a perception that math’s is difficult. American women of the ancient times viewed Mathematics as a subject that was dependent on a person’s talent and not on education (Marx & Roman 1185). This affected the female child education in America, as they did not show any interest in the subject due to the negative perception they had of it. However, the trend of women’s involvemen t in Mathematics began to change between 1970s and 1980s when a feminist reform movement started advocating female child involvement in math’s education. The movement was also geared at abating gender biases in America’s classrooms so that early female child education in Mathematics could be given priority. ... With intense advocacy and enlightenment, the figure of female mathematicians started improving, which saw other women also earn doctorate degrees in Mathematics. The women included Anna Johnson Weeler (1910) and Olive Hazlett (1915). However, the figure was still low as it was estimated that only 5.53% of women had earned doctorate degrees in Mathematics by late 1961. The figure remained low for the entire twentieth century (Wayne 134). It is worth noting that despite the perception about American women in relation to Mathematics, some of the earlier women stood strong and contributed a lot to the field of Mathematics (Marx & Roman 1185). This was evident during the post World War II where American female mathematicians Grace Hopper and Margaret Butler worked passionately at the military and government digital computer development, Mina Rees dealing with at the military jet rocket propulsion applications and high speed computers (Wayne 134). After the end of World War Two, Evelyne B. Granville was honored as one of the first black women in the United States to earn a doctorate degree in Mathematics. The contributions made by these women were so evident that it became apparent that women could as well play a role in the field of Mathematics, science, and engineering just as their male counterparts (Wayne 134). Comparison with their Role in Recent Decade Statistics from the past decade shows that women’s involvement in the field of Mathematics has improved tremendously. For example, a survey conducted in 2006 revealed that the number of women who had earn doctorate degrees in Mathematics and statistics stood at 29%, which was an increase of about 25 %

Integrated Supply Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Integrated Supply Management - Essay Example They are also held responsible when it comes to helping the civil government in maintaining the country’s essential services. The demands of the Indian army have been increasing continuously since the issue of insurgents started. The army has been deployed to various part of the nation to protect its citizens and keep the people there safe. Army troops have been sent to Kashmir, Jammu and all the Northern parts of the nation. For the Indian army to be able to protect its people well and protect the Indian Territory from terrorists, the army has to be well prepared and well taught so that they are able to carry out operations in a manner that will help them give the best protection to their citizens. In order for this to happen, the army has to be equipped well; it has to be modernized and has to undergo a suitable structure process (Bharat, 2008). The Indian army is divided in to two categories, which include; the arms and the services. The services provide administration and logistics to the whole running of the army. While the arms have got several duties, they are the category of the Indian army that carries out the operations like protecting the nation and its citizens. The arms are consisted of the infantry, the armored, the aviation, the artillery, and the air defense artillery, engineers, the Signals and the intelligence. For the Indian army to be able to perform its duties of protecting the nation, they require supplies that will help them run their armed forces properly. There are several types of supplies that are directed to the Indian army. Some of them include; the procurement of weapons in the armed forces. The Indian government has in the past procured several weapons that are being used by the army. Since the rate of the insurgency in the Indian neighborhoods has risen, Indian armed forces have procured quite a lot of weaponry to ensure that they keep their territory safe. The process of procuring these weapons and other equipment is a lo ng and hectic one. A lot of money is channeled towards this type of procurement. The quality of the weapons that are to be supplied must be the best quality since the army has to use the best type of weapons. In procuring weapons, the government has to critically analyze the extremely competitive bids and make sure that the supplier that will bring in the weapons is legitimate, has the financial stability and ability and that the supplier is able to bring in quality weapons for usage (Paul, 2008). The Indian army was hit by a scandal that was claiming that they ate food that was out of date. Hence when supplying the food stuff for the Indian army, the government has to select diligently a company that is able to deliver quality food stuff to the army. For any normal persons, the ability to perform their duties requires them to consume fresh and healthy food; hence the procurement of food in the army is done with the utmost care. The army also requires office supplies like electronic s and writing material. The Indian government chooses diligently when deciding on the supplier. They consider the financial credibility and the ability for the supplier to bring in a quality office supplies that will not fail while the army is in operations. Service supply like the repairing of the military equipment is also a key issue to keeping the army functional and able to perform i

