Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia †His Life and Death

Although the confrontational style of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Gregory Nino Scalia  was widely regarded as being one of his less appealing qualities, it underscored his clear sense of right and wrong. Motivated by a strong moral compass, Scalia opposed judicial activism in all forms, favoring instead judicial restraint and a constructivist approach to the interpretation of the Constitution. Scalia stated on numerous occasions that the power of the Supreme Court is only as effective as the laws created by Congress. Scalias Early Life and Formative Years Scalia was born March 11, 1936, in Trenton, New Jersey. He was the only son of Eugene and Catherine Scalia. As a second generation American, he grew up with a strong Italian home  life and was raised Roman Catholic.   The family moved to Queens when Scalia was a child. He graduated first in his class from St. Francis Xavier, a military prep school in Manhattan. He also graduated first in his class from Georgetown University with a degree in history. He earned his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he also graduated at the top of his class. His Early Career Scalias first job out of Harvard was working in commercial law for the international firm of Jones Day. He remained there from 1961 until 1967. The lure of academia drew him to become a law professor at the University of Virginia from 1967 to 1971. He was appointed general counsel  of the Office of Telecommunications under the Nixon administration in 1971, then he spent two years as chairman of the U.S. Administration Conference. Scalia joined the Ford administration in 1974, where he worked as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel. Academia Scalia left government service upon the election of Jimmy Carter. He returned to academia in 1977 and occupied a number of academic positions until 1982, including resident scholar for the conservative American Enterprise Institute and law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Chicago School of Law, and Stanford University. He also briefly served as chairman of the American Bar Associations section on administrative law and the Conference of Section Chairs. Scalias philosophy of judicial restraint began to gather momentum when Ronald Reagan appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1982.   Supreme Court Nomination When Chief Justice Warren Burger retired in 1986, President Reagan appointed Justice William Rehnquist to the top spot. Rehnquists appointment drew all the attention from Congress and the media, and even the Court. Many were pleased, but Democrats strongly opposed his appointment. Scalia was tapped by Reagan to fill the vacancy and he slipped through the confirmation process virtually unnoticed, floating by with a 98-0 vote. Senators Barry Goldwater and Jack Garn didnt cast votes. The vote was surprising because Scalia was far more conservative than any other Justice on the High Court at the time. Originalism Scalia was one of the most well-known Justices and was famous for his combative personality and his judicial philosophy of originalism – the idea that the Constitution should be interpreted in terms of what it meant to its original authors. He told CBS in 2008 that his interpretive philosophy is about determining what the words of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights meant to those who ratified them. Scalia maintained  that he was not a strict constructionist, however. I do not think the Constitution or any text should be interpreted either strictly or sloppily; it should be interpreted reasonably. Controversies Scalias sons, Eugene and John, worked for the firms that represented George W. Bush in the landmark case, Bush v. Gore, which determined the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. Scalia drew fire from liberals for refusing to recuse himself from the case. He was also asked but declined to recuse himself from the case of Hamden v. Rumsfeld  in 2006 because he had offered an opinion on an issue related to the case while it was still pending. Scalia had remarked that Guantanamo detainees dont have the right to be tried in federal courts.   Personal Life vs. Public Life After graduating from Georgetown University, Scalia spent a year in Europe as a student at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He met Maureen McCarthy, a Radcliffe English student, at Cambridge. In 1960, they married in 1960 and had nine children. Scalia was fiercely protective of his familys privacy throughout his term on the High Court, but he began granting interviews in 2007 after years of refusing to do so. His sudden willingness to engage the media was due primarily to the fact that his children had all become full-grown adults. His Death   Scalia died on February 13, 2016, at a ranch resort in western Texas. He failed to appear for breakfast one morning and an employee of the ranch went to his room to check on him. Scalia was found in bed, deceased. He was known to have heart trouble, to suffer from diabetes, and he was overweight. His death was declared due to natural causes. But even this event was not without controversy when rumors began swirling that he had been murdered, particularly because an autopsy was never performed. This was at his familys behest, however  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ it had nothing to do with political intrigue.   His death incited an uproar as to which  president would have the right to appoint a replacement for him. President Obama was nearing the end of his second term in office. He nominated Judge Merrick Garland, but Senate Republicans blocked Garlands appointment. It ultimately fell to President Trump to replace Scalia. He nominated Neil Gorsuch very soon after taking office and his appointment was confirmed by the Senate on April 7, 2017, although Democrats attempted a filibuster to block it.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Descartes’, Spinoza’s, and Leibniz’s Response to the...

