How does the western model of Internet Banking apply to Russia Literature review

How does the western model of Internet Banking apply to Russia - Literature review Example Recently many banks have adopted online banking. With its boom in the United States and the United Kingdom, online baking has subsequently spread to other areas, Russia included. Victor (2008, p. 724) asserts that although this is the era of internet boom in many regions of the world and that more developed countries are increasingly using the internet for various ways, the reality is that most of the developing countries are yet to fully adopt the internet and embrace it as a way of doing business. The online banking, commonly referred to as the internet banking is one of the newest forms of banking adopted by banks in the developed countries. According to Arnaboldi (2009, p. 1), â€Å"a few pioneering banks started to offer products via the internet in the mid-nineties.† This shows long the service has been on going in the European-banking sector. However, Russia and other Eastern Europe countries are yet to realize the dream of conducting most of their banking operations wi th convenience of their mobile phones and computers. Hopes of these people transforming their banking services and fully going digital are still alive, if the current changes and improvements in the banking sector are anything to go by. More and more, banks in the Russian region have embraced the need to go online, with many customers already subscribing to internet banking. While the previous technologies used in the country were unreliably painful to the customers, current innovative improvements in the sector provide hopes for a full transformation of the entire sector. However, not all western banking models are applicable in the Russian situation. A few modifications are necessary to make it compatible with the Russian customer base. This is because of the differences in customer base between the developed and the developing countries (Jaruwachirathanakul & Fink 2005 p. 302). The slow nature of the internet banking penetration rate of the people constrains the hopes of growing and expanding this sector to robust volumes such as in the United States and on the United Kingdom. Hopes for growing the sector are still high, as 10-12 per cent of the total bankable population are ready and more than willing. This percentage loves the convenience of the internet, as well as its efficiency. The biggest booster of this trend is the adoption of the emoney and the money kiosks industry. Most of the banks offering internet banking in Russia offer payment services. This is however, a misconception about the whole issue about internet banking, a notion held by most of these banks’ customers. Initially, banks offer banks offer iBanking services to their customers, with only the opportunity to make their payments. The biggest advantage for this service is its ability to reduce the transaction costs for the customers. However, banks miss out from making sales, which were potentially available for the banks to exploit. Mols (2000, p. 12) stresses on the important rol e-played by the internet to business organizations in marketing their products and services. according to Mols, (2000, p. 14), the increase in online marketing offers business organizations unlimited opportunities to advertise and sell their products and services. As such, many organizations have introduced online sales that allow customers to search and pay for the ownership of goods. Benefits accrued from online banking cannot be underestimated. In most cases, young men aged between 25

Determination of Dissolved Oxygen In a Water Essay Example for Free

Determination of Dissolved Oxygen In a Water Essay INTRODUCTION In an alkaline solution, dissolved oxygen will oxidize manganese(II) to the trivalent state. 8OH-(aq) + 4Mn2+(aq) + 2H2O(l) ï ¼ Ã¯ ¼ Ã¯ ¼Å¾ 4Mn(OH)3(s) The analysis is completed by titrating the iodine produced from potassium iodide by manganese(III) hydroxide. 2Mn(OH)3(s) + 2I-(aq) + 6 H+(aq) ï ¼ Ã¯ ¼ Ã¯ ¼Å¾ 2Mn2+(aq) + I2(aq) + 6H2O(l) Sodium thiosulphate is used as the titrant. Success of the method is critically dependent upon the manner in which the sample is manipulated. At all stages, every method must be made to assure that oxygen is neither introduced to nor lost from the sample. Furthermore, the sample must be free of any solutes that will oxidize iodide or reduce iodine. Chemicals: Manganese(II) sulphate solution – prepared by dissolving 48 g of MnSO4.4H2O in water to five 100 cm3 solution; alkaline potassium iodide solution—prepared by dissolving 15 g of KI in about 25 cm3 of water, adding 66 cm3 of 50% NaOH, and diluting to 100 cm3; concentrated sulphuriv(VI) acid; 0.0125 M sodium thiosulphate solution; starch solution (freshly prepared). Apparatus: 250 cm3 volumetric flask, 250 cm3 conical flask, measuring cylinders, titration apparatus, magnetic stirrer Procedure: 1.Use a 250 cm3 volumetric flask to collect water sample. Fill the flask completely with water without trapping any air bubbles. 2.Add 1 cm3 of manganese(II) sulphate solution to the sample using a pipette. Discharge the solution well below the surface (some overflow will occur). 