Monday, September 30, 2019

Reflection Report of Dissertation on mpact of information system on student learning experience

Abstract This essay reflects the lessons and obstacles that I faced during the course of writing my dissertation. Utilizing the Gibbs Reflective Cycle in order to illustrate the process, this essay reflects upon different stages of the dissertation process and thus serves to assist me in developing a further understanding of the opportunities for carrying out better research in the future. 1 Introduction The process of writing my dissertation began with the drive to expand my current capabilities and broaden my educational experience. Throughout this reflective essay I have use the Gibbs Reflective Cycle, which includes elements such as a basic description, my reactions, an evaluation of the experience, analysis, specific and general conclusions and my personal plan for action (Timmons et al, 2013). 2 Gibbs Reflective Cycle2.1 DescriptionIn order to accurately illustrate the scenario, a basic description enables me to envision the entire process dispassionately (Hegarty, 2011). My starting point for the research was the idea that increased technology has an impact on the learning process. This area presented a well-researched topic in the private sector, yet, I felt there was little material available on this subject, upon which to base quality evaluation for public facilities such as schools. In the beginning there was considerable stress before there was a single word written. As the study began to form, I began to feel more at ease with the needs of the project. Yet, many times there was the perception of very hard to find literature and material for me that made this research difficult from the outset. Taken together with my father’s ill health, I had considerably mixed feelings as to my ability to take this on.2.2 FeelingsMy emotional approach to this project was ver y striking and seemed to influence the results I obtained (Jasper, 2006). The very beginning of this project found me apprehensive and concerned that my skills were not sufficient for the task. Further, my father was sick during this period adding to my perception of the need to do function under pressure. There was significant stress at the outset that I felt diminished as I grew more familiar with the project. . I found the scope of this entire process was a little daunting. Perhaps my most unique feelings during this study came as I evaluated the students; I found a need to connect with the interviewees causing me considerable worry and the question of if I was approaching them in the best manner possible. Sometimes I had to set aside personal bias in order to accurately reflect the results (Pearson, 2013). As the project began to come to a close, I found considerable pride in the fact that I learned a great deal about process and method.2.3 EvaluationIt is important to assess th e positive and negative aspects of the project (Oelofsen, 2012). Most positive was my expectation I could achieve the goals of this work. Leading the negative aspects was my lack of confidence in my skill. A negative that turned into a positive was the manner that I interacted with the students and lecturers, initially I felt I was weak at this, but as I learned I became better. Overall, this was a good experience that I definitely learned from.2.4 AnalysisThere is a need to take stock of the situation in order to evaluate the experience (Pearson, 2013). My overall goal was to make sense of the impact of technology on the students. Through the research process, I feel I have expanded my own research abilities through trial and error, and am now more equipped to carry out research in the future. I have found others have had similar research experiences which has made me feel that I am part of a community and can gain from other’s knowledge. This appreciation of experience is a key factor that will enhance each following research project.2.5 ConclusionThe conclusions from this reflection lend depth to my learning experience (Park et al, 2011). Overall I felt that I learned that the research problem often carries more than the one possible outcome, which in turn means that I must be willing to accommodate unexpected elements. Specifically, I learned that I should be more assertive during the interview process, yet open to each person’s interpretations of the questions. I also gained the ability to research and write at a higher level, thereby aiding my future efforts. 2.6 Personal Action Plan Each of these considerations has provided me with lessons for future research (Forrest, 2008). Next project, I will not be hesitant to engage with the material. I will remain confident in my research strategy and take steps to not second guess my approach in order to strengthen my research and stay on track. Most importantly, I will have the experience to begin and accomplish any research project. 3 References Forrest, M. (2008). On becoming a critically reflective practitioner. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 25(3), pp.229–232. Jasper, M. (2006). Professional development, reflection and decision-making. 1st ed. Oxford: Blackwell. Hegarty, B. (2011). Is reflective writing an enigmaCan preparing evidence for an electronic portfolio develop skills for reflective practice?. 2011(1), pp.580–593. Oelofsen, N. (2012). Developing reflective practice. 1st ed. Banbury: Lantern. Park, J. and Son, J. (2011). Expression and connection: the integration of the reflective learning process and the writing process into social network sites. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 7(1), pp.170–178. Pearson, J. (2012). HCAs: developing skills in reflective writing. British Journal of Healthcare Assistants, 6(3), p.140. Timmins, F., Murphy, M., Howe, R. and Dennehy, C. (2013). â€Å"I Hate Gibb’s Reflective Cycle 1998†(Facebookcopyright 2009): Registered Nurses’ Experiences of Supporting Nursing Students’ Reflective Practice in the Context of Student’s Public Commentary. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 93, pp.1371–1375.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Change Essay