The Guildford Four And Other Miscarriages Of Justice Law Essay

The Guildford Four And Other Miscarriages Of Justice Law Essay An overview in light of how the criminal justice system has changed in relation to miscarriages of justice. As defined in the book Miscarriages of Justice, a miscarriage means literally a failure to reach an intended destination or goal. A miscarriage of justice is therefore, mutatis mutandis, a failure to attain the desired end result of justice. The issue of miscarriages of justice has always been discussed, either as a legal, political or social issue. It has been such a vital issue that it provoked the appointment of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice and many other changes in the English legal system, which shall be discussed in due course. It maintains being a legal issue due to the several rights at risk that are potentially affected by the operation of the criminal justice system, including  [2]  humane treatment (Art 3), liberty (Art 5), privacy (Art 8), fair trials (Art 6) and even the very right to existence (Art 2) in those jurisdictions which operate capital punishment. During the 1970s Great Britain had to face a wave of vicious attacks committed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In response to the public outrage against the bombers, the Government introduced the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1974 (PTA) which gave new powers to the police to arrest on suspicion of terrorism, and to detain suspects for up to five days without charge.  [3]  It was clear that the police were under enormous pressure to capture the IRA bombers who had brought the war to Britain. Unfortunately, this led to numerous arrestings and convictions of innocent people. CASE STUDIES: The Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven were the first to be arrested and questioned under the new powers of PTA 1974. They were arrested for alleged involvement on behalf of the IRA, in the bombings of pubs in Guildford and Woolwich which killed five people and injure over a 100. On 22 October 1975, the Guildford Four Gerald Conlon, Paul Hill, Patrick Armstrong and Carole Richardson were convicted of murder, before Justice Donaldson and a jury of conspiracy. They were all given life sentences. An appeal against conviction failed in 1977, despite the fact that other IRA defendants awaiting trial  [4]  had claimed responsibility. However, in 1987 fresh evidence came to light following enquiries carried out by the Avon and Somerset police, which prompted a reference by the Secretary of State for the Home Department  [5]  to have the Guildford Four case reviewed. It was discovered that typescripts and notes of interviews had been tampered with; confessions were obtained under duress and detention sheets falsified. These matters brought into question the whole foundation of the prosecution case which had relied on the confessional evidence of the four defendants. After 15 years of imprisonment, the convictions were successfully appealed and their innocen ce was proved in October 1989. The outcome of the Guildford Four appeal immediately prompted the reconsideration of the case of Anne Maguire and the members of her family  [6]   the Maguire Seven- who were convicted in 1976, of being the source of the explosives used in the bombings.  [7]  Their sentences were quashed in 1992, although by then all had served their time, apart from Patrick Conlon who had already died in prison. The Court of Appeal reluctantly overturned the convictions because new evidence about the possibility of innocent contamination cast substantial doubt on the scientific evidence at trial that the defendants had been in contact with explosives.  [8]   The next blow to the publics faith in the criminal justice system was by the Birmingham Six case.  [9]  The Courts judgment  [10]  is an official testament to one of the most notorious miscarriages of justice in British legal history. In 1974, six men Hugh Callaghan, Gerard Hunter, William Power, Patrick Joseph Hill, Richard McLlkenny and John Walker- were convicted of bombings in two Birmingham pubs. The bombing caused more deaths than any other IRA incident in Britain.  [11]  The prosecution evidence rested upon three factors: confessions, which the accused claimed had been coerced and beaten out of them; forensic tests, which the accused claimed were essentially unreliable and had been performed unsatisfactorily; and highly circumstantial evidence, such as their links to known Republicans. New evidence was referred back to the Court of Appeal in 1988; even then the Court was unpersuaded. However, further revelations about the police fabrication of statements and new u ncertainties about the quality of the forensic tests ultimately resulted in their release in 1991. As mentioned earlier, that outcome provoked the establishment of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice. In The Conscience of the Jury (1991), Lord Devlin wrote that together the miscarriages in the cases of the Guildford Four, the Maguire Seven and the Birmingham Six were the greatest disasters that have shaken British justice in my time. Another unfortunate case of miscarriage of justice which involved the IRA occurred in 1974, when Judith Ward was convicted for handling bombs which resulted in twelve deaths.  [12]  Her conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal in 1992 because of the prosecutions failure to disclose material to the defence, which was supported at the time of the appeal by fresh psychiatric evidence and cast substantial doubt on the reliability of her confessions.  [13]   Another case arising from Irish terrorist activities concerned the Armagh Four Neil Latimer, Alfred Allen, Noel Bell and James Hegan-  [14]  who were members of the UDR, who were convicted of the murder in Armagh. After referral back to the Court of Appeal in 1992, Allen, Bell and Hegan were all freed because it was clear that the police had tampered with the evidence. It is evident that quite a few of miscarriages of justice have concerned Irish terrorist cases. The Irish terrorism trials stand out as having involved some of the most intense flaws in the English criminal justice system and as being the most vulnerable to error. There are probably two reasons for their prominence.  [15]  Firstly, special powers in the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1974 made abuses easier to commit, and more difficult to detect. Secondly, miscarriages are more likely because of the nature of these cases. In such prosecutions, the criminal justice system is under pressure by the desire to be seen to be taking effective action against terrorists.  [16]  This is probably why miscarriages seem so hard to remedy an acquittal becomes particularly costly to the State in terms of damage to its reputation. Various recognised cases of miscarriages of justice from the 1970s were not just confined to Irish terrorism. In 1976, Stefan Kiszko was convicted of murdering an eleven-year-old girl.  [17]  His conviction was quashed in 1992. Other infamous cases include those of the Tottenham Three  [18]  and the convictions in 1990 of the Cardiff Three,  [19]  for murder, which were overturned in December 1992 on referral to the Court of Appeal. Each of the abovementioned cases was a stain on the national stability of the United Kingdom, and a shocking reminder to the public that the English criminal justice system is imperfect. Such cases also raised many questions about police procedure and put doubts in many minds of the public as to the honesty of the police service. There were accusations that the police used beatings, intimidation, duress and threats against family and friends to derive illicit confessions from the accused. Numerous miscarriages of justice have come to light in the last few years, a few notorious ones having been mentioned above. But there are still many people in prison who proclaim their innocence to this day. Having overviewed a few cases of miscarriages of justice, the rest of this project will consider why such injustice occurs, what changes have been made to the law to prevent it, and whether these changes have rendered such tragedies impossible or whether there is a need for a more radical reform of the English criminal justice system. WHY DO CASES OF MISCARRIAGES OF JUSTICE OCCUR? As seen in previous cases, some of which have been discussed above, miscarriages of justice may result from a variety of causes. Problems begin arising from the very first meeting with the police to the very end of entanglement with the State, when machinery to reopen problematical judgments has been shown to be unfair and inappropriate.  [20]   There are a few common features which have been found to be present in most cases of miscarriages of justice, which led to the case being a miscarriage. However, it must be kept in mind that these features may not be the only reasons as to why miscarriage of justice occurs. The most obvious danger of a case being one of miscarriage of justice is the fabrication of evidence which was found to be an issue in the cases of the Birmingham Six,  [21]  Tottenham Three,  [22]  Armagh Four,  [23]  Darvell Brothers  [24]  and several West Midlands cases. Also, both the police and lay witnesses may prove to be an unreliable source when attempting to identify an offender as found to be the in cases of Luke Dougherty and Laslo Virag.  [25]  The evidential value of expert testimony has also been overestimated in a number of instances such as in the cases of the Maguire Seven,  [26]  Birmingham Six,  [27]  Judith Ward  [28]  and Stefan Kiszko  [29]   where it lat er emerged that the tests being used were unreliable, that the scientists conducting them were inefficient or both. Another common factor has been unreliable or false confessions as a result of being coerced by police pressure, duress, psychological or mental instability or a combination of all. Examples of these may be found in the cases of the Guildford Four,  [30]  Birmingham Six,  [31]  Judith Ward,  [32]  Tottenham Three  [33]  and Cardiff Three  [34]  cases. The non disclosure of significant evidence by the police or prosecution to the defence may be a further issue. The investigation of a case is by reliance on the police. Yet several cases, in particular the Guildford Four,  [35]  Maguire Seven,  [36]  Darvell Brothers  [37]  and the case of Judith Ward  [38]  illustrate that the police, forensic scientists and prosecution cannot be relied upon fairly to pass on evidence which might be helpful to the accused. Sometimes, as it has been alleged in the case of the Birmingham Six,  [39]  the conduct of the trial may produce miscarriages. For example judges may sometimes favour the prosecution evidence rather than acting as impartial umpires. Lastly but not the least, the presentation of defendants in a prejudicial manner- such as labeling a person as a terrorist- is also a problem in some scenarios.  [40]  As mentioned earlier, these are only a few of the common reasons as to why miscarriages of justice occur. Now that we have seen what is likely to cause miscarriages of justice and a few examples of it, this project shall now provide an overview of the changes that have been made in the criminal justice system in order to prevent such misfortunes from happening again. REFORMS: Successive governments have put into practice a number of important measures to prevent further miscarriages of justice. Most prominent, perhaps, is the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, and the Codes of Practice that accompany it. The creation of an independent, national prosecuting authority the Crown Prosecution Service   [41]  in 1986 has also been of fundamental significance to reducing the risk of miscarriages of justice. Another major reform was the establishment of the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice in 1993 and the Criminal Cases Review Commission that it recommended. The Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 has also assisted in the prevention of miscarriages of justice. Although reforms have been made by the government to prevent miscarriages from happening, some people such as Paddy Hill of the Birmingham Six, are unconvinced that such legislation is enough. He told BBC News Online: Justice is something that is not on this governments curriculum. Therefore, apart from legislative changes and reforms in the criminal justice system, there has also been the formation of independent organisations, such as JUSTICE, Miscarriages of Justice Organisation (MOJO) and innocent projects by the name of Innocence Network UK (INUK) which have helped bring to the light many cases of miscarriages of justice. Investigative television programmes have also been of help to victims of miscarriages of justice in the past. How the abovementioned legislation and organisations work, and whether these methods have been effective or not to prevent cases of miscarriages of justice shall now be discussed in more detail. Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 Many miscarriages of justice cases arose before the PACE Act 1984 came into effect in 1986. This is because in the pre-PACE era, it was easy for the police to commit offences while investigating a case and get away with it, due to the absence of a statute such as PACE. The aim of the 1984 Act was to create a balance between the powers of the police and members of the public. PACE provides safeguards during police questioning, supported by strict Codes of Practice, made under s.60 and 66. It also gives detectives strict rules on the handling of evidence and on how long the police can question suspects for and insists that interviews be taped to ensure there was no mistreatment or any other form of intimidation. Safeguards such as these are in no doubt, assisting in the prevention of injustice. Crown Prosecution Service The separation of investigative and prosecution functions through the creation in 1986 of an independent, national prosecuting authority -the Crown Prosecution Service-  [42]  has also been of fundamental significance to reducing the risk of miscarriages of justice. The CPS was established under the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985, to prosecute criminal cases investigated by the police in England and Wales. Previously the police forces were responsible for the prosecution of such cases. However, in 1981, the Royal Commission recommended to the government that an independent prosecution authority should be introduced which would prevent police forces setting up independent prosecution departments so as to avoid having the same officers investigate and prosecute cases. Due to the separation of investigative and procedures it is less likely for miscarriages of justice to occur. Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act (CPI) 1996 During a criminal investigation, a large amount of evidence is gathered by the police including witness statements, forensic results, and confession statements etc. Not all of this evidence is shown at the time of the actual trial; much of is not even be admissible. However, some of the evidence gathered may undermine the prosecution case, and therefore be of interest to the defence. There have been a few cases such as the Guildford Four, Maguire Seven, Darvell Brothers and Judith Ward, where the prosecution deliberately failed to disclose evidence that was vital to the defence. In order to regulate the disclosure procedure, the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act (CPI) 1996 was brought into effect. The CPI Act puts the burden on the police to disclose all evidence to the defence that they think might weaken their case. This process is overseen by the Crown Prosecution Service. Royal Commission on Criminal Justice Since 1907, when the Court of Criminal Appeal was created, the Home Secretary had a statutory power  [43]  to refer to the Court of Appeal, if he thinks fit, any case in which a person had been convicted on indictment and had exhausted all other methods of an appeal. The Royal Commission on Criminal Justice (RCCJ) was established the day the Birmingham Six convictions were quashed in 1991 by the then Home Secretary, to inspect the efficiency of the criminal justice system in England and Wales.  [44]  The Commission was set as continuation of Sir John Mays inquiry into the false convictions of the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven. In 1993 the Royal Commission reported and recommended to the Parliament that the Court of Appeal must be more ready to examine possible miscarriages of justice.   It also recommended the transfer over responsibility for the review of alleged miscarriages, from the Home Office to an independent non-departmental public body.  [45]  As a result of this recommendation, the Criminal Cases Review Commission was established. Criminal Cases Review Commission From the recommendation of the Royal Commission and through the enactment of the Criminal Appeal Act (CAA) 1995, the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), became fully operational on 31 March 1997.  [46]  The jurisdiction of the Commission extends to England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.  [47]  The CCRC is completely independent and impartial and does not represent the prosecution or the defence. The CCRCs statutory role and responsibilities are set out in the Criminal Appeal Act 1995 which involves reviewing suspected miscarriages of justice and referring a conviction, verdict or finding or sentence to an appellate court. The CCRC has wide-ranging investigative powers and can obtain and preserve documentation held by any public body. It can also appoint an Investigating Officer from another public body to carry out inquiries on its behalf. Applicants to the CCRC must focus their case on new evidence or argument that was not raised in the initial proceedings and as a result may cast doubt on the safety of an original decision. They can also challenge their sentence if they can show a new point of law or information relating to the sentence was not raised during the trial.  [48]  The CCRC refers a case to the appellate court if it considers there to be a real possibility that the conviction would not be upheld. There is no appeal against a decision of the CCRC, however a judicial review claim can be made to the high court to examine whether the CCRCs decision was unlawful.  [49]   The Commission has been the under considerable scrutiny for the way in which it deals with its applications. Criticisms of the Commission relate to the failure to interview more than a small proportion of applicants; to the insufficiency of communication with applicants and their representatives; and to alleged deficiencies of investigation, among other matters.  [50]   Although the CCRC is much better, than having no such body at all, to deal with issues of miscarriages of justice (as was the case before), it is still inadequate. JUSTICE JUSTICE is an independent legal human rights organisation which was founded in 1957. It works to improve the legal system and the quality of justice, in particular by promoting human rights, improving the legal system, criminal justice system and the access to justice. Ever since it was founded, JUSTICE has received requests for help by, and on behalf of, prisoners alleging miscarriages of justice in their cases. Some miscarriages of justice cases brought to light by JUTICE have provided investigations into the criminal justice system which resulted in reports urging reform. For example the Criminal Appeals (1964), Home Office Reviews of Criminal Convictions (1968), The Prosecution Process in England and Wales (1970), Evidence of Identity (1974) and Compensation for Wrongful Imprisonment (1982).  [51]  Several reforms have also taken place due to the influence of JUSTICE reports including reforms of police powers under the PACE Act 1984, and the forming of the CPS. Innocence projects Innocence projects  [52]  are a conjunction between university students, solicitors and barristers who investigate cases of alleged wrongful convictions, on a pro bono basis. The project seeks to uncover cases that are evident of the failings with the criminal justice system. Innocence Network UK (INUK) is the organisation for innocence projects based in UK universities, which was set up in 2004, to give help and hope to potentially innocent victims of wrongful conviction or imprisonment who have exhausted the appeals system and legal aid services. There are 23 member projects at universities across England, Wales and Scotland, with others being formed. Most of the cases they look into involve prisoners serving life or long-term sentences for serious offences, in particular murder, rape and GBH. According to the INUK, the CCRC is not doing a good job of referring cases of alleged or suspected miscarriage of justice back to the appeal courts. This is because; the public was under the impression that the CCRC referred cases in the interests of justice; however due to the way its rules have been set out, that was not the case. Some innocent victims of wrongful conviction were not referred back to the appeal court simply because they did not meet the required criteria, as happened in the recent case of Neil Hurley.  [53]   Television programmes The emergence of investigative television programmes such as Rough Justice  [54]  and Trial and Error  [55]  have previously helped to overturn a number of miscarriages of justice cases. These shows filmed enthusiastic journalists who pursued cases in detail in order to uncover such cases. Due to the impact of these shows, politicians and members of the public campaigned to pressurise the Home Secretary to refer cases back to the appeal courts. With the creation of the CCRC, however, such cases are no longer given as much importance and are no longer a major political issue. Such cases are now dealt with behind closed doors. If such media attention and support from politicians is once again provided, it will help a great deal in cutting down the number of cases of wrongful imprisonment. It may be concluded from this project, that miscarriage of justice indeed does exist in our criminal legal system. It is affecting the lives of many innocent people. Even when miscarriages of justice are corrected, they remain terrible personal tragedies which come back to haunt the innocent victims who have been through the whole ordeal. Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four has had two breakdowns, an attempted suicide and a struggle with addiction after 15 years of imprisonment. Others have equally miserable stories to tell. Any amount of compensation may not be enough for those who have been wrongfully convicted and whose lives have been destroyed.  [56]   The ever-present dangers of mistakes in the criminal justice system are reflected in the often repeated sentiment that It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.  [57]  One must keep in mind that reforms have been made by the government and help has been provided by the members of the public to avoid or reduce such unjust incidents from recurring. Although the truth is bitter, it is of no use to anticipate that such miscarriages will altogether be eliminated in any way,  [58]  no matter how robust our criminal legal system is. This is because it is not just the English criminal justice system which is under this constant state of crisis, but this is the case in all other countries which operate legal systems. In order to prevent the numbers of cases of miscarriages of justice from increasing, the legal system must accept this reality and should take interest in identifying mechanisms which can reduce these cases. Further improvements to reforms or legislation must be considered as an ongoing struggle, to ensure that such misfortunes do not increase. Cases that are evident of the failings in the criminal justice system must be uncovered and lessons must be learnt from them in order to protect other such innocents from going through this injustice. Also, the victims of miscarriages of justice and members of the public must be reassured by the criminal legal system that that the possibility of such crisis occurring is less, rather than more, likely. One must not only hope that such injustice is reduced rather than increased, but also help campaign to take strict actions against such misfortunes. Who knows who the next innocent victim of miscarriage of justice might be? It could be you. Miscarriages of justice corrode respect for legal institutions. As a society we are finally learning that it is less damaging to admit mistakes than to pretend that they never happened. Nothing enhances justice more than the rigorous pursuit of error.  [59]  

