Great Expectations and Oliver Twist Essay

Every author has his own style of writing. He may use an idea in one of his novels in another. In the books Great Expectations and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, the author uses descriptive plots, exiting characters, and a meaningful message to prove that two ideas in a book although similar can be presented differently. Throughout the plot of Great Expectations and Oliver twist, Dickens uses robbery to show the similarities and differences within the book. After a young child, Pip, visits his parents’ tombstone in the graveyard, he comes across a petrifying convict on the run; the convict threatens to hurt Pip unless he bring the man food and makes the child keep his whereabouts a secret. Pip wakes up in the middle of the night and admits, â€Å"I was in mortal terror of myself, from whom an awful promise had been extracted†¦. I had no time to spare. I stole some bread, some rind of cheese, and about half a jar of mincemeat†¦. and a beautiful round compact pork pie. The child is terrified of the convict and is afraid what will befall him if he does not do as the convict instructed. The boy steals food , not out of the evil within his heart, but out of fear that the felon might hurt him. On the other hand, Oliver, a homeless orphan, is welcomed into the home of Fagin (also known as the Jew) who brings in stray children. A while later, while walking through the city streets with his inmates, what appears before the child is, â€Å"†¦. Oliver’s horror and alarm as he stood a few paces off, looking on with his eye-lids as wide open as they would possibly go. o see the Dodger plunge his hand into this old gentleman’s pocket, and draw from thence a handkerchief, which he handed to Charley Bates†¦. In one instant the whole mystery of the handkerchiefs, and the watches, and the jewels, and the Jew rushes upon the boy’s mind. † Fagin always teaches Oliver how to snatch handkerchiefs, jewels, without oliver realizing what he is doing it for and now the boy understands that they are all robbers and they wanted to turn him into one as well. Seeing Dodger and Charlie rob the old man brought pip to such a realization as to stop himself into falling into their trap. Pip robs out of fear of a threatening felon but Oliver stops himself from committing such a crime using the clues around him; Pip could have stopped himself from stealing from his home if he was smart enough. Similarities are found between Magwitch, a runaway convict, and Bill Sikes,a dangerous robber, as they do fairly identical actions with opposite outcomes. keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut you’r throat† Magwitch is bullying Pip, an innocent child, by telling him that he will kill him if he does not do as the criminal instructs. Though traumatizing the child forever, Magwitch benefits Pip thought his childhood to sooth guilt brought about through his terrible actions. â€Å"If you speak a word out o’doors with me, except when I speak to you, that loading will be you’r head without notice. † Bill Sikes forces young Oliver, a lone orphan, to help him with a major robbery, willing to shoot the child if he does not listen. Bill shoots Oliver and does not regret it one bit, acting as the perfect villain. Magwitch may have started out like Bill but he was exposed to be a good hearted man. In Dickens’s novels it is presented how ones wrong doings does go unpunished. â€Å"It was two years more before I saw Estella. I had heard her as leading a most unhappy life, as being separated from her husband, who had used her with much cruelty†¦ † Estella, a cruel woman who breaks a young boy’s heart, lives her life suffering through a tragic marriage. Estella pays the price of her actions, feeling the pain that she gave the boy who’s hart she broke when she was younger. â€Å"There was nobody there ti speak to him; but fell back to render him are visible to the people who were clinging to the bars. † Fagin, the robber, influenced many children to believe that robbing for a living is justified, showing them his many methods of robbery from previous experience of his own. The man is forced to face his fate by eternally rotting in. prison. Both Estella and Fagin pay for the price of their actions.

McDonalds and Wal-Mart

Economics is defined as the study of incentives and the common practice of reaching these motivations. Many people have gone to immoral conducts just to reach these incentives. A lot of people, particularly in the business field also commit such acts that are morally wrong but would surely bring more profit. They sacrifice integrity in exchange of better revenues. Even big corporations are guilty of these wrongdoings, even though these companies may not admit such offenses. They have resorted to many instances acting dishonorable actions and there must be a compelling reason why they acted that way.Some of these cases that showed such responses are the public school teachers from Chicago, the sumo wrestlers, and an entrepreneur who plotted actions to attain their selfish goals. These are three different scenarios, all engaged in doing such acts that compromised their values to achieve their self-centered objectives. These public school teachers from Chicago committed cheating by prov iding their students with answers for a certain examination. On the other hand, sumo wrestlers were also found making deceitful acts by prearranging fights and winners of bouts.Although there is a limited manner to prove these misdeeds strongly, there are some noticeable situations to prove that there are abnormalities within the influential circle of sumo wrestlers. The entrepreneur also did a dishonest act by selling bagels to any person that would benefit for possessing that bagel which is considered as illegal. Both this instances, according to the author, involved cheating that was induced by the benefits of doing such acts. All of these circumstances can be said as similar in terms of doing unpleasant deeds in exchange of receiving incentives as the result of these acts.The author researched other relevant information about the theme of this manuscript. He found out that a person, for his own personal agenda, usually take advantage of any information he has for a specific agen da. One firm example is on the manner a press officer make used of his gathered information to cause the collapse of the Ku Klux Klan for his benefit. Ku Klux Klan is the name given to various secret societies in the United States, generally situated on the southern part of the country, clearly identified for its advocacy that white people are far more superior to other cultural factions.The Klan made every effort to persecute the other racial groups and terrorize African-American people. Ku Klux Klan’ downfall began when Stetson Kennedy gained access to the Klan and supplied information to media and law enforcement groups. Stetson also provided secret code words that are critical to the Klan. His effort to take advantage with the information he possesses made a big impact to the Klan’s collapse. Kennedy also penned a manuscript about his circumstances with the Klan. This development further damaged the Ku Klux Klan. †Why experts of every kind are in the perfect position to exploit you†.A phrase showing another concrete example is the way real state agents behave when they perform their selling acts. A real-state agent persuades the owner of the house to sell for less while at the same time, providing potential buyer information that he can buy the house for a discounted price. To ensure that you have your excellent choice to buy or sell a house, there are clever ways that must be learned before engaging in the actual transaction. Like in the Ku Klux Klan, there are also codes being used by the real-state agents to pass on information throughout the ads they display.Clusters of words like â€Å"well maintained†, â€Å"spacious†, â€Å"great neighborhood† and other phrases in itself, possesses a full meaning to a housing agent which are frequently unknown to a conventional buyer/owner of a house. Because of this, exploitation of these agents is evident unless the prospective buyer would have a clear understanding a bout these word-codes they use. On the next chapter, the author did make contradictions about the common idea that the financial status of those people who do illegal acts are always better compared to those who do otherwise.He rather made this discovery contributing to other factors such as the economic status of a certain individual. He found out that only those who are in the higher rank of a drug organization really prosper while those in the lower level still earns a little amount for their living. These findings were supported by citing Sudhir Venkatesh research about this topic. Sudhir Venkatesh is a sociologist whose research setting was focused on the field studies in the shelter projects in Chicago, made some exceptional discoveries, including the one related with the financial status of a drug organization.The outcome of this research provided clear evidence about the author’s claim regarding the fiscal status of those people involved drug dealership. Moreover, Sud hir’s research also found out astounding information that being a member of J. T. ’s gang, particularly those in the low-level position jobs, faces a clear danger for their life, having 25% casualty rate. It was compared to the dangers of an employee working in a timber cutting industry, and even those prisoners on the death row, and found these to be less fatal than working as a low-level drug dealer.Furthermore, this set-up was compared by Levitt to other companies, McDonalds’ burger flipper and Wal-Mart’s shelf stocker. He compared the financial status of every employee and those in the executive positions with the small drug dealers and those who lead the drug organization. These two businesses both manifested the economic imbalance occurring within their respective organization, but still better compared to being a crack dealer. Chapter 4 has brought a contentious claim by the author and it did a lot of interest to take a closer look with the manuscr ipt.Levitt claimed that the legalization of abortion made a great impact in the reduction of crimes in a certain area. This was supported by his numerous examples like what happened in some states including Alaska, California, Hawaii, New York, and Washington where crime rates fell considerably after making abortion legal on these mentioned territories. The author also presented data showing those states that has the highest cases of abortion showed the significant reduction of crimes occurring in their respective areas. In the same manner, those areas that have recorded the lowest abortion cases only displayed a small drop rate of crimes.He debunked claims that factors such as advanced policing plan, reduced drug demand, aged population, stricter firearm management, a strong economy, and others significantly affect the crime rates in the country. He also noted that should abortion was not legalized on those key states, less than 2 million babies would have been born every year, thu s, increase in the engagement of crimes would have been prevalent. This was due to the fact that most of these are unwanted pregnancy and it is highly probable that these babies will be raised in an unstable family setting or in poverty.These same reasons, according to Levitt, were also the motives why did pregnant young women sought abortions. Do parenting really matters? This is a question that was covered in Chapter 5, where parenthood was the main topic. Parenting is the course of raising and educating a person from birth or prior to, until maturity. According to the author, a parent is the steward of another’s human life, from being a new born until it reaches adulthood. In the process of parenting, protection is one thing being given by parents to their children.They provide protection because they know their children is vulnerable against any attack from individuals or other things, including themselves. They feared these might bring affliction to their child, which ma y eventually lead to death. But the problem lies in absence of knowledge about the science of parenting. Like any other, proper rearing of a child requires skills and proper information to be able to reach its very objective as a parent. This was shown by the author when he cite a scenario about parents who feared that the presence of a gun in their homes might bring hurt and compromise the security of their children.These parents transferred their child to another’s