Thursday, October 31, 2019

How Do Groups React to Unexpected Threats Crisis Management in Research Paper

How Do Groups React to Unexpected Threats Crisis Management in Organizational Teams - Research Paper Example Contextually, when assessing the current scenario of the global business world, particularly due to the continuous globalization effects and the consequent alterations taking place in the socio-economic conditions, managing such obstacle have emerged as one of the most significant concerns of contemporary business organizations. A crisis management is thus essentially required to be devised with the intention of minimizing the impacts of unpredictable occurrences which may seriously hamper the performances of an organization either in its short-run or in its long-run performances2. In this regard, various literature studies have been conducted which emphasized on addressing the various dimensions of crisis management. However, in the article titled as ‘How do Groups React to Unexpected Threats? Crisis Management in Organizational Teams’, the authors Jin Nam Choi, Sun Young Sung, and Myung Un Kim proclaimed that comprehensive researches are available in limited numbers wh ich were focused on learning the behavior of organizational teams when responding to crisis situations and crisis management strategies. Correspondingly, in this article, qualitative as well as quantitative methods have been used with the intention to satisfy the literature gap existing in relation to the study of organizational team responses to crisis management3. The paper will intend to discuss the concepts which can be acquired from the article further describing the applicability of such findings in the organizational level crisis management practices. Moreover, references will also be considered from the book named ‘Organization Theory & Design’ written by Richard L. Daft when assessing the article. The Concepts Acquired from the Article The article depicts that organizational teams are commonly observed to behave as dependent on the persisting ‘interdependent relationships’ within the work culture being subjected to their external activities when im plementing crisis management strategies. The findings of this article also reveal that environment of an organization is complex as well as uncertain which results in many crises situations. It has been fundamentally due to these reasons that crises within organizational teams are observed to be rising immensely since the past few years. In this regard, management of an organization is required to effectively forecast the time as well as the procedure through which the crisis event is most likely to occur. In most instances, organizational teams focus on determining the reasons and likewise sort out the type of crises being witnessed or probable to be witnessed in order to initiate better effective crisis management strategies. The article also stated that irrespective of such practices apparent in the organizational teams of the corporate sector, only insignificant number of studies were conducted in order to sort the various types of crises witnessed by contemporary businesses and the strategies which are devised as well as implemented accordingly3. Furthermore, the article also aims at demonstrating the importance of organizational teams’ performances at times of uncertain situations. In this respect, organizational teams performing in groups are observed to

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Critically discuss the key factors influencing protein requirements in Essay

Critically discuss the key factors influencing protein requirements in adults - Essay Example Together, these form the dynamic system of the body which contains the functional and structural aspects that help in nitrogen exchange to the environment (Joint, W. H. O., 2007). Thus the amount of protein that has to be consumed to meet these conditions of the body is termed as the protein requirement. Protein is the next bigger component of body tissues after water (Subar, et al., 2003). They are large molecules made of amino acids and are bonded together by peptides (Richards & Richmond, 2009). It is therefore important to take in proteins as they are used to maintain body tissue, which is constantly tearing and wearing out. A model on the protein needs is defined in terms of the organism metabolic demand and a demand of the diet that satisfies those needs for example efficiency of utilization (Elango, et al., 2010). The issue of protein intake in older adults is however controversial because some specialists warn that too much of it could cause toxicity while others argue that is important to take moderately high proteins to offset age related low energy intake and to maintain nitrogen balance (Millward, 2001). It is estimated that adults should take 0.75g (Young & Borgonha, 2000) of protein per kilogram of body weight to be on the safe side of nutrition deficiencies. These proteins should have a high digestibility and enough amounts of amino acids (Campbell, et al., 2008). These requirements can be satisfied by eating eggs, milk, fish and meat. Additionally legumes have a high amount of protein (Duranti, 2006). Since aging is associated with different physiologic and metabolic changes, the dietary pro tein requirements might also change. These changes may include decline in physical activity, changes in body composition due to loss of muscles, increased disease frequency in the older adults, decline in food intake, and decline in physical function capacity (Massey, 2003). These changes

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Challenges in Communication: Barriers to Patient Care

