The level of contamination on the things we use on daily basis Lab Report

The level of contamination on the things we use on daily basis - Lab Report Example The following tests were done: For Morphological test; culturing was done. The samples were cultured on MacConkey and r2a plate. These three items were compared to determine the level of contamination. After 24 hours of growth on both MacConkey and r2a plate, small growth was observed in all the samples. Similarly after 48 hours, large colonies were observed on both media for samples brush and Chap Stick but this was relatively higher on the brush. After undertaking Gram staining, it was observed that all the samples on both media had Gram positive bacteria. According to the result findings, the most probable bacteria identified were all cocci, bacilli, and spirilla. Besides, the brush sample seems to have high levels of contamination. These tests have been explored in the next section. Introduction By definition, Cross contamination is the transfer or physical movement of bacteria that are harmful from one place, person or object to another. It is a major factor which contributes to food poisoning, and it consists of 4 common sources that include people, work surfaces, food and equipment. Harmful bacteria live in or can be on our bodies, particularly around or on hands and faces as well as on clothing (McKillip, 2011). Due to the fact that they exist in small numbers they never cause a disease. If it happens that, there is a transfer of these bacteria from the clothes or bodies to food, and then given a chance to multiply, it can lead to food becoming unsafe to be eaten. Bacteria have the ability to multiply and live in any crevices and cracks in equipment including the chopping boards surface cuts. After using the equipment, food bits with bacteria can remain. If there is no proper cleaning of the equipment, there will be transfer of bacteria to another food when it is used next. Surfaces including bench tops might have bacteria on them as a result of contact with people, also dirty equipment, raw foods or other things like cartons stored on the floor can con tribute. If there is no proper cleaning of bench tops, there might be bacterial contamination of any food that is placed on them. The main objective of the study was to ascertain the level of cross-contamination on the thing we use on daily basis to make our faces that include brush, Chap Stick and mascaras. The experiment was conducted to test the amount of bacteria on the cosmetics we use daily. These products go to our face every time. Health is so critical and we need to give it a priority. The hypothesis of the experiment was that the brush had the highest level of contamination followed by Chap Stick then mascaras. Materials and methods Petri dishes Mascaras Brushes Chap sticks Method To begin the experiment there was a collection of the variety of cosmetics that included State brand and type od make up used. The next step was culturing as presented below; Culturing Techniques Incubation was done on agar media at of 37 oc . Streaked specimen using a loop, later flaming and coo ling was done, then streaked at 45o for a second time, this second streak over ­lap ­ped the first one.. There was less growth after 24 hours then after 24 hours a lot of growth was observed on both agar plate that was observed at 37 oc. There were large colonies, white in color, pink colonies, red colonies, circular in form, with margin that was filamentous Procedure for Tube method Five drops of 3% H2O2 was added to a 12 x 75-mm test tube. Small organism amount was collected with a wooden applicator stick from a ‘’well-isolated 18- to 24-hour colony’’ then it was put into the test tube. Care was taken not to pick up any agar. This is particularly crucial if the isolate of the colony was grown on agar that had red blood cells. The tube was Placed against a dark background and formation of immediate

Discussion Topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Discussion Topic - Essay Example They are naturally buoyant; this feature helps them stay under water because they keep swimming with ease. Their short tail is not meant for propelling them in water as it is thought; its purpose is storage of fats that enhance their buoyancy. Their mouth looks like that of a duck to facilitate their feeding under water. Platypuses are carnivores. They are bottom feeders. They scoop up shellfish, insects along with their larvae, as well as worms in their bill together with bits of gravel and mud. Since they lack teeth, the bits of gravel plays a major role to assist them chew their food. Other animals also eat platypuses. Their natural predators include snakes, water rats, owls, goannas, and hawks in addition to eagles. There are a reduced number of platypuses in northern Australia due to predation by crocodiles (Nowak, 1999). There are concerns about the reduced population of duck billed platypuses in Australia. Within the past 100 years, their population has been reducing drastically due to a number of factors. The main factor that has contributed to their population is increased mortality because of eaten by many natural predators. The introduction of red foxes for hunting in 1845, has largely contributed to decrease in number of platypuses that live on the main land. Australia is trying to put in place measures that will assist maintain population of platypuses. The climate changes that are being experienced in the world today are not because of nature. In the past years when there were few human activities in the environment, there was no changes in climate as it is being experienced within recent years. Human activities are the main causes of climate changes in the world today. Human activities cause changes in the atmosphere by releasing green house gasses, and aerosols or else small particles into the atmosphere. Major activity that contributes to atmospheric

