Barefoot Running vs Traditional Running, The Pros and Cons Research Paper

Barefoot Running vs Traditional Running, The Pros and Cons - Research Paper Example While some dismiss the growing trend of barefoot running as a mere fad, some believe it will be a new wave in the history of sports. Innumerable debates have ensued in popular media over which one, barefoot running or shod running, is better, more beneficial and safer. However, scientific evidence is not yet enough to settle the debate. A lot of research has gone into analyzing the biomechanics, impact characteristics, etc of traditional and barefoot running and based on the findings of these studies, the pros and cons of both types of running have been weighed. The use of cushioned and protective footwear for running began in the 1970s with the invention of modern running shoes (Lieberman et al. 531). Prior to this invention, humans ran with none or minimal footwear. Human ancestors used simple and minimal foot coverings such as moccasins made of leather (Jenkins and Cauthon 231). Earlier dogmas claim that human feet are â€Å"evolutionarily unsuccessful† and that they are fr agile because of which protective cushioning for the feet is vital (Jenkins and Cauthon 231). However, this dogma was refuted by a study in Nature, which argues that human ancestors, who practiced barefoot running, were remarkably good at endurance running and that it may have been â€Å"instrumental in the evolution of the human body form† (Bramble and Lieberman 345). ... As most of the present research on this subject is yet inconclusive and is still in progress, it cannot be ascertained as to whether barefoot running is better than shod running, but the pros and cons can however be weighed based on currently available evidence. I. Pros of Barefoot Running vs. Traditional Running A. Less susceptibility to injury in barefoot running The surging interest in barefoot running has been largely because the rates of running-related injuries are high amongst shod runners as compared to barefoot runners (Robillard 13; Edwards, Foster and Wallack 150). Kerrigan et al. (2009) have shown that the hip, knee and ankle joints are more prone to injury in shod runners than in barefoot runners, making them more susceptible to disorders such as knee osteoarthritis. In another study, Hamill et al. (2011) found that the footfall patterns in shod running and barefoot running are different, and therefore, the impact patterns of the two types of running vary from one anothe r. The differences in impact patterns are responsible for varying extents of injury caused by both types of running. Robbins and Hanna have also shown that barefoot running populations report an extremely low frequency of running related injury (148). They further state that the human foot has developed adaptations that result in shock absorption and these adaptations are non-functional in traditional running. Many other studies such as those by Warburton have found that barefoot running is associated with a significantly low rate of acute ankle injuries and chronic lower leg injuries. Scientific data as to the level of protection of athletic

Diversity Plan for Abercrombie & Fitch Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Diversity Plan for Abercrombie & Fitch - Essay Example The teen apparel retailer has had consistent good performance in terms of profitability despite the challenging U.S. retail environment (Anna 2013). In order to increase its revenue, the company has put in place measures to ensure that it spreads out to international markets by widening its product portfolio. It is therefore imperative that the company should implement a diversity and inclusion program so as to improve its position as an international apparels retailer. President’s Statement Diversity is an important source of competitive advantage in terms of innovation and growing company revenues. The ability of a company to compete in both the domestic markets and the international markets depends on the resourcefulness of its people. Suffice to say, Abercrombie & Fitch values its people as the most important asset for the company. Workplace diversity and inclusion gives sufficient intellectual capital to fuel our growth to new levels. The apparel retail market has been ch anging rapidly and it is through diversity that the company can be able to meet new challenges and create value for both our clients and shareholders. The strength of our company comes from the combination of our values, knowledge and expertise. Thus, diversity is the cradle upon which Abercrombie & Fitch Company’s success is anchored. The company values diversity not only for revenue growth but also to foster an all inclusive work environment. The management of Abercrombie & Fitch Company is fully committed to ensuring diversity and inclusion in its workplace. Justification for Diversity Diversity basically refers to human qualities and skill sets that are different and varied among individuals and groups (Morgan and Felix 475). For instance, diversity can be manifested in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, physical abilities and educational background among others. It needs the unique contributions that can be made by individuals with many differences and abilities. The succe ss or failure of a company depends on its ability to create a work environment that harnesses a wide range of input from its employees and business partners (Eagly and Jean 216). Companies are also obliged to satisfy the population and demographics that they serve. One of the benefits of diversity is improved productivity (Kreitz 115). It is notable that innovation arises from a combination of different perspectives towards attaining a common goal. By embracing diversity, an organization is capable of excelling since it will have a large pool of experts with different perspectives to spur its growth. In fact, the global market requires diverse knowledge of consumers and their preferences. Suffice to say, a diverse workforce will be well suited to develop products that are appropriate for the diverse markets. Also, diversity plays and integral role in ensuring that important consumer cultural perspectives are considered in operations of business. For instance, Abercrombie & Fitch has to ensure that it understands the needs of its international markets like Africa which are fundamentally different from the American market. Diversity in the workplace is anchored in law. Organizations are legally required to ensure that their workforce is diverse and does not discriminate against any demographics. In order to avoid class lawsuits, Abercrombie & Fitch has to implement a diversity and inclusion plan that incorporates all the demographics and nationalities in which it operates. Suffice to say, the company’

