Saturday, December 28, 2019

The Kite Runner, Purple Hibiscus By Chimamanda Ngozi...

Privilege is a large topic of conversation in today’s society. It appears in many ways through race, gender, sexuality, religion, income; even where you live can impact the privileges you have over other people. In the following three books that we read this year in English 10; The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez, privilege plays a large part in the development from childhood to adulthood. But how specifically has privilege shaped the character’s single stories of the surrounding world, and how have they overcome them? When the inherent ideologies that come with privilege are encouraged, or not actively combated by parents, they can easily cause young children to become ignorant of the lives of people around them. The parents in all three of the books choose the more passive root, therefore causing their children to believe they are superior, in the case of Amir fr om The Kite Runner; naive, in the case of Kambili from Purple Hibiscus; or a combination of the two, in the case of the four daughters from How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. But with time and new experience, the characters in these various novels are able to move past their single stories by exposing themselves to a different culture or another side of their own. In the Kite Runner, Amir struggles growing up with a distant father. He feels deprived of love and affection, which in turn leads him to

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Summer Freedom Changes For Football Season And...

And Now It’s Time for a Celebration of Learning Summer freedom changes to football season and standardized tests for students as they return to school. Back-to-school shopping has barely ended when most students start taking their first big tests, such as the SAT. Friday night hype and school pride fades into a tired Saturday morning in school where it is the student with her bubble sheet and booklet, twenty other kids, and that one guy who will not stop coughing. Tests like the SAT are believed to show a student’s knowledge well-enough to affect the course of their future. Most students believe this to be unfair, even those who have adequate access to preparatory courses and materials. However, not all students are rising from previous grades, or even coming from their own home. Many students go unthought-of, such as refugees from war torn countries. Children fleeing places such as Syria and Iraq will start school in the fall alongside the common American child if cert ain skills are deemed proficient. But most standards for proficiency fall at a minimal level, and put students in a difficult position that they may not fully understand. And this does not happen with just refugees; it happens to other marginalized groups in the United States. When people say that there are issues with tests and the way they are employed, they are not wrong, but the problem goes deeper than just the average American student. 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Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Understanding Managing Diversity Metro Trains †Free Samples

Question: Understanding Managing Diversity Metro Trains? Answer: Introduction Recent studies have indicated that women make up 18% of the total top corporate leadership positions, in addition to making less than their male counterparts. Despite being in the 21st Century, there is still much work to be made in terms of workplace diversity and equity. Understanding and managing diversity in todays workplace is all about creating and maintaining a positive work setting where the distinctions and similarities of individuals are valued (Mor Barak, 2011). Current literature on diversity management has mostly focused on organizational culture, human resource management, impact of culture on diversity openness, results related to managing employee diversity, institutional settings and organizational contexts to diversity-oriented pressures, among others. Diversity management is considered to be the key to development in todays intensely competitive worldwide marketplace. Organizations can no longer hide behind their lack of cultural intelligence, and those in search of worldwide market relevancy are forced to welcome diversity. To understand diversity is to treat organizational staff authentically down to the source of an organizations business model. Interestingly, corporate leaders tend to pay lip service to diversity, but do not actually live it (Hannum, McFeeters Booysen, 2010). The business world is changing and the novel populace carefully assesses how organizations relate to it. What most managers do not realize is that diversity in todays workplace is another way of saying affirmative action, and that is why businesses must support it so as to safeguard their brands in the commerce and among their consumer audience. Organizations must now think about diversity beyond addressing niche needs, and look more widely to reinvent t he manner in which they think about how business is carried out. Metro Trains, a joint venture between MTR Corporation, UGL Rail, and John Holland Group, is Australias most recognized franchised operator of the suburban railway network in Melbourne (Carr-Ruffino, 2009). It operates a fleet of 420 3-car train sets on 869Km of track, in addition to being able to travel over 30million kilometres. The organization also provides more than 225 million customer boardings annually, carrying an estimated 415,000 passengers each weekday (Bell, 2012). Metro Trains has so far employed a workforce of 3,500 rail experts with the inclusion of mechanical and electrical engineers, train drivers, customer service representatives, and network operations experts. The railway industry has long since been considered a conventionally male dominated industry. However, Metro Trains is breaking new ground. The organization has committed itself in ensuring that it has the most skilled and driven individuals on board to change the future of Melbournes railway. This includes welcoming the diverse experience, expertise, and skills that women bring to the workplace. Melbourne is viewed as Australias rapidly developing city which is increasingly dependent on public transport networks. That is why Metro Trains is committed to establishing one of the best engineered railways globally. Since its launching in 2009, the organizations momentum to develop and transform the network remains steadfast, understanding it can no longer operate as a conventional suburban railway (Ozbilgin Tatli, 2008). Historically, the physicality of the railway infrastructure combined with outdated career ideals cast an influential cloud over what a railway employee looked like. However, today, the right balance Metro Trains recruitment processes have adhered to the trend of challenging norm. Following the inspiration by the authority of technology, availability of diverse expertise pools together with the need to adopt special engineering principles, the organization has quickly let go of this particular reasoning. Discussion Areas of diversity that is relevant to Metros business, both from an employee and client/customer viewpoint (issues faced in terms of diversity) Almost 17% of Metro Trains 4,300-person strong workforce is female, and this number is on the increase following every recruitment campaign. The female influence is quite evident across all aspects of the companys business from infrastructure to rolling stock, from projects to stations (Bell, Ozbilgin Surgevil, 2011). Metro has given high priority on equality in that its recruitment plan is founded on luring a 50/50 balance of both men and women in search of novel positions. Metro Trains believe that diversity and inclusion results in better business outcomes. Surpassing gender diversity, the organizations diversity and inclusion approach has placed much emphasis on the diversity and individuality of its workers, thus establishing a genuinely empowering work setting for all its workers. Similar to any other diverse workforce, Metro Trains has also faced some issues in terms of diversity. For instance, there were recent claims that some Metro Train drivers were intentionally halting trains in a position where they could look up womens skirts (Agboka, 2011). Moreover, there were additional claims of a poisonous culture at the organization, involving gender discrimination, and bullying. It was evident at the time that some of the organizations staff had lost their moral compass, as it were. A male on-the-job driver trainer is said to have urinated in the presence of a woman trainee driver while evaluating her capabilities (Pugh, Dietz Wiley, 2008). The trainee made a mistake and as a result, failed her evaluation and was dismissed by Metro Trains. In other instances, women were being discriminated upon through inappropriate comments being made both of an offensive and sexually explicit nature. Sammie Black, the companys spokeswoman denied these claims suggesting that Metro Trains did not tolerate workplace harassment or discrimination. In the course of its business operations, Metro Trains has acknowledged that creating and managing a diverse workforce has avoidable curable and avoidable challenges that can be quite destructive to the organization. For instance, given the diverse workforce, many distinctions exist in terms of communication styles. One key challenge of managing diversity at Metro Trains has been poor communication between workers (Winston, 2010). It is evident that it is easy to misunderstand an individual who communicates differently. This in turn leads to poor office relations and misinterpretations. Implementation of unorganized diversity plan is another challenge faced by todays diverse organizations. That is why managers are expected to take a well planned approach, and implement a strategy that is well communicated and thought-out to the staff. Notably, every company has individuals who are resistant to the changes and diversity it brings, even in the most constructive of settings. Metro Trains has in the recent past implemented technological changes and those who had not taken the diversity plan seriously were a big challenge to the managers. The negative attitudes displayed by the employees were damaging to the morale of other employees, slowing down constructive transformation and decreasing productivity (Ritchie, 2008). Metro Train managers and HR personnel handled this particular issue by effectively communicating the benefits that would ensue following the technological change. Workshops were also introduced to better educate the resisting employees. In Australia, the rail industry is undergoing a renaissance, with state government boosting their funding for public transport infrastructure. Important elements such as safety and diversity are now at the forefront of corporate strategies and novel innovations (Mor Barak, 2011). Technologies are also being applied across the network to create greater effectiveness, reliability and productivity in passenger and freight sectors. Diversity and inclusion are also a priority in most rail companies in Australia and New Zealand. Companies which have a diverse workforce tend to supply a greater option of solutions to issues in sourcing, allocation, and service of resources. Employees from diverse backgrounds usually bring individual experiences and skills by suggesting concepts that are flexible in adapting to unpredictable customer demands and markets (Hannum, McFeeters Booysen, 2010). Diversity at Metro Trains tends to inspire all of their workers to perform to the best of their abilitie s. Having a diverse workforce means that employees are comfortable in communicating different perspectives, thus providing a larger pool of experiences and concepts. Metro Trains can draw from these ideas to meet business strategy needs and those of its customers more efficiently. On the other hand, customers or clients are more attracted to organizations that have a diverse workforce. This is because they feel that they will be understood by the diverse workforce who may have similar cultural, ethnic or national backgrounds (Carr-Ruffino, 2009). Given that Metro Trains consists of a diverse collection of experiences and abilities such as cultural understanding and languages, the organization is able to provide service to its customers