Knowledge Acquisition

Knowledge is obtained through different sources. Personal experiences, tradition, authority and intuition are factors in helping one acquire knowledge. In the human services discipline, these areas are essential in learning how knowledge is attained. Carper’s (1978) four types of knowledge best explain how personal experiences, tradition, authority and intuitions are essential in knowledge acquisition. First and foremost, ethical knowledge pertains to moral issues and one’s judgment based on professional principles and values. Intuition usually tells an individual when an action or event is deemed acceptable by society or not. In the field of human services, it is important to know what is morally good and bad and this can be considered as the strength of ethical knowledge. It helps a human services practitioner determine the action that would result to the improvement of the person’s well-being. However, this is contrary to the characteristics of science which entitles one to be objective wherein biases or value judgments are removed from the scientific process. Human services is a science wherein knowledge is obtained through systematic observations (Monette, Sullivan & De Jong in Hutchison, 2003). Second, aesthetic knowledge is concerned with the art of the disciplines. These arts may be in the form of a systematic process that a practitioner follows in her field (Carper in Walsh and Wigens, 2003). In this case, it can be perceived that the discipline of human services is rigid and static. On the contrary, as a science, it is an open-ended practice wherein discoveries and ideas continue to occur over time. Tradition best exemplifies this case wherein negates the idea that remains the same over time rather, it is dynamic. Third, personal knowledge is obtained from one’s experiences and interactions with his environment (Carper in Walsh and Wigens, 2003).   Personal experiences help one acquire values and biases that he applies to his daily life. It can be argued that personal knowledge cannot be a basis for knowledge because it is not systematic and not based on empirical findings. However, in the discipline of human services, this type of knowledge is essential in understanding behavior and actions of individuals. Lastly, empirical knowledge is based on observations and experimentations. In other words, it is founded on hard data and it is considered a fact. It is acknowledge that the field of human services is a science that strongly relies on empirical data. Since it is such, it is also a transformative process or a never-ending cycle that is constantly tested and questioned (Monette, Sullivan & De Jong in Hutchison, 2003). Facts and information are constantly updated in order to make them more accurate and correct. This is needed in the field of human services because human behavior actions and their meanings are not static. Overall, the four types of knowledge that is applied in the discipline of human services complements and is further reinforced by the characteristics of science. Its being a science does not contradict knowledge acquisition, rather, it strengthens the field in terms of dynamicity, accurateness and precision in gathering information and data. References Hutchison, Elizabeth. (2003). Dimensions of Human Behaviour: Person and Environment. UK: Sage Publications. Walsh, Mark and Lynne Wigens. (2003). Introduction to Research. UK: Nelson Thornes.

British Entrepreneurship between 1870 and 1914 Essay

British Entrepreneurship between 1870 and 1914 - Essay Example These traits include a dismal failure to adapt to new technologies, a gross misunderstanding as to the relevance of science in industrial efficiency, an obstinacy to stick to low-yielding established industrial sectors, a dearth of relevant managerial and organizational skills, an inability to delegate responsibility to subordinates and to take advantage of talented people having complementary proficiencies and a general lack of trust and faith in the British entrepreneurial potential (Aldcroft 1981) . At some time during the late 19th century, Great Britain fell victim to an economic decline. Various Historians tend to facilitate diverse reasons as to this economic demise of the Victorian Britain. Some historians attribute this economic decline to the rampant alterations in the world economy, emanating from the proliferation of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century. There is one other school of historians, who link the economic fall of Victorian Britain to the lacunas existing within the British economy. Many historians blatantly profess that this so-called economic decline of Britain in the late 19th century could be understood and analyzed only in a relative perspective. As per these historians, the economic meltdown in the late 19th century Britain stands to be plausible only when one compares the performance of the British economy to other major industrial economies like the US and Germany. According to Alford, "British enterprise, it will be argued, did not decline d uring this period: it remained remarkably constant and inflexible (1996)." On the contrary, the available statistical data also to some extent indicates that in fact the British GDP was on the rise in the period 1870-1890, irrespective of a sluggish annual rate of growth. Crouzet (1982) argues that the growth rate of Britain, which rested at 3.1 percent in the period 1811-1877, came down to 1.6 percent between 1877 and 1913.Historians also tend to differ, as far as the onset of this economic decline is concerned decline. A majority of the historians identify the year 1873 as the time when Britain slipped into a prolonged era of economic slowdown. Others argue that the UK experienced a remarkable economic growth in the period 1820-1830. Thus, Victoria's accession tends to be the chronological coordinate that ushered in an era of economic decline (Crouzet 1982). Realistically speaking, in consonance with the available statistical data, 1870 could be considered the point of genesis of Britain's economic decline. It was only in the period between 1870 and 1913, when Britain's share of the global industrial output, which rested at 31.8 percent, nosedived to a pathetic and alarming 14 percent (Crouzet 1982).There is no denying the fact that a majority of the historians hold that the late Victorians happened to be grave failures, as far as the realm of entrepreneurship was concerned. As far as the entrepreneurial acumen of late Victorians is concerned, the analysis of their failure tends

