Rhetorical Analysis Of The Backlash Against Serial And...

Rhetorical Analysis In his passionately written article â€Å"The Backlash Against Serial—and Why It’s Wrong,† author Conor Friedersdorf comes to the podcast’s defense following the harsh criticisms that have been thrown at Serial since its debut. Serial is a spinoff series from parent podcast This American Life, which details the investigation and reinvestigation of a brutal 1999 murder involving high school lovers of the Baltimore area. Friedersdorf’s piece not only comes to defend Serial’s honor, but it also fights back and grapples with these disparagements thrown at the podcast. In particular, the accused transgressions from fellow writers Jay Caspian Kang in his own work â€Å"Serial and White Reporter Privilege† and Jeff Yang’s post from Quartz. In my judgement, Friedersdorf does an excellent job refuting Kang’s and Yang’s opposing views and persuading his audience that Serial is innocent of the accused wron gdoings. What are these wrongdoings you ask? Kang claims that Serial is not so much about the cold case it is investigating, but more so the producer and narrator, Sarah Koenig’s, fixation on the case. He also believes that while Koenig may be well intentioned, she is interpreting and making assumptions on facts of the lives of people within minority communities involved with the case. Another writer, Yang asserts that This American Life’s method of narrative journalism displays â€Å"cultural clumsiness† (Yang qtd. Friedersdorf). Friedersdorf argues that these allegations

Medical Marijuana And Its Benefits - 2240 Words

1 MEDICAL MARIJUANA Medical Marijuana and Its Benefits Steffany Brinker University of Maryland University College Abstract Medical marijuana, also known as cannabis, is a controversial topic because many find it beneficial as others find the usage to be recreational. Throughout the years, medical marijuana has gone through periods of times in which it was legal and illegal. Over the years laws have been developed in order to try and regulate the usage of the drug. Studies have shown many the benefits of treating diseases and symptoms. Today it is used in treatment with many different diseases and disorders such as cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder, and multiple sclerosis. As medical marijuana has different species and uses of the product, it is important to depict where the drug can be used for treatment. The usage of this drug enables patients to have a more positive and livable outcome with treatments. Medical Marijuana and Its Benefits The use of medical marijuana is a controversial topic because many find it beneficial as others find the usage to be recreational. Many people may find that the usage of medical marijuana may eventually be over prescribed. The use of medical marijuana has increased over the years for treatments to multiple diseases and conditions, but it was not always this way. Although it has been dated to early years, there were periods of times where medical marijuana was illegal. In my opinion, I think treating patients whom areShow MoreRelatedMedical Benefits Of Medical Marijuana1161 Words   |  5 Pagessurrounding the issue of whether medical marijuana ought to be legally sanctioned as a medicinal treatment. Medical marijuana involves the use of cannabis and its constituent’s cannabinoids in order to treat a disease or its symptoms (National Institute on Drug Abuse 2015). Numerous studies led declare the drug a miracle treatment for a variety of medi cal issues. These studies, however, are limited and effectively challenged by different studies that exhibit the health risks marijuana can have on the humanRead MoreMedical Benefits Of Medical Marijuana1255 Words   |  6 PagesMedical marijuana has been proven to an effective drug in the treatment of a number of encumbering medical conditions. A large number of legitimate medical organizations recognize the benefits of marijuana. It is far less harmful and poses fewer negative side effects than many prescription drugs, including painkillers - and patients often find it to be a more effective treatment for a variety of illnesses. However, it is perhaps the most commonly misunderstood substance in America. The usage of theRead MoreThe Benefits Of Medical Marijuana1598 Words   |  7 PagesThe Benefits Medical Marijuana By: Nicole Wynne Advance Placement Psychology Mr. Cuetara June 4th, 2015 Marijuana Outline I) Intro: a.) History and facts that make up marijuana b.) Thesis: Through numerous articles, books, documentaries, and journals, I have concluded that marijuana has positive creative effects and numerous medical ben-efits, including increased appetite, pain reduction, nausea reduction, and hard drug substitution II) Positive Medical Benefits:Read MoreThe Benefits of Medical Marijuana729 Words   |  3 PagesMedical marijuana has been used for centuries to combat pain, weakness, anxiety, insomnia, female problems and nausea. Today it is commonly used by cancer and AIDS patients to stimulate hunger, combat nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy or other drug therapy and reduce pain. It has also been shown to be effective in reducing eye pressure, especially in the cases with glaucoma. Medical marijuana, or cannabis, is derived from the Cannabis sativa plant and