Kim Jong UN Essay

Kim Jong UN could possibly start a terrible nuclear war. This would start if he were to launch an attack on Washington DC. This would then force the United States to launch a counter strike which would be of greater magnitude and probably destroy every last remnants of North Korea, ridding the world of one pathetic and dangerous country. However, all of the world would be recovering from this disaster, Iran will eventually finish its nuclear weapons program. They would then use their first bomb on the United States to show their revenge for their helper, North Korea. The United States would have been much damaged and would have to rely on other countries to launch a counter strike. So then one of the countries part of the United Nations would Nuke Iran and damage that country. In the end, Kim Jong UN would be long dead, but he would have started a tragedy, so far in depth, that would take lifetimes to rebuild. Kim Jong UN’s nuclear war would have a higher death toll than any war in the history of the world. There would be radiation going around in every part of the world. Many nations would be torn apart because of the magnitude of the situation. Although in the end Kim Jong UN wouldn’t actually get away with starting a nuclear war because he would have died along with his pathetic country, he would have started an event that would bring the world to a hard time in which it would consider human annihilation.

Common Criteria for Deciding Whether to Buy or Build

Common criteria for deciding whether to buy or build a software solution would be to take a look at the System Development Life Cycle; Planning, Analysis, Design, and Implementation. Planning or initiation include a business problem, request for proposal, request for quote, and proposal/quote ie. first go/no go decision. Analysis or logistics of implementation include business requirements, technical requirements, and data requirements, and GAP analysis which helps a company compare actual performance with potential performance. Design includes logical/physical, technical specs, process flow/data flow, system architecture, data design, screen layouts, and navigation map/flow. Once these criteria are examined and the complexity is determined, a decision can then be made to buy or build a software solution. Implementation is turning it into a working system that has been tested and put into use including documentation, training procedures, support capabilities, and associated updates. A manager’s selection for off-the-shelf software can be established by deciding if the criteria of cost, functionality, vendor support, viability of vendor, flexibility, documentation, response time, and ease of installation will be greater and a smoother transition than producing an in-house software solution. The two most important aspects of purchasing an off-the-shelf software are vendor support and vendor viability. If a manager chose to produce in-house software, the support is a constant in that the programmers who created the software are available at any time, and know the ‘in’s and out’s of the software’, whereas if there is no vendor support from the purchased software you are taking a gamble which may prove unwise, and the credibility of the manager is no longer. Cost, functionality, flexibility, and documentation are criteria that depends primarily on the specific situation, ie. budget, and needs. Discuss the four phases involved in managing a project. Compare and contrast these phases with the SDLC. Explain any differences. Managing projects of all shapes and sizes requires a fluid, nonlinear framework that has applications across all essential elements of project planning. The four-phase process that suggests how to allow for readjustment between the phases are initiate, plan, execute, and evaluate. Initiate, this first project management phase, the preliminary work is done to clarify the problem or opportunity and how a solution would look. All interested parties are consulted and the project scope – what is in and what is out – is clarified as well as initial costs and timelines. Plan, determines whether the proposed project will be of real benefit to the organization. If it is, the project is approved and more detailed planning starts. Business benefits, project objectives, requirements, governance, scope and project management methods are agreed. The Project Manager draws up the detailed project schedule and task and budget allocations. Execute, project stakeholders are interviewed to ascertain the detailed requirements, possible solutions are discussed and decided upon. Next, the solution is designed, built and finally implemented. Project management activities in this phase also include managing the project budget and schedule, reporting project progress, communicating with stakeholders and responding to project risks, issues and proposed changes. Evaluate, The purpose of this final phase is to determine whether the project was a success and what was learned can be gleaned and applied to future projects ie. , did the project deliver on time, within budget and to scope and quality requirements? Comparing the four phases in managing a project; initiate, plan, execute, evaluate with the SDLC phases; Plan, Analysis, Design and Implement one will see many cross similarities; each describing approaches to a variety of tasks or activities that take place during the process. After each phase is finished, it proceeds to the next one; reviews may occur before moving to the next phase which allows for the possibility of changes. Reviews may also be employed to ensure that the phase is indeed complete; and is ready to progress to the next phase. Explain the three primary project identification and selection phase activities. Who should make the decisions about project approval in a business organization? What information is important to the decision? Project identification and selection consists of three primary activities: identifying potential development projects, classifying and ranking projects, and selecting projects for development. Identifying potential development projects is a process that can be performed by a key member in top management, a steering committee, the head of a requesting committee, the development group or IS manager. Projects by top management reflect broader needs of the organization since there is an understanding of overall business. Projects identified by a top management or steering committee are referred to as coming from a top-down source. Projects designed by individual mangers or the IS group are more focused on the needs rather than a broader scope; projects stemming from managers, or business units are referred to as a bottom-up source. Top-down and bottom-up initiatives are used in identifying and selecting projects, it will vary on the scope and needs of the project. Classifying and ranking projects can be performed by top management, a steering committee, business units, or the IS development group. The project requirements will vary by the organization administering it, one group may choose to meet monthly, whereas another chooses to meet quarterly. Meetings typically consist of reviewing ongoing projects as well as new project requests. Selecting projects for development is the final activity in the project identification and selection phase. Since the criteria for a project can change at any time, numerous factors must be considered when selecting a project; perceived needs of the organization, existing systems and ongoing projects, resource availability, evaluation criteria, current business conditions, and perspectives of the decision makers. Projects can be accepted or rejected which means funding is allocated or the project will no longer be considered for development. A project can be returned to the original requesters who are told to develop or purchase the requested system themselves. Also, the requesters of a project may be asked to modify or resubmit their request after making suggested changes or clarifications. Due to the process of incremental commitment a selected project does not necessarily result in a working product. After each subsequent SDLC activity, the members of the project team will reassess the project. This reassessment will entail a more detailed understanding of the system’s costs, benefits, and risks to determine if the project was a worthy as it was thought to be. How should a project team determine system requirements? What are common sources of requirements? What are the limitations for each? In addition, discuss four types of documents that would be helpful in determining future system requirements. During requirements and determination analysts gather information on what the system should do from as many sources as possible. Sources include users of the current system, reports, forms, and procedures. All of the requirements are carefully documented and made ready for structuring. Structuring includes taking the system requirements during determination and ordering them into tables, diagrams, and other formats that make it easier to translate into technical systems specifications. Some examples of requirement determination include, impertinence, impartiality, relaxing of constraints, attention to details, and reframing. Impertinence is questioning everything. Are all transactions processed the same way? Could anyone be charged something other than standard price? Will employees be allowed or encouraged to work for more than one department? Impartiality is finding the best solution to a business problem or opportunity. All issues must be considered to try to find the best organizational solution. Relaxing of constraints, assuming anything is possible and eliminates the infeasible. Organizations change and all policies and rules should be evaluated. Attention to details, everything must fit into place. If one element is out of place, the whole system will fail. Reframing, looking at the process in a new way. It is easy to assume the project will be the same or similar, but this assumption can lead to failed systems. Constantly challenging yourself will prove beneficial in this process. Specific examples to be gathered at the requirements determination phase are, the business objectives that drive what and how work is done, the information people need to do their jobs, the data handled within the organization to support the jobs, when, how, and by whom or what the data are moved, transformed and stored, the sequence and other dependencies among different data-handling activities, the rules governing how data are handled and processed, policies and guidelines that describe the nature of the business, the market, and the environment in which it operates, and key events affecting data values and when these events occur. It is important that the scope of the system not become to large and expansive that analysis paralysis not occur, this can become costly and time consuming, and can lead to an abundance of work. To deter this from happening analysts must focus on the system in need not the system in place. Documents that are helpful in determining future system requirements are administering written questionnaires ie. surveys to discover issues and requirements, business documents ie. iscover reported issues, policies, rules, and concrete examples, and conducting written interviews with open-ended and close-ended questions. Also directly observing users an give a more objective and accurate review. Read the following online article and discuss two ways to justify IT budgets. How would you explain your IT budget to your CFO? To justify an IT budget is to provide a quality ROI on any new initiative. If the CFO can’t understand the needs of various departments then the only way to their pocketboo k is to present them with a bottom line return on their investment. In the case of procuring an IT budget, executives are often less than forthcoming because of the lack of information they receive from department heads. CEO’s respond most favorably to requests for IT budgets which are cost justified with a simple ROI business case. The business case needs to specifically show how potential costs associated with liability, may be minimized by implementing a sound IT infrastructure. The potential liabilities, such as loss of production and/or loss of reputation are translated into actual dollars in the ROI. A good business case or a good investment analysis will also measure the probabilities of different ROI outcomes. An investment analysis is the examination and assessment of economic and market trends, earnings prospects, earnings ratios, and various other indicators and factors to determine suitable investment strategies. Explaining the IT budget to the CFO you should first examine core needs ie. bandwidth, Internet, phone and staff, and plan to manage them on a minimal investment. Explore reducing excess capacity in the server room, renegotiate vendor contracts and rethink software licenses. Assuring the CFO that you have taken all necessary steps in limiting the IT budget will prove that you have taken all necessary steps to ensure a minimal budget while providing an the required IT services. Revisit past assumptions, you may have a contract that replaces hardware every two years, which could be an unnecessary budget item, and could in return be replaced every four years. Show the CFO how improvements have helped customer experience and saved money. Give him/her a friendly remember that not investing in things that could be and important aspect to IT when the economy turns around can come back to bite you. IT’s value is determined by the relationship between what the organization will pay, ie. cost, and what it will get back ie. benefits. The larger the amount of benefit in relation to cost, the greater the value of the IT project.