APPLE INCORPORATED Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

APPLE INCORPORATED - Essay Example Liquidity Ratio Initially, the liquidity ratio for Apple needs to be evaluated. This ratio determines the company’s capacity to pay short-term debts2 The formula for calculating the liquidity ratio is current assets divided by current liabilities. 2010 (in USD) (numbers in thousands) 2009 (in USD) (numbers in thousands) Current Assets 43,927,000 31,555,000 Current Liabilities 23,795,000 11,506,000 Liquidity Ratio 1.84 2.74 Working Capital 20,132,000 20,049,000 In the above table, working capital has also been calculated which has been obtained by subtracting current assets by current liabilities. The table depicts that Apple Inc has positive working capital and this shows that Apple has the capability to pay their debts3 Debt-to-Equity Ratio 2010 (in USD) (numbers in thousands) 2009 (in USD) (numbers in thousands) Total Liabilities 32,076,000 15,861,000 Shareholders’ Equity 54,666,000 31,640,000 Debt to Equity Ratio 0.58 0.50 When there is high debt to equity ratio, it generally indicates high amount of debt utilised by the company in order to finance its operation. It is evident from the above result that Apple has low debt to equity ratio and thereby its assets are financed by means of shareholders equity instead of long term debts4 Net Profit Margin Ratio 2010 (September) (in USD) (numbers in thousands) 2009 (September) (in USD) (numbers in thousands) Net Income 14,013,000 8,235,000 Net Sales 65,225,000 42,905,000 Net profit Margin Ratio 21% 19% A strong net profit margin is one factor that can effectively control the cost of the organisation and show the operational efficiency. It has been found that there has been significant improvement in the net profit margin ratio of Apple in comparison... The intention of this study is Apple Inc that was previously known as Apple Computers. It is a multinational corporation with its headquarters in United States of America. The main business of the company has been to market and create consumer electronics, personal computers and to market consumer electronics. The company has four main divisions in which the company operates. It had been reorganised in the year 1988 as Apple USA, Apple Europe along with Apple Pacific and Apple Products. The various strategic business units of the company are portable digital music players, media devices, peripherals, third-party digital contents as well as applications. Its numerous products and services consist of Macintosh Computers, iPads, iPhones, iPod, Apple, Xserve and Apple TV, service as well as support systems. It can be stated that Apple Inc has been capable of achieving great success since last few years because of the methods and the procedures used for marketing its products. In addition to these, the company’s strategy also consist of expansion of its distribution channels so that it can reach more and more number of customers effectively and therefore provide the customers with goods which are of high quality and also offer after-sales services to them. Apple Inc. received great success from numerous products such as iPhones, iPods as well as iTunes. The communication strategy followed by the company is quite simple, clear, clever and sober. It makes use of TV advertisements, prints advertisements as well as online advertisements in order to lure the customers

Slavery and Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Slavery and Religion - Essay Example On the other hand, religion refers to a collection of beliefs, and cultural systems which relate humanity to spirituality as well as to morality. In most cases, religion tends to guide people in their day-to-day lives with regards to humanity, spirituality and morality. Conversely, the two aspects, religion and slavery were a salient feature in most societies. Thus, the relationship between slavery and religion has been of major concern. They are intricately interlinked. In this regard, slavery cannot be wholly exonerated from religion. On one hand, slavery played a substantial role in the establishment and growth of slavery. On the other hand, slavery contributed to the establishment and development of various religions. Taking another dimension, religion played a palpable role in the eradication of slavery. Thus on this premises, this paper analyzes the mutual relationship religion and slavery. Much emphasis is however placed on the three most prevalent religions: Christianity, Isl am and Hinduism in correspondence to slavery. Prior to analyzing each of the major religions with regards to slavery, it is important to preview the concept of slavery before the existence of the world’s elaborate religions. Indeed, one thing that turns out clearly, is that slavery is of great antiquity. The ancient world was marred by various forms of servitude. These vary from class enslavement, collective slavery, sacerdotal slavery, individual enslavement to feudal enslavement1. In addition, various reasons accounted for slavery at various specified times in history. In this regards, slavery existed due to war, where those defeated in wars were captured and taken in as slaves. In some instances, slaves were purchased, other were given as gifts. In some communities, some people became slaves by virtue of birth, whereas some people gave themselves in as slaves as a settlement of debts accrued to them. In the ancient Greek, slave was a common phenomenon. This is evidenced fr om the records of the great Greek Philosophers Aristotle and Plato who asserted that slavery existed and was defined as the natural law of humanity2. Plato further averred that, for there to be a state of balance in the society, there must be two groups of people, the slaves, and the free. Early literary works as expressed in form of paintings and writings depicted an element of slavery which marred the ancient Greek. For instance early Poets and orators never ceased to talk ill of slavery. There works revealed the inhuman treatment to which slaves were subjected to. Most of them yearned for a revolution. They therefore advocated for freedom of slaves. In the early Roman times, slavery was palpable in the military and general life of the Romans. They extensively participated in the slave trade which was one of the lucrative ventures of the time. In most instances, they sourced their slaves form wars. However, the Roman Empire faced much resistance from slaves. The world’s ren own earliest slave revolution championed by Spartacus depicts how the vice had taken root in the Roman empire3. Slaves were equated to commodities, and never acknowledged as human beings. There was however a turn of events when the Roman people embraced Christianity a while later. They began to treat slaves with humane. Ancient China was also not immune of slavery. It has been recorded that poverty intensified slavery in China to large extents4. Due to economic hardships, many people sold themselves or their family members to rich masters. Some people would also sell other to avert the economic hardships. The Indian people of ancient time also acknowledged slavery. Apparently, slavery among eth Hindus was perpetuated by the incumbent

Reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 8

Reflection - Essay Example Additionally, the PowerPoint also help to present the understanding that racial profiling is basically an ineffective means of accomplishing whatever task the individual sets out to do. In short, racial profiling only helps due to the fact that it creates a situation in which expectation for a given activity or behavior is created within the mind of the profiler. Another powerful complement of understanding this was the fact that racial profiling oftentimes helps to make stereotypes more powerful. By treating an entire group of people within a certain way, it becomes more likely that these individuals would begin to identify with the way they are treated and exhibit more and more signs of adherence to these stereotypes. Ultimately, within everyday life and within an increasingly globalized world, the extent and level to which racial profiling can be used for any positive benefit is all but nonexistent. Similarly, although there was a great deal of information presented with regards t o diversity and different communication styles that men and women often times engage, the most important aspect of this particular piece of research was due to the fact that it is necessary for the reader/participant to always be mindful of the fact that different people communicate via different styles. Although such an understanding is somewhat dangerous due to the fact that it can create an expectation that men and women are inherently different and behave/communicate via entirely different standards, this is not always the case. Rather, it is important for the stakeholder to realize that women and men are able to express themselves in different ways and two different extents. This mere ability does not mean that they will always do so. From a leadership perspective, it is important to understand this due to the fact that the reader will both be leading man and women regardless of the organization or business entity to which they are responsible. In this way, within one’s personal life, it is necessary to always seek to interact with others so that a type of baseline of communication is represented within the conversation. Although this may seem somewhat obvious, it is oftentimes neglected and can ultimately result in a breakdown of communications and/or a misunderstanding of key information with regards to stakeholders within either of the genders. Lastly, with respect to the PowerPoint presentation concerning extroverts and introverts, the most powerful understanding that this student gained from this presentation was with regards to the fact that neither being an introvert nor an extrovert is necessarily better than the other. All too often within our culture, we are taught that an extrovert will succeed whereas an introvert will ultimately fail within the business environment. However, as the PowerPoint noted, a diversity of these individuals required within disbarment as a means of ensuring that specific strengths within the organization can be spoken to leverage. Whereas the extroverted personality is more likely to engage with others and be outgoing/bold, the introvert is more likely to be a problem solver work quietly within their own respective field. Most importantly, from the information that was provided within the particular PowerPoint presentation, it was noted that both introverts and extroverts have the potential to make exceptional leaders. Whereas leadership has almost always been understood as something that was needful of an extroverted person,

