History And Theory Criticism Anthropology Essay

Lancelot Brown who was born in 1716 and died in 1783 was called ‘Capability ‘ because of his ability in recognizing the capablenesss of a landscape. Very high in his twenty-four hours and the demand by the proprietors of most of the baronial estates, we find that his position or repute had started worsening by the start of the 20th century. This was chiefly due to the polemics of those who had revived the captivation of the formal, architectural garden of which he was considered to be the chief destroyer ( Harlin, p93 ) . His prominence was restored by authors like Christopher Hussey and largely, Dorothy Stroud, who was his biographer during the 1950 and 1960s. Most late garden historiographers such as Tom Williamson and David Jacques have stressed the fact that Brown was merely one of the several 18th century landscape interior decorators, like Adam Mickle, William Emes and Nathaniel Richmond whose work and accomplishments are merely get downing to come into focal point. However, some of these interior decorators began their calling together with Brown. Latest survey, excessively, has stressed that Brown was ne'er a one-person set. He greatly depended on a big group of persons in oversing the execution of his programs and he might be believed to be among the first of all time garden interior decorators to hold something similar to a professional pattern. The accomplishment of his calling comes from his ain extraordinary endowments and the clip in which he lived. It was a clip of great profusion and one of the major marks of wealth was the addition in the size of the landed estates. However, the 18th century, as W. G. Hoskins defines it in ( 1955 ) ‘The Making of the English Landscape ‘ , was really the great age of parliamentary enclosures of the waste land and unfastened Fieldss ; about 1,214,574 hectares were enclosed, in other words passed into private ownership. All through hiss calling he worked on designs for more than two 100 estates, between 1741 ( Stowe ) and 1783 ( Stourton House in Yorkshire ) . The typical description of his characteristic work sums about to a cliche , the park that is surrounded by belts of trees, the bunchs of trees in the unfastened landscape, together with the lake at the cardinal land, ever formed by barricading a steam and usually of a snaky sort so as to look like a river. Not much is known about either the pattern or theory of his trade. He did n't go forth any theoretical Hagiographas and the few hints of information we have are undependable. In recent old ages, we find that it has been mentioned that Brown besides had great involvement in the pleasance evidences of an estate together with the park. He often designed more or less fancy shrubberies that were near to the house like in the pleasance evidences of Petworth. His work was n't by and large admired in his clip, Sir William Chambers, the designer every bit good as the garden interior decorator criticized his landscapes in the twelvemonth 1772 due to their small difference from the common Fieldss. Richard Payne Knight, the picturesque apostle, unusually dubbed him as the originator of bald and bald. Nevertheless, Humphry Repton, who so followed in his footfalls, claimed that wishing for grading, so common in all his workingmans: each knoll by them is lowered, and each hollow filled to do a degree surface ( Halliday, p152 ) . Petworth House Petworth House in Petworth, England is a late 17th century manor, reconstruct in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and tainted during the 1870s by Anthony Salvin. The topographic point was once occupied by an equipt manor house that was founded by Henry de Percy, the 13th century chapel and the undercroft of which still exist. Today ‘s constructing houses is an indispensable aggregation of sculptures and pictures, which include 19 oil pictures by Turner, some which are owned by the household and some by Tate Britain, who was a usual visitant to Petworth, the pictures by Van Dyck, the carvings by Grinling Gibbons every bit good as Ben Harms, traditional and non-traditional sculptures ( which include even the 1s by John Edward Carew and John Flaxman ) , and wall every bit good as the ceiling pictures by Louis Laguerre. Furthermore, there is besides an earthly Earth by Emery Molyneux, which is believed to be he merely one worldwide in its original 1592 province. This stands in a seven hundred acre landscaped park called Petworth Park, which was good designed by Brown. However, the park is among the more popular in England, mostly on description of several of its images which were painted by Turner. It is occupied by a big herd of fallow cervid in England. There is besides approximately 30 acre forest garden called the Pleasure Ground ( Green, p123 ) . For the last two hundred and 50 old ages, we find that the house and the estate have under the ownership of the Wyndham household. The house and cervid park were given to the province in 1947 and are presently under the direction of the National Trust under the trade name ‘Petworth House and Park. However, the Leconfield Estates besides possess much of the Petworth and the adjacent country. As a expression into the lives of the old estate workers, we find that the Petworth Cottage Museum has been situated in High Street. Petworth House is the place to Petworth House Real Tennis Club. ( Many similar private estates held existent tennis tribunals. )BlenheimPalaceThis is a big and big state house located in Woodstock, England. It is really the lone non-episcopal state house in the state to hold the rubric ‘Palace ‘ . The castle which is one of the largest houses in England was constructed between 1705 and 1724. It was accepted and recognized as a UNESCO World heritage Site in the twelvemonth 1987 ( Girouard, p67 ) . However, its building was ab initio intended to be a present to John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough from an appreciative state in return for military triumph against the Bavarians and Gallic at the Battle of Blenheim. Is shortly turned out to be the chief topic of political squabbling, which resulted to Marlborough ‘s expatriate, the autumn from the power of his Duchess, and lasting harm to the position of the Sir John Vanbrugh, the architecture Planned in the rare, and impermanent, English Baroque manner, architectural esteem of the castle is divided today as it was during the 1720s. It is exceeding in its combined usage as a mausoleum, household place, and a national memorial. Furthermore, the castle is besides celebrated as the place of birth and the hereditary place of the Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill ( Turner, p30-32 ) . The mark above the big East gate provides a clear history of the building of the castle, the reading: â€Å" Under the backing of a munificent crowned head this house was constructed for John of Marlborough together with his Duchess Sarah, by Sir J Vanbrugh between 1705 and 1722. The Royal Manor of Woodstock and a grant of two hundred and 40 1000 Euros towards the building of Blenheim, was offered by Her Majesty Queen Anne and approved by act of parliament. † The fact is hat the building of the castle was a minefield of political confederacy, with intriguing on a Machiavellian graduated table by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. Due to the completion of the castle, it has become the place of the Churchill household for the past three hundred old ages, and several members of the household have in that clip produced many alterations, inside gardens and park, whereby some are for the better, others for the worse. At the terminal of the 19th century, the Churchills and the castle were saved from the muss by an American matrimony. Hence, the outside of the castle is still in good fix and precisely as completed.Work citedTurner, R. , Capability Brown and the Eighteenth Century English Landscape. Phillimore, Chichester, 2005, pp.30-32. The book negotiations about Brown and his several parts to the landscape design, including the constitution of many Parkss for the English aristocracy. Particularly 15 of his landscapes ( e.g. , Blenheim ) which are comprehensively covered. Girouard, M. , Life in the English Country House. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2001, p67 The writer teases out these constellations and analyses the several ways the thoughts of subjection and command shaped Romantic artistic signifiers, from the literature and art to architecture and garden design. Green, D. , Blenheim Palace. Oxford: Alden Press. 2002, p123 The book focuses on a extremely original country of enquiry, the urban underworld. It besides offers enormous penetrations into the cultural energies and the stuff flows of the tunnels, cloacas and drains of Paris and London. Halliday, E. , Cultural History of England. London: Thames & A ; Hudson. 2004, p152 This book displays the easiness and assurance of person who truly knows her capable. The writer examines the comfy insides of England, the overstuffed chairs and couchs, dark forests, authoritative spiels and the vivacious colourss. Harlin, R. , Historic Houses. London: Conde Nast Publications. 1999, p93 In this book, the writer negotiations about the great architectural memorials in different metropoliss of the universe such as London, Athens and Paris

Growth of Real Women

Education, voting, working were three things women could not do. Before the late 1800's women had mimited rights. As the years past by women slowly gained priviledges that men already had. Although women cant handle some of the tasks that men take on, women have many other advantages. In the early 1900's few women attended finishing schools called Female Seminaries. Later on the women who did attend state universities around 1863 had to live with being discrimintated against and being ridiculed. By the end of the 19th century female docotor and lawyers became more common. By The New Nationalism women got the right to vote in elections. Today womens rights have prgressed emensly. From not being able to tend school and get an education and not being able to have a job or vote women have gained all those rights. Now women are able to have higher paying jobs, full educations and vote for whoever they want. As apposed to long ago when they could only stay at home and cook. Now women are moving up in the ranks of the job industry. Some making more pay then males and being at higher rank. For example the Us has women comprise about a quarter of the UA facitlity. They are also moving up the rank to higher-paying staff posisions, more than 10 years ago. Although there are still more males, the women have increased tons over the last century. And as the studies show the women will still be rising in the future. From the past to the future women have gained more power over the years. From going to no rights at all women have gained as many rights as males have. Although some jobs are made for a man to work, women have the right to try and work there if that what they want to do. From reading the text book and reading the news article it is shown that we can make things happen. As women progressed over the years and fought for their rights as females, they won. I dont think anything will change in the future for women because they are already treated to the equal amount that men are. People across the US should know about this so they know they too can make a difference in the future.

Is There Nowhere Else Where We Can Meet ?

The story begins with a clever prophetic metaphor, ‘reversal of elements' where the white sky is blackened by smoke. This speaks of the role reversal that is about to take place between the races of the boy and the girl. It warns us that there is going to be meeting and it won't be a particularly pleasant one. The title itself incurs thoughts of a romantic meeting, similar to the title of a Hollywood film. This gives the reader a clue that there is a sexual theme in this story.II)an initiation story1) Little red riding hood : journey/ hostile nature / sexual threat / big bad wolf Particular attention should be drawn to smells, they play vital role inthis story. e.g. the strong smell of old sweat burned at her nostrils, a filthy rag,a dusty green scent, he was clean, unhuman, the smell of him choked her.2) A regression process : turning into an idiot (absence of speech)3) Balance and imbalanceViolence is contained by fear.III) (south-african white) girl meets (black) boy : a tale of racial, spacial, sexual, social segregation :1) Irrational instinctive reaction on the girl's part2) Sense of place/displacement3) Fear of the UnknownThe story gets complicated with every minute, the heroine sees some red eyes, she does not knowwhether they belong to a dog or to a person. These red eyes evoke fear andsome interest, her hurt starts beating faster and faster. The author on purpose did not give any names because she wanted to generalize thatsituation and foreground some oppositions: white and black ( racial  context ), educated – uneducated, civilization – veld.

