Utopianism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Utopianism - Essay Example German intellectuals living in (and hating) the loosely organized Bund provided much of the vocabulary for nationalism, stating that each nation had a particular Volksgeist, or national spirit. They strongly advocated a fierce wave of patriotism. Soon, almost every European language group wanted to have their own nation. Quickly outlawed by reactionary forces, nationalist groups formed secret societies such as the Italian Carbonari and German Buschenschaft. These societies distributed propaganda leaflets and plotted rebellions which later formed a very important part of literature. Often, nationalism combined with other ideological issues, from liberalism to socialism. A natural outcome of Nationalism was Radicalism. Radicalism appeared almost simultaneously in the 1820s in England as the "Philosophical Radicals". They were a principled and unconventional group and consisted partially of workers and partially of industrialists. Their greatest leader was Jeremy Bentham. The Radicals w ere against the church and anti-monarchy. They were generally opposed to traditional ways. They were a force by themselves until 1832, after which they merged with the British Liberals. The European counterpart to Radicalism was usually referred to as Republicanism, which grew out of the French Revolutionary tradition. Republicanism sought complete political equality in the form of universal suffrage. Republicanism also opposed monarchy and the Catholic Church.

Testing Drugs On Animals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Testing Drugs On Animals - Essay Example The American Medical Association has stated that it believes that research involving animals is essential to maintaining and improving the health of human beings. They point out that all advances in medical science in the 20th century, from antibiotics to organ transplants, has been achieved either directly or indirectly through the use of animals in laboratory experiments. Arguments for animal experimentation may question the morality, necessity, and validity of these studies. The moral issue on animal experimentations concerns the need to protect human life and to improve the quality of life. The gains in human health and well being outweigh the cost in animal suffering which nonetheless should be kept to a minimum, in this viewpoint. It would be immoral to conduct such tests on humans, and so animals serve as our stand-ins for many kinds of testing and research. Those who support animal testing may care deeply about animals but don't place them on an equal status with humans. Research on animals may be deemed necessary for a variety of reasons: to develop vaccines and treatments and cures for diseases, to ensure that new products are safe to use. Such as making sure that they won't blind us, burn our skin, or even kill us and to help students, especially prospective doctors, veterinarians, and so on, learn their way around a body. Animals do make good research subjects for many purposes and research on them can tell us a great deal about ourselves. Animals are, in many ways, biologically similar to humans and are susceptible to many of the same health problems. Some species may serve as particularly good models for certain aspects of human health or physiology. Much of what we know about the immune system, for example, has come from studies with mice, and much of what we know about the cardiovascular system has come from studies with dogs. Many heart surgery techniques, such as coronary bypass surgery, artificial heart valve insertion, and pacemaker implants, were studied first in dogs before being used in people. (Jean Swingle Greek, DVM and C. Ray Greek, MD) Animals may make even better research subjects than humans in some regards. Furthermore, scientists can control certain aspects of an animal's environment, diet, temperature, lighting, and so on, more easily than would be possible with people. Supporters of the use of animals in research argue that alternative methods can't fully replace the use of animals, and may never do so. Neither cells grown outside a body nor computer programs can predict the complex interactions that occur in an entire living system. Countless medical treatments, techniques, and technologies have come about, at least in part, through animal experimentation. The development of immunization against such diseases as polio, diphtheria, mumps, measles, rubella, pertussis, and hepatitis all involved research on animals, as did the discovery of insulin and the study of diabetes. Animal research also has played a part in the development of organ transplantation, hip replacement, chemotherapy, cardiac pacemakers, coro nary bypass surgery, ongoing efforts to understand and treat AIDS and Alzheimer's disease, and more. Arguments against animal testing may also question the morality, the necessity, or the validity of these studies. That is, whether we have the right to perform such