Change Essay All change has consequences. In Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address 1863, John F. Kennedy’s 1961 Inaugural Speech 1963 and â€Å"Forgotten Jelly† by Megan Jacobson a story from the perspective of an overweight girl who is blinded by her attitude from her friend’s battle with anorexia, both the positive and negative consequences of change are explored. The effects of change are demonstrated in many different ways, however, they all attempt to convey a central aspect of change; that all change has ramifications.As highlighted in Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, he conveys to the audience that they must put aside their differences and instead draw on the heritage that they share. His phrase â€Å"our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation† unites the audience as they ponder their similarities with the South. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address also reflects on the history shared by all Americans as he attempts to unite th em behind the goal of world peace in the context of the Cold War â€Å"We are the heirs of the first revolution†¦ Let the word go forth that the torch has passed to a new generation of Americans†.This utilization of emotive language aims to unify of all America by provoking their natural patriotism. The greatest barrier to change can be our sense of self. Jacobson’s â€Å"Forgotten Jelly† explores this through the eyes of an overweight girl who fails to recognise the trauma her friend is going through. Jacobson employs hyperbole to convey to the reader how self-obsessed the narrator is. â€Å"Body quaking more than Tokyo† suggests that she wants to draw focus to herself. It also supports how badly damaged her self body image is.This is also explained by Lincoln when he invokes the â€Å"great civil war† America is engaged in, which he is not sure the nation can endure. Lincoln varies his sentences to emphasise the importance of the crossroads the nation is at and how they must look beyond themselves to a bigger picture. This notion is illuminated in his words â€Å"but in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. † A united will can effect great change. In Kennedy’s Inaugural Address he knew he must inspire his people to enable them to help bring peace throughout the world.The United States was again at a crossroads with the Cold War at its height, Kennedy had become president by the narrowest of margins in history. His speech represents a turning point as nearly 75% of Americans expressed approval of Kennedy following his address. Kennedy immediately invoked both God and the shared heritage of the American citizens, to immediately unite his audience behind his call to unity as well as infusing his speech with a sense of higher purpose. I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed. † Similarly, Lincoln is the leader of a country at a critical point, the civil war ha s dragged on for several years. He invokes the Declaration of Independence the most sacred text in America to emphasise the fact that they must unite, before they destroy themselves. His reliance on inclusive language, specifically the word â€Å"we† which threads throughout the speech, binds the audience to a shared goal, it is as if the speaker in in effect all Americans.Lincoln also employs biblical referencing â€Å"fourscore and seven years ago†, the elegant ring of the biblical phrasing draws his audience to him as if he represents a form of higher power. Change can have both positive and negative consequences. This idea is conveyed in all three texts. Lincoln explains that the positive aspects will be that all men will be equal after the completion of the war. However, he also expresses regret that it has come to the point where people must give their lives so that everyone can be treated justly.This idea is underscored in the quote â€Å"All men are created eq ual†¦ those here gave their lives so that that nation may live. † Kennedy too notes that change has brought about many great endeavours as well as the â€Å"power to abolish all forms of human poverty. † He does express concern over that fact that mankind â€Å"has the power to abolish all forms of human life. † And Jacobson reflects on how the persona is now able to realise that she is not the centre of the universe, she is now able to help her friend in her darkest hour and become a better person for it. No-one noticed me†¦ I didn’t notice me. † This places in the spotlight the mental change she undertakes by employing repetition to highlight the fact. Change does not always come easily and can take time to accomplish. The complexity of change is emphasised by both Kennedy and Lincoln. Kennedy, whilst uniting his people behind him in a pledge for world peace explains that this change may not even happen in our lifetime. â€Å"This will n ot be finished in the first 100 days†¦ The first 1000 days†¦ Nor perhaps in our lifetime on the planet.But let us begin. † This draws his people in to him with the utilization of prepetition to illustrate the fact they can be world leaders. Lincoln conveys this message through the phrase â€Å"dedicated to the great task remaining before us† which employs high modality to illuminate that while they are dedicating this war cemetery to the dead. They must remember that their duty is to the living and fostering a better world for the future generations. Accordingly, change has consequences, both positive and negative.Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address that when resisted it can undermine national unity and indeed perpetuate war. Change can also be embraced positively not only by a certain group of people, but the whole world as represented in Kennedy’s Inaugural Address. Change can come without choice and lead to new insights, as revealed in Jacobsonâ€⠄¢s â€Å"Forgotten Jelly. † Change transforms, be it mental or physical, individual or universal it allows people to grow. Word count 1,131 By Jim Nash