3.Similarity introduce 1 cm3 of alkaline potassium iodide solution. Be sure that no air becomes entrapped. Invert the bottle to distribute the precipitate uniformly. [Hazard Warning: Care should be taken to avoid exposure to any overflow, as the solution is quite alkaline.] 4.When the precipitate has  settled at least 3 cm below the stopper, introduce 1 cm3 of concentrated sulphuric acid well below the surface. Replace the stopper and carefully mix until the precipitate disappears. A magnetic stirrer is helpful here. 5.Allow the mixture to stand for 5 minutes and then withdraw 100cm3 of the acidified sample into a 250 cm3 conical flask. 6.Titrate with 0.0125M sodium thiosulphate until the iodine colour bec omes faint. Then add 1 cm3 of starch solution and continue adding the thiosulphate solution until the blue colour disappears. 7.Record the volume of thiosulphate solution used and calculate the dissolved oxygen content in the sample in mg dm-3. Remarks 1.If the water sample has a low DO value, it is recommended to withdraw 200 cm3 of the acidified sample into a 500 cm3 flask for the titration describe in step 5. 2.This experiment can be further developed into a project to study the extent of water pollution. (a)The water sample under investigation is divided into two portions. One portion of the sample is immediately analysed for dissolving oxygen using the Winkler method. The other portion is stored in the dark for five days. (b)Repeat the analysis with the water sample that has been stored in the dark for five days. The difference between the two measurements is the five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), measured in mg dm-3.

Role of HR managers in Recruitment and Selection

Role of HR managers in Recruitment and Selection To analyse the role of HR managers in Recruitment and Selection, it essential to firstly understand what is Recruitment and Selection, in what ways does it affect the goals of the organisations. When an employee leaves an organisation, it affects not only the organisation but also the individual employee and society as a whole (Mobley, 1982, p. 15- 31, cited in Morrell et al., 2001, p. 220). The productivity and efficiency of organisations depend upon the quality of their workforce or human capital and there is a general agreement that its fixed capital is relatively increasing (Wolf and Jenkins, 2006). The HR managers should develop strategic methods for Recruitment and Selection. Schmitt and Chan (1998:239), defined the goals of strategic HRM, to acquire deploy and allocate human resources in ways that provide the organisation with a competitive advantage (Wolf and Jenkins, 2006). Recruitment and Selection is one of the element of an array of HR practices that needs to be integrate d into a coherent bundle by organisations in order to support the delivery of cooperate strategy. Recruitment and Selection is the main function of Human Resourcing in organisations (Newell and Rice, 1999, cited in Millmore, 2003, p. 8). Recruitment and Selection as The processes by which organizations solicit, contact, and interest potential appointees, and then establish whether it would be appropriate to appoint any of them (Watson, 1994, p.185 cited in Bratton and Gold, 1999, p.192). Recruitment involves the utilization of organisational practices to influence the number and types of individuals who are willing to apply for job vacancies (Rynes, 1991; Rynes Cable, 2003). Recruitment can focus on internal labour market (like pursuing staff already employed by the organization) or external labour market (like pursuing applicants from outside the organization). Internal candidates can be recruited through internal job postings, word-of-mouth or internship programs. (Casper) Organisations are undergoing changes in terms of expansion-beyond the local to national and international frontiers. Therefore, recruitment and selection processes used by organisations are becoming more sophisticated. Selection is a process through which a firm chooses an applicant from a pool of applicants for a post, within the organisation by using techniques to decide which applicant is best suited for the vacancy in question by contrast recruitment involves choosing an applicant from an ex ternal pool by actively soliciting applications from potential employees. Recruitment is a positive activity where the employers sell themselves into the labour market to increase the pool of deserving candidates, from which employees are chosen. Selection can be viewed as a negative activity as it involves choosing the best candidate. The goal of recruitment and selection processes is to judge the psychological difference between individuals and its relationship to following job performance. The recruitment and selection process has two main characteristics attraction which determines how an individual becomes an applicant it signifies the two-way power relationship involved in selection and assessment which refers to assessment of application within a work context this is done by using tools like references, curriculum vitas, autobiographical application blanks, interviews, personality psychometric tests and work-sample methods (Searle, 2003). Assessment of suitability for organi