Challenges in Communication: Barriers to Patient Care Hina Mirza Communication has always been a fundamental need of human beings. Communication can be defined as an act of transmitting or imparting, which includes not only verbal messages, but all human behaviors (Sundeen et al., 1994). It is a vital part in mental health nursing or psychological care, because its a key to its achievement. It empowers health care provider to help clients in their anguish, to explore more essential data which can help to give better care to the patient. As literature states, interaction and care that is patient focused results in positive patient outcomes and increase chances of diagnostic accuracy (Rouf et al., 2009). There are several barriers to communication, could be from patient side or from the health care provider. On the other hand, managing patients with distinctive mental wellbeing issues is challenging, particularly when the patient is discouraged, detached or unmotivated (Sheldon, 2009). In addition to it, different clients have distinctive needs, as a health care proficient one ought to be equipped enough to evaluate those needs through different abilities, and make client competent enough to assess oneself. This paper will highlight some of the patient’s internal barriers to communicate, such as patient’s unmotivated behavior, and health care provider beliefs such as stigmatization about mentally ill patients which ultimately affect patient care and strategies to limit those barriers simultaneously. The case below is of a patient who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. It will highlight the barriers that can affect good communication: A 23 year old patient came with complain of social isolation. Further history revealed substance abuse since 4 years. While taking interview of the patient, he was drowsy and seems to be not interested in talking. During the interview, late verbal response was observed; he was not maintaining eye contact, answered 4 to 5 questions after emphasizing and consuming lots of time for replying. Moreover, the patient sometimes repeats the same sentence of the interviewer. Due to consumption of plenty of time by the patient, I was not able to take a proper history from the patient, and lots of information remained incomplete. When I reflect back to the patient’s statements and body language, I realized he was unmotivated and discourage due to his substance abuse behavior. Next day, again same behavior was observed. After asking question related to change in behavior, patient reassures that he is at guilt and stated that his family will not accept him again due to his addicted behavior. The above situation highlights many issues, one of them is, substance abuse that itself a source behind criticism for the patient and upon all that patients unmotivated or debilitate conduct. Also, the patient was not maintaing eye contact that resembles his social convictions, as numerous social beliefs may impact the correspondence styles and may affect on mental wellbeing like their way of expression, their family support and their coping mechanism. Some characteristics such as socioeconomic status, occupation, education, gender have more powerful effects on an individual which can alter the person’s behavior their way of communication (Fortinash et al., 2012). A part of the patients own cultural beliefs, the health care providers own values about the patient’s addicted behavior may hinder in patient care. As evidenced by literature that the mental health nurses values and skills shape their practice and care giving behavior (Morrissey et al., 2011). Analyzing the issue from different perspectives of patient and health care provider which leads to ineffective communication. Firstly, the patient was given late verbal responses, as well as communicating in low voice volume, as the patient was diagnosed with schizophrenia, it could be one of the reasons that altered speech and it may be due to the disease process. â€Å"Abnormalities in language are central to psychosis, particularly the schizophrenic syndrome† (Kuperberg et al., 2003). Another related symptom was echolalia which was one of the reasons of consuming more time for replying. A psychotic condition, i.e.; patients with schizophrenia, Echolalia (repeating what someone else just said) may be observed (Kuperberg et al., 2003). Taking in concern this issue, as a health care provider one needs to be competent enough for dealing these kind of patients and certain strategies should be used such as giving more time to the patient to express his feelings, using frequent pa uses, listen to the patient very carefully to make him feel about worth of explaining himself, paraphrase and summarize for the patient to reassure what patient meant to say, provide space without or with minimal distraction, use non verbal communication as interviewer expressions and body language is more communicative such as maintain eye contact other than staring. Moreover,the impact of difficulty in speech may have poor conversational skills, poor social perception and all this may hinder in socialization which could be a cause of isolation (Nacro, 2011) which was stated by the patient in the above scenario. Secondly, patient was apathetic or unmotivated due to his addicted behavior and dealing with such patient could be a challenge for nurses for motivating the client. For such patients, counseling style such as motivational interviewing (MI) was developed by Miller and Rollnick (2002). This is widely used approach for the patients with substance abuse which emphasize on explo ring and reinforcing the intrinsic behavior of the client that leads to motivation of healthy behavior (Barnett et al., 2012). If through this approach client’s motivational level increase so his communication pattern will also improve. Looking forward to the staff internal and external barriers to the communication one of the highlighting issue in this scenario was patient drug addiction which could be a foundation of stigmatization and may limit health care provide to provide efficient care. Here, theoretical framework of VCAT can be applied that choosing, prizing and acting accordingly with the prioritize responsibility of a nurse. Moreover, to gain knowledge about the specific behavior of the patient related to substance abuse and deepen the understanding could be one of the source to give empathy to the patient and change the behavior of oneself and others in society to help patients to recover instead of marginalizing the one in need. If a health care provider his/herself is affirmed in their value the better care will be provided as a result. On institutional level staff training should be provided for therapeutic communication to give quality care. The care of the nurse should be in light of Care Framework to provide holistic care to the patient. According to the scenario, making patient realize the process of self harm by using drugs, using hidden self strength to cope up with such behavior and that realization could be achieved through therapeutic communication. It will enable the patient to engage effectively in health care (Shepperd et al., 2003). To conclude, communication is the basic tool to approach effective care of the patient. Several barriers that can hinder the communication could be from the patient side that results from the disease process or patients own perception or could be a lacking of healthcare provider. Overall, a nurse should be competent enough to evaluate patients need through effective communication process limiting all barriers by using different strategy to indulge patient in his/her own care. References Barnett,E., Sussman,S., Smith,C., Rohrbach,L.A., Spruijt-Metz,D. (212). Motivational Interviewing for adolescent substance use: A review of the literature.Addictive Behaviors,37, 1325–1334. Fortinash,K.M., Holoday-Worret,P.A. (2004).Psychiatric mental health nursing. St. Louis, MO: Mosby. KUPERBERG,G.R., CAPLAN,D. (2003). LANGUAGE DYSFUNCTION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA. Morrissey,J., Callaghan,P. (2011). Communication Skills for Mental Health Nurses: An Introduction.McGraw-Hill International. Nacro. (2011).Speech, language and communication difficulties Young people in trouble with the law. Wales. Rouf,E., Chumley,H., Chumley,A. (2009). Patient-centered interviewing and student performance in a comprehensive clinical skills examination: Is there an association?Patient Education and Counseling,75, 11-15. Retrieved from www.elsevier.com/locate/pateducou Sheldon,L.K. (2009).Communication for nurses: Talking with patients. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. SHEPPERD,C., MCALLISTER,M. (2003). CARE: A framework for responding therapeutically to the client who self-harms.Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing,10, 442–447. Sundeen,S.J. (1998).Nurse-client interaction: Implementing the nursing process. St. Louis: Mosby. Social Networking: Current Trends And Its Future Social Networking: Current Trends And Its Future Its not a rare thing to people around the world nowadays, the social network. Social network becomes trends not only in certain country but worldwide. People in this era make the social network something that you must participate nowadays. Also, its an odd matter if you dont participating in any social network. Not only that, participating in social network are important as people can know you better and also important for communicating and keep in touch with friends and family. Many different definitions are made for social networks. According to dictionary social network is an online community of people with a common interest who use a website or other technologies to communicate with each other and share information, resources, etc. There are some that define social network as a group of individual who share a commonality. In business perspective, social network is the practice of expending the number of ones business and social contacts by making connections through individuals. As for me, social network is a centre to communicate with someone especially friends and family and know their latest activity. Therefore, there are many more definitions that people make from their different perspective. Do you know that social network start from 1997 with the first social site, SixDegrees.com? It operates from 1997 and stop operated in 2001 but has been restarted to the previous members only. In 2002, Friendster is created and a year later followed by Myspace. After that, in 2004 Facebook make it appearance and targeting college students. Then, 2 years later new social network is launched with different approach, Twitter. New social network keep coming until this days. The 21st century has made the social network more interesting and evolves. There are many social networks nowadays. There are many currents trends of social networking. Everyone knows that the Mark Luckerbergs website is the most popular social network, which is Facebook. Facebooks users are more than 900 million users. While, Twitter is one of popular social network but different than Facebook. Its allow users to create messages and post it known as Tweets. Another popular social network is Youtube. Although, its not considered as a social network but it has some social network features. Its a place that allowed you to upload your video to share with others. There also a business social network that is LinkedIn. LinkedIn allowing you to publish your CV, post your business references and search for any business contact. This social network helps many human resources in some companies to search for employees. But, it has limited function and theres a monthly user fee if you want more option. One of the social network that allowed you to take photos and shared them in Instagram. You also can apply various digital filters to a photo before post it. This application usually used by people that have smartphones. These are few examples of social network. There are many more social networks such as LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, Flicker, Myspace, Foursquare and etc. Around the world, people that spent time online are increasing with the evolution of smart phones. According to Strategy Analytics, the numbers of people using handphones to online have increase four times in the last four years. Also, most time that they spend online is for social networking. Universal Mccann International Social Media Research indicates that much latest news available in internet is from Asia region and the largest community bloggers are located in China and Japan. Not only that, much new information and news can be obtained in the network. Nowadays, social network has become one of the main materials to obtain latest news and information that occur in the country or around the world. Next, social network in employees prospective has become important. They can search information about any company for search job. Also, they can learn about the company for interview or to know what the companies do. Not only that, the human resource department in some companies can obtain information about someone before they employed through social network. This will allow them to know if the person qualified to join the company. Its easy to know about someone nowadays as there are many social networks that can allowed you to know more about them. After social networking are created with different features such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. With this new function are created that most people like to use this days. The function is that it can be simultaneously posting across different social networking. For example, if you want to post a picture in Instagram you can also post it on Facebook or Twitter or both. This will make ones life easy that you dont have to repost it many times. As we know, social network is free and everyone allowed using it but there must be something that must be control. This is for ones safety to use the social networks. For individual, internet privacy is a must. Also, if you want to share something it is up to you but dont share something that is too private. This will be dangerous and there will be negative impact. For example, dont share your personal information such as your identity card, your credit card and etc. Also, in 2012 the European Parliament has proposed about the right to be forgotten. This was a request to removed personal data from internet and from company data base. This action is a precaution to all employers and users. In social network, we cant control what people want to comment or post. But, ones must remember that there is also some etiquette. For example, dont use poor grammar or spelling as it will lead to disastrous consequences. Using harsh words also will make you look bad and people will take action to remove you as their friends. One more thing is that dont constantly asking for followers or friends. This will make people become annoyed. Not only that, filter the content that you want to post and dont post sensitive issues. As mentioned earlier we cant control what people want to post but you must be alert not to post something that are sensitive such as religion issues. For example, there are ones someone posted about religion. She said that some religion is bad and she hates the religion that she mentioned. This kind of things shouldnt happen as we are now in 21st century. In my opinion, she only does it for fun but in reality it hurts many people and it has become big issues. Video call also one of the famous social networking such as Skype. Skype is very useful for many people. It is used to call family and friends and also can see them through video call. Not only that, there are also business people or employees that using Skype for meeting. Its easy as they can have meeting at home or where ever place that they preferred. Nowadays, there are social networkings that are increasing its popularity. WhatsApp is the application used by many smarts phones user, it can send message but through the internet. With this, many people preferred to use internet rather than phones lines. But, there are also applications that are new and its popularity keep increasing that is WeChat. WeChat allowed you to send text message as well as voice message. Although WhatsApp also has the function of sending voice message but WeChat become more popular as you dont have to type out the message. According to a survey, the time that many people spend on Facebook has decreasing compare to several years back. But, this doesnt means that time that people spend in social networking is also decreasing. Nielson Media stated that the time spent in social networking is rising over the previous years. Many will think are people abandoning social network in future? With this the best answer obtained comes from Social Media Analyst and Entrepreneur Bob Zukis. They said that peoples expectations are changing. The social network must have some purpose. At first it is fun to play around with social network without any purpose but at some point it becomes board. Also, do we really want to know what everyone is doing everyday and every time? So, it has to have some obvious purpose. This is because of the absent of this purpose the behavior will cease. At first, the social network has good purpose that is to share with friends and also to keep in touch with friends that are not meet in long time. But, in reality how many people we can keep in touch with? Therefore, we need an application that can directly recruits and times to connect with others will make it more effective. So, what should we do? That is somewhat random approach we take today. This is the idea of future social network. Also, social network will continue to be used but using which social network is not the question but what we want to accomplish is the main point.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Understanding the Atkins Diet Essay -- Health Nutrition Diet Exercise

Understanding the Atkins Diet   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Atkins diet is strictly regimented with a carbohydrate controlled and protein abundant regime. It is because of the promotion of protein consumption that the Atkins diet represents significant health risks. The diet requires strict adherence to a protein rich plan in order to achieve the desired results. The potential health problems resulting from this diet could be seveer simply because too much protein raises saturated fat levels. Such levels can lead to heart disease, osteoporosis, or kidney disease. The Atkins diet is examined below in relation to these health risks in order to evaluate the damage that it represents.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Atkins diet proceeds in a set of phases. As guidance, the way these phases are presented indicates the potential for unhealthy consequences. The first phase of the Atkins diet allows the dieter to eat three meals a day. The dieter can à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“eat liberally of combinations of fat and protein in the form of poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs and red meat, as well as pure, natural fat in the form of butter, mayonnaise, olive oil, safflower, sunflower and other vegetable oils...à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ (Atkins.com). This is the only place in the diet description where animal protein consumption is addressed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second phase of the diet requires an à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“incrementally increasing of the dieterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s carbohydrate intake... and this may be as low as 25 grams or as high as 50 grams if you are exceptionally activeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ (Atkins.com). However, it is still recommended that the dieter keep protein and fat as the mainstay of the nutritional regimen. This statement does not state whether the dieter should, for example, eat extra lean turkey or ... ... tailor his/her diet in order to lose weight while maintaining a healthy level of cholesterol as well as a healthy heart and kidneys. Such guidelines, however, are clearly not within the agenda of an à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“all the meat you can eatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ dietary program.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Because there are no guidelines for protein in take, the dangers posed by over consumption of protein are ignored by the Atkins diet plan. The requirement encouraging over consumption of meat proteins clearly promotes known health risks. These health risks are widely recognized by the medical community. Avoidance of elevated levels of protein consumption is clearly an important part of a life style that is healthy for the heart, bones, and kidneys. It is more than unfortunate that the Atkins program promotes such a dangerously unbalanced diet. The healthy choice is to avoid the Atkins diet.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Outline and assess the main positions in the secularisation debate