Importance of the Curriculum to the Society by Phunziro Mphwina

PURPOSE OF THE CURRICULUM TO THE SOCIETY Introduction In 1995 Hornby described education as a process of training and instruction of children and young people in educational institutions which is designed to give knowledge and develop skills useful to the society. This process is centred by a number of planned activities which hold the potentials of imparting the skills significant to the society just as the definition points out.An outline or structure of these activities is what makes up an educational curriculum. Pillai (1984; p5) defines the curriculum as a comprehensive plan for an educational training programme or course to offer new or improved manpower to fulfil the rising needs of a dynamic society . Below is a discussion of some of the purposes of the curriculum to the society. * The curriculum serves the function of a tool for societal development.The curriculum include important and knowledge to be imparted on the learners, this is to say that there is a supplement of ide as on the students despite their innate intelligence. These new ideas help in discoveries that may assist in the society’s growth for example, new ways of increasing agricultural productivity. A student at school may encounter an idea that may help in the increase of agricultural outputs and if he implements this new idea, the society to which he belongs, would develop economically.A point which Jacobs (1997, p23) agrees with by saying that â€Å"education is the realization of each person’s unique potentialities thus, education focuses on the social conditions that block the fullest realisation of individual potentialities as it emphasizes on the changes in the present system required to bring about a more humanistic society†. This is just to say that education allows learners to make important contributions to the societies to which they belong, on the other hand enhancing the development of their particular societies. The curriculum also works as a source of societal cohesion. Webster (2011, p365) described a society as an enduring and cooperating social group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another. This togetherness is partially achieved through the curriculum in that the curriculum holds distinctive aims and objectives and these are shared amongst all kinds of members of educational institutions across the nation.This is to say that there are similar goals set across the communities of the nation despite the societal differences. To achieve these goals and objectives the society members must share ideas and cooperate and this fosters cohesion as members of different communities are inclined to come together and formulate ways by which they can attain their shared goals. The curriculum serving the purpose of cohesion fostering element amongst members of the society. * The curriculum holds the purpose of effective societal problem solving.Basing on one of the ideologies on w hich education is found, it can be easily said that education can be used for effective societal problem solving, whereby the curriculum happens to be an integral part of the education system. Adopting such an ideology thus education for problem solving, it means that the curriculum in this case must pertain to such an ideology. Whereby it has to include activities and experiences that will allow students attain effective methods of problem solving. In this case the curriculum being used as a tool for effective problem solving.If student undergo experiences of such a curriculum it means they will positively contribute to their particular societies in terms of problem solving. Hence the curriculum depicting the purpose of effective problem solving in the society. Brosnan (1999, p64) agrees by saying that â€Å"the individual is a unique personality who finds his greatest satisfaction in self-expression in response to the changing world†. Thus humans find it less of a burden wh en they speak out their suggestions and solutions to particular problems affecting the society and this is exactly what the curriculum offers through the educational system. The curriculum works as tool for awareness in the society. In the experiences included in the educational curriculum, there are relevant topics that each and every person is to be aware of, for example in Social studies are concerning human rights, child and women’s welfare. These are some of the important things that are rendered to the students under the guidance of the curriculum, when these learners accommodate such ideas and dissipate them on those that happen to be of a shared society as these learners, the curriculum may work as an agent of awareness.This would be so as the learners would function as messengers in their societies as they will let the others know their rights and entitlements. Hence the curriculum serving the purpose of an awareness agent in the society. * The curriculum serves the purpose of societal problem identification. This idea comes about during the development of the curriculum, where a number of steps are covered on of which is that of identifying the background of a nation before coming up with the curriculum.As the professionals struggle to come up with basis of a country they also realise the problem that a nation goes through both in the social economic and cultural context. These problems are implicitly addressed in the activities that are included in the curriculum, thus for example commerce studies which equips students with commercial skills, may help eradicate financial problems that members of the society encounter. Hence the curriculum serving the function of problem identification and solution implementation in the society. * The curriculum as an element for cultural preservation and continuity in the society.Knowing that different societies hold different beliefs and values, the curriculum put into account these differences. This is done when the professionals are formulating the curriculum they tend to include some of the major beliefs and values that the children must be equipped with in older to achieve cultural preservation and continuity. Inclusion of experiences that hold cultural values does not only ensure cultural continuity but also enable the students to recognise their national and cultural identities, how they are developed, and how they can be maintained in their respective societies (O’Neill, 1990; p78).Thus the curriculum being in the position of enhancing cultural preservation and continuity in the society. * Ethical function of the curriculum The curriculum being at the centre of the education system, it holds all sorts of functions along with it, one of which includes social control. In this case the curriculum helps in maintenance of law and older in the society, whereby the curriculum gives learners the access to instruction for proper behaviour and personal conduct, for example, at scho ols children are taught not to steak from others rather to ask for whatever they want in a polite manner.This is the expected mode of conduct which helps reduce cases of increased rates of thieves as these youngsters are nurtured to behave in the required way in their early stages of life. In this case inclusion of such elements in the curriculum enables members of the society to be morally sound. Hence the curriculum serving the function of ensuring ethical conduct. * The curriculum helping in shaping the society The International Educational Agency (I. E.R) report (2006, p3), pin pointed that the curriculum as the core of the education system helps equip students with better skills of reflection which is a vital element for students to grow as learners and as useful citizens of the society. Coupled with the skills of gathering and organising information students have constant opportunities to practice responsible self-direction in the society. In addition, much of the curriculum i s concerned with allowing students to learn about how people live in other places, times and how they are expected to influence the society.These understandings help students to develop high levels of self-awareness. This all can be achieved through the curriculum hence the curriculum helping in shaping the society by producing students that will be able to effectively self-guide themselves in the society. Conclusion Despite the strengths that govern the curriculum, there are a lot of shortfalls that can be corrected, for example inclusion of the rights of those in minority, thus the disabled, elderly just to mention a few. These also happen to be part and parcel of the society, whereby the topics of awareness included in the curriculum seem to dwell much on the abled.Consideration of teacher’s expertise when it comes to their familiarity with the materials and methods prescribed to be used in the teaching and learning process, this is to say that the curriculum indicates tha t it assumes that teachers are conversant with the materials they are expected to use in the teaching and learning process. Even though the curriculum assigns teachers to particular topic to teach, it does not opt for a follow up on whether there is observation of the prescribed topics and see if the required values are really being imparted on to the learners for the society’s benefit.REFERENCES Brosnan, M. J. (1999). Modelling Technophobia: a case for word processing Computers in Human Behaviour, New York; Guilford Hornby, A. S. (1995). Oxford dictionary: advanced learners edition 5, London; Oxford press International Education Agency, (2006). Report: Society and environment curriculum, revised edition: I. E. A Jacobs, D. (1996). LISREL8 user's reference guide, Illinois, USA: Scientific Software International. O'Neill, W. F. (1990). Educational Ideologies Contemporary Expressions of Educational Philosophy, Iowa: Kendall / Hunt Publishing CompanyPillai B. M. (1984). Smart sc hools: Better thinking and learning for every child, New York, USA: The Free Press. Webster, M. (2011). Higher Education in the 21st Century: Futures, New Jersey: USA Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF MALAWI FACULTY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF FOUNDATION STUDIES COURSE TITLE: CURRICULUM THEORY AND PRACTICE COOURSE CODE: EDU 3102 TO: Mrs O Nampanda FROM: Phunziro B. M Mphwina ASSIGNMENT: THE PURPOSE OF THE CURRICULUM TO THE SOCIETY DUE DATE 22/03/13 Importance of the Curriculum to the Society by Phunziro Mphwina PURPOSE OF THE CURRICULUM TO THE SOCIETY Introduction In 1995 Hornby described education as a process of training and instruction of children and young people in educational institutions which is designed to give knowledge and develop skills useful to the society. This process is centred by a number of planned activities which hold the potentials of imparting the skills significant to the society just as the definition points out.An outline or structure of these activities is what makes up an educational curriculum. Pillai (1984; p5) defines the curriculum as a comprehensive plan for an educational training programme or course to offer new or improved manpower to fulfil the rising needs of a dynamic society . Below is a discussion of some of the purposes of the curriculum to the society. * The curriculum serves the function of a tool for societal development.The curriculum include important and knowledge to be imparted on the learners, this is to say that there is a supplement of ide as on the students despite their innate intelligence. These new ideas help in discoveries that may assist in the society’s growth for example, new ways of increasing agricultural productivity. A student at school may encounter an idea that may help in the increase of agricultural outputs and if he implements this new idea, the society to which he belongs, would develop economically.A point which Jacobs (1997, p23) agrees with by saying that â€Å"education is the realization of each person’s unique potentialities thus, education focuses on the social conditions that block the fullest realisation of individual potentialities as it emphasizes on the changes in the present system required to bring about a more humanistic society†. This is just to say that education allows learners to make important contributions to the societies to which they belong, on the other hand enhancing the development of their particular societies. The curriculum also works as a source of societal cohesion. Webster (2011, p365) described a society as an enduring and cooperating social group whose members have developed organized patterns of relationships through interaction with one another. This togetherness is partially achieved through the curriculum in that the curriculum holds distinctive aims and objectives and these are shared amongst all kinds of members of educational institutions across the nation.This is to say that there are similar goals set across the communities of the nation despite the societal differences. To achieve these goals and objectives the society members must share ideas and cooperate and this fosters cohesion as members of different communities are inclined to come together and formulate ways by which they can attain their shared goals. The curriculum serving the purpose of cohesion fostering element amongst members of the society. * The curriculum holds the purpose of effective societal problem solving.Basing on one of the ideologies on w hich education is found, it can be easily said that education can be used for effective societal problem solving, whereby the curriculum happens to be an integral part of the education system. Adopting such an ideology thus education for problem solving, it means that the curriculum in this case must pertain to such an ideology. Whereby it has to include activities and experiences that will allow students attain effective methods of problem solving. In this case the curriculum being used as a tool for effective problem solving.If student undergo experiences of such a curriculum it means they will positively contribute to their particular societies in terms of problem solving. Hence the curriculum depicting the purpose of effective problem solving in the society. Brosnan (1999, p64) agrees by saying that â€Å"the individual is a unique personality who finds his greatest satisfaction in self-expression in response to the changing world†. Thus humans find it less of a burden wh en they speak out their suggestions and solutions to particular problems affecting the society and this is exactly what the curriculum offers through the educational system. The curriculum works as tool for awareness in the society. In the experiences included in the educational curriculum, there are relevant topics that each and every person is to be aware of, for example in Social studies are concerning human rights, child and women’s welfare. These are some of the important things that are rendered to the students under the guidance of the curriculum, when these learners accommodate such ideas and dissipate them on those that happen to be of a shared society as these learners, the curriculum may work as an agent of awareness.This would be so as the learners would function as messengers in their societies as they will let the others know their rights and entitlements. Hence the curriculum serving the purpose of an awareness agent in the society. * The curriculum serves the purpose of societal problem identification. This idea comes about during the development of the curriculum, where a number of steps are covered on of which is that of identifying the background of a nation before coming up with the curriculum.As the professionals struggle to come up with basis of a country they also realise the problem that a nation goes through both in the social economic and cultural context. These problems are implicitly addressed in the activities that are included in the curriculum, thus for example commerce studies which equips students with commercial skills, may help eradicate financial problems that members of the society encounter. Hence the curriculum serving the function of problem identification and solution implementation in the society. * The curriculum as an element for cultural preservation and continuity in the society.Knowing that different societies hold different beliefs and values, the curriculum put into account these differences. This is done when the professionals are formulating the curriculum they tend to include some of the major beliefs and values that the children must be equipped with in older to achieve cultural preservation and continuity. Inclusion of experiences that hold cultural values does not only ensure cultural continuity but also enable the students to recognise their national and cultural identities, how they are developed, and how they can be maintained in their respective societies (O’Neill, 1990; p78).Thus the curriculum being in the position of enhancing cultural preservation and continuity in the society. * Ethical function of the curriculum The curriculum being at the centre of the education system, it holds all sorts of functions along with it, one of which includes social control. In this case the curriculum helps in maintenance of law and older in the society, whereby the curriculum gives learners the access to instruction for proper behaviour and personal conduct, for example, at scho ols children are taught not to steak from others rather to ask for whatever they want in a polite manner.This is the expected mode of conduct which helps reduce cases of increased rates of thieves as these youngsters are nurtured to behave in the required way in their early stages of life. In this case inclusion of such elements in the curriculum enables members of the society to be morally sound. Hence the curriculum serving the function of ensuring ethical conduct. * The curriculum helping in shaping the society The International Educational Agency (I. E.R) report (2006, p3), pin pointed that the curriculum as the core of the education system helps equip students with better skills of reflection which is a vital element for students to grow as learners and as useful citizens of the society. Coupled with the skills of gathering and organising information students have constant opportunities to practice responsible self-direction in the society. In addition, much of the curriculum i s concerned with allowing students to learn about how people live in other places, times and how they are expected to influence the society.These understandings help students to develop high levels of self-awareness. This all can be achieved through the curriculum hence the curriculum helping in shaping the society by producing students that will be able to effectively self-guide themselves in the society. Conclusion Despite the strengths that govern the curriculum, there are a lot of shortfalls that can be corrected, for example inclusion of the rights of those in minority, thus the disabled, elderly just to mention a few. These also happen to be part and parcel of the society, whereby the topics of awareness included in the curriculum seem to dwell much on the abled.Consideration of teacher’s expertise when it comes to their familiarity with the materials and methods prescribed to be used in the teaching and learning process, this is to say that the curriculum indicates tha t it assumes that teachers are conversant with the materials they are expected to use in the teaching and learning process. Even though the curriculum assigns teachers to particular topic to teach, it does not opt for a follow up on whether there is observation of the prescribed topics and see if the required values are really being imparted on to the learners for the society’s benefit.REFERENCES Brosnan, M. J. (1999). Modelling Technophobia: a case for word processing Computers in Human Behaviour, New York; Guilford Hornby, A. S. (1995). Oxford dictionary: advanced learners edition 5, London; Oxford press International Education Agency, (2006). Report: Society and environment curriculum, revised edition: I. E. A Jacobs, D. (1996). LISREL8 user's reference guide, Illinois, USA: Scientific Software International. O'Neill, W. F. (1990). Educational Ideologies Contemporary Expressions of Educational Philosophy, Iowa: Kendall / Hunt Publishing CompanyPillai B. M. (1984). Smart sc hools: Better thinking and learning for every child, New York, USA: The Free Press. Webster, M. (2011). Higher Education in the 21st Century: Futures, New Jersey: USA Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF MALAWI FACULTY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF FOUNDATION STUDIES COURSE TITLE: CURRICULUM THEORY AND PRACTICE COOURSE CODE: EDU 3102 TO: Mrs O Nampanda FROM: Phunziro B. M Mphwina ASSIGNMENT: THE PURPOSE OF THE CURRICULUM TO THE SOCIETY DUE DATE 22/03/13