Willing and Knowing :: Philosophy Philosophical Papers

Willing and Knowing ABSTRACT: This paper discusses W. K. Clifford's classic paper, "The Ethics of Belief," and the significance of his use of the locution "knowingly and willingly" in the context of morally irresponsible ignorance. It is argued that this locution can point to a very subtle and important distinction in the premisses of ethically responsible belief formation. An analysis of willful ignorance is then given. It is argued that, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as willful ignorance: what is called willful ignorance in ordinary language is just the phenomena of getting oneself knowingly to believe something by willingly and knowingly altering the evidence for one's belief, rather than the genuine phenomenon of getting oneself willingly to believe something against the evidence. The former phenomenon is not, however, morally approvable. Therefore, willfulness of belief is not a necessary condition of morally irresponsible ignorance. 1. There is a very famous passage in W. K. Clifford's classic paper "The Ethics of Belief" in which Clifford describes a shipowner who deceives himself to believe that his ship is seaworthy by 'knowingly and willingly' ignoring the evidence to the contrary, ie. by 'knowingly and willingly' changing the evidential situation that determines the content of his belief. According to Clifford, the shipowner's mental behaviour is unethical. He has no right to believe that the ship is seaworthy on such evidence as is before him. He is knowingly and willingly ignorant of the real condition of the ship and, as a consequence, carries moral responsibility for the consequences of his evil state of mind, consequences highlighted by the deaths of passengers and crew when the ship goes down. The question of why Clifford uses the words 'knowingly and willingly' when he describes the way in which the shipowner makes himself ignorant of the real condition of the ship is significant not only to Clifford's own theory but to the ethics of belief in general. One commentator (see Haack, forthcoming) has recently argued that Clifford really means 'willful ignorance' and just lacks in subtlety when he says 'knowingly and willingly'. The motive behind this interpretation is the view that only a person who is willfully ignorant of the evidence against her belief can carry moral responsibility for the consequences of the belief. In particular, involuntary ignorance, according to this view, has no such effect. I question this interpretation. In particular, I question the idea that the description of the shipowner's ignorance as 'knowingly and willingly' undertaken is somehow less subtle than its description as 'willfully' undertaken.

Civilized, Primitive, and the Perceptual Lens Essay

To say that any culture, region, or country is civilized or primitive is purely subjective to the person stating the opinion. Each individual, whether educated or uneducated, will have a different view on the definition of those two terms; a view that is influenced by the perceptual lens, or bias, that the individual has developed through various experiences over their lifetime. Nonetheless, how do subjectivity and the perceptual lens manipulate the terms of ‘civilized’ and ‘primitive’ in relation to the humanities? The answer is as unique as the individual giving it. Subjectivity often refers to the interpretation of an experience by an individual, in contrast with objectivity, which is a knowledge and fact-based belief system. The thoughts or opinions brought on by the experience are what help support the idea of a perceptual lens. Other influences of the perceptual lens can include, but are not limited to: religion, race, gender, environment and education . Because of the bias of an individual, there is a possibility of more than one sharing the same thoughts and opinions on an idea; however, it is difficult to say that two individuals share the same point of view on every aspect of life and society. At this current moment in time, the influence of late twentieth and early twenty-first century American pop culture effects the view many young Americans have on society, whereas the weight of mid twentieth century culture changes the bias of older Americans. It is because of these changes in culture that the terms of ‘civilized’ and ‘primitive’ cannot be given a tangible definition, but merely guidelines as to the form it is supposed to follow. Civilization is often a term so broad that it is easier to refer to a society as being â€Å"civilized.† To be defined as civilized, one must have: a form of urban life, involving the building of permanent settlements; a system of government; distinct social classes, defined by wealth and occupation; specialized skills and tools for the production of goods and the rise of trade; a form of written communication; and a shared system of beliefs whose officials play a significant role in the community (Cunningham and Reich, 3). By using the perceptual lens in conjunction with these guidelines, it can be inferred that to be civilized is a baseline for social groups as well as societies. When thinking of the word ‘civilized,’ ideas such as fine arts, hygiene, education, history, language and family all help us define the expression, and for each individual the ideas are unique to how they were raised and how they view the world. For those who view civilized through a twenty-first century lens, to be civilized is purely used to make advancements in society and as a tool for survival. In America, we have all the basic distinctions to be defined as civilized, with a few exceptions, such as a singular shared system of religious belief. Yet, it could be said that with the freedom to choose a religion based on your own values and to share those values with others would be in place of a singular belief system. In contrast, to be ‘primitive’ is to lack all of a majority of the basic distinct ions that reinforce what a society is at the core. Although, to be primitive can also be seen as a lack of survival skills needed to sustain a society. Some thoughts that come to mind with the term ‘primitive’ are: barbaric, dirty, uneducated, lack of a ruling body or government, and without a written language. However, those thoughts solidify the idea of a perceptual lens, a true subjective view on civilization and how the concept was taken in by an individual. As an advanced society, America has proven itself to be primitive in the way it often treats other nations that refuse to see ideas and beliefs the way in which they are seen here. For example, the countries of Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq are often viewed as primitive and barbaric nations, due to the constant civil war that rages between religious sects in each region, and as a nation of great influence, America has bullied its way into the system with the goal of changing the social structure of each nation. Yet, all of these countries have the basics standards to be defined as civilized; each has a system of government, a shared belief system, permanent cities, social classes, agricultural and textile trade, and written language. Another example of use of the perceptual lens and the term ‘primitive’ would be the Neanderthals. Made out to be unintelligible people by all forms of media, Neanderthals were, at that point in time, extremely intelligent. Nearly 200,000 years ago, Neanderthals’ began to practice elaborate burial rituals, which could be proof of a deeply seated belief in the afterlife of the deceased’s soul, supporting the beginnings of a spiritual belief system. Thus, a society which is constantly referred to as primitive was actually quite civilized considering the evolutionary advances at the time. Though this is only one view on civilized, primitive, and how the perceptual lens effects the definition of the terms, it is an insight to how subjectivity changes the most basic of information taught to us at an early age. Societies follow the six distinct characteristics that define them as civilized, yet even the most advanced, civilized societies can be defined as primitive in the actions that are made by those who govern over them. 1. Cunningham, Lawrence S., and John J. Reich. Culture and Values: a Survey of the Humanities. Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006.

Discuss how society viewed the ideas of love and marriage in the early 1800’s Essay

