Scientology Essay example -- essays research papers

Scientology is a fairly new religion. Founded in the twentieth-century by a man by the name of L. Ron Hubbard. He began his studies long ago and wrote a book in 1950 called Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. He claimed that this book was one of the first tools used to solve the problems of the mind. This book focused on irrational mind, war, crime, and insanity. Mr. Hubbard designed this book so that anyone can use it to improve oneself. He did not stop at Dianetics, however, he felt that there were still some issues that had to be addressed. He was now going to try to figure out the nature of the human being, what makes up our â€Å"being.† Mr. Hubbard combined religion, philosophy, and his theory of dianetics and came up with Scientology. Mr. Hubbard had a unique life. He was born in Tilden, Nebraska, the son of a naval commander Harry Ross Hubbard and Ledora May Hubbard. L. Ron Hubbard was born on March 13, 1911. When he was about two his family moved to Montana where he learned to be a rough western cowboy. His mother was thoroughly educated woman. She taught him how to read and write at an early age. L. Ron Hubbard was said to have an avid interest in life at an early age. When his father’s naval career required that they move away from Montana, his mother was responsible to teach him the schooling he missed. When Ron was twelve the family moved to Seattle, Washington. Ron got the liberty to be associated with many different types of people such as the Blackfoot Indians, Beijing magician, Chinese magicians, and studying Buddhists. He enrolled at George Washington University, his father put him into mathematics and engineering. Now he learned how to take the scientific approach to solving problems. He became more and more interested in the way the mind works. He would ask the professors at George Washington University and they could not give him an answer, so he came up with the idea that the western culture did not understand a thing about the mind. He believed that it was his duty to explore the mind and to tell the western world how it works. This is when he came up with dianetics and then eventually the religion of scientology. Scientology consists of eight dynamics. With these dynamics, a person realizes that his life extends beyond himself. The first dynamic is â€Å"self.† This teaches you to survive as an individual. Taking care of such thi... ... deal with life here on earth and teaches people how to become better people. Improving conditions here on earth is the foremost important thing to fix. Scientology seems to address this issue with full force. It uses modern technology, and knowledge of how human relations to improve the quality of life of people who chose to follow Scientology. In the description of L. Ron Hubbard, I was disgusted. They made it sound like he was this extremely smart guy. When he started studying the mind and the way it works, he noticed that the western society knew nothing about it. He sounded pompous when he said â€Å"it was very obvious that I was dealing with and living in a culture which knew less about the mind than the lowest primitive tribe I had ever come in contact with†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I did not like this at all. He sounds like a very arrogant man. Arrogant in a cocky way. In doing research I noticed that all of his followers seem to have the same attitude. I find that it is funny that they are so dedicated to following a man who was born in the twentieth-century. He is an ordinary man who happened to be exceptionally smart. He is a business man who is good at persuading people and wants to make money.