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Medical Classification and Medical Billing Process Essay

The ten steps in the medical billing process are divided into three sections and they are: visit, claim, and post claim. The visit has four steps and they are: preregister patients, establish financial responsibility for the visit, check in patients, and check out patients. The claim has three steps and they are: review coding compliance, check billing compliance, prepare and transmit claims. The last section is the post claim which has the last three steps which are: monitor payer adjudication, generate patient statements, and follow up on patient payments and handle collections. HIPAA, ICD, CPT, and HCPCS, all have an important role in the medical billing process. HIPAA protect any information in which individuals can identify the patient, their health and history, such as their name, social security number, contact and billing information, and insurance. When first visiting the medical facility a patient must receive a notice of privacy, this will explain how to exercise his or her rights under HIPAA. It will protect patient records from being disclosed without his or her consent. In the medical billing process, HIPAA influences preregistering because the staff must make sure the patient information is not overheard by others in the waiting room. HIPAA also influences the establishing’s financial responsibility because the patient provides the medical facility with his or hers personal information as well as insurances. International Classification of Disease (ICD) is diagnosis codes used at check out time to identify the patient’s primary illness. In order for the visit to be bill the physician must put down a medical code to describe the patient medical diagnoses and procedures. When the physician performs a treatment or test a procedure code is assigned. These codes can be selected from the CPT or Current Procedural Terminology. Any service in which is not included in the CPT can be found in the HCPCS or the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System. HIPAA has made HCPCS codes mandatory for billing and coding. HCPCS codes are for patients in Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurance plans. Once the services is provided and the ICD, CPT, and HCPCS codes are assigned then the medical facility can submit the claim to the insurance provider. By not putting the right codes down it can cause the claim to be denied. The medical coder will then have to resubmit the claim so the bill can be process and paid.

