Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Do Animals Feel Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Do Animals Feel - Research Paper Example The scientific research in evolutionary biology, cognitive ethology and neuroscience states that diverse animals have rich and deep emotional lives. Emotions served as the instrument to bond and attach animals with one another. Emotions, empathy and distinguishing right from wrong are the essential keys for survival on this complex environment and social interactions about lifestyle of different species (Goodal & Bekoff, 18). Humans experienced different forms of pain as well as animals. Pain is a subjective sensation that every individual verbalized and feel. According to Sneddon in 2011 people and animals almost have the same mechanisms of pain detection and have similar areas of brain involved in how the pain is processed. In addition, humans and animals are similar in terms of pain behaviors, but obviously, assessing pain in animals is more difficult to distinguish compared from human pain. Similarly, Sneddon identified the two components of pain: the physical hurt or discomfort which is caused by inflicting injury, illness or disease and the emotional hurt or suffering. Sneddon concluded that animals, just like humans, are capable of feeling physical and emotional pain (n.p.). Humans can feel emotional pain without physical injuries or disease such as after a loss of loved one, break-up of a relationship, loss of important things in their life, etc. Contrary to Sneddon’s conclusion, some scientists stated that animals are not capable of feeling emotional pain because of the reason that animals do not have neocortex or the thinking area which are found only in mammals and primates. Research of Sneddon showed that there is evidence that monkeys, dogs, cats, and birds demonstrate signs of emotional pain and behaviors associated with depression during painful experience, lethargy, anorexia, and unresponsiveness to other animals (Sneddon, n.p.). According to Bekoff in 2007, there was a doctoral research of student that required killing cats. As the autho r started the studies, the cat looks like sad and wanted to say something. After the experienced, the author decided to study different animal behavior that focus on social communication in large range of species. In adjunct with what the other scientists stated, Mark Bekoff discovered that animals feel joy, empathy, grief, embarrassment, anger, and even love (Bekoff, n.p.). In December 2005, a female humpback whale caught in crab lines, the weight of the whale which is 50 tons and 50 ft. in size which makes it difficult for the female humpback to blow above the water. A team of divers saved the female humpback whale and James Moskito, one of the rescuers described the feeling that the female humpback like to thank the rescuers for doing such good act. The whale stopped and pushed around a little bit and had some fun, the female humpback showed feelings of gratitude to the rescuers Bekoff, n.p.) Empathy is a feeling that is believed also to be felt by animals. An example of which is the livelier mouse. Every time the livelier mouse went over to get a drink and a piece of food and found out that the weaker mouse tried to bite the food, the livelier mouse moved the food gradually towards the water until the weaker mouse reached the food (Bekoff, n.p.). Animals can also show feelings of anger the same way as humans can do: they share common

Monday, October 28, 2019

Customer service Essay Example for Free

Customer service Essay This company operates globally in more than 100 countries and territories throughout the world. Their marketing objectives are realistic, measurable, and time specific. In the mission statement it says that every customer will be back, which is true because every family has eaten Pizza Hut more than once or twice. Pizza Hut is the leading pizza delivery group that has Dine-In restaurants. The restaurant has good customer service. In researching this company notes were taken on how good the customer service for this company really is. Create a pizza thats custom made just for you. Start with your favorite crust; add your toppings, and just the right amount of cheese and sauce. This is one way of service Pizza Hut gives and is known for being the best, because you get your pizza just the way you ordered it. Whether youre gathering for a game or making it a lunch meeting, feeding a large group is easy when you order from Pizza Hut, where its affordable, easy to order and assessable to many others to order. They are considered to have lower prices to be able to feed a lot of people for just a little of money. They have a very different variety of products on their menu one to please all types of individuals. Their mission statement says we take pride in making a perfect pizza and providing courteous and helpful service on time, all the time. Every customer says, I’ll be back! The definition that for good customer service that I have is that every customer can get everything they want as in pizza regardless of what they want on it. This is called pleasing the customer with what the customer has ordered. The basic customer Common needs are whatever the customer wants in prospected to what they ordered from the menu. The rapport and customer relations are established by giving the customer everything they prefer on the order when it is ordered. In other words giving the customer what they want. The basic common needs of the customer are given them what they want as a customer and make them happy. This is why I chose to write about Pizza Hut. (American Psychological Assoc. ) References Kramer, L. (1997). Pizza Huts Gier looking beyond boom for growth. Advertising Age, 68(42), 40. (American Psychological Assoc. ) References PIZZA HUT: PAN PIZZA ANNIVERSARY. (2005). Advertising Age, 76(39), 81. (American Psychological Assoc. ) References MacArthur, K. (2000). Pizza Hut brings back its Edge: $25 mil supports new version. Advertising Age, 71(18), 4. (Source: Northwestern University Center for Media Management www. mediainfocenter. org). (Sources: Pizzahut. com, and Yum. com).