on a worldwide basis. Ethnic diversity, different viewpoints, and cultural multiplicity tend to bring vivacity to the workplace. Having a humanitarianism spirit has helped shape Metro Trains workers to becoming better citizens of tomorrow, and this is som ething that most potential customers would want to be associated with; an organization that is conducive and welcoming to anyone regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, or religion. An approach currently taken by Metro in managing diversity For a company to survive in todays rapidly transforming and harsh business environment, it needs to manage and use its diverse workplace efficiently. Managing diversity is considered part of Metro Trains organizational culture. To successfully manage a diverse workplace means having strong policies of equality in place. Once this has been accomplished, then the organization can work on implementation of diversity measures throughout the whole company (Bell, 2012). Australia is currently becoming a destination for a diverse population and companies are recognizing the value of having a diverse workforce. Most of the organizations across the nation have implemented diversity programs in an effort to take advantage of the strengths of multifaceted workers. At least that is what they say they are doing. There are a number of approaches that can be taken in managing diversity, each with its own technique of achievement and objective. While some organizations see diversity as a numbers game where it is attained by promoting the appropriate number of minority employees into major positions in management, others behave as if diversity is just a passing fad where one jumps on the bandwagon and then gets off when the interest fades (Ozbilgin Tatli, 2008). Some organizations have made an effort to establish an organizational culture that genuinely values its diverse workforce and eliminates hindrances that randomly limit individuals within the company. On the other hand, there are a few organizations in Australia that have learned how to obtain 100% from their workers because they are knowledgeable on how to bring together the total potential of their workforce, regardless of the diversity of their workers (Bell, Ozbilgin Surgevil, 2011). The four main approaches that an organization can take in managing diversity are affirmative action, brand image, maximizing the performance of all workers, and establishing a culture of acceptance. The main purpose of affirmative action approach is to create an organization that genuinely provides equal opportunity for individuals of diverse personalities and backgrounds to be paid justly, promoted equitably, and win construction tasks. Brand image creates an image of being an organization that values the diversity of its staff (Agboka, 2012). The main concentration is on getting name acknowledgement and honors for the organizations diversity programs. Brand image approach aims at getting the organizations name out as much as possible so individuals or potential customers accept the message that it is a diverse organization. Capitalizing on the performance of all employees is an approach that is achieved by eliminating hindrances that tend to restrict a persons potential, regardless of whether or not those hindrances are diversity problems or other barriers that limit a persons progress. This particular approach aims at increasing the productive output of each person by understanding their special distinctions and overriding that which keeps them from attaining their full potential (Pugh, Dietz Wiley, 2008). Capitalizing on employee performance demands a mature and refined approach to managing the business utilizing suitable management methods. It also demands embracing the fact that diversity is a typical practice of good management wherein managers are responsible for the increment and effectiveness of all of their workers, so they can be more productive. Lastly, establishing a culture of acceptance is an approach that seeks to establish an organization that genuinely values and acknowledges the diverse nature of its workforce (Winston, 2010). It also aims at getting everyone to embrace and be aware of the differences that exist amongst them so as to minimize disagreement, capitalize on performance, and allow individuals to attain their full potential by eliminating diversity hindrances or disagreement in the workplace. The type of approach that Metro Trains has taken up in managing diversity is the establishment of a culture of acceptance. It has also taken up a few dimensions of diversity in an effort to build a more balanced workforce and thus be recognized as an employer of choice. These dimensions include gender through placement of more women in management positions, religion and cultural background through demonstration of a larger number of distinct nationalities and more cultural diversity in top positions, and age through in tensification of an open-minded association between older and younger workers (Ritchie, 2008). Metro Trains is currently promoting a mindset that opts for rationality rather than seniority. On the other hand, employment of individuals with disabilities that goes beyond lawful minimum requirements is another dimension of the organizations approach to having a culture of acceptance. Given that todays diverse workforce incorporates different sexual orientation such as bisexuals, intersexuals, transsexuals, lesbians, gays, and the queer, Metro Trains has committed itself in promoting open-minded interaction with individuals who practice a different sexual orientation (Mor Barak, 2011). This has been evident in its 2016 Campus Days campaign where it launched an ambassador initiative as part of a workshop on the subject of sexual identity and orientation. Two strategies the business could implement to improve their diversity practices Metro Trains understands that diversity training along is not enough for its diversity management plan. A strategy needs to be established and implemented to establish a culture of diversity that will penetrate every division and function of the organization. As already indicated, Metro Trains strives to nurture career development opportunities for all of its workers. Strong diversity management has so far provided this particular company with a competitive edge in the market. To continue luring and retaining highly desired workers, organizations such as Metro Train need to work hard so as to include an efficient diversity program into the workplace (Hannum, McFeeters Booysen, 2010). There are a number of strategies that an organization can use to develop and leverage their diversity programs. For instance, a diversity strategy can be developed utilizing similar intent goal-setting processes used to design conventional business-related goals. Creating a stand-alone committee constituting of members symbolizing all aspects of an organizations workforce is a second strategy that can be implemented. Thirdly, employees can be encouraged to engage in civic and professional companies that encourage diversity (Carr-Ruffino, 2009). This will provide outstanding networking opportunities while at the same time foster mergers that will enhance access to a broader pool of diverse candidates. Fourthly, being intentional with hiring practices is also a strategy that can be implemented by an organization. If a company has intranet, it is important to incorporate a diversity page where people can post updates and any information regarding what the company is doing from a diverse angle, any upcoming community events or any relevant initiatives. Two strategies that Metro Trains could implement to improve their diversity practices are the creation of a stand-alone committee and engaging in civic and professional companies that encourage diversity. Metro Trains need to ensure that its leadership plays a visible role while establishing the committee. It also needs to empower this diversity committee to create a diversity statement consistent with the organizations strategic goals and empower it to create initiatives that support diversity (Bell, 2012). Such initiatives may incorporate lunch and workshops with features speakers, mentoring, community outreach programs, diversity workshops, and establishment of workplace kinship and worker resource groups. On the other hand, involvement with professional companies will be beneficial in that it will strengthen associations among workers as they collaborate to serve groups they are passionate about (Ozbilgin Tatli, 2008). Many companies in Australia exist that acknowledge the advantages brought about by having a diverse workforce. It would be an added advantage if Metro Trains could offer language training given that it will be dealing with a diverse committee. By so doing, the organizations stand-alone committee will be in a better position of understanding and communicating what its potential customers prefer with regards to its services. Additionally, Metro Trains need to make use of its already existing staff in the launching of community outreach programs. The staff needs to constitute minorities because they would most likely attract potentially diverse candidates, thus creating a positive image about the organization. Conclusion Today, most progressive organizations have embraced the idea of diversity. The challenge has been to make it work by ensuring that all individuals feel welcome within the organization and have an opportunity to rise to the level their competences allow. In the past, diversity was seen as a matter of employment equity or affirmative action. However, in todays business world, a diverse workforce is largely seen as a significant business imperative that should be incorporated into every companys strategy. Having a diverse workforce means delivery of better decision making, satisfied customers, increased productivity, and better services and products. Successful understanding and managing diversity is all about unleashing the diverse potential of an overall workforce. Metro Trains has welcomed change for the better. With regards to its growth and future anticipation, it is clear that the organization will be successful if it can deliver on its targets and develop capacity to cater to future demands. Initially, every part of the business experienced some kind of significant transformation, as people worked hard to stabilize the organizations performance at a much improved level. Furthermore, without the eagerness and expertise of its staff, the relentless drive to make things better would have eventually stalled at a very early phase. The fact that Metro Trains is forging ahead in every given aspect of its operation is evidence to the commitment of its increasingly diverse workforce across every portion of the business. It is the diverse expertise, backgrounds, and skills of the organizations workers that have assisted in the driving of the momentum to attain organizational goals. References Agboka, G. (2012). Liberating intercultural technical communication from large cultures ideologies: Constructing culture discursively. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 42. Pp. 159 181. Bell, M., Ozbilgin, M., Surgevil, O. (2011). Voice, silence, and diversity in 21st Century organizations: Strategiesfor inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees. Human Resource Management, 50(1). Pp. 131 146. Bell, M.P. (2012). Diversity in organizations. 2nd Edition. Mason, OH: South-Western College. Carr-Ruffino, N. (2009). Managing diversity: People skills for a multicultural workplace. 8th Edition. Boston: Pearson. Hannum, K.M., McFeeters, B.B., Booysen, L. (2010). Leading across differences: Cases and perspectives. San Francisco: Pfeiffer. Mor Barak, M.E. (2011). Managing diversity: Toward a globally inclusive workplace. 2nd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Ozbilgin, M., Tatli, A. (2008). Global diversity management: An evidence-based approach. London: Palgrave. Pugh, S.D., Dietz, J., Wiley, J.W. (2008). Looking inside and out: The impact of employee and community demographic composition on organizational diversity climate. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(6). Pp. 1422 1428. Ritchie, C. (2008). GLBT programming at the Dallas Public Library: Lessons learned. Public Libraries, 47(2). Pp. 50 54. Winston, M. (2010). Managing diversity. Library Leadership Management, 24(3). Pp. 58 63.

