Kashmir: Blessed yet Deprived

The beauty of this land truly cannot be captured by photography nor expressed by poetry. One must visit Kashmir to feel the essence of the mesmerizing topography of this blessed region. The land of saffron fields, cherry blossoms, Maple Trees, peaceful lakes, Crystal clear streams flowing and stunning gardens. No praise seems enough to glorify the beauty of this splendid, natural and superb asset to mother earth. The region today bears the weight of a terribly chaotic past and the most uncertain future. Nobody really knows or can predict the future of the state that can be the most resourceful and progressive independent state. People live by the day, taking what comes by. The political system here lies in a total shameful condition with the assembly being run by aimless and pointless bunch of goons whose only perspective to amass as much wealth as they can while they remain in power. It really doesn’t matter to them the pathetic life conditions that the common man here lives by. Access to basic amenities such as quality healthcare, healthy education system, robust transport facilities and so on, are far below standards worthy of a mention. Life conditions in this land are so poor that it pains me to say that human life here has no value at all. The state administration being aware of such inert life conditions doesn’t seem to be willing to take notice and act aptly to bring in a general standard above the current. My article here is inspired by my visit to one of the prominent government hospitals of the region known as GB Pant Cantonment General Hospital located at Sonawar, Srinagar. Please do take time to browse through the pictures that I managed to click of the neonatal intensive care unit that had about 35 + babies kept under incubation for various medical conditions and believe me some really critical. I saw the entire ward being managed by just one duty doctor who from his look seemed most inexperienced and unskilled to dispense the right medical course to these ailing babies. I happened to ask him if there was a senior doctor available and was snubbed and told that its was none of my business. I went on to click some more pictures of the ward and was threatened with dire consequences if I didn’t stop and get out. Anyways as I walked out into the parking lot I met a few anxious fathers of babies that were new born and ailing and was shocked to know their state. I was told that being a government hospital doctors would charge money from them and stop all treatment if they were denied of the money quoted and if one didn’t have money they would even go onto stop attending to the patients. Furthermore what was shocking is that this hospital was in the news about 3 months ago for 500 deaths of newborn babies and children below 5 years of age. I happened to witness the death of a child right at the time when I was leaving the hospital after having dropped off a neighbor whose child was admitted just then. There needs to be some sort of a reprimand to sanitize the hospital administration to create a healthy, modern and apt facility. The irony here is that the cabinet health minister: Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad hails from this region and yet his backyard suffers at the misery of such pitiable healthcare facilities. Strangely the hospital is the only one of its kind for children with no other option for one to choose from. Kindly take note of the pictures attached to see for yourself the heart wrecking state of the prime most amenity for any society. Kudos to Mr. Omar Abdullah way to go. At this state only the Abdullah’s, Geelani’s, Mirwaiz and Mufti’s will be able to produce and grow healthy kids as they can afford world class treatment outside the valley.

Extended Definition

Jason Lorenzo Lumabas ENGLCOM (WC) The Digestive System One of the miracles of the human body is how it possesses the characteristics of machines; specifically that of a juicer. It breaks down and extracts vitamins and minerals from everything that it ingests. To be specific, the digestive system is the system of organs responsible for getting food into and out of the body and turning the food we eat into energy (Seibert, 2011). It is one of the wonders of our body that keeps us alive.In fact, keeping a healthy digestive system can actually boost one’s lifespan. According to Watson (2011), a lot of people suffer from chronic diseases but only a few realize that these are the result of impaired digestion. Overall health begins in the gut that is why having poor digestion will encourage the development of different illnesses. Thus, by having a good digestive health a person increases the chances of prolonging his life by having a healthy diet but people nowadays tend to eat what ever they please. Majority does not really care about how nutritious their food is as long as they satisfy their hunger.Little do these people know that what they eat can affect their body system. Sztainer (2008) provides recommendations to maintain a healthy body and good eating habits. First, unhealthy eating must be counteracted with long-term eating behaviors which will also help in the promotion of positive body image. Second, eating together as a family and talking about how to maintain a healthy living will help as well. As a matter of fact, eating alone can lead to depression (Kimura et al. , 2012) that will greatly affect the eating habits of an individual thus making the person unhealthy.Therefore, following these recommendations will impede poor nutritional health. Another factor that greatly decreases the health of the digestive system are disorders like bulimia and anorexia. Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa are two of the most dreaded eating disorders afflicting men and women. According to Sonenklar (2011), Anorexia nervosa, or just anorexia, is a combination of emotional, psychological, and biological disorders that affects the body. People with anorexia fear weight gain and are obsessed with their bodies. They restrict themselves from eating too much because they are afraid to appear big.On the other hand, she states that bulimics are those who eat excessively and later purge it, because of their act of binge eating. They become depressed and tend to engage themselves in dangerous methods that will help them lose the weight they gained from eating too much. These disorders also affect the disease-fighting mechanism of the human body since the gastrointestinal tract consists of two-thirds of the immune system. There are many ways to prevent diseases that involve not only the digestive system but also the other systems of the body. One of these ways is having probiotics in one’s system.Probiotics can help in keeping the digestive system working well. In fact, probiotics can reverse illnesses related to the gut. Louis (2012) asserts that it is important to have a good amount of probiotics in one’s system especially if the intake of processed foods and low fiber diets is high because it will abate the colon function. Another way to prevent these illnesses is enzyme supplementation in a person’s diet. A good amount of enzyme can improve a person’s overall digestion. It also reduces the effects of aging and inflammation of muscles and joint pain. Enzymes boost the immune system and cleanse the body from allergic reactions.The author also mentions that pasteurized foods and beverages should be avoided because they destroy enzymes. In conclusion, a lot of factors should be considered in maintaining a healthy digestive system. Engaging one’s self in doing these will result to a well and prolonged life. Having a healthy digestive system also means having a healthy central nervous system. These two systems are closely related to each which is why a new field of study possible called Neurogastroenterology sprung. These two vital systems serve as some kind of elixir to the human body that is why they should be kept well at all times.