Third Reich Essay Example for Free

Third Reich Essay The Nazi rise to power brought an end to the Weimar Republic, a parliamentary democracy established in Germany after World War I. Following the appointment of Adolf Hitler as chancellor on January 30, 1933, the Nazi state (also referred to as the Third Reich) quickly became a regime in which Germans enjoyed no guaranteed basic rights. After a suspicious fire in the Reichstag (the German Parliament), on February 28, 1933, the government issued a decree which suspended constitutional civil rights and created a state of emergency in which official decrees could be enacted without parliamentary confirmation. In the first months of Hitlers chancellorship, the Nazis instituted a policy of coordinationthe alignment of individuals and institutions with Nazi goals. Culture, the economy, education, and law all came under Nazi control. The Nazi regime also attempted to coordinate the German churches and, although not entirely successful, won support from a majority of Catholic and Protestant clergymen. Extensive propaganda was used to spread the regimes goals and ideals. Upon the death of German president Paul von Hindenburg in August 1934, Hitler assumed the powers of the presidency. The army swore an oath of personal loyalty to him. Hitlers dictatorship rested on his position as Reich President (head of state), Reich Chancellor (head of government), and Fuehrer (head of the Nazi party). According to the Fuehrer principle, Hitler stood outside the legal state and determined matters of policy himself. Hitler had the final say in both domestic legislation and German foreign policy. Nazi foreign policy was guided by the racist belief that Germany was biologically destined to expand eastward by military force and that an enlarged, racially superior German population should establish permanent rule in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. Here, women played a vital role. The Third Reichs aggressive population policy encouraged racially pure women to bear as many Aryan children as possible. Within this framework, racially inferior peoples, such as Jews and Gypsies, would be eliminated from the region. Nazi foreign policy aimed from the beginning to wage a war of annihilation against the Soviet Union, and the peacetime years of the Nazi regime were spent preparing the German people for war. In the context of this ideological war, the Nazis planned and implemented the Holocaust, the mass murder of the Jews, who were considered the primary racial enemy. Open criticism of the regime was suppressed by the Gestapo (secret state police) and the Security Service (SD) of the Nazi party, but Hitlers government was popular with most Germans. There was, however, some German opposition to the Nazi state, ranging from nonconformity to the attempt to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944. The Allies defeated Nazi Germany and forced a German surrender on May 8, 1945. Further Reading Burleigh, Michael. The Third Reich: A New History. New York: Hill and Wang, 2000.