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

The Parable of the Sadhu free essay sample

Bowen H. McCoy’s friend Stephen is quoted as saying, â€Å"I feel that what happened with the sadhu is a good example of the breakdown between the individual and corporate ethic. † Explain what you think Stephen meant by this statement. What is the nature of that breakdown between the individual and corporate ethic as you see it? In the article, Stephen goes on that â€Å"No one person was willing to assume ultimate responsibility for the sadhu. Each was willing to do his bit just so long as it was not too inconvenient. When it got to be a bother, everyone just passed the buck to someone else and took off. † Ask the students if they have ever seen such a situation in their lives? Have the students ever observed student-teams told by the professor for the last team out of the classroom to clean up, turn off lights and lock the door? Yet, when the last team walks out of the classroom, often the instructions are forgotten. We will write a custom essay sample on The Parable of the Sadhu or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Each team may blame other teams for not doing their part. Is it true that individuals tend to lose their responsibility in groups? Is it easier to hide in a group and spread the blame? 2. In reflecting on his discussion with Stephen about the sadhu McCoy says, â€Å"The instant decisions that executives make under pressure reveal the most about personal and corporate character. † Do you think on-the-spot decisions better reflect the character of the decision maker and organization rather than those that might be more thoroughly thought through? Why or why not? On-the-spot decisions reflect our habits and pattern of making decisions. This is why the Greeks argued that virtues must be practiced every day to become a habit. More thoroughly thought through decisions may not be any better than the on-the-spot ones, but may be analyzed to consider the alternatives and consequences. The ultimate decisions of either thought process reflect the character of the decision maker and organization. 3. McCoy equates the parameters of the decision-making process about the sadhu with that in business. He believes there is an interesting parallel to business situations. Explain what you think McCoy meant by this statement. Do you agree with him? McCoy points out that decision making in business is similar to what happened on the mountain: Decisions had to be made based upon what was seen and with outside influences on the processes. It is possible that the big picture may not be seen or considered; the depth or consequences may not be immediately recognized; the situation and policies may be misunderstood; the decision maker may not know of or utilize available resources. Businesspeople must be aware of the risks but cannot run away from all risks in making decisions. Often the true dimensions of the situation will not be comprehended by the manager or all members of the business team. Have the students consider the pros and cons of the parallel. 4. McCoy concludes that the lesson of the sadhu is that â€Å"in a complex corporate situation, the individual requires and deserves the support of the group. When people cannot find such support in their organizations, they don’t know how to act. † What support in organizations do you think McCoy is referring to? If such support is not found, what should individuals do when they have an ethical dilemma such as that in the sadhu case? If the organization does not provide the support to evaluate and resolve an ethical dilemma, then the individual must rely on his own values and decision making models. Below is McCoy’s reflection on the sadhu 15 years later. He notes that Stephen was reacting to the situation from his Christian ethic of compassion while he (McCoy) had a utilitarian response. Neither are the only right responses. Many students will want or state one right response, only. 5. What is the moral of the story of the sadhu from your perspective? McCoy summarized the moral as â€Å"When do we take a stand? † When Do We Take a Stand? By Bowen McCoy I wrote about my experiences purposely to present an ambiguous situation. I never found out if the sadhu lived or died. I can attest, though, that the sadhu lives on in his story. He lives in ethics classes I teach each year at business schools and churches. He lives in the classrooms of numerous business schools, where professors have taught the case to tens of thousands of students. He lives in several casebooks on ethics and on an educational video. And he lives in organizations such as the American Red Cross and ATT, which use his story in their ethics training. As I reflect on the sadhu now, 15 years after the fact, I first have to wonder, What actually happened on that Himalayan slope? When I first wrote about the event, I reported the experience in as much detail as I could remember, but I shaped it to the needs of a good classroom discussion. After years of reading my story, viewing it on video, and hearing others discuss it, I’m not sure I myself know what actually occurred on the mountainside that day! I’ve also heard a wide variety of responses to the story. The sadhu, for example, may not have wanted our help at all – he may have been intentionally bringing on his own death as a way to holiness. Why had he taken the dangerous way over the pass instead of the caravan route through the gorge? Hindu businesspeople have told me that in trying to assist the sadhu, we were being typically arrogant Westerners imposing our cultural values on the world. I’ve learned that each year along the pass, a few Nepali porters are left to freeze to death outside the tents of the unthinking tourists who hired them. A few years ago, a French group even left one of their own, a young French woman, to die there. The difficult pass seems to demonstrate a perverse version of Gresham’s law of currency: The bad practices of previous travelers have driven out the values that new travelers might have followed if they were at home. Perhaps that helps to explain why it was so difficult for Stephen or anyone else to establish a different approach on the spot. Our Sherpa sirdar, Pasang, was focused on his responsibility for bringing us up the mountain safe and sound. (His livelihood and status in the Sherpa ethnic group depended on our safe return. ) We were weak, our party was split, the porters were well on their way to the top with all our gear and food, and a storm would have separated us irrevocably from our logistical base. The fact was, we had no plan for dealing with the contingency of the sadhu. There was nothing we could do to unite our multicultural group in the little time we had. An ethical dilemma had come upon us unexpectedly, an element of dram that may explain why the sadhu’s story has continued to attract students. I am often asked for help in teaching the story. I usually advise keeping the details as ambiguous as possible. A true ethical dilemma requires a decision between two hard choices. In the case of the sadhu, we had to decide how much to sacrifice ourselves to take care of a stranger. And given the constraints of our trek, we had to make a group decision, not an individual one. If a large majority of students in a class ends up thinking I’m a bad person because of my decision on the mountain, the instructor may not have given the case its due. The same is true if the majority sees no problem with the choices we made. Any class’s response depends on its setting, whether it’s a business school, a church, or a corporation. I’ve found that younger students are more likely to see the issue as black-and-white, whereas older ones tend to see shade of gray. Some have seen a conflict between the different ethical approaches that we followed at the time. Stephen felt he had to do everything he could to save the sadhu’s life, in accordance with his Christian ethic of compassion. I had a utilitarian response: do the greatest good for the greatest number. Give a burst of aid to minimize the sadhu’s exposure, then continue on our way. The bsic question of the case remains, When do we take a stand? When do we allow a â€Å"sadhu† to intrude into our daily lives? Few of us can afford the time or effort to take care of every needy person we encounter. How much must we give of ourselves? And how do we prepare our organizations and institutions so they will respond appropriately in a crisis? How do we influence them if we do not agree with their points of view? We cannot quit our jobs over every ethical dilemma, but if we continually ignore our sense of values, who do we become? As a journalist asked at a recent conference on ethics, â€Å"Which ditch are we willing to die in? † For each of us, the answer is a bit different. How we act in response to that question defines better than anything else who we are, just as, in a collective sense, our acts define our institutions. In effect, the sadhu is always there, ready to remind us of the tensions between our own goals and the claims of strangers. References: McCracken, Janet, William Martin, and Bill Shaw. Virtue Ethics and the Parable of the Sadhu. Journal of Business Ethics 17.1 (1998): 25-38. Goodpaster, Kenneth E. Work, spirituality, and the moral point of view. International Journal of Value-Based Management 7.1 (1994): 49-62. Beyer, Janice M., and David Nino. Ethics and cultures in international business. Journal of Management Inquiry 8.3 (1999): 287-297. Amine, Lyn S. The need for moral champions in global marketing. European Journal of Marketing 30.5 (1996): 81-94. Smith, N. Craig, and John A. Quelch. Pharmaceutical marketing practices in the Third World. Journal of Business Research 23.1 (1991): 113-126.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Second Chance free essay sample

â€Å"I regret to inform you that you were not chosen as one of the 18 students to go on to the Emerging Youth Leadership trip,† said Brady Rhodes. I could feel my heart plummet into my stomach. My mouth went dry and I completely froze, not knowing what to say or think. â€Å"However, you are our first male alternate if anyone drops out.† I sensed the faux reassurance in his voice. Who in their right mind would pass up a free, month-long trip to Central Europe? I did not want to be the alternate, I wanted to go. I put all of my abilities and efforts into getting accepted. The countless hours I’d spent practicing what to say in my interview were wasted. My mind was flooded with questions. â€Å"What did I do wrong? Why wasn’t I chosen? Who was better than me?† I have always strived to be the best. We will write a custom essay sample on Second Chance or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page If I am not, I find out why and change it. Only this time I did not have a second chance. I’ve only gotten two B’s in my high school career. They were white hot daggers of failure to me. I felt the same way with this. The only thing I could do was learn from it and move on. That is exactly what I did. A trip to five European countries would have been a blast, but I wasn’t going. My summer was open and thousands of possibilities awaited me. Maybe I could get a job; people hire desperate 16-year-olds. Basketball season was over, but my school had an off-season team during the spring. We were playing to gain chemistry and flow with each other. We also were a very small team. As just under 6 feet, I was our biggest guy. We needed all of the practice we could get. This is why our coach signed us up for a basketball camp at Mesa State. Mesa state was more than just a camp; it was a week of nothing but basketball and hanging out with your friends on the team. Our team needed this more than anything. I was very excited to go with our team. The weeks passed by and summer was coming fast. One day, with a week left in school, I got a voicemail to call Brady Rhodes. I didn’t want to think about someone not going on the trip and jinx my chances. I called, using every neuron in my body to contain the anxious rumble in my stomach. â€Å"This will either be a great opportunity for you or a bitter disappointment,† he said. â€Å"One of our students must drop out of the trip. Are you still up for going to Europe Ari?† Hundreds of feelings flowed through me at once. Then came a sinking feeling, the Mesa State basketball camp was during the same time. â€Å"Can I get some time to think?† I had a great battle of choices going on in my head. That night I debated and debated. A thought came into my head. â€Å"This is Europe we are talking about! I can’t let this experience slip away.† I decided to go! In less than a month I would be in Central Europe on a leadership exploration. I have the rest of the year to practice with my team. I would add Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Austria to the list of countries I have been; the United States was the only one so far. On my trip I experienced many things and expanded my being. I became a strong leader through activities such as; a community project for the Roma people, city challenges and navigating in a different country not knowing the language, leading a group on a hike in a new environment, and becoming a family with 17 complete strangers. Going on this trip was the best experience of my life and the best choice I could have made. Ever since my trip, I have been thinking in whole new ways and I am always expanding my horizons. I am now a more productive and prominent leader in anything I do. Whether I am leading my basketball team or a small group of classmates in a project, I lead them to success. I also learned; when given an opportunity to do something great, take it. I would have regretted not going to Europe. I don’t want to live my life with regrets of not going someplace, or not doing something awesome.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Paralympic Games and Sledge Hockey Essay

Paralympic Games and Sledge Hockey Essay Paralympic Games and Sledge Hockey Essay Igneous rocks which form by the crystallization of magma at a depth within the Earth are called intrusive rocks. Intrusive rocks are characterized by large crystal sizes, their visual appearance shows individual crystals interlocked together to form the rock mass. The cooling of magma deep in the Earth is typically much slower than the cooling process at the surface, so larger crystals can grow. Rocks with visible crystals of roughly the same size are said to have a phaneritic texture. Ice Sledge Hockey Sledge hockey (known as sled hockey in the United States) is a sport that was designed to allow participants who have a physical disability to play the game of ice hockey. Ice sledge hockey was invented in the early 1960s in Stockholm, Sweden at a rehabilitation centre. It is currently one of the most popular sports in the Paralympic Games. There is no classification points system dictating who can be involved in play within Inline Sledge Hockey unlike other team sports such as Wheelchair Basketball and Wheelchair Rugby. Inline Sledge Hockey is being developed to allow everyone, regardless of whether they have a disability or not, to compete up to the World Championship level based solely on talent and ability. This makes Inline Sledge Hockey truly inclusive. Equipment is exactly the same as for inline hockey with the exception of the sledge and an additional stick. Essentially all of the regular ice hockey rules in able-bodied ice hockey leagues apply to ice

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Ethics and Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Ethics and Governance - Essay Example According to Kant, it is morally wrong to lie. He argued, in general, business lies and it makes it difficult to obtain a balance credit if everyone lies. Kant also argued that ethics is irrelevant in the business because most business lies and behave immorally (ibid). In order to be ethical business, one must believe that shareholders and customer have dignity. They are valuable human beings and worth more than the stock or the price of the goods (ibid). Kant’s recipe for business management is (1) to treat people respectfully and consider they have dignity. Commercial transaction is not prohibited but one has to treat the others as an end not merely as a means. Acting deceptive in commercial transaction indicates dishonesty and lack of ethics, even without rational and moral capacities. This requires businesses not to coerce or deceive their shareholders or customers. Asymmetric information is common in business. Too often, managers or individuals with more information tend to consider themselves powerful and yet, are abusive to others. Kant suggested that (2) to reduce power abuse in business management, it is necessary there is open book management or transparency relationship between employers and employees. Said Bowie, when employees have full information, they have the incentive to behave responsibly. Case (1995) agreed with Kant concerning open book management. He said, open book management gives the opportunity to employees to take â€Å"a chance and act to take responsibility, rather than just doing their job†¦ gets people on the job doing things right†¦ teaches them to make smart decisions†¦ because they can see the impact of their decisions on the relevant numbers† (p. 45-46). The practice of open management would correct asymmetrical information the managers have (Bowie, 1999). Since managers have more information, they tend to abuse