Characteristics of an Effective Team Leader

Conflict arises from the differences, and when individuals come together in teams, their differences in terms of power, values, and attitudes contributes to creation of conflict. Without conflict, teams will not be challenged and will not perform at their optimum levels. When this becomes apparent, how should the team prepare themselves to face this challenge, and how should the team leader facilitate and resolve conflict? The purpose of this paper is to present the characteristics and traits of an effective team leader. We will also be discussing the different types of conflicts as well as the effective way of managing and resolving disputes among team members Discussion: Effective Team Leader Successful management requires more than just assigning tasks to the team. It calls for a leader who can inspire team members to achieve their full potential. People want to be guided by a person they respect; someone responsible and dependable and someone who has a clear sense of direction. More and more businesses are becoming international. Team members need to trust each other as well as trust each others expertise. They need to feel confident that the other members are doing their share, so that when the team finally pools their ideas together, a multifaceted solution results. Different countries have different cultures, ways of doing things and behaving. Leaders need to learn about these differences if they are to succeed. Being an effective team leader requires basic leadership skills. Leadership is becoming tougher and tougher and requires continued development. When times are especially tough, it is the purpose of the leader to cheer the team through it. It is the leaders job to remind the members of the team just what they are capable of getting done. The team leader is someone who provides guidance, instruction, direction, leadership to a group of other individuals for the purpose of achieving the team results. It is their job not only to ensure that the standards of their team are high and the tasks that have been assigned are being done, but also to ensure that the team spirit and morale of their team is kept. But good and effective team leader knowledgeable in managing conflict can result in benefits for a team. All leaders are not the same, but they share a common trait. They don’t lead in traditional â€Å"to-down† manner (Information. com). Tyrants can no longer effectively manage a diverse, highly-educated, flexible, and independent workforce. Business and team leadership in 21st is more a matter of influencing the culture within which work is done, in the pursuit of a shared goal. Inspiring teamwork is a skill that allows people the freedom to achieve new heights of accomplishment through effective use of the teams collective skills. In this way you allow people to fulfill their own destiny, their work becomes the vehicle that will allow them to achieve both their professional and their personal goals. A leader is not always the leader of a country or a ‘movement’. A leader can be in so many different walks of life, be it business, entertainment, sport, politics, charities etc. But, in whatever field, it seems there are these certain traits that characterize a good leader. True leadership is only developed by those who continually work and study to improve them. Even the so-called born leaders need to constantly work on self improvement.. Many of the studies of team leadership have employed a behavior oriented approach, derived from job analytic methods. In some of the earliest research on team leaders, McGrath (1962) outlined several functions the team leader should serve. Leaders perform a diagnostic function by monitoring team performance (and comparing it to accepted standards) and a remedial function by taking action to improve group performance. Leaders also perform a forecasting function by watching environmental conditions (and their potential effects on team performance) and a preventive function by attempting to avert the negative effects of a volatile environment. Zenger, Musselwhite, Hurson, and Perrin (1994) also took a functional approach to team leadership and used questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups to outline the practices and skills of successful team leaders. The team leader is typically a member of the team who provides guidance and support and has ultimate responsibility for the outcomes of the team. As such, the success of a team leader is often measured in terms of both the cohesiveness of the team as well as producing some tangible outcome. Interestingly, little systematic research has been conducted on the success factors underlying effective team leadership. In a separate article, â€Å"How to Be an Effective Team Leader† (Technology, 2004), it says that there are five characteristics of effective team leader (a) Coach, Don’t Demonstrate – demonstrating the task rather than to provide supportive direction, (b) Provide constructive criticism by communicating the good and the bad actions and providing clear suggestion to improve the assigned task, (c) Back off- show team members hey’ll get a fair chance to demonstrate what they can do without interference, (d) Try to be Positive – during hard time, regain team motivation by discussing with them what needs to be changed and listen to what they have to say, and lastly (e) Value your Group’s Ideas – consider each and every idea that your generate and encourage them to communicate their insights on a regular basis. Team Confl ict: Without a good team leader, the team could not function effectively and later on could lead to conflict between team members. The best way a good leader resolves conflicts is with communication, allowing everyone to express themselves, be open to criticism, and processes the ability to encourage compromise and negotiation. Conflict in teams is a significant contributor to poor performance, but seldom is it dealt with effectively. This section will help with a basic understanding of conflict and how to deal with it (Teambuilding. Inc, 2001-2007). Conflict. This is a word that causes most of us a great degree of discomfort, anger, frustration, sadness, and pain. Conflict arises from the clash of perceptions, goals, or values in an arena where people care about the outcome (Alessandra, 1993, p. 92). If the management of that conflict is not effective, it can totally disrupt the entire group process. The dictionary defines conflict as a struggle to resist or overcome; contest of opposing forces or powers; strife; battle. A state or condition of opposition; antagonism; discord. A painful tension set up by a cla sh between opposed and contradictory impulses. No matter how hard we try to avoid it, conflict periodically enters our lives. In the workplace, a simple disagreement between team members, if unresolved, may escalate into avoidance, inability to work together, verbal assaults, and resentment. In the worst cases, it may also lead to hostility and eventual separation from the organization. Many people and organizations view conflict as a negative, or something to be avoided. Yet conflict, differences, or disagreements are a natural result of people working together. Also, without conflict, teams can become complacent and not perform at optimum levels. The challenge then becomes, how should the team be prepared for this stage of their existence, and how should the team leader facilitate through it? (Cappozzoli (1995) and Alessandra (1993)) In some articles from the web, causes of conflict were itemized into eight possible causes. These are (a) perceived breach of faith and trust between individuals, (b) unresolved disagreement, (c) miscommunication leading to unclear expectation, (d) personal clashes, (e) differences in acquired values, (f) underlying stress and tension, (g) ego problem, and lastly (h) combination of the above (Teambuilding. Inc, 2001-2007). According to Cappozzoli (1995) and Alessandra (1993) some common sources of group conflict are: 1) values of team members, 2) attitudes of team members 3) goals / expectations – the processes and expected outcomes 4) roles and responsibilities of team members 5) limited resources 6) personalities 7) interdependency and 8) increased interaction (frequency). On the other hand, Thompson, Aranda and Robbins defined two types of conflict â€Å"A-Type; emotional† and†C-Type; cognitive†, Type-A, emotional conflict, involves interpersonal friction not related to the task and is considered harmful conflict, but Type C, task-oriented conflict, revolves around discussion and debates about the task itself, and can promote productivity. In our book (Langton, 2004), it was summarized into three variables communication, structures, and personal variables. It says that one of the sources of conflict is communication through semantic difficulties, misunderstandings, and â€Å"noise† in the communication channel. But communication is certainly not the source of all conflict. These are structures and personal variables as well. The structures includes the variables such as group size, degree of specialization in the task assigned to group members, jurisdictional clarity, member-goal compatibility, leadership styles, rewards systems, and degree of dependency between group. Personal variables, on the other hand, include the individual value system that each person has, and the personality characteristics that account for individual idiosyncrasies and difference (Langton, 2004, pp. 87-189). Other version of why conflict arises is coming from Stulburg (1987) Five-P’s of Conflict management :(a) Perceptions: People associate conflict with negative responses such as anger, fear, tension, and anxiety. Rarely do we perceive any benefits from being involved in a dispute. Our negative perceptions impact our approach in resolving conflict as we strive to eliminate the source of these negative feel ings. (b) Problems: Anyone can be involved in a conflict, and the amount of time, money, and equipment needed for resolution will vary according to its complexity. c) Processes: There are different ways to go about resolving disputes: Suppress the conflict, give in, fight, litigate, mediate, etc. (d). Principles: We determine the priorities of all resolution processes on the basis of an analysis of our fundamental values regarding efficiency, participation, fairness, compliance, etc. (e) Practices: Power, self-interest, and unique situations are all factors relating to why people resolve disputes the way they do. Stulberg proposed these patterns as an aid for formal mediators, but anyone dealing with conflict can benefit from understanding the elements common to disagreements. Furthermore, Conflict arises from the clash of perceptions, goals, or values in an arena where people care about the outcome (Alessandra, 1993, p. 92). If the management of that conflict is not effective, it can totally disrupt the entire group process. However the old saying that which does not kill us will make us stronger illustrates how successfully managed conflict can benefit the group. Conflict in work teams is not necessarily destructive. It can lead to new ideas and approaches to organizational processes, and increased interest in dealing with problems. Conflict, in this sense, can be considered positive, as it facilitates (a)the surfacing of important issues and provides opportunities for people to develop their communication and interpersonal skills, (b) motivating team to examine a problem they would have overlooked; (c) forcing them to re-examine a solution and be more innovative; and lastly (d) increasing team interest and energy, thus reinforcing solidarity and cohesiveness. On the other hand, conflict becomes negative when it is left to escalate to the point where people begin to feel defeated, and a combative climate of distrust and suspicion develops (A. F. Bowditch, 1997)Nelson (Nelson, 1995) cautions that negative conflict can (a) destroy a team quickly, and often arises from poor planning, (b) leading to crucial information being withheld and to work patterns being disrupted, (c) diverting team’s energy towards destructive ends, and (d) undermining their credibility in the eyes of outsiders and clients. Some high potential areas from which negative conflict issues commonly arise: (a) administrative issues, (b) people resources, (c) cost overruns, (d) schedules, and lastly (e) responsibilities. Team members can and should attempt to avoid negative conflict to occurring. With this information, negative conflict will therefore result to possible productivity and motivational loss to all employees. An effective charter covers areas such as the team’s purpose, goals, methods, resources, boundaries, commitments, and process checks. Properly constructed, it can provide a basis to work through the normal issues encountered by new teams and help them deal more effectively with the conflicts that are certain to arise (Thompson, Aranda, Robbins et al 253). In addition to the charter, the team should develop a good set of ground rules to guide the expectations for interaction of the group and the resolution of any conflict in the team. The ground rules should be clear and agreed upon everyone on the team. There are lots of more going on beneath the surface – with the organization, between and within teams and within individuals. The first step is to clarify the causes of the conflict. In other to identify these, some questions such as; Are there unclear accountabilities? Are there mismatched expectations? Are leaders clear at communicating what they expect? And have leaders provided the appropriate resources and sources to meet the expected organizational goal? should be considered. In ICRA Learning Resources(Fuente : Oomkes and Team, 1992) , it reviews the stages of conflict as (a) Nervousness – debate begins to get heated and opponents take different position, (b) Neurosis – views become fixed, opponents become the â€Å"enemy†. To â€Å"give in†at this stage means loss of face. Threats are made. ; and lastly (c) Combat- enemies becomes faceless, threats are often carried out, coalistion form, fighting may become physical. Conflict Resolution Nevertheless, if conflict arises, there are methods or key principles in resolving conflicts (a) take shared responsibility for the conflict, (b) recognize and appreciate differences among people, (c) preserve individual dignity, (d) listen carefully and with empathy, listen to understand, communicate, don’t debate, (e) be calm, don’t give in to emotional outburst or reactions, (f) vulnerability is the key to successful resolution, therefore open up and share your feeling, (g) don’t assume people are being difficult intentionally, (h) choose a safe place or person with whom you can vent and clarify the issue for yourself, (i) generate solutions and find agreement, and lastly, (j) follow up to assure resolution and modify as necessary (Conflict). Effectively managing conflict allows teams to stay focused on their goals. When it comes to teamwork, a persons ability to build relationships, work with others, and communicate effectively can be more important than his or her technical expertise (Dawson, 2005) Rayeski and Bryant (E. , 1994) recommended that we use Team Resolution process when conflict arises. Conflict should first be handled on an informal basis between the individual involved. This, they say, allow time for resolution or self-correction by the individual. But if this doesn’t solve the conflict, a mediator can be brought in to help resolve the situation. If resolution is not achieved the dispute should be openly discussed in a team meeting. A formal discipline process needs to occur, if resolution is not achieved after being addressed at the team level. The escalation process of the Team Resolution is as follows : a) collaboration –handling the new problem person to person(one on one)-Handle the new problem person-to-person. Use as many facts as possible and relate the issue to customer, team, or organizational needs. Be open and honest and conduct the session in a private setting. Document the concerns or issues, the dates, and the resolution, if any, and have both parties sign it. (b) mediation one on one with mediator, If collaboration did not work or was inappropriate, handle the problem with a mediator. The mediator must be trained in conflict resolution, understand policy and ethics, be trusted by the team, and have the ability to remain neutral. Gather facts and talk over the issue with the people involved. Bring up as many facts as possible and relate the issue to customer, team, or organizational needs. Be open and honest and conduct the mediation session in private. Document it and have all parties sign. A mediation is a process by which the conflicting sides call on a third party to help resolve their conflict. However, it is not the same as arbitration. Mediation can only occur if both parties are wiling to find a solution and if the mediator is respected by both of them. The role of mediator is then to make them aware of their shared interests. The conflicting parties keep control of the decision making process. c) team counselling handle the conflict at a team meeting; put the problem on the next agenda and invite the necessary individuals. The conflict is now a definite issue to the team. Collaboration and/or Mediation could not be done, were not appropriate, or did not work. Handle the conflict at a team meeting; put the problem on the next agenda and invite the necessary individuals. Again, bring up the facts, relate the issue to customer, team, or organizational needs. Be open and honest, discuss it in a private setting, document it, and have all parties sign it. Anyone on the team can put an issue or problem on the team agenda, however, this step should be used only after Collaboration, and Mediation has been ruled out. Another method approach to conflict management is Endelburgs 4 Rs Method as presented below: 1) Reasons- The causes or reasons for the conflict are explored and openly, yet respectfully discussed. 2) Reactions. Team members look at their own reactions to the conflict. If those reactions are destructive, rather than constructive, individuals can self-correct and take the necessary steps to recommit to team success. 3) Results. If the conflict is not resolved, what might happen? How might the team work together to resolve the conflict in a constructive manner? 4) Resolution. Which approach to conflict resolution could be used to effectively resolve the conflict? (Engleburg, 2003). On the other hand, ICRA Learning Resources also suggested Ways of Dealing with conflict: (a) Ignoring the conflict and living with consequences; (b) going into confrontation and fighting; (c) giving in, freely or under pressure; (d) negotiation –this is the best method when both parties stand to gain something, when both have some power and when they are interdependent; (e) calling in respected intermediaries as mediators; and lastly (f) referring to arbitration: this disempowers the team and may weaken it; always try to solve the conflict within the team first. Arbitration is done by an outside authority figure. They are called in to decide how conflict is to be solved. This is usually based on facts and the conflict parties’ rights. It is formal process. The conflicting parties relinquish all control on decision making process. This process is needed when some of the conflicting parties feel they stand to gain because of their rights concerning the issue and when other methods have failed. However, arbitration by outsiders have some disadvantages: (a) time may be wasted waiting for a suitable arbitration to become available; (b) someone form outside the team will only be concerned with the facts. They are not likely to know the deeper emotional factors, and lastly (c) communication can become strained within the team and members could take â€Å"side† which makes agreement difficult to reach. Leadership demands a delicate balance between sensitivity and authority, between the whole and the parts, between loose and tight leadership styles, between functional expertise and cross-functional excellence (width of knowledge), internal (creating value for organization and employees) and external (creating value for investors, customers, and society). † (Kotelnikov, 2008, p. 27) Understanding and appreciating the various viewpoints involved in conflict are key factors in its resolution. The best way a good leader resolves conflicts is with communication, allowing everyone to express themselves, be open to criticism, and processes the ability to encourage compromise and negotiation. Another way leadership skills are amplified is by the leader’s behaviour when problems arise and how conflict is handled. One minute the team leader may be a referee, the next minute, the role changes to coach, all in all, the group is looking for the leader to handle the conflict fairly. Maintaining the groups cohesiveness is an indirect reflection of the teams leader and conflicts can determine the effectiveness a leader has on the group. The ideal leader will â€Å"make people believe they have benefited from the conflict when â€Å"(1) a new solution is implemented, the problem is solved, and it is unlikely to emerge again, and (2) work relationships have been strengthened and people believe they can work together productively in the future. † (Bateman Snell, 2004, p. 443) Recommendation: Based on the above information, it is recommended that an effective leader is required to be a coach, provide a positive criticism, back off if necessary, try to be positive and values group ideas. An effective leader should also be able to be resolve and address conflicts within his team members. Not all conflicts are destructive, if resolved effectively it can lead to personal and professional growth. Team resolution process recommended by Rayeski and Bryant is a formal discipline process which an effective leader can use if resolution is not achieved after being addressed at the team level. Conclusion/ Remarks Leaders are people who write down goals and strive to achieve them. They understand the importance of goal setting and the example that they are teaching by doing this. We often hear the words â€Å"Great leaders are made, not born†. There are many well-educated and motivated people who lack the knowledge of how to lead people. You can test the effectiveness of a leader once conflict arises in his organization. An effective leader should be able to identify, manage, inspire and resolve the dispute to regain the stability of his organization. Thus, this is why leadership is a very challenging task. A good team leader should be able to articulate and communicate the team’s rules, goals and expected duties clearly and persuasively, while also being able to be diplomatic in the face of any conflict. By correctly positioning the individual member strengths and compensating for weaknesses, the leader can bring the team into a productive balance and harmony.