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS - Essay Example The River Caf in Hammersmith, is an expensive, utterly delicious example. London takes on Tuscany, in attractive if hard-to-reach surroundings. There is a little group of smart Italian restaurants growing up, associated with Giorgio Locatelli, who cooks at Zafferano, near Belgrave Square, with a startlingly original menu, well grounded in tradition. He has opened a couple of simple Italian places - Spiga on Wardour Street in Soho and La Spighetta in Mayfair that do wonderful thin-crust pizzas cooked in a woodfired oven. London has always led the world in Indian restaurants, and today they are booming. Tamarind, in Mayfair's Queen Street, is a glitzy, principally North Indian restaurant with prices to match the elevated dcor. The only restaurant that has true Anglo-Indian dishes is Chutney Mary, down the King's Road at Lotts Road, worth for its collection of uncommon Indian regional dishes. The rooms, with their view over Regent Street, look handsomely understated by Indian restaurant standards and the management has simplified the whole business of ordering an Indian meal. The overall picture of strong profit growth in the UK in the year 2007 was predominantly due to the London hotels in the sample that, on average, enjoyed an upswing in profit of 12.8 per cent to 64.04 per available room. With no change in occupancy, it was a 10.2 per cent increase in average room rate to 112.81, and a firm grip on payroll costs, that enabled London hoteliers to turn in a very healthy profit performance in 2007. even though the report is for 2007, it shows the healthy economic conditions of London hotels. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT A key sector in tourism, hotels have several key environmental impacts: energy consumption, water consumption, waste production, waste water management, chemical use and atmospheric contamination, purchasing/procurement, local community initiatives. Many restaurants are trying to become more eco-friendly and hence to keep up the good relation of the hygiene conscious customers. The Duke of Cambridge in Islington remains one of the best and most ethically run gastro pubs in London. It has pioneered seasonal, organic British food, using local sourcing, careful monitoring of food miles, buying direct from the farmers, and even now the beers are still brewed locally and the wines and spirits are organic where viable. The water is purified on the premises, and they have installed wind and solar generated energy, along with strict recycling procedures and adherence to sustainable fish buying policies. This shows the environmental influence to restaurant operations. IMPACT OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL FACTORS London's extraordinary social and cultural diversity is reflected in over 60 different cuisines provided in over 12,000 restaurants, which is more than half the nation's total. This variety and vibrancy extends to London's food retail outlets, with exciting well-known markets like Borough and Walthamstow alongside major supermarkets and independent corner shops. 'Food tourism' is an increasingly vital element of London's attraction for visitors. It has many of the best restaurants in the

World-system on the hierarchy of China and Hong Kong Essay

World-system on the hierarchy of China and Hong Kong - Essay Example First, a theoretical framework for the concept of the world system has been constructed using current literature. Second, the political and economic history of China and HK has been examined. Finally, the development of China and HK since the 1980s will be compared. World-systems theory is a set of nested and overlapping interaction networks which focuses on understanding the development of multicultural territory labour division across core and periphery regions (Chase-duun, 1993, 1995; Wallerstein 1974, 2000). Wallerstein (1974) defines the world-system as a multicultural territorial division of labour, and defines two types: core and periphery. These are defined by the nature of their industries: core regions are characterized by capital-intensive, well-developed tertiary industries and periphery regions by labour-intensive primary and secondary industries. The specific claims of world-system theory can be separated into system structure and system dynamics. System structure defines the characteristics and relationships of the system components, with reference to core, periphery and semi-peripheral regions1. System dynamics concerns the processes of the upward or downward mobility within the structure (Shannon, 1996). When Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China in 1949, the government's priority was the forcible redistribution of property (Kenneth, 1992). Marrin (1993) and other critics describe the first few decades after the creation of the Republic as being full of chaos, famine and class struggles. The Korean War induced the United States and United Nations to enforce a series of embargo punishments on China. Furthermore, the Soviet Union withdrew loans and technicians in 1960 due to a downturn in their relationship. The Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution (1958-1976) not only paralyzed internal production and economic activities, but also separated China from the world-system economy (Marrin, 1993). Because China rigidly controlled international investments and trade, Hong Kong became the only port where China could buy foreign currency and items that were not obtainable locally (Miners, 1991). Hong Kong (pre-1980s) Hong Kong became a British colony at the end of the Opium War in 1842. Although its governor was appointed by Britain, colonial government did not promote any ideology to enhance its political legitimacy. Hong Kong has often been described as a free society (So & Kwitko, 1990). Colonial government adopted a "positive non-intervention" policy towards the economy while maintaining a competitive business environment to attract foreign investment, and pursued export-led industrialization in the early 1950s (Haddon-Cave, 1995). After China's political upheaval in1949, an influx of over sixty thousand refugees to HK (Hambro, 1955) brought substantial capital and labour resources, which were used to set up manufacturing factories. The embargoes imposed on Chinese trade in the 1950s helped subsidize the HK economy, with HK acting as a buffer zone between western countries and the Chinese market.