Functions Of The Parts Of The Human Brain Psychology Essay

Functions Of The Parts Of The Human Brain Psychology Essay The brain forms part of the central nervous system together with the spinal cord. The bodys nervous system is the center for communication and decision making. The nervous system is composed of the central and the peripheral nervous system, and the peripheral nervous system is made up of nerves in turn. The nervous system as a whole is in charge of every part of a human beings daily life, ranging from breathing and blinking to assisting one to memorize facts in a test. Nerves connect the brain with the face, eyes, ears, nose, and spinal cord, from where they link to the rest of the body. Sensory nerves is the group of nerves responsible for gathering information from the bodys environment and relaying it to the spinal cord, which in turn speeds the message to the brain. The brain then integrates the message and produces a response. Another group of nerves known as the motor neurons distribute the instructions from the brain to the all the body parts. The spinal cord is a superhighway of messages, composed of a collection of nerves going up and down the spine, transporting messages to and from the brain continuously. The brain is composed of three main segments namely: the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. The forebrain includes the cerebrum, the thalamus and the hypothalamus. The midbrain is composed of the tegmentum and the tectum. The hindbrain consists of the cerebellum, pons and medulla. The midbrain, the pons, and medulla are regularly referred collectively as the brainstem. Below is a visual representation of the brain and its various parts: The cerebrum, also known as the cerebral cortex, is the biggest portion of the human brain, linked with higher brain functions such as action and thought. The cerebral cortex is partitioned into four segments, referred to as lobes: the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, occipital lobe, and temporal lobe. Below is a diagram of the cerebrum: (Matlin, 1989). Each of the lobes carries out different functions as explained below: Frontal Lobe- connected with planning, reasoning, emotions, parts of speech, movement, and problem solving Parietal Lobe- associated with orientation, movement, recognition, and stimuli perception Occipital Lobe- related to visual processing Temporal Lobe- associated with memory, perception and recognition of auditory stimuli, and speech The cerebral cortex has numerous folds to increase the surface area of the brain and enable it fit into the small space in the skull. An increased surface area means more neurons per area hence increased efficiency. A deep groove divides the cerebral cortex into two equal parts, called the left and the right hemispheres. The two halves appear almost symmetrical yet it has been proven that each hemisphere functions differently from the other. The left hemisphere is associated with logical decisions while the right hemisphere is linked to creativity. The corpus callosum is a group of axons connecting the two hemispheres. The grey part of the cerebral cortex is composed of nerve cells. Below the grey surface are white nerve fibers which relay signals from the nerve cells to the other brain parts and to the rest of the body. The neocortex is a six-layered structure of the cerebral cortex which occupies the better part of the cerebral cortex and only occurs in mammals. The structure is th ought to have evolved recently and is linked to processing of more complex information by animals that are more fully evolved such as human beings and primates. It is where logical and rational thought takes place. The neocortex is the thinking part of the brain; it thinks through problems, makes decisions, reasons, organizes, concentrates, and controls the impulses. The corpus callosum is closely involved in cerebral organization, equally during growth and throughout adulthood. It is a thick bridge of neural tissue that conveys information from one hemisphere to the other. It plays an active role of directing the brain development beginning infancy into the highly lateralized organ it is known to be. The corpus callosum helps to maintain a balance of attention and arousal between the two hemispheres that allows each side to make its contribution to attain an integrated whole. It thus allocates each type of processing to the particular brain area that is programmed for the job, controls the distribution of attention between the two sides and facilitates sustained attention in difficult cognitive tasks. The corpus callosum also plays part in controlling certain types of eye movements. When the eyes make a movement, like in convergence, or in making saccades, information pertaining what to do is delivered to the brain from two sources: the two reti nas, which see somewhat different things, and the eye muscles that inform where the eyes are now. The input is conveyed to both hemispheres, and smooth integration of this information needs quick and accurate interhemispheric communication. The corpus callosum is therefore closely involved in smooth convergence, smooth tracking, matched focusing, and stable ocular dominance. Transfer of information about the locus of touch from one hands fingertips to the other without looking also needs the functioning of the corpus callosum. The information on which finger the touch occurred has to cross the neural bridge to reach the opposite hand. The cerebellum, also known as little brain, is analogous to the cerebrum due to its possession of two hemispheres and a well folded surface (cortex). This part of the brain is related to regulation and coordination of posture, movement, and balance. It is presumed to have evolved earlier than the cerebrum hence performs more basic functions compared to the