Law --Problem solving Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Law --Problem solving - Assignment Example Hug’s daughters with the property. The case description suggests that Mr. Hug has actually cut down the trees situated near the so called central grand in order to generate funds for the education of his children besides case also discusses the overall nature of the relationship between the successors of Mr. Hug in terms of loss of Blackwood trees. The situation described in the case therefore asks for legally distinguishing the concept of fixtures and chattels while also requiring comments on the rights and obligations of the successors in terms of the loss of blackwood trees. It also need to be noted that both these concepts deal with the personal property therefore the overall rights and obligations of the individuals shall also be dealt according to the rights and obligations given under the Property laws. The distinction here therefore is between the real and personal property and how to make a differentiation between the fixtures and chattels besides discussing the rights and obligations of the successors. Under the property laws, a fixture is any property which is actually fixed or attached with the real property. Under the Common law, real property is therefore considered as an immovable property and is a subset of the land with a clear legal definition. The distinguishing characteristics therefore to identify the difference between the fixture as well as the chattel property therefore is as to whether the property is actually affixed or fixed with the real property or not and the basic difference between the two types of properties therefore is based upon this criteria. (Moore) It is also important to understand that the fixtures are often considered as the part of the property and when mortgages or any security interests are registered, they are often considered as the part of the real property. However, the case of Chattels is different and for the purpose of law they are often not considered as the part of the real property and as

Airplane Evolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Airplane Evolution - Essay Example The historical development of airplanes brought several trials and inventions that were trimmed down to create an aircraft that shall able to cope up with wind velocity and gravitational pull. Even before the inventions of the Wright brothers in the 18th century where gliding planes became the fundamental outline for modern planes, many engineers and inventors aspire in building an aircraft through their sketches and visual designs substantiated by mathematical equations. Nevertheless, modern planes emerged from collective efforts of inventors and engineers in the recent centuries. Part of the building and development of modern planes are previous inventions such as the windmill which will serve as the early plane propeller, the kite as wings, and definitely the modern helicopter. Modern airplanes today are significant equipment both on commercial used, military used and in space explorations. Also economic growth especially on export dependent countries, faster consignment of goods to countries with the use of private planes can create economic bombasts. Such is the achievement on the invention of airplanes. I. History. Body I. History. Part of airplane history is the desire of men to fly and glide in the air as birds do. Even in mythology, flying was then perceived. Daedalus the Greek prisoner in Greek mythology was imprisoned along with his son Icarus by King Minos in the Minotaur's labyrinth. To escape the devour of the Minotaur they decided to flee through flying. Using wax as wings they escape the labyrinth. With the joy of flying, Icarus flew through near the sun and this cause his death. The wax melted and he drowned in the Aegean Sea. Daedalus however managed to escape. This myth has become the aspirations of men that someday an equipment or a birdlike aircraft would be invented. Several centuries past and the myth became a modern tale, the Puritan fairytale. According to the tale, the period of experimentation on inventing airplanes is in its height during the 17th century. Leonardo da Vinci's brilliance is their epitome. Da Vinci's ornithopters were a piece of draft that was supported with math ematical equations. His mind was preoccupied with bird flight and with flapping-wing machines. It is in this premise that his flying machine focused. Da Vinci's work lack technical value, that is why his flying machine was not considered a great achievement but just a draft that needed further replenishment. In 1714 Emmanuel

The right of Refusal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The right of Refusal - Essay Example Patient education is an excellent procedure to try in an effort at discovering why the patient is being uncooperative. The education must be complete enough so that the patient is aware of why the dental x-rays are needed. This will also allow the patient to see that the doctor has his best interest uppermost in his mind. At this point, fear must be addressed in a positive manner. Doctors have a responsibility to make their patients as comfortable as possible with the procedure that they are about to endure. At the same time, the patient must realize that the doctor is well within his rights to refuse to treat the patient if the doctor is unable to obtain satisfactory x-rays. If the patient is in the doctor’s office and must be treated, the doctor should treat the patient as best as he can and then suggest that on his next visit, the patient see another dentist. To treat a patient and not really know what one is treating is negligent on the part of the doctor. Documentation mu st be maintained by the doctor in a permanent patient file in order to protect himself. A letter to the doctor’s lawyer which explains the situation is in order.

Digital Evidence ethics and computer forensics Essay

Digital Evidence ethics and computer forensics - Essay Example The perpetrators can be the staff in the companies or even the student. When it comes to ethical issues, somebody or the culprit may want to run away from the issue saying that he or she has not committed any offence since no child has gotten access to the material. As per the joint act, a child in this case is somebody who is blow the age of 18 years while child pornography is any form of material that shows or that depict a child doing something that is related to sex. It includes exposure of a child’s private parts such as the genitals or the pubic areas. In addition, an adult disguised to be a child involving himself or she in a sexual conduct is also considered a crime. Digital images of a real child or a fictitious child engaging the same conduct is also considered a crime Case study In 2007, there was a case in high court in United States concerning a university student who was distributing phonographic material within and outside the campus. In the case the student was charged with possessing materials that can be harmful to the children or even an adult who is not pleased with the content of the material. According to the joint act, a child in this case is somebody who is blow the age of 18 years while child pornography is any form of material that shows or that depict a child doing something that is related to sex. It includes exposure of a child’s private parts such as the genitals or the pubic areas. In addition, an adult disguised to be a child involving himself or she in a sexual conduct is also considered a crime. Digital images of a real child or a fictitious child engaging the same conduct is also considered a crime Case study In 2007, there was a case in high court in United States concerning a university student who was distributing phonographic material within and outside the campus. In the case the student was charged with possessing materials that can be harmful to the children or even an adult who is not pleased with the con tent of the material. According to the joint act, a child in this case is somebody who is blow the age of 18 years while child pornography is any form of material that shows or that depict a child doing something that is related to sex. It includes exposure of a child’s private parts such as the genitals or the pubic areas. In addition, an adult disguised to be a child involving himself or she in a sexual conduct is also considered a crime. Digital images of a real child or a fictitious child engaging the same conduct is also considered a crime. Source: National Juvenile Online Victimization Study http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/publications/NC144.pdf Ethical issue The ability of an individual to navigate within the web pages and the links that are related to a website give him a chance to fully follow you. Underlying this belief is the perception that virtual crimes are actions in cyberspace, with its shared virtual community and virtual citizens, and consisting of a mixtur e of real identities, alter egos, clones and even virtual beings. Hence, it is fundamentally different from crimes committed in the physical world. As such, the application and standards of criminal laws for the virtual community should be markedly different from those commonly applied in the courts of the physical world. Though their views appear futuristic and far-fetched at this point in time, the potential for its full or partial adoption may be foreseeable. Already, there are serious talks of the creation of cyber-courts to administer and dispense cyber-justice, which may entail punishments that are unique to the medium and that may not have a real world equivalent (Rittinghouse 2009) Investigation technique Finding substantial evidence was quite cumbersome because the internet use provides to the person who has the intention to stalk. The agencies that enforce laws need to review the law in order for them to come up with new tools and mechanism to combat this crime. The more p ressing and disturbing idea is that the person committing these crimes has the resource for example the skills and expertise on the internet use and he or she is determinant to frustrate or rather humiliate the victims. Research has shown that such perpetrators can decide to do so because of vengeance. Research has shown that stalkers are more experience in terms of age education and professional background. The gender also has