Managing Business in Europe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managing Business in Europe - Essay Example Though, there are lot of prominent automobile manufacturers in Europe, majority of the production of automobiles required for the European market is outsourced. The prominent automobile manufacturers in Europe are DaimlerChrysler, Volkswagen (VW), BMW, Ford Europe, General Motors (GM) Europe, Renault, PSA (Peugeot-Citro'n), Fiat and Porsche etc. "The EU is the largest automotive production region in the world and the industry comprises 6.5 % of the manufacturing sector in the Union. Direct employment by the automotive industry stands at about 2.2 million employees, while the total employment effect (direct and indirect) is estimated to be about 12 million" (THE AUTOMOTIVE SECTOR, 2009). This report analyses; Influence of EU's policies on Automotive Industry; Influence of Single European Market or EMU on Automotive Industry; Opportunities and threats for Automotive Industry associated with the enlargement of the European Union; Automotive Industry strategies for Europe etc. The increasingly international setting of business makes it harder and harder to establish the boundaries of a national economy or even to separate the European economy from its global context (Wallace &Young, 1997, p.3) Globalization and liberalization policies have revolutionized the who world and the business strategies were redefined in order to meet the demands of a global world by many of the organizations. Separate co-operative sectors are working in most of the parts of the world in order to exploit the possibilities opened by globalization. EU is one of such co-operation aimed at the integration of the whole European region for the collective growth. The current focus of the EU institutions is on making the EU one of the most competitive markets in the world by 2010 and ensuring stable economic growth. Efforts to this end include investment in human capital, improvements in physical infrastructure and enhancement of available network in the transportation, telecommunications and energy sectors. To counter sluggish economic conditions compounded by uncertainties due to geopolitical tensions and international terrorism, the European Commission has endorsed economic growth initiatives including European Action for Growth (Country Industry Forecast - European Union Automotive Industry, 2004) EU has implemented lot of strategies in order to encourage the automotive industries in the European region and to make the region, the world's highest automobile manufacturing region. At present the Asia-Pacific region holds this position and the EU has taken every possible measure to capture the first position. Environmental legislation and recycling legislation are some of the strategies adopted by EU in order to raise the standards of automobile manufacturing in this area. "The EU emissions standards are compulsory in all EU Member States. The

Marketing Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Communication - Essay Example These marketing strategies includes the slogans â€Å"How are you† and â€Å"Power to who†, video, television, newspapers, banners and magazines, Vodafone VIP, Freebee rewardz, corporate social responsibilities, company website, social media and Sponsorship of racing competitions. On the other hand, T-Mobile emulates social media sites including MySpace, Twitter and You Tube and the slogan ‘Life is for sharing’ to attract its customers. The marketing campaign of the Vodafone has created a positive image on the public thus increasing the company sales and profits. This paper provides recommendations as to how T-mobile can employ various marketing strategies with an aim of enhancing its IMC thus increasing its competitiveness. Introduction Based on stiff competition that companies are faced with in the local and international markets, marketing and brand managers are using all the means to ensure that they attain strong relationship with their consumers. Some of the major strategies that firms emulate in order to attain a competitive edge include improvement of quality of their brands, effective distribution of their products, appropriate pricing of products and effective communication with their customers. Based on the improved technology and the cut-throat competition in the business arena, companies have started to emulate the improved communication system to lure their customers and retain strong positive customer-brand relationship. Integrated marketing communication (IMC) refers to the marketing strategies that are undertaken by marketing managers involving various disciplines such as promotion, advertising, public relations and social media among others to attain to increased customer awareness and loyalty. Other vital aspect of IMC is that it entails effectively coordinating different means of promotion to attain a competitive edge and face off the company rivals. This paper seeks to keenly discuss the marketing communication st rategies and mix adopted by Vodafone and T-Mobile, two of the major mobile service providers. Additionally, the paper will provide recommendation on the strategic marketing and branding tools that T-Mobile can emulate to effectively face off Vodafone in the market. Market Review As the demand for communication among local and international companies increase, mobile services market has attracted large number of telecommunication firms as each one of them is geared towards expanding is customer base. With the growth in the mobile telecommunication industry, competing firms have taken initiatives to control their local market and then adopt more extensive marketing strategies to enter the global market. Some of the main competitors in the mobile services market include Vodafone, O2, Orange, Virgin and T-Mobile among others. Being the second largest mobile telecommunication company after China mobile, Vodafone is a British based company with over 440 million subscribers. Apart from bei ng a leader in the UK market, Vodafone operates in more than 30 countries. Some of the notable services that Vodafone has introduced in the market include Vo

Social Contract Theory of John Locke Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social Contract Theory of John Locke - Essay Example It works in a way so that no one can deny that a rule is unjust because the rules are made when all members of the society agree to them. John Locke, one of the greatest eighteenth century theorists, also put forward the idea of natural rights and property, which formed the basis for his social contract theory. However, this is opposed to the central idea of egalitarianism – all people have an equal right and claim on the resources of the society. The social contract theory negates this concept and relies solely on individual rights rather than communal rights. Also, some perceive this negatively and argue that Locke’s studies tend to be more conservative in nature compared to other theorists of the social contract theory and included only the males and the educated and propertied class of the society (Cohen, 1986). Pollock (2006) explains that the Lockean ‘contract’ is one where individuals give up the freedom to aggress against others in return for their own safety. The government or any law-enforcing authority rests upon the principles of quid pro quo which means that we give the government the power to protect us, in full recognition of the fact that this power may be used against us. However, this ‘contract’ with the government comes with a set of principles. Locke rejects the notion of an unconditional duty of obedience: ‘For him the legitimacy of political authority depends upon the end for which it was instituted, namely, the preservation of the natural rights to life, liberty, and estate. If these rights are infringed, the trust between the community and the magistrate (government) is canceled, and the people have a right to appeal to heaven (revolution) to establish a new legislative body.’ (Gray, 1999). Therefore, Lockean version of the social c ontract theory allows the members of the society to initiate a revolution if the social contract’s

Computerize Enrollment Essay Example for Free

Computerize Enrollment Essay This Chapter presents the proposed study all about. It also shows the problem that the proponents encountered during the research of the proposed study. Show the difference of the proposed system to the existing system. Introduction Most of educational institutional establishment today specially on those schools with specialization in teaching in the line of technologies are using computerized systems. It can help establishments or businesses to give more quality service to their customers. This can result in a system with well-integrated processes that can perform much faster and more accurate than a manual system. Enrollment is the process of inputting and verifying data of student to register on a particular school. The Enrollment System is used so the school will have a record of information of a student, tracking or retrieving of their information will be possible. The verifying of payments and browsing of student bills is also the used of an enrollment system. Enrollment System is an example of computer generated process. This will lessen the workload and provides accurate information needed of the school. As the result this will not only benefit the students but also the employees of a certain establishment. The Enrollment System is very essential for a school. In the case of AMA COMPUTER COLLEGE FAIRVIEW CAMPUS, they are using a manual system composed of a pen and an application form. The student or an applicant definitely having some erasures, and an illegibly hand writing that makes the information inaccurate. Verifying of the inaccurate information will lead to some errors in the process of the enrollment. Above our observation, human interventions will highly involve in this type of system. As a result, this may involve errors and redundancy of data resulting troubles in organization. Background of the Study The AMA COMPUTER COLLEGE FAIRVIEW CAMPUS is an educational institution specialize in the line of technologies, giving quality education since 1990 they make their make name by the student who make the â€Å"I love you Virus† since then AMA has standards of giving the a best education in the line of Information Technology. The AMA COMPUTER COLLEGE FAIRVIEW CAMPUS has a population estimated of 400+ students from different courses and year level that currently studying this semester. AMA COMPUTER COLLEGE FAIRVIEW CAMPUS are using an acquaint system applicants or students constantly having a hard time filling up application forms and take a lot of time in the enrollment process. With the large population of students employees had to do a lot work. Statement of the Problem The proponents aimed to develop and sought to answer the following specific problems 1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of: 1.1 Name; 1.2 Age; 1.3 Gender; 1.4 Year Level; 1.5 Course; 2. What is the problems encountered in the existing system? 3. What is the possible solutions to avoid the problems in the existing system? 4. What is the difference of the existing system between the proposed system. 4.1; Accuracy 4.2; Convenience 4.3; Usefulness 4.4; Speed 4.5; User-friendly Hypothesis The proponents to have an analysis if there is a significance difference between the existing system and the proposed system in terms of accuracy, convenience, usefulness, speed, and user-friendly interface. Significance of the Study The study declare that the proposed system can be a great help to the following: Students. The proposed system can help the students to have a less time, effort on the enrollment process. Employees/Professor. The proposed system can help the employees less the work load and save a lot of time that were needed in the enrollment process Reputation Significance. The proposed system will improve the reputation of the school by leveling the kind of system to other universities. Scope and Delimitation of the Study The Study focuses on how the students and employees have a benefit of saving a lot of time, giving a less effort, reducing of human errors, accuracy and speed of deriving information. The Study is limited service when it come to online access of the users, compared to the Online Enrollment System of the University of Santo Thomas that users can access online. Definition of Terms To Understand the different terminologies that were used in the proposed study, the proponents had provided the following terminologies. Enrollment. is the process of entering and verifying data of student to register on a particular school. Computerized System. A process or operation integrated by using a computer or other devices. Online System. A process or operation that powered by the world wide web and accessible to any users that has an internet connection.