sational needs reflect priorities in an employers agenda, rather than a potential employees concerns (Schuler et al., 1993, cited in Ramsay et al., 1999, p. 65). In the 1980s, major changes took place in regards to HR practices within the organisations. This was a result of increasing awareness and impact of HR on the firms. During this period the HR policies emerged as a lever for organisations, assisting them in repositioning or strengthening, their place within a particular sector. As a part of resultant changes, selection and recruitment processes were recognised as critical components in successful change management (Iles and Salaman, 1995, p. 203). The integration and internal consistency of HR systems is important for organisational success (Legge, 1995). Recruitment and Selection is one of the tools within the HR strategy. For an HR manager hiring competent people is of paramount importance which can be attained by using effective recruitment and selection processes, with the goal of choosing the right candidate and rejecting the wrong. For example: The Telebank case study (Korczynski et al., 1999, cited in Callaghan and Thompson, 2002), reflects a shift in trend from manufacturing to service sector contribution in the overall economy. In service sector, work and empathy towards the customer plays a prime role in recruitment and other HR processes. Its therefore important for the HR Manager to recruit a staff with the desired attitudinal and behavioural characteristics, induct them in the companys philosophy and retain them. As an HR Manager it is essential to note that selection frequently focuses on attitudes to flexibility and service to customer than skill or qualification levels of the candidate (Redman and Mathews, 1998, p. 60 cited in Callaghan and Thompson, 2002). Also attracting good talent me ans increase in remuneration rate, better pay package, working conditions, job security and internal career mapping (Arthur, 1994; Appelbaum et al., 2000; Batt et al., 2002, cited in Smith et al., 2004). Bach (2008) defines Recruitment as the process of attracting people who might make an organizational contribution to fill a particular role or job. Approaches to Recruitment: Internal Recruitment: Most of the private sector employers, attempt to fill vacancies internally before they consider looking for people outside the organisation (Newell and Shackleton 2000, p. 116, CIPD 2003b, p. 11). Public sector is open to advertising both internally and externally. Fuller and Huber (1998, p. 621) have identified four different forms of internal recruitment activities namely, internal promotions, lateral transfers, job rotation, re-hiring former employees. This is profitable for both the employees and the organisations. Internal recruitment is cost effective and firms do not have to advertise jobs, it can be done by using intranet services, newsletters and staff notice boards. It helps in boosting the morale of the employee, building a strong internal labour force. The organisation also maximises its return on investment in staff training, by bringing in increased motivation, deepened skills and high level of commitment, providing the organisation with a competit ive edge leading to organisational effectiveness. Selection is done on the basis of the individuals merit and knowledge. The organisations express their models of employee characteristics and the behaviour required of potential employees through competency frameworks (Roberts, 1997). These frameworks help the organisations to recruit and select the suitable people through sophisticated techniques. There are certain negative aspects of internal recruitment as well; if all the recruitment to all the positions is done internally, it would lead to stagnation, there would be lack of originality and a fall in the organisations knowledge base. It might so happen that the best suited candidate for the job is not currently working for the organisation. Internal recruitment adds to the long term imbalances of the workforce, the ethnic minorities who are not well represented will be subjected to inequality. IRS (2002d) highlights a problematic feature of internal recruitment; it includes the n eed of managing of situations in which candidates are unsuccessful. Turning down external candidates would not cause a problem instead turning down internal candidates would create a difficult situation which then needs careful management. Exclusive use of internal recruitment is less common in the public sector organisations, as they believe in advertising all vacancies externally. They do so because they at all levels want to reflect that their staffs reflect the make-up of the whole society. For example NHS and local governments advertise their jobs in newspapers. (Storey, 2007). External Recruitment: there are lots of different approaches used to attract prospective candidates, more conventional than the other. There are five formal methods used for most of the jobs, these are, Printed media which includes national newspapers, local newspapers, trade and professional journals, magazines. External agencies which includes job centres, outplacement consultants, head-hunters, employment agencies, Forces Resettlement Agency, Recruitment