Abstract This essay tackles the main positions of the secularisation debate. To begin with, this essay examines the ‘bottom up/demand-side’ theory of secularisation, which postulates that as societies go through the process of industrialisation, the religious values that underpin the societal fabric will inevitably erode as the citizenry become more impervious to spiritual pursuits. This essay also examines the importance of the ‘market’ approach to the theory of secularisation, arguing that the top down/supply side perspective is of fundamental significance in order to understand the persistence of religious practice in modern societies. Introduction The secularisation debate has acquired a growing influence in recent years, due to the onset of the postmodern age. Postmodernism posits that in the age of instantaneous communications and ubiquitous access to technology, rigid and fixed classifications pertaining to religion, class, gender and race have been significantly eroded. The main positions in the secularisation debate focus on two distinct approaches (Fitzgerald, 2000: 133). The first perspective that is postulated for examination relates to the ‘bottom up/demandside’ idea of secularisation. According to this view, as societies go through the process of industrialisation, the religious values that underpin the societal fabric will inevitably erode as the publics become more impervious to spiritual pursuits (Gauchet, 1999: 40). At the same time’, the ‘top down/supply side’ theory of secularisation, which highlights that the need for spirituality remains constant across national boundaries, p laces a great deal of emphasis on the role of religions institutions in maintaining adherence to theological principles. This essay will begin by charting the idea that secularisation responds to the gradual phasing out of religious values in modern societies. The second part of the essay will concentrate in the manner in which these values are permanently re-imposed on societies by religious leaders and organisation. Crucially, the second section of the essay highlights the importance of the ‘market’ approach to the theory of secularisation, arguing that the top down/supply side perspective is of fundamental significance in order to understand the persistence of religious practice in modern societies. The bottom up/demand side theory of secularisation The main view propounded by this theory of secularisation is that the advent of the scientific method and rational observation as a method to create societal improvement has shaken the theological foundations that were influential in shaping the evolution of the Western world (Gauchet, 1999: 45). The erosion of supernatural interpretations of the nature of the world has been a permanent cultural phenomenon in the Western world since the advent of the Enlightenment, with its emphasis on universal categorisation that could be subject to empirical observation and rational testability standards (Martin, 1993: 93). The rational template endorsed by industrialised societies rendered the theological claims imposed by the major religions incompatible with the needs of the existence of human collective that relied in an increasing manner on the benefits brought forward by technological advancement (Martin, 2005: 55). There was a gradual and consistent loss of religious faith in Western societ ies that ultimately resulted in the unravelling of theological practices and Church attendances (Martin, 1993: 97). In addition, this provoked a relative corrosion of the social and cultural meanings attached to religious identity, along with a move away from allegiance to political parties and organisations based on denominational values. According to this theory of secularisation, religious and scientific values are at loggerheads, with a constant undermining of Bible teachings by making reference to the Darwinian teachings put together in the theory of evolution (Martin, 1969: 25). The knowledge gained by society through scientific advancement and its application to technological improvements, coupled with the expansion of education opportunities, impacted on the cultural changes that were ushered in Western societies. It could be posited that the tenets of the Enlightenment undercut the metaphysical principles that were responsible for maintaining societal cohesion during the Middle Ages (Martin, 2005: 59). Thinkers like Max Weber stated that the onset of industrialisation and mass capitalism produced an environment of opinion conducive to reducing the idea of the supernatural to the domain of human rationality and subjected to the explanations taken from the hard sciences rather than making reference to metaphysical arguments (Gauchet, 1999: 49). The attainments made by Western societies in the sciences and the feats that took place in the realm of engineering and technology has emphasised the importance of subjecting nature to the control of man (Bruce, 2002: 59). These developments were responsible for a change of perception regarding the advent of personal tragedies and natural disasters on the part of a growing number of individuals, who started to regard those eventsin rational terms, instead of attributing them to mysterious forces outside the control of man. Accordingly, the intellectual authority held by religious ministers became just one of the sources of knowledge to be taken into account (Berger, 1969: 30). Their authority was put in direct competition with the people who displayed their professional expertise across many fields of study and who made use of the rational method. At the same time, the gradual separation between state and church that took place in many European nations and the United States, couple d with the emergence of bureaucratic apparati and modern political parties led to the discrediting of traditional religious institutions. The industrialisation of Western societies had attached to it a series of changes that impacted upon the ability of individuals to experience mystical experienced (Harris, 2005: 61). This includes the steep decline in communal life, the fragmentation between nature and man and the increased use of technology. It is worth mentioning that the interpretation put forward by Max Weber regarding the bottom up/demand side theory of secularisation is based on the effects that the Lutheran Reform and the industrial revolution had on the development of political and religious life in Western Europe and North American (Idinopulos and Wilson, 1998: 101). The idea of disenchantment with the world, as propounded by Weber, compelled individuals to seek salvation in the pursuit of material gain, hence eroding the very foundations of transcendental Christian thin king (Tremlett, 2009: 22). The growing importance of Rationalism was necessarily conducive to being sceptical about the existence of an omnipotent and omniscient God, ultimately resulting in the debunking of religion as a method of explain natural phenomena (Bruce, 2002: 67). It is also important to stress that a bottom up/demand side theory of secularisation can also be understood according the functionalist perspective underlined by Emile Durkheim (Durkheim, 1912, 1995: 73). The French sociologist identified the loss of functional purpose as one of the main reasons behind the erosion of the centrality of religion in the institutional make-up of modern societies (Norris, 2004: 130). This functionalist perspective highlights the idea that a scheme of theology does not just represent a system of beliefs about the nature of existence (Asad, 2003: 90). Instead, it is also a framework of actions concerning certain and certain rituals and symbolism that are performed to signpost the passage of time across the person’s natural lifespan (Durkheim, 1912, 1995: 30). These symbolisms were responsible for maintaining a high degree of social cohesion and stability, hence producing common goods that could be enjoyed by all members of society (Davie, 1994: 88). Conversely, the industrialisation Western European and North American societies generated the fragmentation of the social space by inducing process of technical differentiation that dispersed the sources of knowledge (Wilson, 1966: 76). The specialisation of knowledge production stripped the ecclesiastical authorities of the powers that they had in determining which epistemological approaches should be pursued and how the knowledge created was to be disseminated (McCutcheon, 2003: 119). In addition, all the charity organisations of Christian extraction that had for centuries been in charge of providing for the disenfranchised members of society were replaced by welfare states subsidised by government institutions (Bruce, 2002: 62). These events were the immediate result of the reappraisal of the role of religious doctrines and organisation. By the late nineteenth century, the doctrines and practices proposed by the Church were not deemed to be functional to the task of ensuring th e material welfare of the population (Tremlett, 2009: 19). Instead, the state had become a kind of secular god that had encroached into many areas of the lives of individuals (Berger, 1969: 147). This entailed that the role of religious institutions were strictly confined to the personal realm; in the public domain, the faith gradually ceased to become a powerful force in the shaping of the political evolution of the nation. The top up/supply side theory of secularisation The views exposed in the previous section can be juxtaposed to the perspective highlighted by the top up/supply side theory of secularisation. This perspective underlines the conditions brought about by the spread of religious freedom in contemporary societies, which led to a competitive environment in the market for religious adherents amongst theological organisations (Davie, 1994: 93). This view makes an analogy between theological organisations and business firms, all of which struggle in order to capture a growing segment of the market. The top up/supply side theory of secularisation postulates that the competition between different religious denominations has a positive impact on the preservation of religion as a vibrant force in society (Asad, 2003: 33). This approach explains the manner in which, for example, the level of religious adherence is larger in countries like the United States, where the different theological denomination are engaged in permanent competition in orde r to attract new adherents (Idinopulos and Wilson, 1998: 111). This theory puts forward the notion that an intense competition between the different denominations result in churches striving to keep a dynamic spiritual environment in their congregations, hence helping to retain the relevance of religion in their community (Harris, 2005: 58). In the United States, this has generated a situation in which the older denominations such as Lutherans, Catholics and Presbyterians are losing ground to the evangelical religious organisations. Whilst the evangelical movements demand a great deal of effort on the part of the would-be adherents, they also offer a more intense religious experience than the older denominations; which seems to be a determinant factor in attracting support for their cause (Asad, 1993: 145). Furthermore, the top up/supply side theory of secularisation posits that in cases where religious life is dominated by theological organisations that are directly subsidised by the state, the clergy seems to be less keen to engage with the community of believers, hence leading to the decay of spiritual life in their communities (Stark and Iannaccone, 1994: 232). This theoretical approach seems to replicate the idea that state-owned organisations, be them of an economic or religious nature, tend to be less innovative than private ones (Davie, 1994: 19). For example, in Northern Europe, the established Protestant churches are able to fend off the threat posed by other Christian denominations (Wilson, 1966: 58). This means that the clergy does not have to overexert itself in order to attract the attention of their would-be religious adherents (Asad, 2003: 14). Consequently, this led to a situation in which religious attendance declined in a significant manner, since the number of optio ns available in the spiritual market tends to be quite reduced (McCutcheon, 2003: 46). However, this does not explain the reasons behind the consistently high levels of religious attendance in Southern European and Latin American countries, in spite of the monopoly enjoyed by the Catholic Church (Martin, 1969: 28). It could be argued that a pluralist religious template as the basis for a high level of religious attendance represents a theoretical blueprint that can only be successfully applied to particular settings (Berger, 1969: 61). It would appear that many of the tenets espoused by this particular theory of secularisation are not based on a sound methodological framework (Harris, 2005: 55). To be sure, the idea of a competitive religious market as an instrument that allows countries to reverse religious decline can only be applied to the United States, which is a society that has traditionally been based around the development of communal life; strongly informed by religious v alues in order to connect individuals to their particular cultural and geographical setting (Asad, 1993: 66). At the same time, it has been argued that the level of religious attendance have remained quite consistent across the ages, which entails that there have been no substantial secularisation process as a result of the onset of modernity (McCutcheon, 2003: 48). In addition, it has been noted that the ‘market’ theory of religion can provide a sound basis for explaining overall trends in religious adherence (Stark, 1999: 249). In fact, in Western societies, periods of low attendance alternated with periods of higher levels of religious fervour (Idinopulos and Wilson, 1998: 98). It is therefore important to concede the possibility that the top up/supply side theory of secularisation may provide with a sound framework of reference in order to examine the level of religious adherence in across the ages (Stark, 1993: 389). It would appear that the postmodern condition do es not necessarily mar the possibility of a reconstitution of religious life along more fluid doctrinal lines (Stark, 1999: 260). This goes some way towards rebutting the assumptions put forward by the bottom up/demand side theory of secularisation (Wilson, 1966: 61). The ‘market’ interpretation of religious adherence may provide a better way of understanding the extent to which modern societies have been secularised (Wilson, 1966: 82). The dynamic interactions that take place in the social space give rise to the possibility of more fluid (and therefore more vibrant) religious denominational structures that may rehabilitate the spectrum of religious life in postmodern societies (Stark and Iannaccone, 1994: 231). It could be posited that this trend, directed from the top down and informed by a strong supply side approach borrowed from the field of economics, is ultimately a better way to understand the reasons behind the persistence of religious life in modern societies (Asad, 2003: 14). Conclusion By way of conclusion, it may be posited that the bottom up/demand side theory of secularisation provides with some interesting insights regarding the evolution of religious life in societies that have been affected by the process of industrialisation and modernisation, to be sure, the application of scientific methods of interpreting the nature of reality resulted in profound changes in the nature and extent of religious practice in Western European and North American societies (Berger, 1969: 77). The specialisation of technical knowledge production removed power from the religious authorities regarding the way in which knowledge was to be pursued, created and spread (Norris, 2004: 41). Moreover, the onset of modernisation and industrialisation gave the state a great deal of power in order to provide welfare provisions for its citizens, hence stripping the church institutions of their functional purpose (Fitzgerald, 2000: 122). Notwithstanding the validity of these arguments, they do not explain the persistence of religious attendance throughout the ages (Stark, 1993: 390). There seems to be an inherent human drive to seek the ultimate explanations of the nature of existence by referring to supernatural forces, which explains the resilience of religious practice across the ages. The postmodern condition has given rise to new forms of religious and spiritual practices that thrive thanks to the way in which they are able to utilise technology in order to fulfil their mission (Asad, 1993: 45). For all the reasons cited above, it could be concluded that the theory of secularisation fails to explain the continued interest shown by people in pursuing spiritual avenues for personal advancement; an interest that seems to be more vibrant than ever in the age of fluid doctrinal requirements for religious practice. Bibliography Asad, T. (1993) Genealogies of Religion, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD Asad, T. (2003) Formations of the Secular, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA Berger, P. (1969) The Sacred Canopy, Anchor Books, Garden City, NY Bruce, S. (2002) God is dead-Secularization in the West, Blackwell, Oxford Davie, G. (1994) Religion in Britain since 1945, Blackwell, Oxford Durkheim, E. (1912, 1995) The Elementary Formations of Religious Life, Free Press, New York, NY Fitzgerald, T. (2000) The Ideology of Religious Studies, Oxford University Press, Oxford Gauchet, M., (1999) The Disenchantment with the World, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ Harris, S. (2005) The End of Faith, Free Press, New York Idinopulos, T. and Wilson, B. (1998) What is ReligionOrigins, Definitions and Explanations, Brill, Boston Martin, D. (1993) A General Theory of Secularization, Gregg Revivals, Aldershot Martin, D., (1969) The Religious and the Secular, Routledge, London Martin, D. (2005) On Secularisation, Aldergate Publishing Company, Aldershot McCutcheon, R. (2003) The Discipline of Religion-Structure, Meaning, Rhetoric, Routledge, London Norris, P. (2004) Sacred and Secular, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Stark, R. and Iannaccone, L., A Supply Side Reinterpretation of the Secularization of Europe, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion ,Vol. 33, No. 3 (Sep., 1994), pp. 230-252 Stark, R., Europe’s Receptivity to New Religious Movements: Round Two, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Dec., 1993), pp. 389-397 Stark, R., Secularization, R.I.P. Source: Sociology of Religion, Vol. 60, No. 3, Autumn, 1999, pp. 249-273 Tremlett, P. F. (2009) Religion and the Discourse on Modernity, Continuum, New York Wilson, B. (1966) Religion in Secular Society, C. A. Watts, London