cerebral cortex. The limbic system, often called the emotional brain, occurs deep within the cerebrum and is evolutionary old, like the cerebellum. This system is composed of the thalamus, amygdale, the hypothalamus, and hippocampus. The following is a midsagittal view of the human brain showing the limbic system: (Ford, 1992). The amygdale is an almond shaped nuclei mass which occurs deep within the temporal lobes adjacent to the hippocampus and medial to the hypothalamus. It plays various roles in cognition including: Emotional responses Arousal Control of autonomic responses related to fear Hormonal secretions The thalamus is composed of a lamellae (comprised of myelinated fibres) system dividing various thalamic subparts. Other regions are identified by distinctive clusters of neurons, such as the nucleus limitans, the periventricular gray, the intralaminar elements, and others. These clusters of neurons, which differ in structure from the main part of the thalamus, have collectively been grouped into the allothalamus. The thalamus obtains its blood supply from the posterior cerebral artery. It is known that the thalamus has numerous functions. It is deduced to act as a translator for processing various prethalamic inputs into readable form for the cerebral cortex. It is thought to process and relay sensory information to different parts of the cerebral cortex selectively, as one thalamic point might serve one or several parts in the cortex. The thalamus also assists in regulating states of wakefulness and sleep. Thalamic nuclei posses firm reciprocal connections with the cerebral cortex to form thalamo-cortico-thalamic circuits that are linked with consciousness. The thalamus has a major role to play in regulating arousal, activity, and the level of awareness. Injury to the thalamus can cause permanent coma. The system composed of the thalamic parts is associated with many different functions. It is associated with sensory systems: somatic, auditory, gustatory, visceral, and visual systems whereby localized lesions aggravate specific sensory deficits. The roles played by the thalamus are more directed towards motor systems. The relay of cerebellar afferences has been targeted by stereotactians especially for the improvement of tremor. The thalamus is thought to be involved in anterior nigral and pallidal territories in the disturbances of the basal ganglia system. The thalamus is known to play negligible role in tectal or vestibular functions. The thalamus has been considered as a relay that just forwards signals to the cerebrum, but research have shown that the thalamus has more complex functions. The hypothalamus, located directly below the thalamus, is mainly involved in upholding the bodys status quo, homeostasis. In homeostasis, factors such as body temperature, blood pressure, body weight, and fluid and electrolyte balance are regulated by the hypothalamus to a precise value known as the set-point. This set-point can change with time although it is fixed remarkably within a certain range. The hypothalamus acts as the control center for all autonomic regulatory activities of the body. It has thus been referred to as the brain of the brain. It is the center for regulation of endocrine and autonomic homeostatic systems such as temperature, visceral organs, and cardiovascular. It presides over all sensory processing, endocrine hormonal levels, and organizing body metabolism and ingestive behaviors. Almost all functions of the hypothalamus appear to be related somehow to the brain management and body connection, linking the mind to the body. The figure below shows the location of the hypothalamus: (Bandura, 1989). The hypothalamus controls not only the autonomic nervous system but also the pituitary output by producing particular chemicals into the pituitarys front lobe. The hypothalamus is involved in organizing and controlling many complex emotions, moods and feelings, together with all motivational states such as appetite, hunger, and food intake, and everything concerned with the perception of pleasure including comfort, satisfaction and creative activities. A number of neurotransmitters are synthesized by the neurons in the hypothalamus, which are responsible for relaying information and instructions to all brain and body parts. These neurotransmitters influence the pituitary gland directly leading to release of thyroid hormone releasing factor, growth hormone and other neuropeptides through hypothalamic input. The hypothalamus is closely linked with the integration of all physiological stimulation, taste, sight, smell, touch, and sound, which it then translates, refines and gathers into one distinct package linking all the elements of experience and all the stimulation associated with it into one vivid harmonious concept, and one memory. This therefore results in a concise emotionally rewarding understanding and verdict of the experience itself. The hippocampus is seen as being fundamentally involved in the fast encoding of events as relations amongst stimulus context and elements, during the encoding of episodes as event sequences, and in connecting episodes by common aspects into relational networks that sustain elastic inferential expression of memory. There is evidence that the hippocampus plays a major role in encoding of associations amongst actions, stimuli and places that make up discreet events (associative representation). The hippocampus is also thought to be involved in learning the context of events, for example contextual fear conditioning. It is also proposed that the hippocampus is involved in sequential organization. This is the organization of an event as a sequence of events that discloses with time. Another cognitive function of the hippocampus is the connecting of similar features of different memory episode to form flexible presentations. This can be explained as the abstraction