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Popular Culture Today Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Popular Culture Today - Essay Example No country seems to be free from the rapid growth of popular culture. The only difference is that in advanced countries the growth of popular culture may takes place much rapidly than in underdeveloped countries. For example, soft drinks were signs of lavish life styles earlier and it was available in western countries only. However, it is available in all parts of the world at present. In other words, cultural changes or life style changes are taking place in all the corners of the world. Even the tribal people or the people living in rural areas are changing their life styles periodically. Even in some of the most patriarchal societies like Saudi Arabia, one can visualize pop culture changes. America is a country which is striving for changes. Many people are of the view that cultural changes or the development of new popular culture normally originates from America. Since America is a liberal society, it can accommodate any changes. Religion has not much role in politics or social life of the people and therefore America can welcome or accommodate any changes in pop culture easily. This paper analyses the trends in changing popular culture in America. Students may not be typical of the population as a whole, though jeans are widely popular among nonstudents of same age group, and only slightly less widespread among older age groups. So thinking about jeans is a good way to begin a discussion on popular culture (Fiske, p.1). Clothing is one area in which one can witness huge changes as part of the pop culture changes. Earlier, Americans used pants stitched in different ways. Tight pants, loos pants and bell bottom pants were the symbols of fashion at some periods of time in the past. However, the present era is the era of jeans, especially blue jeans. Majority of the celebrities, not only in America, but all over the world are fans of blue jeans at present. Even though jeans provide a rough look, even the soft hearted females are currently fans of jeans. One of the unique characteristics of jeans is the fact that it attracts all people irrespective of their religion, race, culture, gender, socioeconomic status, age etc. Apart from jeans, T shirts also attract Americans very much. Half pants is another major way through which Americans express their fashion concepts. Only on formal occasions, Americans use formal dressings like pants and coats. On all other occasions they like to wear jeans, T shirts, half pants etc. The gap between two different fashion trends has been reduced completely over the past few years. â€Å"Apparel designers used to have an eighteen-month lead time between concept and sale. Now they're reducing that to a year, or even six months, in order to react faster to new ideas from the street† (Who decides what's cool? Certain kids in certain places-- and only the cool hunters know who they are). Current generation is always looking for new ideas and concepts. The better living standards and advancements in scie nce and technology helped them in doing so. For example, the advancements in computer technologies or digital electronics brought huge changes in America and other parts of the word. The size of the computer has come down gradually and as a result of that, laptops, palmtops and gadgets entered the market. Now a mobile phone like Samsung Galaxy S2 or iPhone can perform the activities of a computer without many problems. It is difficult to see an American without a

Sunday, November 17, 2019

The actual economic bailout of Wall Street and the individual Essay

The actual economic bailout of Wall Street and the individual homeowner bailout by Jeffrey Fu - Essay Example The federal regulation kept the interest on the loans low, which gave room for Fannie Mae. Its counterpart, Freddie Mac, bought billions of dollars and then fed the market to feed them, of which they were risky mortgages bought. The subprime mortgages initially aimed at borrowers who had low or poor credit cases or histories. A great number of people invested and went into a great deal of debt, since the house prices were high till when they started dropping, which brought about the huge losses (NRCC 1). This paper is a comparison and contrast of the actual economic bailout plan of Wall Street and the individual home owner bailout plan. Mortgage meltdown is a common term used to mean subprime mortgage crisis due to the credit crisis in 2008 (Bianco & Pachkowski 1). There were two proposed bailout plans. First was the Economic Bailout Plan of Wall Street announced by Henry Paulson, that holds reverse auctions (Miron 5). A newer expanded version of the bill passed included the buying o f equity positions in the banks, reducing the interest rates and expansion of the deposition insurance. The other plan is Individual Homeowner’s Bailout Plan that has two versions where in one version, the government helps by giving a loan paid as soon as one is financially stable, and the other comes in form of a government grant. In both cases, they don’t involve the principal reduction on the value of the house, and payment is done directly to the mortgage provider. The government share is the same as the percentage reduction in the income of the home owner and it ceases when the financial state is restored. The economic bailout plan has the reverse auctions whereby they buy the assets troubled or in debt of the home financial institutions. Also, the use of taxpayer money to buy equity positions in the country’s biggest banks. All these are aimed to try to stabilize the financial markets and avoid the eventual bank failures and credit freeze that comes with i t (Miron 7). This approach is aimed at taking the taxpayers money to the investors and insured depositors. The home owners on the other hand will keep on plunging into deeper debts. The individual home owner’s bailout plan uses the taxpayer’s money just as the economic bailout plan, but in this case, the government uses the money to try to keep the house with the home owner in either giving a loan or as grant. In case of failure to pay up, the house is put up for foreclosure (Foote, Fuhrer, Mauskopf & Willen 2). At the end of 2005, the housing industry became expensive and this in turn would trickle down to the banks, hence the need to make a plan to avoid the collapse of the major banks came to play. The economic plan stated the buying of equity positions in the major or bigger banks using the taxpayer’s money. The plan allowed for the buying of equity positions to Freddie and Fannie in case of a collapse or destruction, using the taxpayer’s money. This will create a separate entity that is a regulator to Freddie and Fannie, and Federal Home Loan Bank system (NRCC 2). This in turn raises the debt pool. These government institutions enjoy a great deal of bailout money, but there is also the fact that cannot stop the decline of these institutions, and still need an increase in the bailout money (Weiss & Larson 1). The individual bailout plan focuses on the home owner and uses a different approach to get the same results. This approach is designed to help the home owner raise money for the mortgage, and the fact that it is directly paid to the mortgage providers, makes it easier to meet this

