Midterm Exam

What went wrong with Saturn? Answer Saturn sold cars below the prices of Honda or Toyota, earning a low 3% rate of return. Saturn sold cars below the prices of Honda or Toyota, earning a low 3% rate of Question 3 Economic profit is defined as the difference between revenue and . Answer total economic cost Question 4 The primary objective of a for-profit firm is to maximize shareholder value Which of the following will increase (VOW), the shareholder wealth minimization model of the firm: VOW(shares outstanding) = Met=l (n t)/ (l+eke)t + Real Option Value.Answer Decrease the required rate of return (eke). Question 6 O out of 4 points The moral hazard in team production arises from lack of proper assignment of individual tasks a conflict between tactically best interest and one's duty Question 7 will be projects with Answer high risk Question 8 The approximate probability of a value occurring that is greater than one standard deviation from the mean is approximately (assuming a normal distribution) Answer 15. 7% Question 9 coefficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Correct Answer: efficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Question 10 The level of an economic activity should be increased to the point where the zero.Answer net marginal benefit Question 1 1 is A change in the level of an economic activity is desirable and should be undertaken as long as the marginal benefits exceed the marginal costs Question 12 The standard deviation is appropriate to compare the risk between two investments only if Answer the expected returns from the investments are approximately equal Correct Answer: the expected returns from the investments are approximately equalQuestion 13 Songwriters and composers press music companies to lower the price for music downloads because Answer songwriter royalties are a percentage of sales revenue Question 14 The factor(s) which cause(s) a movement along the demand curve include(s): Answer decrease in price of t he good demanded Question 15 Those goods having a calculated income elasticity that is negative are called: Answer inferior goods An increase in each of the following factors would normally provide a subsequent increase in quantity demanded, except: Answer level of competitor advertisingQuestion 17 Which of the following would tend to make demand INELASTIC? No one really wants the product at all the proportion of the budget spent on the item is very small When demand is a percentage change in is exactly offset by the same percentage change in demanded, the net result being a constant total consumer expenditure.Answer unit elastic; price; quantity Question 19 Auto dealers slash prices at the end of the model year in response to deficient demand/excess inventory but restaurants facing the same problem slash production because Answer rice elasticity of supply in autos is smaller than the absolute value of price elasticity of demand but the reverse is true for restaurants Correct Answer : of demand but the reverse is true for restaurants In regression analysis, the existence of a significant pattern in successive values of the error term constitutes: Answer autocorrelation Question 21 In regression analysis, the existence of a high degree of intercalation among some or all of the explanatory variables in the regression equation constitutes. Midterm Exam What went wrong with Saturn? Answer Saturn sold cars below the prices of Honda or Toyota, earning a low 3% rate of return. Saturn sold cars below the prices of Honda or Toyota, earning a low 3% rate of Question 3 Economic profit is defined as the difference between revenue and . Answer total economic cost Question 4 The primary objective of a for-profit firm is to maximize shareholder value Which of the following will increase (VOW), the shareholder wealth minimization model of the firm: VOW(shares outstanding) = Met=l (n t)/ (l+eke)t + Real Option Value.Answer Decrease the required rate of return (eke). Question 6 O out of 4 points The moral hazard in team production arises from lack of proper assignment of individual tasks a conflict between tactically best interest and one's duty Question 7 will be projects with Answer high risk Question 8 The approximate probability of a value occurring that is greater than one standard deviation from the mean is approximately (assuming a normal distribution) Answer 15. 7% Question 9 coefficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Correct Answer: efficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Question 10 The level of an economic activity should be increased to the point where the zero.Answer net marginal benefit Question 1 1 is A change in the level of an economic activity is desirable and should be undertaken as long as the marginal benefits exceed the marginal costs Question 12 The standard deviation is appropriate to compare the risk between two investments only if Answer the expected returns from the investments are approximately equal Correct Answer: the expected returns from the investments are approximately equalQuestion 13 Songwriters and composers press music companies to lower the price for music downloads because Answer songwriter royalties are a percentage of sales revenue Question 14 The factor(s) which cause(s) a movement along the demand curve include(s): Answer decrease in price of t he good demanded Question 15 Those goods having a calculated income elasticity that is negative are called: Answer inferior goods An increase in each of the following factors would normally provide a subsequent increase in quantity demanded, except: Answer level of competitor advertisingQuestion 17 Which of the following would tend to make demand INELASTIC? No one really wants the product at all the proportion of the budget spent on the item is very small When demand is a percentage change in is exactly offset by the same percentage change in demanded, the net result being a constant total consumer expenditure.Answer unit elastic; price; quantity Question 19 Auto dealers slash prices at the end of the model year in response to deficient demand/excess inventory but restaurants facing the same problem slash production because Answer rice elasticity of supply in autos is smaller than the absolute value of price elasticity of demand but the reverse is true for restaurants Correct Answer : of demand but the reverse is true for restaurants In regression analysis, the existence of a significant pattern in successive values of the error term constitutes: Answer autocorrelation Question 21 In regression analysis, the existence of a high degree of intercalation among some or all of the explanatory variables in the regression equation constitutes. Midterm Exam For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being, which in turn depends on the maintenance of the natural world and natural resources. As the earth's human population has increased, natural ecosystems have declined and changes in the balance of trial cycles have had a negative impact on both humans and other living systems.Paul Hawked provides 1 2 steps towards a sustainable society. First, Hawked argues that state and national governments should reclaim their power to regulate corporations by rewriting and renewing current corporate charters. Second, Hawked agrees that companies and consumers should be forced to include all the environmental and social costs in making, producing, using, and disposing of products in the cost of goods. Third, we should tax the amount of non-renewable resources, the amount of fossil eels, the amount of waste, and the amount of environment destroyed or abused.Fourth, Hawked says that governments should lease companies the right to use and control certain resources such as fisheries, forests. By making these companies' profits dependent on how productive these resources are, they will have a real incentive to protect and even restore these environments to health. Fifth, companies would compete to create industrial design processes in which they greatly reduce their waste. Instead of depending on polluting the environment with their wastes, companies should figure out owe to reduce wastes and actually make them a source of profits.Sixth, consumers would lease the right to use products such as us or cars from companies and the companies are responsible for recycling and disposing of those products when the consumer is done using them. Seventh, here Hawked encourages consumers and citizens to put pressure on their politicians and governments to create and enforce strict environmental, health, and social standards. Eighth, Hawked argues that local, state, and national governments must once again be active overseer s and regulators of corporations and businesses.Currently corporations argue that governments should not interfere in business and disrupt the magic of free enterprise and the market. Ninth, people need to be taught to understand and consider the larger environmental and social impacts of their actions. Fifth public better understand the environmental risks and benefits of their actions, they would have real incentives to take actions that would protect the environment, their health, and the well-being of their society. Tenth, Hawked tells that we need to do local, state, national, and global surveys of the environment and the impact Of our activities on nature.Eleventh, Hawked thinks that environmentalists will only successfully win the support of the poor and Third World peoples if they convince them that such environmental and economic reforms will improve their health and standards of living. Twelfth, Hawked concludes that these economic and environmental reforms cannot be solel y based on economic incentives and profits. These reforms must also be focused on the individual, social, cultural, environmental, and religious benefits of protecting and restoring the environment.Ways of living more sustainable can take many forms. Green building, sustainable agriculture, or sustainable architecture, or using science to develop new technologies, green technologies, renewable energy, to adjustments in individual lifestyles that conserve natural resources. 2. Explain Andrew Dobbin's notion of â€Å"Ecological Citizenship. † Start out with a relevant quote from Dobbin's essay and proceed to explain the terms involved and the overall significance of this notion. Citizenship is being a part of the society.Ecological citizenship is the state, character or behavior of a person viewed as a member of the ecosystem with attendant rights and responsibilities, especially the responsibility to maintain ecological integrity and the right to exist in a healthy environment . From the reading, † Ecological citizenship deals in the currency of non-contractual responsibility, it inhabits the private as well as the public sphere, it refers to the source rather than the nature of responsibility to determine what count as citizenship virtues, it works with the language of virtue, and it is explicitly non-territorial. (89) However, ecological citizenship, like ecologist, moves in radically new directions. As a means to address global unsuitability, citizenship must exist in an entirely different non-territorial political space, and the space in which a redefined citizenship can be located is our individual ecological footprint. In other words, ecological citizenship is an essential prerequisite of a sustainable society. â€Å"The PRI uncial ecological citizenship obligation is ensure that ecological footprint makes a sustainable, rather than an unsustainable, impact. (1 1 8) Ecological citizenship is presented as an example and inflection of post-cosm opolitan citizenship. It is contrasted with environmental citizenship. The idea of ecological footprint is a composite measure, which informs sustainable development, ecological economics and urban studies. It is quickly becoming a very practical tool for measuring human impact on the Earth's resource base. The ecological footprint is presented as the ecological citizenship, it is used to cause and effect that call forth post-cosmopolitan obligations. . Michael Mandates criticizes the practice of â€Å"individualizing responsibility. † Explain what does that mean. Michael Mandates mentioned in his article, † My claim in this chapter is that an accelerating individualizing of responsibility in the United States is narrowing, in dangerous ways, our â€Å"environmental imagination† and undermining our capacity to react effectively to environmental threats to human wellbeing. Those troubled by overcompensation, consumerism, and communication should not and cannot ign ore this narrowing.Confronting the individualizing of responsibility patently undermines. â€Å"(374) The result is to narrow our collective ability to imagine and pursue a variety of productive responses to the environmental problems before us. When responsibility for environmental problems is individualized, there is little room to ponder institutions, the nature and exercise of political power, or ways of collectively changing the district option of power and influence in society. Many people think that environmental problems are for other people or the government to do something about.But, the environmental issues impact on the quality of life of each and individuals of us, as well as all future generations. Many people also question, â€Å"What difference can I make? † The answer to this is critical: it is the combined impact of everyone's activities which will make a preference, just as democracy only works if enough people take the time and effort to cast their indivi dual votes, which lead to what the majority desire. If everyone takes care of their immediate surroundings and minimizes their own individual resource use, then together these actions will make a difference. . What are the principles Of thought practiced by CEO-Feminism according to Ecological feminism is based on the premise that there Karen J. Warren? Exists a connection between the domination of women the neglect and exploitation of the natural world. According to Karen J. Warren, she gives us a new way of looking and understanding things. She claims that an oppressive conceptual framework is the set of values and attitudes that shape the way in which we look at the world. There exists a characteristic in our oppressive conceptual framework, which is called the logic of domination.Warren's issue isn't so much that this sort of system is used in the framework, but the way in which it is used that ultimately make women inferior. Her point is that this very same framework, which lea ds to the logic of domination, is also used to oppress the natural world. It is a feminism that critiques male bias wherever it occurs in ethics (including environmental ethics) and alms at providing an ethic (including an environmental ethic), which is not male biased-and it does so in a way that satisfies the preliminary boundary conditions of a feminist ethic. (11) Based on her idea, this framework identifies women with nature. Since nature is deemed inferior to man, then women alike are deemed inferior since they are parallel to nature. In conclusion, in order to abolish both the oppression of women and nature this conceptual framework must e abolished. At the end of the chapter she said, â€Å"A re-conceiving and re- visioning of both feminism and environmental ethics, is, I think, the power and promise of coefficients. â€Å"(1 5) Coefficients combines the philosophy of feminism with the principles of ecology and environmental ethics.Coefficients generally claims that the pa triarchal structures of our society are what cause environmental degradation. 