Economics Commentary †Russian Quota on US Pork and Indian Government Tax on cars Essay

A quota is a physical limit on the number or value of goods that can be imported into a country. This is one of the few protectionist measures that countries in order to protect their own domestic industries and is a measure that has been taken up by Russia, as seen in the article. Russia has reduced its quota for American pork from 750,000 tonnes to 600,000 tonnes. This is because Russia wishes to become more self-sufficient in producing pork and thus improve their pork industry. As said in the article, this will be a big blow to the American producers of pork who already trying to recover from poor demand and prices, as well as high input costs. The effect of this reduced quota can be seen in Fig.1 below. As can be seen, the quota has been decreased from QD2-QS2 at a value of 750,000 tonnes to QD3-QS3 at a value of 600,000 tonnes. The deadweight loss (represented by the shaded area) has, as a result, increased from ABC to EBD and this is partly where the problem of quotas lies. The shaded area represents the inefficiency of the domestic producers and by decreasing the number of US exports coming in, they are increasing the reliance on domestic producers who may be more inefficient in comparison to the American producers. What could be potentially seen is an increased loss of world efficiency as the domestic producers would produce pork for higher minimum revenue than the American producers. Furthermore, QD3-QD2 tonnes of pork are not now consumed (150,000 tonnes) and this is a reduction in the consumer surplus, which is the extra utility gained by consumers from paying a price that is lower than that which they are prepared to pay. However, there are advantages to the quota for domestic producers. The initial quota allowed domestic producers to supply 0-QS1 and QS2-QD2 tonnes of pork at a price of WP+Quota. This quota meant that their revenue had increased but they will see their revenue increased further with the implementation of the lower quota. This is because they will be able to supply 0-QS1, QS2-QD2 and QS3-QD3 at a price of WP+ Decreased Quota. Foreign producers will now supply their quota of QS1-QS2 and receive a price of WP+ Decreased Quota. This should usually result in a fall in income, which would be detrimental to the American producers who are already suffering economic difficulties, but in theory this does not have to be. An alternative option that could be used by the Russian government is a tariff. This is a tax that is charged on imported goods would cause the world supply curve to shift upwards because it would be placed on the American producers as opposed to the Russia producers. The effect of a tariff can be seen below. The advantage of a tariff is that whilst the deadweight loss (shaded in red) of caused by the tariff would be the same as the one caused by a quota, the Russian government would receive a revenue equal to C. Furthermore, the revenue of domestic, Russian producers would increase by A+B+C, though the revenue of foreign, American producers will fall by C. However, there will be a fall in consumer surplus by D, due to the extra pork that will not be purchased resulting in a deadweight loss of welfare. However, as stated before, this would be the same if a quota is used. Furthermore, the implementation of a tariff is less likely to lead to the creation of a black market. This is because with an import quota there is a chance that there will be massive shortages of pork. Therefore, criminal organisations would see smuggling pork as a lucrative business opportunity. However, with a tariff such shortages are unlikely as it does not set a limit on the number of products imported. That being said, if a tariff is set at an unreasonably high rate then there is still a chance that a black market will open up. Nevertheless either form of protectionism has its disadvantages. Firstly, it leads to less choice for consumers and the lowered competition will see domestic firms become inefficient without any incentive to minimise costs. Moreover, protectionism distorts comparative advantage and this leads to the inefficient use of resources thus leading to reduced specialisation and a reduced potential level of the world’s output. Indeed protectionism could potentially damage economic growth. INDIAN CAR TAX Externalities occur when the consumption or production of a good or service has a spill over effect on a third party. If an externality is negative, then this spill over effect is in some way harmful. Therefore there has to be an external cost i.e. one that is borne by a third party, to add to the private costs of the producer or consumer in order to calculate the full cost to society. In the article, the negative externalities which are occurring in New Delhi, India stem from traffic congestion and air pollution. Fig.1 below shows the external costs of using cars. As seen in Fig.1, consumers will enjoy some of the private benefits of car travel but there will be external costs in the form of air pollution and traffic congestion. Consumers maximise their private utility and consume at the level where MPC=MSC=MPB thus leading to over-consumption of vehicle travel by driving Q25, 000 vehicles at a price of 25,000 rupees. As can be seen in Fig.1, the socially efficient output, i.e. when the full opportunity cost of an extra unit is equal to the value placed by society