Human Relationships Essay Example for Free

Human Relationships Essay Writers use many subtle things to develop many themes of their novels. The relationships a person has with individuals around him affects the way other people think about him. In the book One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn uses human relationships to ignite certain emotions within the reader towards certain characters. These emotions occur each time the character appears and this is used by the reader to judge the character by the types of relationships he has. By the end of the book, these feelings have developed and support the theme of existentialism in the novel. Human relationships between the prisoners and the people outside give the reader automatic first impressions of the characters in the book. Mainly, the packages sent in by these people outside show that the prisoners have someone who cares for them. Packages are seen as a luxury item by the prisoners and one of the main things mentioned during character introductions is whether the characters receive packages or not. This one fact changes the way the reader views the character. If the prisoner receives no packages from home, the reader feels pity for the characters and feels the isolation that these camps are designed to maintain. On the other hand, if the prisoners do receive regular packages, they are viewed with the same eye as privileged individuals of high society. This is important to keep the overall mood of the novel constant because any sudden surprises which cause any sort of excitement may ruin the bleak atmosphere of the novel. Sudden surprises include a character doing something which may be considered foolish in the camp. One example of this is when Caesar says to Shukov, You keep it, Ivan Denisovich (Solzhenitsyn, 179) when Shukov brings him his bread. The foolish notion of giving away food is immediately dissipated in the mind of the reader when Caesars package is cleverly intertwined in to the text as fancy stuff (Solzhenitsyn, 179) a few lines later. Another example of the readers impression being manipulated is Fetyukov. By the time Shukov mentions that Fetyukov had three children outside but theyd all disowned him when he was arrested so there was no one to send him things (Solzhenitsyn, 56), Fetyukovs actions have created the impression of a runt with no pride who only wishes to pass his sentence with as much comfort as possible. However, when the sentence is mentioned, understanding floods the readers mind and the reader is forced to go back and think about what Fetyukov must be thinking when he scavenges things from the prisoners and the reader considers it justified for Fetyukov to act this way.

Stigmatization A Mental Health Clinical Case Analysis Nursing Essay

Stigmatization A Mental Health Clinical Case Analysis Nursing Essay During my mental health clinical rotation at Karwan-e-hayat, I encountered a 45 year old female patient with the diagnosis of Obsessive compulsive disorder and depression in her rehabilitative phase. She gave Rs 50/- to the nursing assistant to bring nimco for her which costed Rs 25/-. The nursing assistant returned with the nimco but did not returned the rest Rs 25/- to the patient by saying that no money was left. When the patient reported the incident to the nurse, the nurse did not pay any attention to the patient. In the beginning the nurse said that she dont have time to talk about it followed by the statements such as Unlike you, I have too much work to do and then when the patient went to another nurse, she ignored the patient also by saying that The nursing assistant would not have been lying. Patients like you come and go from here every day saying these kinds of things. Go and do your work. The patient went away quietly looking down. Later she verbalized Nobody takes us se riously as we are mentally ill patients. So we cant do anything. Furthermore she said Does being mentally ill means we are not humans? Stigma is a Greek word meaning mark, and is derived from the verb stizein to tattoo, to prick, to puncture. Stigma is usually a mark of disgrace or infamy, which leads to action: discrimination against the stigmatised person (Arboleda-Fl ´orez Sartorius, 2008, P.69). stigma occurs when leading social group diminishes the qualities of a less influential group. Stigma in health care is a very common entity for many groups of the community. One of which is psychiatric patients. People identified as having mental health problems are one of the most marginalised groups in society (Martin, 2009, p.6) The above mentioned case is an example of such cases whereby a mentally ill patient was stigmatized in the hospital settings by the health care professional. Many patients and surveys have highlighted this sheer reality that health care professionals themselves display stigmatizing behaviors and practices (Hinshaw, 2007). Moreover, they depict dehumanizing behavior and lowered expectation towards mentally ill. In this case scenario, the health care professional directly passed on stigmatizing comments to the client. According to Hinshaw, (2007), the health care providers sometimes use frequent comments which are hurtful jokes for the clients. They often use judgmental terms for the patients with one another in the presence of the patient, as though the patients were not even present there. This behavior from the side of the health care provider makes the patient doubt their own self, leading towards self-stigmatization (Hinshaw, 2007). This self-stigmatization in turn makes the patie nts doubt their own self-esteem, lowering their own self-image (Hinshaw, 2007; Link, Struening, Todd, Asmussen, Phelan, 2001). One of the accounts presented by Hinshaw in 2007 clearly states that a kid has internalized the belief that his grandmother punishes him because of his misbehavior as a child and self-blaming himself for the adult psychiatric episodes which he was having. In this way, public stigma makes the patients think that there is something wrong with them and they dont deserve to exist in this world. Many mentally ill people want to get settled in the society but are unable to do so because the world stigmatizes them, the health care professionals stigmatize them and then they doubt their own credibility ending up in self-stigmatizing their own selves. According to former U.S. surgeon David satchers report on mental illness of 1999, he clearly concluded that stigma leads to low self-esteem, isolation, and hopelessnessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, it deprives people of their digni ty and interferes with their full participation in society. (Satcher, 1999) That clearly highlights the effected abilities of the individual on the grounds of mental illness. According to the writer, self-stigma is inevitable. This highlighted effect of self-stigma is clearly evident in the case scenario presented above by the action of the patient herself, which she has looked down and moved away. This lowered self-esteem in turn brings out hopelessness in the clients (Link, Struening, Todd, Asmussen, Phelan, 2001). Like the client in the given case scenario says that nobody takes us seriously. We cant do anything. That clearly identifies the notion of hopelessness that the patient has no hopes from life and has accepted clear defeat because of the stigma associated with mental illness. The next question is how does stigma affects the rehabilitation of the mentally ill patients. How does it affect the coping skills of the mentally ill patients? What are the coping mechanisms of the mentally ill patients which they use in stigma? What are the coping mechanisms of the patients with neurosis who are well aware of the reality and understand this notion of stigma, as opposed to the psychosis patients. According to literature, many a times, the stigma posed is due to many of the bizarre symptoms caused by psychosis and the patients with neuroses also have to take it as they all fall under the category of mental illness for the laymen regardless of psychosis and neurosis (Hinshaw, 2007). According to the ethical principle E of the American psychiatric association, the patients have the right of dignity and respect regardless of any differences; that implies to both psychosis and neurosis (Lowman, 2005). The psychotic patient as mentioned earlier is away from the reality co ntent but they surely understand that they are being treated wrongly. (Levine Levine, 2009) They are not able to think rationally but surely they are human beings and are witnessing what is going on with them. Many a times we witness that they cry over small things which are going wrong with them. They are witnessing the behavior of the health care provider but are unable to interrelate it to their past experience. Regardless of the psychosis, it is wrong to treat them any bad so how bad can it be for the neurosis client whose reality content is intact and who can rationalize everything that is going on with them and who can interrelate these aspects with their past and then can feel the shame (Hinshaw, 2007). The patient in the above mentioned case scenario would be forced to think if something is wrong with her resulting in feelings of shame and guilt. This guilt in turn takes the patient in the situation of self-stigmatization which leads on to hopelessness which clearly affects the coping mechanism of the individual since if the person would be hopeless towards his illness, the reconstitution would be delayed (Hinshaw, 2007). Stigmatization affects the personal response of the patient which is a vital part of process of coping. The personal responses are individualized and can change over time. Many a times, the strategy which patients use to avoid stigma and to preserve their self-esteem is secrecy, which preserves their self-esteem but isolates the individual from social support (Satcher, 1999; Hinshaw, 2007). stigma has an important part in determining public health consequences by revealing stigmatized individuals to health-harmful conditions, by aggregating stress, declining coping, and by putting a barrior to receiving health care (Link Phelan, 2006). According to Corrigan and Watson (2002) as cited in hinsaw, 2007 there are many new reasons emerging to justify the reason for some individuals to respond with anger whereas some to nerely ignore the stigma and move on with their lives whilst some internalize the negative message while hurting their self-image. If stigma-related threat is believed to be of greater magnitude than ones coping responses, several types of voluntary and involuntary reactions can come about, like lowered self-esteem, reduced achievement, and compromised physical health. (Hinshaw, 2007) Several questions arise Looking upon the behavior of the health care professional such as is the attitude of the nurse justifiable? Would she have had the same stigmatized responsein the case of another pfysically ill patient? If she would have then she is not following the ethical principle E of the American psychological association of respect of peoples right and dignity. This principle clearly states that the regardless of the awareness of the disability, the health care provider has to maintain the respect of the patient. For the violation of this ethical principle, who is responsible? The nurse or the society to see all the mentally ill patients on a single wavelength and stigmatize them. Who is accountable for it? The nurse or the hospital settings or either the society to be accountable for such stigmatization? Would the same behavior have happened in the western settings? If the patient would have sued the in the court, whose statements would be more valued and listened to t he nurses or the mentally ill clients who is savaged and stigmatized in the community by the names of irrational and unthinkable. Many accounts of the depressed patients state the fact that they are not been taken seriously while giving some statements because of the stigma associated whereas if some other person of pathological chronic condition gives the same statement, it is taken seriously (Shaw, 1998). In the settings of the above mentioned case scenario, would anyone have had listened to her that her rights are being violated or would this all be given the name of mental illness and let go of? One more side of stigmatization comes when we tease normal people by the names of the stigmatized people to embarrass them. In everyday life, language patterns indicates an anxiety with mental disorder across all age groups with a host of terms related to mental illness used to scapegoat and humiliate those who violate social norms. They are associated with mentally ill and words like psycho and wacho are used to compare people who go against social norms in the western community (Hinshaw, 2007). Whereas, no literature is to be found for the usage of such words due to the lack of researches in this field. Usage of variants of such terms at young ages signals the pervasiveness of the criticism of persons with mental disorders. Indeed, judgmental tags of retard or crazy are among the first terms used by children who havent even started their schoolings yet to relegate socially rejected friends in the west. (Hinshaw, 2007) Media also plays important role in stigmatizing the mentally ill . Media differs in east and west which directly effects pattern of stigmatizing. People with psychotic-level disorders, as well as milder disturbances, were portrayed as ignorant, dangerous, dirty, unkind, and unpredictable. (Hinshaw, 2007, p.118) The model which could best be incorporated in this is Link and Phelans model of stigma. In this model stigma is processed by many different components. First one is on distinguishing and labeling differences(Link Phelan, 2001). Most of the differences are usually ignored but sometimes they are not overlooked at and thus labeled. In my clinical case scenario, the patient was labeled as mentally ill having no work to do. The second component is on associating human differences with negative attributes(Link Phelan, 2001). This occurs when the labeled differences are linked to stereotypes and so my patients mental illness was stereotyped as workless people. The third component is of on separating us from them which brings the notion of stigmatization(Link Phelan, 2001). In the above mentioned case scenario also, the patient was referred to as out group as evidenced by the statement patients like you come and go each day but we have work to do, clearly defining the notion of us versus them. The last component is status loss and discrimination(Link Phelan, 2001). In the status loss, patient is connected to undesirable characteristics that reduce his or her status in the eyes of the stigmatizer. In this case, the undesirable characteristic was that mentally ill patients are laid off and redundant where as we are working people so we are higher than them and in this way stigmatized people are put down at the bottom of the hierarchy. Keeping in view the principles of American psychiatric association, the strategies which I would like to pose in this context is the nurse should look in the matter and confirmed the case with the nursing assistant as well as to the shop from which the nursing assistant got the nimco from. Moreover, nursing assistants should be taught all the rights of the patients so that being a health care provider; they would follow all the ethical principles. On an institutional level, a system should be made in which patients can have some responsible person to take care of these things instead of asking anyone they can get their hands on to. To conclude, not much research has been done on this issue of mental health and proper awareness does not exist in this society. More researches needs to be done to address this issue as stigma in mental health persists all around the world. Strategies needed to be thought about to remove this factor of stigma. More education sessions about this needs to be done on the clinical side to make the nurses and other health care providers aware of what the rights of the patients are and a check and balance system should be there to acknowledge either those rights have been followed and fulfilled or not. (word count: 2201 words) References Arboleda-Fl ´orez, J., Sartorius, N. (Eds.). (2008). Understanding the Stigma of Mental Illness: Theory and Interventions. New Delhi, India: Aptara. Hinshaw, S. P. (2007). The Mark of Shame. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. Husted, J. H., Husted, L. G. (2008). Ethical Decision Making in Nursing and Health Care (4th ed.). New York, USA: springer publishing company. Link, B. G., Struening, E. L., Todd, S. N., Asmussen, S., Phelan, J. C. (2001). Stigma as a barrier to recovery-The consequences of Stigma for the self-esteem of people with mental illnesses. Psychiatric Services, 52(12), 1621-1626. Link, B. G., Phelan, J. C. (2006). Stigma and its public health implications. Lancet, 367, 528-529 Link, B. G., Phelan, J. C. (2001). Conceptualizing Stigma. Annual Reviews, 27, 363-85. Levine, J., Levine, L.S. (2009). Schizophrenia for dummies. Canada: Wiley Publisher. Lowman, R. L. (2005). Respect for Peoples Rights and Dignity. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment Trauma, 11(1), 71 77. Martin, N. (2009). From Discrimination to Social Inclusion. Australia: Queensland Alliance. Shaw, F. (1998). Mistaken identity. Lancet, 352, 1051. Satcher, D. (1999). Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General. Washington, DC: Department of health and human services.