Friday, September 27, 2019

W1 BA541 Asign Behavior vs Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

W1 BA541 Asign Behavior vs Communication - Essay Example ranch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment† (Dictionary.com Unabridged, n.d.). As such, it could be deduced that interactive technologies, in the context of organizations and customers, mean the field of discipline that uses continuous two-way exchange or sharing of information between customers and the organization, on matters pertaining to the products or services offered and purchased by the clientele. As indicated, the emergence of new interactive technologies; meaning, the use of digital media (â€Å"combinations of electronic text, graphics, moving images, and sound, into a structured digital computerised environment that allows people to interact with the data for appropriate purposes† (England & Finney, 2011, p. 2), is not sufficient to presume that a solid bond is established between customers and the organization. The mere existence of these diverse kinds of interactive technologies does not firmly confirm that customers are able to grasp what the organization offers – if these are not effectively communicated to them. create new processes that are oriented around the coordination of all these newly possible customer interactions. And they must ensure that the interactions themselves not only run efficiently but are effective at building more solid, profitable relationships with customers† (p. 193). The key element that would allegedly enhance the knowledge on their products and services being offered; as well as on the organization’s ability to address the customers’ needs, is through effective communication. It was thereby emphasized that â€Å"the enterprise has to integrate all of its customer-directed communication channels so that it can accurately identify each customer no matter how an individual customer or a customer company contacts the enterprise† (Peppers & Rogers, 2010, p. 193). Concurrently, communication alone is still not enough.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Matisse's Serpentine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Matisse's Serpentine - Essay Example The essay "Matisse's Serpentine" discusses Henri Matisse and his art. Matisse explained in 1947 when referring to the effect his painting had on being a sculptor. The tension between a three-dimensional sculpture and a two-dimensional image freed him to interpret and invent bodily form. In the process, he limited the flesh and increased the space between arms and legs, magnetizing the viewer’s gaze to the negative space and the smooth counters from varied angles. These elongated limbs and â€Å"linear, sinuous contours† are depicted in his Dance paintings and helped define The Serpentine. The Serpentine is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art. After seeing the sculpture on the Internet, the enormity of the sculpture is overwhelming. When approaching The Serpentine at the museum, it is at eye level. The black of the sculpture is contrasted by a white base. The sculpture is a nude woman with her right arm behind her back and crossed legs leaning against a balu strade with her finger on the lips. The image reminds one of a supermodel, with extremely thin elongated arms and legs, complimented by curvaceous hips and long hair. There is a slight bored smile on the nude woman’s face, but inviting as well. The Serpentine evokes emotions of envy, desire to be like her, and awe. Surprisingly, unlike other sculptures with smooth textures, The Serpentine has a rough texture. Lines and indents make up the whole sculpture. It appears like Matisse awoke one morning and made a large clay model in the span of a day.

Psych 1010 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Psych 1010 - Essay Example This was interesting to me because it laid out pretty clearly exactly how reward pathways work and how a lot of stuff in the brain goes on. The Beyond the Reward Pathway was interesting for the same reason, because it explained how drugs do what they do. Although I have seen plenty of movies or books where the characters are on drugs, and know some of the stereotypes about how people behave, it was really interesting to see the actual chemical reactions and problems that lead to that behavior. Beyond the Reward Pathway was the most educational, especially when coupled with the Mouse Party game. Both of these together taught me exactly how specific drugs cause specific behaviors in people, and the mouse party game really made it come together well by showing the actual behaviors in the mouse you picked. For instance, after playing the mouse game I learned that the reason cocaine makes its users so twitchy is because the drug causes problems in the part of the brain that deals with vol untary movements. I also learned from the Reward Pathway article about the different types of pathway in the brain, such as the Dopamine, Tuberoinfundibular, and Nigrostriatal pathways, among others. Each of these has different purposes and different effects on how the brain operates. Although the mad scientist game and the cerebral commando games were interesting, they each had their drawbacks. The mad scientist game just took too long to start up. There was too much boring information at the start which had nothing to do with anything and I couldn't skip it. The commando game didn't really teach me much, and was kind of difficult to use. The way it flashed was also annoying. The game I enjoyed the most was the mouse party game, again. It wasn't really much of a "game" but I still enjoyed picking the mice based on their actions and then looking at the slides to see exactly how each of their actions was caused. It was also interesting to know why mice are used all the time in resear ch and experiments. For instance, the website says that mice have about 60% of the same genes as a human being, which seems strange. However, this is why they make good test subjects. For research about brain chemistry and drug reactions, mice are even more of a good fit because the brain is built in the same way, and even uses dopamine and other reward pathways in the same way. I learned this from the "Mice are Good Model Organisms to Study Addiction" article. The reason so much of the website talked about Dopamine is that this is how a lot of drugs function. They either, like cocaine, block the dopamine transporters, or interact with the chemical in other ways. Since Dopamine is how our brain registers pleasure, it plays an important role in how we become addicted to things. When we feel good, we remember that and then want to feel good again. So we become addicted because of the way drugs interact with dopamine. Because the website is all about the science of addiction, it is nat ural that it would talk a lot about dopamine more than other parts of the brain's