on its consumption or production, is Q*, as a result there is over-consumption of Q25, 000 to Q*. Furthermore, as a result of MSC being greater than MSB, there is a welfare loss to society. This is an example of market failure. In order to combat the effects of the vehicle use, the Indian government is charging citizens in New Delhi who own more than one car and are implementing a congestion fee. Two-wheelers that cost above 25,000 rupees will be taxed at a rate of four per cent whilst cars priced up to 6 lakh (600,000 rupees) will be increased to the same rate. Those costing between 6 and 10 lakh will be charged seven per cent tax. The effect that the increased tax should have on the use of two-wheeled vehicles is seen in Fig.2. As seen in Fig.2, the implementation of a tax will see the MPC curve move upwards to MPC + tax = MSC + tax. This will reduce consumption to the socially efficient output of Q* but the price will increase to 25,000 rupees plus tax. Therefore the government should receive more revenue which could be then used to further tackle the externalities. However, a problem that the Indian government will face is the fact that the demand for vehicle travel may be price inelastic. Therefore, the amount of people who will forgo vehicle travel will be insignificant and the quantity demanded will not fall to the socially efficient level. There are alternatives to congestion fees and taxes, with advertising being an example. The Indian government could fund positive advertising for substitute goods such as public transport or bicycles thus decreasing the consumption of vehicle travel. One of the problems with this solution is that the costs may be high and so taxes would have to be in place. Moreover, people may not care about the effects of vehicle travel and will therefore continue with their current mode of travel. Another solution could be for the government to restrict the number of driving licences. This is effectively a quota that would essentially see a decrease in the number of cars on the road. However, the problem of who to allocate these licences to arise and this could prove unpopular. Another alternative solution could be to heavily advertise public transport. This may reduce the number of cars on the road and would therefore see a reduction in the negative externalities created. However, for this to work, people would have to heed the advertisements advice and as it would not be compulsory, people may neither listen nor care to change their method of transportation. Overall, it looks like the Indian government’s decision to implement a car tax and congestion fee is the most viable solution because it is less likely to alienate the citizens of New Delhi when compared to curfews and is also more likely to see a decrease in consumption when compared to advertising.

Normalisation Problem Essay

The adult education class needs a new database as running the courses with books proves a problem. There is a selection of books with each set of data in. This data can become damaged and the staff can forget to update each book. Also as there are a few books, staff has to update each one with the new data, this can become tenuous and annoying. Another point is that there are many different subjects, rooms and tutors that need to be linked together. This can be a problem as some classes can be in different rooms each day of the week. With a book this can be a problem, as the design may not have a feature for this. The new database will put all the data into separate tables and link them all together. This will enable all the tables to function together allowing the user to change the data in one and it will be changed in them all. The user will also be able to run queries asking the database questions. This will enable the user to gather information without having to search through all the data. This can save a lot of time and improve accuracy as human error may be nearly deleted. The database is going to have to incorporate the student’s personnel data, the class times and the tutors. The database will be assessable to all the teachers and admin staff so, with little training everyone will be able to finds out important information. With a book system only the admin staff would know how to use it and if the teachers tried then they may not do it correctly. This could be a problem as the information could get confused and then people are sent to the wrong lesson, room or the teachers may not turn up. Another good point of the database is that it I more professional to use a computer then a book. This may rub of on the company’s image especially if running an ICT course. If a prospective customer/student sees that they are running it with a book system then they may not be impressed and choose not to do the course. Normalisation Normalisation is a process used to come up with the best possible design for a related database. Tables should be organised in such a way that; * No data is unnecessarily duplicated * Data is consistent throughout the database * The structure of each table is flexible enough to allow you to enter as many or as few times * The structure should enable a user to make all kinds of different queries relating from different tables. Unormalised First name, surname, title, street, town, county, country, postcode, telephone no., D.O.B, occupation, date of first class, fee payable, type of payment, classes taken (subjects), tutors, date of classes, time