Of Mice And Men :: essays research papers

â€Å"Of Mice and Men† was written bye John Steinbeck and is a fictional book. â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is a book about two life long friends named George and Lennie. They go to a farm to do some farm work after having to run away from their old town Weed. In their new farm, they meet many people including Curley, a little boxer guy who hates big guys like Lennie, and Curley’s wife, who is a tart. Lennie and George have many grand adventures on the farm, but one day while George is out playing horseshoes, Lennie accidentally kills Curley’s wife. Lennie runs away but when the guys come back to find Curley’s wife dead, George is forced to kill his friend. The four people responsible for Lennie’s death are George, Curley’s wife, Lennie, and Curley. The person most responsible for Lennie’s death is George. The reasons why I think this is mainly because George shot Lennie in the end of the book. Also George left Lennie alone in the barn giving Curley’s wife a chance to come and talk to him, and that is when Lennie killed her. George should have given Lennie more instructions on what he was supposed to do while George was out with his friends. The second most responsible for Lennie’s death is Curley’s wife. The reasons why I think this is because she provoked Lennie into talking to her and into petting her hair. She was lonely and wanted someone to talk to, but she also was very flirtatious with Lennie. When she yelled she scared Lennie which made him hold on to her neck harder. Curley’s wife shouldn’t have been flirting and seeking other men while she had a husband. The third most responsible person for Lennie’s death is Lennie himself. The reason I think this is because Lennie killed Curley’s wife, which made George have to kill Lennie. He also has no control over his strength since he was retarded, which is another reason why he died. And more importantly he disobeyed George by talking to Curley’s wife, which George told him absolutely not to do. The last responsible person for Lennie’s death was Curley. Curley was very mean to Lennie and was picking on him for only the reason that Lennie was bigger than Curley. Curley was also very possessive over his wife, which lead her to look for other men.

Baseball Positions :: Sports, Pitcher, Catcher

In the game of Baseball there are nine fielding positions. Each position is associated with a scorekeepers’ numerical number (from 1-9) to be used in scoring putouts. Each player has a special job associated with that position to help the team win. The game’s most important positions are the pitcher and the catcher. They are what the team revolves around and are called the â€Å"battery.† The pitcher’s position is known numerically as number (1) and the catcher’s is number (2). They control the tempo and intensity of the game. The pitcher’s job is to deliver the ball to home plate, keep the ball in the strike zone, and retire the batter by strike out, force out or fly ball. He must also field his position by catching pop flies, charging bunts, and back up the first baseman or catcher when necessary. He must have stamina and strong nerves. The catcher controls the speed of the game. His job is to give signals to the pitcher on what pitches to throw, block the plate from balls getting by him and tag runners out at the plate. He also has to calm the pitcher down whenever he feels it’s necessary. His job is by far the most difficult. No other defensive position requires more concentration and wears a player down mentally and physically, as does that of the catcher. He must be tough, have a strong arm and quick reflexes. These two players make the game happen. The infield has many positions; it has the first baseman (number 3), second baseman (number 4), third basemen (number 5), and the short stop (number 6). The first baseman and second baseman control the right side of the infield and the third baseman and shortstop control the left side of the infield. If a ball is hit to the third baseman and he fields it and throws it to the first baseman, it is recorded as a (5-3) out. If the second baseman fields a ball and throws it to the shortstop covering second base, who throws it to the first baseman, it is recorded as a (4-6-3) double play. The first baseman must be agile, quick and have the ability to set a good target. He will catch the balls that are hit to him, thrown to him, must scoop up ground balls, and tag first base for the out. He may have to charge a bunted ball, catch a pop fly ball, and throw to other bases to get lead runner out.

The Importance of Having Patience and Saving Money :: Personal Finance

Beginning at the age of six, Americans begin to attend school. They will spend the majority of their time in this learning environment until they graduate high school and probably college. During this time, people are educated about different subjects in the hopes that it will help them live a profitable life. What is a better way to solve a problem, than by teaching people about the causes and how to not get cheated? The current housing crisis could have been averted if the American people had been properly educated about how to handle banking and loan situations. However, due to a mentality that people should buy what they cannot afford, America has been in an ongoing recession for many years. On another note, banks need to adjust the way loans are given out as well as the programs being set up to pay them back. There is no quick fix to this problem, rather a long-term investment that must be made. Instead of pouring millions of dollars that the government does not have int o a possible solution that may or may not work, I propose the government implements an educational course in an attempt to revise the way Americans think. Everyone is aware of the problems that have been caused by the interest rates and the credit cards and the quick fixes that have attempted to solve the problem. The issue with most of these fixes is that the money used is not money currently available. Sure, more can be printed, but that lowers the value. The fact of the matter is that throwing money at a problem is not going to make it go away. In fact, it only makes the problem worse. It shows the public that it’s perfectly all right to spend money that they don’t have because eventually, everything will be okay. That’s not the case. Up until a few decades ago, everyone believed in having patience and saving. In today’s day and age, people want everything now. Technology has continued this message with everything only a click away! If people knew that saving money is the best way to get what you want, then the foreclosure issue would not be such a serious problem. Instead, people go out and spend money they don’t have. The public needs to be educated on how to make the best deals and get the most out of the money that they have.