6. What is, according to Hans Jonas, the categorical imperative, I. E. The absolute commandment, of our age? Is this an anthropocentric view? Discuss and explain. The main idea of this reading is shown at the beginning, † Care for the future of mankind is the overruling duty of collective human action in the age of a technical civilization that has become ‘almighty,' if not in its productive then at least in its destructive potential. (77) There's a major impact on the environment in the distant future. We are on the verge of population explosion. While the population has reached a record high, the resources to meet the increasing population have not increased in the same ratio. On the contrary, we are destroying the limited resources at a rapid peed, and very soon we would have used up all the non-renewable resources totally.Unless we take concrete preventive steps in this direction, the incid ences and the impact of these disasters would only multiply and would seriously affect the lifestyle and standard of living of future generations. It's time for actions. ‘ ‘The further observation that in whatever time is left the corrections will become more and more difficult and the freedom to make them more and more restricted. This heightens the duty to that vigilance Over the beginnings which grants priority to well-?grounded ears over against hopes, even if no less well grounded. (91) We are in the present generation are forewarned about the imminent damage we have been inflicting on our environment and our own health. Future generations will have to bear the dire consequences by the environmental devastation. Such damage poses long-lasting threats that affect the health and wellbeing of future generations. It is about time that we gave thoughtful consideration to protect future generations. It is about time that we rise and speak for the interests of future gener ations, so that they are able to live on a healthy planet. Midterm Exam For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being, which in turn depends on the maintenance of the natural world and natural resources. As the earth's human population has increased, natural ecosystems have declined and changes in the balance of trial cycles have had a negative impact on both humans and other living systems.Paul Hawked provides 1 2 steps towards a sustainable society. First, Hawked argues that state and national governments should reclaim their power to regulate corporations by rewriting and renewing current corporate charters. Second, Hawked agrees that companies and consumers should be forced to include all the environmental and social costs in making, producing, using, and disposing of products in the cost of goods. Third, we should tax the amount of non-renewable resources, the amount of fossil eels, the amount of waste, and the amount of environment destroyed or abused.Fourth, Hawked says that governments should lease companies the right to use and control certain resources such as fisheries, forests. By making these companies' profits dependent on how productive these resources are, they will have a real incentive to protect and even restore these environments to health. Fifth, companies would compete to create industrial design processes in which they greatly reduce their waste. Instead of depending on polluting the environment with their wastes, companies should figure out owe to reduce wastes and actually make them a source of profits.Sixth, consumers would lease the right to use products such as us or cars from companies and the companies are responsible for recycling and disposing of those products when the consumer is done using them. Seventh, here Hawked encourages consumers and citizens to put pressure on their politicians and governments to create and enforce strict environmental, health, and social standards. Eighth, Hawked argues that local, state, and national governments must once again be active overseer s and regulators of corporations and businesses.Currently corporations argue that governments should not interfere in business and disrupt the magic of free enterprise and the market. Ninth, people need to be taught to understand and consider the larger environmental and social impacts of their actions. Fifth public better understand the environmental risks and benefits of their actions, they would have real incentives to take actions that would protect the environment, their health, and the well-being of their society. Tenth, Hawked tells that we need to do local, state, national, and global surveys of the environment and the impact Of our activities on nature.Eleventh, Hawked thinks that environmentalists will only successfully win the support of the poor and Third World peoples if they convince them that such environmental and economic reforms will improve their health and standards of living. Twelfth, Hawked concludes that these economic and environmental reforms cannot be solel y based on economic incentives and profits. These reforms must also be focused on the individual, social, cultural, environmental, and religious benefits of protecting and restoring the environment.Ways of living more sustainable can take many forms. Green building, sustainable agriculture, or sustainable architecture, or using science to develop new technologies, green technologies, renewable energy, to adjustments in individual lifestyles that conserve natural resources. 2. Explain Andrew Dobbin's notion of â€Å"Ecological Citizenship. † Start out with a relevant quote from Dobbin's essay and proceed to explain the terms involved and the overall significance of this notion. Citizenship is being a part of the society.Ecological citizenship is the state, character or behavior of a person viewed as a member of the ecosystem with attendant rights and responsibilities, especially the responsibility to maintain ecological integrity and the right to exist in a healthy environment . From the reading, † Ecological citizenship deals in the currency of non-contractual responsibility, it inhabits the private as well as the public sphere, it refers to the source rather than the nature of responsibility to determine what count as citizenship virtues, it works with the language of virtue, and it is explicitly non-territorial. (89) However, ecological citizenship, like ecologist, moves in radically new directions. As a means to address global unsuitability, citizenship must exist in an entirely different non-territorial political space, and the space in which a redefined citizenship can be located is our individual ecological footprint. In other words, ecological citizenship is an essential prerequisite of a sustainable society. â€Å"The PRI uncial ecological citizenship obligation is ensure that ecological footprint makes a sustainable, rather than an unsustainable, impact. (1 1 8) Ecological citizenship is presented as an example and inflection of post-cosm opolitan citizenship. It is contrasted with environmental citizenship. The idea of ecological footprint is a composite measure, which informs sustainable development, ecological economics and urban studies. It is quickly becoming a very practical tool for measuring human impact on the Earth's resource base. The ecological footprint is presented as the ecological citizenship, it is used to cause and effect that call forth post-cosmopolitan obligations. . Michael Mandates criticizes the practice of â€Å"individualizing responsibility. † Explain what does that mean. Michael Mandates mentioned in his article, † My claim in this chapter is that an accelerating individualizing of responsibility in the United States is narrowing, in dangerous ways, our â€Å"environmental imagination† and undermining our capacity to react effectively to environmental threats to human wellbeing. Those troubled by overcompensation, consumerism, and communication should not and cannot ign ore this narrowing.Confronting the individualizing of responsibility patently undermines. â€Å"(374) The result is to narrow our collective ability to imagine and pursue a variety of productive responses to the environmental problems before us. When responsibility for environmental problems is individualized, there is little room to ponder institutions, the nature and exercise of political power, or ways of collectively changing the district option of power and influence in society. Many people think that environmental problems are for other people or the government to do something about.But, the environmental issues impact on the quality of life of each and individuals of us, as well as all future generations. Many people also question, â€Å"What difference can I make? † The answer to this is critical: it is the combined impact of everyone's activities which will make a preference, just as democracy only works if enough people take the time and effort to cast their indivi dual votes, which lead to what the majority desire. If everyone takes care of their immediate surroundings and minimizes their own individual resource use, then together these actions will make a difference. . What are the principles Of thought practiced by CEO-Feminism according to Ecological feminism is based on the premise that there Karen J. Warren? Exists a connection between the domination of women the neglect and exploitation of the natural world. According to Karen J. Warren, she gives us a new way of looking and understanding things. She claims that an oppressive conceptual framework is the set of values and attitudes that shape the way in which we look at the world. There exists a characteristic in our oppressive conceptual framework, which is called the logic of domination.Warren's issue isn't so much that this sort of system is used in the framework, but the way in which it is used that ultimately make women inferior. Her point is that this very same framework, which lea ds to the logic of domination, is also used to oppress the natural world. It is a feminism that critiques male bias wherever it occurs in ethics (including environmental ethics) and alms at providing an ethic (including an environmental ethic), which is not male biased-and it does so in a way that satisfies the preliminary boundary conditions of a feminist ethic. (11) Based on her idea, this framework identifies women with nature. Since nature is deemed inferior to man, then women alike are deemed inferior since they are parallel to nature. In conclusion, in order to abolish both the oppression of women and nature this conceptual framework must e abolished. At the end of the chapter she said, â€Å"A re-conceiving and re- visioning of both feminism and environmental ethics, is, I think, the power and promise of coefficients. â€Å"(1 5) Coefficients combines the philosophy of feminism with the principles of ecology and environmental ethics.Coefficients generally claims that the pa triarchal structures of our society are what cause environmental degradation. 6. What is, according to Hans Jonas, the categorical imperative, I. E. The absolute commandment, of our age? Is this an anthropocentric view? Discuss and explain. The main idea of this reading is shown at the beginning, † Care for the future of mankind is the overruling duty of collective human action in the age of a technical civilization that has become ‘almighty,' if not in its productive then at least in its destructive potential. (77) There's a major impact on the environment in the distant future. We are on the verge of population explosion. While the population has reached a record high, the resources to meet the increasing population have not increased in the same ratio. On the contrary, we are destroying the limited resources at a rapid peed, and very soon we would have used up all the non-renewable resources totally.Unless we take concrete preventive steps in this direction, the incid ences and the impact of these disasters would only multiply and would seriously affect the lifestyle and standard of living of future generations. It's time for actions. ‘ ‘The further observation that in whatever time is left the corrections will become more and more difficult and the freedom to make them more and more restricted. This heightens the duty to that vigilance Over the beginnings which grants priority to well-?grounded ears over against hopes, even if no less well grounded. (91) We are in the present generation are forewarned about the imminent damage we have been inflicting on our environment and our own health. Future generations will have to bear the dire consequences by the environmental devastation. Such damage poses long-lasting threats that affect the health and wellbeing of future generations. It is about time that we gave thoughtful consideration to protect future generations. It is about time that we rise and speak for the interests of future gener ations, so that they are able to live on a healthy planet. Midterm Exam What went wrong with Saturn? Answer Saturn sold cars below the prices of Honda or Toyota, earning a low 3% rate of return. Saturn sold cars below the prices of Honda or Toyota, earning a low 3% rate of Question 3 Economic profit is defined as the difference between revenue and . Answer total economic cost Question 4 The primary objective of a for-profit firm is to maximize shareholder value Which of the following will increase (VOW), the shareholder wealth minimization model of the firm: VOW(shares outstanding) = Met=l (n t)/ (l+eke)t + Real Option Value.Answer Decrease the required rate of return (eke). Question 6 O out of 4 points The moral hazard in team production arises from lack of proper assignment of individual tasks a conflict between tactically best interest and one's duty Question 7 will be projects with Answer high risk Question 8 The approximate probability of a value occurring that is greater than one standard deviation from the mean is approximately (assuming a normal distribution) Answer 15. 