bfskinner essays

bfskinner essays Burrhus Frederic Skinner, psychologist and behaviorist, was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania in 1904 to William Skinner and Grace Burrhus. His father was a lawyer and his mother was a naturally bright woman. Skinner had only one sibling a brother who died at the age of sixteen. Skinner lived most of his life in Susquehanna. He did not leave the house he was born in until he left to go to college. He was raised very close to his grandparents, who had a major impact on his early life. He was also close to his parents. He and his mother and father all graduated from the same high school. This was the same school that he had attended for all twelve years of his education. Skinner attended Hamilton College at the recommendation of a family friend. He took many different types of courses before deciding to major in English and minor in Romance Languages. Skinner felt that he did not fit in at college. He disliked the fraternity that he had joined and he did not understand why the college required the courses that it did. The summer before his senior year he attended the Middlebury School of English at Breadloaf, Vermont. During this summer he had lunch with Robert Frost. Frost asked to see his work and gave Skinner a lot of encouragement. This led him to the decision to become a writer. Skinner's father was not happy with this decision. He has hoped that his son would become a lawyer, like himself. His father eventually agreed to his decision, and Skinner moved back home to start his new career. He built himself an office in his parents' house where he could write. He was to try to be a writer for two years, and if this did not work out he would get a real job. It did not work out. Skinner played around instead of writing. He eventually wrote a mediocre book for the oil companies just to save his self-respect. After writing the book, Skinner spent six months in New York. In the Fall, Skinner went off to Harvard to begin his study ...

my dad essays

my dad essays Influence? Why is it that the people who influence us most influence us in ways that are not easily quantified? By being an upstanding individual, my math teacher in middle school (Armenia) acted as an inspiring male role model at a time when I needed one most. By being approachable and interesting, my World History tutor opened my eyes to the connections between a society's culture and its history and broadened my view of cultures and the world. While these influences mean much to me and have contributed greatly to my development, they come easily to mind. The fact that I could sit down and write a list of how these people influenced me suggests that the influence may have altered me in some profound way. But when I think of the word influence, the person whose influence shook me to the deepest level is my father. My father has a work bench at home which he has made into a piece of art. The organization of tools with their numbers and the corresponding numbered cabinets attached underneath his work bench look like the American Armed Forces and seem to be commanded by him because they are in their seats and can be removed only by him. When I picture my father, I see a man in wrestlers body bent over his work bench; I see his gentleness and his dedication to work. He has taught me that beauty is something human and art is something we make with our hands and our humanity. Once he told me, I work very hard as you see, and I want you and your brother to be as workaholics as I am. I do not want you to do hard jobs like this. I hope you can be successful in a specific major. He did not want us to wear the kind of dirty clothes he was wearing; instead, he hoped we would be wearing a suit and tie. He thinks that the kind of job he had does not earn prestige in modern society. The most emotional confrontation with him in my life happened when I finally was strong enough to help him with his work. ...

Critical Analysis of Source(s) and Research Log Essay

Critical Analysis of Source(s) and Research Log - Essay Example The first e-library used was http://www.bbk.ac.uk/lib/elib/ and the second was www.intute.co.uk. In addition, relevant information was searched using the search engine http://www.google.co.in. At first, search was conducted using key words and phrases like ‘Corporate Social Responsibility and employees’, ‘Impact of CSR on workers’, ‘Corporate Social Responsibility and Productivity’, and so on. Later on, prepositions were avoided to make the search more accurate. When the term ‘corporate social responsibility’ was used for search in http://www.bbk.ac.uk/lib/elib/, the number of titles obtained was plenty but none of the first thirty peer reviewed scholarly articles directly addressed the issue how CSR influences employee perception of happiness and employee motivation. Even when the key phrase was changed to ‘corporate social responsibility motivation’ and ‘corporate social responsibility happiness’, no usef ul article about the impact of CSR on employees was found. Most of the articles were about the history of CSR, how to implement a good CSR, CSR and public image, and if CSR raises profitability in the long term. When the same phrases and words were used for search in www.intute.co.uk, it provided a number of results ranging from links to various sites and organisations that provide information on corporate social responsibility. A useful link seemed the one to the International Journal of Business in Society and the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research published by Emerald. As the link http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1355-2554 was followed, I reached the Emerald published journals. There I got 14626 results when the search was conducted using ‘corporate social responsibility’ as the key term in International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research from volume 1 to volume 17 that consist of 176 issues as available in htt p://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1355-2554. However, when the first thirty journals from the available results were analysed, it was found that just one among them addressed the issue directly. It was ‘Corporate social responsibility: organisational identification and motivation’ written by Michal Mozes, Zvi Josman, and Eyal Yaniv in the Social Responsibility Journal, Volume 7, Issue 2 of 2011. When ‘corporate social responsibility and employees commitment’ was used as key words for search in www.google.co.in, a number of journal articles ranging from ‘Employee perceptions of corporate social responsibility’ by Sarah Stawiski, Jennifer J. Deal, and William Gentry of Center for Creative Leadership, issued in June 2010, ‘Corporate social responsibility: the key role of human resource management’ by Suparn Sharma, Joity Sharma and Arti Devi, published in the Business Intelligence Journal of January 2009, ‘Corporate s ocial responsibility influence on employees’ by Jean Pascal Gond, Assaad El-Akremi, Jacques Igalens, and Valerie Swaen, and many more websites and magazines like Forbes (http://www.forbes.com ) that provide information about corporate social responsibility and employee happiness were located. However, as very few of them were articles published in journals, they lacked authority. One of the most useful articles identified in the search was ‘