Militant Abolitionism In 1830s

Militant Abolitionism In 1830s During the colonial era, Quakers Society of Friends had a difficult time convincing North American people that slaveholding was against Christian doctrines. However, the age of Enlightenment and the American Revolution led many Americans into fighting for slaves rights. Northern states also started a gradual emancipation of their slaves. The federal government also prohibited slavery in the Northwestern Territories in 1787 and in 1808 banned trans-Atlantic slave trade. However, despite the abolition of slavery in these two areas, antislavery agitation dropped off due to the increasing profitability of southern slavery. The birth of the Movement and its Activities The modern American militant abolition movement began in the early 1830s as a result of religious revivalism popularly known as the Second Great Awakening. Abolitionists thought of slavery as a product of an individual sin by Revivalist tenets. These tenets believed that emancipation was the only price for repentance. Later on, abolitionists realized that slavery was receiving moral support with some racial prejudice. Immediately, the abolitionists lobbied to change the nations racial discriminatory practices. Abolitionists tried to reach and convert people during the 1830s. Founded in 1833, the American Anti-Slavery Society recruited tens of thousands of members from all parts of America. The Abolitionists condemned slavery on moral grounds and pursued immediate emancipation of all slaves. National religious institutions and individual slaveholders, who were the chief targets, rejected the abolition appeals. Opponents went further to suppress antislavery agitation through enactments from the church and state. African American activists joined the new campaign. Some, like Brown, had many records of public opposition to racial discrimination in the north and the colonization movement. Fugitive slaves, such as William Wells Brown and Fredrick Douglass, provided strong antislavery testimony. However, black abolitionists encountered patronizing views and attitudes from the white abolitionists. Hence, many turned to self-help and civil rights groups, while others concentrated on separatist projects. Many women braved public disapproval and joined the abolitionist campaign. Women are known to be veterans of moral reform activities, and principles of religion and republican ideology inspired them. Like their African American counterparts, these women faced opposition within the movement. Women were first barred from the American Anti-slavery movements, but in response, they formed local organizations through which they channeled their concerns and sponsored antislavery events such as bazaars and picnics. Due to the widespread rejection of the anti-slavery program, many abolitionists changed their moral persuasion strategy. Most of them led by William Lloyd Garrison abandoned their churches. According to Garrison, churches had become hopelessly corrupted by slavery. Women participated in American Anti-slavery society after 1840. Maria Weston and Lydia Maria were among the many women who served in the groups operations and main office duties. Religious and political abolitionists also emerged in late 1830s. Non-Garrison abolitionists grouped in a new organization known as The American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. The abolitionists lobbied religious institutions, and by 1840, they had an organized Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist antislavery movements. Political antislavery campaigns also intensified during this period. Abolitionists petitioned legislatures and interrogated political candidates on slavery-related issues. Antislavery Efforts before 1830 Abolitionist feelings were strong during the American Revolution and the upper south by 1820s. However, the abolitionist movement never coalesced into a militant crusade until 1830s. In the previous decade, before 1830, much of the north underwent social disruptions associated with the spread of commerce and manufacturing. Powerful evangelical religious groups arose to impact spiritual direction to the society. These preachers stressed the importance of ending sinful doings and practices and the responsibility of every individual in upholding Gods will in the society. Lyman Beecher, Nathaniel Taylor, and other preachers, on what came to be called The Second Great Awakening, organized massive religious revivals in the 1820s. This came later to be the main impetus of the resurgence of abolitionism. By 1830s, William Lloyd Garrison, Theodore D. weld, Lewis Tappan, Arthur, and E. Wright had spiritually been nourished by revivalism and had taken up the cause for immediate emancipation Conclusion The main objective of the abolitionists was to end racial discrimination, segregation, and immediate emancipation of slaves. The religious favor of the Second Great Awakening partly fuelled racial abolitionism. This prompted many people to start advocating for immediate emancipation on religious grounds. As time went on, abolitionist ideas spread in northern churches. Politics of 1830s also contributed to the regional animosity between the South and the North, leading to a civil war.

Terrorism - Don’t Disgrace the American Flag in a War with Iraq :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Don’t Disgrace the American Flag in a War with Iraq Everywhere I go, I see American flags. Taped to people's windows, sewn onto pockets, worn in a band around the arm. People call it the unification of America, the great coming-together of a wounded people, a show of support and of national feeling from every corner of our nation. Patriotism, they call it, and proudly display their red, white, and blue. And yet I wonder if they know what that flag represents. I read the polls, and I find that the majority of Americans want vengeance, even at the cost of war with many countries. I watch the news, and I see our president preparing our troops to invade Iraq-all the while standing in front of the stars-and-stripes, the symbol of our nation. Doesn't he remember what America means? Everyone talks about the war in terms of our best interests. "If we attack Iraq, we incur more anger; we create more enemies willing to die to hurt us." "If we don't, we appear weak, and more will strike at us, knowing that they can do so without fear of retribution." I leave such questions to the pundits. They are important considerations, no doubt. But they are not American considerations. America isn't about our best interests. It's about the sacrifice of practicality to principle, of self-interest to the soul. Long ago, we decided that things like Freedom and Justice were real, and that they were worth preserving, even when it wasn't easy, or pleasant. We believed so much in these principles that we set down laws, so that we might never sacrifice Freedom for Security, or Justice for Revenge. And so we protect the Klan's right to march, to shout out hate-slogans and burn crosses in our streets. We forbid racial-profiling, when, let's face it, more crimes are committed by African-Americans than by Caucasians. And, most painful of all, we protect the rights of criminals. We work hard to give them fair trials, and grant them appeals, and throw out case after case for lack of airtight evidence. We insist that it is better to let a hundred guilty men go free, than to imprison a single innocent one. And we do this at the cost of our own security, at the cost of more criminals on the streets. We accept the hurt that their crimes bring us, because we would rather suffer those blows than have innocent blood on our hands.