7% Question 9 coefficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Correct Answer: efficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Question 10 The level of an economic activity should be increased to the point where the zero.Answer net marginal benefit Question 1 1 is A change in the level of an economic activity is desirable and should be undertaken as long as the marginal benefits exceed the marginal costs Question 12 The standard deviation is appropriate to compare the risk between two investments only if Answer the expected returns from the investments are approximately equal Correct Answer: the expected returns from the investments are approximately equalQuestion 13 Songwriters and composers press music companies to lower the price for music downloads because Answer songwriter royalties are a percentage of sales revenue Question 14 The factor(s) which cause(s) a movement along the demand curve include(s): Answer decrease in price of t he good demanded Question 15 Those goods having a calculated income elasticity that is negative are called: Answer inferior goods An increase in each of the following factors would normally provide a subsequent increase in quantity demanded, except: Answer level of competitor advertisingQuestion 17 Which of the following would tend to make demand INELASTIC? No one really wants the product at all the proportion of the budget spent on the item is very small When demand is a percentage change in is exactly offset by the same percentage change in demanded, the net result being a constant total consumer expenditure.Answer unit elastic; price; quantity Question 19 Auto dealers slash prices at the end of the model year in response to deficient demand/excess inventory but restaurants facing the same problem slash production because Answer rice elasticity of supply in autos is smaller than the absolute value of price elasticity of demand but the reverse is true for restaurants Correct Answer : of demand but the reverse is true for restaurants In regression analysis, the existence of a significant pattern in successive values of the error term constitutes: Answer autocorrelation Question 21 In regression analysis, the existence of a high degree of intercalation among some or all of the explanatory variables in the regression equation constitutes. Midterm Exam For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being, which in turn depends on the maintenance of the natural world and natural resources. As the earth's human population has increased, natural ecosystems have declined and changes in the balance of trial cycles have had a negative impact on both humans and other living systems.Paul Hawked provides 1 2 steps towards a sustainable society. First, Hawked argues that state and national governments should reclaim their power to regulate corporations by rewriting and renewing current corporate charters. Second, Hawked agrees that companies and consumers should be forced to include all the environmental and social costs in making, producing, using, and disposing of products in the cost of goods. Third, we should tax the amount of non-renewable resources, the amount of fossil eels, the amount of waste, and the amount of environment destroyed or abused.Fourth, Hawked says that governments should lease companies the right to use and control certain resources such as fisheries, forests. By making these companies' profits dependent on how productive these resources are, they will have a real incentive to protect and even restore these environments to health. Fifth, companies would compete to create industrial design processes in which they greatly reduce their waste. Instead of depending on polluting the environment with their wastes, companies should figure out owe to reduce wastes and actually make them a source of profits.Sixth, consumers would lease the right to use products such as us or cars from companies and the companies are responsible for recycling and disposing of those products when the consumer is done using them. Seventh, here Hawked encourages consumers and citizens to put pressure on their politicians and governments to create and enforce strict environmental, health, and social standards. Eighth, Hawked argues that local, state, and national governments must once again be active overseer s and regulators of corporations and businesses.Currently corporations argue that governments should not interfere in business and disrupt the magic of free enterprise and the market. Ninth, people need to be taught to understand and consider the larger environmental and social impacts of their actions. Fifth public better understand the environmental risks and benefits of their actions, they would have real incentives to take actions that would protect the environment, their health, and the well-being of their society. Tenth, Hawked tells that we need to do local, state, national, and global surveys of the environment and the impact Of our activities on nature.Eleventh, Hawked thinks that environmentalists will only successfully win the support of the poor and Third World peoples if they convince them that such environmental and economic reforms will improve their health and standards of living. Twelfth, Hawked concludes that these economic and environmental reforms cannot be solel y based on economic incentives and profits. These reforms must also be focused on the individual, social, cultural, environmental, and religious benefits of protecting and restoring the environment.Ways of living more sustainable can take many forms. Green building, sustainable agriculture, or sustainable architecture, or using science to develop new technologies, green technologies, renewable energy, to adjustments in individual lifestyles that conserve natural resources. 2. Explain Andrew Dobbin's notion of â€Å"Ecological Citizenship. † Start out with a relevant quote from Dobbin's essay and proceed to explain the terms involved and the overall significance of this notion. Citizenship is being a part of the society.Ecological citizenship is the state, character or behavior of a person viewed as a member of the ecosystem with attendant rights and responsibilities, especially the responsibility to maintain ecological integrity and the right to exist in a healthy environment . From the reading, † Ecological citizenship deals in the currency of non-contractual responsibility, it inhabits the private as well as the public sphere, it refers to the source rather than the nature of responsibility to determine what count as citizenship virtues, it works with the language of virtue, and it is explicitly non-territorial. (89) However, ecological citizenship, like ecologist, moves in radically new directions. As a means to address global unsuitability, citizenship must exist in an entirely different non-territorial political space, and the space in which a redefined citizenship can be located is our individual ecological footprint. In other words, ecological citizenship is an essential prerequisite of a sustainable society. â€Å"The PRI uncial ecological citizenship obligation is ensure that ecological footprint makes a sustainable, rather than an unsustainable, impact. (1 1 8) Ecological citizenship is presented as an example and inflection of post-cosm opolitan citizenship. It is contrasted with environmental citizenship. The idea of ecological footprint is a composite measure, which informs sustainable development, ecological economics and urban studies. It is quickly becoming a very practical tool for measuring human impact on the Earth's resource base. The ecological footprint is presented as the ecological citizenship, it is used to cause and effect that call forth post-cosmopolitan obligations. . Michael Mandates criticizes the practice of â€Å"individualizing responsibility. † Explain what does that mean. Michael Mandates mentioned in his article, † My claim in this chapter is that an accelerating individualizing of responsibility in the United States is narrowing, in dangerous ways, our â€Å"environmental imagination† and undermining our capacity to react effectively to environmental threats to human wellbeing. Those troubled by overcompensation, consumerism, and communication should not and cannot ign ore this narrowing.Confronting the individualizing of responsibility patently undermines. â€Å"(374) The result is to narrow our collective ability to imagine and pursue a variety of productive responses to the environmental problems before us. When responsibility for environmental problems is individualized, there is little room to ponder institutions, the nature and exercise of political power, or ways of collectively changing the district option of power and influence in society. Many people think that environmental problems are for other people or the government to do something about.But, the environmental issues impact on the quality of life of each and individuals of us, as well as all future generations. Many people also question, â€Å"What difference can I make? † The answer to this is critical: it is the combined impact of everyone's activities which will make a preference, just as democracy only works if enough people take the time and effort to cast their indivi dual votes, which lead to what the majority desire. If everyone takes care of their immediate surroundings and minimizes their own individual resource use, then together these actions will make a difference. . What are the principles Of thought practiced by CEO-Feminism according to Ecological feminism is based on the premise that there Karen J. Warren? Exists a connection between the domination of women the neglect and exploitation of the natural world. According to Karen J. Warren, she gives us a new way of looking and understanding things. She claims that an oppressive conceptual framework is the set of values and attitudes that shape the way in which we look at the world. There exists a characteristic in our oppressive conceptual framework, which is called the logic of domination.Warren's issue isn't so much that this sort of system is used in the framework, but the way in which it is used that ultimately make women inferior. Her point is that this very same framework, which lea ds to the logic of domination, is also used to oppress the natural world. It is a feminism that critiques male bias wherever it occurs in ethics (including environmental ethics) and alms at providing an ethic (including an environmental ethic), which is not male biased-and it does so in a way that satisfies the preliminary boundary conditions of a feminist ethic. (11) Based on her idea, this framework identifies women with nature. Since nature is deemed inferior to man, then women alike are deemed inferior since they are parallel to nature. In conclusion, in order to abolish both the oppression of women and nature this conceptual framework must e abolished. At the end of the chapter she said, â€Å"A re-conceiving and re- visioning of both feminism and environmental ethics, is, I think, the power and promise of coefficients. â€Å"(1 5) Coefficients combines the philosophy of feminism with the principles of ecology and environmental ethics.Coefficients generally claims that the pa triarchal structures of our society are what cause environmental degradation. 6. What is, according to Hans Jonas, the categorical imperative, I. E. The absolute commandment, of our age? Is this an anthropocentric view? Discuss and explain. The main idea of this reading is shown at the beginning, † Care for the future of mankind is the overruling duty of collective human action in the age of a technical civilization that has become ‘almighty,' if not in its productive then at least in its destructive potential. (77) There's a major impact on the environment in the distant future. We are on the verge of population explosion. While the population has reached a record high, the resources to meet the increasing population have not increased in the same ratio. On the contrary, we are destroying the limited resources at a rapid peed, and very soon we would have used up all the non-renewable resources totally.Unless we take concrete preventive steps in this direction, the incid ences and the impact of these disasters would only multiply and would seriously affect the lifestyle and standard of living of future generations. It's time for actions. ‘ ‘The further observation that in whatever time is left the corrections will become more and more difficult and the freedom to make them more and more restricted. This heightens the duty to that vigilance Over the beginnings which grants priority to well-?grounded ears over against hopes, even if no less well grounded. (91) We are in the present generation are forewarned about the imminent damage we have been inflicting on our environment and our own health. Future generations will have to bear the dire consequences by the environmental devastation. Such damage poses long-lasting threats that affect the health and wellbeing of future generations. It is about time that we gave thoughtful consideration to protect future generations. It is about time that we rise and speak for the interests of future gener ations, so that they are able to live on a healthy planet.