house where there is no gun but with a swimming pool in their house. Levitt stated that these parents gave less protection in their child because, according to statistics, more children died due to drowning in a swimming pool rather than playing with a gun. If these parents only knew this, they will reconsider their decision and carefully evaluate the place before they agree in sending their child in another location. Smart parenting, therefore, is greatly needed to ensure proper taking care of a child.Another re levant finding the author made is the direct relationship between the socioeconomic conditions of the parents to achieving a positive outcome with parenthood. Such factors like parents who were highly educated, high socioeconomic standing and having a child in the later age of the parents directly contribute into achieving a better outcome in standardized tests of students. For the last chapter, Levitt focused the discussion to the names given to every child by their parents and how it affects the circumstances of a person by the names given to him at birth.He stressed the importance of the parent’s act of naming their baby to the future life of this child. The author cited researches about this topic and analyzed carefully the details relating to this matter. Levitt presented researches linking the names of white and black American to their life condition including employment, salary grade, and educational attainment. He also discussed in this chapter a story about a mother that named her daughter â€Å"Temptress† and when this child grew up, she was accused unruly conduct, about having sexual affairs with different men while her mother is away form home.Another name was mentioned in this chapter that was given to a child by his parents that was based upon a shallow reasoning because that name was just the first word they saw upon reaching the hospital. Levitt expressed his concern that good parenting starts with the proper choice of names to be given to their child. He further expressed that those people who did not bother to just give any names to their child without even considering its meaning do not possess the characteristic of being a good parent. This act might greatly affect the future life of a child, either he lived by his name or the world would prejudge the person by his name.These possible dilemmas must be taken by these parents as a caution before they give names to their children. Our world has experienced a lot of hardships and adversities due to negligence by many people in exchange of accumulating more money and benefits. People should realize that the most important duty is to provide better services to their consumers. They must not forget that enterprising requires responsibility and in any way this should not be compromised. We ought to do our duties in our family effectively for us to start changing our society for the better.If all of us would keep in mind the main responsibility of every human being to love his God and his neighbor, then our society would be a better place to live including our economy and business. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People Many people have ventured on a lot of studies and attended several trainings to augment their skills in the management area. They wanted to develop their ability in dealing with other people in various disciplines like in business, politics, and other significant areas of concern. Many businesses seek more understanding on how to deal with th e consumers effectively to boost their sales and profit.Those in the field of politics also look for better approaches they will used to convince the voters to elect them from office. These are just some of the reasons why many book were published to address the need of a manuscript that would talk about this very important topic. Stephen Covey authored the book â€Å"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People† in the year 1989. This manuscript has been included on the list of books that was sold favorably for more than 3 years. The author also conducted seminars about this topic and many people attended these gatherings.Companies like AT & T, Ford, Xerox and other big corporations also made recommendations that this book be read by management officials. This manuscript discussed the seven habits that can be learned to improve oneself and its relationship with others effectively. Covey illustrated a habit as a mix of knowledge, skills and aspirations. This knowledge would repres ent the area where the main focus is on what must be done for every general and specific detail. The skills focuses on the process things are done and aspirations center on the things that are desired for. In order to create a habit in our lives, we must have all three.These seven habits are subdivided into three: Habits 1, 2, and 3 is on the personal success while habits 4, 5 and 6 relates to triumphs with regards to the public domain. The last habit involves restoration of oneself. Be proactive is first habit wrote by the author. The author expressed that we must use our ingenuity and inventiveness to work on the road to our personal goals. This suggests that every human being is solely responsible for his or her life. This includes the principle that our own behavior is greatly affected by the choices we make. A proactive person does not let things happen, but rather make things happen.It acts initiatively and does not wait for others actions to commence. Through this, we can say that we can be responsible enough for every thing that happens to us and to other people that surrounds us. The author pointed out a principle regarding the circle of concern which includes the entire feature that we have control over psychological or affection involvement. The author stressed the circle of influence, which lies inside the circle of concern must be given focus by the person which includes those things that he has total control. According to the author, each person has both a circle of influence and a circle of concern.Tormenting continuously about things outside of the circle of influence is not dynamic. Working within the circle of influence is productive. Moreover, the more efficient you become, the more your circle of control will start to expand. The next habit pertains to the topic â€Å"Begin with the end in mind†. This is all about formulating long-standing objectives based on a specific ideology. According to the author, it is advisable for a person to formulate â€Å"individual goal statements† that would serve as the very goal of one’s life. The author suggests good foresight planning as an important tool to develop this.It is like sculpting a figure that an individual want for one’s life and providing a frame of reference wherein all the manners and conducts can be evaluated. There must be a lucid direction where to go and when to stop. Only when all the paths are cleared that a person can suffice its objective with regards to planning long-term goals in his life. Meanwhile, in an organizational structure, Covey emphasize that the company’s vision would be more efficient if all the members of the group were involved in the formulation of these ideas and was not prearranged by only a small number of personalities.The third habit, Covey wrote, is to put first things first. Self-determination is vital in this topic of concern. It entails a lot of effort for a person or to maintain personal integrity. â€Å"Walk the talk† is one famous phrase that must always be present in one’s mind to be able to preserve his or her uprightness. Proper time management and setting up of priorities are also included in this area. Those effective people know how to prioritize things and say no to non-urgent things. Think win-win is the fourth habit. This often refers to circumstances where one benefits, not necessarily in the course of someone else's defeat.This mentality is based on collaboration rather than competition. Each side must have the boldness to state one’s convictions, but to take into concern other's belief. It allows all participants to achieve positive outcomes in their struggles. There are four step processes that illustrate more this habit. The first step is to see the problem from other point of view. This means that a person must also take into careful consideration the views and opinions of other people, particularly those in the other side of the struggle . Knowing what the main arguments of other people would bring more understanding for both sides.The next step is on identifying the key subjects and apprehensions involved in the situation. This addresses the heart of the issue and focusing on the main issues of the scenario. There must be full cooperation coming from all sides to ensure the completion of this undertaking. After this, determination of results that represents an acceptable solution to the problem comes next. Resolution to the problem must provide a clear picture for both sides to guarantee that the benefits of these outcomes will surely answer each of the problems on each side.If there would still be unresolved conflicts between, the next step will be to identify alternative options to further achieve proper arbitration of this situation. These steps can be used by companies to enhance their relations with their employees, ensuring lasting relationships between the employers and employees. The fifth habit is to †Å"seek first to understand then to be understood†. The author proposes that we establish first more information before ever beginning to communicate. That is what we must comprehend for every situation before hastening in with giving suggestions.In order to understand the heart of any topic, it is more appropriate to use the skills in communication and listening. It is a given fact that most people do not pay attention for the purpose to comprehend what they hear, instead they listen just to be able to respond to it. There are various levels of listening which includes not listening at all, pretending that you are listening, selective listening, attentive listening, and absolute listening. Only a few performs the higher level of listening but this is what matters most if you want to understand more other people’s concern.Many people do not realize that by listening to others, it is already a good start that you will also be understood in the process. It is very importan t that when you hear, it must include not just your senses but most importantly, the heart. That is where true listening begins. When all of the habits mentioned above are already realized, synergy comes next. This is the sixth habit and regarded to as the premier activity in all life. This custom occurs when minds fuels another mind and ideas call for more ideas. This produces new options that come up naturally.This synergy is a derivative and this cannot be made by mere intervention. Deliberately creating synergy actually makes it harder for it to exist. What must be provided is just to prepare the climate for synergy to occur. This includes first, the win-win attitude, next is seeking first to understand, and third is the belief in our capabilities to find a third alternative. To sum it all, synergy is built directly upon other factors preceding it. This stresses that we must value the distinction between people and how they view the world.That disparity can be used as a basis of insight. Covey stated that the seventh habit serves as the oil that greases the mechanism of all the other habits. â€Å"Sharpening the saw† is the inclination that makes all the others possible. This requires making an investment in oneself. Treating his or her body with utmost care is what needed. Renewal of one’s spirit must also be taken into consideration. This can be realized through prayers, music, reading the word of God, reflection and others. All of these can touch our inner beings and provide restoration to every individual.We can further make investments for ourselves by continuing education, thorough reading of books and manuscripts that would give more information and knowledge in many aspects of life. Another aspect would be the social and emotional regeneration that entails interaction with other people to build the one’s own sense of welfare. Another is through penning materials that would challenge our ability to think, rationalize, and compre hend more. After all of these, rest is also needed to renew our energy and to equip us again for another days work.Self-sufficient philosophy alone is not appropriate to mutually dependent actuality. Independent persons who do not have the maturity to consider and perform interdependently