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Leadership: Theory and Practice Essay

1. Based on the principles of the path-goal theory, what kind of leadership should David exhibit with each of the three running groups? According Northouse the Path-Goal Theory is about how leaders motivate subordinates to accomplish goals (125). Northouse also points out the leadership generates motivation when it increases the number and kinds of payoffs that subordinates achieve from their work. The basic idea behind the Path-Goal Theory is each type of leader behaviors, which are directive, supportive, participative and achievement oriented have a different king of impact on subordinates’ motivation. This simply means that the Path-Goal Theory does not lock leaders into one type of leadership. This theory gives leaders the opportunity to adapt their styles to fit the situation and motivational needs of their subordinates. Based on the analysis of all three groups the Path-Goal Theory would apply different types of leadership behavior. A subordinates characteristics will determine how a leaders behavior is interpreted by subordinates in a given work situation. Some of these characteristics are needs of affiliation, preferences of structure, desires for control, and so forth. In the first group the members or subordinates are mostly runners who have never ran in a marathon before. The main issue of concern for this group is how should they prepare themselves for the New York City marathon. They illustrate this by asking questions like how to do the marathon? how far to run in the training?, What to eat or drink?. Since this particular group lacks experience there is a huge emphasis on self-preparation and high anxiety among the members. I think as president, David should apply the directive style of leadership in this situation because the task characteristics are ambiguous, there is no set of rules or method on how to execute the marathon, also the runners need self-assuring because of their self-doubt to complete the marathon and is this situation very complex. According to Northouse, directive leadership complements the work by providing guidance and psychological structure for subordinates. Overall this group needs a huge amount of guidance because of their limited experience and high emphasis on preparation. Also Northouse clarifies this when he says that for subordinates who are dogmatic and authoritarian and have to work in uncertain situations, directive leadership helps the subordinates by clarifying the goal, making it less ambiguous and the subordinate feels more comfortable when the leader provides a greater sense of certainty in the work setting (129). This in turn gives the runners less anxiety and a clear and direct way to achieve the goal. In the second group, the main issue of concern was how the effects of training would impact their performance and they also wanted assurances from their leader David because they wanted to know if they were properly trained for the New York marathon. This group of runners wanted a lot of feedback from their leader and showed high level of involvement that would affect their performance. The group was concerned with regular training activities and David’s commitment to them. In this case, David should apply the both supportive and participative leadership behavior style. Supportive leadership helps to provide what is missing by nurturing subordinates when they are engaged in tasks that are repetitive and unchallenging. Since the group two runners are going to be doing a lot of training and it can become very repetitive. In this leadership role it require David to be very supportive and his runners because of their efforts to continue this mechanized training for the marathon. Another point is the David can apply participative leadership behavior style because as we know the subordinates want a sense of freedom, control and clarity. They illustrate this by initiating their own self-involvement on how they can be more effective in the marathon by asking questions and requiring a huge amount of feedback from David. In the third group, David should apply the achievement-oriented leadership behavior because the runners in this group are seasoned runners who finished in the top ten in other races. The subordinate characteristics of this group are high expectations and the need to excel. The group has a lot of confidence in their ability to compete and finish well. However, they lacked excitement about running in the New York Event because they were usually concerned with the appropriateness of their training strategy and whether the training would help them to win more races. As a leader, David should challenge his subordinates to perform work at the highest level they can achieve. Norhthouse (2010) says that this leader establishes a high standard of excellence for subordinates and continuous improvement. Northouse also contends that achievement oriented leaders show a high degree of confidence that subordinates are capable of establishing and accomplishing challenging goals (128). In retrospect, David is the president of Mertrocity Striders Track Club and he can use this achievement as a tool to influence his runners since he knows that they are already high achievers. He can solicit his own credibility as a runner and a president of the organization to promote his belief on achieving success as a runner and person of character. 2. What does David have to do to help the runners accomplish their goals? To be an effective leader, David needs to do all of the following: (1) attend to the needs of his subordinates, (2) help subordinates define their goals, and (3) the paths they want to take in reaching the goals. 3. Are there obstacles that David can remove or help runners to confront? When obstacles get in the way, David must help his runners confront them. If obstacles create excessive uncertainty, frustration or threat for his subordinates it is David’s responsibility to remove these obstacles or help them around them. In light of this, removing obstacles will increase a subordinate’s expectation that he or she will be able to get their work done and improve satisfaction. 4. In general, how can David motivate each of the three groups? David can motivate all of the three groups by helping his subordinates reach their goals by directing, guiding and coaching them along the way. This simply means attending to their needs of the group, defining the goals and how the group can reach these goals, clearing the path by removing obstacles to get the work done, and providing support.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