Public Meeting Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Public Meeting Paper - Essay Example Under the open meeting law, Phoenix city hall building notice board is the only official board to be trusted with official postings of the phoenix city council. Alhambra village planning committee and the public was to hold a public open meeting on 26th February 2013, 6.00pm at Washington Adult Centre. The village planning committee of Alhambra usually meets on the 4th Tuesday every month at the Washington Adult Center. The residents of Alhambra village are mostly stable, mature and the area is characterized single-family home neighborhoods. The area boasts of houses built in 1920s and 1930s but are well maintained (City of Phoenix 1). Located at the entrance of the meeting was the sign- in table for the attendees to register and to be given the handouts. Input and contribution to the meeting by attendees was encouraged in many ways. The attendees interested in public participation during the hearing were to fill the speaker card, write comment forms, and send emails to the planning committee. The total numbers of the local citizens who signed in and attended were one hundred and thirteen. Also in attendance were the members of the Neighborhoods, Housing, and Development Subcommittee. The committee is empowered to provide policy guidance on matters of housing, historic preservation, preservation, homeless, planning, zoning, domestic violence, and reviews developments such as site plans and inspections (City of Phoenix 1). Apart from the people presumed to be the residents, local politicians and the members of the committee which represented the authority, there were no strange people. The media was conspicuously absent. Also absent were the professionals like the surveyors and land economists. The attendees were given the option of returning their speaker cards and written comment forms before the meeting or even submitting comment forms or sending emails

Marketing Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Marketing Plan - Essay Example This is a functional drink and can be made available in different flavors to suit different tastes. With the mission to reach the product to the vast majority of the people, it has been decided to undertake a marketing plan which includes stating the marketing objectives, the research to forecast the demand and then the marketing strategy. To determine the demand that could be generated for this new product, it is considered necessary to conduct a survey. To conduct the survey market segmentation is necessary so that the target market is studied rather than the whole market. Since this is a health drink and that too a milk product, focus would be on the children between 6 and 18 years and the women. The segmentation would further be based on psychographic details like lifestyle and social demographics like the income level. Thus to conduct the survey questionnaires have been designed (Appendix A). These questionnaires would be sent out via emails to housewives. The addresses would be procured from the local clubs and women’s organizations. Questionnaires would also be sent to the local clubs and organizations where a large number of women are employed. The marketing mix of any product would include the right product at the right time in the right place with the right sales and promotion strategy and at the right price. To have competitive positioning, these are the four P’s (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) very essential for marketing any product. To ensure good sales of our product and services, it is essential to understand the product, its need and importance, the price should be reasonable, if necessary dual pricing, the product should be easily available hence distribution has to be right and finally the right awareness of the product. The promotional strategies have to be taken into account depending on competitive factors. The product is new in the market with a focus on health and targeted at children and the women and hence success is

Second World War Essay Example for Free

Second World War Essay Through this, Priestley has used the Inspector to show that no one can live their life in the sole aim to please themselves and that eventually, sharing (a form of equality) has to be done, even if it is with such an intimate feeling as guilt. This sharing is one of the basic elements of Socialism and through this statement and many more, the Inspector just reinforces his desire for peace and community. The play was written just after the Second World War had ended and the Labour Government were taking steps to bring the standard of lower-class living up. With this in mind, Priestley has used this Socialist standing about the Inspector, to put forward a message to the audience that they must not let Capitalism pull Society back to the unfair state it was before. Through many statements like these and the ever-present contrast to the Birling family, he shows how greed can destroy lives, and thus is ultimately used by Priestley to show that these kind of situations must stop and must do, for good. The characters who are used to oppose Inspector Gooles political standpoint and show the uncaring sides of Capitalism, are that of Gerald, Mr Birling and Mrs Birling. From the beginning of the play they are used to build up walls against the Inspectors claims, as they deem the life of Eva Smith un-important. They are continually used to act as corrupt ambassadors for the Capitalist belief, as they arrogantly refuse to accept any the responsibility for their actions, (as shown by Mrs Birling below): Im sorry she should have come to such a horrible end. But I accept no blame for it all.(Mrs Birling, Act two).  This is only one of the many comments where these three characters have shown no exceptence for their vicious acts. Instead of repenting, they just pass the blame on and experience no remorse for the part they played in causing the innocent girl to die. Their only cares focus on their own statuses and how they themselves will be affected in the end. This harsh exterior and no compassion causes the audience to resent the three characters and in-turn, the beliefs they stand for. Priestley, who has used their disgusting behaviour for effect, wants the audience to ultimately detest these characters and thus, be totally against the seemingly corrupt political opinions that drive their cruelty. Even with these characters that show no response to the Inspectors morals, there are two who become rapidly changed throughout the plot. Sheila and Eric become briskly transformed, as their young ignorance matures into the social awareness that causes them to except the terrible acts as their fault. This prompt transformation is first shown in both characters at the end of the play, when the others try to write off the Inspector as a mere hoax. Sheila and Eric, who show that the Inspector has touched their lives, cant let anyone forget his message, as they stand up for what they believe:  Youre beginning to pretend now that nothings happened at all. And I cant see it like that. (Eric, Act three). Thats just the way I feel, Eric. And its what they dont seem to understand. (Sheila, Act three).  Sheila and Eric feel extremely guilty for what they have done and even when the others try to pretend that nothing has happened, they know something has. They show a compassion for Eva Smith and seek repentance, for they know what they did was wrong. This fact of remorse causes the audience to empathise with their character and thus feel a certain amount of respect, as they have witnessed them prevail through ignorance and ultimately except the truth. Inspector Goole shows that the younger generations cast a sign of hope and thus, can be inspired and used to fulfill great causes. Like Sheila and Erics susceptibility to unified equality in this story, Priestley hopes that younger people all over the world will also take the initiative to improve life, so that we no longer live our existence by greed and capital, but by the basic joy of humanitys diversity alone. Before the Inspector leaves the plot, he delivers Priestleys fundamental opinion to the audience very directly. In this, he conveys a final speech, in which he shows an immense compassion towards the issue being discussed. He explains that whatever social or political background we come form, that it is our duty in life to help those in less-fortunate positions, and with no doubt whatsoever, he shows that we cannot just disregard the facts at hand, but that we are to embrace every situation with our arms open-wide:  But just remember this. One Eva Smith has gone but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hope and fears, their sufferings and chances of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say and do. We dont live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. (Inspector Goole, Act three). This phrase means many things, and on the surface, is just a moral conclusion to sum up how we should look after each other; but when searched much deeper, Priestley shows how life needs to change on a much larger scale. For instance, this final message could describe how in Society, wealthy upper-classes need to look after those in lower-class poverty. It could also describe how nationally; stronger social groups need to become more aware of their exact effect on the vulnerable targets within the community. But when seen on a much broader height, it could also describe how internationally; stronger super-powers need to take in consideration the authority and equal rights of the smaller countries they tend to exploit. All of these possible scenarios, with whatever circumstance they may have, simply describe Priestleys ultimate intentions for the play to deliver. He uses the Inspector to employ his thoughts on social-awareness for the very last time, thus explaining that in every situation, whether it be global, national or personal, that our fundamental requirement is to look after others, thus ultimately avoiding the inevitable fire, blood and anguish that he talks about in his speech. I totally fall in agreement with what Priestley has used the Inspector to say about the political forefront of things. Although I am not a socialist like he is, I do think that we, as a body of intertwined lives, need to be sensitive to those in less fortunate situations and thus offer help, rather than just ignoring matters in the interest of our own good. In every circumstance, I think that we need to act with full reflection on the consequences of what we say and do, in the aim to avoid conflict of any kind in the future. Priestley was obviously a man who cared about the value of people over that of material objects, and in this issue, so am I. Paragraph 7 The Inspectors function as an Educator 1st Re-draft  The last, but probably the most fundamental role in influencing the audience, is Inspector Gooles dramatic function as an Educator. In this position, Priestley has used the Inspectors character to educate the audience along side the rest of the characters, as he teaches them about the truth behind the Society. He shows that the class denominations are nothing but discriminative tools used to separate people and that the greedy ways of money are nothing but immoral and corrupt. The Inspectors most important act of educating is his continuous focus on the Capitalist opinion. He uses this to reveal the many faults within the political standing and thus ultimately deter the audience away from it. In much detail, he shows the belief to be prejudice, unfair and greedy; so much so, that even the Capitalist Mr Birling wont raise the wages for something as important as Eva Smiths survival. This scenario, only an example of the many prejudices within Capitalism, is an obvious outrage and thus, Priestley has used the Inspector to comment about it: its better to ask for the Earth than to take it (Inspector Goole, Act one)  Through this, the Inspector shows that on the surface it is more justified for Eva Smith to ask for higher wages than it is for Mr Birling to roam through life thinking that he can have everything. This in wider terms shows that Priestley is firmly against the Capitalist supporters who believe that they are the centre of the Worlds existence, and that eventually their arrogance is no better than the impertinent people who ask to share a tiny portion of their wealth. Capitalism is therefore shown to be a selfish, non-compassionate system, and thus Priestley educates the audience against it, advising them that it is certainly not a method to run anyones life by.