there is some evidence of cannabisRead MoreThe Benefits Of Medical Marijuana Essay2136 Words   |  9 PagesI will discuss the many benefits of medical marijuana, and how a substance that is labeled as an illegal drug can have just as many health benefits as the strongest of medicine. With marijuana becoming more accessible being legalized for medical and/or recreational use in 7 states, I will explain how if used properly can he lp many people suffering with serious problems like muscle pain, depression, anorexia insomnia and PTSD. But still there is the stereotype that marijuana is a dangerous recreationalRead MoreBenefits of Medical Marijuana Essay990 Words   |  4 Pages Legalizing Marijuana Marijuana is a very controversial and obtrusive issue in our society today. Although many have made malicious remarks about it in the past, and even still in the present, the truth and beneficial facts of marijuana are finally resurfacing. Unfortunately, our society has become a very critical crowd towards the legalization of marijuana due to the stereotypical view of the kind of people who are considered â€Å"pot smokers†. This contorted perception of a lazy and unmotivated AmericaRead MoreEssay on The Benefits Of Medical Marijuana929 Words   |  4 PagesThe Benefits Of Medical Marijuana Are you sick of hearing your girlfriend nagging you about letting go of your pot pasttime? Have you been hearing a lot of negative things about the use of marijuana lately? Would you like to know what the real deal is behind the use of this infamous drug? Then read on because youre in for a surprise. One of the saddest things in North America is the lack of clinical trials on marijuana use. Many other countries in the world have already performed such testsRead More The Benefits of Medical Marijuana Essay1130 Words   |  5 Pageseffects than its other legal counterparts such as alcohol and tobacco. This kind of information calls into sharper focus the question on the minds of many as to why such a plant that is not only less harmful than legal drugs but has significant health benefits has remained illegal. People all over the world, continue to be tendered prescription medication, which in many cases further complicate health issues with its myriad of side effects. In fact, statistics have shown that approximately 100,000Read MoreThe Benefits Of Medical And Recreational Marijuana1740 Words   |  7 PagesPark Hegeler The Benefits of Marijuana The question of whether or not to legalize the medicinal and recreational use of marijuana has been an ongoing debate ever since President Nixon declared the war on drugs in 1971. The main question that circulates this debate is, do the benefits of medical and recreational marijuana justify its legality? Marijuana is one of the only drugs that has numerous medicinal properties that can do everything from managing chemotherapy side effects, to putting anRead MoreBenefits and Hazards of Medical Marijuana1034 Words   |  5 Pagesknow how to control or don’t have control over marijuana the weed program the development of the biological control of marijuana program/system, an advisory group was established at the request of biological control researchers who were seeking. It legalizing the use of marijuana as a social catalyst and as a tool with which prior physicians can know about the marijuana controversy, what are the benefits and hazards of medical marijuana? Marijuana is the worst thing you can ever get involve in,

Business Decision Analysis Difficulties of Manufacturing Industry

Question: Discuss about the Business Decision Analysis. Answer: Introduction Decision making is one of the most crucial tasks a manager needs to face. It is one of the few difficulties that they face in their daily tasks. Decision models are powerful as they collect vast data. Data centric decisions rule out the human errors better. Commonly, such problems may be over precision, recency bias etc. Decision models do not have this drawback. They are more objective and impartial in handling data. Let us discuss two of the decision-making models applicable to manufacturing industry. Manufacturing industry depends on processes for manufacturing, a single unit can be a combination of various processes (Hopkin, 2017). The project shall discuss specifically various decision models that could be applicable in process industry. While processes help the organization to achieve its objectives, decisions at different stages assist in providing a route for the processes to travel and gain its goals and objectives (Choi, Chan, Yue, 2017). The models have been studied in c ontext to paper manufacturing industry. Discussions and Analysis As opined by Lent et al. (2017), application of business decision modelling is important as it ties the business rules and analytics conducted in a way that reduces risk and improves the end product/service. Application of a decision Management model to effectively yield desired results from it involves: Building the decision services as part of systems development and implementation Put in place the right tools and processes to check effectiveness as an ongoing process Collect requirements in manner that they reveal decisions, it should not be treated as part of process or system requirement Some of themanagement processes where decision making is