Hegels Phenomenology of Spirit, Ecos The Myth of Superman, and CamusThe Fall :: Phenomenology Dialectical Essays

Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit, Eco's The Myth of Superman, and Camus'The Fall    It is impossible to truly realize the impact of earlier minds on modern society, simply because that which they taught is so intrinsic to thought which followed. One great example is G.W.F. Hegel, an eighteenth-century philosopher who first named dialectical relationships. In his book Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel details the relations between people and ideas in a way that now seems obvious, but was groundbreaking at the time. He opens his discussion by describing consciousness meeting as master and slave, and describes the development of the interaction in a dialectical fashion. In this particular situation, the slave receives an original definition from the master, then negates it, since it is not a complete (and therefore an inaccurate) description of the self. The relationship between the two consciousness plays out as a progression of a definition, the negation and the result. The common terms given to this movement are thesis (the original posit or definition), antithesis (th e negation), and synthesis (the final movement combining elements of each of the first two). The synthesis often becomes the new thesis, which is similarly negated. The whole theory can be seen as an elaboration of cause and effect, where the original thesis "causes" the antithesis which "causes" a synthesis. There is a direct causal progression. An interesting concept which the dialectic gives rise to is the fact that once a thesis is made everything that comes after is affected by the original posit. For example, one can attempt to negate a label, yet still give validity to the label, and the synthesis will cause the slave, even in the "free" definition, to define the self in terms of what the master originally defined. Even a negation ends in the original terms, because the original terms were the "cause" of any definition the slave would create. Hegel's theory held prevalence in society for many years, thinkers such as Kierkegaard and Heidegger relying heavily upon the dialectic as a way to further their own theories. Cause and effect became the main way of looking at world events, and life continued until the advent of the twentieth century, which saw a negation of Hegel's thought and a shift in the dialectic. In 1972, an English translation of Umberto Eco's The Myth of Superman was published. In this article, Eco, a critic and novelist, discussed the shift from the Hegelian dialectic in light of the Superman saga.

Managerial Economics

P7. 6 Optimal Input Mix. The First National Bank received 3,000 inquiries following the latest advertisement describing its 30-month IRA accounts in the Boston World, a local newspaper. The most recent ad in a similar advertising campaign in Massachusetts Business, a regional business magazine, generated 1,000 inquiries. Each newspaper ad costs $500, whereas each magazine ad costs $125. A. Assuming that additional ads would generate similar response rates, is the bank running an optimal mix of newspaper and magazine ads? Why or why not? No, the bank is not running an optimal mix of newspaper and magazine ads because the optimal combination would occur when MPn / Pn = MPm / Pm ? newspaper output: 3,000 / 500 = 6 and magazine output: 1,000 / 125 = 8. Therefore, amount spent on newspaper ads attracted 6 inquiries while amount spent on magazine ad attracted 8 inquiries. So to run an optimal mix of newspaper and magazine ads, the bank has to run more magazine ads and/ or fewer newspaper a ds. B. Holding all else equal, how many inquiries must a newspaper ad attract for the current advertising mix to be optimal? For the current advertising mix to be optimal, MPn / Pn = MPm / Pm therefore, to increase the newspaper output from 6 to 8, Find: MPn / 500 = 8 *500 ? MPn = 4,000 *500 So inquiries generated by newspaper ads would have to increase from 3,000 to 4,000. P7. 7 Marginal Revenue Product of Labor. To better serve customers interested in buying cars over the Internet, Smart Motors, Inc. , hired Nora Jones to respond to customer inquiries, offer price quotes, and write orders for leads generated by the company’s Web site. During last year, Jones averaged 1. 5 vehicle sales per week.On average, these vehicles sold for a retail price of $25,000 and brought the dealership a profit contribution of $1,000 each. A. Estimate Jones’ annual (50 workweek) marginal revenue product. oJones’ marginal revenue product can be found by the number of cars sold and the profit of each sale. MRPL = MPL * MRQ ? MRPL = (1. 