Nelson Mandela and Mohanas Gandhi Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nelson Mandela and Mohanas Gandhi - Essay Example Mandela fought selflessly for his people and was jailed for 27 years. However, once in power he did not retaliate, but instead chose to form the rainbow country. (Martin, 2013) Linguistic intelligence can be described as the ability to master, explore and use words to successfully communicate with others. Mandela was a great speaker who wooed and ‘wowed’ the crowd with his linguistic ability. While in prison, he convinced people to go on a hunger strike to coerce the authority to improve their living conditions. Gandhi was also a prolific speaker. He had a large collection of written works in different fields that are quoted, studied and admired all over the world. They also possessed Interpersonal intelligence. This is the ability to look at people outwardly and understand fears, motivations and intentions and then use that knowledge to influence people towards a desired goal. Gandhi upon reaching South Africa realized that his people were being mistreated and he therefore decided to fight for their rights. Mandela was also not happy with the apartheid regime that segregated his people. Since he could easily read their minds, he easily convinced them to use violent protests. Gandhi on the other hand convinced his people to uphold the non-violent disobedience policy even though they were being

Organizational Change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Organizational Change - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that it has been a most frequently used adage that nothing is constant except change. In contemporary organizations, experience has proven that business entities require both stability and continuity, in conjunction with innovation and adaptation. Without equilibrium, any business organization could not effectively function; yet, without adaptation, it definitely cannot survive. The option open to organizations is not between continuity or discontinuity, but a balance between them. Organizational change is, therefore, the quintessence of adaptation and innovation: a crucial and necessary fact of life. According to Martires and Fule, change is any alteration in the present state of a system. In social organizations, change is initiated, implemented, and maintained to achieve a new and higher level of performance by the system. In a report written by Kezar, the author cited two definitions of organizational change, to wit: â€Å"Burnes noted that organizational change refers to understanding alterations within organizations at the broadest level among individuals, groups, and at the collective level across the entire organization. Another definition is that change is the observation of difference over time in one or more dimensions of an entity†. From these meanings, it is therefore apparent that organizational change contains transformations of one or more elements within the organization over a pre-defined period of time.... People have been located at the center because it is they who link all other variables in a productive way. The organization tries to obtain a new level of performance and excellence by adjusting its internal functions and processes, as well as modifying its goals. This means that any or all of the five variables may be changed to realize the necessary adjustment. Furthermore, the system’s elements are highly interdependent and interrelated, and any change in one will have an influence on the others. 3. Characteristics or Attributes of Innovative Companies. Since innovation is crucial to organizational effectiveness and growth, the question of what characterizes innovative companies is an important one in managing change. Answers to this question provide broad outlines for action and give the change process its direction. Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr.’s (1982) research on successful American companies offers significant insights as to where the direction of change should be. In their study, they identified eight attributes which distinguish excellent and innovative companies from those which are not. The authors noted that not all eight attributes were present to the same degree in the excellent companies that they studied. But in every case, at least a preponderance of the eight was clearly visible. These attributes or characteristics of innovative companies are enumerated herewith: (1) a bias for action; (2) close to the customer; (3) autonomy and entrepreneurship; (4) productivity through people; (5) hands on and value driven; (6) stick to the knitting; (7) simple form and lean staff; and finally (8) simultaneous loose-tight properties (Peters and Waterman, 1982, pp. 13-15). 4. Identify

The History of the Lubicon Lake Band and the Case Against Canada Essay

The History of the Lubicon Lake Band and the Case Against Canada - Essay Example The community claimed that the government did not consult any of their representatives during its decision2. In addition, the group claimed that gas and oil exploration projects would compromise their habitat. The Lubicon lake community currently has approximately 500 members who are the among the indigenous community that lived in Canada before the arrival of the European immigrants. Members of this community depend on hunting and trapping as their main economic activity. Conflict between the community and the Canadian government began when the government failed to consider them in 1899 treaty3. The treaty aimed at identifying and protecting territories of indigenous communities who lived in the country. Following the government decision, members of the community failed to present a systematic or legal claim to the government to claim ownership of the land. Lubicon lake community may have assumed that the government was responsible in protecting the rights of every community particu larly the minority community. On the other hand, the government did not show economic interest on Lubicon band territory. The government may have ignored the incorporation of the community in the 1899 treaty in order to protect its interest in the region4. The struggle between the lake community and the nation attracted the interests of the international community in 1984. This followed a failed attempt by members of the community to achieve any political or legal settlement for their case concerning invasion of their indigenous land. The United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHCR) intervened in the case although, the community’s chiefs had previously requested for intervention from the international community. However, the Canadian government was against the decision claiming that they had not exhausted all domestic avenues that could be used to resolve such case5. After detailed investigations of the issue, the UNHCR concluded that available domestic remedies were insuffi cient to settle the case6. This is because the community did not have the ability to defend its interest against the country. In addition, the community was unlikely to win back their indigenous land back since Canada controlled the judicial system. In 1990, the UNHCR agreed that the state was a threat to the existence of the community by allowing invasion of their cultural land. The committee also agreed to include the Libicon community among threatened communities in order to attract the attention of the international community7. The committee also argued that the government had violated Article 27 of the international law concerning indigenous communities and indigenous territories. The Canadian government responded by increasing avenues for negotiation between the community and the government in relation to the controversial land. The government proposed resettlement of the community as the main solution to the case considering that the region was of national interest8. However, the Lubicon community declined the resettlement offers given by the government claiming that their traditions do not allow them to give up their ancestral land. Representatives of the community also argued that giving up their land would also be against the 1899 treaty. This is because the government pledged to protect the interests of indigenous community in cases involving land disputes. Community members also argued that currently the country did not have any

Sport in high schools and colleges Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sport in high schools and colleges - Essay Example On the basis of those studies, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Knight Commission have been taking different steps at different times to bring order in sport education. Thus, tougher academic standards for student athletes and a certification program for athletics departments were introduced. Though the new academic standards are not always fair to student athletes – in some cases they are required to do more than students not involved in college sport life. Some states adopted no pass – no play policy to enhance academic achievements of student players. With institution of tougher academic standards and new support programs in 1996 graduation rates began improving and more student athletes appeared to earn degrees – in 2002, 62 per cent of Division I athletes who had enrolled six years earlier graduated. (Although the proportions were up in 2003, only 54 percent of Division I-A football players and 44 percent of basketball players graduated (Price, 2004)). Drug use can enhance an athlete's performance as well as impair it and possibly lead to injury. In the case, Vernonia School District v. Acton, student athletes in Oregon were required to take a urine test for amphetamines, marijuana and cocaine at the beginning of the season. In addition, random tests on 10 percent of all student athletes were conducted each week during the season. School officials said they instituted the policy because students were openly boasting of using drugs, and disciplinary problems had increased. But there is still no consensus on whether high school athletes should be subject to random drug testing as a condition for playing interscholastic sports (Worsnop, 1994). College sports has become a $4-billion-a-year enterprise, and the elite football and basketball teams - mostly those in the Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10 and Southeastern conferences - earn multimillion-dollar profits for their universities (Price, 2004). Here rises a problem - who gets the money and how to distribute it equally between management and players. It was suggested to develop a certification or peer-review program for Division I sports departments. Proponents of peer review say it will keep the college sports reform movement alive by forcing Division I schools to engage in periodic soul-searching. However, it may take years to pass

Leadership and Self-Efficacy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Leadership and Self-Efficacy - Essay Example Influence of leadership on employee motivation Mullins (2007, p.155) argued that â€Å"leadership is not about being a wonder woman or a man; but it's about valuing individuality†. Plenty of people have the illusion that wonderful people may become effective leaders. However, the fact is that effective leaders are the ones who are successful in motivating the followers or individuals. Leadership is all about influencing others. Leaders can influence employees both in positive and negative manners. In other words, leadership can inject both positive and negative energies in the minds of the employees. Clawson (2008, p.1) pointed out that â€Å"leadership is about managing energy first in yourself and then in those around you†. Leaders who cultivate negative energy in the minds of employees may fail to motivate the employees whereas those who cultivate positive energy may succeed in motivating the employees. A lot of leadership models are currently popular in the organiza tional world. The major objective of all these models is to motivate the employees properly. For example, servant leadership is one of the rapidly evolving leadership styles at present. â€Å"It is an approach that aims to satisfy the needs of the employees so that it enhances job satisfaction and inspires them to reach higher levels of performance in organizations due to its emphasis on serving, vision, values, teamwork and empowerment† (Mehta, & Pillay, 2011, p.24). In this type of leadership, the leaders are giving more attention to satisfy the needs of the employees. The principle behind this model is that only the satisfied employees contribute heavily to the organization and therefore it is necessary to provide peace of mind to the employees at any cost. Therefore, servant leaders try to serve the employees as the name indicates. Some leaders have the illusion that leadership and management are all about using power. However, servant leadership says that leaders should act even as servants at times to derive the most out of the employees. Another important leadership model in the corporate world is transformational leadership style. The core principle behind of transformational leadership model rests in providing enough motivation to the employees to perform certain tasks. â€Å"Correlational and regression analysis revealed that there is a direct and positive relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment. Results also show that emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment† (Farahani et al., 2011, p.211). As the name indicates, transformational leaders try to transform the minds of the employees. They cultivate positive changes in the behavior, attitudes and work philosophy of the employees so that the organization gets benefits out of it. Consistency in approaches and dealings is one of the major characteristics of transformational leade rs. In other words, transformation leaders will never be opportunistic. They will assist the employees both during good times and bad times. Nohria et al, (2008, p.3-4) conducted some studies in order to learn more about the employee motivating factors. In their opinion the four drives that underline motivation are; the drive to acquire, the drive to bond, the drive to comprehend and the drive to defend. It is the duty of the leaders to make sure that all these drives of motivation are met properly. For example the drive to acqu

GLOBAL OUTSOURCING Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

GLOBAL OUTSOURCING - Essay Example It has also been able to simplify stock holding and brought them down to  £8.9 million from staggering  £40 million. The overall net effect of the above savings is decrease in production costs of every component (vehicle) by  £34 (Reynolds, 2012). It has been able to free up its real property for process of manufacturing vehicles. Therefore, Jaguar Land Rover has not only been capable of improving its supply chain but also to deliver fantastic savings on costs. Importantly, Jaguar Land Rover has been able to increase customer satisfaction (Reynolds, 2012). 5 The company trades as â€Å"Jaguar Land Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC†. It is a multinational company manufacturing and selling vehicles globally. Its headquarters are in Whitley, Coventry in the United Kingdom. The chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Jaguar Land Rover Company is Ralf Speth. Jaguar Land Jaguar Land Rover company is the largest automotive manufacturing business in the United Kingdom. The company manufactures the automotives around two iconic car brands from the United Kingdom. These iconic car brands are Land Rover and jaguar. Land over is a world’s top producer of finest all wheel drive automobiles. Jaguar is a world leading premier luxury sports car and sports saloon car Marques. Jaguar Land Jaguar Land Rover brings together these two highly prestigious and much loved brands of cars. Tata Motors acquired Land Rover and jaguar companies from Ford Company in 2008 and later merged them in to a single automotive manufacturing company. Jaguar Land Ja guar Land Rover has been successful and it has been flourishing with innovative technologies and memorable vehicles that add to the companys extensive enduring legacy of unique automotive manufacturer (Woolley & Grice 2013). Jaguar Company started in 1922 as a motorcycle sidecars manufacturer. Now, the company name was Swallow SideCar Company. It started to