applicable are-production management, human resource management, tactical management, IT management etc. The core business process applicable in the paper manufacturing industry are production and maintenance processes (Njenga et al. 2017). In the production tasks, main decision makers are operators who have the task of combining the right production factors to produce goods and effectively with quality (Rodgers McFarlin, 2017). Say for example, the manufacturer is introducing a new product to the market, common decision problems faced by him would be time taken for the product to reach market and completeness of production process. He could gain more market share if his products hit the market early. He also needs to keep the production costs reduced and he could do so by investing time to improve the production processes. He is but unaware of the decisions by his competitors to enter the market and when, also, the production process development activities. This is going to be a stopping problem of the manufacturer. There are two staged problems for him: Stage 1 When to introduce the product in the market and improving the production process Stage 2 Determining the production quantity and the pricing of the product Solving such problems require computational methods. The researchers must draw out when the production should be stopped based on the process at each decision epoch. Use of numerical algorithms are used in such cases. Objectives for building such model are: It gives a managerial insight. They help them develop strategies to maximize the objectives. Example, stopping a process may be fruitful if the current stock prices are below threshold. (American put option) Structural result insights help build efficient numerical algorithms to solve stopping problems. Example a manufacturers pricing decision is based on research based on customers buying trends This policy that stops the process when the rewards of stopping are greater is called one step look ahead policy used widely in manufacturing industries (Atadil, Sirakaya-Turk Decrop, 2017). Researchers try to verify this using the monotone case condition. Two of the most frequently used models in any production environment are: The Administrative Model This is a behavioral approach to decision making. It was proposed by Herbert Simon. In comparison to a classic approach where situations are never ideal, he stressed on explaining how decisions were made in real environments of business (Mora et al. 2017). He pointed out that managers never were fully aware or had information handy to make informed decisions or choices. Rather, they contained limited and simplified versions of problems. That is the reason why a proper alternative solution cannot be presented by them. He further said that decisions either had a bounded rationality or were satisfying. By bounded rationality, he meant limited mental capacity and emotions. Under the influence of mounting pressure, changes in environment etc. they are only able to take a satisfying decision and never an ideal one. Another is the Retrospective Decision Model. This essentially follows the same framework with a different objective though. It focuses on the decision makers justifications for action taken up by them. This model checks the choices made intuitively and the actions taken to justify those (Shepherd Patzelt, 2017). Example could be choice of production of a new model out of various choices that were laid on the table and the decision taken by the management to go forth with production of one model. Even though there is lot of data to back up the choices, decision is usually made intuitively and environment is further created by team to show their actions as justifications of making the right choice per them. Some of the external factors affecting decision making model are: Market conditions the market conditions for the organization could affect the decision making process. In the paper manufacturing company for example, there is requirement for new size printable papers needed owing to a revolution in printers (Fisher, 2017). All the printers sizes and paper requirements have changed. Subsequently, similar changes need to be incorporated in the product so that market capture is not reduced. This can be treated as an opportunity to introduce it as the new product as well Economy of the environment Say due to high import charges, and recent environmental crisis, availability of raw materials has impacted cost. The cost factor if not settled and incorporated into the production process may wreak havoc to the bottom-line Legislations, rules and policies of Government For example, Government laid policies to usage of recycled paper strictly, subsequently that would change the industries roadmap and cause major changes to production planning and processes subsequently Customer reactions demand always affects supply and pricing. If the peoples reaction to pricing of a product does not seem favorable, changes shall happen in production processes subsequently to match the demand Some of the internal factors which affect the decision making model are- Policies and procedures in the organization Organizations mostly have a set of policies and frameworks within which the managers are supposed to perform in certain environments Hierarchy in the organization