Since Descartes many philosophers have discussed the problem of interaction between the mind and body. Philosophers have given rise to a variety of different answers to this question all with their own merits and flaws. These answers vary quite a lot. There is the idea of total separation between mind and body, championed by Descartes, which has come to be known as â€Å"Cartesian Dualism†. This, of course, gave rise to one of the many major responses to the mind-body problem which is the exact opposite of dualism; monism. Monism is the idea that mind and body one and the same thing and therefore have no need for interaction. Another major response to the problem is that given by Leibniz, more commonly known as pre-ordained harmony or†¦show more content†¦They exist as substances and according to Descartes they are the only two substances that exist in the universe. His argument for dualism is, â€Å"†¦on the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, insofar as I am merely a thinking thing and not an extended thing, and because on the other hand I have a distinct idea of a body, insofar as it is merely an extended thing and not a thinking thing†¦(50)†. Descartes says that we exist insofar as we are unextended thinking things and thus can exist without a physical body (50). Furthermore, Descartes reasons that there are certain things that the mind can do that the body cannot do and vice versa (50-51). For instance, Descartes says that the ability to imagine and understand things must exist solely in the mind because there is no available option for the body to understand on its own (51). Much in the same way he reasons that the mind cannot move or change shape and thus must exist in some other substance (51). It is here that we see Descartes’ distinction between mind and body and how they do not exist in the same realm as one another. Descartes also makes the distinction between mind and body by saying the body is divisible at all times and the mind can never be divided (53). That is to say that he thinks that the body can be split up into smaller sections each of which are then considered in their own right, but the mind, however, is always one substance and cannot be divided up into smaller

Requirement Analysis and Modelling Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Requirement Analysis and Modelling. Answer: Introduction This document seeks to try to solve the problems currently being experienced at Mooroolbark Real Estate. It outlines the various methodologies that can be taken by this agency while addressing its problems. To any business, financial management, inventory management and customer satisfaction are key important issues. This is attributed to good record keeping techniques, that is, having an information system in place in order to maintain these aspects. Agile Methodology As compared to the traditional waterfall model, agile methodology commonly referred to as adaptive approach has recently been considered an effective approach in system development. This is because this approach offers iterative processes until an ideal solution is arrived at. Unlike the traditional approach where the requirements are predetermined, hence, any setback can only be identified at the later stages of development. Agile methodology offers the best approach of system development as one cannot proceed to the next stage unless the current stage has been approved. There are various types of Agile methodology including Scrum, extreme programming, feature-driven development. Scrum With Scrum methodology the owner of the Mooroolbalk agency works carefully with the team members to determine and plan out functionality of the system in the form of product backlog. In Mooroolbalk agency the product backlog will involve system that will solve problems of record keeping, payment issues, redundancy or bulk information among others. Once priorities are driven by the owner manager, teams sign up and estimate to deliver increments that are shippable of the systems during successive sprints, normally lasting thirty days. Upon completion of the sprint additional functionality cannot be carried out except by the team members. Once delivery of the sprint has been done, the product backlog is evaluated and re-planned out, if required, and the next functionality set is chosen for the next sprint. (Stair, 2017). Extreme Programming (XP) XP is a methodology that delivers continuously and quickly systems of high quality. It enhances high involvement of customers, rapid responses loops, continuous planning, continuous testing and close teamwork in delivering system that is working at very regular intervals, usually at every 1-3 weeks. Mooroolbalk agency can use this methodology to solve all their problem as it promotes customer involvement and rapid responses. This methodology is based on feedback, simplicity, communication and courage. (Fujita, 2010). Feature-Driven Development (FDD) FDD is a model-driven involving processes of short iteration. It starts with setting up a general model shape. Then it progresses with a two-week series designed and built by feature iterations. The features are usually small and useful according to the client. Mooroolbalk agency can use this methodology to enhance regular