Impact of Master Data Management

Impact of Master Data Management The impact of Master Data Management in an organization to improve decision making. Abstract This research deals with assessing the importance of Master Data Management in an organization and the impacts it has when making decisions. I will present the methodological framework which allows a centered master data to flow to different systems. This research will use the qualitative approach and interpretive paradigm. Master Data Management MDM Keywords: Master Data Management, Data Quality, Information Management, Data Governance Background of the study The focus to Master Data Management is to provide relevant information for decision making using the various systems in the organization. Based on the increasing number of expected benefits of systems that they will deliver a single version of key organizational entities. â€Å"MDM represents the set of policies, governance, standards, processes and tools that define and manage the master and reference data of a business organization to provide a single point of reference.â€Å"(Subotic, Jovanovic, Poscic, 2014) Years of using and retaining data in different data stores have led to conflicts in data descriptions, in the way data is structured, and the values of data, which makes it impossible or hard for an organization to understand and properly use its key data(Cleven Wortmann). Data are used in almost all the activities of companies and constitute the basis for decisions on operational and strategic levels. Poor quality data will have significantly negative effects on the competence of an organization, while high quality data are often crucial to a company’s success (Haug, Zachariassen van Liempd). Integrating those business definitions and data records across business lines and across subsidiaries is no simple task, demanding rearranging of data ownership and governance, however also requiring advanced technology for policies and business rules to be enforced(Scheidl 2011). The goal of MDM is to create and maintain consistent and complete business data for all stakeholders in a controlled and single-view capable manner across the whole organization which will help them figure out the improvement areas so they become more efficient and competitive. MDM is meant to provide organizations with the ability to integrate, analyze and exploit the value of their data assets, regardless of where that information was collected (Milanov Njengus 2012). Research Problem Organizations deal with different data which may be scatted across the whole organization where systems do not communicate with each other causing the organization to make decisions based on data that is not accurate. Research Objectives Master Data Management seeks to consolidate data that resides in various systems that do not communicate with each other, in such a way that accurate and up to date organizational data is available in a single place (Reichet, Otto, Ostele, 2013). This research will discuss on how Master Data Management can manage the organizations data and outline the benefits of using MDM which will permit the organization to understand their key data. Consequently, the lack of a suitable master data management may lead to severe problems like operational faults, inadequate decision making. The bigger the company, the bigger the issue of managing the data will be. If companies grow the data landscape gets more complicated and managing data becomes an issue that is hard to deal with (K Pietzka). Companies need to make decisions based on the data that they understand and has qualities of data quality dimensions – Timely, Consistent, Completeness, Integrity, Accuracy, Conformity. To be successful in business, you need to make decisions fast and based on the right information. (Thatipamula 2013) Preliminary Literature Review Master data form the basis for business processes. Master data represent a company’s essential basic data which remain unchanged over a specific period of time. Which include customer, material, employee and supplier data. Inconsistent master data cause process errors resulting in higher costs. With proper governance, the master data can be regarded as a unified set of data that all applications can rely on for consistent, high quality information (Hamilton G). Theoretical Framework This framework will allow master data to flow from the Master Data System to the applications, making sure that all applications use the same data. It ensures that the data used is always created the same way and is unique. Which will then allow all linked applications to use the centralized master data. By: C LOSER, Dr. C LEGNER, D GIZANIS showing Central Master Data System Research Questions Asking the right questions will enable the organization to better the way they make decision and the processes involved in their every day to day transactions (Cleven Wortmann). This research will use a qualitative research to answer the following research questions: How to maintain high data quality?   The impacts in business for not having high quality data What causes data redundancy in the organization Maintaining high data quality Achieving better insight into the performance of processes involved in the everyday running of the business, the customers they have and product profitability and market share is one of the goals. These reporting understandings are the base for key decision making, however, the quality of the reporting is directly impacted by the quality of the data. Data that is not of high quality leads to under-informed decisions. Also, the return on costly investments in business intelligence is partly diminished if the source data is corrupt (C Loser, Dr. C Legner and D Gizanis 2004) A major factor of any company’s day-to-day business is the data that is used in business processes and is available to the operational staff. If it happens that this data is not available, out of date or incorrect, the business may suffer delays or financial losses. â€Å"The implications of poor quality data carry negative effects to business users through: less customer satisfaction, increased running costs, inefficient decision-making processes, lower performance and lowered employee job satisfactionâ€Å"(Haug A, Zachariassen F, van Liempd D, 2011) Data in an organization needs to be controlled and managed. Without having specific rules in place or enforcing data governance, this will cause data to be redundant in different places/systems across the organization. Data governance specifies the framework for decision rights and accountabilities to encourage desirable behavior in the use of data (Otto B, 2009) When wrong data is identified in the system, some analysis would have to be performed to find out why it happened and how it can be prevented from happening again. The process of correcting the issues will take time and organizational resources. Benefits of Master Data Management The key benefit of Master Data Management is to integrate similar data management processes, consolidate the critical information that is scattered across the organization, improve the integrity of data which makes sure that the data available is complete and accurate and business will be able to make more effective business decisions from the data with integrity. (Al-Zhrani, 2010) Challenges of Master Data Management Master Data Management challenges consists of managing the data as there is continuously increasing amount of data which will come with unclear processes of how to collect and maintain that data. Because master data is often used by multiple applications and processes, an error in master data can have a huge effect on the business processes. (Gustafsson, Franke, Johnson, Lillieskà ¶ld) Hypothesis Having implemented MDM effectively, the following can be made from the evidence gathered. Hypothesis 1 (H1): Understanding the company’s customers will lead to increase in market share Hypothesis 2 (H1): Data inconsistencies are caused by the distribution of data ownership across different business and function areas and across IT systems. Hypothesis 3 (H0): Companies that explicitly create a master data stewardship program are significantly more successful in terms of data governance Research Methodology Research design For this research I will be using interpretive research design, as its main idea is to assist in understanding, recognizing and restructuring the subject meanings that already exist in the social world so we can use that understanding as steps into theorizing (Goldkuhl, 2012) Research approach and strategy Qualitative approach will be used for this research as it is suitable for discovering and gaining insight about a problem (Scheidl H, 2011) Data collection The data collection technique used for this research was one-on-one interview using a semi structured questionnaire. This technique is appropriate to this research as it allows elicitation of information that is not yet uncovered. Time kept for each interview is 45 min for each respondent. (Scheidl H, 2011) Sampling and population For this research I will use everyday decision makers so to get an understanding of how data influence the decisions that they make. Data analysis After having the interviews, I will then summaries the whole interview by making notes of the key points that were given by the respondents. This will assist in making sure that I familiarizes myself with my research. Knowledge gap In recent studies there have been increased focus on the importance of Master Data Management. This research contributes to the improvement of the scientific body of knowledge since it explores a part where only little previous study are available. Conclusion Poor data quality means there will be difficulties where decision makers have to build trust in the company data. Therefore, addressing and integrating MDM at the start should be part of an operational excellence initiative, in order to solve part of the process inefficiencies. References Milanov G Njengus A, (2012) Using scrum in master data management development projects. Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and Information Sciences, VOL. 3, NO.11 Nov, 2012 Available from http://www.cisjournal.org [Accessed: 15 April 2015] Cleven A, Wortmann F (2010) Uncovering four strategies to approach master data management, Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences – 2010 Available at www.computer.org/csdl/proceedings/hicss/2010/3869/00/09-01-05.pdf [Accessed: 16 May 2015] Subotic D, Jovanovic V and Poscic P (2014), Data warehouse and master data management evolution –a meta-data-vault approach, Issues in Information Systems, Volume 15, Issue II, pp. 14-23, 2014 Cervo D, Allen M (2011) Master data management in practice: Achieving true customer MDM, John Wiley Sons Inc., New Jersey, ISBN 978-0-470-91055-9 Al-Zhrani S, (2010) Management Information Systems Role in Decision-Making during Crises: Case Study, Journal of Computer Science 6 (11): 1247-1251, 2010 [Accessed: 11 March 2015] Rahm E, Hai Do H Data Cleaning: Problems and Current Approaches, University of Leipzig, Germany Available at http://dbs.uni-leipzig.de [Accessed: 16 May 2015] Gustafsson P, Franke U, Johnson P, Lillieskà ¶ld J, Identifying IT impacts on organizational structure and business value, Proceedings of BUSITAL’08, Available at people.dsv.su.se/~pajo/busital2008/paper4.pdf [Accessed: 23 May 2015] Duff A 2015 Master data management roles – their part in data quality implementation. 10th International Conference on Information Quality, 2005 [Accessed: 25 March 2015] Reichert A, Otto B and Ãâ€"sterle H, 2013 A Reference Process Model for Master Data Management. 11th International Conference on Wirtschaftsinformatik [Accessed: 2 April 2015] Jonker R, Kooistra F, Cepariu D, van Etten J and Swartjes S, Effective master data management Available at www.compact.nl/pdf/C-2011-0-Jonker.pdf [Accessed: 28 May 2015] Scheidl H (2011), Master data management maturity and technology assessment, Master’s Thesis, Turku school of Economics Kawulich B. (2005) Participant observation as a data collection method Volume 6, No. 2, Art. 43 – May 2005 Otto B, Schmidt A, ENTERPRISE MASTER DATA ARCHITECTURE: DESIGN DECISIONS AND OPTIONS Available at http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Boris_Otto/publication/50222231_Enterprise_Master_Data_Architecture_Design_Decisions_and_Options/links/0a85e53205fc23566a000000.pdf [Accessed: 25 March 2015] Weber K, Otto B and  ¨Osterle H 2009 One size does not fit all—a contingency approach to data governance. ACM J. Data Inform. Quality 1, 1, Article 4 (June 2009), Haug A, Zachariassen F and van Liempd D 2011, the costs of poor data quality, Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management. Available from doi:10.3926/jiem.2011.v4n2.p168-193 [Accessed: 18 May 2015] Kamel A, Lakhder D and Ammar Z 2012, The organizational impacts of information systems: Analysis and proposal of a methodological framework, British Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, ISSN: 2046-9578, Vol.9 No.II (2012), Available from http://www.bjournal.co.uk/BJASS.aspx [Accessed: 18 May 2015] Liang T, You J 2009, and Resource-based View in Information Systems Research: A Meta-Analysis, Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems Available from http://aisel.aisnet.org/pacis2009/72 [Accessed: 18 May 2015] Nowduri S, Management information systems and business decision making: review, analysis, and recommendations, Journal of Management and Marketing Research Available at www.aabri.com/manuscripts/10736.pdf [Accessed: 16 May 2015] Mishra M, Das T 2011, A Study on challenges and opportunities in master data management. International Journal of Database Management Systems ( IJDMS ), Vol.3, No.2, May 2011 C Loser, Dr. C Legner, D Gizanis 2004 Master Data Management for Collaborative Service Processes Available http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.454.7987rep=rep1type=pdf [Accessed: 03 June 2015] Goldkuhl G 2012, Pragmatism vs interpretivism in qualitative information systems research, European Journal of Information Systems, (21), 2, 135-146.Available at http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:515141/FULLTEXT01.pdf [Accessed: 04 June 2015]

