Article by robert wright Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Article by robert wright - Essay Example The dominant culture to occupy the world as a standard mode of carrying activities has been the bone of contention in this area. Wright on his view states that the Americans have been on the fore run of ensuring that their values are appreciated all over the world. On the other hand, this has initiated reactions in different parts of the world leading to attacks such as terrorism (Wright, 2). This has been realized in the recent past with increases attacks on America. The attacks include organized terror groups who target America in the effort to kill their dominant position in the world. In the process there have been challenges in handling terror group and rebellious countries as evident with Iran. Iraqi had organized terror groups that looked into putting down the American domination efforts. Considering this it is worth noting that America has had difficult time in doing away with such groups despite it being a super power. Dealing with Iraqi in the war had to take lots of efforts and technology as the Americans also suffered losses during the terror attacks executed by the Saddam led group. Both Kaplan and Wright apply the historical occurrences that have determined the progress and behavior of the various dominating powers. By this, Americans have been viewed as those who lead in ideologies and principles followed by most parts of the world. On the same note, they bring in Christianity as the religion that seeks to dominate the world originating from the west, especially America. The recognition of Christianity as the religion to be adopted right from the historical perspective defines it all. Both Kaplan and Wright puts it on the perspective that globalization has been a historically linked event that is still to be towed. Generation after generation keeps applying their efforts towards ensuring that the whole world follows a given form of operation.

Sound Leadership Essay Example for Free

Sound Leadership Essay The focus of leadership and the dynamics that make up sound leadership drives our day to day interaction in a continuous revolving world of business. Sound leadership is the core of every organization and solving its problems. Understanding leadership, its purpose, and dynamics enables executives to solve problems and maintain a competitive edge in a continuously changing business environment. In order to address the strategic implications that organizational behaviors have on leadership, justify the business needs of leadership, and codify the implications leadership has on organizational behaviors this paper will focus on the definition of different leadership styles and processes, how they relate to organizational behaviors within an organization, and how they form sound leadership. 14. November 2011 Throughout this course we have focused a significant amount of time discussing an organizational moment. The majority of the issues and solutions in every organizational moment evolved around leadership. Whether it was an absence of leadership or a directional change in leadership, leadership was at the core of every situation presented in the readings. Leadership is a behavior. The way an organization employs leadership,  controls a variety of influences that guides the company’s direction. The focus of leadership and the dynamics that make up sound leadership drives our day to day interaction in today’s world of business. Sound leadership is the core of every organization and solving its problems. Understanding leadership, its purpose, and dynamics enables executives to solve problems and maintain a competitive edge. In order to address the strategic implications that organizational behaviors have on leadership, justify the business needs of leadership, and codify the implications leadership has on organizational behaviors this paper will focus on the defining different leadership styles and processes, examine how they relate to organizational behaviors within an organization, and how they work to form sound leadership. According to Beebe Masterson (2006), leadership style is a relatively consistent pattern of behavior reflecting a leader’s beliefs and attitudes. It is the beliefs and attitudes that leadership forms toward the strategic goals of an organization that determines the direction of the company. In order for an organization to be successful they have to have buy-in. For an organization to have buy-in it establishes strategic goals that shape the direction of the organization. The leadership having buy-in, aligning their beliefs and attitudes toward the strategic goals of the organization, and relaying their beliefs and attitudes to their employees shapes the direction of the organization and provide a solid foundation for the organization to be successful. Leadership drives the mission of an organization and in order to impart these beliefs on their employee’s, leaders practice three basic leadership styles. Leadership styles determine the atmosphere of the organization. Understanding leadership and the many methods to employ it is as quintessential to an organization as its resources. According to Beebe and Masterson (2006), no two people practice the same methods of leadership; however, all people lead with three basic leadership styles; authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire. For this paper, it is not important to understand the definitions of each type of leadership style as it is to understand the fact that leadership styles determine the atmosphere and organizational behavior a company employs. Under authoritarian leadership  the leader dictates the work and tasks for each member. Members within an authoritarian leadership group are dependent on the leader to make decisions, are incapable of independent thought, and have difficulty navigating issues that arise within an organization. In democratic leadership leaders have more faith in the group and attempt to involve members in making decisions. Democratic leadership style encourages the development of employees, empowers members by involving them in the decision making process, and leaders provide the necessary support to allow the success of members. Laissez-faire leaders avoid dominating the group and assume the group will direct itself. Laissez-faire behavior is a complete avoidance of leading. â€Å"These non-leaders completely abdicate their leadership role and refuse to make decisions. This is a manager who is relatively inattentive, indifferent, frequently absent, and uninfluential† (Humphreys, 2001). These leadership styles greatly impact an organization and directly contribute to the directions and futures of a business. Leadership styles explain the persona leaders exude in managing their people. Leadership theorists incorporated processes into leadership to explain how leadership styles impact the performance of workers within an organization. Theorists have made their mark in the world of business. Over the past decades, researchers focused on defining the personal traits of effective leaders but ultimately concluded that it is not so much the traits as it is how individuals utilize these traits (Boseman, 2008). Theorists have focused their efforts toward understanding the processes of leadership to assist managers with leading their people and achieving the organization’s goals. Abraham Maslow, Clayton Alderfer, Victor Vroom, Edwin Locke, Henry Landsberger, Frederick Taylor, Paul Hersey, Ken Blanchard, Robert House, and Douglas McGregor studies in leadership have made major contributions to the world of business. Of these prolific theorists Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Alderfer’s ERG Theory, House’s Path-Goal Theory, and Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership will be utilized to explain how leadership effect organizational behaviors. Abraham Maslow’s introduce his concept of leadership in 1943. Maslow’s  Hierarchy of Needs was based on motivational leadership. Maslow’s leadership concept is derived from the concept of a pyramid with five levels of employee needs; physiological needs, safety needs, love/belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. Clayton Alderfer, later in 1969, revised Maslow’s Hierarch of Needs into three categories; existence needs, relatedness needs, and growth needs. According to the studies of both theorists it is important for a leader to understand the needs of their people to effectively lead and motivate. Through their studies, these pioneers of leadership have established that the understanding that leaders have of their employee’s needs directly effects organizational behaviors and accomplishment of company goals and objectives. In 1971 Robert House’s introduce Path-Goal Theory. According to Lyons (2007), an effective leader is one who can help carve a path for subordinates that allow them to fulfill personal goals through the achievement of group and organizational goals. In path-goal theory a leader adopts either a directive, supportive, participative, or achievement oriented leadership style to accomplish this objective. The leadership style performed is dependent on two variables; characteristics of the employee and characteristics of the work environment. Based on both variables the leader practices directive, supportive, participative, or achievement oriented leadership. The leadership style practiced ensures the needs of the employee are fulfilled and organizational goals and objectives can be met. House’s path-goal theory is a needs base process that shapes the organizational behavior of an organization. Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership developed in 1974 distinguishes between four leadership styles that are characterized by a combination of task and relationship. Telling: High task, low relationship style Selling: High task, high relationship style Participating: Low task, high relationship style Delegating: Low task, low relationship style (Hitt, Miller, Colella, 2011) DeCaro, DeCaro Bowen-Thompson (2010) stated, â€Å"The model is useful in determining if a person’s leadership style is relationship or task oriented and if the situation such as task structure and leader members relationship, match the leader’s style to maximize performance.† Utilizing situational leadership a leader can accommodate an employee’s needs by varying their own behavior and applying the most suitable style for a given situation. By varying leadership style based on the employee’s needs a leader can manage organizational behaviors and achieve organizational goals and objectives. As one can see leadership and organizational behaviors work hand in hand. They both influence one another to meet the strategic goals and objectives of an organization. Hitt, Miller, Colella (2011), stated the strategic organizational behavior approach relies on the premise that people are the foundation of an organization’s competitive advantage. As evidence to this, leadership theorists developed processes based on the people within the organization. The processes developed guided organizational leaders in achieving the company’s goals and objectives. People and the leadership that shape the direction and culture of an organization play a vital role in establishing an organization’s organizational behaviors. Leadership is the quality to achieve desired results by giving the proper direction to the organization (Giri Santra, 2010). The influence that leadership and organizational behaviors have on a business establishes leadership as a critical and most vital asset an organization can employ. Throughout the eight weeks of this course we analyze an organizational behavior moment that discussed leadership struggles within organizations. The leadership struggles faced in the organizational moments relay the importance of leadership within an organization. In the case study, â€Å"Bright and Dedicated What more can you ask for?† Anita Lockwood is a perfect example of an authoritative leader. Anita rules with an iron fist over Susan  and her employees. Anita never empowers Susan to run the finance department and as a result Susan’s leadership development is hindered. The importance of Anita’s and Susan’s moment in organizational behavior is it displays the effects that authoritarian leadership style has and how it impacts others. In an authoritative leadership environment the organizational goals and objectives are met, however at the expense of the professional development of people within the organization. In situational leadership it is sometimes necessary to practice authoritative leadership in order to stimulate the growth during the training process of learning a new job or position. Once the training process is over it is important that the leader is able to transition out of the authoritative leadership style and into one that continues to allow their personnel to grow and develop within the organization. â€Å"The Two Presidents† is another organization moment that provides an example of the importance of leadership to business. In this case study Alvin Thomas displays the attributes of a democratic leader. Alvin exhibits an active role of leadership, empowers his employees to make decisions, and establishes goals and objectives based on organizational dynamics. Thomas’s leadership allows the university, the people around him, and himself to prosper due to his style of leadership. A democratic leadership style broods balance and creates a positive environment that allows a leader to be directive, supportive, participative, or achievement oriented when necessary. The importance of this characteristic is the leader understanding their employees. Understanding employees enables leaders to meet the needs of their employees and companies to maintain their competitive edge. The last organizational moment that I would like to discuss in support of the argument of why leadership is important to business is â€Å"A Sea Change in Staffing at Leapfrog Innovations, Inc.† In this case study Dick Eaton dons the role of a laissez-faire leader. Dick’s hands-off approach failed him miserably in the end. Due to his negligence his company experienced a high turn-over rate of personnel and had no foundation for stability once the three long-time employees begun to transition to other opportunities. This left Dick holding the bag per say and his company in shambles with no  direction and a bleak future. Dick’s experience was an extreme case of laissez-faire leadership. There are instances where this style of leadership is appropriate. Laissez-faire leadership is appropriate when personnel are performing and meeting the expectations of the leader and goals of the organization. In Dick’s case he was a laissez-faire leader from beginning to end. He took a huge gamble in placing all his faith in the leadership of one individual to run his company and when they decided to leave the experience, knowledge base, and foundation of his company left also. Three different case studies, three different leadership styles, and three different outcomes; the key theme to note in each case is the importance of leadership. Leadership is one of the key fundamental building blocks of running a business and is as quintessential to an organization as its resources. According to Giri Santra (2010), Leadership is the quality to achieve desired results by giving proper direction to the organization. In order to achieve the desired results leaders utilize motivation to motivate employees toward achieving the organization’s common goal. The assumption that leadership is a set of behaviors that can actually be observed, measured, and developed is critical to the development of any process (Kanji, 2008). Leadership theorist understood the importance of leadership to business and developed processes to assist leaders in understanding what motivates people. Each topic discussed in this paper depicts the basics of leadership. The purpose for this paper was to understand how leadership affects business and relates to organization behaviors. The organizational behaviors a company employs and the practice of leadership has a significant impact on the strategic implications of an organization. Business challenges effects every industry and creates vast opportunities to establish sound organization behaviors to support sound leadership. It is paramount that the organizational behaviors that a company employs support its leadership. In summary there are four key points to note in the importance of leadership to a business: a. Leadership styles vary in types and it is important that businesses adopt practices that best fits their organization and people. b. Leadership Theorist improvements in processes that define leadership, helps organizations to understand, manage, and lead personnel. c. Leadership and Organizational behaviors work together to form sound leadership. d. Sound leadership within an organization creates a healthy work environment. The importance of leadership to an organization could mean its success or could lead to its demise. The choice of leadership style is crucial to the success of business operations and hence also the ultimate performance of the company (Juhl, Kristensen, Kanji, Batley, 2000). Every business, organization, or group of people striving together to accomplish a common goal needs only one thing to be successful, Leadership! At the forefront of every fortune 500 company, military, government, and country is sound leadership to meet company objectives and goals. No matter which style of leadership is practiced, it is leadership at the foundation of every organization that drives the company. The strategic implications that organizational behaviors have on leadership, codify the importance of leadership to business. The implications that leadership, leadership styles, and leadership processes have on an organization directly relate to the organizational behaviors within an organization and how they assemble to establish sound leadership. References Beebe, S. A., Masterson, J. T. (2006). Communicating in Small Groups: Principles and Practices, Eighth Edition. Bostin, Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon. Boseman, G. (2008). Effective Leadership in a Changing World. Journal of Financial Service Professionals, 62(3), 36-38. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. DeCaro, F. P., DeCaro, N., Bowen-Thompson, F. O. (2010). An Examination of Leadership Styles of Minority Business Entrepreneurs: A Case Study of Public Contracts. Journal of Business Economic Studies, 16(2), 72-78. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Giri, V. N., Santra, T. (2010). Effects of Job Experience, Career Stage, and Hierarchy on Leadership Style. Singapore Management Review, 32(1), 85-93. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Hitt, M. A., Miller, C. C., Colella, A. (2011). Leadership. Organizational Behavior (Third Ed), CH 8, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley Sons, Inc. Humphreys, J. H. (2001). Transformational and Transactional Leader Behavior. Journal of Management Research (09725814), 1(3), 149. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Juhl, H. J., Kristensen, K. K., Kanji, G. K., Batley, T. W. (2000). Quality Management: A Comparison of Cultural Differences. Total Quality Management, 11(1), 57-65. doi:10.1080/0954412007026 Kanji, G. K. (2008). Leadership is prime: How do you measure Leadership Excellence? Total Quality Management Business Excellence, 19(4), 417-427. doi:10.1080/14783360802002834 Lyons, P. (2007). A Leadership Development Model to Improve Organizational Competitiveness. Advances in Competitiveness Research, 15(1/2), 103-115. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Womens Virginity And Fidelity Sociology Essay