Organizations have more or less hierarchy everywhere and every level possesses different authority levels. That directly has an effect on nature of decisions made Politics in the organization behavior by individuals and groups affect a lot of politics in the environment. People use politics to draw favors, influence others for promotions, monetary benefits and many other ways Perception in the organization every individual interprets the environment and situations different. A lot of it is influenced by his personal experiences, values, background and interests (Currie MacLeod, 2017). This also affects how the situation is interpreted by the person and actions and risks taken in decisions. Say, for example if the person is easily affected by incompetence rumors, he may take incorrect decisions and try and influence others in incorrect way to try and justify his actions in process controls and quality processes to prove his competence Some of the independent variable which affect the dependent variables in a production environment of manufacturing are production machine hours which may in turn affect the electricity cost which is a dependent variable (Hoelscher et al. 2017). Few others are skill level of operators, temperature in outside environment, size of the products etc. Some of the dependent variables would be quality, time taken for production, speed, employee satisfaction etc. In a decision model like the Retrospective as well as the Classical approach, they assist decision makers to make important production plans and strategies to get achieve organizational goals and objectives. Summary Verification and validation models are used by manufacturing industries to make proper forecasts with confidence. They reduce the cost, time as well as the risks associated with testing of products or materials. It also provides the decision makers with necessary insights to improvise, work on alternative routes and make important decisions affecting consequences. Verification checks if the model created is right for the process in question. Say for example, for launching the new product, the process prepared for production has been correctly made or not. A mock run would point out the shortcomings of the model. Validation of the model will however point out of the model built is right for product or not. The mock run would yield end products which help in checking whether it met the parameters set for the quality of product (Doxsie, Meyers Michael, 2017). Verification is achieved by comparing the conception vs what has been created. It asks necessary question that is the process cr eated properly as per concept, are the parameters properly represented? Validation could be checked by proper calibration, comparison of desired vs actual model behavior etc. The process continues till the team gets it right. References Books Hopkin, P. (2017).Fundamentals of risk management: understanding, evaluating and implementing effective risk management. Kogan Page Publishers. Journals Atadil, H. A., Sirakaya-Turk, E., Decrop, A. (2017). An Assessment of Decision-Making Styles: An Abstract. InMarketing at the Confluence between Entertainment and Analytics(pp. 817-818). Springer, Cham. Choi, T. M., Chan, H. K., Yue, X. (2017). Recent development in big data analytics for business operations and risk management.IEEE transactions on cybernetics,47(1), 81-92. Currie, J., MacLeod, W. B. (2017). Diagnosing Expertise: Human Capital, Decision Making, and Performance among Physicians.Journal of Labor Economics,35(1), 1-43. Doxsie, D., Meyers, C., Michael, A. (2017). Collaborative Decision-making and Outcomes in a Competitive, Simulated, Industry Environment. Fisher, C. M. (2017). An ounce of prevention or a pound of cure? Two experiments on in-process interventions in decision-making groups.Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,138, 59-73. Hoelscher, C. S., Kramer, M. W., Nguyen, C., Cooper, O. D., Day, E. A. (2017). Decision Making and Communication in a Statewide Interagency Task Force: An Investigation of Planned Versus Utilized Processes.Management Communication Quarterly,31(1), 39-68. Lent, R. W., Ireland, G. W., Penn, L. T., Morris, T. R., Sappington, R. (2017). Sources of self-efficacy and outcome expectations for career exploration and decision-making: A test of the social cognitive model of career self-management.Journal of Vocational Behavior,99, 107-117. Mora, M., Wang, F., Gmez, J. M., Rainsinghani, M. S., Shevchenko, V. S. T. (2017). Decision-Making Support Systems in Quality Management of Higher Education Institutions: A Selective Review.International Journal of Decision Support System Technology (IJDSST),9(2), 56-79. Njenga, J. K., Rodello, I. A., Hartl, K., Jacob, O. (2017, April). Identifying Opportunities and Challenges for Adding Value to Decision-Making in Higher Education Through Academic Analytics. InWorld Conference on Information Systems and Technologies(pp. 474-480). Springer, Cham. Rodgers, W., McFarlin, T. G. (2017). Understanding the Decision-Making Process for Personal Investments. InDecision Making for Personal Investment(pp. 11-15). Springer International Publishing. Shepherd, D. A., Patzelt, H. (2017). Researching Entrepreneurial Decision Making. InTrailblazing in Entrepreneurship(pp. 257-285). Springer International Publishing.