Health and safety in social care setting Essay

Outcome 1 understand the different responsibilities relating to health and safety in social settings 1.1 List legislation relating to general health and safety in social care setting. There are a small number of legal acts relating to the general health and safety in social care. The most important one it seems to me would the health and safety at work act of 1974, it ensures that the employer, the employee have responsibilities to ensure that a good level of safety is attained in the workplace, and there should be a copy of this act on the works premises for use of any employee or service user. The legislations key goals are: To ensure the health, safety and welfare of people at work To protect others from risks arising from the activities of people at work To control the use and storage of dangerous substances  To control the emission into the atmosphere of noxious or offensive substances Other legislation relating to health and safety in social care are as follows The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992, which supports the health and safety act. The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (known as COSHH) which ensures safe storage and usage of any substances that could harm other workers or service users. The Manual Handling Regulations of 1992, which sets out methods and requirements to be met when manually handling objects, as well as people. The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1985 (known as RIDDOR) outlines what is required to be recorded and reported. Read more: Describe practices that prevent fires from spreading essay Food safety act 1990 Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations (PPE) 1992 Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) 1998 1.2 Describe the main points of health and safety policies and procedures. The main points of health and safety policies and procedures largely centre on standards that must be upheld in order to create a safe place of work, and also to ensure that somewhere meets all legislation requirements when it comes to things like COSHH, where all substances must be locked away while not in use, and not left around when being used if the worker leaves the room, even for a moment, that is if the level of work is to keep up with the standard  required to maintain itself within the COSHH legislation. Or even simpler things that do not include any harmful substances, such as keeping entrances clear and ensuring that any fire exits are able to be opened in an emergency by undertaking health and safety checks on the release, as well as ensuring all nurse call buzzers work properly. The policies and procedures ensure that all risk assessments are up to date and in place for all service users, and that all members of staff are trained in necessary areas, such as manual handling and data protection, along with general things such as reporting faulty appliances or any needed maintenance and showing where it should be recorded and who it should be reported to. As well as having regular supervisions and staff meetings to inform them of any changes to the way the business operates in regards to health and safety. 1.3 Outline the main health and safety responsibilities of: a) The social care worker: Health and safety responsibilities that pertain to me as the social care worker are to maintain any important care procedures, which refer to the policies and procedures once again, but most things do as they outline the ways in which things must be done, this includes attending any training. Health and safety responsibilities include other things such as making sure any activities are done safely, as well as the use of any equipment or materials to be handled with care, minimizing the risk of injury or harm to myself and others, including other staff and service users. If on occasion someone is hurt then I am to record and report it appropriately, even if it just a concern. b) The employer or manager The employer and manager have the responsibility to ensure that every member of staff understands their obligations towards health and safety, and that there are methods in place to allow the employee’s to operate under it. Including keeping enough stock of necessary equipment required to avoid injury, damage or wastage, and not to charge for any PPE or first aid facilities. It is also the manager’s role to assess any existing risks and create ways to minimize them, and to provide training on health and safety. c) Individuals All other staff, such as domestic and maintenance must follow all policies and procedures similar to that of the social care worker, and any visitors, including doctors, relatives, nurses and contractors must follow all health and safety protocols, as well as recording and reporting health and safety related concerns or incidents. Take reasonable care for own and others health and safety and understand and follow health and safety instructions and procedures also Work with the carer to use equipment safely. 1.4 Identify tasks relating to health and safety that should only be carried out with special training. Employers have legal duties to give health and safety information and training to all employees. Training should include all the risks that employees are exposed to and the precautions needed. It is usual for all new staff to be given induction training on joining the home care service. The training should make clear the areas of activity home careers should and should not under take and should also give guidance on appropriate footwear and clothing. Where the risk assessment identifies that such clothing is required to protect staff from hazards they should be provided and maintained at no cost to members. Induction programs must also include health and safety training and should cover: †¢ Manual handling †¢ Infection control †¢ Fire procedures †¢ First aid †¢ Basic hygiene †¢ Food preparation, storage and hygiene †¢ Dealing with emergency situations †¢ the use of protective clothing and/or equipment. UNISON safety representatives have the right to be Consulted on the type and level of health and safety Training and information developed or offered to members. In addition to the induction, training should be given to employees when: †¢ There is a transfer of job, a change in clients or changes in responsibility †¢ New equipment is used, or existing use changed †¢ There are changes in work methods. Employers must also provide information for employees, that is easy to underst and and which is relevant. Information for employees who have difficulty in understanding or reading English should also be considered. 1.5 Describe how to access additional support and information relating to health and safety. I could ask my colleagues, my manager, the health and safety executive. My office has a health and safety poster outlining both the employer’s responsibilities and the employee’s responsibilities with the name of the health and safety contact. All job descriptions and contracts must have health and safety issues relating to the individual and home within their  wording NVQ/QCF Training have health and safety, manual handling, fire, food and first aid issues in the training programs There are statutory requirements for health and safety, manual handling, fire, food and first aid to be trained in for general knowledge, i.e. what people should know and specific training, i.e. Manual Handling Trainer. Trade magazines have articles/adverts regarding health and safety and training programmers for this Registration and Inspection Officers enquire into these issues and often ask careers about their training Fire officers and Environmental Health officers can enquire regarding training and highlight inefficiencies.

Free Will Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Free Will - Essay Example So in an instance where a person is issued a threat his decision to act in a certain way need not necessarily be influenced by the threat and hence he holds moral responsibility since he was not deprived of alternatives. On the other hand, it is also possible that the person was profoundly impacted by the threat and his action was completely out of fear of dire consequences. But this impact was what compelled him to make his decision and therefore in relative terms his moral responsibility for his action still remains. Yet another possibility would be that the person’s choice of action was predetermined and any threat issued to him only coincided with his decision. Since the threat in this situation is irrelevant to the decision making process, he remains morally responsible for his action. The author’s argument is therefore a logical understanding of the principle’s plausibility and its failure as an a priori truth. His analysis concludes that there are various circumstances that could make a person morally responsible for his action with an exception being that he had done what he did only because he could not have done otherwise, even if that was what he desired to do.