Jane Austen was born in 1775 and spent most of her life in the countryside in a village called Steventon, Hampshire. She was the daughter of a clergyman, Reverend George Austen and her mother was called Cassandra Austen. She had a brief education starting at the age of seven and ending at eleven, when she settled at home. Like women in Austen’s society, she had little education due to the beliefs at the time; the only education she would have received would likely have been to up her social status, through marriage. She wrote â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† to portray society’s views of love and marriage to the reader and to shoe that marriages take place for different reasons. We see throughout the novel the excessive number of marriages and courtships that take place. The opening sentence â€Å"It’s a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in the possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife† introduces the theme of love, marriage and money in an ironic way. The irony is contained in the fact that marriage is meant to be about love and happiness but clearly revolves around wealth and social standing. In the novel we see two established marriages take place; The Bennet’s and the Gardiner’s. Throughout the novel four other marriages take place; Lydia and Mr Wickham, Charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins, Elizabeth and Darcy and Jane and Mr Bingley. The marriage between Mr Collins and Charlotte Lucas is purely based on financial and social security not love or appearance, It was extremely common fro women in Austens era to marry and save themselves from spinsterhood and social security and to gain, the above mentioned, financial and social security. In this type of marriage Austen illustrates that women who submit themselves are largely willing to suffer emotional distress in silence. â€Å"†¦ Mr Collins to be sure neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be a husband†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This reflects the social beliefs of, at least, the middle classes at the time. Evidently all that Charlotte wants out of life is a comfortable home and enough wealth to sustain this. † I’m not a romantic girl you know. I never was, I only ask for a comfortable home †¦Ã¢â‚¬ . The use of the word â€Å"only† emphasises the fact that Charlotte wants this and nothing else. The consequences of her not marring well would be to severely limit her options i.e. she would have to become a governess or an old maid for a wealthy couple, but this would not support her once she had reached an age at which, she could no longer work. When Charlotte Married Mr Collins she seemed happy in their relationship, even though its not based on love :- she has all that she wants out of marriage. She does however ignore her husbands silliness and does not have any bad words to say about him. † When Mr Collins said anything of which his wife might reasonably, which certainly was not unseldom†¦ once of twice she could discern a faint blush; but in general Charlotte wisely did not hear†. From this we gather that the orthodoxy of society has been embedded in her behaviour. She possibly perceives that she is happy because society deems that now she is married she should be happy. The marriage of Mr and Mrs Bennet was a stereotypical marriage of the time. The marriage was based on initial beauty and physical attraction plus the fact that they where matched financially. The family life, was also typical of the 1800’s, they had five daughters, and Mrs Bennets aim in life was to marry her daughters of in as quick a time as possible, this compares with Charlottes views of marriage as a step up the social ladder. â€Å"†¦A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!† Showing that she is considering the monetary aspects of a possible marriage. â€Å"†¦It is very likely that he may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes† Mrs Bennet mentions fleetingly but without conviction, she is mostly interested in trying to marry of at least one of her 5 daughters. Mr Bennet however constantly mocks his wife. We are made aware of this in their first dialogue † Do you not want to know who has taken it?† cried his wife impatiently. † You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hear it†. This is a perfect example of Mr Bennets sarcasm and unconcerned attitude towards his wife and their family affairs. Mr Bennet is the complete opposite to Mrs Bennet in the way in which he thinks, about the new gentleman in town for example † How so? How can it affect them?† Mrs Bennet is immensely annoyed by this but does not possess enough wit to retort. For Mr Bennet this mockery of his wife seems his way of dealing with being stuck in a loveless marriage. In Jane’s era divorce was not an option, people had no choice, they were devoted to that one person fro life. The Bennet’s estate is entitled to the nearest male heir which, was common practice at the time, leading to very limited options for the daughters in the family. The marriage between Lydia and Mr Wickham was mainly for desire and attraction even though they were not financially matched. This itself was frowned upon by society and exacerbated by the fact that their courtship was very short, unorthodox and kept a secret. Marriage of their type shows the results of not following society’s rules. Society viewed this as dishonesty and because of this their reputation would be severely tarnished. â€Å"That the loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable†¦ and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behaviour towards the understanding of the other sex†. Lydia’s damaged reputation would also affect her families reputation, unless they disown her. † she has no money, no connection, nothing that can tempt him she is lost forever†. The word no emphasises the fact that she has absolutely nothing and no-one. For Wickham, on the other hand, the slight on his reputation is less so, although still noticeable; â€Å"†¦ She was a surprise- all astonishment that Wickham should marry a girl whom it was impossible he could marry for money; and how Lydia could ever have attached him, had appeared incomprehensible†. Here we see that what would have been scorn when aimed a Lydia is mere surprise when directed at Wickham, this is due to the fact that in Jane Austens era the gentleman naturally had a higher social standing; just because of their sex. The Gardiner’s, along with the Bennet’s are the established marriages of the novel; but unlike the Bennet’s the Gardiner’s are a sensible, lively and intelligent couple who love each other and work well together. They always agree † in talking over their route the evening before, Mrs Gardiner expressed an inclination to see the place again. Mr Gardiner declared his willingness†. Jane Austen here is being an omniscient narrator . The Gardiner’s are in a harmonious relationship, a marriage that creates a positive image towards its readers. They are described as a † sensible-gentle like man† and an â€Å"amiable intelligent women† who are encouraging role models fro the Bennet children due to the poor quality of Mr and Mrs Bennet’s marriage. As we can see this is an example of one of the rare happy marriage of the time. In general people strove towards this, but most did not find it due to the fact that society dictated that once married you were in love. Jane and Mr Bingley engage in a courtship that occupies the central place in the novel. They first meet at Meryton and enjoy an immediate mutual attraction. They are spoken of as potential couple throughout the book, long before anyone imagines Darcy and Elizabeth might marry. Their marriage was one for physical attraction and love, Jane is the most handsome of the five Bennet daughters who looked for a man who is sensible, humorous and lively. † Is he married or single?† this shows an automatic interest in young wealthy men. Women in the early 1800’s married mainly for wealth and social status however this marriage illustrates that that is not always the case. Bingley’ love for Jane is strengthened by her beauty and the love between is equal. Jane’s idea of marriage is to find someone who loves her and respects her as much as she does him. The marriage between Jane and Mr Bingley set ‘s a standard for the rest of the Bennet daughters, † It was moreover, such a promising thing for her younger daughters, as Jane’s marrying so greatly must throw them in the way of rich men†. Here their marriage is reflecting society’s views of love and marriage as if a member of the family is married into a family of a higher status, then the rest of the daughters would be regarded as more eligible to be associated with higher status, wealthy, respectable men. The word greatly show that Mrs Bennet believes that Jane had chosen accurately and it displays society’s beliefs as to what constituted a very good match for Jane. Elizabeth is an intelligent and spirited women who passes a keen wit and enjoys studying people’s characters; on the other hand Fitzwilliam Darcy is a wealthy, proud man with a generous, thoughtful nature beneath his somewhat stiff demeanour. Elizabeth’s pride makes her misjudge Darcy on the basis of poor social standing blinds him, for a time, to her many virtues. Darcy and Elizabeth’s realization of a mutual and tender love seems to imply that Austin views love as something independent of these social forces, as something that can be captured if only an individual is able to escape the warping effects of hierarchical society. † In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you†. Here he speaks well however, there are other feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed. The narrator relates Elizabeth’s point of view of events more often then Darcy’s, so Elizabeth often seems a more sympathetic figure. The reader eventually realises however, that Darcy is her ideal match. Intelligent and forthright, he too has a tendency to judge too hastily and harshly, and his high birth and wealth make him overly proud and overly conscious of his social status. When he proposes to her, for instance, he dwells more on how unsuitable a match she is than on her charms, beauty, or anything else complimentary, â€Å"not handsome enough†. Here Darcy is reflecting society’s views of love and marriage because many people married for higher social status and financial status rather than for love and beauty. Pride and prejudice is a love story but does not reflect the romantic side. It gives the reader a sense of all the different kinds of relationships, none of them are the same. It shows that the ideal couple is difficult to find, the established marriages in the book being The Bennet’s and the Gardiner’s.

Beowulf Essays

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Social Engagement Reports See Social Engagement Fast In CoSchedule

Social Engagement Reports See Social Engagement Fast In Data proves the ROI of the work you do. But the tedious process of gathering, analyzing, and reporting is so time-consuming that sometimes you just can’t do it all. With Social Analytics in your favorite marketing calendar, youll: Know what’s working (and what’s not) Prove your ROI to your boss/clients (and yourself) Easily spot trends to understand what your audience likes Compare your performance across your networks all in one convenient place Youre about to eliminate  the tedious process of gathering, analyzing, and reporting on your analytics. Social Engagement: The Newest Analytics Report In Your Favorite Social Media Calendar [New Feature]Measure The Success Of Every Social Media Message You Share Heres what marketers just like you told us when we started researching social engagement analytics: I want to review  performance of specific posts. I would use social engagement analytics to decide what content to re-share and decide what to write more of. I would use social analytics to track what content is working to know what content to continue sharing. We took that  feedback very  seriously.  Now   tracks the  stats of the individual social media messages you send so you dont have to. And that will help  you measure the success of your  social messages so you can re-share your most engaging content (and improve future messages). Let measure your social media engagement for you!You can see your individual social message data  two  different- and extremely useful- ways in . First, simply look at your sent messages on  your stand-alone  social campaigns, content with social campaigns, and  WordPress blog posts with social campaigns. Youll see the engagement of the social campaign as a whole, and the engagement of your individual social messages. This  view is awesome  for understanding the  performance of a campaign as a whole and its associated social media messages. Second, you can view your top messages in your Social Engagement Report, the newest report in your Analytics feature available for Advanced calendar users. Here, you can find trends among  your  best-performing messages and even filter those messages by network for a deeper understanding. The Top Messages functionality in your Social Engagement Report intelligently analyzes shares, comments, and likes to quickly show you your best-performing messages on Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook. Measure every social message so you can re-share your most engaging content with sPROVE The ROI Of The Work You Do! The proof is in the numbers, and now you can easily prove your value to your boss/clients (and yourself). Never question the results of your hard work! Your Social Engagement Report helps you prove  your ROI  by social network, account, and right down to the specific message. Plus, you can always prove  your success with  your Top Content Report by seeing  a complete list of your best-performing content according to social engagement.

Advantages And Limitations Of The Swot Model Marketing Essay

Advantages And Limitations Of The Swot Model Marketing Essay INTRODUCTION When individuals or organizations face critical situations where crucial decisions have to be made pertaining to the desired objective that has already been defined/identified, they need methods by which to analyse their current position and to find out ways to achieve their goals by overcoming the problems. But how can individuals/organizations carry out such an analysis? First of all, they must identify what they want to accomplish (the objective), what they already have (current position), what means are available to them (opportunities) and what hurdles they may have to tackle (threats). This requires careful planning. For the success of any organization, business product, or an individual, planning is essential. Planning is â€Å"an act of formulating a strategy for a definite course of action for the accomplishment of an objective.† (Business Dictionary) With the help of planning, an individual can know where he stands, can decide what he wants to achieve a nd can figure out how he can bridge the gap between the two. How is planning done? SWOT analysis is an effective tool which aids strategic planning both for individual as well as organizational growth and development. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. With the help of SWOT analysis, one can specify the personal/organizational objective, can identify the various favourable and/or unfavourable internal as well as external factors that may influence the accomplishment of that objective and on the basis of these one can develop effective strategies that would help in achieving the objective. SWOT analysis can be done on the organizational level as well as on the individual level. In this chapter, we shall focus mainly on SWOT analysis for individuals. BASIC ELEMENTS OF SWOT ANALYSIS As pointed out earlier, SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The SWOT analysis model is composed of these four main elements put together w hich form a framework for analysis. Strengths are the positive attributes of the individual or organization that help to achieve the desired objective/s. Weaknesses are the negative attributes of the individual or organization that hinder the accomplishment of the desired objective/s. Opportunities are the favourable circumstances that can create a possibility for progress which results in the achievement of the desired objective/s. Threats are the unfavourable circumstances that can cause damage to the individual or organization and stop them from accomplishing their desired objective/s. Strengths and weaknesses are the internal factors that influence the individual or organizational objectives. They are internal to the individual or organization and are within their control. They are classified as strengths or weaknesses depending upon the impact that they have on the objective. The attribute that may be seen as strength in the context of one particular objective may prove to be a weakness in a different decision-making context. For example, aggressiveness is normally considered a weakness in an individual’s personality. But when we consider it in the context of soldiers who are trained for combat, aggression is regarded as their strength. On the other hand, opportunities and threats are the external factors that propel the individual or organization towards growth or impede its progress respectively. They are external to the individual or organization and are beyond their control. Thus, the main object of SWOT analysis is to recognize the major internal and external factors that are crucial to achieving the desired personal or business objective.