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Exploring the Brain Responses Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Exploring the Brain Responses - Assignment Example The experimental study has the hypothesis of the inducement of either the rTMS or the stimulants triggering the dopamine production. In the two experiments, the brain is induced with rTMS for patients with depression and stimulants for the c-Fos experiment, which uses rats. Procedure outline of rTMS Eight Patients with depression was treated with rTMS, over the left prefrontal cortex on a daily basis. Each of them underwent neuropsychological test scores and PET scan before and after the rTMS treatment (Goldman et al. 1978). Procedure outline of c-Fos experiment Six rats was injected with cocaine and six with amphetamine. The rats were then killed, and the brain extracted. The brain was then preserved and treated with antibodies that recognize the c-Fos-positive cells. A special dye was then added to reveal the location of the c-Fos cells. The cells are counted easily since they are brown due to the dye. Q1a. The independent variable (IV), the conditions and the two dependent variabl es (DV) for this study First, the TMS experiment will be considered. The independent variable (IV) is the raclopride binding. This does not rely on the other variable, but it is rather depended on by the other variable. The conditions of the experiment rTMS are repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. There are four dependent variables that depend on the set conditions, which are R caudate, Laudate, R putamen, and L putamen. These will vary depending on the rTMS induced on the patient. In the second experiment (c-Fos), the Independent variable is c-positive cells, which are not necessarily dependant on the other variable set. The conditions are cocaine and the amphetamine. The independent variables are the nucleus accumbens from the sections of the rat’s brain (Goldman et al. 1978). Q1b. The study within a participant study explanation The study of rTMS involves the participation of several patients who are observed before and after the rTMS induction. A PET scanning is then done to establish the number of functional dopamine receptors using radioactive raclopride. The study is thus within a participant study where the data obtained is from the patient pairs under experiment. The participants involved are patients who are 8 rather than being a single patient. Since 2 pairs of participants had the same pre-rTMS test scores represented by a single point for each pair, the study is within a participant study. The c-Fos experiment study is also within a participant study. This is because the study experiment involved the participation of every group member. This means that obtaining the data of all the group members was essential. Q1c. The vital piece of statistical information missing from the study results obtained The essential piece of statistical information missing from the results presented here is a hypothesis. This is a vital tool in analyzing the data presented to either agree with the data or disagree. This tool would be critical in making c onclusions, like establishing the level of deviation from the expected results set on the hypothesis. This piece of information set as a hypothesis would act as the researchers’ guideline when they are setting the procedures. This tool is also helpful to a researcher in the field since it will define his research scope.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The Recent Referendum for Electoral Reform in the United Kingdom Essay

The Recent Referendum for Electoral Reform in the United Kingdom - Essay Example The differences get critically ionized out and explicated in this analysis. This research focuses on ideas and opinions of both the public and the political analysts. The research focuses on analyzing the ideas, opinions and facts that lead to the choosing of FPTP over AV. The research tries to expose the hassle between the anti-AV and the pro-AV. The anti-AV’s support the current referendum, First-Past-The-Post, a system that allows a small voters’ number to do the elections. They claim that the current referendum stabilizes the government and reflects the peoples will at all time. The anti-AV and the pro-AV seem to disagree on elections done by a small number of voters. The anti-AV also complains on the complexity of the Alternative Vote referendum. The origin of the problem is the peoples need to make the voting process more democratic by handing over the voting power to the whole citizens rather than to the small representative group. Their argument is that lots of votes get wasted under the current system. This system allows a small representative group of individuals to vote thus discouraging people from voting. The major weakness this first-past-the-post system, they say, is the fact that two out of three of the MPs get elected into the Westminster while having less than half of the voters’ votes and this challenges democracy and decreases the authenticity of MPs. They claim that this system forces citizens to work harder for their votes and access a larger electorate crosssection. Weaknesses of the approach Substantial information gets sought from the public. This is a weakness because the media receives an enormous power over information, which is likely to be distorted. Voters develop the notion that the candidate receiving the highest media attention is the ones likely to win the election. A candidate new to the politics game, lacking a track record, initially tends to got support from the majority voters, eventually ceases to be one of the two popular candidates; thus receiving fewer votes, portraying them as a lower poller for the future elections, perpetuating the situation. Strengths of the approach The approach exhausts all the possible information sources. This allows for quality analysis because the information acquired is from different sources enhancing reliability. It provides the public with reliable information because the information put forward after the research has been critically analyzed and evaluated. Importance of the research approach This research approach provides information to the public and other interested parties while it enlightens them on issues concerning the AV and FTPT. Analysis of the case study It can be argued that in FTPT it is impossible to determine why a certain vote got cast, compared to the AV system. This is because the system allows casting of votes for any person even those who have no chance of winning. In this case, the people feel votes casted for other insign ificant runners have no justification and no explanation. Another argument over the FTPT is that it promotes the statement, â€Å"all votes, not for the primary candidate or the secondary favorite candidate, are votes for the primary candidateâ€Å". It simply implies that when a vote is cast for a candidate other than the two principal contenders, the vote promotes the primary candidate. Since the primary candi