consultants. Education Liaison consists of careers service, career fairs, college tutors, career advisors, student societies. Other media includes direct mail, local radio, teletext, billboards, internet, TV and cinema. Professional contacts consist of conferences, trade union referrals, suppliers, industry contacts. There are some other methods that can be used such as word of mouth or grapevine. These are cost effective as well. A lot of considerations must be taken into mind before deciding which method to use. For example, it would be inappropriate to advertise for an engineer in a medical journal. Another consideration is the number of applicants each method can yield and the ability of the personnel specialists to administer them effectively. For example, opening a new store would lead in creation of hundreds of new jobs. There is a new method of external recruitment known as E- recruitment or Internet Recruitment. In the first few years of the 21st century it has been noticed that there is an expansion to include vacancies in all work areas over the internet. Over 70 percent of employers were advertising some jobs on the internet in 2003 (CIPD 2003b, p15). The web based recruitment has changed the way the recruitment industry operates, it is a revolutionary development. Internet Recruitmen t is of four different forms, namely, Employer websites it involves maintaining pages of vacancy as a part of their organisations websites. They are cheap to operate for the employee and provide numerous options to the organisation in choosing its employee. This method has drawbacks as well, this approach this viable for large- sized employers within defined labour markets, medium or small scale employers will not benefit from this approach. Cyber agencies involve making use of specialist employment agencies that operates on the web, well known examples are Monster.com. They advertise the jobs as well as undertake short listing on behalf of employers depending on the CVs sent by candidates. Schreyer and McCarter (1998, p. 222) stated that in time a handful of highly sophisticated, international operations will emerge and carry general job vacancies on behalf of the industrialised world. Jobsites linked to newspapers and journals includes all recruitment-based websites that runs parallel with job based operations, for example, London Evening Standard. These sites publish jobs which have already been published in newspapers and journals. The advantage of this is that the job seekers can directly reach the employers site via hotlink, send an e-mail and search for vacancies in the job bank. Jobsites operated by employment agencies includes employment agents developing a formidable web presence. The job seekers register with these agencies and browse vacancies using the search engine. The government also advertises its vacancies on the internet via its Learning and Work Bank. Employee Recruitment and selection is one of the key functions of a manager. The manager has to take the decision whether to recruit internally or externally. WERS survey questioned managers whether internal applicants are given more preference over external applicants while filling vacancies. The majority of the managers responded that both external and internal applicants were treated equally, 10percent preferred external applicants where as one-fifth preferred internal applicants. Large workplaces which consisted of more than 100 employees preferred internal applicants than smaller workplaces. Private sector workplaces preferred internal applicants in comparison to the public sector workplace who preferred recruiting external applicants. This association held for after controlling for workplace size. Managers preferring to recruit internally was unchanged during 1998 to 2004. HR practices being outsourced is an increasing phenomenon these days. Recruitment and Selection has become one of the outsourced HR practices, depending on the size of the firm. For example: Andrea Ordanini Giacomos article is based on outsourcing the decisions of Recruitment and Selection. They stated that an efficient model based on competitive motivations, transaction cost economy was formed and was tested in 276 organisations both medium and large. It was found that both efficiency motivations and competitive issues are important. Selection is the process by which managers and others use specific instruments to choose from a pool of applicants a person or persons most likely to succeed in the job(s), given management goals and legal requirement (Bratton and Gold, 2003, p. 221). There are two key principles underlying the process of selection, they are individual differences, a way of measuring how one individual is distinct from other. They may differ in terms of intelligence, skills, age, experience, etc. Then is prediction, which recognises that individual differences may be a measure of predicting performance at workplace. Interview is the most common method of selection, as shown in Figure 2 below. However, firms are realising the importance of selection and are applying other methods to bring in effectiveness to the process. Smith and Graves (2002) have highlighted that there are concerns expressed in the literature