may become excellent individual producers, but these people would not become superior leaders or team players. All of these seven habits Covey presented give a detailed understanding on the facts that highly effective people acts and deal with their own life and their surroundings. These customs are worth to try in attaining the goal to be highly effective individuals.But the most important thing would be to maintain a clear conscience and be sensitive enough to other’s feelings and circumstances. To be highly effective depends greatly on what do most people see on person. This book is just a guideline for us to start with the objective of being effective persons in our respective fields, bu t it still depends on ourselves if we will strive to continue these principles. It all boils down to one major area; the person’s relationship with God and his neighbors. The Art of War The manuscript â€Å"The Art of War† was recorder as one of the oldest book written for military applications.This involves a lot of strategies and approaches when it comes to war planning and executions. Many famous personalities have claimed that their principles were inspired by this book. Napoleon Bonaparte was believed to be inspired by this book during his entire course of imperial campaign. Its simple but brilliant approaches are the things that made this book survived up to the present. Aside from its importance in the war strategies, â€Å"The Art of War† principles can also be applied to the business world today.Many topics of this timeless book can be seen as relevant to the corporate arena, where the competition between companies is inevitable. This set up can be seen as a war between companies and such quotes from Sun Tzu can be utilized to encourage managers and businessmen to achieve ultimate success in their respective industries. The first chapter of the book focus on â€Å"laying plans† This surveys the five key essentials that characterize competitive situation which includes mission, climate, ground, leadership, and methods.This chapter also includes the process of evaluating one self’s competitive strengths against your enemies. If the planner formulated a great strategy and executed it successfully, then that group will already have a step further of the competition when it comes to the actual battle. In the business arena, it is a must to conduct planning and surveys to evaluate the present status as a company as well as its competitors performance. By doing this, there would be a clear signal that can be used further when modifications and innovations of products and services are needed.Another thing is that sure victor ies always start with careful planning the details of a strategy. In commerce, good policies isn’t automatically employed to directly clash a competitor, instead it is a tactic that uses chances to take full advantage of your situation in the market. A corporation must look at their inner strong points and weaknesses and visually placed them for careful observation. The next step will be to look at the outer prospects and threats of the company and put these in an outline for study.After all of these, the company will come up with a detailed analysis of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and come up with a new strategy. Upon looking at the results of this analysis, decisions then must be made whether to continue with the competition or to venture to other trades. Waging war is on the next chapter wherein it clarifies the process of understanding the financial nature of the struggle and how triumphs require making the brilliant move that will serve victory, which as an aftermath, limiting the costs of competition and argument.Like in the business field, when competition is so fierce, the business manager must carefully familiarize himself with the actual competition between all the players so that he would not spend a lot of resources just to stay in the contest. He must be knowledgeable enough to handle this â€Å"war† between players in the market. The next chapter focuses on the topic â€Å"attack by stratagem†. This chapter discusses that the source of any military strength resides in unity and not in size. In this chapter, Sun Tzu also gave five factors to know who will become victorious in any battle.First is that the person who knows when to engage battle and when not to fight, will be triumphant. Knowing one’s capability is a good sign of a great strategist. Same with the business, owners of the company must know their strengths and weaknesses to be able to avoid possible collapse and defeat from its competitors. The next factor, according to the book, is that the person who knows how to use whatever the size of his forces will be victorious. Another aspect is that the one who knows how to bring unity between those in the lower and upper level for a clear intention will also be victorious.The fourth factor is that the one who is always ready will be successful compared to those who are not. The last aspect is that if commander-in-charge is competent and not meddled by anyone, including the ruler will be triumphant. All of these five factors can be applied in managing a business, particularly those who faces great competition in the market. Competition in the trades is analogous to â€Å"war† being described by Sun Tzu. The next chapter pertains to strategic outlook that is also important in war. According to this segment, an army that acquires first circumstances before going to battle will be victorious.On the other hand, an army who engage in battle first with out considering other important conditions will just be looking for defeat. An owner of a business must study first the conditions of the market before putting up his business to enable him to address important issues regarding the needs and circumstances of the consumers. Only by then he would have greater chances to survive in the market and may surpass all its competitors. Chapter five concerns the proper utilization of force of an army. It is described in this chapter that proper use of force is required to win the battle.Whatever the size of an army, it still depends on how it will use by the commander. In business, proper utilization of resources is needed to ensure efficiency in the business. It all depends on how it will be run by the manager of the business. The next chapter focuses on knowing the weakness and strengths of an enemy. Probing the enemy to know its weak spot and its strong points is a good way to defeat the adversary. In business, it is a good attitude of a bu siness manager to familiarize himself with his competitors’ flaws because this information can be used to improve his products or services.Right maneuvering is on the next chapter. It is not always appropriate to face your enemy directly. Proper positioning is good tactic to add more advantages to the army to defeat the enemy. Business also requires proper way of identifying good positions to enhance the sales of an industry. A fast food chain must be placed in a crowded area, even there are already established competitors in that locale. What is more important is the proper placing of the store that would still be accessible enough to consumers. Next topic described in chapter eight is the variation in tactics of an army.Flexibility must always be present in anyone’s mind because there might be uncontrolled circumstances that suddenly occurred that need to be address immediately. There must be rooms for changes in the plans. Contingency measures are always present whe n planning a war strategy. This is the same with business because, trends are continuously changing and the demands of people may vary in time. That is why many companies have put up research and development division and innovation section to address these concerns. Chapter nine illustrates the actual army marching toward the enemy.Like in the previous chapters, maneuvers must always be a part of the plan when marching began. It all depends on the actuation of the enemy in the battlefield. The general must be knowledgeable enough to provide his army tactics in the battle arena. In the corporate world, the same is applied. There must be enough room for sudden maneuvers and that depends wholly on who run the company. Like a general, he must be skilled enough to deal with actuations that require some changes in the plan. Ground Formation is on the next chapter. It entails a lot of insight on how to position an army in the battle.In order to win the war, it is imperative for a general t o evaluate the opponent, make situations leading to success, calculating the risks and spaces. In the business arena, it is also relevant to ensure success of the business by the managing properly of a particular company. There are conditions that need to be set in order to enhance the sales of the business. Risks in the business are inevitable; a good manager will always make accurate calculations to avoid these business threats. The eleventh chapter discusses the nine different grounds in warfare.These must carefully study because according to the book, there is a specific response for every given type of grounds. These are the following: dispersive ground, marginal ground, contentious ground, open ground, intersecting ground, critical ground, difficult ground, surrounded ground, and deadly ground. Each ground needs appropriate action by the commanding general to guarantee victory. In the market, there are variations in the settings and environments. A good businessman will carefu lly examine his ground first to be able to survive this competition, if there is any.Chapter twelve illustrates the topic on fire attacks. This gives explanation on the use of arsenals commonly and the use of the surroundings as a weapon particularly. It scrutinizes the five marks for aggression, the five types of ecological assaults, and the suitable answers to such assault. In business, we cannot avoid some competitors doing some bad tricks to destroy his rival’s business reputation. Proper responses must be applied to such attacks like these, or they might fulfill their purpose to afflict their rival’s industry. The last chapter discusses the use of spies.This focuses on the relevance of producing good data gatherers to help in their battle. According to the book, enlightened leaders and superior commanders who have acquired clever agents that are used as spies are most likely into enormous triumphs. This timeless piece of manuscript can be applied to various discip lines aside form the real warfare. It gives a lot of brilliant ideas that are far more superior to other advices provided by other books. One important thing that must not be disregarded is that God is in control of everything. It takes His help and provision to help win any adversary.This is also included in the book, pertaining to Heaven. As long as we do His will, we must not be affected by any enemy that hinders our success. The battle is the Lord’s. References Levitt, Steven D. , Dubner, Stephen J. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. United States: William Morrow, April 12, 2005. Covey, Stephen R. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990. Tzu, Sun. The Art of War : The Denma Translation. United States. Shambhala Publications. 2001

Are Serial Killers Born or Created