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Sequels and phobias in The Return of the Soldier of Rebecca West :: Rebecca West

Times of war and peace: Sequels and phobias in The Return of the Soldier of Rebecca West. Rebecca West (1892-1983) was a prolific writer who tried every literary genre; journalism, literary critique, the short story and the novel. Her first novel The Return of the Soldier published in 1918 spans half a century of creative output culminated in 1966 with her last novel The Birds Fall Down. However, all her narrative is easily identifiable because of her unmistakable style, the structure of her novels, the topics she chooses and the coherence of her ideas about mankind and society. Subsequently, all her novels are psychological, historical and social documents depicting human behavior in a precise historical and social context. West synthesizes what she observes rooting her ideas in British literary tradition. Her keen critical eye is both penetrating and enlightening, for example, when in The Return of the Soldier, Margaret Grey appears poorly dressed daring to invade the Baldry mansion with her mud covered boots, while Jenny, the narrator, expresses crude feelings of resentment towards Margaret and her social group. The latter is represented: ‘... as the rich hate the poor, as insect things that will struggle out of the crannies which are their decent home, and introduce ugliness to the light of day’ (West, 1918, rpt.1984: 32)1. West’s literary reputation was revived in the 1980s with the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Her Black Lamb and Grey Falcon; A Journey through Yugoslavia (1941) brought her wide critical attention because this novel was the last of her efforts to understand the pre-war situation. Furthermore, it was central to West’s next book, The Meaning of Treason (1947), where she concentrated on the psychological characteristics of traitors and she wondered what caused these people to do what they did—for West, war fosters deception and betrayal. The final example of West’s interest in treason is her novel The Birds Fall Down (1966) which concludes with the deaths of both the traitor and the friend he betrayed and in The Return of the Soldier, a study of the sequels of war in human mind, the protagonist is betrayed by his family. In the aforementioned novel, West employs what at the time was an original device, amnesia from war trauma or ‘shell shock’ as well as an unusual perspective on war—that of those who waited at home. West tries to explore the reactions of three women to a returning soldier who, though married, remembers only an earlier love for another woman. In spite of its obvious literary quality, The Return of the Soldier proved to be a novel severely punished by critics.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Knowledge Management: PETRONAS