Womens Virginity And Fidelity Sociology Essay Compare and contrast the significance of the concept womens virginity and fidelity between the Qing Dynasty and Contemporary China, with an attempt to analyse the causes of different attitudes and behaviours in these 2 different eras. Abstract This study focuses on the Chinese womens chastity, especially in the area of Virginity and Fidelity. The comparison and contrast between Qing Dynasty and Contemporary China is examined, with an attempt to find out what possible causes had led to the different perspectives on womens chastity. Qing is regarded as an idol of womens chastity in the entire Chinese history. However, it seemed that the modern youth tend to care less about womens virginity and fidelity. Women seemed no longer devote their entire lives to serve their husbands and in-laws. Apart from the changes in the regions of culture, globalization, and education, the historical progress cannot be ignored as well as governmental policies Introduction With the emergence of the first sex museum for women in China, the perception of sex has begun to attract more attentions of Chinese people (China Daily, 2008). Meanwhile, the roles women played over centuries have vitally contributed to the historical progress of sex. Since ancient China, women are often regarded as a property of men in the patriarchal society (Jaschok and Miers, 1994). According to Marx and Engels (1985), a patriarchal husband à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦sees in his wife a mere instrument of production of prostitution both public and private (1848:101). Nevertheless, accompanied by complex causes, women increasingly gain more rights and equalities in the relationship with men in contemporary China. That is, in comparison with the womens strict virtue in the old days of China, Qing Dynasty in particular, Modern Chinese women as well as men tend to be more open and unfastened to the idea of virginity and fidelity (Ko, Haboush and Piggott, 2003; China Daily, 2003; America Online, 1995; Zhou, 1989). However, many have argued that the root of womens chastity is still solid to convert in China nowadays (Peoples Daily, 2003). There are two remarkable cases that emerged more lately, which to a great extent explain the conflicting value of womens chastity in modern China. A recent report (Richburg, 2010) demonstrated that there is a growing trend of hymen restoration of Chinese women, which they could return to the virgin by the surgical procedure. Similarly, a considered cheaper and easier way of being a pretended virgin is popular and well taken as well as the hymen restoration surgery. According to Gu (2011), the artificial hymen is appeared as a little piece of semi-transparent tissue that you put this into the vagina, itll dissolve and expand. Have sex in about 20 to 30 minutes, and youll bleed'. As a modern Chinese woman, the movement of womens right draws my attention. I am particularly interested in the area of womens chastity, which on one hand is assumed to have a great progress in contrast to Qing dynasty. In regard to the factors that had brought to this evolution, it is hypothesized that apart from the ideological change of the significance of womens chastity, several effects such as the development of technology, governmental policies, education, globalization, and media have likewise led to the different attitudes and behaviours during these two different eras; and on another hand, it is believed that to a certain extent, the attitudes towards womens chastity in Qing dynasty have impacted on modern China. As a consequence, I will focus on the comparison of the significance of the concept of womens virginity and fidelity in Qing Dynasty and Contemporary China, mainly by looking at the two periods of women: pre-marriage and post-marriage. Moreover, several major causes of different attitudes and behaviours in these two different eras will also be discussed respectively. Due to the limitation of time and condition, and the sensitivity of the research topic, the investigation is conducted inside the university campus. Four groups will be studied in order to see the differences between different genders and generations: UNNC girls, UNNC boys, their mothers, and their fathers. In addition, the research of Qing dynasty will be taken place mostly in the review of literatures. Literature Review The literature review will take the progress of the significance of the concept of womens chastity as a whole and continuing process. Thus, not only Qing dynasty and Contemporary China will be examined, the period (1900-2000) between Qing dynasty and Contemporary China is also important due to the fact that it had vital contributions to the development of womens right, which eventually led to the understanding of womens chastity in present China. The following reviews will be ordered generally according to the chronological sequence, and mainly focus on the Qing and the Republican China due to the limited recent researches on Modern Chinese womens chastity. 2.1 Qing Dynasty The traditional concept of chastity is tightly linked to the ideology of patriarchy. As a property of men in the patriarchal society, womens value was merely to breed the progeny and to satisfy men in sexuality. In order to assure the purity of the blood, the strict demand on chastity was therefore emerged. The traditional chastity devoted itself to two sections: virgin before marriage, and be faithful to ones husband unto death after marriage (Li, 2006; Zhou, 2003). As the ideology of cultural expression and the foundation of the family system in imperial China, Confucianism is generally the essential ideology of female virtue in Late Imperial China. Particularly the concept of filiality (xiao) and fidelity (jie) have had great impacts on Qing Dynasty (Ko and Haboush and Piggott, 2003). A good example is the foot binding in Qing which according to Mackie (1996), the actual purpose was to ensure womens fidelity. The so-called chastity cult, a way for women to demonstrate their ultimate moral responsibility to the patriline into which they married, was in the position of domination in Qing by honouring two female virtues: purity, similar to fidelity (jie), and martyrdom (commonly regarded as lie). Jie mainly referred to absolute fidelity and sexual purity to one husband, in which women remained their lifelong devotion to serve the husbands family. Compared to jie, lie was more towards the absolute commitment to fidelity and sexual purity often end up with death or suicide by the expected requirement of self-sacrifice. That is, there were usually merely two choices, both ending in misery for women or even young girls at the period: pain in death or suffering in life (Ko and Haboush and Piggott, 2003). However, in contrast of the widespread phenomena in early Qing which promoted both martyrdom and fidelity, the idea of fidelity seemed to be more preferable since the mid-Qing due to the expanded acceptance of filiality to husbands parents. Namely, widows were encouraged to fulfil their primary obligation- to serve parents-in-law and to raise the heirs (ibid). Yet, many had chosen to follow their husbands in death after accomplishing their expected duties (ibid). Theiss (2004) argues that womens chastity was often related to the human dignity in terms of being a person. In other words, majority of them found themselves no longer being a person in which they were offended even via slight harassments such as flirtation. As a consequence, numerous women were recorded chastity suicide during Qing. That is, womens self-awareness to the concept of chastity would lead to the path of decease (ibid). Except for the initial desire which was aiming to reveal a womans morality and humanity as a woman (Theiss, 2004; Ko and Haboush and Piggott, 2003), there were other existing outside factors that have indirectly resulted in womens chastity. On one hand, governmental policies such as encouragement, promotion, and punishment were considered as the principal elements of the flourish of chaste women in Qing Dynasty (Ko and Haboush and Piggott, 2003). For example, the penalty for women who commit adultery was way severe than for men (Brown, 1952). On the other hand, social pressure as well as education also impressively affected womens behaviours. In addition, widows might earn particular advantages, social respects and family honour, for instance (Ko and Haboush and Piggott, 2003). Apart from the possible causes that Ko and Haboush and Piggott (2003) discussed, Theiss (2004) further extends the range of potential motivations leading to female suicide in Qing. Firstly, familys attitude was crucial. The husbands or family members, especially in-laws, who refused or failed to report and express the outrages such as the issues of sexual harassment on the womens behalf due to two major reasons: family reputation and the threat from offenders, to a large extent led to the desperation of women. As a result, they usually turned to seek death. Furthermore, it is widely believed that fictions and dramas to some extent had driven women into the faith of supernatural revenge. For example, becoming ghosts assured them to have power to return and punish those who had harmed them (ibid). Moreover, by rewarding as chastity martyrs might lead to the damage of harassers family reputation (ibid). Nonetheless, it seems that the idea of womens chastity might have been over-emphasized by historians. Theiss (2004) accentuated that despite Qing Dynastys well-known chastity cult, not every woman was a fan of the female chastity. Plenty of women carried on adulterous affairs for years without the concern of their reputation. Additionally, according to her study, most rape victims including those who suffered extreme violence or gang rapes did not commit suicide (ibid). It is argued that even though some women were willing to stay chaste after their husbands death, the facts of financial problem often brought them back to reality and accept the remarriage. Sommer (2000) points out that the chastity was indeed unaffordable for many widows in Qing. They usually were willing to remarry quickly in the attempt of collecting enough capital to liquidate the debts of her former husband, or even to finance his interment. In other words, a widow might trade herself with the bride-price to her new husband in order to settle outstanding debts before the marriage. However, it is not guaranteed that those widows with property which left by their deceased husband could follow their willingness for being a chaste widow. In fact, they might provoke the envy of in-laws those who wanted to take over the property, and often were forced to take the arranged remarriage. Before the Xinhai Revolution, Chinese women only played a very marginal role (Lu, 1993), due to the reason that, as Raphals (1998) claimed, They were eternally oppressed, powerless, passive, and silent. Yet, influenced by Western cultures and revolutions, a group headed by Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, and Tan Sitong were gradually awakening to the issues of gender equity in the late Qing. They challenged the traditional idea of chastity and yearned to change the roles women played at the time. Their attentions were mainly focused on the campaigns of womens education and the freedom of marriage (Zhou, 2003; Chen, 2001). 