William Faulkners Spotted Horses And Mule In The Essays - Fiction

William Faulkner's Spotted Horses And Mule In The Essays - Fiction William Faulkner's Spotted Horses And Mule In The Yard William Faulkners Spotted Horses and Mule in the Yard Lei Szabados March 16, 1999 UCONN English 109 Mrs. Drescher Spotted Horses and Mule in the Yard are two short stories by William Faulkner that deal with comedic animal chases. Although both provide entertaining examples of Faulkners work in very similar settings, on the scale of literary value, Spotted Horses rises above Mule in the Yard in depth and insight. This superiority is result of both its narrative style and character development, which causes Spotted Horses to produce an overall more powerful effect than Mule in the Yard. The most notable and important difference between the two stories is the contrasting narrative style. In Spotted Horses, the story is told in first person point of view by a narrator who observes the major events of the story but is involved in only a minor fashion. His narration provides the audience with a look at the town and its inhabitants through the eyes of someone living in the county of Mississippi. This adds a realistic dimension to the image of the story. It is also through this narrative style that Faulkner weaves humor into Spotted Horses. The narrator shows the story in a comic light simply through his words right from the introductory paragraph. For example, the audience is introduced immediately with a casual Yes, sir. Flem Snopes has filled that whole country full of spotted horses. You can hear folks running them all day and night, whooping and hollering, and the horses running back and forth across those little wooden bridges ever now and then kind of like thunder. (349) In contrast, Mule in the Yard is told in the objective viewpoint. With this type of information, the reader can only observe what is seen and heard. Therefore, it follows that the reader must infer everything about the characters and their motivations from only their actions and dialogue. Faulkner weaves humor into the story through the distinct dialogue and ironic situations that occur in Mule in the Yard. For example, in the opening scene, Mrs. Hait and old Het are chasing a mule out of their yard. If the reader imagines the scene that Faulkner writes about with old Hetwaving a shopping bag. [Yelling] Hoo! [As] Mrs. Hait whirled. Again she skidded savagely on the greasy planks as she and the mule rushed parallel with one another (364), there is definitely humor within it. Yet, the humor is not as effective as it is in Spotted Horses where it is a part of the entire tone of the story, not only in the situations but also with the interior involvement of the narrator and his i nteraction with the characters. Because the narrator in Spotted Horses is experiencing the scene where the action is taking place, the reader receives a richer understanding of the characters. It is almost as if the reader might know the characters personally. Importantly, Spotted Horses deals with several more characters than Mule in the Yard, which only has three significant characters. These characters are defined only by their actions through the objective narration. Mrs. Hait is described as an independent woman who wears a calico wrapper and a sweater coat, and a mans felt hat which they knew had belonged to her ten years dead husband (364) and brand new high mans shoes with buttons and toes like tulip bulbs. (364) The audience can only infer that she does not fear the mule based on her several confrontations with him as well as the way in which she refers to it as Them sons of bitches. (364) The author can not tell the audience why she wears what she does or why she has such a motivation to get rid of the mu le besides that he is a nuisance, and there is not enough development in the story to infer definitely what Faulkner intends. This is also seen in the character of old Het, who is described as a tall gangly old black woman personified by a stereotypical southern black dialect. This is seen as she addresses Mr. Snopes in town one day. She says to him, Miz Mannie gimme dis to give you, I wuz just on

Monday, October 21, 2019

Molecules Shine Individually on Camera Essays

Molecules Shine Individually on Camera Essays Molecules Shine Individually on Camera Essay Molecules Shine Individually on Camera Essay In a scientific discipline intelligence article by the Department of Energy. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. an advanced find on a certain combination of technique for analyzing single molecules undergoing reactions was presented. The article entitled Electron Give-and-take Lets Molecules Shine Individually on Camera was really adopted from an article in the journal Chemical Communications by Chenghong Lei and Dehong Hu. The original rubric of the diary article was Single-molecule Fluorescence Spectroelectrochemistry of Cresyl Violet. Basically. the article reports a new technique of analyzing the negatron transportation reactions of molecules. Through the usage of the new combination of techniques. scientists have found a manner of sing single molecules as the reaction returns which was traditionally impossible. Due to this discovery. scientists can now carry on further research to modify and even make proteins that possesses maximal reaction rates which could bring forth more energy than their opposite numbers ( DOE 2008 ) . Electron transportation reactions are important in the vitalizing procedures that occur in workss and animate beings. They are responsible in bring forthing energy every bit good as prolonging the life of an being such as in photosynthesis. To understand how such negatron transportation reactions occur. it is possible that chemists and applied scientists can happen ways on how to animate such maximum energy coevals which is typical of nature’s negatron transportation reactions ( DOE 2008 ) . In visible radiation of these attempts. there have been several techniques of detecting the mechanisms behind the reactions of biomolecules. One of these techniques is fluorescence spectroelectrochemistry. However. although fluorescence has been of great aid in the field of chemical science. like other traditional techniques it merely allows for the observation and analysis of majority molecules. Therefore. in hunt for a method of analysing single molecules. scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Library have devised an instrument wherein the power of making electric Fieldss to originate reactions and that of concentrating into a individual molecule was developed ( DOE 2008 ) . This was successfully done by uniting fluorescence spectroelectrochemistry with that of single-molecule fluorescence microscope. Using the new instrument. scientists so studied negatron transportation reactions in single instances. They have found that although bulk of the molecules undergo negatron transportation reactions. there are some single molecules that contradict the manner other molecules behave. Upon fluorescence utilizing cresyl violet dye. some molecules that should hold been lit were non while upon taking the electric current. some molecules continued to give of fluorescence where they should hold blinked off ( DOE 2008 ) . Such discovery therefore history for the bomber maximal energy coevals of some reactions that occur. Using the same instrument. scientists can now happen out why these peculiar molecules behave in such a manner. To command the reactions could so be a great advantage for many of our chemists ( DOE ) . Further surveies are now being conducted to accomplish this end. The merger of two of import instruments used in chemical science and microbiology was really a fresh part to both Fieldss. Basically. fluorescence spectroelectrochemistry is a technique used by chemists to pull strings reactions in their survey of the mechanisms molecules follow whereas single-molecule fluorescence microscopy is employed in microbiology for the survey of fluorescent micro-organisms. By uniting the two techniques. new research ventures can now be accomplished both in the Fieldss of chemical science and microbiology. Furthermore. the advanced instrument has someway created a span between the two Fieldss of scientific discipline. one of which is chiefly concerned with the minute elements of the abiotic universe while the other is concerned with the minute elements of the biotic universe. The information about the new combination of instrument is rather utile. Having learned of this new setup. it is so possible that future enterprises that might be undertaken by the readers employ the usage of the device. Furthermore. the informations obtained from the negatron transportation reactions up near is an first-class account of why molecules generate as much energy merely as they are able to. The program of scientists to spread out the survey is besides really interesting since it will clear up why molecules behave the manner they do. The reader could state that the information is converting every bit good as organized. Although there are no elaborate descriptions of the consequences of the survey. the presentation of the valuable results is meaningful and dependable. This is due to the fact that the article is an version of a dependable diary article. However. it would hold been more piquant if the scientists include some informations tabular arraies. graphs or images on the behaviour of the single molecules that were studied alternatively of generalising the information presentation. The article is extremely recommended to people in the field of biofuels research. As has been mentioned in the article. if applied scientists will happen out how to command the behaviour of molecules during negatron transportation reactions. they may increase the energy generated by biofuels by using the maximal bound of each single molecule ( DOE 2008 ) . By making so. applied scientists will obtain a big sum of energy with the least natural merchandise input increasing efficiency and production every bit good as take downing costs and disbursals. Mentions DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. ( 2008. September 24 ) . Electron Give-and-take Lets Molecules Shine Individually on Camera. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 27. 2008. from http//www. sciencedaily. com/releases/2008/09/080925094. htm.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Ap English Free-Response Questions Essay