Effects of School Funding on Student Academic Achievement

Effects of School Funding on Student Academic Achievement Education Policy Analysis Maya Boyle Mike  Robinson Introduction Background For the past 50 years, SAT scores for high schools across the nation have been steadily falling. Because the SAT is a fairly consistent method of testing the academic aptitude of high-school age children, this trend is concerning. As it stands, by the standards of the College Board, high school academics are preparing students less and less adequately for the rigours of secondary education. This paper seeks to address what policy initiatives can be taken by states to raise these scores. Research I hypothesised at the beginning of the study that per capita expenditures on primary and secondary education would have a significant effect on SAT scores. By using multiple data sets: population data from the US Census Bureau, education expenditure results from the Department of Education, a partial data set from STATA, and participation levels by the College Board, I amassed a collection of variables that I considered to be most valuable to determining the relationship between state education policy and SAT scores Mean scores of college-bound seniors The SAT Stacks of college test prep books Basic Conclusions By analysing what I determined to be the most significant factors affecting SAT performance, I concluded that the factor which could most effectively boost SAT scores came on the heels of SAT participation. SAT scores were strongly correlated with participation levels. A greater percentage of high school students taking the exam in each state resulted in a weaker performance. A disproportionately high number of high-scoring participants take the SAT whether or not initiatives are undertaken by state governments or schools to boost participation. Those students typically score higher. The increase in participation of students taking the SAT will come from a portion of the population who otherwise would transition straight to career paths out of high school. Education initiatives typically give these students an opportunity to take the test, and these students typically score lower. Ultimately, from a policy perspective, the best way to boost scores is to ready the portion of students who are being given the opportunity to take the SAT through funding and other education initiatives. It is useless for them to take the exam if all it does is prove that they are not ready for college. Literature Review Zajonic, Robert B., Bargh, John A. Birth order, family size, and decline of SAT scores. American Psychologist 79.1 (1989): 179-197. http://www.apa.org. Web. 4 Dec. 2012. The survey of SAT scores and birth order demonstrated that a negligible fraction of the decline in SAT scores can be explained by changes in family dynamics. In general, SAT scores showed little variation with birth order and family size, which was far less than that which was found in other data sets. Murray, Charles, and Richard J. Herrnstein. Whats Really behind the SAT-Score Decline?. Public Interest 106 (1992): 32-56. This survey of SAT scores and population distinguished between the separate populations of high school students who took the SAT and those who did not. Suggested that the greatest effect on the SAT-score decline was the regression of academic capabilities of high-school age teenagers. This possibly came from the ‘dumbing-down’ of textbooks Wharton, Yvonne L. List of Hypotheses Advanced to Explain the SAT Score Decline. (1976). The hypotheses analysed in this study suggested that changes in schools, society, population, and an increase in problems with the tests themselves are the greatest contributors to the decrease in SAT Scores. A list of variables: â€Å"The first major category (changes in the schools) is further broken down into hypotheses related to curriculum, institutional policies, teachers, and students. The second major category (changes in society) lists hypotheses related to family, religion, civil rights, crisis of values, national priorities, economic, labor movement in education, and technological changes. (Abstract)† Model Objective In this report, I will attempt to determine which two variables would most significantly positively effect mean SAT scores in college-bound high-school adolescents. An exhaustive list of the variables I used were: Mean Composite SAT scores, Mean Verbal, Mean Math, Geographical Region (dummy variable), Population, Per pupil expenditures (primary and secondary education), Government education spending, Median household income, Percent of High School graduates taking SAT. Models The primary models I used to determine which two variables that could be affected by state education policy were: Regressing SAT scores against government spending and income Regressing SAT scores against state population and percentage of high school students who took the SAT Regressing SAT scores against per pupil expenditures on primary and secondary education and percentage of high school students who took the SAT Finally, I developed a model with each of the variables that ultimately seemed most relevant: Regressing mean SAT scores, controlling for population, per pupil expenditures, median household income, and the percent of students taking the SAT. Hypothesis Before I ran the regressions, I hypothesised that the main factors affecting SAT performance would be median household and per pupil expenditures for primary and secondary education. I anticipated that states with a higher portion of domestic wealth would score better because there would be more local money going into infrastructure, and assumed that states with higher levels of spending on primary and secondary education would be higher because they reflect a greater education initiative. Methodology/Data Testing the Hypothesis For each regression, I focused most specifically on the coefficient, t-statistic, and r-squared result. Regression 1 I hypothesised that an increase in government spending will increase states’ SAT scores, controlling for median household income Null hypothesis was not proven What does this mean? R-squared: accounted for about 1/4 of the variance Coefficients were both