5 * 50) * ($1,000) = $75,000 (Vehicles sales p/week * workweek) * (profit contribution) B. Jones earns a base salary of $60,000 per year, and Smart Motors pays an additional 28 percent of this base salary in taxes and various fringe benefits.Is Jones a profitable employee? oNo, Jones is not a profitable employee because her cost to be employed is $76,800 ($60,000 base salary + 28% of taxes and fringe benefits) and her marginal revenue product is only $75,000. Therefore, MRPL ($75,000) < PL ($76,800). This means that even though Jones brings in $75,000 additional profit it costs Smart Motors $76,800 to have her which means she brings $1,800 of marginal loss to Smart Motors. P7. 8 Optimal Input Level. Ticket Services, Inc. , offers ticket promotion and handling services for concerts and sporting events.The Sherman Oaks, California, branch office makes heavy use of spot radio advertising on WHAM-AM, with each 30-second ad costing $ 100. During the past year, the following relation between advertising and ticket sales per event has been observed: Sales (units) = 5,000 + 100A – 0. 5A2 ?Sales (units) / ? Advertising = 100 – A Here, A represents a 30-second radio spot ad, and sales are measured in numbers of tickets. Rachel Green, manager for the Sherman Oaks office, has been asked to recommend an appropriate level of advertising.In thinking about this problem, Green noted its resemblance to the optimal resource employment problem studied in a managerial economics course. The advertising/sales relation could be thought of as a production function, with advertising as an input and sales as the output. The problem is to determine the profit-maximizing level of employment for the input, advertising, in this â€Å"production† system. Green recognized that a measure of output value was needed to solve the problem.After reflection, Green determined that the value of output is $2 per ticket, the net marginal revenue earned by Ticket Services (price minus all marginal costs except advertising). A. Continuing with Green's production analogy, what is the marginal product of advertising? **Marginal Product measures additional output from one more unit of the variable input. ** oMPA = MS/MA = ? Sales (units) / ? Advertising (OR ? Q/? A) = 100 – A B. What is the rule for determining the optimal amount of a resource to employ in a production system? Explain the logic underlying this rule. The rule for determining the optimal amount of a resource to employ is: MRPA = PA (see slide 17) MPA * MRQ = PA (see slide 9) The above equation turns to: ?Q/? A * ? TR/? Q = ? TC/? A ?Q’s cancel each other out and the equation turns to: ?TR/? A = ? TC/? A This leads to Marginal Total Revenue (MTR) = Marginal Total Cost (MTC), which means the inflow = outflow. C. Using the rule for optimal resource employment, determine the profit-maximizing number of radio ads. oUsing the above equatio n MPA * MRQ = PA ? (100-A )* $2 = $100 $200-2A = $100 ? $100= 2A ? A=$50 P7. 9 Net Marginal Revenue.Crane, Poole & Schmidt, LLC, is a successful Boston-based law firm. Worker productivity at the firm is measured in billable hours, which vary between partners and associates. Partner time is billed to clients at a rate of $250 per hour, whereas associate time is billed at a rate of $125 per hour. On average, each partner generates 25 billable hours per 40-hour workweek, with 15 hours spent on promotion, administrative, and supervisory responsibilities. Associates generate an average of 35 billable hours per 40-hour workweek and spend 5 hours per week in administrative and training meetings.Variable overhead costs average 50 percent of revenues generated by partners and 60 percent of revenues generated by associates. A. Calculate the annual (50 workweek) net marginal revenue product of partners and associates. For Partners: oMRPP = MPP * MRQ ? MRPP = ($25 * 50) * ($250* 100% – 5 0%) = $156,250 (Billable hrs * workweek) * (rate billed * % overhead cost) For Associates: oMRPA = MPA * MRA ? MRPA = ($35 * 50) * ($125* 100% – 60%) = $87,500 (Billable hrs * workweek) * (rate billed * % overhead cost) Each marginal hour of effort by partner brings the firm $250 in revenue – $125 ($250 *50%) of variable costs, so a partner has a net marginal revue of $125 p/hr. ?Each marginal hour of effort by associate brings the firm $125 in revenue – $75($125 *60%) of variable costs, so a partner has a net marginal revue of $50 p/hr. Both of these reflect the marginal value of service output. B. If partners earn $175,000 and associates earn $70,000 per year, does the company have an optimal combination of partners and associates? If not, why not? Make your answer explicit and support any recommendations for change. Comparing