2.2 The 20th Century After Xinhai Revolution, the Confucianism was remained popular for a short period under the support of the Northern Warlords. Similar to Qing, the behaviours of chaste women were highly honoured and promoted by the government and society, until the first meaningful womens movement in Chinese history- May Fourth Movement (Chen, 2001; Zhou, 2003). It brought up the new concept of womens chastity, which is under the condition of the true love, and the equality between the sexes (Li, 2006). Influenced by the Sex Revolution at the period in the Western World, intellectuals such as the famous scholars LuXun and HuShi, severely criticized the traditional view of chastity in 3 ways: morality, love, and governmental policies (Chen, 2001). Firstly, LuXun (1918) claimed that it is immoral to demand womens chastity. Fidelity and martyrdom are the malformed moralities that aim to oppress and befool women, he clarified, Women and Men are equalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦morality is meant for both men and women à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦men cannot require women for things they dont even do. Hushi (1918) also pointed out that it is immoral to ask women to obey the chastity while men were allowed to be involved with concubines and prostitutes. Secondly, chastity could not be considered as an existence without love. As HuShi pointed out, chastity was an attitude between husbands and wives; it is willingness rather than a compulsion. Thus, he indicated that for the women who do not love their husband, usually were the victims of arranged marriage, it is not their obligation to follow the fidelity and martyrdom for their un-chaste husbands. In addition, Hushi also questioned womens behaviour of committing suicide after being raped. He argued that they did not break their chastity and dignity because the rape is occurred by force not willingness. As a result, he suggested that the society should not look down on the raped women, and respect the brave performance of those people who married un-virgins or as un-virgins. Thirdly, it was brutal and inappropriate for government to promote chaste women. It is suggested that it is a widows interest to preserve chastity or remarry, others should not intervene (Chen, 2001). The May Forth indeed to a great extent enhanced the progress of womens chastity, however, due to the limitations of Chinese history and society, the New Chastity was merely accepted by several radical intellectuals. Although it seemed that there were minority of women got rid of the traditional chastity, the majority, and even to the entire society were still affected by the traditional chastity. During the era, the New Chastity was barely theoretical rather than particle (Chen, 2001; Li, 2006). Apart from the contributions from the open-minded scholars, globalisation, media, and mass-culture indirectly helped to bring womens chastity to a new level. For example, the widespread of the translated books which were originally written by foreigners such as the Japanese author Akiko Yosano ( 1878 ½Ã… ¾1942) and her work (Chen, 2001). After the May Forth Movement, more attentions were paid on womens liberation. Since the establishment of the Republic China, significant efforts were made by Chinese government in improving womens status. Through legislations, more legal rights in education, marriage, and property were offered for women (Zhou, 2003). The Communist Party of China (CPC) has brought womens status to a new level after their victory in 1949, especially under the Mao regime. Mao promoted the equal rights and personal dignity between sexes, and contributed to 3 important revolutionary changes for women: the Marriage Law of 1950s ensured the freedom of marriage and divorce; the Election Law of PRC of 1953 granted womens right to vote as well as men; and the equality of rights between men and women in terms of possessing or inherit property. It is believed that the by 1958, 16 million Chinese women were able to read, while before 1949, only 10% of women were literates. Furthermore, CPC encouraged women to participate in social production, which women gained more capitals in both economic and social aspects (ibid). It is also worth mentioning that prostitution and concubine have been out of law since the CPC came to power (ibid). Consequently, with the basic conditions, Chinese Womens awakening consciousness began to play as an important role in the post-Mao era (Li, 1994:299). In addition, Zhou (2003) stated that another pre-condition of womens liberation is the financial independence of women, in which they had no longer need to fully rely on their husbands. Peoples Republic of China (PRC) gradually shifted their concentration from the outer effects to the inner effects in the respect of womens liberation. According to Zhou (2003:69), the Fourth World Conference on womens right was hosted by China in 1995. It includes the rights to freedom of thought, conscience religion and belief, and participation on the basis of equality in all eliminate all forms of discrimination against women; promotes womens economic independence; and ensure womens equal access to economic resources, including science and technology, vocational training, information, communication, and markets. Zhou (1989) presents the dilemmatic situation for young women in the area of virginity and premarital sex in China in the late 1980s. Although the traditional views placed a high value on female virginity and deprecate premarital sex, young people now seem to have more opportunities to explore both love and sex, with the introduction of the new idea of romantic love accompanied by the growing social acceptance of close interactions between women and men. According to Zhous research in 1985, which has taken place in China, most of the young men had claimed their expectation of a virgin wife. Moreover, in rural China, nearly all the male and female peasants came to an agreement that in a love relationship, virginity was still considered to be the most valuable treasure for women. Nevertheless, the rate of premarital sexual intercourse was increasing rapidly in the present China in spite of still-existing traditional values. Several reasons can be considered for the further understandin g: social acceptance, education, and the support of young mens parents. It was agreed that most women have experienced the psychological pressures of a great dilemma in the selection between remaining a virgin and satisfying their boyfriends, but increasingly, women surrendered their resistance to the strategically emotional persuasion of their boyfriends (ibid). In terms of extramarital affairs which are popular nowadays in China, Thompson (1984) declared that either mere emotional or sexual involvement with someone other than ones spouse can be counted as extramarital affairs. According to Schwartz and Rutter (1998), all perspectives on gender differences in sexuality were divided into two dichotomized groups: traditional versus feminist. Traditional biosocial theories who reifying the biological distinctions between men and women, attempt to justify mens promiscuous behaviours: by maximizing the partners in order to inseminate the possible largest amount of women, men can somehow show their masculinity; whereas women would maximize their births for the purpose of holding onto the relationship. In opposition of the traditional perspectives, it is asserted by feminist perspectives that sexuality discrepancies between the genders are socially constructed. In this point of view, similar to men, women will tend to maximize their partners if the conditions allow them (ibid). 2.3 Contemporary China In Lis work (2006), she divides the present views of chastity in China into 3 categories: love-ism, utilitarianism, and hedonism. Firstly, love-ism chastity, which was first brought up during the May Forth Movement, means sex with the motivation of love. A research about the reasons of premarital sex, which organised by in 2004, mainly surveyed on the contemporary Chinese youth (age 20-30), in which most of them went to the universities. The result shows that for the women who had premarital sex experiences, 31.1% of them indicated that they did it in order to enhance the love in relationships, while 24.8% and 28.6% for the purposes of curiosity and want to keep their boyfriends respectively. Other 15.5% were claimed to have other reasons. From the research it is obvious that love-ism chastity is the mainstream concept of chastity nowadays in China (Zhou, 2006). Secondly, utilitarianism chastity is usually referred to the sex for benefits, such as the social phenomenon of prostitution and concubine (ibid). Thirdly, in regard of hedonism chastity, sex is often involved with either the physical or the psychological pleasure, or both. In the contemporary society, hedonism chastity is more likely the performance of simply physical pleasure (ibid). A recent study emphasizes that among the 40% of netizens who had experience on cyber love, nearly half of them did it on the purpose of one night stand (Xu, 2005). There are 4 main causes of the 3 categories of chastity. In the first place, the highly promotion of socialist market economy not only has vital contribution on the economy, but also in the area of politics, ideology, and morality. On one way, the commodity economy leads to the arousal of the sense of equality, which challenges the traditional idea of chastity, and women start to chase personal happiness. Therefore the love-ism chastity emerged. On another way, the commodity economy also arisen accompanied with hedonism and mammonism which directly link to the hedonism chastity and utilitarianism chastity (Zhou, 2006). Secondly, the rapid development of technologies, particularly the medical technology, popularizes the ways of contraception, and makes the abortion safer and more