negative Government spending raises, SAT scores decrease As median income increased, SAT scores decreased T-statistics Both are statistically significant y=-6.62*1071+-4.4581992+1107.044 Regression 2 I hypothesised that larger states receive more funding, and thus would have higher scores. Additionally, more people would lead to greater variance in scores Null hypothesis was not proven What does this mean? R-squared: accounted for about 82% of variance Coefficients: Negative relationship between both population and participation T-statistics: Participation is highly significant, population minimally. y=-1.24*1061-2.82+1021 Regression 3 I hypothesised that primary/secondary education funding would significantly play a role on SAT scores. Additionally, a larger pool of participants accounts for a wider breadth of performance Null hypothesis was not proven What does this mean? R-squared accounted for about 82% of variance Coefficients: Weak, positive relationship with funding, yet a stronger negative relationship with student participation T-statistics: Participation is highly significant y=.00432771-1.9841922+999.483 Regression 4 I hypothesised that funding for primary and secondary education and the percentage of high school students who take the exam will be most important Hypothesis proven true What does this mean? R-squared: accounted for about 88% of variance Coefficients: Expense, Participation, and Region 1 were negatively correlated; all the rest had positive effects T-statistics: Only participation was under -1.96; Regions 2 and 4 were over 1.96. These were the most significant. The t-statistic of population was at -1.94, which I considered significant for the intents and purposes of this data. y=-1.36*1061 + .00002822 .00660463 + 1.7964 -2.05165 2.3291556 + 45.0287 + 23.81498 + 989.8613 Analysis Regression 1 Government spending as a whole ultimately does not aid SAT performance. Regardless of whether or not it builds infrastructure, it seems as if funds set aside specifically for primary and secondary education are the most necessary to boost SAT scores. Additionally, I determined that- at least when it comes to SAT scores in high schoolchildren, Wealth does not denote academic success. As was determined from the methodology of regression 1, the statistical relevance of income and insignificance of government spending led me to reason that income played a greater role in determining SAT scores than government spending. Further, I questioned if the results for regression 1 had anything to do with causality, because the states that score more poorly on SATs will receive more money from the government to ameliorate educational infrastructure. Regression 2 Participation was negatively correlated with SAT scores, and significantly so. I reasoned that a base participation rate includes a skewed population of students who intend to go to college regardless of domestic initiatives to send high school students to college before allowing them into the workforce. Therefore, if more students choose to take the SAT, those students will be those who had not necessarily planned their high school education to ready them for the SAT. There scores thus will be lower. Regression 3 While the results of my first regression clearly suggested that government spending as a whole has little to no effect on SAT scores, I aimed to determine that per pupil expenditures on education for primary and secondary schooling had a strong positive correlation with students’ SAT readiness. This was not the case. Government education expenditures was loosely correlated with SAT scores, but not significantly so. This result could possibly have come from different years of availability for each variable. Many of the variables were derived from an old STATA data set that suited my intents, but I added other variables to develop a more individual project. Government spending was one of these variables, and the data may have been more recent than others. Further, as was the case with regression 2, the levels of participation played a strong and significant factor in determining the rate at which students would score on the SAT. The t-statistic was highly significant, so I trust that this correlation is true. I expect the population shift that I described in my previous analysis will still stand. Regression 4 Ultimately, I determined that as much as I had hoped that income and per-pupil education expenditures would have strong effects on the scoring of high schoolers on the SAT, because such effects are easily fixable through initiatives. I was wrong. Expense and income both were determined to be insignificant, with expense ultimately having a negative correlation with SAT scores. This cannot show the whole picture, however. Wealthier states traditionally have stronger educational infrastructures and students who perform better on the SAT. I can only assume that wealthier states are those which have educational initiatives to give more students the chance to take the SATs in the first place, and thus have a pool of lower-scoring students. Conversely, students in states with low median incomes had to have a significant personal initiative to take the Test in the first place. Therefore, the relationship between income and infrastructure is that which renders the relationship negative. Tables Table 1: Table of Means Table 2: Description of Data Variable | Obs Mean Std. Dev. Min Max -+ state | 0 region | 50 2.54 1.128662 1 4 pop | 50 4962040 5459782 454000 2.98e+07 area | 50 70759.14 85796.76 1045 570374 csat | 51 944.098 66.93497 832 1093 -+ vsat | 51 447.8431 31.87562 395 515 msat | 51 496.2549 35.58418 435 578 percent | 51 35.76471 26.19281 4 81 expense | 51 5235.961 1401.155 2960 9259 income | 51 33.95657 6.423134 23.465 48.618 -+ high | 51 76.26078 5.588741 64.3 86.6 college | 51 20.02157 4.16578 12.3 33.3 spending | 51 1.75e+07 2.03e+07 270000 1.03e+08 participat~n | 51 39.33333 32.1538 3 93 Table 3: Regression 1 Table 4: Regression 2 Table 5: Regression 3 Table 6: Regression 4 Table 7: College Board Participation Rates Table 8: College Board Participation Rates (cont.) Basically this isn’t really done. 80 Mount Holyoke CollegeSAT Scores: An Econometrics Perspective 1