The Crucible By Arthur Miller Research Paper Example

The Crucible By Arthur Miller Paper The Crucible is a very clever and fascinating play; primarily what makes the play so interesting is the fact that it can be interpreted on two levels. On a more basic stage it is a very dramatic, theatrical and emotional story full of unexpected twists, however on a higher point it is full of both political and religious messages. Miller wrote The Crucible in the 1950s almost 300 years after the Salem witch-hunt, although he did have an extremely good motive for writing the play. Arthur Miller recognised the similarities between the persecution of the witches in the seventeenth century and the persecution of communists in the mid twentieth century. The play despite its political inspiration has some spectacular scenes be it Abigail accusing the majority of Salem of being witches, or John Proctor dying to save his name. The passage while reading the play I found most intriguing and motivating, was pages 91-95. A brief summary of this scene is John Proctor, with evidence from Mary Warren is trying to prove to the court that his wife is innocent of witchcraft, and that Abigail (a sixteen year old girl who is accusing Elizabeth Proctor of this deed) is a liar. Abigail is in a very powerful position in the town of Salem and has had many individuals hanged due to her accusing them of trafficking with the devil, the reason she has this sort of power for such a young girl is for two reasons, firstly Abigail realises that there is no evidence to prove otherwise if she indicts a member of Salem of trafficking with the devil, so effectively it is her word against no ones; secondly as the town of Salem is so strictly religious (Hale)You have confessed yourself to witchcraft, and that speaks a wish to come to heavens side. And we will bless you. We will write a custom essay sample on The Crucible By Arthur Miller specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Crucible By Arthur Miller specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Crucible By Arthur Miller specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer At least once a page a character refers to God or the Devil, and John Proctor as he does not agree with the way that Reverend Parris preaches the Bible and sermons, he refuses to go to church because of this he is severely frowned upon. Due to this extremely strict religious community the town of Salem believe that God speaks through the young in this case Abigail; and if anyone dared to argue against God in Salem they would be hanged immediately. Her entrance in this scene is extraordinary as it is so unexpected. She begins by saying You will not! Begone! Begone! while she is saying this she appears to be staring at a ledge in the courtroom, the thing she is speaking to we later find out to be a yellow bird controlled by Mary or so Abigail says. There are many reasons why this scene fascinates me, as there is one main argument going on in this scene between Abigail and Mary I find it so interesting the contrast between these two girls, both the same age and growing up in Salem. Abigail is very clever we can see this as she manipulates the town of Salem against people, she is extremely strong and the power she has enables her to get out of many difficult situations;(Abigail) I want to open myself! I want the light of God; I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced with the Devil.I saw Sarah Good with the Devil. These sudden outbursts by Abigail make me speculate why she accuses all these people. Later on in the play we can see Abigail points the finger at people she has a problem with in Salem Who accused her [Elizabeth Proctor]? Abigail.. Abigail has a clear motive for accusing Elizabeth, as Abigail and John Proctor (Elizabeths husband) had had an affair and Abigail wanted John all to herself and therefore had to get rid of Elizabeth. However at the beginning of the play Abigails accusations are completely haphazard and I am not completely sure why she blames them. Perhaps it is partly due to the fact that Abigail witnessed her parents getting killed by Indians so has been forced to be strong, but I believe not only is Abigail doing this for attention, but also personally I feel Abigail thinks it is amusing playing around with the court and the Salem public, and she also enjoys the power she receives. Mary is very timid and quiet and unlike Abigail likes no attention. Abigail has the ability to use girls like this in Salem as effectively her tools, and Mary knows this, this is why in this scene Mary is so fearful as she is not sure what Abigail has got up her sleeve. This scene also intrigues me as we see a complete change in personality in Hale, who arrived in Salem eager to set law and order and abolish witchcraft and Devil worship, When the Devil comes to you does he ever come with another person? Although now Hale is pleading with the Danforth to let Elizabeth Proctor go I beg you, stop now before another is condemned..I believe him now. This change in views was very sudden and very unexpected, and during this scene becomes totally behind John Proctor and even endangers himself by calling Abigail a liar; This girl has always struck me false! This is very unsafe because Abigail is in by far the higher status with Danforth supporting her as when Abigail pretends under oath that Mary has transformed herself into a bird Danforth totally believes Abigail is telling the truth Mary Warren! Draw your spirit out of them. Although Elizabeth Proctor only appears once in this scene she is vital to it. Proctor has confessed to having slept with Abigail (whom was a servant at the Proctors household), Abigail denies all knowledge of it, Proctor to prove she is a liar calls on Elizabeth to tell the court about the affair. However, Elizabeth cannot look at John at all. All throughout the play Elizabeth is a very honest woman and prides herself on being so. The outcome of the play is resting on Elizabeths response to Is your husband a lecher! this is what makes this scene so dramatic from the start as the audience have totally no idea what Elizabeth is going to say, so the scene is full of tension. At first Elizabeth avoids answering the question and simply says, My husband is a goodly man. Then Elizabeth blames herself; I came to think he fancied her. And one night I lost my wits and put her out on the highroad. This shows a different side to Elizabeth as during the play she does not reveal much about her emotions right until the very end of the play, so here she is opening up and saying her jealousy is the cause of Abigail being sacked from the house. Eventually Elizabeth is forced to answer as Danforth is being very harsh on her and demands an answer. Of course now the suspense of the scene is great and in answer to Danforths question she states faintly No, sir. This shows how much Elizabeth loves John, as she was willing to give up her name and lie under oath not only to the court but also to God. What makes this part of the scene so tragic is Elizabeth lied to all these people for the good of her husband, but all John Proctor wanted Elizabeth to do was to tell the truth about the affair.