Introduction Today, oil and gas companies around the world are not just professional organizations who specialize in mechanical drilling and extraction processes. Increased oil demands and the need for improved productivity have forced these organizations into new methods and knowledge intensive approaches. For instance information technology has now become very much an integral part of the oil exploration and oil extraction business. The collaboration between multi disciplinary teams has become a norm. Real-time information communication from remote reservoirs, and processing of such data in a collaborative environment that involves multiple teams and vendor locations has become an essential part of the business decision making process. In other words, a knowledge based approach underlies the critical business decisions in oil majors. (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz, 2009, pg 284). As an oil and gas extraction company of the world, with presence in more than 30 countries across the world, PETRONAS is one of the Oil Majors. Being an increasingly competitive sector, skilled staff are always on demand in the Oil and Gas industry. This implies that organizations have to defend against attrition and be armed with effective knowledge management practices that manage vital information about processes, best practices and information about field experts and tacit knowledge about the entire operational processes. Effective knowledge management process is at the heart of business competitiveness and success. Knowledge Management Knowledge is a multidimensional and heterogeneous entity. Proper storage, classification and retrieval of knowledge is critical for innovation, cost control and hence the competitiveness of any industry. Particularly, for knowledge intensive firms such as PETRONAS, where high skilled engineering processes are involved, there is a need for ‘integrated operations’ between various knowledge areas. Ultimately, improving the production optimization process is at the heart of all knowledge management practices in PETRONAS. One of the important areas that lack coordination in the Oil and gas sector in general is the working of the reservoir engineers, the production engineers and the process engineers at the facilities. This implies that operation decisions are not always made in consultation with the onshore engineers. In other words this leads to what is known as the fragmented approach. (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz) 2009, pg 285 Integrated Operations (Process facility and reservoir sensors and Collaboration among vendors and operators) (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz, 2009, pg 285) Information technology has now penetrated every area of the production and process control aspects of the Oil and Gas companies. However, most of these IT tools are specialized and lack the integration that makes it difficult to access relevant data for purposes of production analysis and optimization. It is necessary that all the three major divisions (reservoir management, production management and process management) exchange real-time data. A shared information space might be the answer to the problems as it promotes better access to real-time data and integration of the various processes, which is the key to achieving production optimization. (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz, 2009, pg 284) Knowledge Management in PETRONAS Knowledge management practices are very recent at PETRONAS. As the Knowledge Management manager, Miss Murni Shariff, disclosed in a recent interview, only in 2006 the company seriously focused on KM practices. Prior to that KM was mostly restricted to content and information management. (KMTalk, 2009) There are two types of knowledge namely tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge, as the name suggests, refers to knowledge that could be easily documented. This type of knowledge is gained by reading, observation and discussion. For instance, documented guides about a program or the operational features of a product are examples of explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, is more implicit and it is not easy to document it and consequently much harder to share. Tacit knowledge is developed over a period of time when an individual gains insights and details about the various functions in the organization. (MMU, 2006) Currently, PETRONAS is focusing on all efforts towards transferring this tacit knowledge of its staff and making it accessible for future reference and for new workers. Achieving this tacit knowledge sharing pertaining to the various complex processes within the organizations is crucial for the company to reduce costs and become competitive. As Stephen Birell, marketing director of Vardus, a KM company focusing on the Oil and gas sector states, â€Å"The way the industry can drive down cost is by attacking the areas of huge cost which are facilities and drilling. And if everyone follows best practice and shares their learning, you won’t have people making the same mistakes twice. And that ultimately saves money.† (Chowdury, 2006) Three issues are the main motivating factors for the implementation of KM practices across the organization. These are 1) aging workforce- With more than three and half decades since its institution many of the technical staff members at PETRONAS are nearing their retirement age and this mass retirement would drastically impact upon the performance unless swift knowledge management policies are in place to capture the tacit knowledge of these experienced older workforce. 2) The global oil industry is very competitive placing a high premium for the experienced and knowledgeable workforce. High attrition rate at PETRONAS is one big problem as competitors are luring skilled staff. In this context the issue of Trust becomes foremost. The following 5 C’s are recognized as trust factors among knowledge intensive workers. These are a) Competence, b) Commitment, c) Conflict, d) Communication and e) Caring. Of these commitment is foremost and it is the responsibility of the team leade r or the manager to ensure that commitment to the organization and its values are developed naturally as a response to the motivation and example shown by the leader. (Ralston, 2007) Finally, increasing international operations also implies international competition and in this scenario an effective KM plan is indispensible for the organization to smoothly manage and coordinate the international operations. KM makes it possible to simply follow the ‘PETRONAS way’ of transferring knowledge across the different organizations. (KMtalk, 2009) Initially, the main focus was on technology and in removing the hindrances in sharing knowledge stored in varied database formats. However, more than the technical problems it is the problem associated with human acceptance that is currently a pressing issue. In other words, promoting effective change management is the key to implementing KM practices. At PETRONAS new initiatives were implemented to promote better change management. Communities of Practice A new, ‘Communities of practice’ (CoP) initiative was implemented with the idea of starting an effective KM program across the entire organization to better facilitate transfer of information between the various divisions in a swift and effective manner. Currently, there are over 50 CoP’s with each Cop having 30 members. A leader or a champion is chosen among each CoP team based on their performance criteria. The CoP’s were provided with a basic structural framework with which they can implement KM solutions and promote group-wide collaborative values. Regular monitoring of the CoP operations and impact of the same are undertaken. These leaders are also encouraged to share success stories on online CoP newsletter. To encourage enthusiastic participation from the staff, the Knowledge management team is also currently promoting a rewards system wherein the reports from the various Cop’s would be reviewed and the best performing team recognized and awarded (Murni Shariff, 2008) This CoP approach at PETRONAS has shown significant positive results so far with effective information exchange between various operating units already visible across the organization. This would also significantly improve the training for younger generation staff as they fast replace the retiring older generation. A simple online tool that was designed to evaluate the penetration of the CoP based KM practices has confirmed these positive improvements. ( Murni Shariff, 2008) Conclusion Knowledge management practices are critical to the continued competitive growth of any organization. In simple terms it facilitates effective reuse of organizational resources which is tantamount to considerable cost savings. Particularly, in a knowledge intensive and high-tech organization such as PETRONAS, KM practices help to promote better collaboration between multidisciplinary teams. This could help avoid millions of dollars in costs by helping workers avoid unnecessary delays and repetitive mistakes. The current KM practices involving Communities of practice concepts are showing good acceptance among the staff which is important for effective change management. As more and more staff members are encouraged to participate in KM activities, more intensive KM practices and collaborative platforms could be established. This would help in realizing organization wide process integration and overall business alignment. However, regular knowledge auditing is the key to understand the flow of knowledge within the organization and to ascertain areas where improvements could be effected by increasing knowledge sharing. Continued management support is the key as even a small amount of time and resources spent on good KM practices would definitely translate to considerable productivity gains in the longer run. References Dariusz Jemielniak & Jerzy Kociatkievicz, (2009), Handbook of research on Knowledge intensive organizations, Pub by Information Science Reference. Faith Ralston, (2007), How to manage four types of Knowledge Workers- Play Your Best Hand, Adams Media. U.S.A KMtalk, (2009) Knowledge Management in PETRONAS : Interview with Murni Shariff, viewed Jan 23rd 2012, Murni Shariff, (2008), PETRONAS : Engaging Knowledge Worker Communities to Stimulate Innovation and Build Corporate Capability, Viewed Jan 23rd 2012, Naguib Chowdhury, (2006), Knowledge Management Implementation in PETRONAS: A Case Study, Viewed Jan 23rd 2012, Manchester Metropolitan University, (2006) Introduction to Knowledge Management, viewed Jan 24th 2012,