Does Solar Energy Have a Future? Essay -- Exploratory Essays Research

Although the sun has been in its place in the heavens for nearly 4 billion years and promises to be there for at least 5 billion more, relatively little has been learned about the glow that is this planetà ¢s "orbital governor" and life support (Ericson, 3). Mankind lives in belief that the sun is about "93 million light years from earth and about 865,000 miles in diameter," (Ericson, 4). Some would argue that the scientific discovery of facts such as these has reduced mankindà ¢s relationship with the sun to mere attempts at obtaining solar data, rather than the continuation of developing scientific discoveries into useful development practices. As mentioned above, the earth has orbited the sun for ages, fueling nearly all biological life processes. With this in mind, it seems inconceivable that this ancient provider could possibly continue to support the demanding energy needs of human development in the present age of fossil fuel combustion. With generations native to the later part of the 20th century there exists an obvious disbelief that the answer to increasing energy needs and problematic fuel shortages could be found in plain sight on any given day. What is unknown to many is that solar design is not a term used solely in reference to natural processes, but rather an investigation of passive design, engineered heaters and photovoltaic systems to serve mankindà ¢s energy needs. While widely unrecognized, people utilize it to complete many commonplace tasks, such as harnessing the wind to dry laundry, using solar covers to heat swimming pools and the planting of shade trees outdoors to produce a low temperature environment to name a few. What these everyday tasks illuminate that is not reflected by the commercial energy indus... ...Harcourt Brace and World, 1963. Butti, K. and Perlin, J. A Golden Thread: 2500 Years of Solar Architecture and Technology. New York: Littleton Educational Publishing, 1980. Berman, D.M. and Oà ¢Connor, J.T. Who Owns the Sun? People, Politics, and the Struggle for a Solar Economy. White River Junction: Chelsea Green Publishing, 1996. Beattie, Donald A. History and Overview of Solar Heat Technologies. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997. Reece, Ray. The Sun Betrayed: A Report on the Corporate Seizure of U.S. Solar Energy Development. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1979. Flavin, C. and Lenssen, N. Beyond the Petroleum Age: Designing a Solar Economy. Worldwatch Paper 100, 1990. Ericson, Katharine. The Solar Jobs Book. Andover: Brick House Publishing, 1980. Henderson, Hazel. The Politics of the Solar Age: Alternatives to Economics. Garden City: Anchor Books, 1981.

Dystopian High Rise

Dystopian High Rise The novel ‘High Rise’ written by J. G. Ballard focuses on a massive forty story apartment building that houses thousands of people. Anthony Royal, who is the architect of the apartment, designed the building with shops, a school, swimming pools, and enough space to accommodate an overwhelming amount of people. Ballard does not write the plot of ‘High Rise’ in an attempt to illustrate the urban possibilities of modern innovations or future novelties of our evolving world. Ballard expresses how a newly designed building that seems as though it is a well thought out idea of a safe haven can turn into a dystopian underworld.A dystopian society is the idea of a community of people that live in miserable conditions of life, characterized by disease, pollution, oppression, war, violence, poverty, and the classism of systematic discrimination based on sex, age, or IQ. The tower in the novel houses the vision of a dystopia through the fictional ch aracters depicted, and how the building is the agent that pushes the society within to turn into a felonious world. Through the eyes of medical school lecturer Dr. Robert Laing, we see how minor altercations between floors quickly escalate into anarchy, harsh violence, rape, and murder.Laing is eventually dragged into the lifestyle of the tower. Since everything for essential living is located within the tower, such as shops and swimming pools, Dr. Laing has no need to leave the building other than going to work. This entrapment in the building of many residents is the cause of this anarchic activity. The building is a small vertical city (Ballard 15). Within the introduction of the novel, Laing states, that even being two miles from the city, the building that he resides in feels as if the tower were in a different world, in time and as well as space (Ballard 15).The high-rise in turn becomes an alternate world separating the people living inside from the real city giving them the higher chances of confrontation. What we perceive as development through the creation of a structure that can work independently for the common wellness of society, comes with a price to pay. With all social classism in the world, the High Rise becomes a part of the dreadful tradition. Ballard’s dystopia is divided into three classes: upper, middle, and lower class. The upper portion, floors 36 to 40, of the building is where the upper class resides in, this includes the architect Anthony Royal.The middle class’ subdivision, Where Dr. Laing lives, is located from the 10th floor to the 35th floor, from the 10th floor swimming pool to the 35th floor restaurant deck. The swimming pool on floor 10 clearly formed the boundary for everyone under that floor, the lower class residents. The lower class is subjected to faulty maintenance where they go for days without electricity and air conditioning. The residents soon find themselves in a ‘Lord of the Flies’ state of emergency where the different classes and levels of the tower are at war. Works Cited Ballard, J. G. High Rise. New York: Liveright, 2012. Print.