convenient. Hence, the concerns about illegitimate child were reduced, and eventually provide advantages for hedonistic sex. Women seemed to be the best beneficiary, which the pregnancy once was one of the most fears to have premarital sex. As a consequence, women can pay more attention on love rather than physical elements, which to some extent promote the formation of love-ism chastity (ibid). Culture aspect is probably one of the most essential factors. Although it seems that the traditional perspectives of chastity had lost its position in present society, however, in rural areas, villages in particular, it is still prevails. Moreover, the modern culture affects the modern youth in the way that they think it is their right and choice to choose their lifestyle such as cohabitation. Additionally, the Western culture such as the idea of sexual freedom and sexual liberation break the mysticism of sexuality, and attempt to achieve the sexual equality. Thus, the viewpoint of sex is changed. For the modern youth, love is not only spiritual and material, but also physical. Sex is certainly a part of love, and it aid to promote love. It is therefore nonsense to limit the sex. More importantly, it is believed by the youth that premarital sex is a positive behaviour in which it is a vital path to know a person and helping to make decisions on selecting the partner for life (ibid). Last but not least, social control gives the green light to the multiplex conceptions of chastity. For example, the Marriage Law forbids the married people cohabitate with others. Nevertheless, it is lack of the specific explanation on penalty and punishment. Laws can be such unfastened about extramarital cohabitation, do not even have to mention about premarital cohabitation and one night stand (ibid). Furthermore, in the present days, people care less about the things which not related to them, especially in the beneficial way. In this case, the shortening of social opinion looses the social psychological stress and reduces the restraint of peoples behaviour. In addition, the morality in China has change notably on the impact of the West (ibid). A relatively recent survey based on 2063 undergraduates in 18 universities in Shanghai, shows their attitudes on premarital cohabitation: 89.5% in total believe that it is understandable if the motivation is love, and it is inappropriate to over concern other peoples issues; while only 9.2% of them think that it is a moral degenerate (Xu and Wang, 2002). Methodology In order to facilitate the research and discover more information on this area, two methodologies were utilised for different purposes. Literature analysis is applied through literature reviews, aiming to find out the significance of the concept of Chinese womens chastity in Qing dynasty, since the era is too remote to be testified. In the meantime, questionnaires were set up in attempt to study the perception of womens virginity and fidelity in contemporary China. Additionally, both literature analysis and questionnaire are included in order to better understand the condition and situation of womens chastity the 20th century, mainly Republican China. The questionnaire is probably one of the most effective means to testify the hypothesis which was mentioned in the introduction, and to find out some other interesting information relevant to the topic but which is not anticipated in the early stages. Regarding to the sample of research, 140 surveys were required in total which divided by genders and generations. On one hand, 70 UNNC undergraduate students, 35 females and 35 males respectively, were selected randomly and selectively, which in the way it can represent as many opinions as possible, and reducing bias with maximum efforts (Strugis, 2008). As the attention of the questionnaire is focused on Modern China, and the university students can be considered as the representative groups of educated Chinese young people, therefore the candidates of the research are all selected among the Chinese students in UNNC. Moreover, the division of male and female represent the outside and inner factors. Apart from the self-conscious of wome n, mens attitude will affect womens understanding of chastity. Hence, it is crucial to include both of the two genders. On another hand, 70 copies of survey for parents, 35 females as well as 35 males, were sent along with the ones meant for students. It is interesting to compare and contrast the ideas on womens virginity and fidelity between the parents and their children, which they are respectively representative for the new generation that surrounded by the global environment, high-level education, widespread mass media, and developed technology; and the older generation who grew up in a period when China was relatively more closed to the outside world, and the progresses of technology and education are limited. Furthermore, the older generation may also be able to demonstrate the view of womens chastity of Republican China. Through the comparison of the two different generations can provide the possible causes that might lead to the different perspectives on womens virginity and fidelity. For the purpose of not making the candidates take too long when filling the questionnaire, the questionnaire is designed with two sections. There are 15 multiple choices and 3 open questions for UNNC girls, and 7 closed questions and 1 open question for UNNC boys. The mothers one is similar to their daughters while the fathers one is similar to their sons. Overall, parents ones contain two extra questions asking their age gap and education level, which seemed unnecessary for the UNNC students since their age gap and education level are confirmed: undergraduate. It is ensured that each survey takes no more than 15 minutes to finish it, without disturbing their study and work. According to Simmons (2008), pilot study is important with its function that it helps to refine the questionnaire. Thus, the initial samples were sent to several friends of mine before the actual distribution of the questionnaires, in order to examine the questionnaires critically with their objective points of view. As a result, some weaknesses of the original questionnaires were found. Such as the unclear instructions and questions, and some other possible option of answers that some candidates may want to choose are left out (ibid). Qualitative method was chosen in the first place, however, with the trial on few random UNNC students which I found on the High-Street, and one of the aunts who works in Canteen, I discovered their unwillingness of answering such sensitive questions, especially to a stranger. As an alternative, I chose questionnaire since it is less awkwardness to answer the questions. In the beginning, I sent the questionnaires to all UNNC undergraduates with the postscript of for Chinese Students only. Nevertheless, I found little response, and within the received questionnaires, most of them skip the sensitive questions such as are you a virgin. In order to maximise the response rate and the facticity, I managed to upload the questionnaires online, in which it is completely anonymous and make it more comfortable and more convenient for the candidates to do the surveys. Yet, there was a misgiving about the people other than UNNC undergraduates might answer the online questionnaires and eventually affect the result. As a consequence, I locked the questionnaires with password, and sent the four addresses of online questionnaires and the password to all UNNC undergraduates via email: UNNC girl, UNNC boy, their mother, and their father respectively. Also, in the email, I required the students not only to enter the relevant website, but also forward the online surveys to their parents. Additionally, the questionnaires for UNNC Undergraduates were written in English, while the ones for their parents were written in both Chinese and English. Findings and Discussions 4.1 Summary of Literature Analysis As what the literature analysis manifested, the demand of womens virginity before marriage and the fidelity after marriage was extremely strict in Qing. Due to the traditional ideology of Confucianism, women were merely one of mens properties in the patriarchal society. The popularized chastity cult played a vital role in Qing by honouring two female virtues: purity (jie), and martyrdom (lie). The former one referred to the sexual purity to one husband and the absolute lifetime fidelity to serve the in-laws; whereas, the latter one was more towards the absolute commitment to jie, which required more self-sacrifice and often end up with death. Numerous women were recorded chastity suicide during Qing. Several major causes of womens chastity will be analysed in the following paragraphs. First of all, womens chastity was significant in terms of human dignity. Majority of them felt failed of being a person after being offended even through slight harassments such as flirtation. Moreover, governmental policies highly promoted the chaste women, and severely punish the considered un-chaste women such as the women accused of adultery. In addition, social pressure and education had a great contribution as well. Finally, widows could obtain particular advantages. Social respects and family honour, for instance. Nonetheless, it is argued that the chaste suicides in Qing might have been over-emphasized. On one hand, there were a large number of women who carried on adulterous affairs without concerning their reputation. On the other hand, most rape victims did not search the path of death during the Qing era. For the women who were willing to become chaste widows after the death of their husband, monetary issues often stopped them from doing so. In order to collect enough money to liquidate the debts of the dead husband, or to finance his interment, a certain number of women accepted the remarriage. In other words, they traded themselves with the bride-price to their new husbands. Additionally, the widows with property which left by their deceased husband might be forced to take the arranged remarriage by the envy in-laws who wanted to take over the property. In the late Qing, a group of open-minded intellectuals who were influenced by the Western culture, had brought up the idea of gender equity, and defied the traditional chastity. Yet, their focuses were mainly on the campaigns of womens education and the freedom of marriage. 4.2 Questionnaire Summary The total valid responses were 79, including 33 female undergraduates, 22 male undergraduates, 13 mothers, and 11 fathers. It is a satisfactory rate of response, which reached 56%. More than half of the