Developing E-Commerce Customer Satisfaction, Trust, and Loyalty in the Essay

Developing E-Commerce Customer Satisfaction, Trust, and Loyalty in the UK Market - Essay Example The population of internet users worldwide was about 934 million is 2004 and it experienced a steady growth of about 14% by the end of 2005 (Karim, 2013; Lodorfos, Trosterud and Whitworth, 2006). Internet access is no more limited to surfing, gaming, media downloading and uploading and social networking but with widespread internet usage, the volume of online shopping and amount of money spent on e-shopping continues to increases in a steady manner as confidence of consumers in online shopping has stabilised. Consequently, the global e-commerce revenue from internet shopping was observed to be around  £91 billion in the United Kingdom in 2013 (Capgemini, 2014; Digital Strategy consulting, 2014). According to reports, the growth rate in mature markets is gradually declining and retailers are seeking unconventional opportunities so as to meet their growth targets. Retailers presently considering e-commerce an unconventional growth engine through which they can access the global market while a few continue to focus on establishment of greater number of physical stores (Lodorfos, Trosterud and Whitworth, 2006). The paper aims at establishing consumer relationship in terms of trust, loyalty and satisfaction with respect to ecommerce. Therefore, it is important to understand importance of consumer satisfaction, trust and loyalty from marketing perspective. In the following section of the paper, current developments in ecommerce have been discussed. Alongside, consumer satisfaction and loyalty have been assessed in an elaborate manner. The literature review covers various theoretical approaches to consumer satisfaction, trust and loyalty as well as impact of the same on ecommerce industry of the UK has been discussed based on recent surveys and reports conducted by organisations such as Mintel and Deloitte. For ensuring high quality in the literature review, various peer reviewed journals and reports from authentic

Level 5 leadership and Transformational Leadership in the Construction Literature review

Level 5 leadership and Transformational Leadership in the Construction industry of Project Management - Literature review Example Many organisations will root for outsourcing arrangements at first in overseas countries mainly to capitalise on cheap labour, reduced taxes, the possibility of hiring skilled employees in their own country, as well as, a 24 hour readily available workforce. Despite these obvious advantages, the recent trend of reshoring has perhaps stemmed from the corporate concerns on operational mishaps that have obviously precipitated a decline in both productivity and quality. According to a recent research conducted by Warwick Business School and GE Capital UK, a quarter of the mid-market firms are seriously considering re-shoring all or some of their business activities in the next three years. According to the research, the reasons for the trend in reshoring comprise of productivity, rise in the overseas costs, rising control or management issues or access to skilled labour. The research further reveals that, with the reshoring, companies are expected to witness a greater than average rise in revenues to the tune of 14.8 % leading to an overall 12.1 % uplift in the profits. In terms of the activities, which would be reshored, internal business services comprised of 23 percent, procurement and customer-facing services at 21% and 19% respectively. Other activities earmarked are product development, manufacturing and production. According to the study, which was conducted on 100 companies, reshoring will most likely create over 378 500 jobs and add  £27.6 billion to the national mid-market revenues annually. The research also found London to be the favourable re-shore destination. South-East follows closely and is then followed by West Midlands, North West, Yorkshire, and Humber (Green, 2014). Therefore, how does a company draw the conclusion on whether reshoring is right for its business activities? Well, time is an important and a changing factor in business. Consider Toyota as an example.

Hollywood Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Hollywood Cinema - Essay Example are those commercial feature films which, through repetition and variation, tell familiar stories with familiar characters in familiar situations,† he says. â€Å"They also encourage expectations and experiences similar to those of similar films we have already seen...a movie was a ‘western’ or a ‘war movie’ or a ‘musical,’ and such descriptive labels came to signal information to prospective consumers about the story and the kind of pleasure it was likely to offer.† (Barry K. Grant, Film Genre Reader III, Int., p.1-2, University of Texas Press, Austin, 2003.) Analyzing films based on genre allows for a more complete assessment of each film. It does not assume the authorship of the film to be strictly that of the director, as has often been the case in film analysis. â€Å"The auteur theory led to such nonsense,† says Phillip Dunne, the noted screenwriter of, among other films, How Green Was My Valley. â€Å"If John Ford was the supreme creator of How Green Was My Valley, then who was Daryl Zanuck, me, Richard Llewelyn, who wrote the novel, or William Wyler, the director who prepared the script for production with me...To give sole authorship to a non-writer director is just absurd.† (Lee Server, Screenwriter, p.110, The Main Street Press, Pittstown, NJ, 1987.) It is quite common for many of the genres to overlap. Gothic films can often also be categorized as horror films and also as science fiction. The series of Frankenstein films made in the 1930s by Universal Pictures would be examples of this. The gloomy setting in the basement of an old mansion makes them part of the gothic genre. The monster terrifying the local people makes it a horror film, while the creation of a monster by a doctor makes it science fiction. Other films which would fit into all three genres include two others produced by Universal Pictures, (which had great success producing horror films in the early thirties) Dracula from 1931 and The Invisible Man (which shows the close

Management Theories Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management Theories - Research Paper Example This led him to believe that in order to increase productivity; employees who reached their targets ought to receive more salary than those who did not. However, he had overlooked the fact that different people tend to have different behaviors and money cannot be the sole motivator of all employees (Flores & Utley, 2000). In addition, Taylor viewed employees as machines th can follow a certain standardized means of production. However, it has to be noted that employees, even the unskilled cannot follow the same processes at all times because they become demoralized by doing repetitive tasks. This implies that forcing employees to do what their managers say do not increase productivity because an employee will slow down his or her work rate if she or he feels that micromanagement is being used on him or her (Flores & Utley, 2000). Taylor’s Theory of Scientific Management Taylorism or Taylor’s Theory of Scientific Management is the analysis and synthesis of workflow in ma nagement. The most important point of the theory was to increase labor productivity and as a result, achieve better economic efficiency. Development of the idea was started in the 1880s and 1890s by Taylor when he realized the importance of applying science in the production industry. While working as a supervisor and a lathe operator in Midvale Steel, he realized that several employees had different capacities of production. This arose from the fact that different employees had different levels of intelligence, talents and motivations. He was among the first people to apply science into the field of production because he wanted to analyze and synthesize the best practices that could lead to a standardized process (Taylor 1911). The best practices would be propagated to all employees in any organization in order to ensure that they were all committed to their work. This would lead to increased productivity and reduced efforts because of using precise procedures, which would be devel oped after studying each individual carefully while working. The application of scientific management in industries resulted in increased ratio between managers and the laborers. It is of paramount importance to note that many laborers could not differentiate between micromanagement and this type of management. This, in turn resulted in frictions between workers and their seniors in the office. Strikes started to occur in industries because laborers felt that they were mistreated by the managers (Taylor 1911). Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor was an American mechanical engineer who was born on 20 March 1856 and died on 21 March 1915. While at Midvale, Taylor realized that workers were not utilizing their potentials as well as the machines they were working with to their full potential. Due to the less productivity of the workers, Midvale Steel was accruing high production costs, which could have been reduced by increasing productivity. When he was promoted to the le vel of a foreman, his focus was ensuring that workers utilized their potentials. He later left Midvale and opened his own consulting firm, which earned him enormous experience in management (Papesh, 1998). Frederick Winslow Taylor Main Theory As Taylor was developing his ideas, he made three assumptions about people at the workplace. He believed that employees are economic animals whose main aim at the workplace is to maximize their earnings. In addition, he thought that employees should

Advances in Wireless Networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Advances in Wireless Networks - Essay Example This network will be a controller-based wireless LAN technology that will be used to modernize the daily tasks University of Iland (UoI). This report outlines the specification and design of the new network. Introduction In this report I am going to specify a new controller-based wireless LAN design for University of Iland. The management of University of Iland wants to revolutionize the new technology based processes and network of university. This new technology based infrastructure will offer an excellent support for the potential working and improve performance of university learning, data sharing and educational performance. This specification report will present a comprehensive analysis and specification of new wireless network technology, its requirements, design, systems, equipment and computations required for the establishment of LAN network at University of Iland. Aims and Objectives The key aim and objective of this new wireless technology based structure is to develop an d implement a new technology based framework at University of Iland that will support the School’s Information Technology strategy for the next seven to ten years. This report is aimed at offering a detailed analysis of specification and procurement activities for the implementation of new wireless LAN based Information technology structure.... Structure of the School The school has seen rapid growth in the past five years, particularly after acquiring local consultancy contracts and attracting national research projects. There are many subject groups within the school such as Networks, Artificial Intelligence, Systems Analysis, Design and Informatics, Software engineering and E-Business. P.E. Ryno is the Dean of the School; there are many group leaders subordinate to him. In this scenario, the newly established school of computing has following structure of the subject groups within the school: No- Subject Groups Members of staff 1 Networks group 5 members 2 Artificial Intelligence group 4 members 3 Software engineering group 5 members 4 E-Business group 5 members 5 Admin group 5 members 6 Technicians group 5 members 7 Group Leader Informatics 6 members 8 Group Leader for the technicians 6 members In the context of future growth of present educational structure we are expecting more staff members connecting to network and communication arrangement. It is anticipated that approximately 10-12 members of staff will join this school in the next 5 years Technology Needs Specification There are many system related needs and requirements. This part of report will outline main technologies that will be implemented at University of Iland through the establishment of new information and networking technology structure. For sake of this new technology specification, I will outline some of the main needs of the school network technology. Personal Computers The personal computer will be available to all members of the school staff. These systems will include some of the modern laptops.