Monday, September 23, 2019

Inroduction to Business law Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Inroduction to Business law - Coursework Example Though there are fundamental differences between tort and contract laws, it is argued that they are similar to one another and negligent misstatement and negligent misrepresentation are clear evidence for that. This part of the paper evaluates Doctrine of precedent in relation to Lord Radcliffe’s statement in his work ‘Not in Feather Beds’(1968) and discusses negligent misstatement under the law of tort and negligent misrepresentation under the law of contract to support the argument that they clearly indicate that both tort and contract laws are similar to one another. Judicial Law-Making and independent sources Lord Radcliffe (1968, p. 216) stated that ‘Judges should be cautious (in terms of making law or following precedent) not because the principles adopted by the Parliament are more satisfactory or more enlightened, but because it is unacceptable constitutionally that there should be two independent sources of law-making at work at the same timeâ€℠¢. ... Judges are to be more cautious to discover and declare the law that they want to express in front of the legislator, but not to make it. Whether judges should make new laws or they should simply declare what the law is has been a major topic of academic debate. In today’s legal systems, it is generally recognized that judges do make new laws when resolving certain disputes even though they often disagree about the extent of their law-making power (Mothersole and Ridley, 1999, p. 41). The doctrine of precedent, which states that courts must use decisions concluded in earlier legal-cases, has provoked serious debates about the precise role and rights of judiciary in developing common law. Are Judges just decision-makers who simply discover the law and declare it in the courts or they actually make new law with their power to do so. Some researchers have seriously claimed that judges have no more power than finding and applying existing legal principles. From Lord Radcliffeâ€⠄¢s statement, it seems that he agreed that a Judge can either depend on decisions made in earlier legal-cases or make law, but he needs to be cautious because it is constitutionally unacceptable that there should be two independent sources at the same time. The two complimentary sources of law-making are Judicial and Legislature processes. Though there are disputed regarding whether a Judge creates law or perfectly follow decisions made in earlier cases, it is generally agreed that a Judge has the power of law-making. Both Judge and Legislature have to understand the respective functions and limitations related to judiciary and legislature. Zander (2004, p. 332) stressed that Judges do not reverse principles that are already well established, but they usually modify, extend or restrict them