We have been looking at the Nature vs Nurture debate in psychology and how it can be applied to Serial Killers. In class we also looked at the ways nature and nurture effected how Colin Jackson and found that it was a combination of the two arguments. I believe that it may be similarly a combination of both sides of the argument that lead a person to becoming a serial killer. The nature argument towards people’s behaviour is that traits such as intelligence, personality, aggression and sexual orientation are encoded in a persons DNA.This would suggest that Identical twins would have the exact same levels of intelligence, personality and aggression. It also suggests that identical twins would both have the same sexual orientation but as we saw in a psychology lesson there were two identical twins where one showed very masculine traits for a male such as playing with toy guns and cars and the other showed very feminine traits like playing with barbies even though they were ident ical twins which suggests that not everything can be only down to your genetic makeup.The nurture argument is that even though they do believe genetic tendencies exist they do not actually matter in terms of a persons personality etc. This is because they believe that behavioural aspects originate from environmental aspects such as a persons upbringing. Studies done on this have been supportive as they have found cases where identical twins were separated at birth and grew up in different environments and developed very different personalities, intelligence and aggression. At the same time this also goes against the nature theory because it means that they haven’t been affected by only genetics.The opposite end of this argument would suggest that Fraternal Twins would act in exactly the same way and have exactly the same attributes as they will have both been raised in exactly the same environment under the same conditions. In this piece I aim to discuss whether a serial kill er becomes a serial killer due to Nature or Nurture or due to a combination of the two. 1. Power & Control This type of serial killer experiences complete sexual gratification from the domination and humiliation of the victim. This killer is a true sociopath and lives by his own personal set of rules and guidelines.Many of the famous serial killers we have seen in history would fall under his type of serial killer. 2. Visionary This type of serial killer is compelled by voices or visions they experience and are considered psychotic. These voices and visions compel them to kill certain kinds of people. 3. Mission This type of serial killer feels a â€Å"need† or duty to kill certain types of people or â€Å"class† of people such as religious or racial groups or prostitutes. This type of serial killer is not considered psychotic. 4. HedonisticThis type of serial killer makes a strong connection between personal violence and sexual gratification. This type of killer can a lso be described as a â€Å"lust† or â€Å"thrill† killer. This killer receives pleasure from the act and has eroticized the experience. They generally take the time to torture or mutilate their victims. I found this whilst I was doing some research about the serial killers that I have chosen and have tried to use reports of serial killers from a range of these 4 classifications of serial killers in order to make a wider and better rounded summation.I used Crime Library to do my research as I believe it is a reliable source of information on the serial killers and found four case studies that I can use; Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Ed Gein and Charles Whitman. Firstly I read Ted Bundy’s page and found that in the early years he was brought up by his grandparents who he was told were his actual parents and his natural mother was his older sister so that it would protect her from being judged as having a child before she was married.For the first 3 years of Bundy's life he lived with his grandparents who raised him as their son, this means that he will have formed an attachment to them both and seem them as his mother and father figure throughout the critical period of his life in terms of Bowlbys theory of Maternal Deprivation. This would then have been disrupted when he was told that it was all a lie and that the woman he thought was his sister was actually his mother. This may have caused Ted Bundy to change his cognition about how lying is acceptable within society as he has been lied to throughout his whole life.This may have led to him being unable to form secure attachments with anybody again and it was later reported that he became a petty thief which may have been a direct consequence of him being lied to about his parents. It was reported that soon after this he began to develop psychopathic tendencies and changed from being a shy person to someone that was very driven and dominant. This is a suggestion that Ted felt he had been bet rayed by his family and those around him leading him to have a warped perception of loving which may have influenced the way that he acted.I did some research and found a website that actually had reports of old x-ray’s and other tests on his brain which found there were no abnormalities which suggests that everything causing him to become a serial killer came from the nurture side. Bundy's favoured method was to first lure victims to his car by pretending he had a broken arm and needed someone to take his books to his car then gain control usually by bludgeoning with a crowbar he kept in his infamous Volkswagen Bug. The murders he committed at the sorority house in Florida he used a piece of wood he had found right outside the house.After being hit over the head the victims were strangled as they were raped by Bundy. Teddy also had the peculiar fetish of necrophilia, returning sometimes weeks after dumping a body to have sex with it over and over again. (‘Crime Library ’) This may have had a direct link with what Bundy’s childhood and the way that he was nurtured when growing up. For example when his parents lied to him for large periods of his life it may have led him into believing that it was acceptable for you to lie to people in order to benefit him which is exactly what he was doing when leading women back to his car before beating them.The fact that Bundy also returned to have sex with his victims bodies after weeks after dumping the body means that he was in control of his actions and reinforces the fact the there was no nature argument towards him being that way. However I am unsure what in his upbringing would have led him to act in this way as there were never any reports of any sexual abuse towards him that would have led him to maybe finding it to be acceptable.I believe that in Ted Bundy’s case he would have been a Power and Control type of serial killer because it is almost a direct description of the way that h e acted, he could have also been some aspects of a mission type serial killers as he only killed young women generally in university which may have a direct connection with an event that happened in his life. In the crime library report it said about how the â€Å"love of his life† had broken up with him and he did not know what to do with himself for the rest of his time at university and could not concentrate on anything.This happened whilst he was in university which may have led him to believe that it was down to him in order to kill university girls as he felt they were evil. So Ted Bundy is a serial killer that I believe was created from the Nurture side of things because it was not reported that he had anything wrong with his nature to cause him to act the way in which he did although I couldn’t find any records of brain scans or information about it to suggest that he had actually been properly tested for it.The next serial killer that I researched on was Charl es Whitman, who is not as infamous as Ted Bundy even though he killed a far higher number of people. Charles Whitman was brought up in a wealthy family with his dad being a self employed man that was at the top of his profession so there was no form of poverty in his life. There are a few things from his childhood and teenage years that may have affected the way that he grew up, one being that his father would regularly hit his wife.This may have led to Charles beating his wife as well which he reportedly did, he may have learnt to do this via social learning theory. This would have meant that because he had seen it done from a man that he saw as respectable and holding power that it was acceptable for him to do it as well. When Charles was aged 18 he came home drunk one night and his father punished him by beating him and throwing him into the swimming pool where he almost drowned. This would have a major impact on his life as he had almost been killed by his father.After that he j oined the Marine Corps and it was taught to Charlie from an early age that it was necessary for him to be the best that he could be at whatever he did because he was desperate to prove himself as a man after his father had belittled him for many years. Charlie joined university and was finally free from the regimented life that he had led due to his strict upbringing from his father and the strict training in the Marines which is when he began to get into trouble and found himself getting lots of debts and his grades going down.Charlie was considered to be a genius at a young age so this upset him greatly and when he returned to the Marines he found the military life to be oppressive and lonely. He began to hate the marines and this led to him being Court martialled for his gambling and unauthorized possession of guns. Charlie was embarrassed by his self failure during the marines and at school and was determined to redeem himself.He became obsessed with self improvement and many sc hemes were found where he had written down ways for him to improve himself and the way that he was acting. Someone described him as â€Å"Like a computer. He would install his own values like a machine, then program the things he had to do, and out would come the results†. This image that he desperately tried to uphold crumbled on occasion where he had bouts of temper and frustration which further damaged the self respect that he had for himself.He continued to receive money and expensive gifts from his father. Charlie hated freeloaders, yet that was how he saw himself. He hated failure, yet he had failed to accomplish anything he had set out to do since he left home at 18. He saw being overweight as a sign of weakness, yet he was unable to keep himself as trim as he had been in the Marines. Outwardly, Charlie was diligent and conscientious, a devoted husband and a hard worker; inwardly, he seethed with self-hatred.  (‘Crime Library’)I believe that this came fr om a mixture of both Nature and Nurture in that his father had taught him that failure was unacceptable but it was also found that Charlie had a tumour on his brain that was the size of a peanut that was never dealt with and only found after his death that changed his cognition to make him hate himself and see himself as a failure because in reality he had not actually failed he just didn’t achieve grades or ranks in the marines that he felt he should have meaning that it was mainly himself believing he had not achieved enough whereas those around him actually thought he was doing well enough for himself. â€Å"I don't quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter,† he wrote.â€Å"Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. † He went on to say he'd increasingly been a victim of â€Å"many unusual and irrational thoughts† and that his attempt to get help with his problems (the visit to Dr. Heatly) h ad failed. He expressed a wish that his body be autopsied after his death to see if there was a physical cause for his mental anguish. As he continued, he outlined his plan for the coming 24 hours. â€Å"It was after much thought that I decided to kill my wife, Kathy, tonight after I pick her up from work at the telephone company,† he revealed. â€Å"The prominent reason in my mind is that I truly do not consider this world worth living in, and am prepared to die,  and I do not want to leave her to suffer alone in it. â€Å"He continued, â€Å"similar reasons provoked me to take my mother's life also. â€Å"(‘Crime Library’) This quote from Crime Library is very interesting as it suggests that Charlie himself had known that there was something wrong with the way that he was thinking and felt that there was something wrong with his brain making him think the way that he was. I believe that Charlie wanting to kill his wife and mother because he did not consid er the world worth living in suggests that he is a Mission type serial killer as he wanted to kill people to remove them from a world that he didn’t see as being good enough for the people he killed.Later in the report it says that Charlie climbed to the top of a Texas bell tower with 4 guns where he barricaded himself and began taking shots at people below killing 17 people in total and wounding a further 35 before he was killed by police that made their way up to him and killed him with multiple shotgun shots to the head. In his suicide notes Charles had left a final request to have an autopsy done on his brain where the pecan sized tumour was found. It was found that Charles had a build up of Necrosis surrounding the area of the tumour and the neuro-scientists studying his brain believed that it may have gone from being dormant to suddenly active which may have caused him to have done what he did as his natural ways of thinking were going wrong.The nature argument is prese nt with this Serial Killer but it isn’t solely Nature as it is near impossible to completely rule out any form of Nurture in a child’s upbringing but I originally felt that a combination of the two is what caused people to become