about the usage of traditional interview methods. Along with the interview, other methods like application forms and letters of reference are used which is referred as the classic trio by Cook (1994, p. 15). Viewed from a psychometric perspective three criterias are applied to measure the effectiveness of the selection tool (Bratton and Gold, 2007, p. 258). These are validity, concerns the degree of appropriateness of what is being measured, reliability which focuses on accuracy of the data and lastly, usefulness. Validity can be defined as the agreement between a test score or measure and the quantity it is believed to measure (Kaplan and Saccuzzo, 2001, p. 32). The definition emphasises on what does the test offer to measure and what it really measures. Validity may also depend upon the purpose of the test. For example, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator is a personality-assessment test but is stated that it is a valid test only for development purposes. Validity is a difficult issue to prove, there are four ways to identify validity: face validity, content validity, construct validity and criterion-related validity. Out of these types of validity the most important is the predictive or criterion- related validity. It involves establishing relation between predictors and the criterion.Face validity is important for people who are taking the test; it depends on the appearance of the test. The test-takers have put in their time and effort to get a job and therefore, should feel satisfied by the assessment and feel it was relevant. It may sometimes have an adverse effect on the test- users who keep deciding which tool to use for selection. Sometimes without accessing the entire information through the manual handbooks about the test, the test-user makes a decision depending upon how the test looks. It may therefore provide false validity and may prove to be a distraction. Content validity is concerned with accuracy of the theory it covers. It is found in attainment, when a person is required to display their knowledge or skills in a particular area. For example, a test assessing competence of a Personnel Manager would be expected to include items taken from Human resource syllabus. Content validity is the only form of validity which is based on logical information. There are two problems of content validity namely, content under- representation, that is when an important component or information relevant to the theory is omitted. The second issue is construct- irrelevant variance that is contaminating the conceptual domain by components which are not relevant.Construct validity was introduced by Cronbach and Meehl (1955) when they stated that underlying each test there is a construct that gets assessed. It assumes that anything can be defined and measured. All the information regarding the definition of the topic that is being assessed and the develop ment procedure for the test should be present in the test manual. The test manual shows the composition of the test and also defines the population used for comparisons. An advantage of construct validity is that the tools occupy a conceptual domain; it is entirely based on theory. The new construction methods use Item Response Theory (IRT). In this theory the test must measure an underlying construct, it should be uni-dimensional, but it does not specify what construct it is or what construct it must be (Schimidt et.al., 2000). Criterion-related validity states what is being measured to an external criterion. It can be assessed in two different ways, namely, concurrent validity and predictive validity. Concurrent validity can be checked by assessing the test- takers performance, at that particular time in the test as they undertake another assessment. It deals with current level of individuals performance. This assessment is based on the validity of both the test and verifies the validity of the criterion. For example Eyesenck Personality Test. Predictive validity emphasises on the future and assesses the person to reveal the connection between the initial result and the latter outcome, at two separate points. This is an important tool for identifying individuals suitable for promotion to senior roles. Reliability mainly refers to the stability of a method used to select individuals. There are many types of reliability out of which three are the most important one in relation to selection methods. First being Testee reliability that is the test should provide the same result overtime. Then comes Tester reliability, it states that if one individual is interviewed by two different people and they both have different opinions about him, that is if one is satisfied and the other is not. It can be concluded that the selection method is not reliable. Thirdly, Test reliability states that there should be consistency in the results. Interview being the most common method of selection which has been noticed above, but research shows that other methods are used in combination with it. The pre- selection method starts first with application forms, CVs and sometimes biographical data consisting of individuals experiences and achievements. It has been noticed that bio datas improve validity. Gathering CVs