Sunday, September 22, 2019

The impact of the First World War Essay Example for Free

The impact of the First World War Essay Using the four passages and your own knowledge, assess the view that the impact of the First World War was the main reason for the booming economy in the USA in the 1920’s (40 Marks) I believe that the First World War did not have as much of a significant impact on the American economy as mass production, infact i however see that instead of benefiting the economy the War in fact had the reverse effect to that of which interpretation A and C suggest that the war was the most important factor of the 1920’s American economic boom. Firstly, the biggest reason as to why mass production was the main reason for the economic boom was that the American GNP soaring from $72.4 billion in 1919 to $104 billion 1929 only 15 years after mass production was first implemented in America, the figures show the huge impact that mass production had upon the American economy, this is direct evidence of the huge impact mass production had as opposed to the 3 other interpretations which do not have any direct evidence of the impact they had upon the American economy, this is supporting that mass production had the most important impact on the American economy and shows evidence of why mass production was the main reason for the 1920’s boom. This leads to a criticism of source A as the interpretation does not refer to The First Wold War costing America over $32 Billion, instead of injecting growth into the economy the war in fact had the reverse effect as less money was available in America leading to slow growth in the economy. Mass production had a positive effect upon economy, boosting its GNP through stimulation of the American retail market. This supports why the War was not beneficial to the economic boom of the 20’s compared to mass production. Interpretation B states that ‘the key to the boom was a tremendous increase in productivity resulting from technological innovation and the application of scientific management’ this goes against the point that interpretation D suggests that Andrew Mellon was the key figure of the 1920’s boom in America. The reason why scientific management had a bigger impact than Andrew Mellon’s  reforms is because the implementation of mass production saw workers’ pay increased from $710 to $857, whereas Mellons reforms were based upon the banking in America which had little effect upon all classes whereas mass production benefited all classes of society. Also the scientific changes to production and the national scale it happened saw upon America begin to prosper and boom far before Andrew Mellons policies were implemented, after which there was little impact by Mellons policies as opposed to mass production which propelled the boom this supports the fact that mass production was the key reason for the booming economy in America. Mass production was the main reason for the economic boom is because once it was introduced in 1914 just a few years later there became a clear direct change to Americas economy as interpretation B states ‘Although the population grew by only 16% during the decade, industrial production almost doubled’ The increase in production saw the American economy begin to produce more and more goods, leading to a sharp increase in jobs, sales and profits. This supports my point that mass production was the most important factor to the American economic boom. Further support for mass production being the catalyst for the economic boom is because once production in mass was introduced in 1914 just a few years later there became a clear direct change to Americas economy as interpretation B supports ‘Although the population grew by only 16% during the decade, industrial production almost doubled’ The increase in production saw the American economy begin to produce more and more goods, leading to a sharp increase in jobs, sales and profits. This backs up the point that mass production was the most important factor to the American economic boom. Another point why mass production was the most important reason for the economic boom was the impact on electricity demand. Electricity demand shot up due to businesses needing electricity to power the machinery to mass produce products, interpretation B supports this as it says ‘Electricity consumption more than doubled during the decade mainly because of industrial demand’ the increase propelled a whole new area of business in America  creating thousands of jobs and further  strengthened the American economy showing further evidence that mass production was important to the boom. Mass production also effected domestic consumption of electricity. The increase of electricity usage further developed the economy of America. Interpretation B mentions the increase of power usage: ‘in 1912 only 16% of the population lived in electricity lit dwellings, the proportion had grown to 63% by 1927’ it also states ‘electrical household appliances came into general use. This can be used to criticize Interpretation C as it quotes ‘If every American could own a car and a house, buy quality clothes, own stock, take vacations and go to the movies then clearly there was no longer any significant inequality in society’ This quote is inaccurate as many across America did not see the benefits of the boom as interpretation C suggested. Much of the wealth was split between the North of America and the south. The north saw boomed while in the South the more agricultural based economy began to suffer, farmers where particularly affected by the boom new te chnologies and farming equipment left American farmers with a huge surplus of food. In order to sell the food farmers would drop and drop their prices until it soon became unprofitable and many became bankrupt and fell into poverty, hundreds of thousands of farmers land and homes were repossessed leaving them homeless. this is a criticism of interpretation C as it stated everybody had benefited from the war in America however it is untrue, whereas interpretation B states 63% lived in electricity lit dwellings not over exaggerating the impact it had and so making B more of a valid source. More evidence why mass production was the most important reason for the economic boom was the impact on electricity demand. Electricity demand shot up due to businesses needing electricity to power the machinery to mass produce products, interpretation B supports this as it says ‘Electricity consumption more than doubled during the decade mainly because of industrial demand’ the increase propelled a whole new area of business in America creating thousands of jobs and further strengthened the American economy showing further evidence that mass production was on necessities and not  luxuries while the male was away at war. This created a big stunt in the countries in economic growth. I also believe that passage C is not as important to boom in America, the passage asserts that America had the upper hand compared to its European rivals as WWII had devastated much of the European countries building factories and infrastructure. However this infact had the reverse effect that the passage expected, newly built factories in European countries had the latest technologies installed with modern planning and architecture compared to the previous buildings destroyed in the war. The rebuilding would have also increased productivity and kick-started economies as each country needed to develop and progress after the war. These countries needed lots of workers and so work was easy to find. People could earn wages and rebuild their lives by purchasing new houses. Consumer and governmental spending in the allied and Axis countries stimulated the countries’ economies leading to rapid economic growth. England and France quickly re-established their economies into even stron ger economic powers than before. Furthermore there was a huge amount of inequality in America, Racist inequality was at its highest during the 20’s with extremist groups such as the KKK gaining huge following from American people, and over 5 million people were members of the KKK in the 20’s. With 100’s of blacks being attacked and killed passage C is shown as a further inaccurate and invalid passage as it is contracted by evidence against it showing that America was not equal as Passage C suggest. A big criticism of interpretation D is that the piece is taken from an autobiography published almost 90 years after they had taken place, therefore the passage will not be as valid as a piece from the same time period. Also being an autobiography the piece will always have a bias towards Andrew Mellon and will possibly over play the role he had and will not mention any bad things about him. The passage is not as important as mass production impacted the whole of America on a national scale this showing that the innovation of businesses were more important than the  reforms he implemented. In conclusion I believe that mass production was the fundamental reason for the boom in the 1920’s. Their war was not important and did not have such an impact on American society as it was only a short term temporary effect on the economy, whereas mass production propelled all levels of society and business into economic growth and expansion. Interpretations a D are not as beneficial to the economy as they did not have such a major impact and interpretation D only made a small contribution to the economy unlike mass production which completely overhauled the whole American infrastructure permanently. Source C is also not a fully valid and reliable source, the passage has multiple criticisms due to the war being a very controversial point; however the war was a negative as it stifled the American economy and did not bring any long term positives to America. I believe that mass production was a much more significant reason for the boom in America as opposed to the war and Andrew Mellon’s policies as it had vast evidence of creating one of the most prosperous boom periods any economy has ever witnessed, this period saw America become the most affluent and powerful nations on earth from the 1920’s.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Characteristics And The Theological Aims Of Marks Gospel Religion Essay