Motivative hot topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Motivative hot topic - Essay Example Therefore, in the next few years, how managers recognize and meet the needs of their staff is going to be essential in talent retention. A challenge rises from if there is no money to improve their salaries and wages. However, money is not always the most effective motivator and, although it may provide a boost for workers in the short-term, there are other influencers that are more powerful in the long term, such as career advancement, recognition, and praise. Indeed, the chance to lead projects, attention from management, and praise from management are potentially more effective than a pay rise or cash bonuses. SMEs have a big opportunity to involve their staff in business development, for example by sharing how the enterprise is progressing with their employees and seeking for their input in business decision making. Appreciation and recognition are also vital, although this is dependent on the personality of employees. Thus, management will have to ensure that they know their employees personally since some employees may not like being in the spotlight, while others like public appreciation. The internet company Cloud Reach faced a similar issue during their initial years of operation, at which point they decided to motivate their employees by making the company a fun place to work. With some 60 staff, the company was voted as one of the best companies to work for in 2013. This shows that staffs work for a company where they are fulfilled, happy, and where they can be part of an exciting project. In this case, the team of workers are involved in developing the core values of their firm with promotion of personal growth, respect for individual workers, and the ability to share opinions. Therefore, for a company seeking to motivate its employees in the absence of cash for a pay raise, there are two major strategies that can be used; The first solution would be to involve the staff in decision making by

Teaching versus Control a Parenting Challenge Article

Teaching versus Control a Parenting Challenge - Article Example sociology and education are some of the areas that have shown immense interest in parenting styles and child behavior and have come up with empirical reports, analysis, surveys and suggestions. Parental approaches and techniques help the child evolve into a person, and therefore are very critical in their developmental process. It guides their psychological, social behavior and attitudes (Skinner, Johnson & Snyder, 2005). According to these, teaching involves educating a child the difference between right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. A well-taught child knows how to control impulses and takes responsibility for his actions. Parents cannot teach children everything, but can always inculcate the sense of responsibility of one’s own actions and self-control (Barber, Stolz, & Olsen, 2005). Teaching plays a crucial role in child development during the 4-8 years of age. On the other hand, parental control aims more at placing boundaries and setting rules than explaining why and how the children can avoid unacceptable behavior, or what will be the consequences (Skinner, Johnson & Snyder, 2005). The children is not taken into consideration to a great extent as they are kept in the dark of the why’s, how’s, and what’s of it. They are punished if they violate the rules, as discipline is not possible, without teaching. However, this is only an aspect of control, as empirical research brings out multiple layers of meaning to the word ‘control’. For example, Grolnick (2005) being in control and controlling the behavior of a child can be different. To be in control of child’s behavior is to protect them from dangers and equally assure civil behavior. This might at times be restrictive and sometimes allowing autonomy, but under supervision. As a technical term, ‘control’ is more narrow and precise. It interferes with the human need to feel autonomous and competent. In this case, the children are bound without choices and the actions

Sales and Purchase Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sales and Purchase Management - Essay Example Selling skills should be required by a sales force manager. This can be implemented if this sales manager has the best view about the right tools and technical skills for the sales job. For instance, the presence of sale tools makes the business to look professional (Collier 239). Thus, sufficient skills in using these tools would make the sales force more professional. Furthermore, technical skills should be required by sales force manager because selling process for instance, involves relevant strategies in closing a sale (Foster and Thomson 99). Such of these strategies would include research, understanding the buyer’s behaviors, needs, and so on. It is important that the sales force manager and the entire sales team should require all the above skills because they primarily would affect the entire sales performance of the group. Selling definitely involves a process. In a personal selling for instance, there is a need to include several steps prior to closing a sale and fo llow up with the customer (Berkowitz 405). Selling process involves various steps and it starts with prospecting, preapproach, approach, presentation, closing, and servicing or follow up (Kurtz, MacKenzie and Snow 546). The sales force manager requires his or her team to master this sales process because this is an integral part of acquiring opportunity to serve customers and obtaining remarkable sales for the entire organization. Prospecting requires a very important skill in finding the lead, key or potential customers. The preapproach and approach stages should require the sales team to be more creative and ensure research in the preparation process prior to the actual sales call or presentation step. In the presentation, it requires that the sales team should have appropriate product knowledge and know-how on the business process, so as to make the entire sales call convincing. Closing should be the hardest part because prior to it, the sales person must be able to have the righ t skill in handling objections. Furthermore, in the actual closing step, the sales person should be able to have the right skill in discerning that there are no longer objections on the part of the customer. Finally, the servicing step or follow up should be ensured that the sales person has the appropriate skill in leaving the door open for customer’s future repeat order or purchase. Sales force manager at this stage should therefore ensure that relationship selling becomes a must, and it is a specific skill that is to be mastered during the actual selling process. As employees in sales progressed or advanced in their sales career, they should be required to be taken to the next level and an integral part of it is to improve not only their negotiating skills but above all their leadership skills (Boone and Kurtz 576). Selling process requires initiatives, endurance and above all also needs creativity (Boone and Kurtz 576). All of these should be possessed by a sales person. These are integral components of the leadership skills needed in sales. Creativity is something that must be developed over time because

"The terrible Transformation" Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

"The terrible Transformation" - Essay Example The main contestants were the African Americans and the Europeans who had travelled to Africa in search for gold but initiated slave trade. The Terrible Transformation covers the earliest transformation of Free states into slave states including the process which initiated when servants became slaves for being black. The years presented in this documentary were 1450-1750; the years which brought the terrible transformation in the North American continent due to the European settlers (Bellows, 1998). Their world was largely destroyed and transformed by the European explorers who took over their land and wealth as well as began the slave trade by brining several Africans into America. This was the beginning of the slave trade which entered America and changed the whole social and economic system. It transformed the system from a free colony to a state where the colour of skin decided whether a person would be a free citizen or would be enslaved for life. Europeans took their position in the conflict as they entered Africa seeking gold. The trade was first focused on gold but ended up on humans. European settlers were travelling and colonizing the world, and as they entered Africa their focus shifted on human trade instead of gold. These Africans were basically needed for the plantations in America. They were held captives by the Europeans and when they reached America, they were given no respect or rights and the torture continued. The shift of the Europeans had eventually changed from having non-Christian labourers to non-white labourers (Bellows, 1998). The Europeans took this position in the conflict in order to expand their colonies and rule throughout. Africans took the position in the conflict because they were brought for gold and eventually ended up being tortured and forced into slavery. The effect of this practice of slave trade changed the

Analysis of Walden Paddlers company business model Assignment

Analysis of Walden Paddlers company business model - Assignment Example Problems (1-3 problems) Walden Paddlers Company has been facing the following problems namely: 1. Whether the company should remaining being operated by two people, become a virtual corporation 2. Problem of finding alternative products 3. The problem of finding potential markets (Yang, 2015). Existing Alternatives Walden Paddlers Company had the following options; 1. Focus on kayak market and produce limited number of orders 2. Execute aggressive Kayak market expansion 3. Diversify into other recreational products. Solutions to each problem 1. The company grew tremendously, creating a need to grow virtually which made it able to reach customers located in different parts of the world 2. The company found a new alternative product called paddlers that were cheaper and affordable. 3. The Kayak market was full of giant companies; Walden focused on retail market segment and targeted school and college students (Yang, 2015) Key Metrics The key parameters, in this case, that shows the com pany success include; increase in revenues and sales volumes. i). Helping people to pursue outdoor paddling pleasure in a healthy way ii). To provide clean and suitable living by recycling waste products iii).

Sales and Purchase Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sales and Purchase Management - Essay Example Selling skills should be required by a sales force manager. This can be implemented if this sales manager has the best view about the right tools and technical skills for the sales job. For instance, the presence of sale tools makes the business to look professional (Collier 239). Thus, sufficient skills in using these tools would make the sales force more professional. Furthermore, technical skills should be required by sales force manager because selling process for instance, involves relevant strategies in closing a sale (Foster and Thomson 99). Such of these strategies would include research, understanding the buyer’s behaviors, needs, and so on. It is important that the sales force manager and the entire sales team should require all the above skills because they primarily would affect the entire sales performance of the group. Selling definitely involves a process. In a personal selling for instance, there is a need to include several steps prior to closing a sale and fo llow up with the customer (Berkowitz 405). Selling process involves various steps and it starts with prospecting, preapproach, approach, presentation, closing, and servicing or follow up (Kurtz, MacKenzie and Snow 546). The sales force manager requires his or her team to master this sales process because this is an integral part of acquiring opportunity to serve customers and obtaining remarkable sales for the entire organization. Prospecting requires a very important skill in finding the lead, key or potential customers. The preapproach and approach stages should require the sales team to be more creative and ensure research in the preparation process prior to the actual sales call or presentation step. In the presentation, it requires that the sales team should have appropriate product knowledge and know-how on the business process, so as to make the entire sales call convincing. Closing should be the hardest part because prior to it, the sales person must be able to have the righ t skill in handling objections. Furthermore, in the actual closing step, the sales person should be able to have the right skill in discerning that there are no longer objections on the part of the customer. Finally, the servicing step or follow up should be ensured that the sales person has the appropriate skill in leaving the door open for customer’s future repeat order or purchase. Sales force manager at this stage should therefore ensure that relationship selling becomes a must, and it is a specific skill that is to be mastered during the actual selling process. As employees in sales progressed or advanced in their sales career, they should be required to be taken to the next level and an integral part of it is to improve not only their negotiating skills but above all their leadership skills (Boone and Kurtz 576). Selling process requires initiatives, endurance and above all also needs creativity (Boone and Kurtz 576). All of these should be possessed by a sales person. These are integral components of the leadership skills needed in sales. Creativity is something that must be developed over time because

Analysis of Walden Paddlers company business model Assignment

Analysis of Walden Paddlers company business model - Assignment Example Problems (1-3 problems) Walden Paddlers Company has been facing the following problems namely: 1. Whether the company should remaining being operated by two people, become a virtual corporation 2. Problem of finding alternative products 3. The problem of finding potential markets (Yang, 2015). Existing Alternatives Walden Paddlers Company had the following options; 1. Focus on kayak market and produce limited number of orders 2. Execute aggressive Kayak market expansion 3. Diversify into other recreational products. Solutions to each problem 1. The company grew tremendously, creating a need to grow virtually which made it able to reach customers located in different parts of the world 2. The company found a new alternative product called paddlers that were cheaper and affordable. 3. The Kayak market was full of giant companies; Walden focused on retail market segment and targeted school and college students (Yang, 2015) Key Metrics The key parameters, in this case, that shows the com pany success include; increase in revenues and sales volumes. i). Helping people to pursue outdoor paddling pleasure in a healthy way ii). To provide clean and suitable living by recycling waste products iii).