Math Hero Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Math Hero - Essay Example Math is not left to interpretation but rather is either right or wrong. Furthermore, it is often too easy to become confused by sequences of numbers which ultimately lead to an answer which is also merely a set or group of more numbers. When one who is truly gifted in the area of Mathematics as well as the area of teaching mathematics is able to take arbitrary numbers and problems and turn them into an applied question leading to a specific answer, one can truly be said to be a math hero. This is truly the key to bridging the gap between the vast abyss of numbers and formulas, and the rest of the world as well as the universe. One way in which a math hero may achieve creating an interesting way of making math comprehensive to their students, is through visual aids such as props which are tangible, (eg. A mini composite of our universe, quantities of small objects and so on). It is one thing to count on one’s hand or copy numbers on to a blackboard but it is altogether something else to illustrate to students in a very tangible manner, how numbers and mathematics work. All of the answers to the world in which we live as well as the infinite riddles of the universe, is found in math. As complicated as this sounds, it is still reassuring to know that virtually every answer that we may possibly seek, is available in the proper mathematical application or formula. A math hero may in fact utilize the very data of the universe to help students better understand how to arrive at a quantitative solution. A math hero will also bare in mind that by teaching mathematics effectively to students, they are provid ing those students with endless future possibilities. An example of this is perhaps a student struggling desperately with the concept of algebra. A math hero will take this into consideration by using multiple analogies to convey the concept of the unknown figure is simple the employment of all other information provided within the

Short Critical Thinking Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Short Critical Thinking - Assignment Example There is also a growing concern for certain categories of visitors in social networking sites such as minors being exposed to inappropriate content or uploading certain photos which could compromise them. There more popular concern about social networks however are the inadvertent effects derived from an online post. The classic example for this is relationships that have gone sour due to inappropriate tagging in social networking site. Say for example a â€Å"boys night out† where pictures of it were uploaded in the social networking site where the wife/girlfriend can see. It may have been uploaded for fun but the consequence of it can spell disaster for relationships. 2. The founder of Wikipedia has a noble mission – to share all the world’s information with everyone everywhere, anytime. In what ways has this mission been successful? In what ways has it not been successful?   Wikipedia has been successful in its mission in sharing all the world’s information as it has become one of leading source of information about just anything. Research became easier because Wikipedia is very accessible and able to provide quick information about almost anything at language that is easily understandable. Wikipedia is also a victim of its own success however. Privilege information such as security information about the state and information about diplomatic assessments were leaked into the public which compromises the security of a country and relationship between nations. Email is dead for teenagers. Given the alternatives for email which are networking sites, chatrooms and text messages, teenagers find email to be boring and slow. Teenagers these days are used to quick information and communication which email lags behind compared to its counterparts in digital communication. In addition, email does not provide entertainment and variety which is critical among

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Essay Example for Free

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Essay Every piece of literature created is influenced by the time in which it was written. A particular text is a reflection of the era or period in which it was born. An author is contained within a specific time in history, and his writing becomes the result of the social, economic or political milieu of that time. This is the reason why it is extremely important for a reader to determine the context of the story in order to fully understand a piece of literature. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is a great example of how a text reflects a particular era. It is a novel written in the 1930s and revealed what was happening during that time in California. Hence, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a reflection of California during the 1930s. Of Mice and Men is a story about the friendship between George Milton and Lennie Small. The two men are remarkably different from each other. Steinbeck (1994) described George as â€Å"small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features† (p. 4). He depicted Lennie as the opposite of his companion; he was â€Å"a huge man, shapeless of face, with large, pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders† (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 4). However, their differences were not limited to physical appearances. George is intelligent, but his friend Lennie is mentally challenged (Steinbeck, 1994). The mental condition of the latter forced him to depend solely on the former. While George often expressed displeasure about the burden of being Lennie’s companion, he proved to be a dedicated friend. He served as Lennie’s guardian. Unfortunately, Lennie’s disability caused him to be involved in great trouble. He was unable to discern his own strength, accidentally harming and killing others in the process. In the end, George continues to fulfill his role as Lennie’s protector; he killed Lennie himself to spare him from death in the hands of Curley (Steinbeck, 1994). While the friendship between George and Lenny is the main focus of the story, the history of California plays a bigger and more significant role in the novel. Of Mice and Men is also a story about California and the problems which plagued it during the 1930s. John Steinbeck wrote three books which delved into the situation in California in 1930s; Of Mice and Men is the second book in the trilogy. The other two novels were In Dubious Battle and The Grapes of Wrath. In On Mice and Men, the relationship between George and Lennie is set against the backdrop of 1930s California. Both men are migrant workers with a single dream: they wanted to own a piece of land and farm it themselves. George said, â€Å"Someday—we’re gonna get the jack together and we’re gonna have a little house and a couple of acres an’ a cow and some pigs† (Steinbeck, 1994). This dream was influenced, if not completely defined, by the problems of the state at that particular time. In the Introduction of the On Mice and Men, Shillinglaw (1994) described California in the 1930s. During the 1930s, the main problem in California was agricultural labor. Since the 1900s, most of the agriculturally abundant valleys were located in California. Produce such as broccoli, lettuce, sugar beets and strawberries were only some of those harvested in plenitude. The vast farms in California required many laborers for its harvest. Meanwhile, the Southwest region of America suffered from drought. Due to the drought, the once bountiful lands became similar to deserts. As a result, laborers left what was known as the Dust Bowl to try their luck in California. Since 1935, an estimated 350,000 people from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas stormed the Golden State in hopes of finding jobs in the farms. While it was true that California had enormous agricultural fields which supplied most of the country’s produce, the employment of workers were still a problem. There were too many people to accommodate for jobs in these farms. Workers from the Dust Bowl wandered throughout the state in search of crops to farm, as they were desperate for work. By 1936, California was faced with a major problem: the constant flow of poor and hungry migrants from the Southwest. The situation of wandering farm workers was illustrated in Of Mice and Men. The novel began with the arrival of George and Lennie in the Salinas River. George was upset that the bus driver did not drop them off at the proper location. He said, â€Å"Didn’t wanta stop at the ranch gate, that’s what† (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 6). The two men exemplified the situation of all the other migrant workers in California during the 1930s. Agricultural laborers such as George and Lennie were directed from one ranch to another, in search for work. George asked Lennie, â€Å"You remember about us goin’ into Murray and Ready’s, and they give us work cards and bus tickets? † (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 7). Murray and Ready had provided both men with the cards and tickets, then sent them to the next ranch. According to the novel, the last ranch they worked for was called Weed. The plight of the itinerant laborers was best expressed by George’s words: â€Å"They come to a ranch an’ work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they’re poundin’ their tail on some other ranch† (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 15). The novel also portrayed the difficult life of male migrant workers and their need for human company. It was said that majority of the migrant agricultural workers in California were single men. Since the 1870s until 1930, the fruit and wheat crops of the Golden State were harvested by single men. These men were modern day nomads, for they constantly moved from one place to another. They carried bindles whenever they went. George confirmed the situation of male farm workers in California: â€Å"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don’t belong no place† (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 15). The solitude of the farm workers resulted in the constant need for companionship. In the absence of wives and families, the male itinerant laborers develop friendships instead. The friendship between George and Lennie was the kind of relationship created due to the circumstances of the migrant workers. Despite his complaints about having Lennie around, it was apparent that George was just as dependent on Lennie as Lennie was dependent on him. Whenever Lennie threatened to leave, George told him that he wanted his friend to stay. Their bond was so strong that they did not consider themselves as similar to the aforementioned lonely guys. George said: â€Å"With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us† (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 15). The novel revealed how agricultural laborers were marginalized in California society. All of them were misplaced and lived on dire conditions. Despite the unfortunate circumstances which befell them, there are those who remained optimistic and ambitious. However, even the ambitious laborers also fail. They would simply leave the ranch and proceed to another place. In the novel, George and Lennie went to the bunk house of the next ranch they were supposed to work for. When George asked Candy why the former occupant of his new bed quit, this was the response: â€Å"He†¦just quit, the way a guy will. Says it was the food. Just wanted to move† (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 20). George and Lennie were also ambitious. They have grown weary of working from one ranch to another, and working for people like Curley. They dreamt of having a piece of land they can personally attend to. The dream was revealed early on in the novel, and was continuously mentioned throughout the story. Candy overheard the two taking about their desire for their own (Steinbeck, 1994). He responded positively, and even offered his savings to both men so that he could also live on their land. Crooks also learned about the plan to buy land. During one night, Lennie spoke to Crooks about his plan to own land with George. Unlike Candy, Crooks had a different response to the plan. He discouraged Lennie by insinuating that his dream will never come true. Crooks said: â€Å"I seen hundreds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads†¦every damn one of ‘em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ‘em ever gets it† (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 75). The character of Crooks was right; in 1930s California, many workers did not achieve the success they originally hoped to find there. By the end of the novel, George and Lennie proved to be unsuccessful as well. The dream of George and Lennie to obtain their own land did not come true. Lennie has a fondness for petting things which are soft; it was this fondness which guaranteed his demise (Steinbeck, 1994). Lennie and George were forced to leave the ranch in Weed because Lennie’s petting had gotten them in trouble. In the ranch in Soledad, Lennie accidentally killed a puppy because he was too strong. By accident, he pulled the hair of Curley’s wife and also broke her neck, causing her to die. When Curley and the rest of the men in the ranch found out that Lennie killed the wife, they form a mob and went to search for Lennie. Before they arrived at the ranch, George told Lennie to return to the Salinas River in case he got in trouble. George told his friend, â€Å"Lennie—if you jus’ happen to get in trouble like you always done before, I want you to come right here an’ hide in the brush† (Steinbeck, 1994, p. 17). After he killed Curley’s wife, Lennie proceed to the brush and George met him there. George began to speak of the land they would own together and the rabbits that Lennie would take care of. Afterwards, he shot Lennie on the back of his head (Steinbeck, 1994). The farm was a representation of every migrant worker’s dream: to own a piece of land and be in control of their own lives. The farm served as a symbol of freedom and independence. For George, the death of his friend was also the end of their dream. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck was truly a representation of California during the 1930s. Through the story of George, Lennie and the other characters, Steinbeck was able to illustrate the agricultural labor problem that existed in the Golden State during that decade. The novel revealed the displacement of workers, the harsh realities of living as a nomad in California, their isolation and need for companionship and the broken dreams that come with the journey. By reading this novel, one is given a glimpse of California in the 1930s. Reference Steinbeck, J. (1994). Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin Classics.