Critically analyse the factors which influence the exercise of Essay

Critically analyse the factors which influence the exercise of management prerogative in employment relations - Essay Example Hence employer’s prerogative ensures the basic right of an employer to apply his/her creative concepts in the business. However, it does not entitle the employer to harass employees but only gives the right to satisfy his/her business interests. The following part will critically analyze the factors which normally influence the exercise of management prerogative in employment relations in the US, UK, and China. The US’s ‘right to manage’ is very different from that of the other developed countries. â€Å"Joint determination of relationship between employers and organized employees through collective bargaining is now a protected right in the United States† (James 1992). Obviously United States has adopted a more liberal policy towards employees’ rights. The US law insists that the managerial objectives should be achieved through good employer-employee relations in order to reduce the work difficulties and employees’ physical and mental stress. In the opinion of Summers (1976), the US considers employees’ termination as economical capital punishment (ibid). During the last decade, many states have limited employers’ traditional rights to terminate the workers any time as they liked. The adverse impacts of this law is that sometimes even the most unproductive workers get the opportunity to continue the job and thus the long term objectiv es of the enterprise get impeded. This law enforcement is against the employer’s right of ‘hire and fire the employees’. Numerous US regulations including EEO legislations and other non-discrimination acts tend to favor employees rather than employers rights. For instance, a company is liable to prove that the termination of any employee is not due to discrimination of any sort. As a positive outcome of such restrictions on employer’s prerogative employee-employer relationship has been enhanced in the US business environment. In contrast, the restrictions would pull back innovative

Body Diversity and Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Body Diversity and Media - Essay Example Body diversity is a crucial component that the society needs to address not only in America, but also across the globe. It ought to be so because some sections of the society have developed stereotypes about certain body formations. More often than not, such stereotypes border on unfairness, especially the ones that have discriminatory elements. For example, fatness was considered a sign of fortune and fertility in the 20th century but currently it is a sign of poor health and selfishness. It may not necessarily be so because the degree of fatness differs across individuals and the causes are widespread. For instance, a person may become fat because he/she has peace of mind while another may be so because of engaging in unhealthy lifestyles. Racism has been ailing the world, particularly the United States, for centuries now. It is simply discrimination based on skin color. Despite frantic efforts by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King jnr. to bring civil revolution in their times, racism continues to be a major challenge to national cohesion in America and many countries. The evidence of racism in the United States is depicted by the voting trends during election times. It means that a nation can be liberal and democratic yet racist. People are different in skin color, eye color, body shape, and hair texture, but they are all humans who deserve equal treatment. All sectors of the society must come into play in order to condemn the evil of discrimination based on body diversity. Perhaps a critical tool that a nation can either use to fun or shun discrimination based on body diversity is the media. Indeed, the media plays a critical media can provide a platform for dissuading citizens from all forms of bodily discrimination. Besides skin color and hair texture, most American with disability have also had to cope with high levels of discrimination. Since it is

Human rights in Iraq after the war Essay Example for Free

Human rights in Iraq after the war Essay The Americans are fairly blunt about promoting their corporate interests. A USAid spokeswoman was quoted recently pointing out that it should not come as a surprise that all of the companies short listed for work in Iraq are American. Her advice to non American companies is to pressurize their own governments. And this is driving the agenda of the European Union meeting in Brussels. President Chirac and others opposed to war have declared that while they condemn this war, they are willing to work with the UK and US on the reconstruction of Iraq. No doubt the popular sentiment in Europe favours providing support to the Iraqi people after a terrible devastation has been wrecked upon them. However, these governments are also under pressure to provide a role for their corporations in post war Iraq, a resource rich country. Thus, before the war has ended, the more divisive fight over the spoils of war has already started. In the now marginalized United Nations lies France and Germanys best hopes of making the division of the loot somewhat egalitarian. But the Americans are prepared, more than ever, to brush away the UN, and impose direct rule on iraq. The British are hoping to receive their fair share of the crumbs for their loyalty. However, this comes at the heavy cost of alienating Britain from the rest of Europe. It is likely that this battle to divide the spoils will lead to important decisions concerning the future of the United Nations as well as the future relationship between America, Britain and Europe. OREND’S THEORY ON RECONSTRUCTION ON THE BASIS OF HUMAN RIGHTS All human beings have human rights. However, human rights do not necessarily embrace anything and everything the anybody wants. Human rights are merely limited to those things which are both vitally needed and which can be provided at reasonable cost. A claim is at the core of any right, and that a claim is necessarily a claim on someone or something, in connection with some sought-after action or benefit, some good or policy. There is no such thing as a holder of a right without a correlative bearing any duty. The acts of the US and UK in Iraq after war can be considered as too much abuse to the basic human rights of the Iraqis. The Reconstruction being done to foster an economic advantage deprives the Iraqi of their basic economic benefits necessary to alleviate their lives. There is a plain disregard of a multi-aspect needs of the Iraqis for preservation, liberation, unification, democratization, and self-identity. The reconstruction projects are simply not directed towards the development and enhancement of the fundamentals of human existence and human rights. The excessive desire of the US government for profit and gains violates the basic principle of human rights, as according to Professor Orend, that is to love a â€Å"minimally decent lives†. Professor Orend holds a human right to be â€Å"a high-priority claim, or authoritative entitlement, justified by sufficient reasons, to a set of objects that are owed to each human person as a matter of minimally decent treatment†. He then asserts that to hold human rights â€Å"one must be biologically human, one must avoid violating another’s human rights, and one must have fundamental interests in, or vital needs for, living a life of minimal value. † Both formulations are valuable definitions and form a strong basis upon which to ground claims of rights. This requires a life that does not yearn for any excessive economic gains and benefits, unlike what the US Government and its cronies are manifesting. A life of simplicity within the level of a minimally decent lives requires only just enough resources to support the basic services and development of the State. It does not necessarily imply taking advantage of another’s ordeal just to promote one’s excessive economic needs. Orend shows who bears what duties in relation to human rights, questioning whether individuals or institutions are responsible for ensuring human rights. Orend concludes that both institutions and individuals bear responsibility for ensuring human rights on both a national and international level. This duty, he argues, directly correlates to one’s ability to affect human rights. So, while the duty of an individual is different from the duty of a multinational corporation, which in turn is different from the duty of a nation or international institution, all of these entities are responsible for ensuring that human rights are respected. Following on from this, Orend argues that post war reconstruction must occur via the established media of international law and governance but with the added insights of practices such as philosophy, human rights, history, public policy, and political science. It cannot be simply held and carried out purely for purposes of gains. There must be concerted and united efforts of all institutions and individuals of the word to perform their respective duty proceeding from the basic moral duty of respecting the basic dignity and rights of the Iraqis. All aspects must be duly considered in order to come up to a broader and complete plan of binging in reconstruction in Iraq. References: 1. 1. Fagan, Andrew. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Human Rights. Human Rights Center: University of Essex. 2006. http://www. iep. utm. edu/h/hum-rts. htm 2. Orend, Brian. Human Rights: Concept and Context. Petersburg, Ontario: Broadview Press, 2002. http://www. du. edu/gsis/hrhw/booknotes/2004/zwiebach-2004. html.