Friday, November 15, 2019

Coping With School Failure and School Achievement

Coping With School Failure and School Achievement DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS OF SCHOOL FAILURE Tony JREIGE Abstract (100 to 150 words) he present study examined the relationship between goal orientation, coping with school failure and school achievement. Two questionnaires, Goal Orientation (Niemivirta, 1996a) and The School Failure Coping Scale (Rijavec Brdar, 1997), were administered to 1057 high school students (aged from 15 to 17 years). The first goal of this study was to explore whether students can be classified in groups according to their goal orientation. The results identified four clusters of students with different achievement profiles: learning oriented, work-avoidance oriented, both performance and learning oriented and both performance and work-avoidance oriented group. Learning oriented group used emotion-focused coping the least frequently while students with combined performance and work avoidanc orientation used this kind of coping the most frequently. The second goal was to test the relationship between goal orientation patterns and the adoption of emotion-focused and problem-focused coping strategies, and academic achievement. It was hypothesized that goal orientation could predict school achievement directly and indirectly through coping strategies. Coping strategies were considered as mediators between goal orientation and school achievement. Path analysis demonstrated that direct effects of goal orientation on school achievement were not significant. The relationship between goal orientation and school achievement was mediated by coping strategies. Key Words: School failure, Depression, Anxiety, Coping. The problem of school failure is of great importance, as it affects students’ lives and future. In some cases, it leads to marginalization, rejection, alienation and exclusion; hence, the risk of a variety of other problems such as psychological and behavioral may emerge. Patterson and his colleagues (1989) point to an anti-social behavior as a consequence of such marginalization. We say that students who are marginalized and cannot easily adjust tend to drop out school. Although the importance of this topic, unfortunately, literature on the phenomenon of school failure of normally intelligent children and adolescents is still poor. There is a shortage of research that might offer an understanding of school failure in terms of psychological disorders. As a response to this fact, the main objective of this study is to look deep for emotional and psychological disorders accused to be guilty of this failure and, consequently, remove the stigma of being failure and irresponsible from students who lie behind their classmates. The main question we ask is: Do children and adolescents, who fail at school, really suffer from any psychological disorder, particularly depressive and anxiety disorders? And yet, another question emerges: Are females more susceptible to these disorders than males? As potential answers the above formulated questions, the following hypotheses were set up for the study: Children and adolescents who fail at school suffer from depressive disorders Children and adolescents who fail at school show evidence of anxiety disorders There is a gender significant difference in depressive disorders There is a gender significant difference in anxiety disorders LITERATURE REVIEW School failure The term â€Å"school failure† is difficult to define clearly; for some, it would include any kind of failure, repetition or delay in finishing school which usually leads the student to disqualification, and even to being stigmatized, especially because of the segregation between high and low achievers (Bourdieu,1994). On the other hand, researchers advanced several approaches to elucidate school failure, among these approaches we mention: Intelligence based on IQ scores. Supporters of this theory blame low IQs for school failure. Socio-economic status with children’s academic achievement: Supporters of this theory blame the poverty for school failure (Herbert, 1996; Turkheimer et al., 2003; Thomson Harris, 2004; Berliner, 2006, 2009). Interaction theory: Keddie (1973) and many others reproach the teacher for school failure. For them, teachers have a pre-defined opinion of how a student should talk and react and accordingly students are evaluated. Although all the above mentioned approaches, school failure may occur among students of high socio-economic status, beloved by their teachers, and have the ability and intelligence to succeed. Thus, these children get is a stigma of being a failure, a worthless, stupid and irresponsible person, while hidden emotional psychologicaldisorders are often the roots of their inability to meet the school’s standards. For us, several factors may lead to school failure, among these factors we mention depression and anxiety and the incapacity of using appropriate coping strategies. Depression Depression in children and adolescents is often a recurrent and very serious public health problem, it can occur with comorbid behavioral problems, suicidal risk, and psychiatric disorders, touching their whole life by impairing their social, emotional and physical health as well as their learning. Depression in children and adolescents may be expressed differently from that in adults, with manifest behavioral disorders (e.g. irritability, verbal aggression and misconduct), substance abuse and/or comorbid psychiatric disorders. In children aged between 6 and 12 years, the most common signs are classified into are school difficulties, somatic disorders (e.g. Recurrent abdominal pain, headaches), fatigue, apathy, eating disorders, lack of motivation, loss of concentration, irritability, restlessness which often lead professionals to misdiagnose the child with ADHD instead of depression (Melnyk et al.,2003). As for adolescents, the most common signs and symptoms are mood swings, social isolation, hypersomnia, feeling of hopelessness, suicidal thoughts, eating disorders and drug or alcohol abuse (Richardson et al., 1996). Risk factors for suicide in young people are: previous suicide attempts; a close family member who has committed suicide; past psychiatric hospitalization; recent loss of a significant figure (through death, divorce or separation); social isolation; drug or alcohol abuse; exposure to violence in the home or the social environment; and handguns in the home. Early warnings for suicide are talking about it, preoccupation with death and dying, giving away special possessions, and making arrangements to take care of unfinished business. Williams (2009), offers a description to identifying depressed adolescents, such as: Somatic symptoms with features of anxiety. Sometimes poor functioning at school, socially, or at home. Bad behavior, particularly in boys. Rapid mood swings often occur. The fact that children are able to enjoy some aspects of their life shouldnt preclude the diagnosis of depression. Anxiety Anxiety is a normal part of living, it’s a biological reaction. Anxiety keeps us away from harm and prepares us to act quickly when facing a danger; it is a normal reaction to a stressful situation, thus it can help us cope with it. Yet we may find it sometimes in the core of the development of psychological disorders especially when anxiety becomes an excessive irrational worry of everyday situations, and a disabling condition severe enough to interfere with a persons ability to focus and concentrate where it becomes a disorder. Helfinstein (2009) believes that â€Å"anxiety refers to the brain response to danger, stimuli that an organism will actively attempt to avoid. This brain response is a basic emotion already present in infancy and childhood, with expressions falling on a continuum from mild to severe. Anxiety is not typically pathological as it is adaptive in many scenarios when it facilitates avoidance of danger. Strong cross-species parallels—both in organisms’ responses to danger and in the underlying brain circuitry engaged by threats—likely reflect these adaptive aspects of anxiety†. Half a century ago, Grinker (1959, p.56) believed that normal anxiety could be objective and real when we face natural situations that generate anxiety, e.g. child before his exams, parents in front of their child’s illness. Almost a century ago, in his â€Å"A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis† (1920), Freud believed that anxiety was used â€Å"in connection with a condition regardless of any objective†, it’s â€Å"a subjective condition, caused by the perception that an â€Å"evolution of fear† has been consummated†. †¦ Nowadays, for the American Psychologists Association (2013) describe Social Anxiety Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder among the anxiety disorders include where METHOD Sample The sample of this study comprised of 187 children and young adolescents (Males = 122 and Females = 65) aged between 10 and 15 years suffering of school failure and enrolled in the fourth to the eighth grades, randomly drawn from 10 schools located in Mount Lebanon Caza (5 governmental and 5 private). Tools Anxiety The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) developed by Speilberger in 1970 was used. It consists of two 20-item scales that measure state and trait anxiety in children between the ages of 8 and 14. The A-State scale examines the shorter-term state anxiety that is commonly specific to situations. It prompts respondents to indicate how they feel ‘right now’ (e.g. calm, upset) on a 3-point scale ranging from 1 to 3. Summing responses creates a total score that can range from 20 to 60. The A-Trait scale measures longer-term trait anxiety, which addresses how the child generally feels. It asks respondents to choose the best word that describes them in general (e.g. rarely, sometimes, and often) on a 3-point scale ranging from 1 to 3. Summing responses creates a total score that can range from 20 to 60. A separate score is produced for the State scale and the Trait scale to determine which type of anxiety is dominant and which type of treatment is the most appropriate. In 2001, we standardized this scale for the Lebanese children aged between 8 and 17; the cut points for normal children were: A-State scale: 33.36 The A-Trait scale: 37.26 The PROMIS Anxiety scale (AS) is the 13-item Short Form that assesses the pure domain of anxiety in children and adolescents. The PROMIS Anxiety scale was developed for and can be used with children ages 8–17. Each item asks the child receiving care to rate the severity of his or her anxiety during the past 7 days, and is rated on a 5-point scale (1=never; 2=almost never; 3=sometimes; 4=often; and 5=almost always) with a range in score from 13 to 65 with higher scores indicating greater severity of anxiety. The raw scores on the 13 items should be summed to obtain a total raw score. Next, the T-score table should be used to identify the T-score associated with the child’s total raw score and the information entered in the T-score row on the measure. The T-scores are interpreted as follows: Less than 55 = None to slight; 55.0—59.9 = Mild; 60.0—69.9 = Moderate; 70 and over = Severe Depression The Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI), first published by Maria Kovacs in 1992, assesses the severity of symptoms related to depressionand/ordysthymicdisorder. The CDI is a 27-item self-rated and symptom-oriented scale suitable for childrenandadolescents aged between 7 and 17. It asks respondents to choose the best sentences that describe their state during the last two weeks,on a 3-point scale ranging from zero to 2. Summing responses creates a total score that can range from zero to 54. The cut-point of 19 is able to differentiate between normal and depressive children (Doerfler, 1998; Ø ¬ÃƒËœÃ‚ ±Ãƒâ„¢Ã…  ÃƒËœÃ‚ ¬, 2001) The PROMIS Depression scale (DS) is the 14-item Short Form that assesses the pure domain of depression in children and adolescents. The PROMIS Depression scale was developed for and can be used with children ages 8–17; however, it was tested only in children ages 11–17 in the DSM-5 Field Trials. Each item asks the child receiving care to rate the severity of his or her depression during the past 7 days, and is rated on a 5-point scale (1=never; 2=almost never; 3=sometimes; 4=often; and 5=almost always) with a range in score from 11 to 55 with higher scores indicating greater severity of depression. The raw scores on the 11 items should be summed to obtain a total raw score. Next, the T-score table should be used to identify the T-score associated with the total raw score and the information entered in the T-score row on the measure. The T-scores are interpreted as follows: Less than 55 = None to slight; 55.0—59.9 = Mild; 60.0—69.9 = Moderate; 70 and over = Severe RESULTS SPSS for Windows (Version 17) was used for all analyses. The One-Sample T-Test was used to compare our sample’s levels of anxiety and depression with the means of normal children and adolescents of their ages. The Independent-Samples T-Test was used to understand whether anxiety and depression differed based on gender. Overall, Table 1 illustrates a general view Means and standard deviations of our of the study’s participants for STAIC, Anxiety Scale, CDI and Depression Scale where we can notice high means in comparison with their cut-points. These findings are proved by the T-test (Table 2) where the One-Sample T-Test was run to determine whether our psychological variables scores in our participants were different to normal. Defined as a Astate cut-point of 33.36, mean score (38.11 ± 3.06) (see Table 1) was higher than the normal cut-point; a statistically significant difference of 4.75 (99% CI, 4.16 to 5.33),t(186) = 21.21, p= .000. As for the Atrait, mean score (42.08 ± 3.82) was higher than the normal cut-point (37.26); a statistically significant difference of 4.82 (99% CI, 4.09 to 5.55),t(186) = 17.24, p= .000. The Anxiety Scale where the cut-point is 55, mean score (60.23 ± 2.46) was higher; a statistically significant difference of 5.23 (99% CI, 4.76 to 5.70),t(186) = 28.99, p= .000. These result are also noticed in depression scales as the CDI cut-point is 33.36, while mean score (20.02 ± 2.23) was higher; a statistically significant difference of 1.02 (99% CI,0.59 to 1.44),t(186) = 6.24, p= .000. Nevertheless, results on the Depression Scale revealed a mean score (58.79 ± 2.27) higher than the normal cut-point (55); a statistically significant difference of 3.79 (99% CI, 3.36 to 4.22),t(186) = 22.82, p= .000. Table 1. Means and standard deviations for the participants on psychological variables Table 2. T-test for the participants on psychological variables On the other hand, this study found no statistically significant difference on the Astate Checklist between males (37.95  ± 2.98) and females (38.40  ± 3.22) (Table 3),t(185) = -0.956,p= 0.341 > 0.05 (Table 4). Nevertheless, male participants had statistically significantly lower mean (41.61  ± 4.10) than females’ (42.95  ± 3.07),t(185) = -2.308,p= 0.022 On the Anxiety Scale, both males (59.78  ± 2.73) and females (61.06  ± 1.58) differ significantly in their perception of anxiety, t(185) = -3.481,p= 0.001 The main effect was also significant for the CDI, male participants had statistically significantly lower mean (19.71  ± 2.25) than females’ (20.58  ± 2.09),t(185) = -2.586,p= 0.01. This result was also observed for the Depression Scale where males mean score was (58.43  ± 2.42) and females’ was (59.46  ± 1.79) , t(185) = -3.027,p= 0.003 Table 3. Gender differences on psychological variables Table 4. Independant Sample T Test by gender on psychological variables DISCUSSION CONCLUSION The study calls for a fundamental change of attitudes in educational development and policy making and a redefinition of school failure as a consequence not so much of the child’s unwillingness to study, but of his inability to perform well. As a school dropout explained his decision to drop out:

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Essay --

Some people should keep away from all material things as they distort a person’s wellbeing. As a transcendentalist, I strongly believe that people should not be influenced by material things. These are some of the reasons which create a rotten culture in the society. A good example is a case where someone desires to have a certain commodity that belongs to their friends, they end up stealing. The love for material things is responsible for the deterioration of good cultural practices in the society. It is important for people to live simple lifestyles without any form of complications or desire for big things. It is necessary to acquire a high self-esteem as well as morals. The three major fields which involve the participation of human beings should be characterized by the good character of the people involved. These include religion, literature and culture. In order to achieve the success of creating a stable personal state, it is necessary to consider intuition. As a transcendentalist, I have a strong value for nature based on the way it is. Nature happens to be so pure unlike the things mankind engages in creating on a daily basis. Some of these unnatural materials are contributing to the worsening of the society. Self-reliance is another very significant personal attribute I support. An independent person does whatever they can in the most possible way. This is not the person who has to wait for favors from others. The personal wellbeing and responsibility, as well as usefulness are enhanced by self-reliance. I desire to live the simplest form of life one can ever imagine thus living a happy life. Young states that simple lifestyles are not faced by numerous stresses of life or any form of complications. The more one aspir... ... the idea of people moving away from cultural and traditional practices. Most of these factors are good at taking people away from Godliness thus ruining the personal wellbeing. Some cultural practices employ the practice of wrongful deeds, which should not be conducted at all. Engaging in cultural practices helps in ruining the relationship between people because there are different customs in the society. Transcendentalism is helpful in the creation of simple lifestyles which do not cause problems in people’s lives. I have a strong belief in this movement because it enables people to live better lives. This is what everybody ought to practice in order to live less stressful lives. The benefits are numerous as one’s wellbeing enables them to develop strong connections with God. As well as themselves. After all, one's character is defined by what they believe.