of classes, room no. First normalised form This would not work as each student can take more then one class. To get it to work you would have to use a second normalised form, which would include a selection table in the middle like this; Second normalised form This selection table would enable students to do more then one course on the database. Third normalised form. You then have to link the tutors in with the courses. To do this you will create a totally different table but link the primary key in with the course table. Original Table Design > Student number – I will require this so I can link the tables together, as this will be my primary key. This will be of the Auto Number format so each student has a unique number they can be identified by. > Title – The title field will be of the text format and will be up to 5 characters long. This will have a validation rule of â€Å"Mr, Mrs, Miss, Dr, Mastr, Other† > Surname – This will be of the text format and be up to 25 characters long. > Forenames – This will also be of the text format and will be up to 20 characters long. > House number/name – This will be of the memo format as it can include numbers and letters. Also as the house names can be long it gives plenty of space. > Street – This is a text field, there is a maximum of 15 characters in this field. > Town – This is also a text field as most are. This has got a maximum of 20 characters as some towns can have long names. > County – Again this is a text field, there is a maximum of 20 characters as again some counties have a long name sometimes up to 20 characters. > Country – Another text field, and again 20 characters. I decided to add country as people may be learning English in this class and may still live abroad. > Postcode – This is a memo field as there are both letters and numbers in the postcodes. > Telephone Number – This field is surprisingly a text field as the phone number has a space between the area code and the number. > Mobile Number – This again will be a text field as there is a space after the first 5 numbers. > Date of birth (DOB) – This is a Date/Time field as you can set a date such as 10/02/77. This looks good and is also easy to read and easy to input. This will have an input mask of dd/mm/yy. 1st Amended Table Design > Student number – No Amendments > Title – No Amendments > Surname – No Amendments > Forenames – No Amendments > House number/name – No Amendments > Street – No Amendments > Town – No Amendments > County – No Amendments > Country – The Default value of this field is set as â€Å"England†. This is because if a student is of a different nationality trying to gain English qualifications, then to be contacted they will have to have an English address. > Postcode – I was going to add an input mask into this field, but realised that different parts of the country have different postcodes with different amounts of letters/numbers. > Telephone Number – I have added an input mask into this field to aid the accuracy of phone numbers. If a number is wrongly inputted then the student cannot be contacted in short notice. The input mask looks like this : !00000-000000. For example 01603-7456474. No more numbers can be added or none lost. > Mobile Number – This also has an input mask so no mistakes are made. This one will look like !00000-000000. For example 07763-369961 > Date of birth (DOB) – No Amendments. This will also have an input mask, which I have already stated. The system I will be using The system at school My system at home Pentium 2 350MHz AMD Athlon 600MHz 64 MB 128 MB 6.4 Gig Memory 27 Gig Memory 14†³ SVGA Monitor 17†³ SVGA Monitor Microsoft office 97 Microsoft office 97 + Microsoft word 2000 Microsoft Windows 98 Microsoft Windows 98 8MB HND Graphics Card TNT 2 Graphics card Constraints and limitations As I will be doing work at home and at 6th form I may experience a few constraints. For example at home I have Microsoft word 2000 whereas at 6th form they have the 97 edition. This can prove to be a problem, as I cannot take work to and from 6th form to complete at home. This means that I will have to complete all word documents either at home or at 6th form. This is only a minor problem which I can overcome by selecting work to take home as I have access 97 the same as the 6th form. If I know I have to do a word document and I may have to take it home I will do it at 6th form rather than other work which I can take home. I will have to manage my time. My second slight limitation is that other classes in the school often book the computer rooms at 6th form. This can mean that I am not able to work on a computer at certain times. This can be a problem but I can over come this by writing it up on paper in a study room and then type it up at a later date. This can be frustrating by something that you cannot do anything about so you have to live with it. Also if a student is away in another class then there may be the odd spare computer I can work on. Apart from these there are not many other problems that I think I will encounter. Also these can be overcome with ease. My ICT skills I have studied ICT at GCSE level and gained a level ‘B’ at the subject. This helps as I have done pervious work with the programs at a high level. I also work on my home computer regularly and pick up skills. Screenshots of my database Screenshot 1: Bookings Table Screenshot 2: Courses Table Screenshot 3: Members table Screenshot 4: Tutors table Screenshot 5: Front page Screenshot 6: Student link from front page Screenshot 7: Tutors link from front page Screenshot 8: Bookings link from front page Screenshot 9: Application from for new members Screenshot 11: Add new tutor form linked from tutor’s page Screenshot 12: Change tutor details linked from tutor’s main page Screenshot 13: New bookings linked from bookings main page Screenshot 14: Delete booking linked from bookings main page Screenshot 15: Check bookings query, linked from ‘check bookings for course’ button Screenshot 16: Result of running query shown above Screenshot 17: Macro needed for ‘add new member’ Screenshot 18: Macro needed for ‘add new tutor’ Screenshot 19: Macro needed for ‘new bookings’ Screenshot 20: Design of query for course query Screenshot 21: Main relationship Evaluation * Data can be viewed, recalled and saved easily. I have met this requirement as I can view and recall data through queries and forms and save data through my forms using macros. If I had a criticism it would be that more queries are needed to access all data easier than now. All records can be viewed using forms based off information tables. This means that I have all the information there is and that it is in a format which is easy to use and view. Also I can use my action and navigation buttons to move around easily. * Data can be easily updated or changed, changing all data in database. For example a booking change in a members records would change a booking in the tutors records, with only putting the data in once. I have fulfilled this requirement as I can do this. This is because I have my relationships between all tables, linking them so if I change a piece of information in one form then it will automatically changed in all other concerning the matter. * Mistakes will be easily to spot, with database flagging up any un-normal inputted data. I have tried to reduce the possibility of human error when imputing data or changing data. I have done this with input masks. I have added input masks to most date, time and telephone number fields in my forms so if it dopes not meet a certain criteria then it will flag it up and not accept it. An example of a input mask when ‘wrong’ data has been inputted. * Must be able to print out which course tutors teach and when they are. My query will help with this once you have searched for a course, it takes you to a screen which allows you to print out the data. I did add a query and from combo in which once the data is searched for it automatically prints the data. Once I had this in place realised that it may be a nuisance to the end user, as they may not want a print out all the time so I thought that I would leave it up to the. If it printed out automatically it may waste paper and ink therefore cost the business money. User guide Introduction The database will open on the front page. When you want to do something the first place you need to go is the main page. This has access to all you will need to do. As you will see there are three buttons, ‘Students’, ‘Tutors’ and ‘Bookings’. Each will link you to the part of the database you need. For example if you wanted to make a booking then you will need to click on the bookings button. Once you have clicked on anyone of these you will then get a specialised menu for each section. For example if I clicked on bookings I would get a list of options for bookings like this: You then have a list for what you may want to do. When you click on these you will be linked to a form which will allow you to input or browse information easily. For example if I clicked on ‘New Booking’ in the bookings section I would get a form which allows you to input new information for a new booking. This is what it would look like; That’s the basics I will now show you how to do some of the most common tasks. 1) Adding a new student or tutor: Open the database, as members are under the student section click on students, if you want to add a new tutor then just click on tutors. Both are the same, below are instructions for adding a new student but adding a new tutor is exactly the same so just follow the same instructions but just with ‘tutors’. You will then need to click on the ‘New Student button’ this will link you to a form which will allow you to put in information so a new member is added. The from has a macro linked to it so you will always get a blank form when you click this button. If you want to browse other details then click on the 2 buttons, ‘Previous record’ or ‘Next record’. The page you get will look like this; Once you have inputted all the information you want just click on ‘Save record’ and the information will be saved. Then click on close form and you will go back to the students menu, if you do not want to be here either then click on ‘Back to the main screen’ which is on every selection screen. This links you back to the main menu so you can choose what you want to do next. 2) To change details of students or tutors: Again changing students or tutors details are done is the same way. Below are a list of instructions for changing tutors details but again, if you want students then you will have to follow the same instructions but just with ‘Students’. Click on the ‘Tutors’ button on the main page, this will link you to a tutors menu just like the ‘students’ one. Here you can add a new tutor or change a existing tutors details. To change details just click on the ‘Change Tutor Details’ button as shown below.