John Downed writes a letter to his wife Jukes from the United States to England. Downers purpose in the letter is to persuade his wife Jukes into coming to America. He adopts an objective tone in order to glorify America in his letter to Jukes using ambiguity, repetition, and pathos. Downed begins his letter to Jukes by describing the incredibility of what America has given him. He then shifts to pathos when he begins using repetition. He appeals to repetition by repeating my dear when addressing Jukes. He does this in order to emphasize his feelings awards his wife through his writing. When Downed moves to pathos, he uses guilt to persuade her. He describes that without her and the family he couldnt be happy, but if they were to come and Join him he could be happy again. He does this in order to motivate her into coming. Keys husband then opens the letter by loosely describing the crossing of Atlantic. He states that [she] will find a few inconveniences, and that after she has made the Journey over he knows It will be worth it all because he feels that she will like America.He does this in order to glorify America and not focus on any negatives because his goal to persuade her. If he was to tell her fully what the cross would be like, she would not wish to go, and thus defeating Downers purpose. He wants her to believe that America is a good place, so he coaxed her into coming by creating America into something superb instead of the truth. He told her that America Is not like England, thus making it seems America is a better place. Jukes would have no other choice, but to come to America and see her husband.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Nature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nature - Essay Example Such is the case for the two stories examined here. As it is well known in literary circles, not everything that the writer intends to tell is told directly. Some messages are indirectly conveyed. Such is the case with these two stories – Stephen Crane’s â€Å"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets† and â€Å"The Open Boat.† Before one starts to make any point about these two stories, it must be emphasized that there is really no story which nature is not inherent. No matter where the physical setting of any story is, it would also be within the confines of nature. Hence, one must mention that one of the most significant scenes in â€Å"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets† is set by the edge of a river. This is where the â€Å"huge fat man† Maggie eventually takes her. The scene is important because it is where Maggie is believed to have lost her life (Crane 36). Similarly, the setting of â€Å"The Open Boat† is a ship on the seas. Like in â€Å"Mag gie: A Girl of the Streets†, the setting again has something to do with water (nature) (Crane 189). The only difference is that this time, water is not only a symbol; it may also be interpreted to directly affect the lives of the human race. One gets to learn that in life, we all undergo certain issues from time to time, and we, not others, are the best to help ourselves out. Nature would remain fair to all. Whenever one discovers the level to which some persons lack the milk of human kindness, one is often amazed. This most time makes one to just re-examine one’s life and the ethos which one has imbued over time. For instance in â€Å"Maggie: A Girl of the Streets†, one cannot but wonder why it seems that characters like Jimmie and Blue Billie just seem to be so bellicose that they desire to be in a brawl at the slightest provocation (Crane 13). At such times when the bellicosity of these characters is at its peak, one also wonders if they ever had elderly ones to direct them. It is very obvious that Jimmie had someone who is in the place to put him through the best way to behave in the society. But from the look of things, it is either that they were never taught or that he rejected what they were taught. From what one discovers in the story, what may turn out to be third possibility is very unlikely. This third possibility is that the parents themselves do not possess strong moral standings to be able to teach their children the ethos which they need to know. The same thing applies to â€Å"The Open Boat.† Everyone is supposed to have been brought up in such a way that would be able discern when a person is seriously in need of their help or not. In the case of the people whom the shipwrecked men appeal to come for their help, they were simply unable to discern when people seriously need their help and when they don’t. Besides the fact that one, as a reader, is taught indirectly to learn from the bad examples of some charac ters, one is to learn not to tow their way. While readers learn from the flaws of some of these characters, some emotions are evoked in them. In the long run, these are the emotions that would come to play in stopping from taking the wrong decisions in life. One other feature which one learns from the two stories is that, no matter how much one tries to cover up the truth, it would eventually come out. One also discovers that one’s true characters only come to the fore when facing some trying times. For example, in â€Å"

Policing and HRA 1998 (UK Law) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Policing and HRA 1998 (UK Law) - Essay Example There are sixteen basic rights in the human rights act, all taken from the European convention of human rights. The main effects of the Human Rights Act, 1998 are thresholds.2 First, when deciding cases before them, all courts and tribunals are required to take into account the conventions, as well as the decisions made by the institutions.3 Secondly, the national courts should read, if possible, the primary and secondary legislation in a manner, which is compatible with the conventions. Thirdly, public authorities are under a duty to act in accordance with convention failure, which results into civil action being taken against them. Generally, the main purpose of this convention was to proclaim a series of universal human rights which militate against the repetition of those events which had caused such immeasurable suffering. All public officials, including the police, have an obligation to respect and act according to the convention rights.4 Acting in such a way to contravene or go against these laws is unlawful and the citizens can raise any inappropriate act before the UK court or tribunal.5 The statements in this convention have to be contained within its articles which are augmented in its protocols which have been added since its formulation. In this paper, we shall look at how the various articles in the human right act have affected the police practice in crime investigation. A person has a right to have their life protected by the law.6 No one shall be deprived of his life. The act outlaws the death sentence in the United Kingdom. There are only limited circumstances where one can take away another’s life, like for self-defense. The police are therefore, expected to be very careful when carrying out an investigation because any act that may result to the death of the criminal is not justifiable under the law. A police is not supposed to end a person’s life by use of excess force even if he is defending the person from unlawful act,

Research methods in the social scinces Assignment

Research methods in the social scinces - Assignment Example The researcher states that he term brute means â€Å"criminal.†3 The researcher even states that these images are very hard to change even if the African American society members try their best to operate in an opposite manner to the way they are depicted. In order to conduct this study, information regarding those prisoners who were released from different jails of the region of Florida was obtained and a questionnaire was used to identify the factors related to the returning offenders. The questionnaire comprised of several factors including the age as well as the gender of the inmate. The researchers identified that probability of inmates returning back to jail was â€Å"33.9%.†5 The researchers further identified that the leading factors that were closely related to the increase in recidivism rate were â€Å"serious crime in inmate history and custody.†6 The researcher states that the data for this research was collected through the means of a â€Å"telephone survey.†7 The collected data was interpreted by the researchers in order to identify the changes in the public opinion regarding the changes in the climatic conditions. The researcher even used the data to interpret whether these changes in opinion occur due to changes in season or not. For this purpose, previous year’s data was compared to recent data. The data was collected in a primary manner as the researchers directly contacted the sample through phone calls in order to obtain their responses for a questionnaire. The researcher states that the data was collected through â€Å"individual household.†8 The researcher states that â€Å"65% of Americans reported that there is solid evidence of climate change.†9 Furthermore the researchers figured out that 26% of the surveyed population did not believe that the earth was becoming warmer. Borick, Christopher, And Barry Rabe. (2012). Fall 201 1 National Survey Of American Public Opinion On Climate Change. Brooking - Quality.

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Zara Marketing Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Zara Marketing Plan - Essay Example From this discussion it is clear that the company responds quickly and more efficiently to customers demand in the market and in so doing, Zara has remained in the forefront in delivering the latest fashion to customers at a fair price in locations like Paris and New York. Zara operates in more than 77 countries since 1990’s, a business that has grown from 6 stores in the year 1979. Later, several retail operations stores sprout up in major Spanish cities before going global as from 1988. The expansion of its market shows the growth in size, production and customer demand. To ensure sustainability in the market and satisfaction of customers, the company invests in innovation and creativity to enhance the introduction of new brands which targets different segments of customers in the market such as the â€Å"Pull & Bear†, â€Å"Massimo Dutti†, and the â€Å"Bershka†.This paper stresses that  the ability to identify the consumers in need of the latest fash ion and international brands has been the drive towards international growth. This presents Zara to other large competitors in the market such as Victoria’s Secret and GAP as well as from new entrants. The highly targeted market is women as they account for 60% of the company sales. In display, management saw to it that products were mixed from skirts, shirts, to pants; a move that enabled customers to get and buy, unique-well combined outfits.... In display, management saw to it that products were mixed from skirts, shirts, to pants; a move that enabled customers to get and buy, unique-well combined outfits. The firm has experienced exponential growth while employing its flexible and high-speed business model as this has enabled the sales to increase from $8.15 billion in 2006 to $17.2 billion in 2011. This is facilitated by the continual global expansion of its market as this has the company to open branches in 77 countries with over 4000 overall stores globally (Hansen 12). Analysis of issues The major issues facing Zara includes maintaining a strong and effective customer care, optimization of the high development and training cost as well as maintenance of the company’s ability of effectively responding to market needs. The production system of Zara is more flexible; hence, this calls for an efficient distribution system, fast supply chain and commitment of employees. Moreover, the new breed of shoppers calls for a new variety, freshness and loyalty. The brand should be able to serve the increased demand from a more educated and savvy consumers who demand more choices (Lynn et al 3). The major market comprises of full bodied women who are full size. Clothes are produced that will fit them properly so as to enhance their beauty. This market segment is more conscious on their looks and they enjoy shopping as they are hectic of socializing lifestyles. In essence, attention is laid on the plus size ladies aged 18-40 who work in big cities with mid range level of income or those in pursuit of higher levels of education. Customer service is an important tool in marketing and promotion. The company focused heavily on training of its sales team so as they may serve customers more effectively.