Effects Of Creatine Essay -- essays research papers

The Effects of Creatine   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Creatine has been used in sports throughout time. Athletes have always had a fascination with being excellent at what they do. With the banning of steroids from competitive sports and the implementation of random drug testing in most sports, most athletes are still somehow hoping to gain an edge on their competition. This edge that they are using is creatine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to understand how creatine works, we must discover what creatine is. Creatine is an energy producing nutrient found in our bodies. It is synthesized from three amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine. These amino acids are primarily found in the liver, pancreas, and kidneys. It is also consumed in our everyday diets from fish, meat and other animal products. Creatine is not considered an essential nutrient in our diets. In general, we consume approximately one gram of creatine per day in our diets (www.healthlink.mcw.edu).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Creatine helps provide the energy our muscles need to move, especially movements that are quick and explosive. Approximately ninety five percent of the body’s creatine supply is found in the skeletal muscles (www.pacific-nutrition.com). The other five percent is spread throughout the body, but mainly found in the heart, brain and testes. Creatine is easily absorbed from the intestinal tract into the blood stream.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Creatine was first discovered in 1832 by a French scientist, Cevreul. In 1847, it was noticed that the meat from foxes killed in the wild had ten times more creatine than meat from inactive foxes. The conclusion from this was that creatine accumulates in muscles due to physical activity. It was discovered in the early twentieth century that not all creatine consumed was excreted in the urine, but in fact, stored in the body. In 1912, researchers found that ingesting creatine can dramatically boost the creatine content of muscle. Fiske and Subbarow discovered creatine phosphate in 1927, and determined that creatine is a key player in the metabolism of skeletal muscle. Most studies focusing on creatine and sports performance have only been done since the early 1990’s (www.pacific-nutrition.com).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When we use our muscles everyday we use oxygen to make energy. This energy is created by breaking... ...rity. It claims to increase muscle strength and to delay fatigue, allowing athletes to train harder and longer. Companies promoting creatine supplements also claim that creatine can help burn fat and increase muscle mass. Annual sales of creatine in the United States alone are well over $100 million (Performance Enhancing Substances). Although creatine use in athletes is expected to increase because it is not on the list of banned substances as of yet, it is possibly going to be banned from professional sports, as well as NCAA sports, as early as next year.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I feel like creatine is great and should not be banned. How are athletes going to gain a competitive edge without a supplement that will allow their muscles to train harder? I have used creatine and I am still currently using creatine. I have seen the gains in muscle mass already only after two weeks of taking creatine. Drinking plenty of water is the key. As long as you take creatine as suggested, there should be no problems. There are no known serious side effects, therefore, I don’t think that creatine should be banned. Creatine is a great supplement for athletes to gain that competitive edge!

Battle of the Atlantic Notes

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic played a very significant part in World War Two. In World War Two, after the escape atDunkirk and the inspiration of the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic was Britain's next nightmare. The Battle of the Atlantic was â€Å"the only thing that ever frightened me. † Winston Churchill. As an island Britain needed to bring in a vast amount of food and military equipment to survive the war. The German submarine force (U-boats) severely damaged our ability to survive the war – hence Churchill’s quote above when he feared we would be starved out of the war.A great deal of our raw materials came from America and therefore had to cross the Atlantic. In normal times this journey could be hazardous because of the weather but in the war the German submarines lead by Admiral Raeder proved a very real threat. Nazi Germany estimated that they needed to sink 150 merchant ships each month to starve us out. German submar ines hunted in what were called wolf-packs. British supply ships crossed in convoys and the ships that brought in our food etc. ere slow and they could barely protect themselves. After leaving America they were reasonably safe while in American water and they were also more safe when they approached British waters as we could give the ships fighter plane cover. It was in the mid-Atlantic that we were at our most vulnerable and where to start with the U-boats could run riot. The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest battle in World War 2, which was fought in period from 1939 until the german defeat in 1945.It started in first days of war in 1939 when allied forces decleared naval blockad to Germany, immediately Germany launched counter attack. Struggles have led the greatest intensity from mid-1940 through to the end of 1943. At first in the fighting participated German Navy ( Kriegsmarine ) and German air forces ( Luftwaffe )that attacked Allied merchant ships and convoys. These co nvoys, which was often traveling from North America to Britain and the Soviet Union, they initially were protected by the British and Canadian navies and air forces.At the end of 1941 U. S. air and naval forces joined defense of the convoys. In June, 1940. Italian Royal Navy( Regia Marina )joined this fight on the German side. United Kingdom was higly dependent on imported goods, they need more than a million of tons of a various materials per week to be able to deffend against German attacks. The Battle of the Atlantic was war for materials and supply routes, Allies struggled to protect supply routes that provides Britain with goods that were required for making all kind of defenses against German air attacks.The Battle of the Atlantic started at first day of war and lasted for six years. There was more than 1000 single-ship encounters and approximately 100 convoy fights, this battle involved thousands of ships and were fought on more than thousands of square miles of ocean. The ul timate outcome of the battle was the Allied victory and the defeat of Germany,both sides have suffered great losses, Germany lost 783 U-boats and about 28 000 sailors, as well they managed to destroy 3 500 merchant ships and 175 allied warships and about 30 000 allied sailors. War lasted from 3 September 1939 – 8 May 1945 (5 years, 8 months and 5 days) †¢Because Britain was an Island it relied heavily on imported goods †¢The Nazis saw this and looked to attack and destroy and ships going into Britain †¢Without supplies Britain would lose the war- Mission of Nazis †¢The Nazi boats would attack in â€Å"wolf packs† (the U-boats attacked in large ‘wolf-packs’ – when a U-boat came across a convoy, it would radio its position to a number of other submarines, which would close in on the convoy.Then they would wait until nightfall and make surface attacks in numbers. On 18 October 1940, a pack of 6 Nazi U-boats attacked slow convoy SCâ €“7, sinking 15 ships in 6 hours. Next day, reinforced by three more U-boats, the pack attacked the 49-ship convoy HX-79, sinking 12 ships in one night) †¢The USA tried to help Britain. In August 1940 the US gave Britain 50 destroyers in exchange for Atlantic naval bases †¢The name â€Å"Battle of the Atlantic† was coined by Winston Churchill in February 1941.It has been called the â€Å"longest, largest, and most complex† naval battle in history. †¢The situation changed constantly, with one side or the other gaining advantage, as new weapons, tactics, counter-measures, and equipment were developed by both sides. The Allies gradually gained the upper hand, overcoming German surface raiders by the end of 1942 (withdrawn on Hitler's orders) and defeating the U-boats by mid-1943, though losses to U-boats continued to war's end. Allies won because Eight things helped the Allies to stop the U-boat menace. . The work of the British codebreakers at Bletchle y Park in deciphering the German Enigma code was vital in giving the Allied navies the edge in the Battle of the Atlantic. In February 1942, however, the German code was improved, resulting in ‘the Drumbeat crisis’ when shipping losses were their greatest – until March 1943, when the German code was again broken. 2. Sonar had been invented before World War I, but after 1942 the US Navy Department developed ‘console sonar’ which could plot accurate bearings using an echo ‘ping’.Training of sonar operators was also improved. 3. Radar was improved so that U-boats could even be detected in bad weather. 4. The British developed HF/DF (‘huff-duff’), whereby U-boats’ positions could be worked out from their radio transmissions. 5. Six aircraft carriers were sent to patrol the Atlantic, and this extended air cover to the whole route convoys took. 6. Air depth-bombs were developed so that planes could attack U-boats under the water. 7.Weapons called Hedgehog and Squid were developed which allowed attack ships to catapult depth-charges up to 300 yards in front of the ship. 8. The Allies set up hunter-killer groups of ships, including one aircraft carrier with a number of destroyer escorts, to hunt down and sink U-boats. Book Info â€Å"The Battle of the Atlantic† by Andrew Williams Quotes from book- â€Å"The U-Boat’s chief weapon was a surprise; the undetected rush of a high-explosive torpedo† – Boats weren’t prepared for this new technology of underwater torpedoes.This made U-Boats very effective. â€Å"Before sailing, all U-Boats had been issued with strict orders to operate within the Prize Rules, the international agreements governing the conduct of war at sea. Merchant ships were to be stopped and searched; if found to be carrying enemy cargo they could be sunk, but only after the crew had been safely into the lifeboats† – Again Submarines were really new, and they couldn’t go by the rules that all the other ships had (Prize Rules), they could blow up a ship with people still inside.