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Reconstruction After the American Civil War Essay

The civil war is considered by many the most important war that our country has endured. During the 5 year Civil War, not only did 620,000 men die, but our nation was left in ruins. It was necessary that our country be rebuilt from bottom up. Abraham Lincoln, said to be the brightest president of his time, had plans and ideas for reconstruction. Unfortunately, these plans were failed to be put in place due to the fact of his assassination on April 14, 1865. Throughout some of the most politically tough years our nation has experienced (1865-1877) lousy presidents were elected, plans and bills failed and succeeded, and struggles with civil rights were prominent everywhere. The United State’s hopeful plans for reconstructing and reuniting slowly faded until it was all gone The most important part of reconstruction would probably have to be the beginning, or where it all started. Reconstruction of our nation began unofficially in 1863 with Lincoln’s 10% plan. Because Lincoln wanted a reunited nation as easily and quickly as possible, he entailed that only 10% of the confederates in each state would have to swear allegiance in order for the state to be accepted back into the union. Because of the small number of confederates needed to swear allegiance, the radical republicans in congress were angered and proposed the Wade-Davis Bill. The Wade-Davis bill was intended to make congress responsible for reconstruction rather than the president, and also stated that the majority (not 10%) would have to swear allegiance in each state to be re-accepted into the union. For the good of the united states, not for selfish reasons, Lincoln vetoed (or declined) the bill. Because Lincoln was assassinated, the rest of his plans and hopes for reconstruction were n ever put to use, and his vice-president, Andrew Johnson, took the Presidential role. As reconstruction continued on, it brought many major achievements that greatly benefited our country. One of the greatest accomplishments of reconstruction was the Fifteenth Amendment. The Fifteenth Amendment stated that everyone has a right to vote no matter what â€Å"race, color, or previous condition of servitude† was. Because many whites didn’t like this, they wouldn’t cooperate with the amendment and would go as far as using violence to make blacks not vote. Because of this congress used the Enforcement Act of 1870 which entailed that federal governments would be able to punish those that were causing problems for the African Americans. Going along with the fifteenth amendment, reconstruction brought another achievement, a new life and society for former slaves. Supported by the government, former slaves were able to create new lives for themselves. Although it took hard work and dedication, African Americans were able to create schooling systems, churches and volunteer groups and fight against segregation. Former slaves were able to reunite with their families, and blacks were even finally allowed a spot in politics. The final greatest achievement of reconstruction was reuniting our country. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and the other four states all re-entered the union by 1870. By originally initiating reconstruction, this is what Lincoln was shooting for. Although they still had political and economic differences, they were once again a reunited nation. With every great movement and political plan, lasting effects come along with it. During reconstruction many things were accomplished, which means that our nation was faced with many positive and negative effects. Some of the positive effects included new opportunities for the common public and former slaves. For example, the common public was presented with its first public school system, new roads and railroads, as well as orphanages for children and institutions for the mentally ill. One of the negative effects of the war was the physically and economically drained south. After the war, the south was in extremely poor physical condition and most everything had to be either rebuilt or restored. This was going to cost sufficient amounts of money that the south did not have. To get the money, the taxes rose and the wages lowered. Many people were without family members that died in the civil war, and the south’s population had decreased drastically. Another lasting effect that reconstruction left on our nation was a dent on the farms and plantations in the south. Many farms and plantations in the south had been ruined. Poor whites and African Americans were at disagreement with rich whites on what the farm land should be used as. Rich whites wanted to restore the plantation system and poor whites and African Americans wanted to create small farms and subsistence farming. Labor was also down. With many men dying in the war, not as many people were left to work on the farms. When the plantations were reopened, many African Americans and poor whites worked on the plantations in exchange for housing, food, clothing, etc. Many good and bad effects were left on our nation from reconstruction. Although reconstruction was a good recovery point for our nation, it was slowly ended in 1877 for a collection of reasons. One of the largest problems was whites inflicting violence on African Americans to prevent them from exercising their rights. During reconstruction, Americans struggled with anti-black radicals such as the Ku Klux Klan. They destroyed buildings, personal property, harmed the African Americans, and even went as far as killing them. The goal of the Ku Klux Klan was to restore white supremacy. By 1880 terrorist groups had restored white supremacy in the south. Along with terrorist groups, political troubles were also in the nation’s way. General Ulysses S. Grant was elected president in 1872. Because Grant was inexperienced, he brought his friends into high positions and many scandals resulted. Because of all of the scandals, many people became irritated and more conflict arose. Last but not least, the United States was experiencing economic turmoil. The panic of 1873 was one of the main reasons that focus was turned away from reconstruction. A man named Jay Cooke invested a grand amount of money in railroads and not enough investors bought shares, causing Cooke to spiral into debt. Because of this Cooke’s banking firm (largest in the nation) went bankrupt. Many small banks and businesses closed and the stock market closed. Millions lost their jobs. Because of this five year depression, the focus of the country was turned away from reconstruction. Reconstruction lasted a solid 13 years that were filled with many great improvements and countless lasting effects on our country. While enduring many severe losses and challenges brought on by the Civil War, the United States pushed through and reunited. We will always be affected by this era in our country’s history. Throughout many failed presidencies, failed and passed bills and movements, and continuous struggles with civil rights, America became the country it is tod ay. From the achievements to the collapse of reconstruction, I believe it was completely necessary and left many lasting effects, good and bad, on our country.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Vinyl or CD the age old debate essays

Vinyl or CD the age old debate essays At the beginning of the last decade of the Twentieth century a new media for the storage and playback of music came into the picture. The compact disc was a phenomenon of sorts, causing people to completely rebuild record collections that had taken years to build. It was a situation of, out with the old in with the new. There seemed to be no place for the vinyl records that had been so true to so many for so long. Compact discs do have several benefits over the vinyl records of the past, but there is also something about a record on vinyl that sets it apart from its digital counterpart. Convenience is likely the most noticeable benefit that compact discs have over vinyl records. They are easily stored in a binder or on a small shelf. You can load some stereos up with several at a time and have continuous play of music for hours with out having to deal with changing anything. The compact disk also brought the concept of quality sound out of the home and into the cars and walkways of the world, something the cassette never quite managed to do. Essentially for the busy lifestyle that was embodied by the nineties in America the compact disc made sense convenience wise. Before too long the major record companies stopped producing vinyl releases of many of the albums they released in favor of the new cheaper to produce compact discs. Less and less could you buy new releases on vinyl and even more rarely could you buy reissues of older albums. If you wanted to listen to new music or a copy of past favorite you were left with compact disc as the only quality choice. Therefore availability of new music became a strong benefit of compact discs. Another commonly mentioned benefit of compact discs is there durability and easy of care. You can play a compact disc millions of times and it will sound the same each and every time. They are susceptible to scratches and finger prints, but both are easily avoided ...

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Free Essays on The Use Of Plot In The Play Uncle Vanya

The use of plot in Uncle Vanya In every play there is a plot, the plot acts a sort of box that holds all the other elements in it. The plot helps to hold together the characters, the spectacle and the language of the play. There are three main types of plots, climatic, episodic and absurd. In his play Uncle Vanya, Chekhov chooses to combine the climatic and episodic plot types together to tell his story. There are many characteristics of a climactic plot in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. One of the most important is that Unlce Vanya has a late point of attack, meaning that in order to understand the more significant parts of the play the audience needs a little background information early on. In the opening act of Uncle Vanya we learn about Astrov’s connection to the family, that life on the Serebryakov estate has been â€Å"topsy-turvy† ever since the arrival of the professor and his wife and most importantly about Vonitsky’s feelings of contempt and â€Å"envy† toward the professor. Without this information the audience may not have understood many of the conflicts taking place during the play. For example, the background information helps to explain the shaky relationship between the professor and the doctor. We can assume that Astrov was also the doctor to the professor’s late wife, and that the professor may blame the doctor for her death. Voinitsky’s speech in the opening act about the professor’s waste of twenty five years helps the audience realize why he has no love lost for the professor and that is why he tries to kill him later on in the play. A climactic plot is usually also a linear plot. Meaning that each of the scenes in the play only move forward in time. There are no instances in Uncle Vanya where we are taken back to relive first hand any experiences from any of the charaters pasts. The climatic play typically only covers a short amount of time. Although some parts of the character’s pasts are revealed ... Free Essays on The Use Of Plot In The Play Uncle Vanya Free Essays on The Use Of Plot In The Play Uncle Vanya The use of plot in Uncle Vanya In every play there is a plot, the plot acts a sort of box that holds all the other elements in it. The plot helps to hold together the characters, the spectacle and the language of the play. There are three main types of plots, climatic, episodic and absurd. In his play Uncle Vanya, Chekhov chooses to combine the climatic and episodic plot types together to tell his story. There are many characteristics of a climactic plot in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. One of the most important is that Unlce Vanya has a late point of attack, meaning that in order to understand the more significant parts of the play the audience needs a little background information early on. In the opening act of Uncle Vanya we learn about Astrov’s connection to the family, that life on the Serebryakov estate has been â€Å"topsy-turvy† ever since the arrival of the professor and his wife and most importantly about Vonitsky’s feelings of contempt and â€Å"envy† toward the professor. Without this information the audience may not have understood many of the conflicts taking place during the play. For example, the background information helps to explain the shaky relationship between the professor and the doctor. We can assume that Astrov was also the doctor to the professor’s late wife, and that the professor may blame the doctor for her death. Voinitsky’s speech in the opening act about the professor’s waste of twenty five years helps the audience realize why he has no love lost for the professor and that is why he tries to kill him later on in the play. A climactic plot is usually also a linear plot. Meaning that each of the scenes in the play only move forward in time. There are no instances in Uncle Vanya where we are taken back to relive first hand any experiences from any of the charaters pasts. The climatic play typically only covers a short amount of time. Although some parts of the character’s pasts are revealed ...