Comparing Allegory in Masque (Mask) of the Red Death and Dr Heideggers Experiment :: comparison compare contrast essays

Allegory in Masque of the Red Death and Dr Heidegger's Experiment Edgar Allan Poe's writing style is based on the supernatural and the unknown. In The Masque of the Red Death, Prince Prospero invites the revelers to come to the castle to party until the danger of pestilence is gone. The party was interrupted by an intruder who was dressed in all black (like the Grim Reaper) and was associated with the plague of the "red death." The reaper killed everyone one by one in the end. The Masque of the Red Death is an allegory. An allegory is symbols that are presented in the story that have two levels of meaning. An example can be the clock in the story. The clock told time and represented the time they had left before they died. There were seven chambers that were different colors, and the last chamber was black, which was the last chamber that represented death. I think the seven rooms symbolized the days until you die and the clock symbolized the time until you died. Dr. Heidegger brings over four of his friends to try an experiment on them in the story, Dr Heidegger's Experiment. There were three men and one woman named Widow Wycherly. They were all solemn people who had been unfortunate in life. In the past, the three men used to fight over the widow to the point of almost killing each other. Dr. Heidegger had a mysterious folio volume which was said to be magical (supernatural). He pulls out an old rose from it and turns it back to life by putting it in water called the Fountain of Youth. His friends couldn't believe that a rose was brought back to life and passed it off as a hoax. So, Dr. Heidegger gave them all a glass of the Fountain of Youth to make them believe its powers. After all of them took a gulp they were turned young again. The old people became so happy and cheerful and so full of life again like they once were in their prime. They were all happy and dancing and soon it turned into a riot where they started fighting o ver Widow Wycherly again, causing them to spill the Fountain of Youth all over the floor.

Plagiarism and the Internet :: Cheating Education Essays

Plagiarism and the Internet The Internet has made plagiarism, taking someone else's ideas or words and using them as one's own without citing the original source, a very common offense. There is so much information on the Internet, available from so many sources, that it is difficult to determine where the information originally came from. The indifference of educators has not helped the problem; many educators feel the problem is too great for them to do anything about, so they choose to do nothing. This leads students to assume that their teachers are either unaware of or condone plagiarism, continuing the cycle. In a survey by the Psychological Record, 36% of undergraduates confessed that they had plagiarized written material. "A national survey published in Education Week found that 54% of students admitted to plagiarizing from the Internet..." (plagiarism.org). Dr. John M. Barrie, of Turnitin.com, a plagiarism detection site, believes that almost one-third of the work submitted to the site is at least partially copied from another source. "When it comes to cheating, at the top of the list is plagiarism, and at the top of that list are students cutting and pasting, mostly from the Internet," says Dr. Barrie (http://tms.physics.lsa.umich.edu/). Why should students attempt to write original papers when they can just as easily copy one from the Internet? It saves them time and energy and may even get them a better grade than they may have gotten on their own. Educators doing nothing about it has not helped the problem... Ronald M. Aaron and Robert T. Georgia performed a study that found that 257 chief student affairs officers across the United States believe that colleges and universities have not properly dealt with the cheating problem. Many educators feel it would take too much time and energy to find if a paper was plagiarized or not, so they choose to ignore the problem. Donald L. McCabe performed a study called Faculty Responses to Academic Dishonesty: The Influence of Honor Codes; it found that 55% of faculty would not report possible cheaters if it required any real effort (plagiarism.org). "'With respect to cheating, I'm just in denial. I just don't want to deal with it because I know it is a

Comparing the French Lieutenants Woman and Jewel in the Crown Essay

Similarities between French Lieutenant's Woman and Jewel in the Crown      Ã‚  Ã‚   John Fowles's French Lieutenant's Woman and Paul Scott's Jewel in the Crown are two literary works that illustrate continuity in British literature over time.   While French Lieutenant's Woman [is set in]...the Victorian era and Jewel in the Crown [depicts events in]... the twentieth century . . ., the two exhibit similar thematic content.   Both works emphasize the importance of social stature, both portray society's view of what's acceptable in the intimate relationships of women, and both are stories in which two lovers are together regardless of whether or not society approves.    The portrayal of social statures in French Lieutenant's Woman is rather simple.   Other than Sarah Woodruff, the characters are of the wealthy upper class.   Sarah is described as a "poor but educated woman who has lost her reputation."   Other characters include Charles Smithson, a wealthy gentleman who becomes Sarah's lover; Ernistina Freeman, Charles' fiance and daughter of a wealthy businessman; Mr. Freeman, Ernestina's father, a successful businessman who aspires to the upper class by marrying his daughter into [a higher class]...; and Ms. Poultney, a wealthy widow who takes in Sarah Woodruff to belittle and humiliate.    Social statures portrayed in Jewel in the Crown are more complicated; race also plays into the social status of its characters.   The main character of the story is Daphne Manners, who starts off as upper class but is later demoted to "that Manners girl" due to an inter-racial relationship with Hari Kumar.   Hari is born in India, but grew up well to do in England.   Upon his return to India he has lost his social status.   he aspires to the ... ...disapprove and criticize her.   It was a sad reality that white hostility for mixed relationships could devalue the life of an innocent child.    Jewel in the Crown and French Lieutenant's Woman illustrate in full, continuity in British literature.   While French Lieutenant's Woman represents the 1860s and Jewel in the Crown represents the 1940s, the two literary works remain very similar in plot and theme.   They also illustrate that the values of the British in regards to intimate relationships and social boundaries remained unchanged for over eighty years.    Works Cited    Damrosch, David, et al., ed.   The Longman Anthology of British Literature.   Vol. B. Compact ed.   New York:   Longman - Addison Wesley Longman, 2000. Scott, Paul.   The Jewel in the Crown.   (1966.)   Vol. 1 of the Raj Quartet.   Rpt. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1998.