How Mise-En-Scene Is Used In A 7 min Sequence in Seven essays

How Mise-En-Scene Is Used In A 7 min Sequence in Seven essays In this essay I will analyse how David Fincher uses mise-en-scene to create meaning and generate response in a seven-minute sequence of the film seven. The sequence in which I have chosen to analyse are the opening seven minutes including the credits. Seven has a dark tone and this is reflected by all the elements of the film used by Fincher. Working with the odd sounds, dark visuals, hand-held camera work in certain areas and abnormal camera angles with many other filming techniques, Fincher allows the audience to know that the film is dark in nature. This is mostly important to portray in the opening of the film due to the audience understanding that the rest of the film will be as dark as this. With all these techniques portraying the dark visuals and aural sounds heard, the spectator is shown that they are not watching a cheerful film. A big factor of portraying this message is the mise-en-scene. The mise-en-scene in the first scene with detective Summerset preparing for work allows the spectator to understand Summerset as Fincher would like. This is shown through Summersets well-groomed clothes already laid out on his bed neatly similar to his pen, his badge and his penknife, which is portrayed as a visual motif throughout the film with Summerset eventually opening the package in the concluding desert scene with it. This shows how Summerset is experienced and organised unlike Detective Mills. As does his wondering look as if he has seen it all, until this case. The meaning of the mise-en-scene in this scene is to create binary oppositions showing how Summerset is organised and tidy which works in conjunction with him seeming to be up early to prevent an unorganised rush. The response to this from the audience is that Somerset is professional and well prepared for his job. Summerset is also presented as the traditional detective with his trench coat and his trilby hat. Fincher has done this to allow the spectator to unders...

cheese essays

cheese essays Introduction to Child Health Systems The American Health Care system has prided itself on providing high quality services to the citizens who normally cannot afford them, although lately the costs have been rising. I am currently under Keystone Health Plan East. This Plan is a heath maintenance organization (HMO). The plan requires specific physicians, hospitals, and other providers that contracts with Keystone. These Plan providers coordinate my health care services. The plan is solely responsible for the selection of these providers in my area. HMOs emphasize preventive care such as routine office visits, physical exams, well-baby care, and immunizations, in addition to treatment for illness and injury. All the providers follow generally accepted medical practice. Since I am under my fathers coverage eighty percent is paid by his employer. A premium must be paid of twenty percent. He is the Deputy Director Manager of SEPTA (South Eastern Public Transportation Authority). I am covered under his plan because I am still a college student. When choosing a primary physician we have a choice of approximately two thousand six hundred and eleven physicians. Overall, there are roughly nine thousand and seven hundred specialists. If I were to go in for a routine examination, I would be charged nothing as long as it is once a year. I would be charged fifteen dollars for an emergency room visit. A medical emergency is the sudden and unexpected onset of a condition or an injury that you believe endangers your life or could result in serious injury or disability, and requires immediate medical or surgical care. Some problems are emergencies because, if not treated promptly, they might become more serious; examples include deep cuts and broken bones. Others are emergencies because they are potentially life threatening, such ...

Ricardo essays

Ricardo essays DAVID RICARDO David Ricardo was born in 1772 and was the third son (out of seventeen). David Ricardo`s family was descended from Iberian Jews who had fled to Holland during a wave of persecutions in the early 18th century. His father, a stockbroker, emigrated to England shortly before Ricardo`s birth. Ricardo attended school in Holland, but left at the age of 14 to work for his father full time in the London Stock Exchange. At 21, Ricardo was disinherited from his family when he married a Quaker which was outside his orthodox Jewish faith. With his considerable reputation in London, Ricardo managed to set up his own business as a dealer in government securities. When Ricardo was in his late 20`s interest in economics as sparked by a chance reading of Adam Smith`s Wealth of Nations. In 1809 after persistent of his friend James Mill he decided to write some of his ideas down. His first article was concerning the bullion controversy, he wrote that England`s inflation was the result of the Bank of England`s propensity to issue bank notes. Ricardo`s major work was The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817). This book presented most of his important theories, especially those concerned with the determination of wage and value. For the problem of wages he proposed the iron law of wages, according to which wages tend to stabilize around the subsistence level. According to his labour theory of value, Ricardo stated that the value of almost any good was, essentially, a function of the labour needed to produce it. Ricardo was also concerned with the subject of international trade, and for that he developed the theory of comparative advantage. Which states that each nation should specialize completely in the production of the good in which it has a comparative cost advantage in producing ...

Read book, write a journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Read book, write a journal - Essay Example It is for this reason that the application of ethical theories and the consideration of the moral obligation of the farmers form a crucial part in agriculture. They provide the basis for interaction and learning for the farmers and all the stakeholders involved. As Robert explains in the ethical agricultural horizon, many people in the field of agriculture view the ethical consideration applicable in agriculture not to be a central issue in agriculture. Therefore, the majority are not willing to contribute to the debate of moral and ethical as they consider it peripheral in their line. He places the agricultural in the context that only leaves their role to be that of producing fiber and food to the human race (Zimdahl 2015). In this, he portrays them as people mentally ethical in their daily lives. Therefore, this place their moral energy expended protecting the souls of their business purely private. However, the problem with this assumption it ignores many facts that fall within the perspective of agriculture. This includes their moral obligation to the environmental issues that the farmers themselves create (Zimdahl 2015). These can range from the impact of excessive fertilizers and pesticides to water and health of individuals. This ca uses internalization of the agricultural problems. Omitting of this moral obligation of the farmers therefore in this context overlooks the obligation to the environment. Apparently, the fear of most of the farmers to resolve and raise ethical issues roots from the fact that they are ethically right already. As Robert explains, agriculturalists draw their views from three main domains in agriculture. The predominant factor in their views has a connect to the fact that most of the rangers, agriculturalists and farmers lack only have basic educations making implementation of the moral and ethical theories an issue (Zimdahl 2015). The

Marriage Equality Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Marriage Equality - Research Paper Example nterparts of a Christian Religion (The Seventh-Day Adventist and the Roman Catholic) based on their opinions and insights about marriage equality that the LGBT people take as their major concern. The theological views of the two specific religions of Christianity would be explored. Therefore, the study could find out who among the religious groups have brought changes and decisions for the marriage equality bringing along the reputation of Christianism. It has been emphasized in the church manual of the Seventh - day Adventist religion that the couples for marriage should be heterosexual partners (Seventh-Day Adventist, 2005). According to Cook (2012), the Seventh-Day Adventist is opposed to same-sex marriage. This is also relative to their views that majority of the people to lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgenders (LGBT) are mostly perceived as anti-Christ or atheist (Cook, 2012). Therefore, it could be that this kind of perception made the adventist church to totally block the LGBT with their rights to marry their same-sex partners. Moreover, the constricted faith of the Seventh-day Adventist church to their sacred scriptures made them to forbid the modern issue to agree the terms for marriage equality. The Seventh-day Adventists claim that people are the apples in the eye of God, a supernatural being with an omnipresent soul (â€Å"Stances of Faiths on LGBT Issues†, 2012). Therefore, every individual is essential to God wherein every person would be bestowed with the fresh and spirit of God that is considered as holy. Human bodys flesh and soul must be filled with the sacredness of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enlivens every being, and it is the duty of a man to take good care of his body and soul for an everlasting life. A man and a woman must make a righteous deed of taking how his body must be holy because the Adventists or any living Christian believe that the body is a temple of God. They also believe that a man and a woman is created in the

Exchange rate diagram Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Exchange rate diagram - Essay Example In Figure 2, as the aggregate demand curve shifts from D0 to D1, the aggregate supply curve also shifts from S0 to S1 since the exchange rate is fixed. The increase in aggregate supply of domestic currency is usually done through the central bank intervention in the foreign exchange market. 2. The higher a country's interest rates, the greater the demand for that currency. ("Exchange Rate", 2006) When foreign interest increases, foreign investments are more attractive. As domestic people want to exchange domestic currency to foreign currency in order to earn more interests, the demand for domestic currency would decrease. Under the floating exchange rate regime, as shown in Figure 3, as the demand for domestic currency decreases, the aggregate demand curve shifts from D0 to D1, causing the exchange rate to rise from e0 to e1. Under the fixed exchange rate regime, however, as the demand for domestic currency decreases from D0 to D1 as a result of the increase in foreign interest, the aggregate supply of domestic currency must also decrease, from S0 to S1, as shown in Figure 4. ...

Lactate & Enzymes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Lactate & Enzymes - Essay Example If pyruvate does not break down, it usually turns into lactate. When pyruvate is produced, the muscle cell will try to use it for aerobic energy. However, if the cell does not have the capacity to use all the pyruvate produced, it will be changed chemically to lactate. Some cells have a large capacity to use pyruvate for aerobic energy while others have very little. With training, many cells can adapt to use more pyruvate and, thus, produce less lactate. Lactate is present in our system at rest and as we go about our every day activities, although at low levels. However, as exercise or work activity increases in intensity, large amounts of pyruvate are produced very quickly. Because pyruvate can be produced quickly, not all of it may be used for aerobic energy. The surplus pyruvate will turn into lactate. This is why lactate is such a significant marker for training. When it is produced, it is a sign that aerobic energy is limited during the activity. There is a different reason why more lactate is produced as exercise intensity increases. As exercise increases, extra muscle fibers will be recruited. These fibers are used infrequently at rest or in light activity. Fast twitch fibers are not very good at turning pyruvate into aerobic energy. Hence, a lot of this pyruvate turns into lactate. Lactate is a major metabolic intermediate. Its fate depends on the conditions of the cell. In aerobic oxidation of glucose, glucose is converted to pyruvate, which is then converted to acetylSCoA (or AcetylCoA), a high-energy thioester. Under anaerobic conditions, pyruvate is reduced to lactate to regenerate the NAD + needed in Step 6 of glycolysis to keep glycolysis pathway going. 3. Which enzyme is responsible for lactate production Write out the equation for this reaction. Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) is an enzyme responsible for lactate production, which is present in varieties or organisms including plants and animals. This will catalyse the inter-conversion of pyruvate and lactate with concomitant inter-conversion of NADH and NAD+. As it can also catalyze the oxidation of hydroxybutyrate, occasionally called Hydroxybutyrate Dehydrogenase (HBD). Or D(-)Lactate + -NAD + Hydrazine LDH> Pyruvate Hydrazone + -NADH Abbreviations used: -NAD = -Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide, Oxidized Form -NADH = -Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide, Reduced Form LDH = D-Lactic Dehydrogenase 4. The student decided to use this enzyme to measure blood lactate levels. He reasoned that if he could produce reaction conditions that allowed the enzyme to metabolise all the lactate present, he would be able to calculate the lactate content of his sample by reading the change in absorbance at 340nm. Explain the reasoning behind this idea. LDH catalyzes the reduction of pyruvate to L-lactate with concomitant oxidation of NADH2 to NAD. Since the oxidation of NADH2 is directly proportional to the reduction of pyruvate in equimolar amounts, the LDH activity can be calculated from the rate of decrease in absorbance at 340 nm (334 nm or 365 nm). 5. In order to obtain suitable conditions for an assay to measure plasma lactate levels, the student chose a buffer containing 1.5% (w/v) hydrazine. Hydrazine reacts covalently with pyruvate to form a hydrazone: CH3 CH3 | | C=O + NH2.NH2 C=N.NH2+H20 |