Hong Kong Education Essay Example for Free

Hong Kong Education Essay The pre-school education voucher scheme was launched by the government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in September 2007. The scheme was meant to introduce reforms in education in efforts to promote good early childhood education as the foundation for a child’s lifelong learning (Education Department, 2000). Based on this scheme, every parent who has a child aged between 3 and 6 years should be given a voucher worth $13,000 every year (HKU Faculty of Education, 2008). Out of the $13,000, $10,000 can be used by the parents to pay tuition fees in the kindergartens. The remaining $ 3000 should then be used for the professional development of the teachers in pre-school institutions. The pre-school education voucher should be used under certain conditions. These conditions are, that the voucher should not be used for generating profit, pre-school institutions such as kindergartens must make sure their accounts are open for inspection, the school must attain the set Education Bureau benchmarks within 5 years based on the pre-school quality of education, and tuition fees need to be under $24,000 for half day and $42,000 for full day programs per student, per annum. Due to the restrictions that accompany the pre-school education voucher scheme in Hong Kong, stakeholders in the education sector have shown concern for the impact of the imposed restrictions. This has resulted to a debate that has involved the government and the stakeholders. Since its introduction in the 2007/2008 years, the voucher scheme has been very important for parents with children attending kindergartens. The scheme has provided parents with direct fee subsidy and this has eased their financial burden. It is estimated that a total of 820 kindergartens which represents 85 per cent of the total number of kindergartens in Hong Kong have joined the scheme. In addition, 117,000 pupils are enjoying the benefits from the pre-school education voucher scheme fee subsidy. Since 1997, pre-school institutions in Hong Kong experienced reforms that considered internal effectiveness in schools to be important (Vickers, 2003). According to the Hong Kong government, the implementation of the voucher scheme is an indication of its commitment and support to pre-school education. In addition, the schemes are a positive response to the demands that have been made by the kindergarten principals and teachers. This has become possible through the financial support that the schemes provide for the professional development of the teachers and the principals. It is very important to note that the primary objective of the pre-school education voucher scheme in Hong Kong is to provide parents with direct fee subsidy. It is estimated that over 80 percent of the total number of kindergarten teachers have managed to obtain the Certificate of Early Childhood Education(C (ECE)). Some teachers have enrolled in the courses or have managed to obtain qualifications equivalent to (C (ECE)). To evaluate whether the voucher scheme has been successful in achieving its objectives, the Education Bureau (EDB) in Hong Kong continues to conduct Quality Review studies. By May 2009, the Education Bureau is estimated to have conducted survey on more than 320 kindergartens. The government of Hong Kong acknowledges that pre school teachers experience pressure at work and they need to develop in their profession. The scheme is considered to be one of the ways through which the teachers’ professional development can be promoted. Impact of the Pre-school education voucher scheme on teacher’s professional development Teachers at pre-school institutions have shown their full commitment and dedication to education in Hong Kong . One of the ways through which the pre-school education voucher scheme has impacted positively on the teacher’s professional development is by trying to reduce the workload of the teachers and the principals. Since one of the primary objectives of the scheme is to promote professional development of the teachers, the Education Bureau has continued to enhance communication between the school administration, teachers and other stakeholders in the sector (Andrew, 2008). This has resulted to efficient and continuous implementation of programs that are aimed at improving the teachers’ professional development. The quality review mechanism that has been adopted by the Education Bureau ensures that school self evaluation is done to encourage continuous improvement in education and the teachers professional development. Teachers have been concerned about the pressure at work that results from the quality review done by the Education Bureau as well as the work load at school. However, the quality reviews that are supported due to the implementation of the pre-school education voucher scheme have promoted professional collaboration between teachers. Pre-school education in Hong Kong has for a long time been provided by the private sector and non-profit making institutions. This demands that all pre-school institutions such as kindergartens to be well placed in a manner that the market forces are used to determine the teachers’ salaries at discretion. The launch of the pre-school voucher schemes has increased financial resources for the kindergartens and schools’ management activities (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, 2007). In addition, these resources have been used to finance efforts that aim at providing a working environment that attracts and retains qualified and well performing teachers. The financial resources injected by the voucher scheme have also been very vital in facilitating the payment of good salaries to the teachers. These benefits have acted as a motivation for the teachers to improve their skills and abilities hence their professional development (The Education Bureau, 2009). The Hong Kong government has reaffirmed its commitment in promoting high quality education at the pre-school level by encouraging schools or kindergartens to provide the teachers with qualification allowances. Research studies that have been conducted to determine the impact of pre-school voucher schemes in Hong Kong show that over 52 per cent of parents, principals and teachers agree that the scheme is a fair policy that promotes excellence in early childhood education. The teachers satisfaction with the scheme has been due to the opportunities the schemes have offered to them to improve their professional skills. Teachers consider the voucher scheme to have a positive influence on the schools and their staff. By improving the quality of education offered at the kindergarten, it has become necessary for teachers qualifications to be improved. This has played an important role in the teachers’ professional development. A large number of parents with children in pre-school institutions assert that the schemes have promoted the qualifications of the teachers as well as the improvement made on the school facilities. The schemes have encouraged teachers to pursue higher education or to undertake more education courses. At the pre-school level, extra curricular activities are very critical for children development and learning (Sweeting, 1990). Teachers compliment learning in class by extra curriculum activities. By participating in the coordination and implementation of extra curricular programs in school, the teachers’ ability to lead and teach is improved. The voucher scheme has increased financial resources to be spent for the extra curricular activities in school. By being involved in the activities, the teachers’ professional ability to use the activities in educating the children is improved. By September 2008, about 30% of teachers at the pre-school level had enrolled and attained good qualifications after enrolling for (C (ECE)) courses which are recommended and supported by the Education Bureau. The pre-school principals who are also teachers have had an opportunity to pursue higher education . For example, about 61 per cent or a large number of principals have been enrolled to undertake the Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood Education (B Ed (ECE). A program to certify the qualification of the principals were put into place in January 2008 . By March 2009, about 300 principals who served in the pre-schools had taken a certification course. For continuous professional development in the teachers, many kindergartens have adopted teacher development subsidy (TDC) to offer the teachers’ school based training programs. The pre-school education voucher scheme provides support services that are offered to develop language skills, cognitive abilities and physical development in children. Teachers gain from this by being engaged in creating a good learning environment, proper children learning, portfolio planning as well as curriculum planning and organization. Being engaged in these activities has been vital in improving the professional skills of the teachers when it comes to planning for good learning at school (Bray and Koo, 2005). The Hong Kong Education Bureau participates in promoting the teachers professional development under the voucher scheme by commissioning a professional training course for their principals. By improving the principals’ leadership and management skills, the teachers are able to get good guidance and effective leadership that relate to the teacher’s work (Ranson, 2003). The principal training course is characterized by an offshore programme and provides an on-spot consultative visit to the principal who participates in the course. About 130 principals are estimated to join the training programme. The principals have given positive feedback about the benefits of the programmes. To support the implementation of the pre-school curriculum revised guide, the Education Bureau organizes professional development programmes which relate to school based curriculum knowledge, leadership, curriculum management and pedagogical knowledge in various areas of learning. This effort has promoted the professional development of the teachers through capacity building. Transparency in pre-school institutions has been promoted by the requirements set by the Education Bureau when it comes to the management of the financial resources . The resources provided by the scheme promote the smooth running of the schools, good remuneration for the teachers and provide a good learning environment. These have gone a long way to increase accountability of the principals and the teachers and this has motivated teachers to embrace good values that are important in professional development. Some of the questions that have been raised about pre-school voucher schemes in Hong Kong is whether the schemes can minimize the overall work pressure on the teachers and improve the staff ratio. The pre –school education voucher schemes have promoted professional upgrading for both the principals and the teachers. For those who serve at PEVs-NPM-KGs, a teacher development subsidy is provided in each voucher. The subsidy is utilized for teacher training and development courses. Furthermore, the teachers and the principals who serve in non PEVs-NMP-KGs can claim a reimbursement from the Education Bureau to cater for up to 50 percent of the fees for a degree or diploma course that has been approved in early childhood education. By the year 2011/2012, all teachers serving at pre-school level are expected to have obtained a certificate in Early Childhood Education (LegCo panel on education, 2009). This together with the demand by the scheme that all kindergarten principals who are appointed from 2009 to have a BEd (ECE) have encouraged teachers to pursue higher education. In addition, the requirement for principals to have a one year post qualification experience and a certification course has encouraged principals and teachers to get engaged in professional development activities and programs. All kindergartens under the scheme have put into place measures that ensure there is continuous professional development by providing school based training programmes under the teacher development subsidy program. Areas of school work that are covered include children’s’ development, learning and teaching, management and organization, and children and school culture support. The quality reviews carried out by the Education Bureau assists the teachers to invest their energy and time in professional development as a way of promoting sustainable school improvement. For example, local non-profit making schools starting 2012-2013 will be able to redeem the education voucher if they are able to meet the prescribed standards of the Quality Review framework (Education Department, 2007). The requirements specified in the Education ordinance (Cap 279) ensures that teachers’ professional development can occur when they meet the set educational standards. The first batch pf 130 Quality Review planned visits began in the 2007-2008 school year (Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, 2008b) and an increase in ratio of graduate teachers in 2008/2009 has raised the professional standards and status of the teachers. The Quality Review Framework promotes transparency and accountability in schools which promotes a culture that is good for professional development of teachers. The Hong Kong government is committed and dedicated to the improvements made in education and the professional development of teachers. The development and implementation of the Pre-school Education Voucher Scheme in Hong Kong is one of the ways through which the government has managed to improve the quality of education and to promote professional development in teachers and principals. High quality education at the pre-school level can be attributed to the pre-school education voucher scheme, classroom inspection and quality reviews in schools. In conclusion, the pre-school education voucher scheme has been promoted through the 2007/08 school year Training Activity, Teacher Development plan for 2008/09 school year, Four-year Teacher Development plan and the professional upgrading of Kindergarten principals and teachers.