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Higher Education Essay

Higher education is the key to new worlds. In past decades, college education was seen as a privilege which few had access to. Nowadays, it has become a culminating stage in people’s life. Higher education has proved that it has a monetary value, as the salary of a person with a college education is higher than that of a person with a high school education. Some people have sold the idea that a higher education is a waste of time and money, and that such education should only be offered to a limited group of people. However, what make these people believe they have the power to decide what others should do or not do with their lives? In my opinion, everyone should pursue a higher education because it would help to reduce monopolization of wealth and power, it would allow people to exercise their freedom and create more opportunities in their lives. Monopolization of wealth and power could be reduced by higher education. As long as the wealthy and powerful people keep the knowledge from those who are hungry of it, the economy will remain the same. As Linda Lee recalls from Caroline Bird: â€Å"College doesn’t make people intelligent, ambitious, happy, liberal or quick to learn new things. It’s the other way around. Intelligent, †¦people are attracted to college in the first place† (671). I believe higher education enables people to acquire new skills and develop their intellectual capacities and grow as individuals, and of course this represents a danger for those who prefer to maintain a monopolized power and wealth from others. On the other hand, I do agree at some point with Lee that college education is being wasted on today’s youth. I have seen how here in America people are more interest in the â€Å"college experience† than focus on their education. It might also be true that the rate of lack of interest in a college education nowadays is higher than those who attended college fifty years ago. However, I do believe that fifty years ago there were also people who went to college for other reasons than learning; who can as sures us that Lee at some point of her years as a college student was not immersed in the â€Å"college experience†. Even when there are cases where people do not have a choice whether go to college or not, for the rest of the people go to college is a decision that resides within themselves. I disagree with Lee that college should not be offer for everyone. She even attacked people with learning disabilities, people who might do their best to be at the same level than the rest of us. It is usually these types of people who achieve more goals than those with not learning disabilities. Coupled with Lee’s perspective, there are also people who see college as something out of their reach. As David Leonhardt said: â€Å"†¦.For those families on the fence-often deciding whether a student will be the first to attend-the skepticism becomes one more reason to stop at high school† (646). For many families with low incomes, a higher education for their children can be the key for a better future, an even when most of the college can be expensive, there are many other college that can allow these young people to achieve a scholarship and even a four years degree without spending a penny. Thus, there are also thousands of students who do not have clear which career they should pursue. It is not a surprise that many of them decided to change careers after one of two semesters or even a coupled years. I think that as long as they are doing what they feel passion for, there should be allow changing their minds. After all, we are humans and change and mistakes are part of our nature. A higher education can create more opportunities for people. College allows students gain experiences that will help them in and out of the classroom. In college there are no more teachers trying to help them to get a decent grade, students are expose to the real world were things come to those who seek them instead of waiting for things to come to them. Gary Gutting said:† â€Å"Students, in turn, need to recognize that their college education is above all a matter of opening themselves up to new dimensions of knowledge and understanding†(628). I believe that higher education not only allows the possibility of a better future, also allows the person to develop personal, intellectual and social skills that can be used in daily life. Among with this, a higher education can enable people to get better jobs and create a better life for themselves and their families. Those who obtained a bachelor’s degree can find better jobs than those who only have a high  school degree. Perhaps the economic situation does not change much for them but it can mean a significant change for future generations. Moreover, the opportunities can be better for people with a higher education. Trying to decide what people want for their future may be uncertain when they do not have idea of ​​what they want. However, a simple way to find the right path is by making mistakes and learning from them. Whether people abandon the medical school to become engineers, as long as they do what is right for them, this decision should not become an obstacle for others. We live in a free country and no one can stop us to be who we are meant to be.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Witty Mothers Day Quotes