Psychological Distress and Coping Strategies Among Transgenders Essay

â€Å"Why compare yourself with others? No one in the entire world can do a better job of being you than you†.1 Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles. Transgender is the state of one’s â€Å"gender identity† (self-identification as woman, man, neither or both) not matching ones â€Å"assigned sex† (identification by others as male, female or intersex based on physical/genetic sex). A transgender individual may have characteristics that are normally associated with a particular gender, identify elsewhere on the traditional gender continuum, or exist outside of it as â€Å"other†, â€Å"agender†, â€Å"Genderqueer†, or â€Å"third gender†. Transgender people may also identify as bigender, or along several places on either the traditional transgender continuum, or the more encompassing continuums which have been developed in response to the significantly more detailed studies done in recent years. 2 ‘Transgender’ refers to a person, male or female, who dresses, acts or presents in a manner that differs from his or her gender norm. ‘Transgender’ includes transvestites (both fetish and dual-role), drag queens, drag kings, androgynes and genderqueers. It does not include transsexual people.3 The transgender community in India, known as hijras, number up to a million people and occupy a unique role in society. On the one hand, they are called upon to offer blessings during auspicious occasions like weddings and at births. The rest of the time, they are not only ignored but often ostracized from society.4 Transgender individuals are commonly viewed as a part of the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) community, forming the commonly known acronym LGBT. However, inclusion of transgender individuals within the sexual orientation political movement, and at social or cultural gay/lesbian events is highly debated. This is due to the division of sexual orientation and gender identity, which, though correlated, are different constructs. Whereas sexual orientation refers to one’s emotional, romantic and sexual attraction to others, gender identity refers to the person’s relationship to their gender and is largely independent of orientation. It is important to make the distinction between sex and gender. Sex is biological and physical (e.g., chromosomes, hormones, gonads), while gender is psychologically and socially constructed. For transgender individuals, gender is not congruent with sex. In order to align sex and gender a transgender individual may or may not undergo medical treatment, such as hormones or surgery. 5 Psychological distress is the end result of factors–example, psychogenic pain, internal conflicts, and external stress that prevent a person from self-actualization and connecting with ‘significant others’6. Coping is the expending conscious effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems, and seeking to master, minimize or tolerate stress or conflict. Psychological coping mechanisms are commonly termed coping strategies or coping skills. The term coping generally refers to adaptive or constructive coping strategies, i.e., the strategies reduce stress levels. Furthermore, the term coping generally refers to reactive coping, i.e., the coping response follows the stressor. This contrasts with proactive coping, in which a coping response aims to head off a future stressor7. Brief Resume of Intended Work 6.1 NEED FOR STUDY The term transgender (TG) was popularized in the 1970s (but implied in the 1960) describing people who wanted to live cross-gender without sex reassignment surgery. In the 1980s the term was expanded to an umbrella term, and became popular as a means of uniting all those whose gender identity did not mesh with their gender assigned at birth. In the 1990s, the term took on a political dimension as an alliance covering all who have at some point not conformed to gender norms, and the term became used to question the validity of those norms or pursue equal rights and anti-discrimination legislation, leading to its widespread usage in the media, academic world and law. The term continues to evolve.2 The population of hijras in India is estimated to be between 50,000 and 1.2 million. There is a huge disparity in the numbers because population censuses only give space to define either males or females. There are no reliable statistics. Tamil Nadu in a path breaking move has come to recogni ze transgenders – (the term itself is no monolith as transgender is more of an umbrella term). 8 Most hijras live at the margins of society with very low status; the very word â€Å"hijra† is sometimes used in a derogatory manner. Few employment opportunities are available to hijras. Many get their income from performing at ceremonies, begging, or sex work—an occupation of eunuchs also recorded in premodern times. Violence against hijras, especially hijra sex workers, is often brutal, and occurs in public spaces, police stations, prisons, and their homes. As with transgender people in most of the world, they face extreme discrimination in health, housing, education, employment, immigration, law, and any bureaucracy that is unable to place them into male or female gender categories. 9 Discrimination has prevented most hijras from obtaining decent education, jobs and housing, say transgender and human rights activists. The vast majority live in slums and, with limited job opportunities, resort to sex work or begging. They weave in and out of Mumbai’s traffic or come onto the women’s compartments of local trains, clap loudly and take money in exchange for a blessing. While hijras continue to face discrimination, they have also made significant social and legal gains in recent years. Last July, the Delhi High Court decriminalized gay sex, and in November, transgenders won the right to be listed as â€Å"other† rather than â€Å"male† or â€Å"female† on electoral rolls and voter identity cards.4 Tamil Nadu has an estimated population of 30,000 transgender people. It has made great strides in trying to integrate transgender people into society. This includes welfare schemes initiated by the Government and acceptance of transgender people into the mainstream media and film industry.10 The Hijra of India are probably the most well known and populous third sex type in the modern world – Mumbai-based community health organisation The Humsafar Trust estimates there are between 5 and 6 million hijras in India. In different areas they are known as Aravani/Aruvani or Jogappa. Often (somewhat misleadingly) called eunuchs in English, they may be born intersex or apparently male, dress in feminine clothes and generally see themselves as neither men. In June 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordered a census of hijras, who number between 80,000 and 300,000 in Pakistan. In December 2009, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, ordered that the National Database and Registration Authority issue national identity cards to members of the community showing their â€Å"distinct† gender. 11 In a national school climate survey on the school related experiences of our nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, 55 percent of transgender youth report being physically attacked.33.2 percent of transgender youth have attempted suicide. 74 percent of transgender youth reported being sexually harassed at school, and 90 percent of transgender youth reported feeling unsafe at school because of their gender expression In a survey of 403 transgender people, 78 percent reported having been verbally harassed and 48 percent reported having been victims of assault, including assault with a weapon, sexual assault or rape. A study was found that bisexual students in Massachusetts and Vermont were three to six times more likely to use cocaine than their straight classmates.12 A study conducted on fifty-five transgender youth described their gender development and some of the stressful life experiences related to their gender identity and gender expression. More than two-thirds of youth reported past verbal abuse by their parents or peers related to their gender identity and nonconformity, and approximately one-fifth to one-third reported past physical abuse. The more gender non-conforming the youth were, the more abuse they reported. Four aspects of psychological resilience were examined: a sense of personal mastery, self-esteem, perceived social support, and emotion-oriented coping. A regression model of the selected aspects of resilience accounted for 40–55 percent of the variance in relation to depression, trauma symptoms, mental health symptoms, and internalizing and externalizing problems. Emotion-oriented coping was a significant predictor of negative mental health as determined by each of the mental health variables 13. A study conducted by GLSEN found that over 85 percent of trans students reported verbal harassment based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. Nearly half (49.5 percent) reported physical harassment based on these characteristics, and a third (34.1 percent) reported being physically assaulted. Transgender students get harassed much more often than their classmates: the study found that transgender students were over four times more likely to be verbally harassed because of their gender expression. The dramatically higher frequency of such victimization among transgender people is alarming, and as one would assume, has significant effects on a student’s ability to learn. 14 Psychiatric nurses are often in ideal position to assess the health and its problems and to offer education and support. Nurse needs to be knowledgeable about psychological distress and coping mechanism among Transgender people. When the nurse develops an effective plan for nursing management, she should consider family involvement, appropriate referral resources. The above studies highlight the psychological distress faced by the transgenders. As there is a dearth of research studies on transgenders in nursing, the researcher felt the need to contribute, explore and identify the psychological distress and coping strategies among transgenders. 6.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE A study conducted on the fear of experiencing discrimination often provokes symptoms of psychological distress. One coping resource is positive identification with one’s social group–known as collective self-esteem. This preliminary study investigated whether collective self-esteem was related to fears regarding a transsexual identity and psychological distress among 53 self-identified male-to-female transsexuals (mean age = 50.79 years). Participants were recruited from transgender events held in Arizona and California. The majority (81 percent) reported living full-time as women (mean length of time living as a woman = 6.33 years). Negative feelings about the transsexual community and fears regarding the impact of a transsexual identity were positively related to psychological distress. A regression model revealed that the fear of how a transsexual identity would affect one’s life was the best predictor of the severity of psychological distress. These results a re consistent with findings from other historically marginalized groups, whereby the stress of being stigmatized by society adversely affects mental health. 15 A study used three focus groups to explore factors that affect the experiences of youth (ages 15 to 21) that identify as transgender. The focus groups were designed to probe transgender youths’ experiences of vulnerability in the areas of health and mental health. This involved their exposure to risks, discrimination, marginalization, and their access to supportive resources. Three themes emerged from an analysis of the groups’ conversations. The themes centered on gender identity and gender presentation, sexuality and sexual orientation, and vulnerability and health issues. Most youth reported feeling they were transgender at puberty, and they experienced negative reactions to their gender atypical behaviors, as well as confusion between their gender identity and sexual orientation. Youth noted four problems related to their vulnerability in health-related areas: the lack of safe environments, poor access to physical health services, inadequate resources to address their mental health concerns, and a lack of continuity of care giving by their families and communities16. A study conducted on the sexual minority status is a key risk factor for suicide among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth; however, it has not been studied among transgender youth. Fifty-five transgender youth reported on their life-threatening behaviours. Nearly half of the sample reported having seriously thought about taking their lives and one quarter reported suicide attempts. Factors significantly related to having made a suicide attempt included suicidal ideation related to transgender identity; experiences of past parental verbal and physical abuse; and lower body esteem, especially weight satisfaction and thoughts of how others evaluate the youths’ bodies. Sexual minority status is a key risk factor for life-threatening behaviours among transgender youth.17 A recent study undertaken to understand the level of General wellbeing of Male-to-female (MTF) Transgender population living in Chennai shed light on the mental health concerns of the transgender population in Chennai. The study consisted of transgender (n=33), and that had been selected for the study by using Purposive sampling technique because it was a challenge to collect data from the population, given their obscurity. A standardized Tamil version of the Wellbeing Questionnaire-12 was used. As for the results of the quantitative data, 75.76 percent of the samples fell under Average Wellbeing Category, 24.24 percent of samples fell under Better Wellbeing Category and 0 percent fell under Poor Wellbeing Category. From the In-Depth Interviews it is inferred that the socio-economic status of Transgender is very poor, they feel inferior to others and are constantly humiliated and il l-treated by the society at large. However, support within the community is strong.18 A research study has documented the link between mental health disorders and discrimination. The coming-out process for an older LGBT person, who has lived most of his or her life in a hostile or intolerant environment, can induce significant stress and contribute to lower life satisfaction and self-esteem. Managing social stressors such as prejudice, stigmatization, violence, and internalized homophobia over long periods of time results in higher risks of depression, suicide, risky behaviour, and substance abuse. LGBT populations, therefore, may be at increased risk for these and other mental disorders. There may be a higher lifetime prevalence of affective disorders in LGBT persons, but no difference in current prevalence of such disorders. However, while little is known about the actual prevalence of mental health disorders in LGBT adults, even less is known about the prevalence of mental health disorders in older LGBT adults. 19 A study examined the relationship between psychological well-being variables (i.e., depression, anxiety, and self-esteem) and level of outness in male-to-female (M t F) transsexuals. Participants were 105 M t F transsexual attendees at an annual transgender conference held in Atlanta, Georgia. Participants completed seven questionnaires, including the Demographics Questionnaire, the Outness Demographics Questionnaire, the Outness Attitude Scale, the Openness Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. A canonical correlation was conducted with psychological well-being variables as the predictor and the outness variables as the criterion. Results indicated that psychological well-being variables are related to outness. Treatment implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed. 20 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM A study to assess the psychological distress and coping strategies among transgenders in a selected area, Bangalore. 6.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1. To assess the psychological distress among transgenders in a selected area, Bangalore. 2. To assess the coping strategies among transgenders in selected area, Bangalore. 3. To find out the relationship between psychological distress and coping strategies among transgenders in selected area, Bangalore. 4. To find out the association between the psychological distress and coping strategies among transgenders with selected demographic variables. 6.4 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS * ASSESS: In this study, assess refers to an organized and systematic way of finding out the psychological distress and coping strategies among transgender. * PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS: In this study, psychological distress refers to the failure of the people to respond adequately to mental, emotional, or physical demands which will be assessed by using Kessler Psychological Distress Scale. * COPING STRATEGIES: In this study coping strategies refers to the mechanism that adapted by the transgenders to overcome the distress which will be assessed by using Coping Strategies Survey. * TRANSGENDER: In this study, transgender refers to people those are born with a particular gender but have the behaviour and characteristics of opposite gender. HYPOSTHESIS H1- There is a significant relationship between psychological distress and coping strategies. H2- There is significant association between psychological distresses with selected demographic variables. H3 – There is significant association between coping strategies with selected demographic variables. 6.5 ASSUMPTIONS * Transgenders adopt different coping strategies to overcome psychological distress. VARIABLES UNDER THE STUDY * Research variable: * Psychological distress * Coping strategies. * Demographic variable: Age, education, religion, marital status, cultural background, socio economic status, area of residence, past experiences. DELIMITATIONS: * The study is delimited to selected areas of Bangalore. * The study is limited to 100 samples. 7. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 7.1 SOURCE OF DATA The data will be collected from the transgender in selected areas in Bangalore. RESEARCH APPROACH: The investigator will use descriptive exploratory approach to conduct the study. RESEARCH DESIGN: The research design for the study will be descriptive survey design. RESEARCH SETTINGS: Study will be done in the selected NGO’s for transgenders in Bangalore. POPULATION: The target population for study is transgenders in selected area. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE: Investigator is using purposive sampling technique to draw the samples. SAMPLE SIZE: The sample size will be 100 transgenders. SAMPLING CRITERIA: INCLUSION CRITERIA: * People who are willing to participate in this study. * People who know English and Kannada. * People present at the time of data collection. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: * People who are terminally ill or have critical illness. METHODS OF COLLECTING DATA Structured self reporting technique will be used to collect the data. Permission will be taken from samples and an informed consent will be obtained from the samples. 7.2 DATA COLLECTION TOOL * Part I – it consists of demographic variables like age, gender, education, socio-economic status, area of residence, past experiences. * Part II – the investigator will use Kessler Psychological Distress Scale for psychological distress and Coping Strategies Survey for assessing coping strategies. DATA ANALYSIS METHOD: * The data will be analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. * Descriptive statistics like mean, frequency, percentages and standard deviation will be used. * Inferential statistics like â€Å"correlation co-efficient† and â€Å"chi- square† methods will be used. 7.3 DOES THE STUDY REQUIRE ANY INVESTIGATION OR INTERVENTION TO BE CONDUCTED ON PATIENTS OR OTHER HUMAN OR ANIMAL? IF SO PLEASE DESCRIBE BRIEFLY. * No, this is a descriptive study, it does not require any investigation to be conducted on patients or human or animals. 7.4 HAS ETHICAL CLEARENCE BEEN OBTAINED FROM YOUR INSTITUTION? * Yes, the ethical clearance certificate has been enclosed. 8. REFERENCES: 1. Available from: URL: http://thinkexist.com/search/searchquotation.asp?search=self+esteem 2. Gay and Lesbian Alliance against Defamation (online). 2010 May ( cited 2011 Feb 24); Available from: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender 3. Available from: URL: http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070926024655AAZAbtB 4. Hanna Ingber Win. Global post. Transgender India: Banned in Bombay? (Online) 2010 April 10; 1(8). Available from: URL: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/india/100409/india-transgender-scandal-banned-bombay 5. Kayden Z Healy. Internalized Transphobia, Minority Stress, and Collective Self-Esteem. June 2011 6. Available from: URL: http://medicaldictionary.thefreedictionary.com/psychological+distress 7. Carver, Connor-Smith J. Personality and coping, Annual Review of Psychology. (2010). P. 61, 679 – 704. Available from: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coping_(psychology) 8. Indian and Hijra (online). 2008 Nov 30 Available from: URL: http://shantanudutta.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/11/indian-and-hijra.htm 9. Ravaging the Vulnerable: Abuses against Persons at High Risk of HIV Infection in Bangladesh (online). 2003 Aug: Available from: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia) 10. Chennai: Move on toilets for transgenders sparks off debate (online). 2009 Jun 23: Available from: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_rights_in_Tamil_Nadu 11. Ahmed M. Scalo Publishers (online). 2001 Sep 15: Available from: URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_gender 12. Available from: URL: http://www.youthprideri.org/Resources/Statistics/tabid/227/Default.aspx 13. Arnold H G, Anthony R D, John A F. Aspe cts of Psychological Resilience among Transgender Youth. Journal of LGBT Youth (serial online) 2011 (cited 2011 Apr 08); 8(2): (2y screens). Available from: URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19361653.2011.541347 14. Tonei Glavinic. Student plus online academic student journal. Research Shows Lack of Support for Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Youth in U.S. School Systems 2009 January 24; 1. 15. Sanchez, Francisco J, Vilain, Eric. Journal of Counseling Psychology. Collective self-esteem as a coping resource for male-to-female transsexuals 2009 Jan; 56(1): 202-9. 16. Arnold H. G, Anthony R. D. Transgender Youth. Journal of Homosexuality (serial online) 2006 (cited 2008 oct 17); 51(1): (2y screens). Available from: URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J082v51n01_06 17. Arnold H. G, Anthony R. D. Transgender Youth. Life-Threatening Behaviors. 2010 Dec 18. Thilakaravi. Mental Health Concerns of Transgender Population Living in Chennai, South India – A Study. MeD INDIA Networking for health January 2011. 19. Mark J Simone, Jonathan. Appelbaum. Clinical gediatrics. Addressing the Needs of Older Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Adults: 2011; 19(2) p.38-45. 20. Jeffrey D Strain, I Michael Shuff. Psychological Well-Being and Level of Outness in a Population of Male-to-Female Transsexual Women Attending a National Transgender Conference. International Journal of Transgenderis: 2010 oct-dec p. 230-240.