builds of the system and component ownership. However, this system suits well to large teams and so the agency requires to add more working staffs. (Dennis, Haley Wixom, Tegarden, Seeman, 2015) As such the best methodology that could be suitable for Mooroolbalk real estate agency is the extreme programming (XP) as it enhances high involvement of customers and rapid feedbacks. It is also simple and increases productivity. Methodology such as FDD will lead to increase of cost as it requires more team members. Scrum on the other hand can lead to incorrect cost estimation if tasks are not well defined. Comparison between XP methodology and object oriented models XP methodology Object oriented models Definition XP is an agile software development methodology which focuses on improving responsiveness and quality of the system to changing clients needs. Object oriented models aims on capturing information system design and structure into smalls modules that joins both the process and the data. stages Coding, testing, listening and designing Objects search and definition, objects arrangement, description of how objects communicate with each other, definition of the object external behaviors and definition of the object internal behavior. Advantages This methodology will assist Mooroolbalk agency save cost and time for the realization of the project. It helps in elimination of unproductive activities. Encourages Encapsulation: this model if used by Mooroolbalk agency will encourage planning and systems development that dont depend on each other. Disadvantages Several specialists say that XP focuses more on programs than the design which may lead to future bugs occurrence. Ill-Suited to Procedural Applications: this model is hard to practice OOAD methods within logic of non-object business. System Documentation In every system development documentation is a very important for future reference and maintenance. Regarding the simplicity of Agile development that it doesnt require documentation is wrong. In most cases the people developing the systems are actually the once to maintain in the long term. The Agency might decide to hire a system admin to be maintaining the system. This person may not have been part of the development team, yet, he /she wants to understand the system insight. This cannot happen without a documentation. (Dennis, Haley, Tegarden Seeman, 2015). Automation Automation is such an important aspect to any business. It helps to increase agency performance and increase throughput. Also this facilitates easy management of records and information and do away with the manual filing system. Based on the problems that Moroolbark Real Estate Agency are going through, in this case, automation will be the only solution they have. This will help them manage tenants payments record for easy reference and identification of defaulters. It will also aid in financial record keeping that can be used for evaluation on the performance of the urgency. However, automation may bring about laying off of some employees and also too much dependence on an automated system, in case of a system downtime, then the all agency operations are brought to a standstill. (Fish, 2012). Cloud Computing The first choice that Moroolbark Real Estate Agency should consider is the cloud solution. This technology will be convenient for them because many at time they will be out there in the field and still need access to office data and information. (Jamsa, 2013) Cloud based solution offers them this platform and in addition, the security mechanism of cloud is by far the best as compared to any other environment. Also availability of data is guaranteed at all the times even when the clod vendor is upgrading or maintaining the system. All the troubles of system maintenance and troubleshooting are left to the cloud provider. All that Moroolbark Real Estate Agency has to do is invest on access points, that is workstations and internet access points. This will reduce the hardware requirements for the Agency. (Safonov, 2016). Conclusion Every system development approach is constrained by pros and cons. The development team should always choose that with more capabilities of solving the agency problems. Moroolbark Real Estate Agency however, has an option to choose cloud computing services. In system development, thorough planning and design are very important techniques that will lead to successful system development. References DENNIS, A., HALEY WIXOM, B., TEGARDEN, D. P., SEEMAN, E. (2015).Systems analysis design: an object-oriented approach with UML. Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, FISH, A. N. (2012).Knowledge automation: how to implement decision management in business processes. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. FUJITA, H. (2010).New trends in software methodologies, tools and techniques: proceedings of the 9th SoMeT_10. Amsterdam, IOS Press. JAMSA, K. (2013).Cloud computing: SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, virtualization, business models, mobile, security and more. Burlington, MA, Jones Bartlett Learning. SAFONOV, V. O. (2016).Trustworthy cloud computing. Hoboken, New Jersey STAIR, R. M. (2017).Fundamentals of information systems. Boston, MA, USA : Cengage Learning