Modren and tradition family Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Modren and tradition family - Research Paper Example Since I had a question in mind I was somehow sunken in thought was not very keen to notice the old man approach me. He greeted me casually. Without hesitating, he went ahead to answer my question even before I presented it to him, he seemed to have read my mind. He said, â€Å"I missed something when I was a child. I missed the childhood games. My son, during our times we played with small glass bells in the street, hiding, and swimming in the pool†, He paused, I wanted to intervene but he proceeded, â€Å"Our grandfathers dug wells by their bare hands using crude tools, and it was pure water and stemmed from under the ground. We were excited when we played in front of our mothers. Our mothers cleaned our clothes and utensils using it. We also played with neighbors’ children after we had finished studying holy Quran. There were no schools in those days. The days were awesome, those days are gone my son†. When he had finished his speech, he took a deep breath. Act ually, I liked his speech, and I admired the days. The conversation looked more like an imagination despite being the naked truth. When I reported home that night, I talked with my mother about the old man that I had met in the beach. She told me, â€Å"listen my daughter, everyone lives in their generation. If you went back to those old days, you would loathe them and admire to come back to your days, the old were characterized by difficulties that could only be handled by them that lived at that time†. She went on to mention that there was no electricity, cars, planes, and electronic machines among other things. Just like the old man, she reiterated that formal education was nonexistent. I agreed with her that if it were not for education today life would be very boring. The industries were undeveloped and the jobs done were manual in most occasions, they revolved around farming, fishing, hunting and gathering, grazing cattle, and delivering water to houses. She noted sever al benefits that emanated from the traditional way of life. People used to live in communities, the concept of capitalism was nonexistent, and the families had no privacy. The responsibilities were clearly defined; the women cooked food, took care of the children, brought water from the spring, cleaned stuff, and served their husband’s family without any objection. The community defined individual rights, most women and men had no rights in those days because the man’s father was the ultimate decision maker even if the man got married. The old man and my mother had similar points of view as well as differences; I realized that they had different opinions between traditional and modern family setups. This arouses a desire in me to focus about traditional and modern family systems in my country. Although some people believe that the traditional family is the best than modern family structure, both traditional and modern family has positive and negative implications in te rms of their lifestyle, education and the rules governing them. The traditional and modern family setups are different in the way individuals used to reside and the way it is done today. Traditionally an extended family lived in one big house. It consisted of the grandfather, parents, uncles, aunts, and their children. Both the male and female children occupied the same bedroom, likewise the parents would share bedrooms and

Philosophical methods and their role in integrating learning and faith Essay

Philosophical methods and their role in integrating learning and faith - Essay Example In Greek semantics, the traditional goal most associated with philosophy as a discipline is not stated directly, which is not to say that truth is absent in the definition of philosophy, but rather that truth is present in the defining aspect of wisdom. Wisdom relates to truth as knowledge relates to understanding, and the dynamics of this relationship is illustrated in the Greek term ‘Sophia’. In defining philosophy as the â€Å"love of wisdom,† the nature of wisdom itself must be analyzed through a comparison to other types of knowledge. On a fundamental level, traditional philosophy in both the Eastern and Western traditions is gnostic, for these schools assert that truth can be directly experienced and known by human consciousness and that truth is divinely inspired or created by aspects of a divine being. Yet, philosophers themselves may differ in the degree or the manner in which they accord truth to be divine, sacred, holy, or beautiful. Similarly, an agnostic philosophy may be possible, where followers of the teaching believe that truth itself cannot be known absolutely, constructed accurately, or experienced in a valid form by human consciousness, and that truth is not divinely inspired or created by theistic forces. An agnostic belief system or philosophy would appear to be inherently tragic in believing that truth cannot be definitively known to mind, whereas a gnostic or religious system of philosophy can be expected to be liberating through either immanence or transcendence related to mental apprehension o f truth. Therefore, in the gnostic aspects of philosophy, the reconciliation of faith and learning becomes possible, where truth is equated with divinity and wisdom with spirituality in the wider context of life and experience related to the existential aspects of being. In comparison, this possibility of reconciling faith and learning is fundamentally cut-off or eliminated from the philosophy of the agnostic type, as God or divinity is inherently rejected as valid reference. The relationship between philosophy and religion is seen traditionally across all cultures, languages, and schools of thought. In the Christian tradition, Max Dashu (2000) writes, â€Å"The syncretism of Judaic, Egyptian, Hellenistic and Persian traditions gave rise to Gnosticism, a name which arose directly from an emphasis on inner knowing.† (Dashu, 2000) In defining philosophy through the gnostic methodology of â€Å"inner knowing,† a deeper inquiry into the historical dimensions of ‘Soph ia’ or wisdom is also required. Wisdom in the age of the Greeks may have been worshipped with the attributes of the Divine Goddess in indigenous religious traditions, though simultaneously operating as an integral aspect of consciousness. Most schools of philosophy are united by the belief that truth can be apprehended by consciousness, but religious philosophy synchronizes divinity with truth experientially through gnostic realization. Gnosticism as a school of Christianity combining elements of Platonism, Pythagoreanism, Buddhism, and Orphism in a syncretic manner is distinct from the ‘direct knowing of truth’

Lactate & Enzymes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Lactate & Enzymes - Essay Example If pyruvate does not break down, it usually turns into lactate. When pyruvate is produced, the muscle cell will try to use it for aerobic energy. However, if the cell does not have the capacity to use all the pyruvate produced, it will be changed chemically to lactate. Some cells have a large capacity to use pyruvate for aerobic energy while others have very little. With training, many cells can adapt to use more pyruvate and, thus, produce less lactate. Lactate is present in our system at rest and as we go about our every day activities, although at low levels. However, as exercise or work activity increases in intensity, large amounts of pyruvate are produced very quickly. Because pyruvate can be produced quickly, not all of it may be used for aerobic energy. The surplus pyruvate will turn into lactate. This is why lactate is such a significant marker for training. When it is produced, it is a sign that aerobic energy is limited during the activity. There is a different reason why more lactate is produced as exercise intensity increases. As exercise increases, extra muscle fibers will be recruited. These fibers are used infrequently at rest or in light activity. Fast twitch fibers are not very good at turning pyruvate into aerobic energy. Hence, a lot of this pyruvate turns into lactate. Lactate is a major metabolic intermediate. Its fate depends on the conditions of the cell. In aerobic oxidation of glucose, glucose is converted to pyruvate, which is then converted to acetylSCoA (or AcetylCoA), a high-energy thioester. Under anaerobic conditions, pyruvate is reduced to lactate to regenerate the NAD + needed in Step 6 of glycolysis to keep glycolysis pathway going. 3. Which enzyme is responsible for lactate production Write out the equation for this reaction. Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) is an enzyme responsible for lactate production, which is present in varieties or organisms including plants and animals. This will catalyse the inter-conversion of pyruvate and lactate with concomitant inter-conversion of NADH and NAD+. As it can also catalyze the oxidation of hydroxybutyrate, occasionally called Hydroxybutyrate Dehydrogenase (HBD). Or D(-)Lactate + -NAD + Hydrazine LDH> Pyruvate Hydrazone + -NADH Abbreviations used: -NAD = -Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide, Oxidized Form -NADH = -Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide, Reduced Form LDH = D-Lactic Dehydrogenase 4. The student decided to use this enzyme to measure blood lactate levels. He reasoned that if he could produce reaction conditions that allowed the enzyme to metabolise all the lactate present, he would be able to calculate the lactate content of his sample by reading the change in absorbance at 340nm. Explain the reasoning behind this idea. LDH catalyzes the reduction of pyruvate to L-lactate with concomitant oxidation of NADH2 to NAD. Since the oxidation of NADH2 is directly proportional to the reduction of pyruvate in equimolar amounts, the LDH activity can be calculated from the rate of decrease in absorbance at 340 nm (334 nm or 365 nm). 5. In order to obtain suitable conditions for an assay to measure plasma lactate levels, the student chose a buffer containing 1.5% (w/v) hydrazine. Hydrazine reacts covalently with pyruvate to form a hydrazone: CH3 CH3 | | C=O + NH2.NH2 C=N.NH2+H20 |