Financial Intermediary Essay

A financial intermediary is an organization that raises money from investors and provides financing for individuals, companies and other organizations. A financial intermediary is typically an institution that facilitates the channeling of funds between lenders and borrowers indirectly. That is, savers (lenders) give funds to an intermediary institution (such as banks), and then that institution in turn gives those funds to spenders (borrowers). This may be in the form of loans or mortgages. For corporations, intermediaries are important sources of financing. Intermediaries are a stop on the road between savings and real investments. The financial intermediaries in turn raise funds, often in small amounts, from individual households. Two important classes of financial intermediaries include mutual funds and pension funds along with Credit unions and Brokerage houses. Financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies are not only financial intermediaries but they also provide other financial services such as loaning out money to individuals and businesses. KEY FUNCTIONS OF FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES The basic function of financial intermediaries is to provide financial assistance to organizations and individuals. So, financial intermediaries help pool resources from households mostly, and then use these resources issuing them as loans to organizations or invest it in equities. They also contribute in many other ways to our individual well-being and the smooth functioning of the economy. Thus, another important function that emanates from the basic function of issuing cash to businesses is the efficient utilization of one’s savings. This helps increase the overall economic stability and improves the overall efficiency of the economy. Another important function provided by financial intermediaries is the absorption of risk. These intermediaries issue loans and invest money at their own risk, and are legally liable to pay them back to the initial investors incase of loss. Similarly, incase of mutual funds, risk is reduced by efficient and professional portfolio management which results in a high degree of diversification. The portfolio type varies with respect to how risk-averse or contrary the investor may be. Financial Intermediaries also act as a market for Firm’s Assets. Financial intermediaries appear to have a key role in the restructuring and liquidation of firms in distress. In particular, there is rich evidence that financial intermediaries play an active role in the reallocation of displaced capital, meant both as the piece-meal reallocation of assets (such as the redeployment of individual plants) and, more broadly, as the sale of entire bankrupt corporations to healthy ones. A key part of reorganization under main bank supervision or management is the implementation of a plan of asset sales with proceeds typically used to recover bank loans. Financial intermediaries arise as internal, centralized markets where information on machines and buyers is readily available, allowing displaced capital to migrate towards its most productive uses. Financial intermediaries can perform this role by aggregating the information on firms collected in the credit market. The function of intermediaries as matchmakers between savers and firms in the credit market can support their function as internal markets for assets. Intuitively, by increasing the number of highly productive matches in the credit market, intermediaries increase the share of highly productive second hand users in the decentralized resale market. This improvement in the quality of the decentralized secondary market reduces the incentive of firms to address financial intermediaries for their ability as re-deployers. However, by increasing the number of highly productive matches in the credit market, intermediaries create also wealthy buyers without assets and contribute to decrease the thickness of the decentralized resale market. This makes the decentralized market less appealing and increases the incentive of firms to use intermediaries as resale markets. CONCLUSION All in all, financial intermediaries play a very important role in optimizing the performance of firms in the corporate sector and to help individuals and households to manage their savings better and to ensure them minimum and least amount of risk in doing so. REFERENCE Brealey, Richard A. , Myers, Stewart C. & Marcus, Alan J. (2001). Corporate Finance. McGraw-Hill.