Machievelli Biography Essay

Machiavelli lived during the Renaissance era of the Medieval times. In this time period many concepts and ideas were being reborn, including the Christian faith. He lived during a time period in which the people of the time thought of the Black Plague as a symptom of judgment upon the sinfulness of the land. These same people began to scourge themselves in order to express their sorrow and therefore remove God’s judgment laid upon them. Although Machiavelli lived long after the fall of the Roman Empire, he lived in an Italy that had evolved into a war-torn battleground between the city state dynasties. There were conflicts between the French and Spanish for the control of land. Machiavelli lived in a time of growing political powers and a Christian community that was adapting and changing according to the claims of the Reformers. Machiavelli had a goal: he sought to create a dichotomy between ethical Christianity and the Ethical demands of political rule. The 15th and 16th century world focused on theologically reforming the Church. Many reformers of the time and before Machiavelli’s life, including the 14th century reformer John Wycliffe, wrote on how the papacy of the Church had grown far too powerful. During Machiavelli’s life St. Francis was teaching the commoners about Jesus, and the commoners began relating to Christ. The Church was not only effected by the reformers and the teachings of St. Francis, but it was also effected by itself; it was hurting itself. The church fought against the reformers, condemning them as heretics; the church was threatened by the words of reform. Machiavelli lived among the Christians and like many of the reformers he was seeking a reform between the Church and the State. Essentially, Machiavelli writes to prove that being a moral ruler and a person are two separate ideas, in the case of extreme circumstances and, like Luther, there are two kingdoms independent of each other. Machiavelli probably would’ve been considered a think tank of his time and he believed that a ruler, or anyone may publicly state that they are Christians yet exhibit no real conviction. In the eleventh chapter of The Prince Machiavelli argued that Ecclesiastical principalities were to be desired because the people who inhabited them were governed by their own religious laws. Machiavelli viewed these laws as tools, tools to prevent unruly citizens within the principalities rather than to enforce outside rules. Machiavelli idealizes an idea completely different from the church, that politics is something that deals with facts and not abstracts, that it is a challenge to the notion of both Pope Gregory VII and Pope Innocent III’s â€Å"Divine Right to rule.†3 Machiavelli realized that the divine right to rule theory is nothing but a religious idea that does not work with the present state of man. Machiavelli also understood that human corruption and sin is an unend ing problem that rulers need to deal with. Machiavelli continues by suggesting that being a moral leader does not mean that one is a good leader as good leadership leads to order, stability, and public good. He claimed that when order, stability, and public good are threatened a ruler cannot risk limiting their actions by piety or virtue. Machiavelli believed that morals stood in the way of success, that rulers need to learn how to not be good, and be willing to kill. While the religious leaders saw Machiavelli as non-Christian and destructive, Machiavelli states that leaders need to administer necessary evils in efforts to maintain order and stability within their rule, that humans can be predicted through reason. The Church saw his political agenda as lacking in Christian ethics; however, his political reform lines up with Christian thinkers and with Christian ethics of generosity, compassion, and even the golden rule as we see in Saint Augustine’s and St. Benedict’s writings. An initial consideration of Machiavelli’s thoughts on generosity, we notice that he believes it is good to be considered a generous person, but that it is dangerous to do so. Although sounding contradictory to Christianity, Machiavelli’s reasoning lies in the Christian idea of doing the most good for as many people as possible. Machiavelli argues that being generous requires that the ruler imposes new ways of revenue collection and therefore make his subjects hate him and lead to a guarantee that no one will think well of him.1 Machiavelli makes a similar case for compassion, in that it is better to be seen as cruel then it is to be viewed as loving, if necessary. He asserts that as the head of an army a ruler needs to â€Å"be prepared to be thought cruel.† The same Christian idea can be used to explain his argument as before. In the words of Star Trek’s Spock, â€Å"the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few†. Machiavelli states that its more compassionate to impose harshness on a few rather than make use of compassion and risk chaos to take place.2 If we look back to St. Augustine’s The City of God 4 we learn that rulers and people are dominated by their own selfish lust for power, whereas in the City of God, which Luther also makes notions of in his Doctrine of The Two Kingdoms, people serve one another in charity. Under this assumption we see that men do not serve out of charity, but rather serve in a situation of ‘do unto others as you would have done to yourself.’ Perhaps Machiavelli agreed with this view of Christianity. Machiavelli’s ruler never commits an act that they would not have done to themselves. I think the Machiavellian ruler loves their neighbor as much as themselves. Machiavelli sees the political field as a place for necessary evil. He believes, out of love, that some evil must take place in order to benefit the most people. Machiavelli saw the world he lived in as a two kingdom place, like Luther and St. Augustine did. He viewed human history for what it was, not what it could be; he saw people as evil and sick. Machiavelli’s picture of human history took into account the human equation, that we are sinful and therefore predictable, which he believes will lead to a better understanding of the future.