On the Size and Nature of the American Republic

After the American Revolution, a great debate ensued over the size and nature of the proposed American Republic. There were those who stressed a small republic constituted by 13 confederated states. There were also political thinkers who sought the establishment of a large, heterogeneous republic (comprised of different classes of people with different interests). To differentiate the specifics of the two contending views, there is a need to examine two prominent American figures who represented the differing views. Brutus represented those who want to establish a small confederated republic.James Madison represented the other group. Brutus on the Size of the American Republic For Brutus, a free republic would be unsuccessful if it was of immense extent (both geographically and politically). The increasing number of inhabitants as well as the increasing needs of a large republic put strains on the government. The consequence for him was clear: such large republic would, in time, fall to anarchy. He cited the argument of baron de Montesquieu as the basis of his view: â€Å"It is natural to a republic to have a small territory, otherwise it cannot lone subsist.In a large republic there are men of large fortunes, and consequently of less moderation; there are trusts too great to be placed in any single subject; he has interest of his own; he soon begins to think that he may be happy, great and glorious, by oppressing his fellow citizens; and that he may raise himself to grandeur on the ruins of his country†. For Brutus, the establishment of a large republic inevitably results to the concentration of power and wealth to the hands of the few. Because moderation is more or less absent in these people, their power and wealth are used to oppress the people.As time progresses, the oppression becomes more and more manifested in the deteriorating conditions of the people. The republic will soon bow to the power of the ruling and oppressive class of citizens. In add ition, because of the immense extent of the republic, the needs and demands (and dreams) of the people are lost in the myriads of a thousand interests. Some needs and views are sacrificed to the so-called â€Å"general will† which for Brutus was a vague concept. The negotiation of interests becomes a battle for power or authority.Those who occupy a significant position in government (or those who have contacts in the government) will have their views and interests magnified in the halls of the legislative branch. Thus, the true needs of the people are easily distorted. In addition, if the republic is small, the public good is easier taken into account by the government. It is easily comprehended by every citizen (subject to criticism). The interests, then, of the people are better protected because the abuses are of insignificant nature.Brutus cited the case of the Grecian and Roman republics as examples to strengthen his argument. In the beginning, these republics were of sm all size. Their governments were simple but democratic in form. Every need and view of citizens was taken into account, making governance a matter of citizen consent. In due time, however, these republics expanded their domains. Rome, for example, acquired territories from several wars against Carthage and some Asian kingdoms. The result was: their governments transformed from that of free government to those of tyrannical (and abusive) ones.Brutus on Authority The construction of a tyrannical government, with supreme authority vested on one person, would inevitably result to the destruction of the peoples’ authority. The people would not be able to exercise their rights and duties. They would not be able to force the government to account for its misdeeds. Public accountability would vanish; the person in power would project himself as an infallible leader, incapable of committing any mistakes while in office. Thus, the large republic would crumble.The remnants of democracy, made significant in democratic institutions, would vanish from history. The restoration of democracy, for Brutus, would be achieved through another bloody revolution, much greater in extent than the previous one. Brutus on Homogeneity With regard to homogeneity, in a free republic, â€Å"the manners, sentiments, and interests of the people should be similar†. If such was not the case, clashes would be unending. Antagonisms would develop among groups of people competing for power and wealth.This would inevitably result to the malfunctioning of the government. It would not be able to serve the people in its true capacity. The deadlock among competing groups would necessitate again the establishment of a despotic government, to which no citizen would proscribe to. Basis on Human Nature Thus, because the climate (social, political, and economic situation of states) of the United States was varied, there was a need to establish confederated states, governed by a nominal federal h ead of state.Here were the things that Brutus considered: 1) the interests of the states (correspondingly its people) were largely varied, 2) the customs and traditions of the states also varied, and 3) the states had differing opinions of the nature and extent of the proposed American republic. These considerations, for Brutus, were enough to justify the establishment of a small republic, for heterogeneous and discordant principles were clearly present. Brutus Fears on Some Provisions in the US Constitutions Brutus was well aware of some provisions in the US Constitutions which called for the establishment of a large republic.For example, the vesting of the power to draw and approve treaties on the president and the senate was an incursion to the rights of the states to determine foreign policies. The drawing of foreign policies of supra-legislative bodies was a characterization of legislative tyrannies (as in the case of France). The status of the president as commander in chief o f the armed forces was also questioned by Brutus. If the president held the power to unquestionably command the army, then there was a high chance that he would use it to maintain his position.For Brutus, these powers of the â€Å"national government† were vestiges of tyrannical governments; governments established to preserve order to a large state. Madison on the Size of the American Republic Before Madison presented his arguments as to the proper size and nature of the American Republic, he drew a sharp distinction between a democracy and a republic. Democracy is a state governed by direct democracy; that is, the decisions of the government are directed by the people. Its actions are based on the needs and demands of the sovereign will of the citizens.Thus, every citizen is required to participate in the affairs of the state. Political participation is therefore maximized in democracies. A republic, on the other hand, is characterized by the delegation or representation of the will of the people to elected delegates. The election of delegates will allow the people to choose the person who can best discern the public good. In addition, a large republic will usually offer the citizens more choices, so there will be a greater chance for quality candidates to be chosen to represent the public. Thus, Madison favored the establishment of a large republic that would govern the 13 states.Madison’s Rejection of Homogeneity as the Basis of the Republic Madison rejected homogeneity as the basis for the establishment of a republic. According to him, even pure democracies like Athens became avenues of torment and clashes of opinion. A pure democracy, such as that proposed by Brutus was not a guarantee to the protection and advancement of citizens’ interests. He believed that homogeneity existed in a vacuum; that is, it was no guarantee that a general reduction in the extent of a state (population) would inevitably to the perfection and assimilation of beliefs, passions, and interests (Madison, 1787).Even in a small republic, passions and interest were highly varied. Thus, human nature could not be rearranged by arranging the political atmosphere to which a human being is situated. A state, small or large, would be comprised of citizens having different opinions, interests, and passions. Madison also discussed the nature of factions in a state. For Madison, factions destroy the liberty of the individual to participate in the affairs of the state. Factions retard the functioning of the government, thus inefficiently delivering services to the people.Factions could be disastrous if the majority belong to a faction (the tyranny of the majority). If the majority succumbed to the will of the unreasonable passions, then the state would become a tool of oppression of the minority. Even if the minority presented strong arguments (reasonable) of a particular policy and the majority refused to allow such policy to be implemented, then su ch policy would not be implemented. If this was the case of the state, then the government would be inefficiently and ineffectively ruled by an oppressive group of people. Madison’s Solution to the Problem of FactionsMadison presented two solutions for the â€Å"factions† problem. The first solution was to destroy the conditions which were essential to the establishment of factions. The second solution was to give every citizen the same view, passions, and interests. For Madison, only the first solution was feasible. By establishment safety nets in governance (there were some provisions in the US constitution that guarantee the rights and interests of the minority), the effects of factionalism would be minimized (it would be impossible to totally eradicate factionalism in a diverse nation).These safety nets took the form of negotiated mediums; that is, avenues where interests could be aggregated. Madison as the First Pluralist Madison proposed the establishment of seco nd-in-importance agencies to take note of the interests of the minority. Even in supra-legislative bodies like the House of Representatives and the Senate, Madison proposed the institutionalization of lobbying methods. The purpose of which was to give every citizen (or group of citizens) the chance to air their views and interests.For Madison, aggregation of interests was the key to maintaining a large heterogeneous republic. Thus, Madison was usually called the â€Å"first pluralist. † In recent years, however, the so-called interplay between federalist and anti-federalist perspectives was essentially rooted from the increasing powers of the â€Å"national government. † Some people wanted a less strong central government to effectively serve the needs of the citizens. There are those who argued that a strong central government is essential to procure the best services for the people.

Silver

It was fairly common believe in China that with arrival of large amounts of silver would bring prosperity; but with such an extreme amount of this precious metal coming into one are caused problems. The Ming Dynasty declared that all taxes must be payed in silver. This created great disruption in the economy since silver coins were scarce at this time many people were unable to pay their taxes. To suffice the demands of the government a great deal of people would get their silver through middle-men. This exchange for silver lowered the value of Ming goods (Doc3). Wang Xijue, a court official, foresees the possible problems the large amounts of silver that the Ming would have coming into it if they began to trade with Europeans (Doc7). Inflation was a large concern for Xijue. This fear soon became a reality and the uncontrolled flow of silver into Ming China hurt the economy. Ye Chunji, a county official during the Ming Dynasty, ordered a limit to wedding expenses in the 1570’s (Doc1). If these frugal ways would have been instilled in the Ming people, the economy wouldn’t have had such a downfall. Furthermore, now shops would send bills for work and â€Å"must be paid with silver obtained from a moneylender† (Doc5). During this time moneylenders thrived while the Chinese economy suffered. Initially the silver demand help Spain but long term weakened the empire. â€Å"High prices ruined Spain as the prices attracted Asian commodities and the silver currency flowed out to pay for them† (Doc2). Contrastingly, the middle-men were largely benefiting from the trade of silver. Ralph Fitch, a British merchant, stresses this point by saying that the Portuguese received luxurious goods in return for silver in China (Doc4). In Document 8 Charles D’Avenant, an English scholar describes the trade England would have with Spanish colonies of luxury goods for silver for gold (Doc8). He expresses this trade a profitable. In conclusion, the increase in silver production in Japan and the Spanish Empire from 1500 to 1750 benefits the middle man instead of the consumer and supplier. An additional document with numerical evidence of to what extreme the silver trade increased during this time period would be useful to further understand the extent in which this all took place.