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Organizational Change Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organizational Change Paper - Essay Example This vision must encompass a vision for future - a vision which can virtually transforms people to be more enthusiastic. Further, to achieve transformation of an organization, it is critical that the same vision must be successfully sold to all stakeholders i.e. to employees as well as shareholders and consumers who must accept how their future is going to look like if that vision is going to be followed. It is also critical that the transformational change must find its way i.e. strategies must be developed to realize that vision and change besides ensuring that leadership must take charge of the transformation taking place within the organization. Apple Computers or Apple is one such company which completely transformed itself during last 10 years by adopting innovative and transformation business practices. This paper will analyze how the transformational changes impacted its workforce and external stakeholders besides analyzing how those changes took place within the context of transformation. Apple has a very troubled history as it failed to achieve market share despite being one of the early pioneers in computer hardware and software manufacturing. With the removal of Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computers, company further plunged into crisis and were virtually on the brink of collapse when return of Steve Jobs resurrected the company and transformed it into one of the best consumer brands in the world. Apple's transformation is the result of visionary leadership and a marked change in the way company was operating. It transformed itself from a mere computer manufacturing firm to a firm which is now more of a consumer electronics goods manufacturer. This transformation was the result of drastic changes into cost cutting and control, rationalization of existing product lines, improving upon the distribution system of the company as well as introducing new products. (Hays, 2007). However, above all there was complete transformation into two of the following key areas: Employee Skills & Stakeholders One of the earliest impacts of such transformation at Apple was the fact that employees of the organizations were taken on-board regarding the change i.e. they were involved in the whole process of bringing that change. One of the actions which Apple took while starting transformation was the fact that they radically changed the designs of its products to make them more sleek and attractive. This was done basically to create luxurious products for masses however, what is most important is the fact that employees were part of that whole process of design especially engineers at the firm were involved heavily in the process. Therefore, the skills required by management and employees to accommodate change were to be part of that process. Steve Jobs achieved the same by involving employees into this supposed transformation. Further, as a leader and manger, Steve Jobs communicated that change internally as well as externally i.e. to external stakeholders such as shareholders and consumers where as employees as internal stakeholders. Further, it is also critical to understand that as a transformational process was under its way, Apple also implemented programs to continuously grow and learn in order to anticipate market changes more easily. Support Systems In order to accommodate ch

Friday, November 1, 2019

Economics thoughts and history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Economics thoughts and history - Essay Example and real median family income seem to go in different directions, productivity soaring up, with a cumulative change rate of over 300%, while the real median family income going down from 150-100% (Economic Policy Institute, 2012). This situation can be explained using a neo classical framework. The high levels of productivity in relation to lower real income values for median families can have tremendous effects both in the long and short run. In the short run, the middle class, which consists of the majority of citizens, will not have enough income to cater for savings. They will be less motivated to work since they do not feel the impact of their efforts at a national level. In the long run, the demonization of these people would mean productivity is affected. Using the labor theory, the situation captured by the graph has a lot of implications on labor from the middle class in America. In as much as the middle class contributes their labor to the national growth of the economy, they do not reap the benefits. More people will be less motivated to work, making labor a rare factor of production. The cost of labor is bound to increase in the long run. From a Keynesian perspective, the government needs to provide motivation to the middle class by ensuring they also benefit from the increase I productivity. The government can do this by investing in infrastructure and other fixed capital expenditure as well as changing tax laws to reduce the pain felt by middle class families. This will lead to increased productivity and real median family income in the long run. Using the institutional methodology, the situation portrayed in the graph can be remedied by changing institutions that serve the middle class. The cost of services and goods ought to be reduced so as to increase the amount of disposable income among the middle class. The theory of marginal productivity of distribution has various economical assumptions, most of which have highly been criticized. One of

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

University of Chichester Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6750 words

University of Chichester - Coursework Example Britain had been traditionally proud of her universities with good reasons. For centuries now British higher educational institutions had been applauded from every quarter and now with the changed outlook after the globalisation, and the need for higher education in the best universities of the world, the same universities, which were exalted portals of a great educational system, have changed with the time and have become education providers and the institutions that train tomorrow's business leaders. A study of one of the thus altered universities of United Kingdom, Chichester, is the topic of this brief research. The current study will go through the reasons why international students prefer this university, and what are the marketing strategies that the university offers etc. The study will have a closer look at the preferential decision psychology of the international students and the reasons behind such compulsions. As the number of international students keeps growing every ye ar, it becomes imperative to know their reactions, preferences, choice compulsions, and their assimilation capabilities with another culture and the satisfaction level. With the government laying stress on using the educational institutions that are now being treated as already made national investments, it is important for the universities to offer sought after courses with adequate academic back-up and run like well-managed business organisations. Universities today are functioning like any other business houses with impressive competition by other universities who would like to make it to the forefront. Hence, this study attains importance in the light of the above, because it is necessary to know why the international students, who are today treated as customers of the service providing universities, are interested in coming to Chichester more than most of the universities. It is also significant to understand what service Chichester provides that might not be offered by other universities and thus, the study is pertinent and important. METHODOLOGY Methodology of this study depends on primary research in the form of semi-structured questionnaires with connected informal questions that could be asked along with primary questions. There exists a sensible questionnaire with pertinent set of questions and these questions were presented for the student reactions. A group of 200 students was picked up and it had 92 males and 108 female students belonging to cross sections of courses. Out of them, seven had disabilities and three learning disorders. They are effectively managed and helped by the disability provider section and have no complaints owing to their situation. They came from all parts of European Union, including even the newest members of EU. Twelve of them are here on exchange programmes and will return to their mother universities after one year and they are highly enthusiastic about their Chichester experience and showed an obvious reluctance to leave the university. It looked as though the exchange students had only po sitive points about the university and were pleased by everything they saw and experienced. Even though research had no connection with sexual orientation, four students mentioned that they belonged to the homosexual crowd and have not countered any bias or prejudice either from the university or from the fellow students. They have their own choices of entertaining places, clubs, eateries and they seem to be very comfortable in and out of