through internet also improves the early screening process. The other methods used in selection are Interviews it may be structured or unstructured interviews, psychological tests which includes cognitive tests, personality tests, assessment centres which includes interviews, psychometric tests, stimulation of actual work tasks in order to observe job-related behaviours (Cooper and Robertson, 1995). Conclusion Smith (1994) differentiated between three forms of individual characteristics that relate to job performance: universals which refers to characteristics relevant to all jobs; occupational which refers to characteristics preferable to a particular job or occupation; and lastly relationals it refers to characteristics relevant in a particular work setting. This structure suggests that it is necessary to match characteristics of individuals with the characteristics of the particular work setting. Research has shown that people who fit in the work setting are more committed and satisfied compared to people who do not fit. (OReilly et al.1991). Thus recruitment and selection process is of utmost importance. Organisations have now got the ability to construct appropriate models for recruitment and selection by using reliable and valid techniques. Recruitment and selection are the first stage of interaction between organisations and applicants, which forms the employment relationship. (Brat ton and Gold,1999,p.207). Recruitment and selection are a part of the broader process of socialisation. Selectors should be aware of how well particular methods predict future performance (their validity) and of different methods cost, accuracy of tests. Growing awareness of the potential contribution of HR practices to business strategy (Guest and King, 2004) may increase organisational receptiveness to HR involvement (Wolf and Jenkins, 2006). Finally, I would like to conclude by saying that both the methods of recruitment, internal and external are important for the functioning of the organisation and also depends upon the size of the organisation. From the above argument we get a clear picture that managers should be very strategic. They should look at the validity and reliability of every method of selection. For example: we cannot use only CVs to recruit a middle manager. REFERENCES: Bach, S. (2008) Managing Human Resources: Personnel Management in Transition. 4th edition. Blackwell Publishing, UK Boxall, P. and Purcell, J. (2008) Strategy and Human Resource Management. 2nd edition. Palgrave Macmillan, New York Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (1999) Human Resource Management Theory and Practice. 2nd edition. Palgrave Macmillan, New York Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (2003) Human Resource Management Theory and Practice. 3rd edition. Palgrave Macmillan, New York Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (2007) Human Resource Management Theory and Practice. 4th edition. Palgrave Macmillan, New York Callaghan, G. and Thompson, P. (2002) We recruit attitude: The selection and shaping of routine call centre labour, Journal of Management Studies: 39(2): 233-254 Kersley, B., Alpin, C., Forth, J., Bryson, A., Bewley, H., Dix, D., Oxenbridge, S. (2007) Inside the workplace: Findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey. Oxon: Routledge Millmore, M. (2003) Just how extensive is the practice of strategic recruitment and selection, Irish Journal of Management, 24(1): 87-108 Morrell, K., Loan-Clarke, J. and Wilkinson, A. (2001) Unweaving Leaving: the use of models in the management of employee turnover, International Journal of Management Reviews, 3(3): 5-22 Nolan, P. (1992) Securing human resources: Employer strategies and the labour market, in E. Thorne (ed.) The Challenge of the Economic Environment, Open University Press Ordanini, A. and Silvestri, G. (2008) Recruitment and selection services: efficiency and competitive reasons in the outsourcing of HR practices, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 19,2, pp 372-391 Ramsay, H. and Scholarios, D. (1999) Selective decisions: Challenging orthodox analyses of the hiring process, International Journal of Management Reviews, 1(4): 63-89 Searle, R. (2003) Selection and Recruitment A critical text, Milton Keynes: The Open University 1st edition: Palgrave Macmillan: UK Smith, C., Daskalaki, M, Elger, T. and Brown, D. (2004) Labour turnover and management retention strategies in new manufacturing plants, International Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(2): 371-396 Storey, J. (2007) Human Resource Management a critical text. 3rd edition. Thomson Learning, London Taylor, S. (2005) People Resourcing. 3rd edition CIPD, London Torrington, D., Hall, L., and Taylor S. (2002) Human Resource Management. 5th edition. FT Prentice Hall, England Wolf, A. and Jenkins, A. (2006) Explaining greater test use for selection: the role of HR professionals in a world of expanding regulation, Human Resource Management Journal, 16(2): 193-213

Decriminalization and Legalizing Marijuana in America Essay -- Illicit