Three part assingement Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Three part assingement - Research Paper Example That notation provided by the program is often readily understandable among the management personnel, developers, and analysts. The main initial aim was to reduce the communication gaps that usually exist among various organizational departments or within enterprises. Moreover, it helps to ensure that Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents are designed for the execution by diverse business processes and such processes must remain visualized within the common notations. The diagrams that are developed through the BPMN programs are often assembled from sets of core elements; hence, making it easy for non-technical and technical observers to evaluate and understand the process involved in any given management process. These underlying core or primary elements are often categorized into three main groups known as the flow object, swimlanes, and connecting objects. The flow objects are geometric figures including rectangles, circles, and diamonds that usually denote specific event and activities (Brocke and Rosemann, 2010). These elements in the flow objects are often interconnected with connecting objects that usually appear as dashes, solid, or dotted lines that sometimes include arrows that show process direction. On the hand, swimlanes are geometric signs that resemble lane lines that are found in the Olympic swimming pool bottom. They are often denoted as straight lines that usually run lengthwise in the rectangle marked or known as pool. The main function of the swimlanes is to organize the diverse flow of objects into categories of similar functionality (Brocke and Rosemann, 2010). Regardless of diverse properties of the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), it main function aims at simplifying the understanding of numerous and varied business processes. Question 2 Challenges Numerous businesses often face series of challenges especially when undergoing any form of organizational change since the business process improvement for businesses is sometim es inefficient. Nearly all the management process change often experiences a push back that might emerge through forms and criteria including prioritizing the work (Halpin, Selmin, Soffer, and Proper, 2011). The prioritizing the work often emerges when there are multiple opportunities thereby making it difficult for the management to identify the most vital opportunity to undertake. Additionally, the business may experience the avoiding scope creep as a challenge during an organizational process change. This often occurs when the change team veers away from the main or initial focus of the change being initiated. The management may also experience the getting engaged challenge. This often occurs when BPI has sponsored processes that in actual sense does not exist (Halpin, Selmin, Soffer, and Proper, 2011). There are numerous challenges that are often experienced by organizations when they are initiating or rolling changes in the organization or in an organizational process; therefor e, the change team must determine and analyze the possible challenges towards effective change initiation and implementation. How Information Systems Support Business Process The circulation of information is quite vital for the operation and management of business processes. The computer based type of management information system often aims at reducing cost and increasing organizational information processing capabilities (Halpin, Selmin,

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Researches shows that the average Americans watches as much as 6 hours Essay

Researches shows that the average Americans watches as much as 6 hours of television each day, do you think this is too much Wr - Essay Example Since many people especially the youth prefer watching episodes that have violence, this source of entertainment has a negative effect on how they view violence in society. According to Sheppard, an American child sees up to eight thousand murders before completing elementary school, which translates to about 200,000 violent acts by the time that child, is eighteen. There is also a scientific connection between watching violent movies and violence in real life where scientists have confirmed that there is a relation between watching aggressive acts and performing such acts in real life. Therefore, although television is an entertainment source, watching it for a long time has becomes bad when one begins imitating what they have seen on television. Those who argue that television is a good source of relieving stress claim that it enables them to forget the problems they have in life and be able to enjoy themselves. Those with this view clam that television does not only entertain, but it also offers them a chance to find something to laugh about after they have encountered a stressful day in their regular activities. However, this cannot be true since instead of relieving the stress one has, television creates a distraction where you are transferred from the realities of life to a world of fantasy and imaginations. What is presented to the viewer is mere acting that makes you forget the problems for a while but they are still there. According to Blesi, Wise, and Kelley-Arney (74) watching television is part of withdrawal behavior where an individual avoids dealing with an issue that is related to a painful or difficult situation. This implies that those who watch television for a long period are escapists who do not want to deal with the realities that come with their real life and instead choose to watch programs on television some of which presents ideal situations where everything is okay and people are happy. Such individuals will not give themselves a chanc e to go past the issue that is stressing them since they sped the time for self-reflections on television instead of spending such time analyzing the situation as it is and proactively coming up with possible solutions. Although those who watch television for long hours claim that it’s a leisure activity or among their hobbies, watching television wastes time as a person stays for a long time glued to the television set. Long hours of television viewing prevent an individual from engaging in other processes that will add more benefits. According to Sheppard (106), an average of six hours and forty-seven minutes are spent watching television daily in USA which translate to those of age sixty five having spent up to nine years watching television. Nine years can be spent doing many important things in life. One can earn a lot of money if engaged in economic activities. The time could also be spent undertaking an educational or vocational training that will be more beneficial to the individual as opposed to spending that time watching television. Although it true that watching television is a leisure activity, spending many hours on the sofa set can cause weight gain. Edelstein and Sharlin (91) notes television contributes to weight gain since it reduces physical activities, increases calories as one consumes more and the level of resting metabolism is low for such individuals. According to Nonas and Foster

Three part assingement Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Three part assingement - Research Paper Example That notation provided by the program is often readily understandable among the management personnel, developers, and analysts. The main initial aim was to reduce the communication gaps that usually exist among various organizational departments or within enterprises. Moreover, it helps to ensure that Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents are designed for the execution by diverse business processes and such processes must remain visualized within the common notations. The diagrams that are developed through the BPMN programs are often assembled from sets of core elements; hence, making it easy for non-technical and technical observers to evaluate and understand the process involved in any given management process. These underlying core or primary elements are often categorized into three main groups known as the flow object, swimlanes, and connecting objects. The flow objects are geometric figures including rectangles, circles, and diamonds that usually denote specific event and activities (Brocke and Rosemann, 2010). These elements in the flow objects are often interconnected with connecting objects that usually appear as dashes, solid, or dotted lines that sometimes include arrows that show process direction. On the hand, swimlanes are geometric signs that resemble lane lines that are found in the Olympic swimming pool bottom. They are often denoted as straight lines that usually run lengthwise in the rectangle marked or known as pool. The main function of the swimlanes is to organize the diverse flow of objects into categories of similar functionality (Brocke and Rosemann, 2010). Regardless of diverse properties of the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), it main function aims at simplifying the understanding of numerous and varied business processes. Question 2 Challenges Numerous businesses often face series of challenges especially when undergoing any form of organizational change since the business process improvement for businesses is sometim es inefficient. Nearly all the management process change often experiences a push back that might emerge through forms and criteria including prioritizing the work (Halpin, Selmin, Soffer, and Proper, 2011). The prioritizing the work often emerges when there are multiple opportunities thereby making it difficult for the management to identify the most vital opportunity to undertake. Additionally, the business may experience the avoiding scope creep as a challenge during an organizational process change. This often occurs when the change team veers away from the main or initial focus of the change being initiated. The management may also experience the getting engaged challenge. This often occurs when BPI has sponsored processes that in actual sense does not exist (Halpin, Selmin, Soffer, and Proper, 2011). There are numerous challenges that are often experienced by organizations when they are initiating or rolling changes in the organization or in an organizational process; therefor e, the change team must determine and analyze the possible challenges towards effective change initiation and implementation. How Information Systems Support Business Process The circulation of information is quite vital for the operation and management of business processes. The computer based type of management information system often aims at reducing cost and increasing organizational information processing capabilities (Halpin, Selmin,

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Capital from profit Essay Example for Free

Capital from profit Essay Describe the sources of internal and external finance, available to Barneys business.  There are two main ways that business can access financial resources:  1. Internal sources ( within the business)  This is the money you can get within the business:  Owners savings- I believe Barney has some money for himself if he is thinking to start a new business, because its the owners who are often invest in their company to cover the setting up costs. It might be the only source they available immediately for them as for sole traders like Barney, banks or other financial institution unlikely to offer a loan as there is too much risk involved, and if you have that kind of money it is really good for the business as you will not have to pay it back by monthly or pay an interest. Capital from profit- this will become available after the business set up and operating. Once they have run for certain time, they may make some profit to invest into the business to run or buy more stock or buy new machinery to grow the business  2. External sources (outside the business)  There are number of different external sources that business can get money from to help them to set up or invest in. Banks- they can offer loans, overdrafts and business account to businesses but you will have to have a good business plan to get it. Loans are not easy to get and might not be a good option for small business as you must pay it back with interest in certain amount of time and if the company goes down the owner will end up with huge debt. The choice I would suggest is the overdraft for him as it is flexible and you wont have to pay a penny unless it is used, there are some banks who offer interest free overdraft, if you can get it will be a win! Friends/Family- you can always seek for help from your friends and families and you can even offer them a share for return of their investment or just borrow some money from them to put towards the business if they are nice enough. I would say it is the best option of borrowing money as you dont pay interest and it is your family they will not give you to court unless you run with their money. Government grants- these are available from the EU, national/local government. A grant is money you can receive as a business man; a good thing about it is that you dont have to pay it back. If Barney falls under the age group of 18-30 he can get a low interest loan from Princes Trust.  (a) The purpose of budgets, and how they can be used to monitor and control the performance of Barneys business, including, the monitoring of actual performance against budget and the use of variance analysis. Budget is a written plan with spending which will occur and a revenue that is need in the future to cover these costs. The purpose of it is it gives you clear understanding of what to expect to spend/receive in the future (coming year) to prevent or act any crisis before it happens. It also can be used as a communication between the employees to understand the objectives of the business and work towards it. For owners they can see how well their managers managing the budget plan and performance of them.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Capital budgeting techniques: Sensitivity and Scenario analysis