Monday, October 28, 2019

Assessing ecosystem health Essay Example for Free

Assessing ecosystem health Essay The simple summary of the article is shown below.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Metaphors drawn from human health can be applied in environmental assessment at ecosystem levels; hence the concept of ecosystem medicine may also be appropriate in trying to understand the environment.   By using metaphors one can understand a difficult concept into more known terms since a comparison as to what is common in medicine and in ecosystem. Human use science but they employ art also in appreciating and studying things. As a necessary consequence of using arts or even science   errors in treatment could also happen as there could also be cased of false alarms in diagnosing the environment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   But for a successful application of the medical concepts in ecosystem, there could be a need have a greater-defined taxonomy of ecosystems to afford a better correlations and analysis of the different variables involved in ecosystems. Taxonomy will allow more definitions of technical terms in ecosystems which could be used by scientists and scholars to make a thorough investigation and analysis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The health status of ecosystems in turn could also serve a good barometer to assess the present status or health of the environment. This must be so since the better the ecosystem , the better the environment. Question: 2.    Write a review of Section 1 (p-15: Introduction) and also indicate important points which the author has talked about to be discuss in the paper; any critique; anything missing?   Any important information we get from this section?   Any interesting thing we get from this section, and do we really find it in the following section? The simple introduction is shown below.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author is saying that whatever the ecosystem now suffers is partly caused by human activity.   He is using a metaphor to convey his message.   That the environment’s health must also be determined like that of a human individual.   Like a human being who is subject to stress, the author illustrates that the ecosystem also suffers from effects of various stresses.   He cited as examples of stresses the following: harvesting, introduction of exotic species, generation of waste residuals, physical restructuring, and even extreme natural events which affect the environment. Question 3.   Write a review of Section 2 (p-16: Ecosystem: a nebulous concept?)   What do we learn from this Section?   What has author tried to communicate and how successful he has been to communicate?   And also indicate the significance of this section related to this article, if you see any critique to this section then write it with a complete logic? Is ecosystem a nebulous concept?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author is saying that while others my think that term ‘ecosystems’ may be indefinite of meaning   because   of difficulty of delimiting boundaries on the basis of conventional observations.   Ecosystems are not isolated, but intimately connected, or nested within adjacent or larger systems as seen in the continuum from rivers to lakes; from estuaries to the sea; from the sea to the worlds ocean.   The author agrees that for management and assessment, ecosystem constitutes a relevant macro-level unit for describing the environment (Rowe, 1961, 1989; Bird Rapport, 1986).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     The author is very clear in describing the ecosystems as a dynamic, complex, and open systems that are in constant change over ecological, evolutionary, and geological time (Rapport Regier, 1992), and such they exhibit chameleon-like properties; that is, they might exist in a number of alternative forms, the particular composition being very much influenced by internal dynamics and by interactions with neighboring systems (Holling, 1985; Rapport Regier, 1992). Question 4.   Write a review of Section 3 (p-16: Towards an Ecosystem Health Model) what do we learn from this Section?   What has author tried to communicate and how successful he has been to communicate?   And also indicate the significance of this section related to this article, if you see any critique to this section then write it with a complete logic? The quest for understanding leads to quest for having health ecosystem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author is saying that in the quest for a more comprehensive understanding of the process of ecosystem breakdown and recovery, he has come to think that humans are engaged in some form of ecosystem medicine (Rapport et al., 1979).   He said that introducing the medical metaphor suggests that, like physicians, ecosystem practitioners are in need of systematic procedures by which to recognize illness, devise protocols to rule-in or rule-out possible causes, and prescribe treatment. (Rapport, 1992) (Paraphrasing made)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When it comes to treatment, medicine suggests several options: following internal medicine, ecosystems may be treated by regulating the blood chemistry of the system; following surgery, ecosystems may be treated by wholesale physical and biological restructuring.   The latter may involve both removal of undesirable elements and introduction (grafting) of desirable ecosystem components. I should hasten to add that we are concerned here with the application of scientific methodologies developed in medicine in order to assess the state of ecosystem health.   In so doing I neither subscribes to the view that ecosystems can be considered as organisms (for clearly there are not not not not substantive differences in both the mechanisms and degree of integration as well as in the dynamics of these two systems) nor do I suggest.   (Rapport, 1992) (Paraphrasing made) Question 5.   Write a review of Section 4 (p-17: The subjective nature of health assessments) what do we learn from this Section?   What has author tried to communicate and how successful he has been to communicate?   And also indicate the significance of this section related to this article, if you see any critique to this section then write it with a complete logic? Subjectivity is employed in assessing the ecosystem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author is equating the subjective judgment used in health assessment as to what is being done in assessing the ecosystem.   He said that clearly, in many cases, the diagnosis and treatment of sickness also uses gut feel or hunches in addition to the scientific way..   Inevitably, there enters a degree of subjectivity in evaluating the health status of an individual or an ecosystem. (Rapport, 1992) (Paraphrasing made)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author mentioned some ecosystem transformations that are made without recourse to societal values or limitations of scientific understanding and cited as example the demise of the forest downwind of a smelter.   Nevertheless, he admits that more frequently   social value-judgments and the limitations of science appear   to mix as a form of art.   The author gave as an example the conversion to plantations of radiata pine (Pinus radiata) of highly diversified indigenous forests in New Zealand, where there are opposing view between conservationists and foresters. (Rapport, 1992) (Paraphrasing made) Question 6.   Write a review of Section 5 (p-18: Early Warning Signs of Pathological Ecosystems) what do we learn from this Section? What has author tried to communicate and how successful he has been to communicate?   And also indicate the significance of this section related to this article, if you see any critique to this section then write it with a complete logic?   (This section should cover all sub sections of the main section, one by one) Early warning signs of pathological ecosystems have obstacles.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author mentioned three obstacles in providing early warning of ecosystem pathology and they are: Firstly, basic processes such as nutrient cycling and primary productivity, is highly cyclical and irregular, varying from year to year, seasonally and diurnally.   Such variability and seemingly random behavior raises havoc with detection of the onset of much pathology that beset aquatic ecosystems. Secondly, early symptoms of ecosystem degradation may be missed or discovered only after pathology is well advanced. Thirdly, false alarms are easily sounded owing to a still far from adequate understanding of the long-term dynamic behavior of ecosystems. Ecosystems have common systems of degradation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Under section 5.1 on â€Å"Health indicators at the ecosystem level,† the  author is discussing the identification of common symptoms of ecosystem degradation.   These common symptoms are termed the ecosystem distress syndrome (Rapport et al., 1985) and characterize a large number of ecosystems under stresses of various types.   The author citing Rapport, 1991, said that with reference to aquatic ecosystems, the ecosystem distress syndrome comprises the following symptoms: (1) alteration in biotic community structure to favor smaller forms; (2) reduced species diversity; (3) increased dominance by r selected species; (4) increased dominance by exotic species; (5) shortened food-chain length; (6) increased disease prevalence; and (7) reduced population stability. (Rapport, 1992) (Paraphrasing made) Like human diseases, ecosystems have risk factors, too.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Under section 5.2   on â€Å"Ecosystem risk factors,† the author   Ã‚  supports the idea of identification of individuals at risk for certain types of diseases, as those found in coronary disease, which will shift man’s attention from treating illness to prevention.   The author argues that using the same principle of identifying risk in ecosystem, prevention of the ecosystem’s degradation could be prevented. (Rapport, 1992) (Paraphrasing made)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   He believes that this approach works best where a single dominant stress acts to transform ecosystems, such as may occur in the process of eutrophication or acidification of aquatic ecosystems.   He said that much is known about the actions of these two stresses and the vulnerabilities of the recipient aquatic systems (e.g., Minns et al., 1990). He then argued that combining the findings from case studies of impacts of such specific stresses on ecosystems with the knowledge of current stress loadings and sensitivities of recipient ecosystems enables one to arrive at an ecosystem level risk assessment. (Rapport, 1992) (Paraphrasing made)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   He was able to cite the development of various factor analyses similar to the manner in which risks of coronary disease are now assessed in ecosystem health evaluations. He cited the work of Minns et al. (1990) who have examined the impact of acid precipitation on the loss of fish species in vulnerable eastern Canadian lakes. (Rapport, 1992) (Paraphrasing made)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With these studies the author is really looking forward for the prevention of ecosystem’s degradation. Validation of treatment for ecosystem is a problem, too.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Under section 5.3 on â€Å"Validation of treatment† the author also talks of validation of treatment which is considered the bottom line for medical practitioners. This premised on the idea that once an illness has been diagnosed, the question turns squarely to the most effective treatment. Treatment validation provides a basis for selection among alternative procedures.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In applying the medical terminology to the ecosystem, the author said that success rates for a given treatment cannot be evaluated without factoring out the influences of the other stress factors. He cited an example the evaluation of the effectiveness of harvesting regulations on restoring seal populations in the Baltic Sea. He said that it is necessary to take into account impairments to seal reproductive success owing to the presence of PCBs and related toxic substances (Helle et al., 1976). Here, just as in human medicine, he said, â€Å"we have the need to develop methodologies to factor out co-morbidities.†Ã‚   He mentioned the need for a far better taxonomy of ecosystem ills than we presently have. He said that one currently may describe ecosystem pathologies in terms of air pollution damage to forests, eutrophication of aquatic systems, acidification of aquatic and terrestrial systems, etc. but he said that these are very rudimentary categories. He therefore suggested that for each of these classifications there are many finer subdivisions which need to be categorized before one can readily compare case histories. (Rapport, 1992) (Paraphrasing made) Question 7. Write a review of Section 6 (p-21: Reporting on the state of environment from an ecosystem health perspective) what do we learn from this Section? What has author tried to communicate and how successful he has been to communicate? And also indicate the significance of this section related to this article, if you see any critique to this section then write it with a complete logic? Environment could be seen from the health of the ecosystems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author is trying to make a picture of the environment on the basis of the status of the ecosystem. He cited Canada as having subdivided its land areas into 15 ecozones, defined on the basis of Physiographic, vegetation type, soils/surface materials, climate, and human use. He reported that the forests of most ecozones are impacted by a combination of natural and cultural stresses (particularly in the Montaine Cordillera, Boreal Shield, and Atlantic Maritime ecozones). Included in the stresses is fire, insects and diseases, over-harvesting, conversion of forests to agriculture, construction of transportation and utility corridors, air pollution, and climate-induced stresses such as red belt and wind throw.   He then cited the relationship of increase disease in ecosystems which are more stressed. (Rapport, 1992) (Paraphrasing made)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author also mentioned that the other sections of the 1986 Canadian State of Environment Report relate to aquatic ecosystems, both the Laurentian Great Lakes and other Inland Waters, as well as the three marine systems (Atlantic, Pacific and Northern). He also cited that the major stresses affecting these ecosystems include: over-harvesting, construction of dams and diversions, contaminants (including toxic substances), and the purposeful or accidental introduction of exotic species (particularly in the Great Lakes and inland waters). Further, in all but the Northern marine ecosystems, land use change (particularly the drainage of wetlands for agricultural and recreational purposes) and sewage inflows added significant additional stress. (Rapport, 1992) (Paraphrasing made) Question 8. What do we understand from the Conclusions written on p-23, are they appropriate; any critique; any thing missed in conclusion; any thing over emphasized. The simple conclusion could be done as shown below.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   We understand from the conclusion that ecosystem behavior under stress is complex and processes leading to degradation and recovery are only partially understood, nonetheless, ecosystem medicine is coming of age at least as a conjectural art. There therefore many challenges along the way. There also a combination of objective and subjective criteria is called into play in rendering judgments as to the health of ecosystems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another thing that   I did understand in the conclusion is that in talking about assessing the ecosystem from a point of view need not involve or borrow concepts from the medical sciences to understand the system but that the author argues that use of the metaphor suggests more systematic approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of ecosystem ills, underscores the importance of validation of remedial action interventions, and draws attention to the inherent subjective nature of health assessments. Further, the metaphor provides a language in which the concern for ecosystem health becomes a natural extension of the concern for individual health The conclusions drawn are appropriate and does not in any way insist that understanding how to manage the ecosystem be necessarily made reference to the medical science field.   It could be made from different points of view and the advantage of using a field of study to bring out the issues via use of metaphor may contribute much to information campaign. Question 9.   Is this article helpful in planning and managing environment, if yes how?   If no, why? What is the relevance of the article in planning and management of the environment?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     I believe this article is helpful in planning and managing environment.   Different persons belong to different professions and different professions have their own languages.   By using metaphor in medicine to discuss ecosystem and the environment, would be getting the member of the medical profession to understand the issues more clearly and to get their support for the cause of the environment Question 10.   Is the title appropriate, if yes WHY?   if no then suggest some other title, and also justify the title with a logical reasoning. How show the article be titled appropriately?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The title evaluating ecosystem health seems not to include treatment on ecosystem treatment.   Since it talks also of treatment the title could be modified as â€Å"Evaluating and Maintaining the Ecosystem’s Health.†Ã‚   By simply saying evaluating it the discussion on treatment should not have been part. Reference: Bird, P. M. D. J. Rapport, 1986. State of the Environment Report for Canada. Ministry of Supply and Services.263 pp. Helle, E., M. Olsson S. Jensen, 1976. PCB levels correlated with pathological changes in seal uteri. Ambio 5: 261263. Holling, C. S., 1985. Resilience of ecosystems local surprise and global change. In: T. F. Malone J. G. Roederer (eds), In Global Change, pp. 292317. Cambridge Univ.Press, Cambridge. Minns, C. K., J. E. Moore, D. W. Schindler M. L. Jones, 1990. Assessing the potential extent of damage to inland lakes in eastern Canada due to acidic deposition. 1V. Predicted impacts on species richness in seven groups of aquatic biota. Can. J. Fish Aquat. Sci. 47: 821830. Rapport, D. J., A. M. Friend, 1979. Towards a comprehensive framework for environmental statistics: a stressresponse approach. Statist. Can., Ottawa. Rapport, D. J., H. A. Regier, 1992. Disturbance and stress effects on ecological systems. In: B. C. Patten S. E. Rapport, D. J., 1991. Myths in the foundations of economics and ecology. Biol. J. Liimean Soc. 44: 185202. Rapport, D. J., H. A. Regier T. C. Hutchinson, 1985. Ecosystem behaviour under stress. Amer. Natur. 125: 617640. Rapport, D., (1992), Evaluating ecosystem health, Journal of Aquatic Ecosystem Health, M. Munawar (ed.), Assessing Aquatic Ecosystem Health: Rationale, Challenges, and Strategies. KluwerAcademic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands Rowe, J. S., 1961. The level of integration concept and ecology. Ecology 42(2): 420427. Rowe, J. S., 1989. Implications of the Brundtland Commission Report for Canadian forest management. Forestry