Marijuana prohibition in the American criminal laws is quite exceptional. There are no other laws that are both enforced so widely and severely across the country, but yet considered unnecessary by such an overwhelming portion of the country’s populace. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, â€Å"Marijuana is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States.† The advocacy group National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws claims that marijuana is the third-most popular recreational drug in America, behind only alcohol and tobacco. In the early 1900’s, marijuana was viewed by prohibitionists to be the worst narcotic known to man and the effects of use created insanity, murder, and death. And without any public debate, scientific inquiries, or political objection the Marijuana Tax Act was signed by then President Roosevelt in 1937. But after numerous years of research, scientists have proven repeatedly that marijuana is not the same as the harsher drugs such as heroin and cocaine and should not be classified as a dangerous, evil, killer narcotic. The Institute of Medicine and other bodies of research have concluded that there is no evidence supporting marijuana is a â€Å"gate-way† drug, certainly no more than either tobacco or alcohol is. Although, some people use marijuana in excess, most who smoke marijuana never become dependent. No one has ever died from an overdose of marijuana, unlike alcohol, and marijuana has not been associated with violent behavior either. People who have used marijuana describe the effects of the drug to be calming, enhancing their creativeness, increasing their appetite and making them sleepy. Dr. Daniele Piomelli at the University of California, Irvine is at the forefront ... ... the use and possession of marijuana has been ever-increasing over the past several years, rising to over 50% today – that is an all time record high. If the current trend continues, the pressure will definitely encourage the nation’s laws into compliance with the people’s desires. Works Cited (1) Drum, Kevin. â€Å"The Patriot’s Guide to Legalization.† Mother Jones Vol. 34, No. 4 31 Jul 2009: pg. 49. SIRS issues Researcher. Web. 27 Oct 2011. (2) Nadleman and Piper. â€Å"Should the U.S. Decriminalize Marijuana?† The Washington Times. Sunday read. 26 April 2009. LexisNexis News. Researcher. Web 27 Oct 2011 (3) Newport, Frank. â€Å"Record –High 50% of Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana Use.† Princeton, NJ. 17 Oct 2011: pg. 1-3. Gallup. Researcher. Web. 27 Oct 2011 (4) NGC. â€Å"Drugged: High on Marijuana.† Documentary 2011 Vesta, Solomon. â€Å"Grass.† Documentary 1999.

How to Grow Old

How to Grow Old Bertrand Russell In spite of the title,this article will really be on how not to grow old,which,at my time of life,is a much more important subject. My first advice would be to choose your ancestors carefully. Although both my parents died young,I have done well in this respect as regards my other ancestors. My maternal grandfather,it is true,was cut off in the flower of his youth at the age of sixty-seven,but my other three grandparents all lived to be over eighty. Of remoter ancestors I can only discover one who did not live to a great age, and he died of a disease which is now rare,namely,having his head cut off.A great-grandmother of mine,who was a friend of Gibbon,lived to the age of ninety-two,and to her last day remained a terror to all her descendants. My maternal grandmother,after having nine children who survived, one who died in infancy, and many miscarriage,as soon as she became a widow devoted herself to women’s higher education. She was one of the founders of Girton College,and worked hard at opening the medical profession to women. She used to relate how she met in Italy an elderly gentleman who was looking very sad.She inquired the cause of his melancholy and he said that he had just parted from his two grandchildren. â€Å"Good gracious,† she exclaimed, â€Å" I have seventy-two grandchild, and if I were sad each time I parted from one of them, I should have a dismal existence! † â€Å"Madre snaturale,† he replied. But speaking as one of the seventy-two,I prefer her recipe. After the age of eighty she found she had some difficulty in getting to sleep,so she habitually spent the hours from midnight to 3 a. m. in reading popular science. I do not believe that she ever had time to notice that she was growing old.This,I think,is the proper recipe for remaining young. If you have wide and keen interests and activities in which you can still be effective,you will have no reason to think about the merely sta tistical fact of the number of years you have already lived,still less of the probable brevity of your future. As regards health, I have nothing useful to say since I have little experience of illness. I eat and drink whatever I like,and sleep when I cannot keep awake. I never do anything whatever on the ground that it is good for health,though in actual fact the things I like doing are mostly wholesome.Psychologically there are two dangers to be guarded against in old age. One of these is undue absorption in the past. It does not do to live in memories,in regrets for the good old days,or in sadness about friends who are dead. One’s thoughts must be directed to the future,and to things about which there is something to be done. This is not always easy;one’s