partners marginal revenue products with their salary shows MRPP = $156,250 ; $175,000. This means that partners bring $18,750 ($175,000 -$156,250) marginal loss to the firm. oComparing associates marginal revenue products with their salary shows MRPA = $87,500 ; $70,000. This means that associates bring $17,500 ($87,500-$70,000) marginal profit to the firm. Therefore to help move the company to an optimal combination where profit is maximized, they will have to either reduce the number of partners or have a small increase in the number of associates.This can be done by expanding the number of associates until MRPA = $70,000. After this is done we can recalculate the MRPP to see if it has increased. If the new MRPP = $175,000, no other change needs to be made. Chapter 7 Power Point Problem Stereo Receivers. Do-It-Yourself, Inc. , sells budget-priced stereo receivers, in both kit and fully-assembled forms. Customers who assemble their own receivers benefit from the lower kit price of $100 per receiver. â€Å"Full-service† customers enjoy the luxury of an assembled receiver, but pay a higher price of $150 per re ceiver.Both kit and fully assembled receiver prices are stable. The company has observed the following relation between the numbers of assembly workers employed per day and assembled receiver output: Number of workersFinished receivers 00 18 214 318 420 521 A. )Construct a table showing the net marginal revenue product derived from assembly worker employment. Number of WorkersFinished receiversMarginal Product of Labor (MPL)Net Marginal Revenue Product of Labor (NMRPL) (1)(2)(3)(4) = (3) x $50 00N/AN/A 188$400 146$300 3184$200 4202$100 5211$50 B. )How many assemblers would Do-It-Yourself employ at a daily wage rate of $120? oDo-It-Yourself would employ 3 workers since from the table above, three workers NMRPL is $200 which is greater (;) than the $120 they would pay in wages. C. )What is the highest daily wage rate Do-It Yourself would pay to hire four assemblers per day? oTo hire four assemblers per day, the highest daily wage rate Do-It-Yourself should pay is $100 since thatâ€⠄¢s the NMRPL for the fourth worker. Managerial Economics Q1. In a country, the velocity of money is constant. Real GDP grows by 5% per year, the money stock by 14% per year, and the nominal interest rate is 11 per cent. What is the real interest rate? A. 1 The following is provided in the question GDP growth rate (Y)- 5% Money Stock growth rate (M)-14% Nominal Interest Rate- 11% Velocity Of Money- Constant Real Interest Rate = Nominal interest rate – Inflation †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Fisher Effect By the quantity equation we have; M . V = P. YThe Quantity theory of Money assumes that V is constant and exogenous. Inflation= Change in the Money Growth- Change in the GDP Growth Using the above values Inflation= 14% – 5% = 9% Thus; Real Interest Rate = 11%- 9%= 2% Therefore the real interest rate is adjusted for inflation. Q. 2 Suppose a country has a money demand function (M/P)d = kY, where k is a constant parameter. The money supply grows by 12% per year, and real income grows by 4% per year. (a) What is the average inflation rate? b) How would inflation be different if real income growth were higher, say 6%? Explain. (c) Suppose, instead of a constant money demand function, the velocity of money in this economy was growing steadily, say by 2% per annum because of financial innovation. How would that affect the inflation rate? Explain. A. 2 The Money demand function (M/P)d = kY, where M/P = Real Money Balances k= money people wish to hold for each rupee of income and k= 1/V (a) Average Inflation Rate 12%- 4%= 8% b) If Y=6%, then Inflation is 12% – 6 %= 6% Inflation depends upon changes (in this increases) in the Money Supply and Real Income, which is given by the quantity theory of money. So if the money growth rate is greater than the real income growth rate it results in Inflation. In the (a) the money growth rate was 12% whereas real income growth rate is 4% so the Inflation rate is 8%, whereas in (b) the real income growth rate has increased to 6% and hence the inflat ion has rate has changed and decreased to 6%. c) The Velocity of money is not constant in this case as assumed in the Quantity theory of money. V=2% The Inflation would now therefore be determined as follows- Inflation rate = Change in Money Supply + Change in Velocity – Change in Real Income Inflation rate = 12% + 2% – 4%=10 % The Inflation in this case is highest and is equal to 10%, this is because the growth rate of money supply is greater than real income growth rate and also because the V is not a constant and hence the a unit of the money is being used 2% more.