Should English Be The Global English Language Essay

Should English Be The Global English Language Essay Today, the world has shrunk to the size of a handheld electronic device. In nanoseconds we can stream through cyberspace and reach the other side of the earth. More and more, we are becoming a global economy, interdependent upon each other for trade and commerce. That means interacting with people in foreign lands we may never visit. It would only make sense that we all learn to communicate in one language to save time and effort, to reduce the possible miscommunication diluted through translation, and to streamline transactions. But is it feasible, and if so, is it really the best course of action? The concept of a global language is hardly new. Throughout the centuries, to the conquerors went the spoils, which means they became economically superior. In order to trade with those in power, one had to speak their language. Colonization became the norm, first by Rome, then Spain, then France, then England. That is how the US was settled. In the 19th and even into the 20th century, the English speaking powers of Great Britain and the United States ruled the world of commerce, power and trade. Both World Wars were won largely due to the efforts of these allies. Though communism was on the rise at the end of World War II, within forty years it was no longer deemed a threat. Capitalism ruled, and so did the language of the capitalists English. The fact is this: English is present worldwide and is spoken on every continent. As of 1995, it was deemed to be the official language in sixty countries and was prominent in twenty more  [i]  . Approximately 500 million to 1.8 billion people are estimated to speak English, or at least be able to successfully carry on a conversation in it according to an article by Debateopedia.  [ii]  David Crystal estimated in his Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (1995) that the number of English as a second language speakers (i.e. people who lived in a country where English was the assumed official language but not their native tongue) in the world equaled close to 98 million while those who spoke it as a foreign language was estimated to be, as low as 100 million and as high as 1,000 million.  [iii]   So, the concept that English should become the new global and internet language seems logical to many people. But is it? Or is that an antiquated, narrow world view left over from the British colonization era that both globalization and Internet communication has begun to dissolve? In order to analyze this in a neutral light, it is necessary to look at both sides of the argument and weigh it against the global economic and population trends of today and for the next forty or fifty years. It is, however, necessary to note that this article is originally written in English Americanized English, which many website providers today prefer to use because of its universal appeal. That being said, it is hard to remain totally unbiased. The Argument For English as a Global Language One cannot argue that English has dominated many forms of literary expression in the last seventy years thanks to the silver screen, radio and television. In literary works, from poetry to scientific research papers, English continues to be dominant if the author wishes his or her work to get international recognition, according to MÃÆ' ¨litz (2004).  [iv]  He states, in an internet article published by the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), If you want to reach a world audience, write in English those who strive to make a mark in their discipline strive to publish in English. By and large, the ones who stick to their home language English accepted of course have lower ambitions and do less significant work.  [v]   The article goes on to state that with the advances in telecommunications in the last thirty years, the dominance of English in auditory and audiovisual entertainment has become far greater than books. In 1960, English represented about a quarter of the world publishing market, yet translations into English equaled about 50%, according to the CEPR. Twenty years later, while the share of English publishing had dropped to only 17%, translations still remained at or over 50%. If their facts are accurate, it shows English was, at that time, still the academically preferred language. This was written long before the introduction of Kindle and I Pads which to date cannot yet handle the characters of Hebrew, Russian, Chinese, Japanese or Arabic and have limited downloadable options in French, Italian or Spanish. Whether or not these two inventions will increase English domination of the written word or not remains to be seen. Still, English appears to be the most dominant language into which others are translated. If you want to reach the world, even on the web, your website needs to be in English. After all, English has been the official language of the UNO since 1945 as well as NAFTA, NATO and other international trade and diplomatic organizations. It is the official language of the Council of Europe even though there are a total of eleven languages represented. In the Olympics, English shares dominance with French. Athletes are expected to know English in order to be interviewed by television reporters. English is the language of Microsoft, Coca-Cola, MacDonalds and Hollywood. English is the language of pop-culture, or tourism, of markets and trade, of the Internet.  [vi]   In a blog offered by Ronald Hilton of the Hoover Institution in Stanford, CA, Madhukar N. Goagte of India points out English is the language all pilots must use no matter what airport they are communicating with in which country. In international airports, in fact, all announcements are in three languages the universal picture symbols, the native tongue and in English if it is not the native tongue.  [vii]   Dr. Ali S.M. Al-lssa states that English language teaching (ELT) has been a global activity and a large business and industry for the past five decades or so. This has been concurrent with the international role English language has been playing on the world arena in the postcolonial/neocolonial age dominated by the USA.  [viii]   He goes on to reference his point by stating what Dua (1994) said, i.e. that British promotion of English as a second language was solely in an effort to protect and promote capitalism, an effort that the US took over in the postwar era.  [ix]  Despite the rise of manufacturing in China, Mexico and elsewhere, the majority of commercial buyers remain those from the USA and other English speaking countries. Therefore, it is only natural to speak, advertise and trade in that language. One could argue, therefore, since the trend to make English the universal internet language is already established out of popular demand and commercial dominance, it should be allowed to continue. But will this always be the case? Will the decline in recent years of the European and American economic markets versus the rise of the Chinese markets tip the scales in favor of everyone learning Mandarin? Is it arrogant to state that reading and speaking English is the only way to achieve economic success on a global level? Barbara Wallraff (What Global Language, 2000) reported what an international information technology expert she interviewed named Michael Dertouzos relayed about the mood at a conference he attended in Taipei. Chinese traders were grousing about the fact they had to use English in order to make money on the Internet. Ten years later, they still do. The Argument Against The Tower of Babel The ancient story of the Tower of Babel exists in the Torah, the Koran and the Bible. It tells of a time when all people spoke the same language and became so arrogant that they decided to build a tower up to God, in essence to become equals. As a result, the tower was sent tumbling to the ground. As a punishment for this audacity, the people began babbling in incomprehensible languages. Since they could not intercommunicate, they were rendered powerless. Is the same thing happening today? Goethe is quoted to have said, Wer keine andreren Sprachen kennt, weiss nichts von seiner eigenen. (He who knows no other languages, knows nothing of his own.) Just because an American business person or tourist is monolingual, to assume that everyone else he meets should speak English borders on the same arrogance as the people of Babel, does it not? Over 70% of Europeans are at least bilingual. In fact, most of the world outside of the USA speaks more than one tongue. It is not uncommon for a country to have several native languages within its borders. Throughout history, as tribes and villages were conquered, the dominating victors language become predominant, but native tongues were not eliminated. The predominance of one universal language was first proposed as far back as 1887 by L.L. Zamenhof in his treatise on Esperanto. This was a language he created to facilitate international trade communications. It is a blending of many European based languages and is supposedly designed to be learned quickly. Over 120 years later, it is a viable international language and is spoken by many people, but because it has no culture attached to it, it is lifeless. It hasnt really grown in vocabulary. There are few idioms or colloquialisms. It lacks color and culture, which language is designed to express. Does English domination thwart the creative development of other cultures? Language is one of the cornerstones of a civilizations culture. The more you use that tongue, the more you become absorbed into the societys mores and customs. Even MÃÆ' ¨litz does go onto argue that having English as the dominating factor, is as limiting as having all music written for a cello (English Language Dominance, 1999). Translations cannot pick up all the idioms, nuances and beauty of a language or the culture to which it belongs. Scholars such as Rasool (1999) agree. She sees language is a developmental feature of a culture. . . . people must be provided with the skills, knowledges and expertise to shape their own development priorities. Literacy defined within the framework of sustainable development would therefore include a broad and critical knowledge base, an understanding of how societies function. . .  [x]   Language is the fabric that interweaves a culture together. To take that away and make one language a universal one would be like diluting a teaspoon of sugar in a gallon of water. The hint of the sweetness may remain, but it is not very noticeable. The result is a watered down version that loses its heart and soul. The flavor of the culture is absorbed and almost disappears in the common denominator of a universal language. One may point out that is what the colonization mentality of the British empire was in essence all about, and American commerce has become the offspring of that concept. Alistair Pennycook would be the first to agree. In his article, Development, Culture and Language (1999), he showed how parental demand for learning English can backfire Hong Kong has been a good example of this: parental demand produced extensive schooling in English, which did not have an effect of giving people greater access to resources; rather, it gave people an inadequate education both of and through their first language.  [xi]   Parents want their children to succeed and have all the advantages they did not have. But, does that mean learning a new language and absorbing another culture? Along with English comes Western culture, which has not always been proven to be a wonderful improvement. Japan is evidence of this. Obesity, once rare, is now rampant among younger Japanese who have developed a taste for hamburgers, chocolate candy, pizza and fries. Smoking related diseases continues to be on the rise. Acne plague the faces of the youth. A generation is being lost as young Japanese in their twenties and thirties literally bow out of society unable to reconcile their thirst for Western ways with the traditions of their parents. Known as the dead children, they literally lock themselves away in their rooms for years on end. Depression and suicidal rates are escalating among this age group. Is English the Official Language in the US? Few people realize that the US federal government has never established an official language of the country, and only twenty-five out of the fifty states have.  [xii]  Perhaps because the Founding Fathers all spoke English it was never considered an issue. However, today, that is not the case. According to the United States Census Bureau, between 1980-1990 the number of Spanish speaking people residing in the US rose by 50% and Chinese speakers grew by 98%.  [xiii]  Hispanics make up almost 1/3 of that population, and where as English is becoming the preferred language of the younger generations born there, many still claim it as a second language. Spanish is still the primary one of the home among a majority of Hispanics living in the US. It is estimated that 2.4 million Chinese now live in the US and most speak their native tongue as a first language. Add to that Koreans, Vietnamese, Japanese and Arabic nation immigrants, and this melting pot becomes more like a mixed salad . Everything blends, but little cross culture is absorbed. It is just saturated by the dressing called Americanism. Whats more, the trend is world-wide. David Graddol, of the English Company, a British based firm that deals in international commerce, has written extensively on this subject of English and its decline as a global language. He states, . . . the globalization of English isnt going to happen the way people expect it to.  [xiv]  In another paper called Decline of the Native Speaker(1999), he explains that the percentage of native English speaking people in the world will shrink dramatically by the year 2050 to 5%. Chinese Mandarin will be the primary language with 1,384million speakers. Hindu and Urdu will be the next most popular as will Arabic. English will run fourth or fifth, followed closely by Spanish.  [xv]   However, others like linguist K David Harrison believe English will continue to rise globally as more and more people become literate through the internet despite the fact it is declining as the primary language.  [xvi]  Yale linguist, Stephen Anderson, in the same AP article, pointed out that all over the world, being multilingual is more of the norm than the exception. Therefore, learning is English easier for them? Will that make English as a global language more doable? David Crystal, in Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language(1995), states that two thirds of the worlds children are multilingual, yet only 98 million know English as a second language. That would include children in the USA. Graddol puts the estimate even higher to more than 350 million. It is hard to tell because census questions do not necessarily ask that, nor are they conducted worldwide. The point is, English as a language is becoming less and less dominant, even in English speaking countries like England and the US. It is only a matter of time before knowing English will become less and less a necessity in the world market. Today, it is estimated that over 1.6 billion people are non-English speaking. Commerce and trade are the main factors in establishing the universality of a language, as Pennycook and Dua have expounded, as well as the main factor in governmental and educational dominance. Pennycook (1994) states In some way, it might be said that the English language class may be less about the spread of English than the spread of certain forms of culture and knowledge. . . through the very practices of English language teaching. (pp.178-179)  [xvii]   Phillipson (1990,1992) concurs. He says ELT (English language training) was seen as a means towards a political and economic goals, a means of securing ties of all kinds with Third World Countries.   [xviii]   As those countries continue to become rich off American and European commerce, will the balance of power shift? And if so, will the need to speak English topple as well? Surely, anyone who listens to the evening news realizes how precarious the economy is in the US and Europe. The Federal government now owes trillions of dollars to China alone, especially after the recent bailouts of banks and mortgage companies. The US is now beginning to feel the full wake of the economic tsunami of 9/11 and the military response to that attack. The more we become economically dependent on Asian loans and Arabic oil, the more diluted our dollar and possibly our global influence will become. Couple that with the population decline of native English speakers juxtaposed with the rise in Hispanic, Chinese and Arabic ones in so called English countries, and it seems the future remains wide one for determining which language, if any, will reign supreme. Will History Be Repeated? In conclusion, it seems that man has an instinctual desire to communicate. Whomever dominates is the one who speaks while others listen. In order to listen, they must learn the language. If international commerce, fueled by the internet, is to continue, there must be a common economical language in order to buy, sell and trade. Pictures may be better than a thousand words, but words are an intricate part of deal making and economics, much less culture. If we are truly moving towards being a global culture, religion and society, then it follows that a global language is a natural development. At this point in our history, it is English. It is doubtful it will ever be Esperanto. Still, students of economics have longed learned that knowing a foreign language can be the key to higher salaries. Up until the mid1800s it was Latin, the language of science, medicine and culture. Then it became German. Next, especially after the world wars, it became popular to learn French. In the 1960s, particularly in the Southwestern US, Spanish became the language to learn. In the 1970s, it was Russian. When the USSR splintered, college and high school students began to clamor to learn Japanese. Today, Mandarin Chinese is on the rise as the language to master. Will visual pictures replace words? Will sign language become the universal, non verbal form of communication as more and more of us become visually orientated instead of literate? Whatever the future is, one thing is for certain. If history serves as an example, man will always strive to regain the elusive power he lost centuries ago at the Tower of Babel.