Witty Mothers Day Quotes A chuckle and good humor- that could be your gift to your mother on Mothers Day. Use these witty Mothers Day quotes to crack her up. Pin up posters with witty Mothers Day quotes to pack a punch. She will appreciate your sense of humor and your tactful expression. Roseanne BarrI know how to do anything- Im a mom. Rodney DangerfieldMy mother never breast-fed me; she told me she only liked me as a friend. Erma BombeckWhen your mother asks, Do you want a piece of advice? it is a mere formality. It doesnt matter if you answer yes or no. Youre going to get it anyway. Larisa OleynikIf my mom reads that I am grammatically incorrect, I will have hell to pay. Phyllis DillerI want my children to have all the things I could not afford. Then I want to move in with them. Milton BerleIf evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands? Bob MonkhouseMy mother tried to kill me when I was a baby. She denied it. She said she thought the plastic bag would keep me fresh. Peter De VriesA suburban mothers role is to deliver children obstetrically once, and by car for ever after. Buddy HackettMy mothers menu consisted of two choices: Take it or leave it. Nora EphronWhat my mother believed about cooking is that if you worked hard and prospered, someone else would do it for you.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Word Choice Hoard vs. Horde - Proofeds Writing Tips Blog

Word Choice Hoard vs. Horde Word Choice: Hoard vs. Horde Although they may sound the same when spoken, hoard and horde have distinct meanings. As such, mixing them up in your writing will look bad. But you can avoid confusion by learning their definitions and usage. Hoard (A Stockpile) The word hoard can be used as either a verb or a noun. As a verb, hoard means to accumulate and store a stockpile of something for future use. This will usually be something valuable and therefore closely guarded, such as a hoard of treasure: The mad king hoarded gold, determined to keep it all to himself. Sometimes, hoarding has a negative meaning, especially if the thing being hoarded is considered worthless or unpleasant: The old man would hoard old newspapers, keeping them in his basement. We can also use hoard as a noun to refer to a stockpile that has been collected and guarded. We would use it in a sentence like this: The pirate returned to the hidden cave to retrieve his hoard of stolen booty. Horde (A Mob or Crowd) Horde is a noun meaning a large group or crowd. It originally described nomadic warrior tribes, but it is now more commonly used to refer to large, rowdy groups of people: A horde of drunken baseball fans crowded onto the subway carriage. As well as describing groups of people, we can apply horde to swarms or packs of animals, especially wasps, mosquitoes, and other flying insects: A horde of mosquitoes ruined the picnic. Remember not to confuse horde with herd in this context, as herd is simply the group name for hoofed mammals. Hoard or Horde? Although these terms sound similar, theyre different enough in meaning that it should be easy to tell them apart. Remember: Hoard (verb) = To collect or stockpile something Hoard (noun) = A collection or stockpile Horde (noun) = An unruly mob If you would like more advice about word choice, or to have a 500-word sample of your work proofread for free, get in touch with the professionals at Proofed today!