Background and Methodology of the Research Process- Childhood Obesity

For some time there has been a largely growing concern about the junk food made available in schools and how it contributes to childhood obesity. In this article it is discovered through research among fifth graders that the junk food that is available in schools does not significantly increase the BMI or obesity of these students. This research was aided from the amount of junk food available and the amount purchased. Problem to Solve The problem that this article focuses on is childhood obesity. Childhood obesity in the United States is highest it has ever been with practically one-third of all children and adolescents considered overweight or obese (Datar, A, & Nicosia, N 2012). Therefore most of the focus has been on the schools in hopes to find this as the cause of the epidemic. There has been debates on the nutritional value of schools competitive foods and believe them to be the largest source of junk food. Purpose It seems as though the purpose of this study is to inform or let the reader know about the statistics behind childhood obesity and the junk food available at schools. They may have wanted the reader to be aware of the risks of childhood obesity that comes directly from the foods that their child may be buying from the schools vending machines or from the a la carte options. This is believed to truly not be the reasons for the increase in obesity of children. This articles purpose is to make it aware that it could also come from what they are eating outside the schools and what type of exercise they are getting (Datar, A, & Nicosia, N 2012). Competitive foods can be found in many schools, there is a difference in what is available to elementary, middle and high schools. 7% of high schools and 82% of middle schools have vending machines that students have access to, but in elementary schools there is only 17% that have vending machines. A la carte options are also a huge source of food sales. These a la carte lines are largely available in all grade levels, with 93% availability in high school, 92% in middle school, and a surprising 71% in elementar y schools (Datar, A, & Nicosia, N 2012). Research Question A research question is basically the first step that a researcher must conduct before starting the research. It is known as the methodological point and any questions that are asked should be answered during the research (Datar, A, & Nicosia, N 2012). It should be defined clearly as well as accurately. It can be used for qualitative and quantitative research. This step allows the researcher to figure out what he or she wants to know the most (Datar, A, & Nicosia, N 2012). This article did clearly state a question, these questions were for the fifth graders asking them what they are eating at school and at home or what type of exercise they are getting. A study was done in the fall on 1998 of kindergarten, and in the spring another was conducted on first, third, and fifth graders. This study got information from the kids, their parents, and the teachers. They collected information on their social, emotional, physical development, BMI, and their environment in and out of school. The only information that was used was that of the fifth graders. The study was taken in 2003-2004 school year from 9,380 fifth graders in both private and public schools. In the questionnaire they were asked about how often and how much of a certain food they ate during the past week. The kids were also asked to include any food that they also ate outside of school, including if they may have went to a friend’s house or to a restaurant. School administration and the children of the fifth grade gave information on the availability of junk food within the schools. The administrators stated that an average of 17 junk food items were available through vending machines, the school stores, snack bar, or from the a la carte that the children can purchase. Hypothesis A research hypothesis is a statement created by the researcher, and it is a speculation of what they believe the outcome will be. This article does not have a hypothesis directly stated; the authors only provide statistics within each paragraph. If there were to be a hypothesis it would state that the food did or did not cause the obesity of the children or if it were a direct result of their home lives and not just the schools fault (Datar, A, & Nicosia, N 2012). Independent and Dependent Variables An independent and dependent variable are two different variables. An independent variable is a variable that can be wielded by the researcher. It s basically a hypothesized to influence or affect the dependent variable. The independent variable is measured from the researcher. The researcher assigns an experimental or a controlled condition to the participants. The independent variables would be the surveys and what they say prior to the participants taking the survey (Datar, A, & Nicosia, N 2012). The dependent variables would be the participants that partake in the research. Theoretical Framework The theoretical framework is used in research to give details or to create an outline of what the possible actions may be. It is used to try and connect the aspects of the topic. The theoretical framework that was conducted in this article was what the relationship between a parent’s perception of their child’s BMI and obesity and what the school’s role is in preventing as well as treating the children’s obesity issues. (Datar, A, & Nicosia, N 2012). Literature Review Literature review is important because it allows the researcher to discover what has already been discovered and what has not. It gives them a chance to create a research strategy that works best for them. It gives them a chance to avoid other researcher’s mistakes. Instead of surveying the school nurses or random people, the researchers in this article asked the fifth grade children how they felt and what they feel is important to keep children on a healthy track so that they do not become obese (Datar, A, & Nicosia, N 2012). Study Design There are many research designs that can be used. Descriptive design, correlation studies, semi-experimental designs, experimental designs, reviewing other research, and test study before conducting full-scale study. This article is more of a descriptive design because it was based off surveys (Datar, A, & Nicosia, N 2012). In schools students have access to so many foods and drinks that are full of sodium and sugars. These children can purchase things like candies, chocolate, cookies, salty snacks, and even ice cream. They also have access to drinks that are nothing but sugars and caffeine. Many of these children are consuming more junk food outside of the schools then they are within the schools and are not getting the proper xercise they need to burn all those extra calories they are consuming. The schools cannot give children all the physical activity that they need in a day. Children need to also be active outside of school because the little activity that they get while in school is not enough for any child to keep their BMI down. I do know that there are more and more schools that are removing the junk food from the vending machines or making that these vending machines are only in use dur ing thinks like sporting events or other after school activities. Childhood obesity is a growing issue, and there are many contributions to this problem. Children spend much of their lives at school, so changing the ways that schools handle health issues is important. By removing vending machines, providing more healthy programs, and allowing more physical activities can be a positive start. What the children learn in school can be brought into their home lives and when the school nurses, parents, and children are all on the same page healthier changes might start to show and the level of childhood obesity may start to decrease.