Thalamic Glutamate as a Marker of Global Brain Pathology -MS

Thalamic Glutamate as a Marker of Global Brain Pathology -MS Author contributions: LP design conceptualisation of the study, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the manuscript for intellectual content. JR design conceptualisation of the study, data collection, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the manuscript for intellectual content. IRB analysis and interpretation of data, revising the manuscript for intellectual content. GS analysis and interpretation of data KZ data collection RN design conceptualisation of the study, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the manuscript for intellectual content.[LP1] Disclosures: LP no disclosures. JR no disclosures. IRV no disclosures. GS no disclosures. KZ no disclosures. RN Bayer, Biogen, Genzyme, Merck Serono, Roche honorarium for speaking, advisory boards. Biogen, Genzyme, Novartis funds for organising education, staff. Biogen, Novartis Principal investigator.[LP2] [LP3] Multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterised by demyelination and variable degrees of axonal loss and gliosis. People with MS (pwMS) present with sensory disturbances, spasticity, fatigue, ataxia, pain and urinary dysfunction1. The most common form of MS is relapsing-remitting and 85% of pwMS initially present with it, with most eventually progress to a secondary, progressive phase2. Without adequate treatment, 25% of pwMS become wheelchair-bound3. Charcot was the first to describe the inflammatory demyelinating plaque as a hallmark of MS in the late 19th century4. While white matter lesions (WML) contribute to disability5,6, they are likely not its only drive. Recent evidence supports the concept that grey matter lesions (GML) and atrophy are likely contributors to disability7,8. Furthermore, recent studies have looked at diffuse axonal loss and support the notion that this process drives long-term disability, due to a combination of focal inflammation and cortical damage driven by meningeal inflammation9-13. Large clinical trials in MS infrequently correlate the effect of therapies with brain lesion volumes and atrophy. This is due to the fact that as of today, no automated software exists which is able to consistently calculate WMLs14 and GMLs are grossly underestimated as they are not readily visible on MRI15,16. Lastly, brain atrophy is hard to quantify, can only be measured longitudinally and is subject to non-tissue related (pseudo-atrophy) volume loss subsequent to disease modifying treatment17,18. There is an unmet need for a simple biomarker that can act as a surrogate for neuronal damage in MS for use in observational and interventional studies. Natalizumab Natalizumab (Tysabri) is a disease-modifying treatment given intravenously as a monthly infusion19. In the UK it is licensed as a second-line treatment for severe, rapidly evolving, relapsing-remitting MS. It is directed against the ÃŽÂ ±4 subunit of integrin on lymphocytes and acts as an immune-modulator by inhibiting their migration to the brain20,21. Compared to placebo, it has been shown to reduce relapse rate by 68%. Furthermore, it reduced the risk of disability progression by 42%, defined as a change in EDSS score sustained for 24 weeks21. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a non-invasive MRI sequence that allows identification and quantification of in vivo metabolites present in a small, preselected brain region. Proton nuclei (1H) are most commonly used in studies of the human brain due to their abundance and high sensitivity. MRS sequences distinguish between different metabolites by measuring the frequency at which 1H nuclei flip, which is in turn dependent on the molecular group carrying the hydrogen atom22. Measuring these metabolic changes allows researchers to gain an insight into changes at a cellular and molecular level in the brain, which cannot be acquired using conventional MRI techniques23. The thalamus is a subcortical hub, with multiple reciprocal connections to both white matter tracts and cortical grey matter24. Previous studies evidenced the fact that it is sensitive to pathology occurring in other brain regions25. We speculated that by using the thalamus as our region of interest (ROI), investigated metabolites would give a measure of global neuronal damage. Aims We investigated thalamic MRS as a biomarker for global brain neuronal damage in MS by comparing baseline metabolite concentrations between pwMS and HCs. Metabolites that were found to be statistically significantly different between these two groups at baseline were investigated further. To additionally support using MRS imaging as a surrogate for global central nervous system pathology, we investigated the correlation between these metabolite concentrations in pwMS and total lesion volume. In order to investigate whether thalamic MRS can be used to monitor treatment response, we measured changes in their concentration following treatment with the disease-modifying drug natalizumab. Population Participants aged 21-65 underwent inclusion criteria screening. For the pwMS group, this included satisfying the McDonald criteria 2010, having highly active MS and having been scheduled to initiate natalizumab treatment as part of routine NHS Case. Following ethics approval and written informed consent from participants, 17 pwMS and 12 HCs were recruited to the study. HCs underwent an MRI baseline scan while pwMS underwent a scan at baseline, and follow-up scans at 10 and 56 weeks after initiation of natalizumab treatment. Acquisition of MRS data All experiments were carried out in the same Siemens 3T Magnetom Verio with a 32-channel receiver head coil[LP4], used to acquire combined MRI and 1H-MRS scans. A magnetisation-prepared rapid gradient-echo sequence (MPRAGE) was used to obtain high-definition T1 weighted scans with the following parameters: (repetition time (TR)= 2300s;echo time (TE)= 3ms; inversion time (TI)= 900; 160 sagittal sections; slice thickness 1.0mm; in-plane resolution of 1x1mm2 . A single voxel was placed over the left thalamus. In order to acquire the single-voxel scans, a Point-RESolved Spectroscopy sequence (PRESS) was used which had variable power and optimized relaxation delays (VAPOR) water suppression (TR/TE, 2000/30ms) on a single 15-mm slab. This was aligned to the T1 sequence sections (Figure 2). Four reference transients were used to align the data. The average of 96 transients was used for water suppressed spectra. The volume of interest was 15x15x15mm, voxel size was 3.4mL. These parameters we re also used to acquire reference MRS datasets without water suppression. This was done to obtain an internal water reference, which was used to scale metabolite signals. Double inversion recovery pulse and phase sensitive inversion recovery sequences were also acquired. Lesion volumes White and grey matter lesions were identified on 160-slice T1 scans with co-registered double inversion recovery sequences. Lesions were manually segmented in T1 space using the Imperial College software ImSeg. The images obtained by this process [LP5]were used to derive proportions of grey matter, white matter and total lesion volumes. T1, double inversion recovery pulse and phase sensitive inversion recovery sequences were used to check for presence of lesions in the thalamus. Data processing T1 and spectroscopy data were initially obtained from scans in dicom format (dcm). A modified MATLAB (v.2015b) script was used to convert the T1 scans into nifti format (nii), the single voxel spectroscopy scans into rda format (rda) and to generate mask files in rda format. LCModel (v.6.3-1K) was run by using a second modified MATLAB script, in order to obtain spectroscopy data from 0.2-4.0 ppm. The software is a user-independent fitting routine that works by superimposing spectra obtained in vivo with high-resolution model spectra. It is an accurate and reliable method to quantify MRS data with short echo times (ETà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤30ms)28,29. Partial volume corrections to explain different concentrations of water in the grey matter (GM), white matter (WM) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were conducted by converting T1 sequences from dicom to nifti format, and segmenting the obtained images using MATLABs SPM8 toolbox. This allowed scaling metabolite concentrations obtained from PRESS sequence with water-suppression, to the waters internal reference signal from the unsuppressed water PRESS-sequence. The segmentation was used to calculate voxel proportions of GM, WM and CSF, which are in turn needed to obtain the water concentration (WCONC) value from the unsuppressed water reference signal used to estimate absolute concentrations of metabolites. Total WCONC values for each voxel were computed in accordance with Section 10.2.2.3 of the LCModel manual29.Eddy-current correction was performed by using LCModel. Relaxation effects were not corrected for, and therefore reported metabolite concentrations will differ from actual ones by an unknown factor. The latter is likely to be negligible, as all reported concentrations will deviate from actual concentrations by this same, unknown factor. As per LCModels manual, metabolite concentrations were multiplied by a factor of 1.04, which amounts to the specific gravity of brain tissue29, and were reported in mmol/L (mM). Data exclusion A heat map (Figure 4, right side) was created in order to check for voxel placement by using FSL view v.3.2.0. T1 sequences and mask files were reoriented to match the Montreal Neurological Institute standard template, followed by brain extraction from the surrounding tissue. T1 sequences and mask files were registered to standard space using the Montreal Neurological Institute template, which consists of 152 averaged brain T1 scans of 2mm resolution. The heat map is a depiction of each voxel mask overlaid onto the che2better template for T1 sequences taken from the mricron software.[LP6] No MRS spectra were removed from the analysis owing to minimal inter-scan variability. Spectra generated by LCModel were checked for overall data quality in accordance with the softwares instruction manual29. 2 baseline HC and 2 pwMS spectra were excluded from data analysis (Table 1). For a metabolite to be investigated, it had to be relevant to MS pathology as evidenced by previous studies, as well as to demonstrate sufficient data quality, measured by having Cramà ©r -Rao lower bounds ratio of 75% of individual scans. Five metabolites were investigated: choline-containing compounds (Cho), glutamate (Glu), myo-inositol (Ins), total creatine (tCr) and total n-acetylaspartate (tNAA) (Table 1). In a given subjects scan, metabolite concentrations with a Cramà ©r-Rao lower bounds (CRLB) value of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥15% were excluded from data analysis, as per LCModels manual of instructions. Concentrations exceeding 2 standard deviations (2SD) out with the group mean were also excluded. QCa for entire spectra QC for individual metabolites Participant group Before spectra QC (n) After spectra QC (n) Metabolites (marker of)6 Participant group Before metabolite QC(n) After 1st QCf (n) After 2nd QCg (n) HCsb 12 10 Cho1 (membrane turnover) HCs 10 9 9 pwMS BLc 17 15 pwMS BL 15 12 12 pwMS 10wd 16 16 pwMS 10w 16 16 16 pwMS 56we 16 16 pwMS 56w 16 15 15 Glu2 (metabolism and neurotransmitter activity) HCs 10 6 6 pwMS BL 15 9 8 pwMS 10w 16 14 14 pwMS 56w 16 15 14 Ins3 (glial marker) HCs 10 7 7 pwMS BL 15 14 14 pwMS 10w 16 15 14 pwMS 56w 16 15 15 tCr4 (metabolic activity) HCs 10 10 10 pwMS BL 15 15 14 pwMS 10w 16 16 15 pwMS 56w 16 16 16 tNAA5 (neuronal loss, mitochondrial activity) HCs 10 10 9 pwMS BL 15 15 14 pwMS 10w 16 16 16 pwMS 56w 16 16 15 Statistical analysis Prism GraphPad (v.7) and IBM SPSS Statistics 24 software were used to conduct statistical analysis. Participant demographics results are reported as mean and standard deviation (SD). Metabolite concentrations are reported as mean, standard error of measurement (SEM) and 95% confidence intervals. Parametric tests were used after testing for normal distribution of the data. Unpaired t-tests were used to compare metabolites between pwMS and HCs cross-sectionally. Pearsons coefficient was used to correlate between metabolite concentrations and bilateral lesion volumes. A linear mixed model was used to quantify longitudinal changes in metabolite concentrations in pwMS. MRS data were obtained from 17 pwMS (mean age (SD) was 41.6 (10.6), range 21-58 years) and 12 HCs (mean age (SD) was 41.9 (8.3), range 29-61 years). Mean time since diagnosis in years was 12.1 (10.6) and mean Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) was 4.1 (1.1). People with MS, n 17 Age, mean (SD) 41.6 (10.6) Sex, n (%) M 6 (35) F 11 (65) Years since diagnosis, mean (SD) 12.1 (10.6) EDSS score, mean (SD) 4.1 (1.1) Healthy controls, n 12 Age, mean (SD) 41.9 (8.3) Sex, n (%) M 9 (75) F 3 (25) Lower concentrations of glutamate are found at baseline in the thalami of people with highly active MS A statistically significant difference in the concentration of glutamate was found between the two groups (7.67 ±0.3456 in HCs and 6.55 ±0.232 in pwMS, p=0.016). No significant difference was found between the two groups using other metabolites. Metabolite Healthy controls (n=10) People with MS (n=15) 95% CI Cho 1. 69 ±0.0826,n=9 1.75 ±0.25, n=12 -0.232 0.216 Glu* 7.67 ±0.346, n=6 6.55 ±0.232, n=8 * -2.00 0.253 Ins 3.98 ±0.250, n=7 4.45 ±0.281, n=14 -0.452 1.380 tCr 34 ±0.134, n=10 5.42 ±0.150, n=14 -0.350 0.510 tNAA 8.60 ±0.134, n=9 8.46 ±0.178, n=14 -0.656 0.375 Baseline thalamic glutamate concentrations in pwMS correlate negatively with total lesion volumes Baseline glutamate concentrations in pwMS negatively correlated with T1 scan total lesion volumes (n=8; r=-0.80, p=0.017; Figure 6). No other thalamic metabolite correlated with lesion volumes. Lesion volumes in HCs (n=6) were assumed to be zero and are depicted in Figure 6, but this parameter was excluded from statistical analyses. No lesions were found in the thalami of pwMS in this study. Glutamate concentration correlated even more strongly with left hemisphere lesion volumes (p=0.0091), an expected finding given that the left thalamus was used as the studys ROI. The correlation was least significant when using right hemisphere lesion volumes (p=0.030). These results are reported in Table 3. Sampled lesion load location r, correlation coefficient p-value Left hemisphere -0.84 0.0091 Right hemisphere -0.75 0.030 Both hemispheres/Total -0.80 0.016 Thalamic glutamate concentrations increase following natalizumab treatment Glutamate concentrations measured in the thalami of pwMS increased significantly (p=[LP7]) between the 10 and 56 weeks (n=12 pairs of data-points) follow-up scans. At 56 weeks, no significant difference between the pwMS and HC groups was recorded, suggesting that glutamate levels had normalised[LP8]. No significant difference in glutamate concentration was recorded between baseline and 10 weeks follow-up scans (n=7 pairs of data-points) and between baseline and 56 weeks follow-up (n=7 pairs of data-points).[LP9] This observational study used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) to compare metabolite concentrations in 17 pwMS and 12 HCs. Study findings indicate a lower baseline concentration of glutamate in the thalami of pwMS compared to HCs. In pwMS this correlated negatively with total baseline brain lesion volume, which supports our initial hypothesis that thalamic MRS specifically measuring glutamate can be used as a surrogate for global central nervous system pathology. An increase in glutamate concentrations was recorded following natalizumab treatment between 10 and 56 weeks of follow-up. To our groups knowledge, this is the first 1H-MRS study to identify baseline cross-sectional differences in thalamic glutamate, correlate glutamate concentrations with total lesion volumes, and report longitudinal changes in thalamic glutamate following natalizumab treatment. Thalamic glutamate is a potential surrogate for total brain neuronal damage in highly active MS Glutamate, the chief central nervous system excitatory neurotransmitter is mainly synthesized from glutamine31,32. In addition to its neurotransmitter role, glutamate concentration is closely linked to the Krebs cycle, which reflects the cells metabolic activity. Previous proton MRS studies in MS reported higher levels of glutamate in lesioned white matter of pwMS compared to HCs33,34. One of these studies also reported lower levels of glutamate in lesioned grey matter regions34. The limitation of using white or grey matter lesions as ROIs is the high heterogeneity of these brain regions. With regards to WMLs, their definition includes- among others- active, inactive and remyelinating lesions. As for grey matter, this can be affected by exposure to cytokines from meningeal follicle-like structures or, similarly to WMLs, demyelination13,35,36. Current MRS imaging is unable to discriminate between these different pathologies. Therefore, metabolite concentrations obtained from these ROI s are likely to reflect the aforementioned local pathological changes, rather than global MS pathology. In contrast, the potential advantage of thalamic MRS is that the thalamus is rarely affected by local inflammation in MS37,38. Given that it is a subcortical hub highly connected with numerous other brain areas, this study hypothesised that the thalamus could be used as a biomarker of total brain neuronal damage in highly active MS. Two results in our study support this hypothesis: the decreased concentration of glutamate in pwMS and the negative correlation between glutamate and total brain lesion volume. Lesion volumes in MS have been found to correlate with axonal loss39 and disability40. Moreover, glutamate is mainly found in synaptic vesicles, therefore the decreased thalamic glutamate recorded in pwMS in this study could represent neuronal degeneration and synapse loss. Thalamic glutamate increases following natalizumab treatment Between 10 and 56 weeks of natalizumab treatment our group recorded a significant increase (p=,) in the concentration of thalamic glutamate in pwMS. At the end of the follow-up period, glutamate levels normalised, with no significant difference being recorded between pwMS and HC groups. No significant differences in glutamate concentration were found between baseline and 10 (n=x pairs?) and baseline and 56 weeks (n=x pairs?)[LP10] follow-up scans. It can be hypothesised that the limited sample size of pairs of data-points between baseline and 56 weeks follow-up glutamate prevented us from recording an existing statistically significant difference. With regards to changes in glutamate between baseline and 10 weeks, there could be a significant change in glutamate concentration within this timeframe, which was not picked up due to our limited sample size. It also cannot be excluded that thalamic MRS may take longer to respond to treatment. Previous published literature has shown lower glutamate concentrations in lesioned white matter of pwMS at baseline, which increased following treatment with natalizumab41. This effect can be attributed to the anti-inflammatory proprieties of natalizumab. By preventing production of nitrogen oxide and reactive oxygen species by macrophages, the drug could reduce axonal damage otherwise caused by these compounds42,43. Study limitations The algorithm used my SPM8 is incapable of accurately differentiating between the brighter grey and surrounding white matter, as the image intensity in the thalamus is very close to the intensity of white matter. Therefore the software records a higher white matter proportion in the thalamus than the true one. It should be however noted that this inaccuracy in measuring white/grey matter ratio should not cause any systematic error that would affect overall results. The studys HCs were adequately age-matched but poorly gender-matched to pwMS. Previous studies however reported no significant differences in any of the metabolite concentrations in the brain between different genders44. Therefore, no correction for a gender effect was made. The HC group only had a baseline scan, with no longitudinal data recorded. A useful longitudinal control group may be untreated pwMS. The absence of such a control group is currently however a common limitation, as people with highly active MS are nearly always on treatment. Having no information on the natural history of thalamic MRS in pwMS, it is difficult to interpret the significance of longitudinal changes in glutamate seen in this study. Lastly, albeit the thalamus is seldom affected by inflammatory activity in pwMS, the presence of inflammatory lesions has been previously described45. Such lesions are a confounding factor as they directly influence measured metabolite concentrations. However, based on T1, double inversion recovery pulse and phase sensitive inversion recovery sequences, no thalamic lesions were observed in our study. Future work Studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm our baseline findings, as well as to confidently interpret longitudinal changes in glutamate concentrations following natalizumab treatment. The presence of a pwMS untreated control group is not justifiable on ethical and legal grounds, however fu