of similar features of d ifferent episodes to create representations, or the formation of semantic information from intermittent memory. The hippocampus quickly learns on individual experiences and avoids interference by sorting out representations of those experiences. Limbic system-coordinates memory and emotion Hippocampus and temporal lobes- processing of verbal and visual memory, and control of short-term memory and new learning Parietal lobes-controls sequencing of activities and understanding of spatial information Frontal lobe- regulates social judgment and behavior Occipital lobe- regulates vision, and the skill to see and combine shapes, colors, angles and movement in coordinated patterns. As a result the following abilities are impaired: Mental abilities: A persons skills of understanding, thinking, remembering, and communicating are impaired. The capacity to make decisions is reduced. An individual forgets performing simple tasks that he/she had been performing for years. Persons easily get confused and loss of memory, for short-term and eventually long-term events. An individuals ability to find the right words in a conversation will be affected. Emotions and moods: An individual loses interest in generally all activities and may appear apathetic. A person loses control of emotions and mood. Some individuals appear more withdrawn and less expressive. Emotions may vary across joy, anger, love fear, and sadness, even in the advanced stages of the disease. Behavior An individuals behavior changes in the way he/she interacts with his/her environment including: Hiding his or her possessions Repeating the same words or actions Restlessness Physical flare-ups Physical abilities The disease affects an individuals mobility and physical coordination resulting in steady physical impairment. The individuals ability to perform day-to-day chores independently, such as bathing, eating, and even dressing up, is affected (Tiraboschi, Hansen, Thal, Corey-Bloom, 2004). The Biopsychosocial concept played a key role in helping people cope with the daily global changes and challenges due to modernization and civilizations. Hans then went on and coined the terms distress meaning negative stress, and eustress referring to positive stress. He also came up with the term stressor during this time which referred to the stimulus causing stress. This created a lot of interest among psychologists who ventured in diverse researches to know the links which existed between some diseases and stress. By the year 1970s, stress had become a major area of focus in research by medical practitioners as a way of addressing the issue in a better way amongst the population (Zapf, D., Dormann, C., Frese, M., 1996, p. 96). It is evident that the social, political and scientific changes have had an adverse effect on the researches being carried out on the topic. It has become a problem to undertake researches due to the pressures from science, politics and social changes. According to Anderson a researcher on stress, Our lifestyle has also made us far more susceptible to stress and stress is therefore on the increase in our society. We have more pressure put onto us in day to day living. We may live far away from the support of our immediate family, we may have very little family support and have no one to talk toà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦we have less job security and fear redundancyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the pace of life is much, much faster. We are inundated with e-mails, mobile phones ring constantly. We can never switch off or escape. All these factors together with many more others make for a more stressed out society. Individuals go on to argue that such aspects drive much pressures to human beings than before. Ther e have been a lot of political instabilities with the advancements which have also had a negative impact on undertakings of researches on stress, on top of increasing chances of stress to people. This in return has led to making the lives of human beings more complicated and difficult. Stress researches have been made hard by political pressures and stereotypes which have preoccupied people. Scientific advancements have also posed a major challenge to researchers because of its many demands. This is in relation to the requirements that the researches should have testable hypotheses and the conclusions should be in line with the stated hypothesis. By the years of 1990s stress had already been integrated in the modern scientific researches in the areas of human functioning as well as in physiology. These changes have also led to new histories on workplace stress, and the development of new techniques of managing stress (Winefield A., H., 2002, p. 85). Science is said to be a theoretical, empirical and practical knowledge of the natural world. The knowledge is said to be obtained by use of research findings through observations, explanation, and experimentation of the actual phenomena. Given that scientific researches insist on objective knowledge, it has improved the recent researches on the concept of stress, and has done much in improving the history of stress. The scientific advancements are considered to be very crucial and it considers earlier researches as being pre-scientific. it has therefore brought about many changes in the history of stress by forcing the current researchers on the topic of stress, to come up with what they call scientific and up to date research findings on stress. Social advancements have also depicted a major impact on the history of stress. The last 20 years have registered significant changes in the structure of the society. This is because of the demographic developments, technological advancement s, and socio-economic changes. These in turn have affected our family structures, social networks, and our working patterns. These