Philosophical methods and their role in integrating learning and faith Essay

Philosophical methods and their role in integrating learning and faith - Essay Example In Greek semantics, the traditional goal most associated with philosophy as a discipline is not stated directly, which is not to say that truth is absent in the definition of philosophy, but rather that truth is present in the defining aspect of wisdom. Wisdom relates to truth as knowledge relates to understanding, and the dynamics of this relationship is illustrated in the Greek term ‘Sophia’. In defining philosophy as the â€Å"love of wisdom,† the nature of wisdom itself must be analyzed through a comparison to other types of knowledge. On a fundamental level, traditional philosophy in both the Eastern and Western traditions is gnostic, for these schools assert that truth can be directly experienced and known by human consciousness and that truth is divinely inspired or created by aspects of a divine being. Yet, philosophers themselves may differ in the degree or the manner in which they accord truth to be divine, sacred, holy, or beautiful. Similarly, an agnostic philosophy may be possible, where followers of the teaching believe that truth itself cannot be known absolutely, constructed accurately, or experienced in a valid form by human consciousness, and that truth is not divinely inspired or created by theistic forces. An agnostic belief system or philosophy would appear to be inherently tragic in believing that truth cannot be definitively known to mind, whereas a gnostic or religious system of philosophy can be expected to be liberating through either immanence or transcendence related to mental apprehension o f truth. Therefore, in the gnostic aspects of philosophy, the reconciliation of faith and learning becomes possible, where truth is equated with divinity and wisdom with spirituality in the wider context of life and experience related to the existential aspects of being. In comparison, this possibility of reconciling faith and learning is fundamentally cut-off or eliminated from the philosophy of the agnostic type, as God or divinity is inherently rejected as valid reference. The relationship between philosophy and religion is seen traditionally across all cultures, languages, and schools of thought. In the Christian tradition, Max Dashu (2000) writes, â€Å"The syncretism of Judaic, Egyptian, Hellenistic and Persian traditions gave rise to Gnosticism, a name which arose directly from an emphasis on inner knowing.† (Dashu, 2000) In defining philosophy through the gnostic methodology of â€Å"inner knowing,† a deeper inquiry into the historical dimensions of ‘Soph ia’ or wisdom is also required. Wisdom in the age of the Greeks may have been worshipped with the attributes of the Divine Goddess in indigenous religious traditions, though simultaneously operating as an integral aspect of consciousness. Most schools of philosophy are united by the belief that truth can be apprehended by consciousness, but religious philosophy synchronizes divinity with truth experientially through gnostic realization. Gnosticism as a school of Christianity combining elements of Platonism, Pythagoreanism, Buddhism, and Orphism in a syncretic manner is distinct from the ‘direct knowing of truth’

Final Paper on Philosophy Essay Example for Free

Final Paper on Philosophy Essay In its known usage, the word Reality pertains to something that actually exists and which can be felt by the senses. Metaphysics, a branch of Philosophy, tries to discern reality from illusion, as it investigates on things that are real which could also be just illusions of what people want to be real—ideals. However, what can be sensed from the surroundings does not seem to be just mere illusions, as the body and the mind react to everything it senses. In Philosophy, reality usually pertains to existence since it is contrasted with nonexistence—those unreal—and mere possibilities—could be real but does not necessarily exist, unless discovered. To this date, there are still speculations about the Nature of Reality. It could be possible that people are living on their dream worlds, and not in reality (like in the Matrix movie). However, these people perceive their dream worlds as an equal of reality. Hence, they are still living in reality unless someone drags them out of that reality and into another level of reality, which is more real. 2. On a nutshell, the documentary film â€Å"Zen and Now† by Alan Watts points out that people should live in the Now which is actually the main principle of Zen philosophy. Unnecessary baggage could only hinder the person’s progress, in moving on with his or her life. Personal progress seems to be the undying aim of Zen philosophy as it promotes moving forward rather than shackling the self behind in the past. It also does not entail the idea of expecting what could happen in the future. The primary focus is the Now, neither the past nor the future. The principle of Zen pertains to establishing a harmony with the self before people could establish it with others and with the world. Hence, it should be quite simple to understand what Alan Watts wanted to convey. Living in the now is the best way to live life since it gets rid of the excess baggage that drags the person towards his or her sinkhole—the past. This baggage usually make up of the person’s regrets, basically anything negative about his or her past (events, personalities, and the like). 3. The Zimbardo film is about the Stanford Prison Experiment which was conducted by Philip Zimbardo. Basically, it entailed the role-playing of both prisoners and guards by participants who were screened before being accepted. As the film would show, the participants’ imagination grew out of hand, even with the presence of the research team. It may possibly be an act out of human nature, when these participants were given their respective roles. They acted as if it were the real deal; guards taking out their frustration towards the prisoners and prisoners would plan of escaping or creating riots within the prison. The role-playing seemed to unleash genuine human nature of many participants as some would show sadistic tendencies towards the prisoners. It also seemed that imagination initially played a part on this â€Å"unleashing† but it was more the work of the subconscious that guided these people to completely assume their respective roles. The environment, upon which a person belongs to, can have an astounding effect towards him or her. It can actually alter some of the person’s traits as it is part of human nature to adapt to certain environments. It also influences the person’s perception of his or her reality as some situations and conditions involved in the environment would affect the person. 4. The Milgram experiment entailed the testing of a person’s obedience to an authority who orders would instruct him or her to do unethical things that opposes with the person’s conscience. Many of the experiment’s participants were reluctant of administering a high voltage shock of 450 towards the receiver. As the result would show, the willingness of the participant to administer the 450-volts shock greatly conflicts with his or her conscience. They have to be coerced, threatened, or abused in order to successfully administer the shock; unless it served a higher purpose. Humans do not obey commands that can be classified as unethical, immediately. Human conscience seems to prevent the person to follow the commands without hesitation. The experiment could already be perceived as unethical because it entailed the electro-shocking of the learner by the teacher—the participant. The relationship between authority and conscience was tested in this experiment. Many of the participants were reluctant to follow the commands of the authority figure. They showed signs of disobeying the authority figure since they would believe that what they were tasked to perform is unethical. 5. Steve Pinker’s stand is to refurbish the current English Language that has been ravaged by various media influences, by reclaiming the respect for the English language. Every person is capable to speak grammatically but somehow they would choose to follow the English language that popular culture seems to promote (as mentioned, rockers, surfers, valley girls), as well as the standards proposed by Mavens which he utterly despises. As long as these two would continue to promote their version of English, then relearning proper grammar would be a hard task. The promotion of the proper usage of English will definitely be a tough road ahead for the likes of Pinker, as media and the mavens would continue to influence society. 6. Both the environment and free will play a significant role in shaping a person into what he or she can become in the future. Free will would involve decisions to certain situations that could actually be summoned by the person’s environment. However, free will would ultimately shape the person more significantly than the environment as it is his or her decisions that promote the development of the person. The environment could only play a minor role on the person’s development. It is the person’s free will that shapes his or her future. I believe on free will as the catalyst in shaping the person. Free will enables the person to participate with the environment like making the right decisions for certain situations wherein some are raised by the environment. A person could not and should not rely on fate in order to help him or her progress in life or move forward. It is all the work of free will that allows such change to occur within the person and his or her life. 7. Charlie Manson experienced social regression in his childhood life, as his mother rejected him a few times; at one point, even trading him for a pitcher of alcohol. In prison, he learned the teachings of Scientology (a cult led by L Ron Hubbard) and applied many of it to his own established philosophy that he and his followers believed in. The growing crisis of the racial tension between the whites and blacks made him fear that one day, the blacks will take over the whites’ position in society, upon which believing that the Manson family will then have control over the blacks and their society. The Manson philosophy (coded: Helter Skelter) was as destructive as it can be, as it involved spurring chaos in society. His followers were made to believe that they were following the commands of a Jesus Christ incarnate, as they were forced to do anything he commands. It was not fate that brought him into becoming the person that everyone feared in the past. It was his free will that spurred the numerous murders, ordered his â€Å"family† to commit these killings, and sent him to prison. Apparently, he did not have control over his free will as he did everything that seemed to please him. 8. There would be a noise created as it falls to the ground. However, it would not be heard by anything or anyone as there are no living creatures in the forest; unless one would consider the surrounding trees as living things (frankly speaking, they are). It is for certain that there will be noise created as the tree would come crashing down, but without a creature to hear the noise, then it would not be considered as noise in the first place. Two sides could be drawn up from this question: (1) There is a noise since it fell to the ground hard (I suppose it would be hard), and (2) there would not be a single noise as no living creature heard it. For (1), anything can make a noise, intentionally or unintentionally. So it is impossible for the tree to fall down hard silently. In (2), even if the tree creates a noise while falling down, who would be there to receive the sound and conclude it as a sort of noise? That seems to be the main problem here as most living creatures (if not, all) could hear sound. Then again, noise was created but nothing was able to receive it and conclude that it was noise. 9. The Sensory Transduction involves the detection and translation of any form of stimulus. It involves the five senses, making sensory transduction an indispensable part of people’s lives. It involves how people would interpret what they could sense. It may be possible for people to control the transduction of sensorial vibrations (usually associated with feelings), although it might require immense amounts of concentration and will power. The brain would translate these sensorial vibrations for the benefit of the individual; which he or she later translates into experience by how he or she reacts to the translated sensorial vibrations (by the brain). On the other hand, these sensorial vibrations may travel too fast for the person, enabling instinct to take its course in providing the individual how to react on the given situation; given that he or she already experienced the same condition before. I believe people could control the transduction of sensorial vibrations simply because they could choose what they want to sense. A child would close his or her eyes on the scariest parts of the horror movie simply because he or she does not want to get scared. However, it could also be considered that instinct comes into play when the person would fail to react to these transductions. 10. Universal reality is simply the existence of all things; the totality of time, space, and being. Yes, there is a Universal reality in people’s lives because everything around them exists and it will continue to exist until it is removed from time, space, and being. Basically, Universal Reality makes up everything that people could sense around them inside this chamber. People may be unaware of this fact but the Universal reality does not remain constant forever, as it could experience constant changes; changes that enable people to adapt to an altered perception of that supposed Universal reality. Somehow it is thought that all realities originated from a single source of energy or force, upon which all top religions considered as God—the universal being. Basically, the answer would be that there is an existing Universal reality as it entails everything that people would perceive as real and those that can be unreal—as some individuals could perceive them while others could not. Universal reality is all that exists in people’s realities. Hence, there is such a thing.