The Poetry Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Poetry Project - Essay Example The inner world of the lover will always be like the ocean in storm till such time the love is fructified. The imprint of her memory is so strong, the poet compares it to the fossil, which are the evidence of life since time immemorial that are preserved in sedimentary rocks. That imprint is impossible to erase because its vibrations are permanent and strong. Calligraphy is artistically and beautifully written words or features. He refers to her beauty as â€Å"rimmed calligraphy.† The beautiful frame adds to the beauty of the writing. Wise people say ‘silence is the sweetest sound on Earth.’ The poet refers to her invisibility as â€Å"a mouthing out of silence.† The poet creates a beautiful scenario, an appealing ambience when he writes, as if some important pronouncement emerges out of her silence. The lover does not have the benefit of her immediate presence in the bedroom. She is somewhere, out of his reach and the poet describes â€Å"where you lie a lone.† He presumes that she is suffering in silence just like him and both lead a lonely existence in their respective destined positions. Thus a picture is created, in which both the lovers are not in a happy position and time has broken the bond in which they used to remain together. Circle and label 5 of the formal poetic devices Alliteration happens when the opening resonances of a word, beginning either with a consonant or a vowel, are repeated in close succession. Example: â€Å"Beyond the bedroom.† The words are close to one another and they highlight the beauty of language in a particular context. Alliteration is more or less is like the rhyme. Image is a picture or a carving, something tangible and depictive and literal images that appeal to our sense of representative perception. Example: â€Å"Like fossil shells embedded in a stone.† Such comparisons appeal to the emotions of the reader. Metaphor relates one object or idea with another. This is an impo rtant element for the success of a metaphor and adds to the grandeur of the poem. Example: â€Å"Rimmed calligraphy.† A good metaphor immediately adds dazzling effect to the poem. They are brilliant tools to communicate with the reader to win the approval and bring forth a confident picture before his mind’s curtain. Rhyme occurs when two words sound alike. It helps to link one concept to another. They may also thematically similar. Rhyme may occur in the same line or at the end of some other line. Example: â€Å"Cold gales; diving whales.† It is easy to identify the rhyme scheme in a poem and this poetic device is very popular in children poems. Symbol is an object or action that means more than its literal meaning. Example: â€Å"Go wreck yourself once more against the day.† The action indicates the state of mind and frustration of the lover The discussion of how these formal devices function Poetic devices electrify the reading experience and add to th e beauty of the poem. The canvass of the poem is limited and within the shortest possible time, the poet has to grab the attention of the reader through the flow of the poem. When the poet repeats the words he does so with a purpose, which is to enhance the development of the image created by the words and augments the fluency of the poem. They enable the poet to introduce a theme or mood noticeably and function as punch line and tender answer to the issue raised by the poet. They also assist the poet in the emotional buildup,

The Relationship Between Ideas And The Historical Context Essay Example for Free

The Relationship Between Ideas And The Historical Context Essay During the Qin Dynasty, the commencement of the Imperial China begun under the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang in 221 BCE in which the said period, the Imperial China, continued until the Qing or Manchu Dynasty, the ruling dynasty of China. Furthermore, in this dynasty that Legalism became the vital prevailing inspiration that wraps up in the confederacy of China. According to the history, Pinyin Shang Yang, a Chinese statesman and thinker, generated the idea of Legalism in China in order to unify and reorganized the Chinese empire. He supposed that having a very authoritative and influential power would maintain the integrity of the country. Shang Yang made ‘a body of Legalism writings’, which was now known as ‘The Book of Lord Shang’ and this passed through the whole nation strengthening the Legalism policy that accentuated on the sectors of agriculture, war, rewards and chastisements and in dwindling the people in order to reinforce the government that time. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2007) Legalism – its Application Legalism is the application of philosophical ideologies and political beliefs in governing the people in China. Many people supposed legalism as a demonic movement in the Chinese history, however, the practice of legalism left a major impact in the nature of Chinese government. According to the thoughts of Confucius, humanity or jen, a key term, caused to be â€Å"goodness†, â€Å"benevolent† or â€Å"love†. Confucius believed that this humanity is very necessary for a man to continue for so long the multiplicity and take pleasure in the riches of the world (de Bary, et al, p11). On the other hand, it is assumed by Hsun Tzu that the goodness of one’s person is acquired and the man in evil in nature (de Bary, et al, p20), the exact reverse of Confucius thought that man is basically good in nature. Han Fei Tzu, a student of Hsun Tzu began his perceptions from his master’s point of view but modified that with the laws of state, goodness in the people can be determined. Thus, establishment of the rewards and punishment is strongly given the focus to recompense those people that offered advantages to the state and to penalize those who violated the rules. As stated by Han Fei, this law should be superlative even that of the power of the emperor to direct individual self-interests. Here with, the written laws alone were enough to preside over the whole state. This practice of Legalism dominated the imperial power of Qin Dynasty that gave birth to ‘totalitarianism’ in which the creation of the famous Great Wall of China was attributed to the long labor of the people in accordance to the law of the Legalists. Unity, commitment to the states and absolutism were the common words in the said era. (Hooker, 1996) Conversely, Confucius answered one man who questioned him about the killings of those acting outside the law that as one desire the good, people will follow like the wind. He even compared those outlaws to a ‘weed’ that when being forced, the more they bend to the laws. (de Barry, et al, p13) As it was, the native people began repulsive to the way the government was regulated and policies being implemented, therefore led to the collapse of the Qin Dynasty. This period in the Chinese history was marked distasteful and obnoxious to the Chinese populace. Nonetheless, the way of the Legalist in ruling one’s state was overpoweringly influential to the succeeding administrations. Utilitarianism, rule of law and uniform standardization of the law and culture were some of the ideas of Legalism that were adopted in the Han Dynasty, the successor of the Qin Dynasty. These adapted ideas tended to standardize and to have a centralized government in merging the rival schools of thought into single system that gave birth to the Han Synthesis. Reference http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9067124/Shang-Yang