Artificial Intelligence In Antivirus Detection System Computer Science Essay

Artificial Intelligence In Antivirus Detection System Computer Science Essay Abstract- Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have played increasingly important role in antivirus detection. At present, some principal artificial intelligence techniques applied in antivirus detection are proposed, including heuristic technique, data mining, agent technique, artificial immune, and artificial neural network. It believes that it will improve the performance of antivirus detection systems, and promote the production of new artificial intelligence algorithm and the application in antivirus detection to integrate antivirus detection with artificial intelligence. This paper introduces the main artificial intelligence technologies,especially Heuristic which have been applied in antivirus system. Meanwhile, it also points out a fact that combining all kinds of artificial intelligence technologies will become the main development trend in the field of antivirus. Keywords- Anti-virus,Artificial Intelligence,Data mining,Heuristic,Neural network Introduction Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the branch of computer science which deals with intelligence of machines where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions which maximize its chances of success.It has numerous applications like robotics,medicine,Finance,Space. One of the most recent one is antivirus softwares. Here we give details regarding heuristic method used in antivirus software. Malware and its types Malware (malicious software) is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owners informed consent. Malware types We can distinguish quite few malicious software types. It is important to be aware that nevertheless all of them have similar purpose, each one behave differently. Viruses Worms Wabbits Trojan horses Exploits/Backdoors Spyware Due to different behaviour, each malware group uses alternative ways of being undetected. This forces anti-virus software producers to develop numerous solutions and countermeasures for computer protection. This paper focuses on methods used especially for virus detection, not necessarily effective against other types of malicious software. Infection Strategies To better understand how viruses are detected and recognized, it is essential to divide them by their infection ways. A. Non Resident Viruses The simplest form of viruses which dont stay in memory, but infect founded executable file and search for another to replicate. Resident viruses More complex and efficient type of viruses which stay in memory and hide their presence from other processes. Kind of TSR apps. Fast infectors type which is designed to infect as many files as possible. Slow infectors using stealth and encryption techniques to stay undetected outlast. Methods Used A. Metaheuristic Metaheuristic is a heuristic method for solving a very general class of computational problems by combining user-given black-box procedures in a hopefully efficient way. Metaheuristics are generally applied to problems for which there is no satisfactory problem-specific algorithm or heuristic. B. Heuristic Heuristic is a method to help solve a problem, commonly an informal method. It is particularly used to rapidly come to a solution that is reasonably close to the best possible answer. General Heuristics It is important to remember that metaheuristics are only ideas to solve a problem not a specific way to do that. List below shows main metaheuristics used for virus detection and recognition: Pattern matching Automatic learning Environment emulation Neural networks Data mining Bayes networks Hidden Markov models Concrete Heuristics Specific heuristics practically used in virus detection and recognition, are naturally inherited from metaheuristics. And so, for example concrete method for virus detection using neural networks can be implementation of SOM (Self Organizing Map). Neural Networks (metaheuristic) à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ SOM (heuristic). The most popular, and one of most efficient heuristic used by anti-virus software is technique called Heuristic Scanning. Lacks in Specific Detection Great deal of modern viruses are only slightly changed versions of few conceptions developed years ago. Specific detection methods like signature scanning became very efficient ways of detecting known threats. Finding specific signature in code allows scanner to recognize every virus which signature has been stored in built-in database. BB ?2 B9 10 01 81 37 ?2 81 77 02 ?2 83 C3 04 E2 F2 FireFly virus signature(hexadecimal) Problem occurs when virus source is changed by a programmer or mutation engine. Signature is being malformed due to even minor changes. Virus may behave in an exactly same way but is undetectable due to new, unique signature. BB ?2 B9 10 01 81 37 ?2 81 A1 D3 ?2 01 C3 04 E2 F2 Malformed signature(hexadecimal) Heuristic Scanning We can recognise a virus without examining its structure by its behaviour and characteristics. Heuristic scanning in its basic form is implementation of three metaheuristics: Pattern matching Automatic learning Environment emulation The basic idea of heuristic scanning is to examine assembly language instruction sequences(step-by-step) and qualify them by their potential harmfulness. If there are sequences behaving suspiciously, program can be qualified as a virus. The phenomenon of this method is that it actually detects threats that arent yet known! Fig1. Examination of assembly language sequence A. Recognising Potential Threat In real anti-virus software, heuristic scanning is implemented to recognize threats by following built-in rules, e.g. if program tries to format hard drive its behaviour is highly suspicious but it can be only simple disk utility. Singular suspicion is never a reason to trigger the alarm. But if the same program also tries to stay resident and contains routine tosearch for executables, it is highly probable that its a real virus. AV software very often classifies sequences by their behaviour granting them a flag. Every flag has its weight, if total values for one program exceeds a predefined threshold, scanner regards it as virus. Fig.2. Single-layer classifier with threshold Heuristics Flags Some scanners set a flag for each suspected ability which has been found in the file being analyzed. This makes it easier to explain to the user what has been found. TbScan for instance recognizes many suspected instruction sequences. Every suspected instruction sequence has a flag assigned to it. A. Flag Description: F = Suspicious file access. Might be able to infect a file. R = Relocator. Program code will be relocated in a suspicious way. A = Suspicious Memory Allocation. The program uses a non-standard way to search for, and/or allocate memory. N = Wrong name extension. Extension conflicts with program structure. S = Contains a routine to search for executable (.COM or .EXE) files. # = Found an instruction decryption routine. This is common for viruses but also for some protected software. E = Flexible Entry-point. The code seems to be designed to be linked on any location within an executable file. Common for viruses. L = The program traps the loading of software. Might be a virus that intercepts program load to infect the software. D = Disk write access. The program writes to disk without using DOS. M = Memory resident code. This program is designed to stay in memory. ! = Invalid opcode (non-8088 instructions) or out-of-range branch. T = Incorrect timestamp. Some viruses use this to mark infected files. J = Suspicious jump construct. Entry point via chained or indirect jumps. This is unusual for normal software but common for viruses. ? = Inconsistent exe-header. Might be a virus but can also be a bug. G = Garbage instructions. Contains code that seems to have no purpose other than encryption or avoiding recognition by virus scanners. U = Undocumented interrupt/DOS call. The program might be just tricky but can also be a virus using a non-standard way to detect itself. Z = EXE/COM determination. The program tries to check whether a file is a COM or EXE file. Viruses need to do this to infect a program. O = Found code that can be used to overwrite/move a program in memory. B = Back to entry point. Contains code to re-start the program after modifications at the entry-point are made. Very usual for viruses. K = Unusual stack. The program has a suspicious stack or an odd stack. Avoiding False Positives Just like all other generic detection techniques, heuristic scanners sometimes blame innocent programs for being contaminated by a virus. This is called a false positive or False Alarm. The reason for this is simple. Some programs happen to have several suspected abilities. If a heuristic scanner pops up with a message saying: This program is able to format a disk and it stays resident in memory, and the program is a resident disk format utility, is this really a false alarm? Actually, the scanner is right. A resident format utility obviously contains code to format a disk, and it contains code to stay resident in memory. The heuristic scanner is therefore completely right! You could name it a false suspicion, but not a false positive. The only problem here is that the scanner says that it might be a virus. If you think the scanner tells you it has found a virus, it turns out to be a false alarm. However, if you take this information as is, saying ok, the facts you reported are true for this program, I can verify this so it is not a virus, I wouldnt count it as a false alarm. The scanner just tells the truth. The main problem here is the person who has to make decisions with the information supplied by the scanner. If it is a novice user, it is a problem. Whether we call it a false positive or a false suspicion doesnt matter. We do not like the scanner to yell every time we scan. So we need to avoid this situation. How do we achieve this? Definition of (combinations of) suspicious abilities Recognition of common program codes Recognition of specific programs Assumption that the machine is initially not infected Performance of Heuristics Scanning Heuristics is a relatively new technique and still under development. It is however gaining importance rapidly. This is not surprising as heuristic scanners are able to detect over 90% of the viruses without using any predefined information like signatures or checksum values. The amount of false positives depends on the scanner, but a figure as low as 0.1% can be reached easily. A false positive test however is more difficult to perform so there are no independent results available. Pros and Cons A. Advantages Can detect future viruses. User is less dependent on product updates. B. Disadvantages False positives are possible. Judgment of the result requires some basic knowledge. Conclusions Thus, artificial intelligence technique helps improving the performance of antivirus softwares. This detection-avoiding method makes detection by conventional anti-virus products easier because it means that the programmer can not use very tight and straight code. The virus writer will be forced to write more complex viruses. Thus artificial intelligence increases the threat to virus writers. Acknowledgment I hereby thank Ms.Padmapriya for encouraging and helping us for the submission of this paper