Critical Review of Two Articles with the Concept of Interpellation Essa

When creating the title for their book, which is dedicated to Stuart Hall, perhaps Paul Gilroy, Lawrence Grossberg and Angela McRobbie did not know that they not only found an exact citation to summarise all the works of this influencing cultural theorists, but also proposed the best phrase to describe Cultural Studies, that is "without guarantee". Indeed, Cultural Studies devotes itself to questioning knowledge "guaranteed" to be true in society and more important, to continuously raising debates as its fundamental method to avoid any "guaranteed" answer. As a central concept of Cultural Studies, "interpellation" precisely reflects those features. First proposed by Louis Althusser in his essay "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes Towards an Investigation)" (1971), "interpellation" was defined as a process through which concrete individuals are addressed by ideology and then are produced as subjects. Since Althusser referred to churches, schools, family, communications , to name only a few, as a set of institutions practicing this function of ideology, he challenged social norms which seem to "naturally" come to us from those familiar environments. Although the concept has opened a new epoch in the research of identity, it has still subjected to several critical discussions for further developments. Through their selected works below, Mladen Dolar and John Law contributes to those debates two points of view on the ways in which interpellation is operated within our society and within each individual. The essay "Beyond Interpellation" (1993) of Mladen Dolar is largely based on his obsession of "a clean cut which can be followed on different levels" (p.75) existing in Althusserian theory. Dolar (1993) recognises this ... ... 6(2), pp.75-96. Foucault, M., 1972. The Archeology of Knowledge. New York: Pantheon. Hall, S., 1981. "The Whites of Their Eyes: Racist Ideologies and the Media". In G. Bridges and R. Brunt, eds. 1987, Silver Linings, London: Lawrence & Wishart. Larrain, J., 1991. Stuart Hall and the Marxist Concept of Ideology. In D., Morley & K. Chen, eds. 2007, Stuart Hall - Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, USA & Canada: Routledge. Law, J., 2000. 'On the Subject of the Object: Narrative, Technology, and Interpellation". Configurations, 8(1), pp. 1-29. Pà ªcheux, M., 1975, Les và ©rità ©s de La Palice, Paris: Maspero. Sawyer, Keith R., 2002. "A Discourse on Discourse: An Archaeological History of an Intellectual Concept". Cultural Studies, 16 (3), pp. 433–456. Weedon, C., 2004. Identity and Culture: Narratives of Difference and Belonging. Maidenhead: Open University Press.