Capital budgeting techniques: Sensitivity and Scenario analysis Graphically show and explain the following terms, how you could link them to capital budgeting techniques in your decision making (1000 words) Sensitivity analysis Scenario analysis Sensitivity Analysis Sensitivity analysis is a ‘what if’ tool that examines the effect of increase or decrease in a company’s net profit. Sensitivity analysis can help in answering question like ‘What would be the forecasted net income if sales are increased or decreased by 30%, 20% or 10%. Sensitivity analysis is frequently used in capital budgeting for determining how sensitive an NPV analysis is to changes in variable assumptions. While conducting analysis, each variable is fixed except one and by changing this one variable, the effect on NPV or IRR can be viewed. The first step in performing a sensitivity analysis is building a base case scenario. This is typically the NPV using assumptions which are believed to be accurate. From this point various assumptions can be changed which had initially been based on potential assumptions. NPV is then recalculated and the sensitivity of NPV based on the change in assumptions is determined. Scenario Analysis Scenario analysis is a process of analysing decisions by considering alternative possible outcomes. Scenario analysis is designed to see the consequences of an action under different set of factors. Scenario analysis takes sensitivity analysis a step further. Rather than just looking at the sensitivity of the NPV analysis to changes in the variable assumptions, scenario analysis also looks at the probability distribution of the variables. Like sensitivity analysis, scenario analysis starts with the construction of a base case scenario. From there other scenarios are considered known as the ‘best case’ and ‘worst case’ scenario. Probabilities are assigned to the scenarios and computed to arrive at an expected value. Capital Budgeting and Use of Sensitivity and Scenario Analysis Capital budgeting is the process of analysing a company’s investment decisions such as investing in new equipment, machineries, plants, projects and products. This process involves the estimation of the expected cash flows, the calculation of the Net Present Value (NPV) and the calculation of the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of the investment. NPV is defined as the present value of all cash inflows minus the present value of all cash outflows. If NPV is positive, the investment is making money and is thus viable. IRR is defined as the discount rate that makes the NPV zero. If IRR is greater than the opportunity cost of capital then the investment is feasible. There are two obstacles involved in the capital budgeting process. One involves the correct estimation of expected cash flow. The other is the use of correct discount rate also known as the project cost of capital. Capital budgeting is by definition, forward looking. When dealing with expected resources and demands, uncertainty is a major factor. Sensitivity analysis is a statistical tool that determines how consequential deviations from the expected value occur. Capital Budgeting example XYZ Water Filtration Plant needs to construct a new water filtration plant to filter 20 million litre water and deliver to consumers. An assessment should be carried out to evaluate the economics of the project and determine which parameter is sensitive to investment value, also to establish a sales price. Market price of water is $4 $5 per litre therefore, four different water price scenarios would need to be analysed to reach the best economic parameter, they are: $4, $4.25, $4.5 and $4.75. The selection criteria would be based on: NPV Cost of Capital 15% IRR Analysis and Comparison of Alternatives Preliminary data and estimation Table 1: Project Information Table 2: Baseline Cash flow calculation Baseline cash flow and NPV are calculated as follows: Table 3: Sensitivity Analysis Calculation In sensitivity analysis, each variable is changed one at a time to analyse its impact on the end result. In this case the impact of 10% increase or decrease in revenue, capital investment and operational cost is considered on the NPV. From table 3, a sensitivity graph can be plotted as follows: Based on above sensitivity analysis, it is evident that the revenue by terms of price is the main variable that is affecting NPV. Hence the economic optimization and evaluation will be based on parameter water price. Using formula in the spreadsheet, following can be obtained: Table 4: Water Sales Price Scenario Selection of preferred alternative From table 4, we can conclude that best scenario is at water price $4.74 per litre, refer to criteria NPV, IRR and Payout Time. Then the project is worth doing, with the water price $4.75 per litre resulting NPV>0, IRR>MARR and payout time less than five years. Benefits of using Sensitivity Analysis Sensitivity and scenario analysis in useful in capital budgeting techniques for a number of reasons, including: It supports decision making or the development of recommendations for decision makers such as testing the robustness of a result. Financial model makers can effectively communicate with the decision makers for example, by making recommendations more credible, understandable and compelling. Increases understanding of relationships between input and output variables. It helps the investor to maintain their risk comfort level. Once projections are made concerning a specific investment, it can be decided whether risk should be taken for the worst case scenario. SOURCE http://businessplanhut.com/what-sensitivity-analysis-example-and-components-involved Source: Boundless. â€Å"Scenario Analysis.† Boundless Finance. Boundless, 03 Jul. 2014. Retrieved 27 Apr. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/finance/textbooks/boundless-finance-textbook/the-role-of-risk-in-capital-budgeting-12/scenario-and-simulation-assessments-99/scenario-analysis-427-7232/ http://www.assakkaf.com/courses/ence 627/lectures/chapter5.pdf http://www.spreadsheetml.com/finance/capitalbudgeting.shtml http://www.slideshare.net/ranasingh0820/sensitivity-amp-scenario-analysis https://kristal2011aace.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/w2_adi_the-gas-plant/#comments

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Haiti :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Caribbean Islands are one of the most traveled to place in the world. One of these islands in the Caribbean Sea is the island of Hispano, which is both the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This country has a recorded history of about 552 years. They also have special culture. The general facts, past history, and culture all effect the ways of this country.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The country of Haiti is located in the Caribbean Sea, which is just south of the Gulf of Mexico. The Caribbean Sea is home to a lot of the world’s island. The capital is Port-au-Prince, which is located in the middle of the country right next to Golfe de la Gonave. The whole county is about 10,700 square miles. It contains an estimated 6,867,995 people, this is about 642 people per square mile. This is actually quite dense considering that the United States has about 76 people per square mile.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The country of Haiti culture is very much like the French. In fact Haiti is the only Latin American country where the culture is French. The first language is French, but another common language that is spoken there is Creole. Many of the people speak Creole because the French settlers introduced it. Creole is a mix of French and the native language that was spoken on the island. Ninety-five percent of the people of Haiti come from an African decent. The religion consists of eighty percent Roman Catholic, sixteen percent Protestant, and ninety five percent Voodoo.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Between the years of 1492 to the present day a lot of historical events have occurred. The first time the country of Haiti fell under European rule was when Christopher Columbus first set foot on it putting it under the rule of the Spanish. Then after, many revolts, in 1804 Haiti successfully became an independent country by passing a law stating its freedom. It was very much like when the United States of America declared its independence from Great Britain with the Declaration of Independence. From 1915-1934 US Marines occupied the country. This resulted in the population to go up which also made the country more dense. In 1949 the democratic rule was turned into a dictatorship. Then in 1991 there was the first elected chief brought into office. His name was Jean-Bertrand Aristide; he won 67% of the votes. Then his close friend and former Prime Minister Renà © Preval succeeded him in 1995.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Aspire...To Be More Than Youre Worth Essay -- Literary Analysis

Multiple readings took place during the postmodern time period; they described ideas ranging from conceptual frameworks and ideologies to science and realism. The novel took place during the postmodernism era, yet it still strongly relates to today’s society. How humans interact with one another plays a huge role throughout this novel as; Camus exemplifies a haunting nineteenth century postmodern novel that expresses human emotions through his characters; making The Stranger one of the greatest pieces of literature for generations to come. Before writing his novel, The Stranger, Albert Camus became experienced in writing. The French novelist â€Å"†¦was born in Mondovi, Algeria, and was educated at the University of Algiers† (Olafson 1). After studying theater, Camus soon came to the realization he wanted to become a novelist. During the first few months out of college, Camus â€Å"†¦was active writing and producing plays for a theater group he had founded in Algiers. About the same time he began his career as a journalist, and in 1940 he moved to Paris† (Olafson 1). Producing plays set a respectable background for Camus; as this led him to become an improved writer and produce novels as well. Albert Camus began his literary frame â€Å"†¦in 1942 [with his first] novel, L’etranger (The Stranger)† (Olafson 1). This novel was one of Camus’s more famous pieces of work; it describes human battles as well as their aspirations. Throughout The Stranger, Camus uses worl d views of well-known philosophers; even â€Å"Though he was baptized, raised, and educated as a Catholic and invariably respectful towards the Church, Camus seems to have been a natural-born pagan†; therefore, the development of Christian literature and philosophy helped influence Cam... ...e Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 May 2012. "Postmodernism." International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. Ed. William A. Darity, Jr. 2nd ed. Vol. 6. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2008. 395-397. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 May 2012. Boucher, Jean-Yves. "Camus, Albert." Macmillan Encyclopedia of Death and Dying. Ed. Robert Kastenbaum. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2002. 87-88. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 May 2012. Camus, Albert. The Stranger. United Kingdom: Vintage International Books, 1988. Print. Danesi, Marcel. "Postmodernism." Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Ethics. Ed. Carl Mitcham. Vol. 3. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 1462-1464. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 2 May 2012. Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski and Deborah A. Stanley. Vol. 6. Detroit: Gale, 1999. p276-296.