serial killers in the first place so this goes very well with that opinion as I believe the combination of both his father telling him that he was a failure led him to being angered easily by those around him and may be what caused him to have the thoughts about killing people but I also believe that the tumour and his brain chemistry that changed when the Necrosis surrounding the tumour became active.It is well documented that he had thoughts about killing people long before he actually did it and it was found that the psychiatrist that was trying to help him through it ignored his sayings about killing people as nonsense even though if he was taught ways to change his cognition on this matter then it may have a actually allowed him to have a higher level of control over the brain tumour allowing him to use techniques taught to him to stop killing those people. The psychiatrist that ignored these facts was given no punishment even though I believe it was down to him to report this to somebody as it endangered the lives of innocent people regardless of ethical issues that may become present for breaking confidentiality. The next serial killer that I found on Crime Library was Ed Gein.This man is one of the better known serial killers with lots of films being done about his life and his killings. Ed Gein was another serial killer that I looked at because I felt that he also had a mixture of both the Nature and Nurture sides of things affecting him and causing him to become what he was; A very notorious serial killer with many films based around his life. Ed’s family appeared to be completely normal when being viewed from the outside as he had a mother, father and also an elder brother. The problems with his life fr om the nurture side all stemmed and revolved largely around his mother who was fanatically religious with very strict morals and taught her sons that women had â€Å"Immorality and looseness†.This constant teaching about how evil the outside world was is one thing that could have caused Ed to be the way he was as his victims were mostly women including the bones that he dug up from graves. Ed saw his mother as the â€Å"epitome of goodness and followed her every order† so much so that when she died â€Å"Ed lost his only friend and his one true love – and was absolutely alone in the world† from Freuds work on the psychosexual stages of development I believe that Ed Gein was stuck in the Oedipus complex which caused him to be in love with his mother. I think due to the way he was brought up by his mother he was never given an opportunity to escape this complex as he was so sheltered from the outside world that it was never possible for him to form real att achments with anybody else.Even when Ed went to a school it was difficult for him to hold relationships with other people of his age because he would be beaten by his mother if she ever found out so he lived in constant fear of displeasing his mother. Eds father was the complete opposite to his mother in that he was a weak man who his mother despised and was an alcoholic therefore as the two boys were growing up it was evident that they would develop a poor perception of how a male should act which I believe may have been the cause for his victims being predominantly female and why he created a suit out of womens skin because his perception had taught him that women were strong and the â€Å"epitome of goodness† whilst men were feeble and couldn’t support their family.Something particularly interesting about the Ed Gein case is that he had a brother that was older than him and although from the videos we have watched in class we know that the nature of a child does not predetermine them having the same personalities it is also evident from this case that siblings do not share similar personalities due to their nurture as well. It was never documented throughout his brother’s life of him ever doing anything similar to that of his brother although it is not entirely possible to disprove it using this case because Ed’s brother was mysteriously killed during a forest fire, Ed was originally suspected because he led them directly to the body which had cuts and bruises on it that were irregular for a fire death but dismissed it as Ed looked too small to kill his brother. I believe that it was Ed that killed his brother and the reasoning behind it would have been that it would allow him to have his mother to himself because his father had passed away previous to that.The reason that Ed Gein may be a combination of both Nature and Nurture is because it was thought that he was mentally retarded which from previous videos and research I have found that this decreases a person’s capacity for learning and a person with a standard brain can expect their brains size to grow at a rate of 1 year per year whereas a person with mental retardation can expect their brain to grow at a far slower rate so they will be unable to learn at the same rate which may have caused Ed to become frustrated and be incapable of using the same thought process as others and it was suggested that he could plead not guilty via insanity suggesting that there was indeed something wrong with his brain that came from the nature side of things.The last serial killer that I looked at was John Wayne Gacy who was born into a family where he was the second child of three with a sister that is 2 years older than him and also a sister that is 2 years younger than him. They grew up in a middle class neighbourhood where Gacy busied himself with school and part time jobs. Gacy was not unpopular in school which is something we tend to expect of most serial killers but he was fairly well liked by staff and pupils. At the age of 11 Gacy was hit in the head by a swing which caused a clot in his brain, and between the ages of 11 and 16 Gacy suffered a series of blackouts.At the age of 17 Gacy was diagnosed with a heart ailment hospitalizing him several times throughout his life. As Gacy aged he began having trouble with his father who was an abusive alcoholic that abused his wife and verbally abused his children. Gacy was desperate to gain his father’s devotion and attention but was unable to do so before his father died which is something that Gacy regretted for his entire life. I believe the part about having the blood clot in the brain would be considered a nature side to things but it was actually not important in him becoming a serial killer because he had medication and it was removed long before he killed anybody.Later in life Gacy’s health took another turn for the worse where he suffered major weight issues leading to more problems with his heart and also a spinal injury that would plague him for the rest of his life. Although this is the case I do not believe that it actually impacted on Gacy becoming what he did because it is usually has to be something that affects the brain and this had no effect on the way he thought and was only impacting his physical attributes. In the community that he lived he was a well-respected man who worked long shifts and volunteered for his community. This is the point when things began to turn worse for Gacy as rumours were spread about his area that his sexual preference was Men which was frowned upon at the time and he was always in the company of young boys.In 1968 the first charges were being presented to Gacy with the first being about tricking a young boy into being tied up and raping him. The fact that Gacy’s victims were all young men may have been something to do with the way that he was brought up aiming to impress his father as much as possib le. Since he would have been of a similar age at the time that he was working towards impressing his father then he may have held a strong feeling that other young men did not deserve the opportunity that was taken away from him at that age to impress their fathers so that he was not alone. In total Gacy killed 33 people and buried them under his house.It was found that most of these were young men that Gacy had lured into working for him and then violently sexually abusing them and also engaging in Necrophilia after killing them where he would keep the body in his bed for days after killing them. In my research on John Wayne Gacy I couldn’t find a definitive reason for him doing this but I believe it may have a link with the way that Gacy’s father treated his mother because he would regularly physically abuse her so it may have been installed into Gacy’s values that this was an acceptable thing because it would have been similar to that of his father’s a ctions that he probably wanted to replicate to the full in order to make his father proud of him. This warped perception of what his father did may have been caused by the Blood clots in his brain when he was around that age because he may have not fully understood what was happening.In summary of Gacy’s actions I believe that the majority of his actions came from his nurture side where his father had abused members of his family so because Gacy looked up to his father and wanted to make him proud he thought that the way to do it would be to replicate the way his father acted. In conclusion of the way serial killers are created I still firmly believe that it is caused by a combination of both Nature and Nurture. I believe that Nature gives you a capacity for learning, for sports, for other things such as the ability to become a serial killer. Whereas nurture is about releasing that potential that you have by how they have been brought up.An example of this is from the video t hat we watched of Colin Jackson where he was discovering about how his genetic makeup and his nurture effected the way that he developed into an Olympic hurdler so if Colin Jackson was simply given the capacity to become an Olympic hurdler from birth and left it idly then he would not have been able to win the races that he did. It requires some input from the Nurture side in the form of training for athletes. So this can be directly applied to the way serial killers are created because I believe there is something in their genetics that gives them a potential to become a serial killer such as a short temper or an inability to think clearly and then this can either be left as simply a potential that is never unleashed in the form of them becoming serial killers.So that means that there has to be something in the nurture side of things that has made them act the way that they have such as some of the theories that we have learnt about in psychology like Social Learning Theory, Matern al Deprivation etc. which means that a person may have learnt from their parents in the cases of John Wayne Gacy for example that beating women was an acceptable thing to do because that is what his father did when he was a child. The capacity for learning to become something could actually be something very common if I’m correct in my explanation meaning that people around you could actually have the potential to become a serial killer because of the way their bio-chemistry is making them have a short temper or hear voices in their head for example.But I believe that because  people are generally subjected to a higher standard of parenting nowadays that serial killers are becoming rarer in western civilizations where it has become necessary to be a good parent otherwise social services will intervene meaning that someone with the potential to become a serial killer does not get that potential unlocked as they have been brought up in a home that will allow them to properly deal with their problems and learn how to react when confronted with them. Another thing that I believe has helped to reduce the number of recent serial killers is the fact that psychological treatment is more advanced these days meaning that even if a person’s cognition does tell them to kill people, or they hear voices within their heads telling them to kill a person then they can be treated to find ways around this. Are Serial Killers Born or Created We have been looking at the Nature vs Nurture debate in psychology and how it can be applied to Serial Killers. In class we also looked at the ways nature and nurture effected how Colin Jackson and found that it was a combination of the two arguments. I believe that it may be similarly a combination of both sides of the argument that lead a person to becoming a serial killer. The nature argument towards people’s behaviour is that traits such as intelligence, personality, aggression and sexual orientation are encoded in a persons DNA.This would suggest that Identical twins would have the exact same levels of intelligence, personality and aggression. It also suggests that identical twins would both have the same sexual orientation but as we saw in a psychology lesson there were two identical twins where one showed very masculine traits for a male such as playing with toy guns and cars and the other showed very feminine traits like playing with barbies even though they were ident ical twins which suggests that not everything can be only down to your genetic makeup.The nurture argument is that even though they do believe genetic tendencies exist they do not actually matter in terms of a persons personality etc. This is because they believe that behavioural aspects originate from environmental aspects such as a persons upbringing. Studies done on this have been supportive as they have found cases where identical twins were separated at birth and grew up in different environments and developed very different personalities, intelligence and aggression. At the same time this also goes against the nature theory because it means that they haven’t been affected by only genetics.The opposite end of this argument would suggest that Fraternal Twins would act in exactly the same way and have exactly the same attributes as they will have both been raised in exactly the same environment under the same conditions. In this piece I aim to discuss whether a serial kill er becomes a serial killer due to Nature or Nurture or due to a combination of the two. 1. Power & Control This type of serial killer experiences complete sexual gratification from the domination and humiliation of the victim. This killer is a true sociopath and lives by his own personal set of rules and guidelines.Many of the famous serial killers we have seen in history would fall under his type of serial killer. 