An Unbreakable Union Essay -- American History, Politics, Lincoln

An Unbreakable Union As Abraham Lincoln was sworn into the office of President of the United States of America, the nation was deeply divided, with several states having seceded to form the Confederate States of America. He promised to â€Å"preserve, protect, and defend† (Doc #1) the Union and its federal forts and property in the Confederacy that were being dismantled and appropriated by the South. Lincoln further promised in his address that â€Å"no State can lawfully [leave] the Union† (Doc #1) and that he would reassert the laws of the Union in the rebellious states. What role did Lincoln take in the events between his inauguration and the outbreak of the Civil War? Was he preparing for peace, or planning for war? Lincoln took a direct role in the events leading to the outbreak of hostilities. Not only did he attempt to negotiate a peaceful resolution and open dialogues with Southern officials, he tried to rein in his advisors who challenged his positions, and cemented his administra tion’s stance on the question of secession. Prior to Lincoln’s inauguration in March, Lincoln played direct and indirect roles in the events that shaped the beginning of a civil war. Although the future cabinet members around him urged him to make statements to convince the South he had no intentions of abolishing slavery in their states, he did nothing of the kind, refusing to make public statements until he was sworn into office. He refused to do this because he was already on record for saying he had no constitutional powers (until he was made president) yet, and because he felt it would be a sign of weakness to be compelled to repeat his sentiments over and again, and to be kept on the defensive: â€Å"they would seize upon almost any letter I could wri... ...secession, he was prepared for the possibility of war, but had no plans to attack the South. He made offers with the South to trade the forts for assurances of peace, and even ordered his men to surrender if it would save their lives. While Lincoln’s decision to supply the fort with provisions was a provocation and led to a Confederate attack, Lincoln never made the order to fire on the South first, and he took steps, continuously, to avoid a conflict and try to reason with the Southern government. Lincoln had no plans for war, and his reinforcement of Fort Sumter was to affirm its status as a federal fort, not to force the Confederacy into starting a war. Both sides had an aim: whether it was to gain complete independence or pull back the secessionist states into the Union, neither was willing to back down, and the responsibility for the war rests on both sides.

Time I Learned a Lesson

While living in a state as hot as Arizona, not only do the football players have to drink a lot of water, but everyone else as well. The day I didn't taught me a lesson: Actions, good or bad, are followed with consequences. I thought my body would be perfectly fine without some water for the day but boy was I wrong. Just minutes before the incident, the only Item on my mind was how fun the rap concert would be the following night. Little did I know, I would not be attending.A late night trip to Albertson Isn't rare for my family as we forget things tie easily (and when I say we I mean I). I entered Albertson with a mental list of Ethylene, snacks, and Storage. Yet, I still made my way to the ice cream aisle as I seem to always be gravitated towards it. Him, what flavor sounds good? Ben and Jerry Peach Cobbler gets me every time! I reach out to grab that perfect concoction and smack! My body now lays lifeless on the floor as I blackout. Seconds, minutes, maybe hours later I become con scious. I make an effort to move my limbs but there's no use.My heavy eyelids have a arid time opening, I force them open and find myself in a hospital bed wearing one of those dresses I promised myself I'd never wear. My eyes find their way to the side of my bed where my motherly sits, pale skinned, and mouthing my name. Her voice finally registers Into my head as it translates from terrified to joyful. My very own nurse rushes In once I'm awake. She tries her hardest to talk slowly and uses hand gestures to explain why I'm here, why I'm lifeless, and why I'm wasn't eating my ice cream in the comfort of my own home.I had blacked out for several hours. Well that was an unexpected nap, I thought to myself. My nurse says the word dehydrated and it clicks my mental grocery list. There was Ethylene for my headache, snacks for nauseates, and Storage for extreme thirst. How could I be so stupid? The next day my life carried on normally: I woke up, ate, went to school, ate, napped, ate, di d my homework, ate, and slept. Of course there was a lot more water in my system compared to the day before, but drinking more water wasn't the lesson learned.I could have been testing and driving, or not completing a homework assignment but the point was the same; there were consequences to my every move. I could've been In a car accident or simply slotting In SAD with a bunch of kids I TLD know. It's your own choices that make you or break you In this life, what will you choose? And will you be prepared for the consequences that follow? BY excellencies English II- Period 3 A typical sight in the halls of Hamilton High School are the tall and built young men of was I wrong.Just minutes before the incident, the only item on my mind was how fun attending. A late night trip to Albertson isn't rare for my family as we forget things quite easily (and when I say we I mean l). I entered Albertson with a mental list of finally registers into my head as it translates from terrified to Joyfu l. My very own nurse rushes in once I'm awake. She tries her hardest to talk slowly and uses hand I could've been in a car accident or simply sitting in SAD with a bunch of kids I didn't know. It's your own choices that make you or break you in this life, what will you