Project Manager Status Report Essay Example for Free

Project Manager Status Report Essay Provide a quick executive overview of the status of the project in this section It is intended for high level management so it should not get too much into the details of the project. However, it should highlight anything specific, which should be brought to their attention. The Scope/Schedule/Cost/Quality table above is a quick way to present a color coded dashboard for the status report. Typically a variance of +/- 5% will warrant a yellow cautionary color and +/- 10% will warrant a red warning color. For a project which needs tighter control +/- 2% and +/- 5% are used for these thresholds; whereas, other projects with less strict control may use 10% and 20% variances. The percent complete here should be the percent completion of the entire project. For any constraint which is yellow or red this section should contain brief explanation the reason why. Example: The project schedule is 7% behind schedule due to inclement weather which has affected the installation of the fiber optics throughout the campus. This should not affect the project completion date as crews are planning to make up the time by working weekends and extended hours next month. The project risks is red due to the inclement weather and servers which were delivered last month werent configured with the correct hardware specifications. The impact of the inclement weather on the schedule will be mitigated by having crews make up the time by working weekends and extended hours next month. Currently we are working with the server vendor to resolve the server hardware configuration problem. The configuration delivered will not handle the work load of going live in two months; however, it is sufficient for development and testing activities scheduled prior to going live. Once you have finished understanding this section you can just highlight the directions and example and place your specific information for your team’s weekly report. Work Planed for Last Month For this section you can copy the Worked Planned for Next Week section from last weeks status report and paste it into this section. Work Completed Last Week In this section you should provide a highlight of work performed and milestones and/or deliverables met during the past week. Work Planned For Next Week Provide an overview of the work being performed during the next week and any milestones or deliverables you expect to meet. Open Issues This section should contain a list of open issues along with their status. Open Risks This section should contain a list of all open risks (risks which have occurred, or are on the verge of occurring). Deliverables and Milestones This section is a quick table, which shows the status of the project milestones and deliverables. The first column is for the name of the Milestone or Deliverable as its in the project plan. The next column is the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) number, this makes it easier to find the milestone/deliverable in the project plan (You will create WBS numbers when you create your Work Breakdown Structure form, so for now you can just leave this blank). Planned is the planned date according to the approved project plan, the forecasted is the date you expect and actual is the actual date the milestone was met or deliverable was delivered. The status is a simple one or two word status such as; completed, on schedule, behind schedule, accepted, etc. Milestone WBS Planned Forecasted Actual Status Deliverable WBS Planned Forecasted Actual Status Open Change Requests Use this section to track all changes to the project and report the status of those changes. Tracking of changes starts with the request for the change, tracks the approval status and ends when the change is added to the project, the project plan and schedule update and it has become a part of the project. (You can create your own change request numbers) EXAMPLE Change Request Name Change Request Number Request Date Current Status Add xyz Functionality CR55043 3/14/20xx In Review by Change Control Board Add Redundant Servers CR55012 2/17/20xx Approved and Being Added to the Project Plan Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Many managers turn right to this section as it provide a clear view of the status of the project according the earned value metrics. In your project you need to decide which metrics to monitor, but be sure not to include too many as you may end up providing the same information but in different forms. We like to track SV, SPI, CV and CPI in the layout below. Next to the schedule and cost headings you should state whether the project is ahead of or behind schedule and over or under budget. Notice we left out the word on it is highly unlikely that you. If you like you can also include a paragraph at the beginning of this section presenting the earned value results in verbose. IF a budget is involved you will need to include information in this section: Schedule Project is Ahead of/Behind Schedule Schedule Variance (SV):$xxxx Schedule Performance Index (SPI):x.xx Cost Project is Over/Under Budget Cost Variance (CV):$xxx Cost Performance Index (CPI):x.xx