changes have been said to have increased the levels of stress and the causes of stress as well. This has therefore raised a new challenge of addressing the structural changes and how they affect the life of a human being. This is because in the early history of stress, such issues as society structures and technological advancements were not considered (Aldwin, C.M., ed., 1993, p.46). Different people have had differing reactions to the researches and research findings on stress. The topic has been accorded a negative name in the past years. Some have said that they have had difficulties in figuring out between the stress-vulnerable individuals and the stress-resistant ones; hence demanding that these aspects should be clarified as a way of enabling students deal with stressful moments effectively. Others have argued that recent researches did not fully cover on the issue of stress well, hence such publications are not fit for curriculum, and they should be edited or removed from the curriculum. Others have credited authors and researchers on stress for providing them with relevant information on how to cope with a situation which is very common amongst human beings. Other reactions included mis-understandings. For instance; Hans Selye is seen apologizing in some recent memoirs for having used stress as a wrong word, though he is believed to have been the sole cre ator of the biological stress concept. He says he should have called it strain syndrome instead of biological stress. This poses a major challenge for the researchers because people tend to question the validity of their research findings. It has become certain that stress is always in the head of a human being, and that people are the ones who make it to be what it is. Suicides continue to happen at a higher rate, divorce cases are increasing everyday, and generally life does suck for almost everyone, and we want to talk of being stress-free! It is certain therefore that the life of a normal human being cannot run without the word stress. Today, the term has several connotations and meanings and is also used differently by people. It is said to be a phenomenon of physiology, a state of mind, and also a marketing tool and an excuse for human beings. Much of its attention has been initiated by the scientific discoveries as well as efforts by medical practitioners. Since then the term stress became common all over and it achieved what can be called a zenith cultural significance. It is of late a fact of every day life (Mason JW., 1975, p. 7). The term has since then gained a lot of popularity and become a common field of research for many scholars. In the ancient times such researches were geared towards knowing how the body reacts to different forms of stress and the cognitive processes that influence a human minds functioning. Its beginning of use was in the 1930s by the endocrinologist Hans Selye. He carried out a stress research to test how laboratory animals did respond to physiological changes. He later broadened his research and tested how human beings would respond to their daily life challenges. According to his research, stress was the outcome or reaction showed by organisms and the stressors to their known threats. He said that stress can be adapted positively especially when it is involved in the struggle to achieve certain goals in life, but on the other hand it could very harmful to human beings if managed poorly (Mason JW., 1975, p. 9). After that the term has been used constantly by laymen in a metaphorical way as opposed to the biological meaning to refer to the difficulties experienced in our daily activities. It also continued to become a euphemism of referring to our problems when we do not want to be explicit. Hanss first research was practiced on rats which he exposed to some harmful stimuli, and he found out that all animals did produce similar reactions to such stimuli. In the year 1936, he described this universal reaction as a general adaptation to syndrome or GAS. according to those original researches it is a process which is initiated by an alarm which detects the stressor, then the second process is resistance whereby a mode of coping with the problem is initiated. The third stage is the exhaustion stage which can be found in the GAS model. According to Hans, it is during this stage when all the available resources are fully depleted and the body becomes unable to cope with the situation which then le ads to what people call stress. The researches then found out that when such a condition is arrived at the individual can have ulcers, digestion problems, depression or even develop some cardiovascular complications among other illnesses (Mason JW., 1975, p. 9). Some of the frequently asked questions when carrying out a research on the topic of stress include the following: what causes stress? What are the major symptoms of a stressed person? What are the effects of stress? Is stress a permanent situation or not? How can one manage stress in their daily lives? How can stress be avoided? How can the condition be dealt with under normal circumstances? How can people lead stress free lives? Which age/gender is prone to stress? Among many other sub-topics and questions. Seeking answers to such questions related to stress has been undertaken by several individuals (Kearney, G., E., et al, 2003, p. 120). Several key personalities in our history can be credited for having ventured into carrying out thorough researches on the topic of stress. A group which called itself the Work and Stress Research Group was formed with the aim of addressing issues related to stress and work in the daily life of a human being. Among them were: Saswata Biswas, Maureen Dollard, Philip Heffernan and Jane Farin. They were committed to providing information on stress and consultations. It is a group which was officially registered with the University of South Australia when they started their research. This was back in the year 1996, and they dealt with issues which caused stress like unemployment, work violence, ergonomics, and drug addiction. The group has been since then collaborating and uniting with other organizations with the aim of collecting enough information on their topic of research. The group has been commended and credited for its competency and trustworthy in the research, something which ha s gained it popularity from international organizations and institutions