John Steinbecks The Chrysanthemums and D.H. Lawrences The Odour of Ch

John Steinbeck's 'The Chrysanthemums' and D.H. Lawrence's 'The Odour of Chrysanthemums' Women in the 1900s were given little attention. John Steinbeck and D.H Lawrence however have chosen to base their short stories on a single woman character and around a type of flower, which is the chrysanthemum. Though written by male writers, both stories give an insight of the feelings and actions of a female character in that time period and how chrysanthemums can mean an entirely different obsession towards the two main characters. John Steinbeck's 'The Chrysanthemums' is about a tinker who confronts Elisa Allen while she was working on her prized chrysanthemums. Elisa was impressed of the tinker's freedom and his way of life. The tinker offers his service, repairing pots and pans, to Elisa, but she refuses at first. However, the tinker does not give up and tells Elisa about a customer that would be interested in her chrysanthemums. Elisa's attitude instantly changed and after her discussion with tinker she finds some work for the tinker to work on. Elisa's husband, Henry, takes her out later to the city for dinner. To her dismay she finds her lovely chrysanthemums dumped by the roadside by the tinker. D.H Lawrence, however, writes about Elizabeth Bates and her children who wait for the return of Walter, husband and father, who is late in his homecoming. Elizabeth has a brief meeting with her father. Not waiting any longer, Elizabeth and her children have dinner. Elizabeth puts her children to sleep and then goes out to look for her husband. It turns out that the husband had an accident and is now dead. Elizabeth's mother in law visits her and together they clean the dead Walter, while reminiscing the past.... ...not be offered to strangers. However, in 'Odour of Chrysanthemums,' Elizabeth realises she has never really known Walter and is ashamed to handle him. She experiences fear for she is aware that she has no control over her destiny and that she cannot escape death. Both stories do not have a happy ending, but instead deal with different aspects of life. 'The Chrysanthemums' with society and trust, whereas 'Odour of Chrysanthemums' with fate and death. I feel that John Steinbeck offers a better ending because it teaches us not to trust strangers with ease and gives us the message that we should be happy with what we have, not to envy others. Then again, the ending in 'Odour of chrysanthemums' is also true but I feel that it is too harsh. It is a fact that every creature will encounter death but death should not be Elizabeth's or anyone's 'ultimate master.'

Equality for Women Essay -- essays research papers

How would you like to earn about an extra million dollars? Is this hard to do? Then answer is no, all you have to do is be born male and graduate college. Throughout history women have strived for equality. The informal slogan of the Decade of Women became â€Å"Women do two-thirds of the world's work, receive 10 percent of the world's income and own 1 percent of the means of production† (Robbins, 354). Throughout the world the disparity of rights for women is immense. The inequalities between girls and boys are evident prior to children beginning elementary school. Girls are made aware that they are unequal to boys as soon as they start. Even different behaviors are acceptable for boys than for girls, for instance. Every time students are seated or lined up by gender, teachers are affirming that girls and boys should be treated differently. Girls are praised for being neat, quiet, and calm, whereas boys are encouraged to think independently, be active and speak up. Girls are socialized in schools to recognize popularity as being important and learn that educational performance and ability are not as important. "Girls in grades six and seven rate being popular and well-liked as more important than being perceived as competent or independent. Boys, on the other hand, are more likely to rank independence and competence as more important" (Bailey, 169). A permissive attitude towards sexual harassment is another way in which schools reinforce the socialization of girls as inferior. When schools ignore sexist, racist, homophobic, and violent interactions between students, they are giving tacit approval to such behaviors. We as a society taunt boys for throwing like a girl, or crying like a girl, which implies that being a girl is worse than being a boy. According to the American Association of University Women Report, "The clear message to both boys and girls is that girls are not worthy of respect and that appropriate behavior for boys includes exerting power over girls -- or over other, weaker boys" (Bailey, 173). "Because classrooms are microcosms of society, mirroring its strengths and ills alike, it follows that the normal socialization patterns of young children that often lead to distorted perceptions of gender roles are reflected in the classro... ...ns taking action to stop discrimination and violence against women. Work Cited Bailey, S. How Schools Shortchange Girls: The AAUW Report. New York, NY: Marlowe & Company. 1992. Henslin. Essentials of Sociology, 5th ed. Pearson Education, Inc. Pearson Longman. 1995-2005. 266–272 Mann, Judy. The difference, Growing up Female in America, New York, New York., Warner Books, Inc. 1994. 1-12. Marshall, C.S. & Reihartz, J. Gender issues in the classroom. Clearinghouse, 1997. 333- 338. Massey, Garth. Readings for Sociology Forth Edition, New York, New York. W.W. Norton & Company, 2003. 231-237. McCormick, P. Are girls taught to fail? Chicago, IL. U.S. Catholic, 60, 1995. 38-42. Robbins, Richard H. Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Allyn & Bacon Publishers, 1999. 354-355 Sullivan, Marianne. â€Å"Women's Poverty Deepens Amid Slow 2003 Recovery.† womensenews.org, 30 August 2004, 29 October 2004, [http://womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1968/context/archive] â€Å"Wage Gap Increases Between Women and Men, US Census Report.† Feminist.org. 2 September 2004. 28 October 2004. [http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=8622]

Poverty and Children in the United States Essay

Poverty is the classification of people that fall under a certain income bracket set by the government. Poverty is broken down in to two groups relative and absolute. Relative poverty is in relation to some people have more where as absolute poverty is considered life-threatening. Poverty affects people of age, race and ethnicity, and gender and family patterns. Each group that is affected typically carries the pattern from one generation the next generation making the social status difficult to change (Macionis, 2006). Although poverty can affect many different types of people those most affected by poverty are the children and women which make up 55 percent of the poor population. There continues to be blame on why people are poor and why they cannot change their lives to do better. Some people believe that it is an endless battle and once poor always poor and it is too difficult to change living situations. Poverty affects children in many ways health, food, shelter, education and exposure to violence. The cause of poverty to children is directly related to poverty in women. The beliefs of the causes of poverty according to the Encyclopedia of Women and Gender (2001), â€Å"Individualistic beliefs focus on personality attributes. These beliefs include irresponsibility, lack of discipline and effort, or lower ability and talent. Structuralistic beliefs incorporate the larger socioeconomic system such as low wages for some jobs, poor schools, prejudice, discrimination, and job availability. Fatalistic beliefs as to the reasons for a person’s poverty status focus on such things as bad luck, chance, and fate.† Most poverty that affects women are those that are single mothers although these women worked they made too much for public  assistance but not enough to be able to take care of themselves and their children with proper housing, food, clothing and health care. The lack of health care directly relates to the health of children. When a mother cannot afford health care for herself during pregnancy, health issues are passed to the child. The child is then born with health issues that will continue to go untreated due to lack of health care. The single mother that makes too much to qualify for pub lic assistance, does not make enough to purchase medical coverage for herself and her family (Encyclopedia of Women and Gender (2001). In 1996, policies to the welfare system were changed greatly. Agencies could cut assistance to families without notice. Only women with a child under that age of one were able to get assistance without much red tape. Most states allowed people to be on assistance for a maximum of two years. There were programs designed to help women get jobs and off welfare but federal minimum wage is not enough to support a family. Without welfare assistance women and their children fall back into poverty (Encyclopedia of Women and Gender (2001). According to Duncan, G., Yeung, W., Brooks-Gunn, J., and Smith, J. (1998), there are many factors the most significant is the relation to the paternal social economic status and how it effects to the child’s and adults achievements. Most that is in a poor social status tend to be poorly educated and have children out of marriage which add an extra strain to the families which can result in physical harm to the child. Adults with children that struggle to feed, clothe and house their children are easily stressed and at times react in extreme punishment to the children blaming the child for the situation that the family is currently in. Once children are exposed to domestic violence and violence upon themselves then the cycle usually cont inues from generation to generation. Not being able to break the cycle can be a factor of poor education. Poor education is part of living in poor cities urban and rural. Families that are poor are only accepted by those that are like them, poor. So families that are in these communities seem to be stuck in the social status and cycle. Not knowing how to get out or afraid to get out of that status. If that status is something a person has always known some will not think anything different than that status being a normal way of life. According to Fantuzzo, J., Fusco, R., Mohr, W., & Perry, M. (2007), during violence witnessed by children the perpetrators were more likely to be  arrested then times when children were not present. The police officers were concern that it was of great importance to send a message the violence is wrong. When it comes to domestic violence children are likely to have serious issue with development. These children tend to be more withdrawn from others and have poor social skills. There are many agencies that help assist the children in cases where the children are in danger from others. Such agencies are child protected services (CPS). Services such as CPS assist in placing child in home that will help to protect them from violence and neglect. With all of the research that has been done on how violence affects children in poverty there is no accuracy to the full impact of violence and children. According to Koch (2000), â€Å"The child poverty rate has declined slowly since 1993, and the rate of black child poverty is the lowest in history. But 13.5 million American children still live in poverty — the highest rate of any industrialized country. Conservatives attribute the decline to welfare reform, which forced millions of single welfare mothers to go to work. But child advocates like the Children’s Defense Fund say that progress in reducing child poverty has slowed markedly and that cuts in social service programs made the poorest families poorer.† Today the rich still get richer and it seems that the poor continue to get poorer and the children of these poor families are the ones that are suffering the most. Most of the child poverty is in inner cities (urban areas). Families move to urban areas for better opportunities for themselves and their families but it has not improved these families quality of life. These families want to give their children a better chance to succeed by moving to these urban areas but that idea seems to be failing. Some will say that these families suffer from being dependent on welfare dependency but in truth these child suffer because wages are to low and housing is too high for t heir parents to be able to make ends meet and try to get ahead of the system. With welfare assistance these children would not have food to eat and medical care. Welfare assistance assists the parents to help provide for the child when their financial income does not adequately provide for the child (Koch, 2000). The United States is supposed to have the most wealth but with that wealth the United States also has the highest child poverty as illustrated in the above chart (Koch, 2000). Most families that fall in to the poverty level make minimum wage jobs and will never be able  to get out of the poverty level. With these families they are usually poor educated which greatly impacts their earnings. Since some families work more than one job to try to make ends meet there is not time to try to better educate them. The children of these families learn from example and will continue to develop the habits of their parents. Working low paying jobs to provide food, clothing and shelter from their children will continue to be the pattern and education will be far down on the list (Koch, 2000). There has been some change to welfare reform law called Charitable Choice, this changes has made it easier for the government to be able to contract religious groups to provide social services to the poor. Many programs have come from this reform like Big Brothers/Big Sisters which is a mentoring program that helps children see a different way of life and have a positive role model to help encourage these poor children to stay in school, go to college and understand that though they may come from poor families does not mean that they have to continue in the path of their parents. These programs help children to gain confidence in the child. These programs also cut first time drug use by half and violent acts by a third. Although faith based organizations cannot replace the government programs faith based organization over lap government programs by 75 percent which include medical aid, housing, help pay bills for heating and water and educational programs to help those get back on their feet to help better provide for their families (Koch, 2000). Poverty affects everyone not just the people living in poverty. The group that is most affected by poverty is the child. Without proper care and basic needs taken care of these children of poverty will become ill and some of these children die. These children have poor education and many do not stay in school to get there high school diploma. The children of poverty usually drop out of school to help provide for those that are in the home assisting their parents in paying the bills and providing food. These jobs are once again low paying jobs and the cycle continues. Without proper education the pattern will never end, with government assistance and faith based organizations to help these families and mentor their children will help for these children to get out of the poor status and has a chance to get off government assistance in the future. Everyone needs to be aware that although the United States is considered a wealthy country, there is poverty in the United States and the people need  to work together to break the cycle and make sure that the child are taken care of, so they can live a productive, healthy and happy life. References Duncan, G., Yeung, W., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Smith, J. (1998). How much does childhood poverty affect the life chances of children? American Sociological Review, 63(3), 406-423. Retrieved April 4, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Complete. (Document ID: 30936057). Fantuzzo, J., Fusco, R., Mohr, W., & Perry, M. (2007). Domestic Violence and Children’s Presence: A Population-based Study of Law Enforcement Surveillance of Domestic Violence. Journal of Family Violence, 22(6), 331-340. doi:10.1007/s10896-007-9080-4. Koch, K. (2000, April 7). Child poverty. CQ Researcher, 10, 281-304. Retrieved April 4, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2000040700. Macionis, J.J. (2006) Society: The Basics Eighth Edition, Published by Prentice-Hall Poverty and Women in the United States. (2001). In Encyclopedia of Women and Gender: Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on Gender. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/estwomen/poverty_and_women_in_the_united_stat es