Schumpeterian Growth Model And Convergence Theory Economics Essay

Schumpeterian Growth Model And Convergence Theory Economics Essay The Schumpeterian model, developed by Aghion and Howitt (1992) is an economic growth model that includes technological improvements, or innovation. This leads to the process of creative destruction where the advancement of new technologies renders the old obsolete. To give a theoretical example, colour mobile phones have replaced the old black and white ones in stores. Also the advancement of mobile phone technology could mean less need for wrist watches or cameras. This is based on the work pioneered by Joseph Schumpeter (1950) where innovators are the drivers of economic growth. He popularised the use of the term creative destruction or Schà ¶pferische Zerstà ¶rung. The efficiency frontier, used interchangeably with technological frontier, is based on growth with technological progress. It describes how technological implementation affects the growth rate of countries depending on their relative level of technological development. An industrialising country is far behind the frontier so has a large advantage by adopting the technologies of wealthier countries. As the economy moves closer to the frontier the effectiveness of this practise is abated. Hence policies that are effective in one economy could be detrimental in another depending on their level of industrialisation. This has implications on the theory on convergence. If a country is positively investing in RD they should be able to maintain economic growth. The way a country converges and if convergence is possible depends party on its comparative level of development and in part on its economic policies. Hence the Schumpeterian theory is that of club convergence. there are different lev els of convergences; a country moves towards the same frontier to that of his technological peers. This paper looks at the basic model of Schumpeterian growth and then applies it examine why growth rates differ across countries. The remainder of the paper is set out as follows: section 2 provides a brief literature review, section 3 presents the model. An application of the Schumpeterian model is looked at in section 4 where the effect of technological advancement is used to examine the technological frontier. Section 5 is an empirical testing of the model including the efficiency frontier is looked at in section 4. Section 6 looks at convergence due to technological advancement. and section 7 concludes and suggests areas for future research. Section 2: Literature review Majority of the work in this field has been undertaken by Aghion and Howitt. They developed the original model and have released a number of papers, together and corroborating with others, that expand the model. They have also done work on the technological frontier. Acemoglu has also published a prominent amount of literature in this field. Barro and Sala-i-Martin (2004) have provided a good algebraic model which is replicated in the next section. Jones (1995), Young (1998) and subsequently Dinopoulos and Thompson (1998) have developed neo-Schumpeterian models to remove scale affects. Empirical literature testing the accuracy of the model is rare, especially for countries outside the EU (excluding the USA). Most empirical literature discovered is testing other theories within the context of the Schumpeterian growth model. Zachariadis (2002) gives an overview of previous empirical literature and finds that most conform to the Schumpeterian model. He then does his own analysis and concurs that an increase in technological progress has a positively affects the growth rate of output. Teixeira and Vieira (2004) examine the relationship between productivity and human capital in Portugal. They find the pattern conforms to the Schumpeterian model of creative destruction. A problem with the literature is that they all use statistics on patent approval as a measure of technological development. The Schumpterian growth model is concerned with technological improvement in general, not just new innovations, so in this case imitation could also be included. The problem is that it is difficult to find data on imitation rates in an economy. Xu (2000) attempts to solve this problem by using data on the rate of technology transfers from US multinational enterprises to both developed and developing economies. Empirical literature also tends to focus on the USA, whom is at the forefront of the efficiency frontier. This could result in an underestimation on the effects of RD on growth because there is no effect from technological transfer at the head of the frontier. Once again Aghion and Howitt are prominent researchers in the field of Schumpeterian convergence. Howitt (2000) provided a framework which was later developed into a model (Howitt Mayer-Foulkes, 2004). Krugmans paper (1994) was seminal in literature on growth accounting, an early paper on Schumpeterian convergence. He argued the miraculous growth rates experience by the Soviet Union and in Asia were simply a product of large scale increases in input. There must be technological change for growth to be sustainable. Section 3: The model In the Schumpeterian growth paradigm, growth in driven by technological change. Here new technologies replace the old in a process described as creative destruction (Durlauf, 2010). In this model we assume new technologies are completely substitutable for the old ones. So as new technologies are invented they completely drives out the old technology from the marketplace. Innovation leads to a higher level of output being achieved for a given level of capital and labour than was previously possible which enables the economy to transcend the law of diminishing returns (Weil, 2005). Figure 1 in the appendix shows the law of diminishing returns where the purple line indicates the higher output possibility with technological improvement. The country acquires this new technology either through innovation or imitation. There are three players in the model: producers, innovators and consumers (Barro Sala-i-Martin, 2004). Innovators perform RD in order to develop new technologies. Those that are successful receive monopoly rents from the product due to patents. Note that the latest innovator has a efficiency advantage compared to the previous innovator but he has a disadvantage compared to the next. This is because the latest innovator is able to expand upon past knowledge in his creation of new technologies. This is shown in Figure 2. The successful innovator has the right to sell his idea to a final good producer, at this stage the profit stream to the previous innovator is terminated. The model makes several assumptions about the producers. There are a fixed amount Ñ products in the economy of varying quality. Each new producer is different from the old producer. So when innovations are made the old producer receives no more profit and the new producer takes over the market. Therefore the industry leader has the first mover advantage. The duration of dominance in the market is random (Barro Sala-i-Martin, 2004). The products are placed on a quality ladder, as shown in Figure 3. There are Ñ different goods of quality K. An improvement in a certain good corresponds with a movement up the ladder, an increase in K. Figure 4 shows the quality ladder for an individual product. Here we can see that duration between quality improvements and the size of quality improvements are both random. An incomplete, simplistic version of the growth model is as follows: in an economy with a fixed amount Ñ products, output is given by Yi = ALi1-ÃŽÂ ± .à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬ËœNj=1 (qKjXij)ÃŽÂ ± where Yi is output in industry i, given A is the technology parameter, L is labour input and qKjXij is the quality, K, adjusted amount of the jth type of intermediate good X in industry i. If P is price, a firm maximises profit with Yi wLi à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬ËœNj=1 Pjxij Demand for product X equals the marginal cost of production Xj = L. [AÃŽÂ ±qÃŽÂ ±Kj/Pj]1/(1-ÃŽÂ ±) The monopoly profit, à Ã¢â€š ¬Kj, for the innovator is the difference between the price of the product and marginal cost of production à Ã¢â€š ¬Kj =(Pj -1)Xj If Zj Kj is the flow of resources (as in figure 1) and à Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ is random then an innovator faces probability of success pKj = Zj Kj.à Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Kj and with ÃŽÂ ¶ as a parameter equal to the cost of doing research à Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ is equal to à Ã¢â‚¬ ¢kj = (1/ÃŽÂ ¶). q-(kj+1).ÃŽÂ ±/(1-ÃŽÂ ±) which is an endogenous variable (Barro Sala-i-Martin, 2004: 321-22). The consumers are interested in consuming the latest good. If ÃŽÂ ¸ is a constant representing the elasticity of marginal utility, in other words the willingness to substitute and (r à Ã‚ ) is a marker of growth over time then household consumption grows by ÄÅ  /C = (1/ÃŽÂ ¸).(r à Ã‚ ) The interest rate can be defined as a function of profit flow, ÃÅ'„à Ã¢â€š ¬, the cost of doing research, ÃŽÂ ¶, and the probability of success r =( ÃÅ'„à Ã¢â€š ¬/ÃŽÂ ¶) p So the amount of resources devoted to RD in sector j at k quality can be defined as Zkj = q(kj+1).ÃŽÂ ±/(1-ÃŽÂ ±).(ÃÅ'„à Ã¢â€š ¬ rÃŽÂ ¶) Hence aggregate RD spending is à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬ËœNj=1 Zkj= qÃŽÂ ±/(1-ÃŽÂ ±)Q.(ÃÅ'„à Ã¢â€š ¬ rÃŽÂ ¶) Q is the aggregate level of quality improvements. The growth rate of Q is equal to ÃÅ'†¡Q/Q = ( ÃÅ'„à Ã¢â€š ¬/ÃŽÂ ¶ r).[qÃŽÂ ±/(1-ÃŽÂ ±) 1] If we algebraically substitute the above equation into the the consumption growth equation, allowing for r =( ÃÅ'„à Ã¢â€š ¬/ÃŽÂ ¶) p we get the growth rate ÃŽÂ ³ ÃŽÂ ³ = [qÃŽÂ ±/(1-ÃŽÂ ±) 1] . [( ÃÅ'„à Ã¢â€š ¬/ÃŽÂ ¶) à Ã‚ ] 1+ÃŽÂ ¸ . [qÃŽÂ ±/(1-ÃŽÂ ±) 1] We can see growth increases with economic profit flows, ÃÅ'„à Ã¢â€š ¬, and quality enhancements, q, but decreasing with the cost of research, ÃŽÂ ¶, and the utility parameters à Ã‚  and ÃŽÂ ¸ (Barro and Sala-i-Martin, 2004: 91, 327-31). The basic model has been expanded upon in recent literature. Aghion et al (2001) relaxes the assumption that the monopoly rent receiver will cease to innovate while he receives the rents. In this model there are two firms in an industry so the rent receiver must continue to innovate in order to keep up with the industry leader. This is important because leap frogging is not possible in this model and competition is important for growth. I was unable to find empirical testing of this framework but the assumptions made are more realistic to the real world. For example, when Nintendo invented the gameboy in the 1990s, they did not wait for the competitors to develop hand held gaming devices before they made improvements to the original gameboy. The paper also proposes that a small level of imitation is always good for growth because it encourages competition. Contrastingly, large levels of imitation is detrimental. This issue is explored further in the next section. Aghion et al. (2005) introduce credit constraints into there model. In reality poorer countries are restricted in how much they can imitate because they do not have enough money. Poorly functioning financial institutions or markets limit the flow of credit to potential entrepreneurs. Another line of research was pioneered by Jones (1995) we he brought into light the problems with assuming scale affects. Scale affects arise because the in the classic Schumpeterian model, Aghion and Howitt (1992) assume productivity will rise as the population increases but this has not been empirically supported (Durlauf, 2010). Aghion and Howitt (1998) acknowledged the correction to their model and have also incorporated growth effects into their new model. Dinopoulos and Thompson (1998) have also based work on Jones model by modifying the welfare effects. Section 4: Efficiency Frontier The Schumpeterian model describes growth due to technological progress. The productivity parameter is shown as a change in technology between two periods. If ÃŽÂ ¼n is the frequency innovations take place, ÃŽÂ ¼m the frequency of implementation and ÃŽÂ ³ is a multiple of the new technology we can write the productivity parameter as At+1 At = ÃŽÂ ¼n(ÃŽÂ ³-1)At + ÃŽÂ ¼m(At-At) and we can describe the growth rate,g, as the percentage change in productivity between the two periods (At+1 At)/At g = ÃŽÂ ¼n(ÃŽÂ ³-1) + ÃŽÂ ¼m(ÃŽÂ ±-1-1) where ÃŽÂ ±-1 = At/Äâ‚ ¬t (Durlauf 2010: 232). This leads us to the theory of the technological frontier. The country at the forefront of the frontier is the most technologically progressive economy, which has typically been the USA (Griffth et al. year). The distance of a country to the frontier impacts the effectiveness of adopting technologies and policies on growth. This is used to explain the experience of the slowdown of european growth after the 1970s. It cannot be explained by the Solow model as Europe had much higher levels of savings (Aghion Howitt 2006: 270). An alternative explanation is the lower frequency of technological implementation in Europe meant the continent could not keep up with the USA in terms of growth during the technological revolution during the 1980s. The technological frontier is captured algebraically by à £ = ÃŽÂ ¼m/(g + ÃŽÂ ¼m ÃŽÂ ¼n(ÃŽÂ ³-1)) which is the steady state value of at (Durlauf 2010: 233). Gerschenkrons theory of backwardness is incorporated into the model above. Gerschenkron (1962) proposed that relatively backwards economies could achieve high levels of growth by investing RD into imitating technologies of the advanced countries. Relating it to this model, economies far behind the frontier could move closer to à £ by enabling a large increase in ÃŽÂ ¼m because it is quicker to mimic technologies instead of inventing new ones. This result is true for OECD countries (Griffith et al 2000: 893) At the lower stage of development countries are advantaged by implementing anti-competitive policies that would encumber growth at later stages of development. For example, having many state owned enterprises means lower competition. This means an economy should not rely on investment based strategies for a prolonged period of time, at later stages of development they should start to encourage innovation instead. Investment based strategies are those that protect certain indus tries, foster strong relationships between firms and workers and between firms and banks, and encourage high levels of savings (Acemoglu et al 2006: 38-9). The German and Japanese economic model is an example of this. Although perhaps not the best example as both economies also place importance on innovation. Figure 6 shows the relationship between distance to the frontier and barriers to competition. This confirms that the closer a country is to the frontier, the more detrimental barriers to competition are to growth by the significant negative coefficient in all estimates for this relationship. The relationship between distance to the frontier and low barriers on growth is less negative and not significant (Acemoglu et al. 2006: 42-43). Most papers find tacit knowledge to be an important factor when adapting technologies. In this case location and close relationships with developed countries is important because the information can be easily passed on. An example was given in Grif fith et al (2004: 883) of when the British supplied the Americans with jet planes during the Second World War. The planes had to be redrawn to comply with American standards, a process which took ten months. Even once a country has sufficiently developed institutions or a high level of human capital it could still be at a disadvantage because it does not have the knowledge implicit in other regions. In the case of USA versus European economic growth, one aspect not covered by the model is that Europe is made up of many different countries with different attitudes. Hence fiscally responsible nations like Germany need to make up for large spending nations like Greece and Hungary. Countries like France and Sweden have highly developed social welfare systems, which