Skinput Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Skinput - Essay Example In general terms, Skinput is an attempt to appropriate human body as an input interface. Skinput is a novel bio-acoustic sensing system developed by Chris Harrison from Carnegie Mellon University and Desney Tan and Dan Morris, employees at Microsoft Research. From the practical viewpoint, Skinput represents a bio-acoustic sensing array coupled with a small-size pico-projector, which turns user's skin into a touch-screen. The system of acoustic sensors identifies signals produced with our fingers onto skin surface, utilising the skin as an input surface. Chris Harrison's invention of Skinput rests on the idea that human skin constitutes an ideal input device: humans have roughly 22 square feet of skin area, which is accessible by hands and proprioception (understanding of how individual's body is configured in three-dimensional space) enables users to accurately interact with their bodies in an eyes-free manner (Harrison et al, 2010). Unlike previous examples of always-available input systems, Skinput idea is largely based on the principles of bio-sensing and acoustic transmission. Bio-sensing technology has been widely utilised in diagnostic medicine with electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIR) being notable examples (Harrison et al, 2010). Simultaneously, the principles of acoustic transmission have been applied to support the idea of the skin being used as a finger input surface. From the practical standpoint, when a finger taps the skin, the impact creates a magnitude of useful acoustic signals. In order to capture these signals, Chris Harrison's team developed a special bio-acoustic sensing array. During the series of experiments, Chris Harrison and his colleagues opted in for a sensing array built into an armband. This bio-acoustic sensing array aimed to detect vibrations transmitted through the body is comprised of two sensor packages each containing five cantilevered piezo films responsive to a particular frequency range. Because variations in bone density, muscle size and filtering effect produced by soft tissues and joints make different locations being acoustically distinct, Skinput software analyzes impacts and classifies them (Harrison et al, 2010). In addition, Skinput's armband works with a special purpose pico-projector, which allows various interactive elements to be displayed on the skin (see Figure 1 for complete illustration of Skinput device). Figure 1. Skinput technology. HOW SKINPUT WILL BE USED During the series of their study, Chris Harrison et al. illustrated the range of Skinput's applications, most of which were concerned with tap-based interfaces. In the first example, the researchers projected a series of buttons onto the forearm, on which a user can finger tap to navigate a hierarchical menu (Harrison et al, 2010). The second example reveals how individual uses a scrolling menu tapping top or bottom of his forearm. The third example illustrates a projection of numeric keypad, which can be tapped to dial a phone number. From the practical perspective, thanks to embedded program algorithms, Skinput's interface can accurately identify user's gestures in motion, for instance, during walk.