The Importance of Memory Essay -- Personal Narrative Writing

The Importance of Memory I remember lying in my bed one night when I was six years old, staring at the ceiling in the darkness, covers pulled up to my chin, thinking, â€Å"Someday, I’ll wake up and I’ll be twenty years old. And someday I’ll wake up and be forty. What will I look like? What will I be doing? Will I be happy? Will I remember what it was like to be six?† Memory has always been a concern of mine – mainly, is mine deficient somehow? Everyone else seems able to remember the minutiae of their childhoods, while mine seems mostly fuzzy at best. Sometimes I’ll get little snatches of an image or a feeling, summoned by something I’ve seen or smelled or heard, or sometimes a memory will just float to the surface, unasked for. And other times, I’ll consciously try to conjure up a particular scene or moment, but my efforts are unsuccessful more often than not. I’m twenty-one. I’m probably a foot and a half taller and twice as heavy as my six-year-old self. I’m in school, reading and writing a lot, trying to figure out my life, wondering (still) what forty will be like. Sometimes I’m happy, sometimes I’m not. I aim for contentment now, mostly. This is what I remember. I’m in first grade. My teacher is Ms. Schultz. She would make the perfect grandmother: a bit chubby, short silvery-blonde hair, smiling blue eyes that crinkle in the corners, and a wardrobe consisting primarily of pink and purple sweatshirts, all cute-fluffy-animal-themed. Her face is so soft-looking I want to reach up and touch it. She likes blue eyeshadow. I’m good at first grade. The other kids like my drawings. I know not to color the sky as a one-inch blue strip at the top of my paper. I like drawing horses and unicorns and Pegas... ... and whites. I race raindrops as we coast along the highway. I guess I remember more than I thought. People tell me it’s a terrible tendency I have sometimes of focusing on the past. They say, â€Å"You should live in the now.† They insist, â€Å"You should enjoy the present.† I feel guilty at first, but I smile to see through the eyes of a six-year-old again. The guilt slides away easily because I know not to let a cloud of memories obscure the present, to freight the moment with past regrets. Instead, I use my memories to elevate my experiences now, to see everything around me with greater clarity. The past gives every moment a little more meaning. To me, it seems critical to know where and whence I came from, how I came to be like this, to think the way I do or act the way I do. Memory offers a claim of permanence, a means of positioning myself in time and in space.

Philosophy †Plato Essay

2. What is the role of philosophy for Socrates and why is it valuable in itself? Explain three argu- ments Socrates gives for the immortality of the soul. Briefly explain Cebes and Simmias’ coun- terarguments using examples from the text for support. Finally, based on your understanding of the Phaedo give your interpretation of the last words of Socrates and back it up by citing the text. In Plato’s The Last Days of Socrates, Phaedo gives an account of the last few hours of Socrates’ life, to Echecrates when he encounters him after Socrates’ death. In Phaedo’s telling of the story, we learn about why Philosophy was so important to Socrates, and why he spent his final hours explaining his arguments about the body and the soul, to his two friend Cebes and Simmias. Socrates presents four separate arguments as to how the soul lives separately from the body, the first being the theory of opposites, seconded by the theory of recollection, and followed by his theory of Affinity. After he presents his first three arguments, Simmias and Cebes interject with their opinions and counterarguments to Socrates’ first three, which is then when Socrates comes up with his fourth and final argument – Theory of the Forms. The last and final argument is one of the most important arguments that Socrates will make throughout the whole story. Phaedo ends his account to Echecrates by telling us of the final words of Socrates. Socrates was a well known Greek philosopher, known chiefly through the writings of his students, such as Plato who wrote the novel in which we are reflecting. Socrates did not write down any of his ideas or knowledge, but instead instilled it upon other people who took the re- sponsibility of writing it down for themselves. During Socrates’ final hours, we find out why Phi- losophy was so important to him. He argues that the soul is a separate entity from the body, and that we must separate the soul as far as possible from it. He relates this to death, by saying that death is this freeing and parting of the soul from the body. Socrates states, on page 100 line 67d exactly why Philosophy is important – â€Å"†¦those that go in for philosophy in the correct way who are always eager to set the soul free; what philosophers practice is exactly this, the freeing and parting of soul from body. † He believes that Philosophers live their lives being as close to death as possible, â€Å"those occupied correctly in philosophy really do practice dying, and death is less frightening for them than for anyone else (Plato 67a). † He states that if philosophers desire that one thing, separating the soul from the body, then they must always be close to death