impede growth, while the US welfare system is notoriously poor. On the other hand the social welfare systems can also play into the Schumpeterian model. For example, firm entry and exit rates are far lower in Europe, partly because Europeans tend to be more cautious in entrepreneurship and failure is not as heavily stigmatised in the US (Verheul et al 2002: 230). Firm turnover is part of creative destruction. Note that high entry and exit rates are only important at the head of the frontier. As described above, they should be low when a country is far behind the frontier, consistent with anti-competitive behaviour. The importance of technological progress for growth is seen in the examples of the Soviet Union in the 1950s and the East Asian miracle in the 1990s. These countries moved rapidly towards the frontier during their respective years of growth but it was unable to be sustained and they never reached the frontier. The high growth rates have been found to have resulted from large scale increases to input (Krugman, 1997) in other words from government investment and growing populations. The governments failed to successfully switch to innovation strategies and the growth rates faltered. A similar phenomenon appears to be unfolding at the moment in China. Once the population growth rate starts to decrease it remains to be seen whether they can continue to sustain their economic growth. An government then faces the problem of when to switch from policies promoting catch up growth to those enabling competition. Acemoglu et al. (2006: 64) has derived an algebraic model capturing the point where an economy should switch strategies The turning point is a function of ÃŽÂ ¼, innovation incentive, ÃŽÂ ´, anti-competition and à Ã¢â‚¬Å¾, the fraction of government subsidised investment. This equation also incorporates the spillovers, cost of the investment, the skills of the entrepreneur and the amount of high skilled agents in the economy. The full model is explained in Acemoglu et al (2006). If the economy were to transfer before the turning point was reached it would lose the advantage of backwardness and also may not have industries developed enough to compete globally. On the other hand if it remains in the investment stage for too long it may risk falling into the non convergence trap. Growth levels stagnate because total factor productivity is not increasing with the global standard. The problem with this model is that it is simplistic. There are many factors hard to capture in economic model. An example is poorly developed countries tend to have high levels of corruption. Powerful business leaders could influence the decision not to switch away from the investment strategy. In the case above with the Soviet Union there were political problems hindering growth when communism fell. Another problem is that the communist destroyed large amounts of resources with their inefficient techniques. Large amounts of land became in-arable due to pollution and untapped oil became inaccessible. Natural resources or geographic local could also affect growth. For example the EU has great benefits to member countries. There could be problems mobilising the population from rural to urban areas such as in Africa. Sociologist literature places emphasis in a national psyche that influences economic growth. This is common in entrepreneurial literature when examining regional motivatio nal difference but discredited somewhat in economic literature. The example previously used in this paper is that America is more entrepreneurial because of its emphasis on individualism and willing acceptance of change. This is a reason for their strong growth. The empirical testing of the above framework is looked at in the next section. Education is another important factor to consider in growth models. Does higher human capital result in economic growth. One might assume with a highly educated population there is greater likelihood of successful innovations. Yet as described in the above scale effects literature this is not automatically true. A country with a basic primary and secondary education may advance in the earlier stages of development but there are diminishing returns to scale as the country progresses towards the frontier. For countries near to the frontier a greater emphasis must be placed on tertiary education. Table 1 shows the educational attainments of 5 large OECD countries. USA and Japan both have relatively high levels and France has been quite low. Table 2 shows Japan and the US have had the highest levels of productivity growth over the period and the Netherlands was low. The amount of total patents shown in Table 3 shows a different ranking. The USA and Japan still at the top but Germany has also performed highly. France and Netherlands have granted a far lower amount of patents. These figures are too superficial to make any conclusions and further research should be done on this issue but it seems tertiary education is unrelated to patent number but could be one of many contributing factors towards productivity growth. It might be useful to look at increases in education rates and compare it to increases in patent rates to see if tertiary education has an affect on innovation when close to the frontier. Section 5: Empirical evidence There have been examples of data from various countries conforming to the Schumpeterian model of growth, as a closer fit than captured by the Solow model. Venturini (2010) have taken data from the US economy. He has expanded the model to include ÃŽÂ ´, the rate at which ideas become obsolete. He finds only a weak fit to the Schumpeterian model but acknowledges that this could be to do with a bias formed from the underlying assumptions of the framework. Teixeira and Vieira (2004) find the Schumpeterian model fits the case of regional Portuguese data. They estimated an econometric model of human capital, firm productivity and firm failure rates. The main finding is that regions with higher levels of income and human capital have higher failure rates on average, a process of creative destruction. Clydesdale (2007) finds the Chinese economic growth is hampered by not engaging a technological enhancement strategy. The Chinese economy is restricted by being overly ridgid and too special ised, making change difficult (Clydesdale, 2007: 71). Recent Chinese growth has been found to be resultant from a large scale increase in the quantity of inputs rather than from improvement in input quality. Historically this has not been a sustainable method of growth, for example the former USSR. Zachariadis (2010) used a neo-Schumpeterian model to estimate an RD steady state on the US manufacturing industry. He empirical evidence that scale effects do not exist in Schumpeterian growth (Figure 6). Between 1957 and 1989 levels of RD remained constant as did technological progress despite an obvious increase in population (Zachariadis, 2002: 569). The main finding in the paper is that RD has a strong positive affect on patent rates and is probably a cause of growth. Although most papers rely on data on patents to estimate technological progress, Xu (2000) measures technology spillovers from US multinational enterprises on 40 different countries. He finds that technology spillovers have a positive affect on productivity growth as long as they have met a certain level of human capital accumulation. This means countries that are relatively undeveloped like Brazil. These results are consistent with the findings of Aghion and Howitt (2006) above where developed countries have a greater emphasis on tertiary education and therefore a greater ability to innovate. Poorer countries need to reach a certain level of knowledge before they can successfully adapt technologies. As they move further towards the frontier the emphasis must shift to innovation in order to keep growing. Positive affects on productivity are still felt in the poorly developed economy but from other causes (Xu, 200: 479). Griffith et al (2000) made a study in OECD countries on the effe cts of RD imitation in catching up to the efficiency frontier. As with Zachariadis, Griffith et al. find an affect on patents from RD. They also find human capital affects innovation and imitation but international trade does not have a significant affect. Figure 7 was taken directly from their paper. TFPGAP is a measure of distance to the frontier and robust standard errors are in parentheses. Column 1 shows a positive, significant relationship of technology transfers on productivity growth, and in column 2 they introduce the effects of RD growth, also significant. In column 3 the level of RD and the relationship between RD is positive. The greater the distance to the frontier, the greater the chance of technology transfers to positively affect RD and growth but only at a ten per cent significance level. Aghion et al (2005) theoretically and empirically test the importance of financial development on convergence. This paper examines the role of financial development in supporting or hindering technological progress, the main force behind economic growth. Figure 8 shows average financial development and per capita GDP. There is a positive relationship between the two factors. There is no longer a positive affect of financial development on growth once a country reaches approximately a 39 per cent level of development, which is the level of Greece (Aghion et al 2005: 190) Section 6: Convergence Convergence is the concept that all countries will move towards the same economic growth rate. Convergence is theoretically possible because of the advantage of backwardness Gerschenkron (1962). Pritchett (1997) found that over the past 140 years that while the major economies moved towards convergence, there has been an overall divergence between the rich and the poor. This is the main idea driving the section on the efficiency frontier. First countries most mobilise resources, as seen with the large scale increases in inputs. They most also develop economic and financial institutions able to withstand and support prolonged growth. Technological progress is the last stage of convergence. This is the newer theory of club convergence (Howitt and Mayer-Foulkes, 2004). Based on Schumpeterian growth theory, countries move towards different steady states determined by their level of development. The richest countries benefit from technology transfers amongst each other but the poorer grou p must reach the appropriate level of human capital to be able to support advanced technology first. Global convergence begun in the later stages of the industrial revolution where European countries and the new world countries: USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand began to move towards similar growth rates (Pritchett 1997). However the poorer countries were not able to match such progress. In fact the opposite happened; during the period 1870 to 1990 the ratio between rich and poor went from 8.7 to 45 times the GDP per capita (Krugman, 1997: 11). Howitt (2000) theorised that while countries are making positive investments in RD they should eventually converge to the long run growth path . This is because innovations in other countries can be easily adopted as long as the country has the appropriate underlying institutions (Howitt, 2000: 830). Hence we have club convergence as shown in Figure 9. Growth path A represents those countries investing in modern RD and at the forefront of the efficiency frontier. Line B are those countries in the catch-up stage who have not reach reached the innovation stage of development. This could be a representation of countries such as the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China), or the eastern tigers of the 1990s. Countries that are growing rapidly but that must make a structural and political change before they are completely industrialised. Line C are those countries that started far behind the rest and are too poorly developed to start converging and, though they are growing, are classified third world countries. Countries that are not investing at all in RD would be a flat line along the x axis. This is probably only the experience of remote amazonian tribes and other communities removed from the modern world and so are not included in the model. Mayer-Foulkes (2000) proposes there are five clubs of convergence, experiencing divergence between groups. The richest group has the highest average steady state growth. Of the five groups, three describe different levels of development. In Mayer-Foulkes (2000) model development is defined by level of income, to represent propensity to innovate, and by average life expectancy, to show the level of human development. Groups 1, 3 and 5 represent high, medium and low levels of development, respectively. The other two groups, 2 and 4, are transiting to a higher level of development. Figure 10 shows the geographic locations were groups members are situated. This is mostly what is expected above except the BRIC nations are not in the one group. India for example is in group 4 (Mayer-Foulkes, 2002: 8). Interestingly Argentina Uruguay are in the highest group. and Latin America dominates the third group and the lowest group has only two non African members. Note that Eastern Europe has not b een included. Three groups have been recognised as existing outside the model: the ex-Soviet countries; other countries that were previously, or are currently socialist; and countries that are mainly oil-exporting. These groups experience a different growth pattern to the rest of the world and so are not converging to any of the steady states in other groups. In this model the economy produces a single good Zt with output dependent on the input of intermediate goods i at date t, denoted by x(i)t and à Ã¢â‚¬  , a parameter representing the non-technological aspects of total factor productivity Zt = à Ã¢â‚¬  L1-ÃŽÂ ± à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã‚ «o1 At(i)1-ÃŽÂ ±xt(i)ÃŽÂ ± di The probability that an entrepreneur innovates, ÃŽÂ ¼, is increasing with the skill level of entrepreneurs, St, the productivity of the innovation, ÃŽÂ », and the quantity of inputs, zt. ÃŽÂ · is the Cobb-Douglas exponent of skills in innovation and Äâ‚ ¬t+1 is the global frontier. Such that and the division by the global frontier represents the fact that as technologies become more advanced innovation becomes harder (Howitt Mayer-Foulkes, 2004:8,10). Note, this last assumption may not be realistic because inventions such as the steam train, electricity and computers have resulted in large increases in innovation. St = à Ã¢â‚¬ ºAt where à Ã¢â‚¬ º is the entrepreneurs level of education. It follows that the equilibrium rate of innovation is As at = At / Äâ‚ ¬t the local human capital level is compared to the global standard and the difficulty of coming from behind is captured in the equation. Greater values of At mean the country is at an advantage. Howitt and Mayer-Foulkes refer to this as the absorption affect (2004: 11) because the probability of innovation is proportional to the skill level. Diving the national factors by the world growth rate gt implies an increase in growth globally hinders the rate of innovation. These are important because it represents the countries ability to effectively incorporate new technologies into its own economy, thus the basis of the club convergence model. A low value of at implies a disadvantage of backwardness. Hence a countrys productivity can advance in to ways; independently or towards the global standard On average At+1 = ÃŽÂ ¼tÄâ‚ ¬t+1 + (1-ÃŽÂ ¼t)At dividing both sides by the world productivity in the next period yields In this case there is no absorption effect, so Gerschenkrons (1962) advantage of backwardness would apply (Howitt Mayer-Foulkes, 2004: 12). In the above section the USA was acknowledged as the efficiency frontier. The USA is still a country, therefore the productivity rate of the efficiency frontier can be written as ÃŽÂ ¼tUS = ÃŽÂ ¼US.atUS 1 + gt The growth of the USA would be the world growth rate. In this case gt = à Ã†â€™ÃƒÅ½Ã‚ ¼tUS where à Ã†â€™ is a spillover affect from similarly advanced countries, line A in Figure