own past is a gradually increasing weight. It is easy to think to oneself that one’s emotions used to be more vivid than they are,and one’s mind more keen. If this is true it should be forgotten,and if it is forgotten it will probably not be true.The other thing to be avoided is clinging to youth in the hope of sucking vigor from its vitality. When your children are grown up they want to live their own lives,and if you continue to be as interested in them as you were when they were young,you are likely to become a burden to them,unless they are unusually callous. I do not mean that one should be without interest in them,but one’s interest should be contemplative and,If possible,philanthropic,but not unduly emotional. Animals become indifferent to their young as soon as their young can look after themselves,but human beings,owing to the length of infancy,find this difficult.I think that a successful old age is easiest for those who have strong impersonal interests involving appropriate activities. It is in this sphere that long experience is really fruitful, and it is in this sphere that the wisdom born of experience can be exercised without being oppressive. It is no use t elling grown-up children not to make mistakes, both because they will not believe you, and because mistakes are an essential part of education. But if you are one of those who are incapable of impersonal interests, you may find that your life will be empty unless you concern yourself with your children and grandchildren.In that case you must realize that while you can still render them material service, such as making them all allowance or knitting them jumpers, you must not expect that they will enjoy your company. Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for this feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer.But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it — so at least it seems to me — is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river — small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls.Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will be not unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do, and content in the thought that what was possible has been done . (from Portraits from Memory and Other Essays)

Plese Find The Attached File And Follow The Instraction Case Study

Plese Find The Attached File And Follow The Instraction Case Study Plese Find The Attached File And Follow The Instraction – Case Study Example Science program Apart from a few sub problems identified in the case study, the main problem is deterioration performance in the school’s science program. This deterioration is as a result of two factors, inadequate learning materials for the science program and failure of science teachers in the school to major in science. However, in a problem solving process both teachers and students need to get involved (Wetherill, 14). The Chief school administrator and all principals around the district need also to be contacted in order to acquire solutions of the problems outlined in the school’s science program. Over the past five years, the school’s science program has experienced a shortage of learning materials resulting to deterioration of student performance. Those doing the science program are observed to perform poorly in their examinations and therefore, becoming difficult for them to end up into better universities or colleges. Another observation is that there has been a decrease of the number of students joining the advanced science classes due to poor teaching practices. Many of the science teachers are not skilled enough because they have not majored in science, meaning science is their second teaching field. (Wetherill 21).However, in order to come up with better solutions we need to look at a number of issues. Students and teachers should be involved in problem solving process where students should be motivated and shown the purpose of performing well in science program. Those teachers that get an opportunity in the school should have the required skills in science program. The Chief school administrator and the surrounding Principals in the district need to be consulted as well, in order to help influence the board of education in offering instructional budget. Instructional budget can therefore be used to raise learning materials required in the science program as well as other reading programs in the entire school. In addition, a part from the potential positive consequences of the instructional budget in providing learning materials in the school, the negative consequences are that many academic departments tend to fill jealousy about matters of the budget hence misusing it (Wetherill 32).In conclusion, a number of issues highlighted in the case study are clearly revealed in the paper. It reveals the problems encountered by the school’s science program and how a problem solving process sets in to tackle these problems. However, the outcome is that the school’s science program gets improved in terms of learning materials and calls for better performance for the entire students. Work CitedWetherill, Richard. How To Solve Problems and Prevent Trouble. Royersford: The Alpha Publishing House, 1991. Print.