2. Visionary This type of serial killer is compelled by voices or visions they experience and are considered psychotic. These voices and visions compel them to kill certain kinds of people. 3. Mission This type of serial killer feels a â€Å"need† or duty to kill certain types of people or â€Å"class† of people such as religious or racial groups or prostitutes. This type of serial killer is not considered psychotic. 4. HedonisticThis type of serial killer makes a strong connection between personal violence and sexual gratification. This type of killer can a lso be described as a â€Å"lust† or â€Å"thrill† killer. This killer receives pleasure from the act and has eroticized the experience. They generally take the time to torture or mutilate their victims. I found this whilst I was doing some research about the serial killers that I have chosen and have tried to use reports of serial killers from a range of these 4 classifications of serial killers in order to make a wider and better rounded summation.I used Crime Library to do my research as I believe it is a reliable source of information on the serial killers and found four case studies that I can use; Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Ed Gein and Charles Whitman. Firstly I read Ted Bundy’s page and found that in the early years he was brought up by his grandparents who he was told were his actual parents and his natural mother was his older sister so that it would protect her from being judged as having a child before she was married.For the first 3 years of Bundy's life he lived with his grandparents who raised him as their son, this means that he will have formed an attachment to them both and seem them as his mother and father figure throughout the critical period of his life in terms of Bowlbys theory of Maternal Deprivation. This would then have been disrupted when he was told that it was all a lie and that the woman he thought was his sister was actually his mother. This may have caused Ted Bundy to change his cognition about how lying is acceptable within society as he has been lied to throughout his whole life.This may have led to him being unable to form secure attachments with anybody again and it was later reported that he became a petty thief which may have been a direct consequence of him being lied to about his parents. It was reported that soon after this he began to develop psychopathic tendencies and changed from being a shy person to someone that was very driven and dominant. This is a suggestion that Ted felt he had been bet rayed by his family and those around him leading him to have a warped perception of loving which may have influenced the way that he acted.I did some research and found a website that actually had reports of old x-ray’s and other tests on his brain which found there were no abnormalities which suggests that everything causing him to become a serial killer came from the nurture side. Bundy's favoured method was to first lure victims to his car by pretending he had a broken arm and needed someone to take his books to his car then gain control usually by bludgeoning with a crowbar he kept in his infamous Volkswagen Bug. The murders he committed at the sorority house in Florida he used a piece of wood he had found right outside the house.After being hit over the head the victims were strangled as they were raped by Bundy. Teddy also had the peculiar fetish of necrophilia, returning sometimes weeks after dumping a body to have sex with it over and over again. (‘Crime Library ’) This may have had a direct link with what Bundy’s childhood and the way that he was nurtured when growing up. For example when his parents lied to him for large periods of his life it may have led him into believing that it was acceptable for you to lie to people in order to benefit him which is exactly what he was doing when leading women back to his car before beating them.The fact that Bundy also returned to have sex with his victims bodies after weeks after dumping the body means that he was in control of his actions and reinforces the fact the there was no nature argument towards him being that way. However I am unsure what in his upbringing would have led him to act in this way as there were never any reports of any sexual abuse towards him that would have led him to maybe finding it to be acceptable.I believe that in Ted Bundy’s case he would have been a Power and Control type of serial killer because it is almost a direct description of the way that h e acted, he could have also been some aspects of a mission type serial killers as he only killed young women generally in university which may have a direct connection with an event that happened in his life. In the crime library report it said about how the â€Å"love of his life† had broken up with him and he did not know what to do with himself for the rest of his time at university and could not concentrate on anything.This happened whilst he was in university which may have led him to believe that it was down to him in order to kill university girls as he felt they were evil. So Ted Bundy is a serial killer that I believe was created from the Nurture side of things because it was not reported that he had anything wrong with his nature to cause him to act the way in which he did although I couldn’t find any records of brain scans or information about it to suggest that he had actually been properly tested for it.The next serial killer that I researched on was Charl es Whitman, who is not as infamous as Ted Bundy even though he killed a far higher number of people. Charles Whitman was brought up in a wealthy family with his dad being a self employed man that was at the top of his profession so there was no form of poverty in his life. There are a few things from his childhood and teenage years that may have affected the way that he grew up, one being that his father would regularly hit his wife.This may have led to Charles beating his wife as well which he reportedly did, he may have learnt to do this via social learning theory. This would have meant that because he had seen it done from a man that he saw as respectable and holding power that it was acceptable for him to do it as well. When Charles was aged 18 he came home drunk one night and his father punished him by beating him and throwing him into the swimming pool where he almost drowned. This would have a major impact on his life as he had almost been killed by his father.After that he j oined the Marine Corps and it was taught to Charlie from an early age that it was necessary for him to be the best that he could be at whatever he did because he was desperate to prove himself as a man after his father had belittled him for many years. Charlie joined university and was finally free from the regimented life that he had led due to his strict upbringing from his father and the strict training in the Marines which is when he began to get into trouble and found himself getting lots of debts and his grades going down.Charlie was considered to be a genius at a young age so this upset him greatly and when he returned to the Marines he found the military life to be oppressive and lonely. He began to hate the marines and this led to him being Court martialled for his gambling and unauthorized possession of guns. Charlie was embarrassed by his self failure during the marines and at school and was determined to redeem himself.He became obsessed with self improvement and many sc hemes were found where he had written down ways for him to improve himself and the way that he was acting. Someone described him as â€Å"Like a computer. He would install his own values like a machine, then program the things he had to do, and out would come the results†. This image that he desperately tried to uphold crumbled on occasion where he had bouts of temper and frustration which further damaged the self respect that he had for himself.He continued to receive money and expensive gifts from his father. Charlie hated freeloaders, yet that was how he saw himself. He hated failure, yet he had failed to accomplish anything he had set out to do since he left home at 18. He saw being overweight as a sign of weakness, yet he was unable to keep himself as trim as he had been in the Marines. Outwardly, Charlie was diligent and conscientious, a devoted husband and a hard worker; inwardly, he seethed with self-hatred.(‘Crime Library’) I believe that this came from a mixture of both Nature and Nurture in that his father had taught him that failure was unacceptable but it was also found that Charlie had a tumour on his brain that was the size of a peanut that was never dealt with and only found after his death that changed his cognition to make him hate himself and see himself as a failure because in reality he had not actually failed he just didn’t achieve grades or ranks in the marines that he felt he should have meaning that it was mainly himself believing he had not achieved enough whereas those around him actually thought he was doing well enough for himself. â€Å"I don't quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter,† he wrote.