Is the Most Important Asset of an Organization

localize Human choice (employees) is the most signifi erectt addition of an organization. Introduction Traditionally, benevolent preference focused mainly on administrative functions and process personnel focussing. However, due to engineering science approach, administrative tasks harbor reduced. The theatrical role of sympathetic pick has shifted and seems to be taking up to a greater extent responsibility in community strategic mean and outgrowth. This surmisal has been support in the educate of Noe et al (2010, p. 719) Durai (2010, p. 109) stated, Employees ar the precious plus of an organization.In trip up of this statement, human re rise homework plays an pregnant role to optimize the utilization of its asset in term of cost and productivity. amour with companys strategic planning leave alone allow human resource de fragmentizement to have a broader entrance of employees scientific discipline requirement and deployment. In rearive planning exit c ause a chip to employee satisfactory and organization success. In this paper, we exit study how the theory of breakment worry, problem rotation, recognition and training go away activate employees.Correspondence to these theories, organization go out actualise in productivity and profit once the employees be appeased with the working environment. Employee engagement with the organization Employees endowment and efforts have tangible effects on an organizations productivity and stability. And such(prenominal) efforts are often been neglected and rat to satisfy employees inevitably. When employees efforts are not recognized, on that point go out be a need of commitment to the organization. Thus, employees exit not be actuate and impart be less(prenominal) creative. effectiveness of Compensation forethoughtIn govern to palliate the achievement of an organizations goals and severalise values, recompense management plays an important role in human resource manag ement function. Employees should be managed properly and incited by providing the best requital system base on the job done and its result. A good compensation system will attract and protect ingenious and arable employees. (Pattanayak B, p. 284) According to Armstrong (2002, p. 8), the compensation system consists of a total remuneration of direct monetary rewards (fixed wage and variable pay) and employee benefits (annual leave and put leave).And, non-fiscal rewards such is job recognition, opportunities for career advancement and personal growth are in addition part of the compensation system. Diagram 2 shows the list of financial and non-financial rewards that an organization can apply under the compensation system. pic Noe et al. (2010, p. 547) mentioned that employees feeling and function towards the organization is mainly entice by the compensation payout. Difference in single(a) personal characteristic will draw people to different compensation systems.A great so lution to compensate employees in the organization is to adapt combination class rather that one program everyplace another. List of compensation programs are moral excellence pay, incentive pay, profit sharing, ownership, gain sharing, and skill-based pay. merit pay is one of the best honour compensation programs. Employees are mensural and payout p.a. based on the individuals mathematical process judgment rated by employees supervisor. Many companies in capital of Singapore are adapting this compensation program for their durable staffs. Employees will be more touch offd when their performances are recognized and their basic pay is increased.Another example of compensation program is incentive pay. Incentive pay is usually seen in organization with sales team that brings in revenue and profit that will gain market share for the company. Employees with higher performance will gain in such compensation program as they measured based on the amount of products or services s old and the payout is not part on the employees basic pay. requital will be earned on a weekly or periodic basis depending on the organizations policy. once an individual is motivated by such monetary rewards, he will sell more products and services for the rganization. However, if the compensation program is not well planned, it will have a negative effect to the organization to support its business accusatorys. As mentioned in the article by Daly D (2009), skilled-based pay is the remuneration to payout employees with a break off skilled experience that related to the job. Employees who have attained modern skill and cognition will be compensated more comparing to their co-colleagues. Taking an example of a technician in a manufacturing organization, he will be rewarded once he has realized the machine repair and maintenance program.In order for him to continue to be compensated with part(p) basic pay, he has to continue to rear his skillsets. Once the employees market value has increased, he will be motivated to turn over more to the organization and improve productivity. Effectiveness of ruminate Rotation & actualisation aside from monetary rewards, job rotation has a function to motivate employees to enhance their skill knowledge and contribute more to the organization. Job rotation is systematic procedure whereby individual employee is shifted from current position or incision to another in a disposed(p) period of time.Employees will be multi skilled and able to support the organization when skillsets are required. When a job is less exanimate or monotonous, employees will perform pause and improve productivity. Hence, employees will gain a promotion and increase their income. (Noe et al, p. 430) Effectiveness of cite Recognize and reward are simply what the employees in the organization looking forward for a better growth in their career. The right motivation will function the employees behavior and in return employees will achieve the organizations goals and objective and strive for higher productivity.Once the employees are fit and feel rewarded, it is unlikely for them to leave the organization. Employees will dedicated their skill and time for the organization. Therefore, the management should always be enthusiastically recognizing the dexterous and hardworking individuals to create a better working environment for the employees to come to work happily every day. Effectiveness of prepare and Development Engaging employees with training and development are the two fundamental components in an organization.Both training and development do co-exist, as training will provide the skillsets and knowledge for the employees needs in the job. Whereas, development is a process to prepare employees in gaining young skills and knowledge for forthcoming demand in the current job or a job that do not exist. When employees obtained new skills and knowledge, it will improve the quality of the work. system of rules will take the opportunities to attract and retain talented employees to gain profits and productivity. This theory is support by Noe et al. (2010, p. 87) ConclusionEmployees are sedate an integral part of a company, creation important assets. They must be forever motivated and rewarded financial or non-financial on effort done on the job. Thus, human resource management has to balance the needs and achieve the goals and objective of both employees and the organization. Once the employees gained the recognition from the organization, they will produce better results and profits. Reference Armstrong M, 2002 Employees Rewards, London CIPD Publishing. Durai P, 2010 Human election counselling, New Delhi Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt Ltd.Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, Wright, 2010 Human Resource Management Gaining A Competitive Advantage, 7th pas seul New York, McGraw-Hill. Pattanayak B, 2006 Human Resource Management, third Edition New Delhi, Prentice dormitory room of India Private L imited. Daly D, 2009. Employee Relations, Motivation, Performance Management, DeGarmo Group. Available http//www. degarmogroup. com/index. php/2009/03/the-effectiveness-of-skill-based-pay-systems/ 1 fall 2010 Own Referencing Employee reward Michael Armstrong CIPD Publishing, 2002 573 pages http//books. google. com/books? d=keiVwGxm3i0C&pg=PA363&dq=financial+and+non+financial+rewards&hl=en&ei=lELSTtXwHYLorQeht-XnDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAAv=snippet&q=total%20remuneration&f= chimerical Durai P, Human Resource Management, Pearson Education India Page109 http//books. google. com. sg/books? id=cRAvCCsN2e0C&pg=PA109&dq=what+the+point+on+human+resource+is+an+asset+to+organisation&hl=en&ei=58zRTti1K9HnrAeGjOnGDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CEIQ6AEwAgv=onepage&q=what%20the%20point%20on%20human%20resource%20is%20an%20asset%20to%20organisation&f=false pic Ronel Kleynhans, Human Resource Management 2006 Page 6 Pearson southwesterly Africa, 1 Mar, 2006 championship & economic science 310 pages http//books. google. com. sg/books? id=8_acBYy_77oC&pg=PA6&dq=HRM+-+employee+is+an+asset&hl=en&ei=bbHRTsf8LYHTrQf1pakw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAwv=onepage&q=HRM%20-%20employee%20is%20an%20asset&f=false Human Resource Management 3Rd Ed. Biswajeet Pattanayak PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. , 1 Mar, 2005 504 pages http//books. google. com/books? id=dF7G0yZ51GgC&dq=compensation+management&a mpsource=gbs_navlinks_s picUltimate Small Business Marketing go by James Stephenson, Courtney Thurman Entrepreneur Press, 4 Jan, 2007 Business & Economics 478 pages http//books. google. com/books? id=algx60Sbqo0C&dq=training+program+to+motivate&source=gbs_navlinks_s Industrial/ arrangemental psychological science An Applied Approach Michael G. Aamodt Striking a balance between research, theory, and application, the sixth variate of INDUSTRIAL/ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY AN use APPROACH http//books. google. com/books? id=TgE7zkl RjHgC&dq=training+program+to+motivate&source=gbs_navlinks_s David Daly http//www. egarmogroup. com/index. php/2009/03/the-effectiveness-of-skill-based-pay-systems/ Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Organization Behaviour Rahul Arora 2000 573 pages Full viewSarup & Sons, 1 Jan, 2000 573 pages knowledge & Reward Program Best Practices By Derek Irvine, Globoforce April 15, 2011 http//www. hrmtoday. com/talent/human-resources-management/recognition-reward-program-best-practices/ Make Their Day Employee Recognition That Works Proven Ways to get along Morale, Productivity, and Profits Cindy Ventrice ReadHowYouWant. com, 6 Aug, 2010 Business & Economics 336 pages