and to nev- er be afraid of it. Socrates presents his initial argument that â€Å"everything comes to be through opposite things coming to be from no other source than their own opposites (Plato 70e). † He believed that everything that exists, has an opposite and must have came from that opposite. He provided examples such as â€Å"the beautiful is presumably opposite to the ugly† or â€Å"when something comes to be bigger, it must be from being smaller before (Plato 70e). † In explaining this argument, he presents that between the two members of the pair, there are two-processes for the pair to come into being. In order for something to be big, it had to come from being small, it increased in size but it could go the opposite way and decrease in size as well. This argument relates to the soul and the body by saying that being alive has an opposite, which is being dead. In order for the op-posites argument to be logical, one must be able to come back from the dead and be alive, so it is from the dead that living things come to be alive. This leads us to believe that the soul is immor- tal, and existed before the body. Socrates sums up this argument by stating, â€Å"the living have come from the dead no less than the dead from the living; and I think it seemed to us that if this were the case, it would be sufficient proof that the souls of the dead must be somewhere – from where they were to be born again (Plato 72a). † Following the argument about opposites, Socrates poses the question that if we are going to recollect something, we must have had knowledge about it at a previous point in time. This is then the second argument that Plato recounts in his telling of Socrates’ last hours. What he is pre- senting in this argument, is the fact that when we recognize something, it brings us back to think- ing about something else. So when we recognize this first object, it triggers our minds to remem- ber something that is associated with that object. Therefore, when we remember something we are recollecting back to a previous state or time or object. He argues that these recollections canat are unlike the items we have recollected. He sums this thought up by saying, â€Å"So long as, on seeing one thing, you come to have something else in mind, like or unlike, from seeing the first one. What occurs must be recollection (Plato 74d). † He doesn’t stop at this, but then goes on to explain that we had this knowledge before we even obtained our senses. When we were born, we obtained the ability to see, hear, and possess all of the other senses, but we had this knowledge before our senses, so therefore we had this knowledge before we were even born. This argument leads back to his original point that the soul exists outside of the body. â€Å"Whereas if we get our knowledge before we are born but lose it on being born, and then later through the use of our perceptions we get back those pieces of knowledge that we had at some previous time, what we call learning would be a matter of getting back knowledge that was ours anyway; and we’d be surely correct if we called that recollection (Plato 75e). † Socrates’ third argument before Cebes and Simmias provide their counterarguments is his theory of Affinity. This suggests that we must distinguish between things that are material, visi- ble, and perishable and things that are immaterial, invisible, and immortal. In this case, the body is the thing that is perishable, while the soul is immortal and lives on. While arguing this to Sim- mias and Cebes, Socrates states, â€Å"the soul is something that’s very like what’s divine, deathless, the object of intellect, uniform, undissolved, and always in exactly the same state as it ever was; while body in its turn is something very like what’s human, mortal, mindless, multiform, tending to dissolution, and never the same as it was before (Plato 80b). † This is yet another argument that proves his point that when the body dies, the soul still lives. He brings up the point in this argu- ment that the soul may wander, but eventually it is put into a different body or it will spend its time with the Gods. After his third argument, Simmias and Cebes finally interject and give their counterargu- ments to Socrates. Simmias is the first to present his counterargument, by comparing the topic of the soul existing after the death of the body, to the attunement of an instrument. He states, â€Å"The argument would go, there’d be no way that the lyre could continue to exist as it does, with the strings broken, or that the strings could, while the attunement, which is of the same nature and the same kin as the divine and deathless, had already perished, before the mortal (Plato 86a-c). † He is comparing the body to an instrument, and the soul to the attunement. When the instrument is no longer there, if it was completely broken or burned, there would no longer be a tune. The tune of one instrument does not just travel to a separate instrument when the original one is gone. Cebes then gives his counterargument, not agreeing with the one Simmias just made and not ful- ly agreeing with all of Socrates’ arguments. Cebes argument states that the soul does still live on after the body is dead, but that it is not entirely immortal. He then compares the body to a cloak and the soul to the body, stating â€Å"someone might say the very same things about soul and body as about the weaver and his cloak, that the soul is something long-lived, while the body is a weaker and shorter-lived thing, but all the same, he’d say, every single soul wears out many bod-ies, especially if it has a long life – for if the body is in flux, and is perishing even while the per- son is alive, still the soul always weaves again whats being worn out. (Plato 87e). † This argu- ment he presents states that a soul can live through many bodies, as a person can go through many cloaks each as they wear