â€Å"Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. † He went on to say he'd increasingly been a victim of â€Å"many unusual and irrational thoughts† and that his attempt to get help with his problems (the visit to Dr. Heatly) had failed. He expressed a wish that his body be autopsied after his death to see if there was a physical cause for his mental anguish. As he continued, he outlined his plan for the coming 24 hours. â€Å"It was after much thought that I decided to kill my wife, Kathy, tonight after I pick her up from work at the telephone company,† he revealed. â€Å"The prominent reason in my mind is that I truly do not consider this world worth living in, and am prepared to die,and I do not want to leave her to suffer alone in it. † He continued, â€Å"similar reasons provoked me to take my mother's life also. â€Å"(‘Crime Library’) This quote from Crime Library is very interesting as it suggests that Charlie himself had known that there was something wrong with the way that he was thinking and felt that there was something wrong with his brain making him think the way that he was. I believe that Charlie wanting to kill his wife and mother because he did not consider the world worth living in suggests that he is a Mission type serial killer as he wanted to kill people to remove them from a world that he didn’t see as being good enough for the people he killed.Later in the report it says that Charlie climbed to the top of a Texas bell tower with 4 guns where he barricaded himself and began taking shots at people below killing 17 people in total and wounding a further 35 before he was killed by police that made their way up to him and killed him with multiple shotgun shots to the head. In his suicide notes Charles had left a final request to have an autopsy done on his brain where the pecan sized tumour was found. It was found that Charles had a build up of Necrosis surrounding the area of the tumour and the neuro-scientists studying his brain believed that it may have gone from being dormant to suddenly active which may have caused him to have done what he did as his natural ways of thinking were going wrong.The nature argument is present wit h this Serial Killer but it isn’t solely Nature as it is near impossible to completely rule out any form of Nurture in a child’s upbringing but I originally felt that a combination of the two is what caused people to become serial killers in the first place so this goes very well with that opinion as I believe the combination of both his father telling him that he was a failure led him to being angered easily by those around him and may be what caused him to have the thoughts about killing people but I also believe that the tumour and his brain chemistry that changed when the Necrosis surrounding the tumour became active.It is well documented that he had thoughts about killing people long before he actually did it and it was found that the psychiatrist that was trying to help him through it ignored his sayings about killing people as nonsense even though if he was taught ways to change his cognition on this matter then it may have a actually allowed him to have a highe r level of control over the brain tumour allowing him to use techniques taught to him to stop killing those people. The psychiatrist that ignored these facts was given no punishment even though I believe it was down to him to report this to somebody as it endangered the lives of innocent people regardless of ethical issues that may become present for breaking confidentiality. The next serial killer that I found on Crime Library was Ed Gein.This man is one of the better known serial killers with lots of films being done about his life and his killings. Ed Gein was another serial killer that I looked at because I felt that he also had a mixture of both the Nature and Nurture sides of things affecting him and causing him to become what he was; A very notorious serial killer with many films based around his life. Ed’s family appeared to be completely normal when being viewed from the outside as he had a mother, father and also an elder brother. The problems with his life from the nurture side all stemmed and revolved largely around his mother who was fanatically religious with very strict morals and taught her sons that women had â€Å"Immorality and looseness†.This constant teaching about how evil the outside world was is one thing that could have caused Ed to be the way he was as his victims were mostly women including the bones that he dug up from graves. Ed saw his mother as the â€Å"epitome of goodness and followed her every order† so much so that when she died â€Å"Ed lost his only friend and his one true love – and was absolutely alone in the world† from Freuds work on the psychosexual stages of development I believe that Ed Gein was stuck in the Oedipus complex which caused him to be in love with his mother. I think due to the way he was brought up by his mother he was never given an opportunity to escape this complex as he was so sheltered from the outside world that it was never possible for him to form real attachmen ts with anybody else.Even when Ed went to a school it was difficult for him to hold relationships with other people of his age because he would be beaten by his mother if she ever found out so he lived in constant fear of displeasing his mother. Eds father was the complete opposite to his mother in that he was a weak man who his mother despised and was an alcoholic therefore as the two boys were growing up it was evident that they would develop a poor perception of how a male should act which I believe may have been the cause for his victims being predominantly female and why he created a suit out of womens skin because his perception had taught him that women were strong and the â€Å"epitome of goodness† whilst men were feeble and couldn’t support their family.Something particularly interesting about the Ed Gein case is that he had a brother that was older than him and although from the videos we have watched in class we know that the nature of a child does not prede termine them having the same personalities it is also evident from this case that siblings do not share similar personalities due to their nurture as well. It was never documented throughout his brother’s life of him ever doing anything similar to that of his brother although it is not entirely possible to disprove it using this case because Ed’s brother was mysteriously killed during a forest fire, Ed was originally suspected because he led them directly to the body which had cuts and bruises on it that were irregular for a fire death but dismissed it as Ed looked too small to kill his brother. I believe that it was Ed that killed his brother and the reasoning behind it would have been that it would allow him to have his mother to himself because his father had passed away previous to that.The reason that Ed Gein may be a combination of both Nature and Nurture is because it was thought that he was mentally retarded which from previous videos and research I have found that this decreases a person’s capacity for learning and a person with a standard brain can expect their brains size to grow at a rate of 1 year per year whereas a person with mental retardation can expect their brain to grow at a far slower rate so they will be unable to learn at the same rate which may have caused Ed to become frustrated and be incapable of using the same thought process as others and it was suggested that he could plead not guilty via insanity suggesting that there was indeed something wrong with his brain that came from the nature side of things. The last serial killer that I looked at was John Wayne Gacy who was born into a family where he was the second child of three with a sister that is 2 years older than him and also a sister that is 2 years younger than him. They grew up in a middle class neighbourhood where Gacy busied himself with school and part time jobs. Gacy was not unpopular in school which is something we tend to expect of most serial kille rs but he was fairly well liked by staff and pupils. At the age of 11 Gacy was hit in the head by a swing which caused a clot in his brain, and between the ages of 11 and 16 Gacy suffered a series of blackouts.At the age of 17 Gacy was diagnosed with a heart ailment hospitalizing him several times throughout his life. As Gacy aged he began having trouble with his father who was an abusive alcoholic that abused his wife and verbally abused his children. Gacy was desperate to gain his father’s devotion and attention but was unable to do so before his father died which is something that Gacy regretted for his entire life. I believe the part about having the blood clot in the brain would be considered a nature side to things but it was actually not important in him becoming a serial killer because he had medication and it was removed long before he killed anybody.Later in life Gacy’s health took another turn for the worse where he suffered major weight issues leading to mo re problems with his heart and also a spinal injury that would plague him for the rest of his life. Although this is the case I do not believe that it actually impacted on Gacy becoming what he did because it is usually has to be something that affects the brain and this had no effect on the way he thought and was only impacting his physical attributes. In the community that he lived he was a well-respected man who worked long shifts and volunteered for his community. This is the point when things began to turn worse for Gacy as rumours were spread about his area that his sexual preference was Men which was frowned upon at the time and he was always in the company of young boys.In 1968 the first charges were being presented to Gacy with the first being about tricking a young boy into being tied up and raping him. The fact that Gacy’s victims were all young men may have been something to do with the way that he was brought up aiming to impress his father as much as possible. S ince he would have been of a similar age at the time that he was working towards impressing his father then he may have held a strong feeling that other young men did not deserve the opportunity that was taken away from him at that age to impress their fathers so that he was not alone. In total Gacy killed 33 people and buried them under his house.It was found that most of these were young men that Gacy had lured into working for him and then violently sexually abusing them and also engaging in Necrophilia after killing them where he would keep the body in his bed for days after killing them. In my research on John Wayne Gacy I couldn’t find a definitive reason for him doing this but I believe it may have a link with the way that Gacy’s father treated his mother because he would regularly physically abuse her so it may have been installed into Gacy’s values that this was an acceptable thing because it would have been similar to that of his father’s action s that he probably wanted to replicate to the full in order to make his father proud of him. This warped perception of what his father did may have been caused by the Blood clots in his brain when he was around that age because he may have not fully understood what was happening.In summary of Gacy’s actions I believe that the majority of his actions came from his nurture side where his father had abused members of his family so because Gacy looked up to his father and wanted to make him proud he thought that the way to do it would be to replicate the way his father acted. In conclusion of the way serial killers are created I still firmly believe that it is caused by a combination of both Nature and Nurture. I believe that Nature gives you a capacity for learning, for sports, for other things such as the ability to become a serial killer. Whereas nurture is about releasing that potential that you have by how they have been brought up.An example of this is from the video that w e watched of Colin Jackson where he was discovering about how his genetic makeup and his nurture effected the way that he developed into an Olympic hurdler so if Colin Jackson was simply given the capacity to become an Olympic hurdler from birth and left it idly then he would not have been able to win the races that he did. It requires some input from the Nurture side in the form of training for athletes. So this can be directly applied to the way serial killers are created because I believe there is something in their genetics that gives them a potential to become a serial killer such as a short temper or an inability to think clearly and then this can either be left as simply a potential that is never unleashed in the form of them becoming serial killers.So that means that there has to be something in the nurture side of things that has made them act the way that they have such as some of the theories that we have learnt about in psychology like Social Learning Theory, Maternal De privation etc. which means that a person may have learnt from their parents in the cases of John Wayne Gacy for example that beating women was an acceptable thing to do because that is what his father did when he was a child. The capacity for learning to become something could actually be something very common if I’m correct in my explanation meaning that people around you could actually have the potential to become a serial killer because of the way their bio-chemistry is making them have a short temper or hear voices in their head for example. But I believe that becausepeople are generally subjected to a higher standard of parenting nowadays that serial killers are becoming rarer in western civilizations where it has become necessary to be a good parent otherwise social services will intervene meaning that someone with the potential to become a serial killer does not get that potential unlocked as they have been brought up in a home that will allow them to properly deal wit h their problems and learn how to react when confronted with them. Another thing that I believe has helped to reduce the number of recent serial killers is the fact that psychological treatment is more advanced these days meaning that even if a person’s cognition does tell them to kill people, or they hear voices within their heads telling them to kill a person then they can be treated to find ways around this.