Growing Up African American Essay Example for Free

Growing Up African American Essay I am a member of the African American group and I would like to tell you a bit about the group of when I am a part of. Let me start by saying that my African American group originated from Africa and growing up in America can be tough for people of my race, the African Americans. My group’s history is wide ranging spanning for many years and varying from region to region within the United States. I remember when I was young I use to talk to my mother a lot and asked her many questions like â€Å"Why am I called an African American? † She went on to explain that our race originally comes from Africa and we were part of a slave trade. From my mother I learned that we were slaves until a law was passed to give us freedom. I use to wonder when I was young if there were other people similar to me all over America. I also remember something my father told me once that African Americans live all over the country. My father told stories of how he used to go to an all black school could vote or sit in the front of buses. Being African Americans have faced several kinds of creation and consequence situations in the years they have been a part of the United States. In some places cheaper labor, longer work hours and terrible living conditions. Many people of the United States have made it almost impossible for groups of another race or Ethnicity to strive and live full happy lives. I have seen over the year’s situations of extermination in some parts, as well segregation, and expulsion. In school from some of my teachers, in social interactions like just walking through a store, and especially in the work place when they’ll even give me the chance to work because it doesn’t matter I go to get a job out here. There are some racist, even the Uncle Tom’s. I’ve done everything they ask and still I either get denied the job or they hire me and treat me like Growing up African American 3 trash until I quit, or they try to find a reason to get rid of me. Since, I don’t give them much reason to get rid of me due to my strong work ethic and performance; they usually try to break me down. Education plays an important role for most African Americans; however we are still way behind when compared to the White American which probably has a lot to do with the way some of us was brought up or our background. Regardless of the contributions made by the forefathers of black people, there is a hesitation of acceptance of the race that has been a focus of many groups the strive for freedom and justice for all, that has not yet been rectified. The same group of people was good enough to built the country is not always seen as good enough to live in the house next door. I believe because this country is made up of many different races and ethnic groups that are steadily growing in numbers. If different races are toco exist peacefully in the U. S. , it is vital that we all become educated on the history and culture of different races and ethnicities. According to the 2000 Census data for Lexington, MS the total population for 2000 were 2,025 male 965 and female 1,060 square miles 2. 45. Race: white (635); black or African American (1,362); American Indian and Alaska Native (1); Asian (13); and two or more races (14); and Hispanic or Latino (of any race) (40) (Fact finder Census 2000). Birthplace facts from the 2000 census data in Lexington born in the same state (1,706); born in another state (269); born outside the US (0); naturalized citizen (14); and foreign born, not US citizen (10). Some more 2000 census data in educational attainment population 25 and older was 1,206 in Lexington: high school graduates (299); some college, or associate’s degree (349); bachelor’s degree (111); and master’s, professional or doctorate degree (60). Some enrollment population 3 years and over Growing up African American 4 enrolled in school was 627: preschool and kindergarten (83); grades 1-12 (446); and college (98) (2000 census data). Growing up African American 5 References Factfinder Census 2000 Census data for Lexington, MS My mother and father.

Race Relations :: essays research papers

1 Race Relations and Modern Church-State Relations Thomas C. Berg* This article concerns religion and race – two controversial subjects that have figured prominently in America’s constitutional and political debates since World War II. In particular, I wish to trace some connections in the last 50 years between developments in church-state relations and developments in race relations. Recently scholars of the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses have shown interest in how the Supreme Court’s modern decisions on that subject might have been influenced by the political, social, and cultural context of recent decades: such factors as the changing attitudes toward Roman Catholicism,1 the rise of secularism in culture,2 the position of religious minorities,3 and so forth. Like some of that other work, this Article traces the course of churchstate relations not only in the Court itself, but in the broader society. It would hardly be surprising if developments concerning church and state in the last 50 years interacted with developments in the area of race, since the latter have been so central to * Professor of Law, University of St. Thomas School of Law (Minneapolis). I presented portions of the material here at the Boston College Law Review Symposium on Separation of Church and State, in April 2002; at a Federalist Society program on â€Å"Faith Under Democracy,† in March 2002; at a summer 2001 symposium on Spirituality and Social Justice, sponsored by a grant from the Lilly Endowment; and to a fall 2001 meeting of the Colloquium on Religion and Philosophy at Samford University. I thank David Bains, Hugh Floyd, Penny Marler, [OTHERS], and the participants in those sessions for their comments on the various versions of the paper. 1See, e.g., John C. Jeffries, Jr., and James A. Ryan, A Political History of the Establishment Clause, 100 Mich. L. Rev. 279 (2001); Thomas C. Berg, Anti- Catholicism and Modern Church-State Relations, 33 Loyola U-Chi. L. Rev. 121 (2001); Douglas Laycock, The Underlying Unity of Separation and Neutrality, 46 Emory L. J. 43, __-__ (1997). 2See George W. Dent, Jr., Secularism and the Supreme Court, 1999 B.Y.U. L. Rev. 1. 3See Stephen M. Feldman, Religion-Clause Revisionism: Minorities and the Development of Religious Freedom (unpublished draft, on file with author). 2 constitutional law and moral-political debate – from the constitutional success of Brown v. Board of Education4 to the moral-political triumph of the civil rights movement to the current conflicts over how to define and achieve racial justice. The central story in church-state relations in the last 50 years has been the rise of a fairly strict separation of church and state as the overriding constitutional and moral ideal in the 1960s and 1970s, and the partial decline of that ideal from the 1980s