Earth is my mother Essay

The author’s purpose in writing was to understand for herself and to be able to present Navajo sandpaintings as â€Å"dynamically sacred living entities whose meanings lie in the process of their creation and use† (page xix). Sandpaintings, created from different colored sands and sacred objects, are not art. They are representations of mythical beings and legends created for the purpose of reestablishing someone’s health and harmony. The study of sandpaintings and their various meanings permits the reader considerable insight into Navajo land-tied religious beliefs, world view, creation myths, society, history, and even concepts of time. The author, Trudy Griffin-Pierce, provides little autobiographical information in the book. She mentions her rootless Air Force upbringing and how her early readings were devoted to books about Native American culture, especially the Navajo. Although she is distantly related to the Catawba Indians of South Carolina, she always felt a kinship with the Navajo and lived for a time with a Navajo family, learning their traditions, history, and language. This bond drew her to Arizona after she completed her undergraduate degree in art at Florida State University. N. Scott Momaday, in his â€Å"Forward†, adds that Ms. Griffin-Pierce is a very creative artist, capable of understanding and discussing the artistic dimension of the Navajo world. She makes the inventive and imaginative Navajo system of belief without our understanding. Ms. Griffin-Pierce received her doctorate in anthropology from the University of Arizona in 1987, where she is currently Assistant Professor in the Anthropology Department and teaches three courses. The information on her website at the University of Arizona reveals that this was her first published book. She has written four newer books, The Encyclopedia of Native America (1995), Native Americans: Enduring Cultures and Traditions (1996), Native Peoples of the Southwest (2000), and Paridigms of Power: The Chiricahua Apache Prisoners of War and Naiche’s Hide Paintings (in press); and two articles, â€Å"When I am Lonely the Mountains Call Me: The Impact of Sacred Geography on Navajo Psychological Well Being†, and â€Å"Navajo Religion†. All of her writings center on the history of Indians in the United States’ Southwest. She is currently studying aging and dementia among Arizona’s Native Americans. In Earth is my Mother; Sky is my Father, Ms. Griffin-Pierce details Navajo religious beliefs, world views, historical myths, societal structure, and astronomical concepts before she discusses the use and structure of Navajo sandpaintings. Basic Navajo religious beliefs are still followed by many Navajos who chose not to assimilate the tenets of Christianity presented to them in the 1800’s. There is no word for â€Å"religion† in the Navajo language. Spirituality, health, harmony, and beauty are inseparable. The universe is an all-inclusive whole where everything has a unique place and beneficial relationship to all other living things. God is the â€Å"Unknown Power† worshipped through His Creation. The Navajo also have a close relationship with the Holy People, with whom they interact daily. (page 34) Navajo religious beliefs are closely tied to their intense longing for and their love of their homeland, which they consider the â€Å"point in space from which all conceptions of the cosmos proceed†. (page xv) The land and the earth is their foundation of all belief, wonder, and meaning in human existence, and the four sacred mountains are the center. There are no permanent religious centers. The Native American Church is a local peyote visionary religion.    The Navajo have a circular concept of time that permits their mythic, spiritual world to coexist with their physical world. The author suggests that the Navajo sacred sandpaintings cannot be understood unless we accept the Navajo’s â€Å"mythopoetic context of layered time, space, and meaning†. (page 7) Navajo spirituality affirms humanity’s place in nature as a whole. Their ceremonies restore the interconnectedness of all life. They believe sickness results from failure to maintain reciprocal responsibilities with the environment, infringement of ceremonial rules, and transgressions against one’s own mind and bodies. Her purpose in writing this book is to share a more humane, more connected view of the world and its contributions in reestablishing humanity’s alignment with the universe. (page 9) Navajos still worship gods and goddesses of specific purposes. Their deities include the Sun; Changing Woman, who brings the earthly seasons; and their children, Hero Twins, Monster Slayer, Born-for Water, First Man and First Woman, First Boy and First Girl, the trickster Coyote, and the Speechless Ones, who cannot utter words. (page 34) These are often depicted in the sandpaintings. Navajos have a concept of the â€Å"Holy Wind†, reminiscent of the Christian Holy Spirit, as a being that exists everywhere and is in all living beings. For them this means that all living beings are related and that humanity has a responsibility to care for other living beings. Curiously, in Navajo Creation stories, the Holy People spoke, sang, and prayed the world into existence with their sacred words. Since everyone has an inner form and is part of the Holy Wind, each has a Holy Person located within. Oneness with the universe creates a responsibility to treat one’s fellow creatures with the same respect one has towards oneself. (page 73). The Navajos were among the last American Indians to migrate from Asia to North America and were late in arriving in the Southwest. They settled in the geographical area bounded by the four Sacred Mountains in the Four Corners area of the Southwest. Their geographical isolation protected them from diseases brought by the Spaniards and provided them with access to stealing their horses, sheep, and goats. They learned weaving from the Pueblos. The Navajo societal structure was and is matriarchal, clan, and family based, and they dwell in isolated family groups structured by the nuclear family, the matrilocal extended family, close relatives, and other relatives. Many Navajo live in frame houses today, but some still choose well-constructed hogans. (page 21) Navajo ceremonial healings involving sandpaintings are conducted by highly trained practitioners called â€Å"chanters† who have learned to sing the elaborate Navajo rituals. The Navajo chanter can cure witchcraft, exorcise ghosts, and establish immunity to illness.   A chanter is a priest, not a shaman, and never enters the shaman’s characteristic trance state. Most chanters are men. Women become diagnosticians, or shamans who acquire knowledge in a trance state. (page 39) Navajo ceremonials are rites (rattle is not used) or chants (rattle accompanies singing. The major rites (Blessingway and Enemyway) use drypaintings with pigments made from plants, including corn, pollens, cornmeal, flower petals, and charcoal. The author explains that Enemyway is a form of exorcism against the ghosts of aliens, violence, and ugliness. The chanting ceremonies (Holyway, Evilway, or Lifeway) use sandpaintings of different colors of sand, ocher and charcoal. Other sacred objects, vegetation, and bowls of water are incorporated into both types of ceremonies. (pages 40-41) There are hundreds, if not thousands, of different sandpainting designs. A sandpainting is a place of entry where supernaturals enter and leave, attracted by their likenesses in the painting. The establishment of this pathway lets the evil or illness in the patient be replaced by the good, or healing power of the supernatural being. (page 43) The healing ceremonies last for several days. It takes four to six people three to five hours to complete a sandpainting six feed in diameter. The workers begin in the center and work outwards. (page 45. The Navajos’ basic concept is that the powers of the heavens and earth are drawn into the sandpainting for the purpose of healing. Time is compressed so that powerful mythic events of the past coexist with the present and restore harmony and well being to the person being healed. (page 58) The sandpainted image is intended to let the sick person project his or her mind through time and space, rising above present earthly limitations.   The Navajo layered worldview becomes meaningless during a ceremony as all layers of heavens and underground become one. The Navajos study the constellations and star arrangements primarily for determination of seasons, and they are not part of the ceremonial core of sandpaintings, even though depictions of mythical gods of creation in the form of constellations may be used. (page 103) One of the more interesting myths is how Younger Brother went to the sky country and met an inner circle of hostile beings whom he left to stay with the friendly Star People in the outer dwellings. These friendly Star People, whom the Navajo call â€Å"The People†, and the hostile beings are still incorporated into sandpaintings. The author concentrated on the â€Å"Mother Earth, Father Sky† sandpainting because it is the most familiar to outsiders and presents the most detailed depiction of the Navajo heavens of sandpaintings in use today. (page 175) She describes the intricate, careful, detailed process involved in making a sandpainting. Mother Earth and Father Sky must be identical in shape and size. The act of creating a sandpainting is healing because it focuses everyone’s thoughts on the principles of balance and order. (page 177) The painting becomes â€Å"alive† to serve its transcendent purpose when the chanter strews sacred pollen on it and blesses those attending. (page 183). The sacred and blessed sandpainting forces the patient to reconnect in time and space to past and present sacred forces and reminds the patient of her connectedness to humans present physically or spiritually. (page 194) This book accomplishes the author’s stated purposes and does discuss the themes in detail. However, the information is disorganized and scattered, making the book itself hard to read. The author’s purpose was to teach the reader how to understand and appreciate the making, content, and purpose of Navajo sandpainting, which she accomplishes. Some of the information presented about Navajo religious beliefs is curiously similar to Christianity, and the author does not sufficiently discuss whether or not these were original to the Navajo who migrated to the Americas or picked up and changed a bit from what Christian missionaries tried to teach them. The Navajo ties to the religious symbolism of their land is remarkably similar to early Hebrew thought, but no mention is made of that. The textual sources used by the author are all documented research papers or books that are fairly recent in date. One would wish earlier sources had been consulted on some issues, but their availability is not known. The author combines quite boring detailed information with her myths and more lively text, making the book itself a challenge to complete. BIBLIOGRAPHY Southwest Studies Program. Biography of Trudy Griffin-Pierce. University of Arizona. http://web. arizona. edu/~swst/faculty/tgpierce. htm. Griffin-Pierce, Trudy. Earth is my Mother; Sky is my Father. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1992.