The Hope House Hosting the Treatment Works March Event this Year Article

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Operations Management at Amazon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Operations Management at Amazon - Essay Example The preceding discussion confirms the findings in the literature relating to the new and complex challenges facing e-commerce plays like Amazon, especially with regard to how its radically different strategy of optimizing operations efficiencies to execute a volume strategy in the online retail space needs new ways of managing operations. These new ways need to impute the opportunities provided by new technologies, but at the same time be mindful of the pitfalls of relying on old ways of thinking in order to solve problems that are unique to Amazon (Rao 2011; Karmakar and Apte 2007). One can see that aspects of process design, are intertwined with inventory management concerns. This is the case for inventory management considerations for digital content, for example, as those relate to the relative ease of handling virtual inventory on the one hand and the opposing difficulty and complexity of managing physical inventories. Here aspects of operations relate to optimizing warehouses a nd processes for managing inventories from the supplier to the warehouses, as well as those aspects of inventory management relating to the handling of physical goods at the fulfillment centers at Amazon (Rao 2014). A recommendation is to continue to use Amazon Prime as the benchmark for efficiency and success of the execution of the inventory management processes at Amazon, owing to the high bar it has set for orders fulfillment and the cost of fulfilling orders of physical goods (Graham 2013; Onetto 2014).

Alcohol Abuse in Men and Women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Alcohol Abuse in Men and Women - Essay Example Epidemiologic evidence suggests that the problem with alcoholism lack the stereotypical features of other substance abuse disorders mainly due to the fact that alcohol drink is considered a socially acceptable beverage, although society does not accept the excess and abuse. That which starts as a social norm may eventually turn out to be an addictive behaviour. Psychiatric manifestations apart, a history of alcoholism provides the explanation of many other health conditions that a nurse may come across, and from that point of view, awareness that many other organ system disorders are secondary to alcohol abuse is an absolute necessity for the nurse who cares for the patient (WHO, 2002). The effect size and effect count of alcohol abuse on other health conditions appear enormous and numerous, and these patients would require care for these other health issues eventually, and the impact on the nursing management and management plan consequently become numerous (Goldacre et al., 2004). In this literature review, current evidence would be sought as to how alcohol abuse in both the sexes affect the baseline health status of the individual, setting aside the problem of alcoholism per se. The literatures that would be reviewed would deal with all the parameters of health, such as, pathologic processes involving other organ systems, morbidity, mortality, and quality of life issues for adult men and women. In the short span of this review, it should be admitted that, it is not possible to discuss in detail all the studies to extract the specific health implications (Rehm et al., 2003b); however, it is presumed that it would serve the purpose of an overview so it can generate awareness about alcohol abuse health effects in both the sexes from the angles of impact on care, so the reader can ultimately make an informed decision about the management of such cases from the available evidence from literature. The common causes of death among persons with the alcohol-related disorders are suicide, cancer, heart disease, and hepatic disease. Apart from these, alcohol abuse has been implicated in many other pathologic processes in the body to contribute to mortality and morbidity of the individuals who misuse alcohol. Current research indicates that drinking level rather than drinking pattern bears the strongest relationships to alcohol-associated problems. At low drinking levels, frequent drinkers would be expected to have highest levels of problems. There are certain gender differences in relation to health issues between adult men and women. At lower levels of drinking women have a slightly lower drinking frequency and fewer problems than men. Research has shown that the Whites have the highest rate of alcohol use, and men are much more likely than women to be binge drinkers and heavy drinkers. Although alcohol misuse appears to be prevalent in higher socioeconomic classes, alcohol-relate d disorders appear among persons of all socioeconomic classes. In the past few decades, alcohol consumption has increased substantially in the population. Expressed as liters of pure alcohol per year per capita, the current

Compare Chinese and American national cybersecurity policies (or more Term Paper

Compare Chinese and American national cybersecurity policies (or more countries)) - Term Paper Example The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of the national cyber security policies that have been applied in China and America and to provide viable solutions to the weaknesses in these policies. By drawing from a wide range of theoretical and statistical resources, it will be possible to compare the performance of the cyber security policies in these countries. A critical analysis of the materials will provide an adequate ground to provide workable solutions to that will help the government to improve cyber security policies in their countries. Chinese versus American National Cyber Security Introduction Cyber security is a term that emerged immediately after the development of a data-centric world that is driven by the internet and online presence. As the global trends demand more engagement of the internet and all business operations become driven by this technology, the need for data security has risen due to the existence of hacking and identity theft as the man a t the middle gains access to sensitive information during its transmission. Even today, many organizations and citizens continue to be victims of victims of cybercrime sending an alarm to the government to implement online security to assure safety of sensitive business transactions. China and America are among the countries that have focused on the cyber security to guarantee safety of information in online business. The purpose of this paper is to make a comparison between the America cyber security policies with those that have been deployed in China. To draw this comparison, the policies applied in each country will be analyzed and their impact on data security will be evaluated. A secondary research will be conducted from a wide range of materials including government reports and validated research works to gather authentic information. The information so obtained will be related to the subject topic to form a basis of the conclusions. From the research, it will be possible to provide recommendations for alternative mechanisms that can be used to beef up cyber security and guarantee safety of information sent over the networks. This will provide a substantial platform for the improvement of data security policies not only in China and America, but also across other nations that have been hit with the blow of cybercrime in the business environment. Background of Cybercrime and Cyber-Security Cybercrime refers to the use of software, fish-mails or peculiar malware to obtain user information illegally during a data transmission process. With the current increase in online monetary transactions, the cyber criminals have vested more efforts to obtain information from citizens and business organization. For instance, when an online banker feeds their credentials into the online accounts, it is possible for hackers to obtain this information and use it to make illegal transactions. According to United States Department of Crime and Justice, (2013) about 5 millio n Americans are hacked every year and their identity information is used and at least $50 million dollars is lost to cyber-criminals. In China, Anderson reports that in China, over 700,000 web users fall victim of cybercrime every without their knowledge and over $874 million is lost to fraudsters. Despite the imperative efforts that have been engaged to tackle the problem, cybercrime continues to be a big problem in many countries. The 2013 cybercrime report presented by Sophos new