out. He finishes his argument by stating that â€Å"there’s no justifica- tion yet for relying on this argument of yours, and it gives us no reassurance that when we die our soul still exists somewhere (Plato 88a). † Socrates final words at the end of Phaedo’s account were, â€Å"Crito, we owe a cock to As-clepius; pay our debt and no forgetting. † According to Greek myth, the cock symbolizes a peace offering to the god Asclepius in order to receive a cure. In this case, Socrates was getting ready to die. This could mean only two things to me, the first being that he was being cured of his life by dying and being closer than ever to the one thing that philosophers dedicate their time to, sep- arating his soul from his body and having that soul be free. The second interpretation I came up with is that he offered this cock to the god Asclepius to avoid any misfortune after he dies, while his soul is still living. All in all, Socrates had many deep and thought provoking arguments as to why the soul and the body are separate, and why the soul continues to live after the body has perished. Whether or not these arguments seemed logical, or were very believable, Socrates spent his whole life dedicated to the ideas of Philosophy, and he spent his final hours instilling his beliefs upon those who cared about him. Socrates died for what he believed in, and that’s what makes Phaedo’s account of his life so interesting. Works Cited: Plato, , and Christopher Rowe. The Last Day of Socrates. New York: Penguin Classics, 2010. 87-169. Print.

Managing Workforce Diversity Essay

When we say diversity this refers to differences within the organization. This includes gender or sexual orientation, nationality, physical condition, family status, religious orientation and cultural differences or cultural background. An organization or a company may have diversities on their employees as well as the culture itself. Many companies have done so much effort to embrace diversity however; there are still some who are not given equal treatment or being valued because of being different. This is maybe because of the impression that, anyone who is perceived as different is likely to have a difficult time contributing to company goals and experiencing personal growth. Most companies nowadays conduct diversity training to eliminate values, stereotypes and managerial practices that inhibit employees’ personal development and to allow employees to contribute to organizational goals regardless of being diversified. In managing diversity, involves creating an environment that allows all employees to contribute to organizational goals and experience personal growth. This environment includes access to job as well as fair and positive treatment to all employees. This is to provide an environment which allows employees to feel comfortable. This may require the company to change its culture to drive performance and enables employees in becoming a result oriented one. Diversity can enhance the performance of the company when the organization itself has an environment which promotes learning from diversity. Success of an organization through diversity requires it to be viewed as an opportunity for employees to learn from each other how to better accomplish their work, to be provided with a supportive and cooperative organizational culture, and be taught leadership and process skills that can facilitate effective team functioning. Managing Diversity through Adherence to Legislation Diversity can be managed through adhering to legislation. We have laws which protect people from discrimination either because of their diversity. Companies can definitely managed diversity by promoting or creating policies to protect the employees. In such cases, discrimination will be eliminated or abuse to such will be prevented. This will increase the morale of the  employees knowing that they are being cared for. But at some point, if merely adhering to employment laws may result to frustration leading to minorities and women leave the organization. This is due to adhering only and lack of giving more opportunities to these minorities. Managing Diversity through Diversity Training Program Diversity training refers to training designed to change employee attitudes about diversity and/or to help employees develop skills needed to work with a diverse workforce. To successfully manage a diverse workforce, companies need to ensure that Employees understand how their values and stereotypes influence their behavior toward people of a different gender, ethnicity, race or religion Employees gain an appreciation of cultural differences among themselves. Behaviors that isolate or intimidate minority group members improve. Below are some Diversity Training Programs which a company may conduct. Attitude Awareness and Change Programs – focus on increasing employees’ awareness of differences in cultural and ethnic background, physical characteristics that influence behavior towards others. Behavior-Based Programs – focus on changing the organizational policies and individual behaviors that inhibit employees’ personal growth and productivity. Cultural Immersion – refers to the process of sending employees directly into communities where they have to interact with persons from different cultures, races, and/or nationalities. Diversity exists and is very apparent whichever industry one may belong. What is most important is that everyone is given equal opportunities and is not being discriminated because of their minorities or being different. Policies should be observed to encourage and develop the skills of the employees. Diversity will allow company to grow if given importance as it may influence one from the other. For as long as the organization knows the ins and outs of the employees would best benefit the organization allowing personal growth and valuing once role in the organization.