Privacy and Computer Technology Essay

Privacy is a valuable interest and is now threatened more than ever by technological advances. Privacy is defined as the ability to control the collection, use, and dissemination of personal information (Fast Trac Course ). At one time people could once feel confident that what others may find out about them would be treated in a way that it would probably do any harm. Information technology has been beneficial for privacy. By having access to ATMs and online banking we rarely have to present ourselves to a teller. Online shopping offers similar benefits such as being able to shop without standing in long lines and being able to compare prices and research products before purchasing. However, since so much of what we do daily is done using a computer, it can pose a serious threat to privacy. This information can then be recreated to create detailed personal profiles that could not have transpired in pre-digital days. Furthermore, this information can be distributed far, wide, and immediately without our consent or even knowledge. Judicial remedies are unlikely to produce a satisfying or sensible balance between companies’ economic prerogatives and customers’ privacy interest. New technologies that has either unconsiously adopted or resourcefully applied privacy practices will continue to threaten personal privacy. Business will have to find ways to address this uneasiness. If companies remain complacent, underestimating the degree to which privacy matters to customers, harsh regulation may be waiting in the wings. The best way out is for businesses and customers to negotiate directly over where to draw the lines. (What is Privacy?) There are many databases and Internet records that track or keep record of information about an individual’s financial and credit history, medical record, purchases and telephone calls. Most people do not know what information is stored about them or who has access to it. The ability for others to access and link the databases, with few controls on how they use, share, or exploit the information, makes individual control over information about oneself more difficult than ever before. For example, the caller Id was originally designed to allow you to screen your calls and protect from receiving unwanted calls from harassers, telemarketers, etc†¦ In turn it involved privacy concerns for both the caller and the person called. Over the years, there has been a clash between privacy and advancing technologies, which can make a compelling argument for overriding the privacy intrusions. The challenge of improving security while protecting privacy is called Real Id. The real ID act provides significant challenges. It was signed into law on May 11, 2005 (public law 109-13). After may 11, 2008 â€Å"A federal agency may not accept, for any official purpose, a dirvers license or identification card issued by a state to any persin unless the state is meeting the requirements†. The real ID act defines what information and features must appear on the card, what documentation must be presented before a card can be issued, what verification the state must do before a card can be issued, and security measures to prevent tampering counterfeiting and duplication of the card. The Real Id requires states to confirm the identities and documentation of applicants, Make drivers licence and ID cards extremely difficult to counterfiet, and to assure one driver one record so that you will be able to own only one licence which only go for people that has mutliple addresses . The Real Id Act is really the outgrowth of the 911 commision reccomended that the licence be improved and it should be a national standard. Represenative James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis) who was the cahir of the house judiciary committee said â€Å"American citizens have the right to know who is in their country, that people are who they say they are , and the name on a drivers licence is the holder’s real name, not som alias.† Historically the licence has been a state function so the act tailors the mandate that you must present this identification. The challlenges comes from the act because the real ID act was written by Congress without expressing privacy protections. Some of the privacy challenges are what information should be stored in the machine readanble zone?, who should have access to the information stored in the machine readable zone?, and what information, if any will be centralized in order to facilitate the necessary data exchange among the state?. I feel that there should be some limitations on the information stored in the readable zone and the data systems protect the personal information from unauthorized uses and disclosure. Information about individuals is used by businesses to provide customers with a huge array of targeted goods and personalized services that consumers have come to expect. If it lands in the wrong hands, this same information can result in harm to the very individuals it was meant to serve. The protection of an individual’s personal information has business implications that extend beyond the privacy of any one individual. Private information relative to certain businesses and industries is protected by various laws. For example the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) laws protect private medical information. Many states have enacted their own laws, and the federal government is regulated by the Privacy Act of 1974. Legislatures are increasingly responding to calls for greater protection of private information, and stories of improper disclosures of large volumes of private information receive prominent media attention. At present, there is no broad, general federal law protecting the privacy of customer information; most protections are aimed at particular types of information (such as medical or student records,) or particular types of businesses (such as medical providers, banks, and financial service businesses). Customers and consumers expect their information to be protected and businesses that recognize the need to make privacy part of their business strategy are ahead of the game. Many companies have gone to great lengths to protect information using technological advances. However, the ability of a business to protect private information it collects as part of its business is only as strong as its weakest link â€Å"the human factor† something that technology just can’t overcome. Having knowledge of privacy and security should be aimed at individuals who work with private information to help understand the ways that this information can be disclosed inadvertently. We are now moving into an era where there will always be a digital observer. Unlike footprints left in the sand, our online data trails often stick around long after the tide has gone out and they are growing rapidly. Digital footprints are trails of information left by a person’s interaction in the digital environment (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_footprint). They existed since day one or even before you were born. Internet users don’t realize that every time they use the internet they leave digital footprints. This includes massive amounts of data in the form of email, documents, images, games, music, apps, movies, login and logouts, visits to a web-page, accessed or created files, chat messages or any other material showing the activities being done on a website. What people don’t understand is when you try to reduce your digital footprint you actually make it larger. When trying to reduce your digital footprints interested parties can still use data they have found for evidence, data mining or profiling purposes. This doesn’t mean that you can’t try to protect yourself but you should take precautions when accessing or posting personal information on websites. People need to be proactive and take control of their digital footprint. Due to increased utilization of social media, we should have a heighted awareness of privacy. Being aware of what personally identifiable information that is included in your online profile is very important. Publicy exposed private information on the web can also be used to steal your idenity and money. With more employers’ using the internet to find out about their current or potential new employees, it is good to know in advance what information is floating around the internet about you. You should only put PII in your profile that you wouldn’t mind the entire world including potential or current employers to view. For example, you can find this out by searching for yourself in Google to see what comes up. Also, be wary of strangers. People can misrepresent themselves and their motives so when posting on any social media website it is good to limit who is allowed to contact you and what you tell strangers with whom you communicate with (U.S. Department of State Priva cy Tips). Privacy is so important not just to my online presence but also to my financial documents. Financial privacy is a another term for a multitude of privacy issues, ranging from financial institutions ensuring that their customers information remain private to those outside the institution as well as individuals ensuring that they are protecting their privacy in the privacy of their homes. These documents can be protected by guarding your social security number, calling carefully, and cleaning your name off call lists. Unless you are paying your income taxes, you shouldn’t place your social security number on checks and don’t keep your number in your wallet. A stolen or lost wallet with your social security number can make it easy for someone to obtain new credit in your name. An 800 number is a convenient cost saver, but not if the company you call isn’t reputable. Your call can be the electronic source for undesirable solicitation lists or cause fraud by giving ou t your credit card number to someone who misuses it. You can ask companies you buy from not to release your name to others. You can also have your name eliminated from mass mailing lists by writing to the Direct Marketing Association. Protecting your financial privacy is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. The fair credit reporting act guarantees access to your credit report for free. If you at anytime feel your credit has been compromised you should visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website. (How to Deal with a Security Breach) In summary, There are many threats to privacy but there are ways you can prevent compromise by criminals and by privacy invading infestations. There are many things you can do to increase to increase your privacy especially online. Protecting your privacy online requires keeping your computer safe from many types of online dangers. Some of the ways to prevent online dangers are making sure the sites you vist is safe beofre sharing personal information. This incluses your real name, email address, credit card number, etc†¦.The next way is to make sure your online account is properly configured for ideal privacy protection. This includes making sure to use a password that are hard to break. The next way is to protect wireless connection from dangers or intrusions. When connecting to the internet via a wireless connection make sure that you re suing a protected password. The next way is to remove yourself from search databases. This can be done by sending a email through a reputable website such as private eye, 123people.com, or intelius.com. Another way is by increasing the privacy of your browser. This a very important part of protecting your online privacy but it also secures your computer against malware and other threats. Lastly, use a temporary credit card number that is linked to your financial account but is only valid for single or limited transactions. Bibliography (Wikipedia, pg 1) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_footprint Fast Trac Course How to Deal with a Security Breach The Three Basic Forms of Business Ownership What is Privacy?