Characteristics And The Theological Aims Of Marks Gospel Religion Essay Marks gospel is known to be the earliest and shortest of the synoptic gospels and its purpose was to impart a written declaration of the redemption brought about through Jesus with an importance appropriate for Gentile Christians. Though it contains very few of Jesus parables compared to the other gospels, Mark tried to identify with Jesus through what he did rather that what he said. John Kilgallen wrote, If we are to know the events of Jesus life, we are brought to them only through Marks story telling. This essay is going to examine the characteristics and theological aims of Marks gospel, and further analyse and evaluate the discussions in order to find out of in what ways they should influence the churchs teaching. Marks gospel is symbolised with a lion which represents the sovereign authority and the effectual power of the son of God and perhaps thats why it is fully packed with action in regards to Jesus ministry. Referring to the prophecy in Isaiah, presumably Mark did not want his listeners to doubt about the testimony of Jesus who was on earth to complete the mission of redemption for mankind. The purpose and whole ministry of Jesus, according to Mark was to die and save sinners. (1: 14-15) Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news. The fact that Mark explained the meanings of Jewish custom and translated some Aramaic words shows that his gospel was intended for the non Jewish audience and one could argue that he wanted to express a clearer message of the Gospel, with no obstruction of understanding the purpose of Jesus on earth. This implicated the importance of discipleship (1: 17) Jesus said to them, Follow me and I will make you fish for people., and faith in The Son of God being crucial to those who believed as in the case of the paralytic man who was brought to Jesus to be healed, but because of the massive crowd they showed the extremity of their faith when they broke through the roof in order to get the sick man in Jesus presence. May be that is why Mark recorded such high numbers of miracles compared to the other synoptic gospels. An illustration of the kind of opposition Jesus experienced from some of His family members, friends, followers, religious leaders and political figures was also expressed in Marks gospel, but Jesus took carriage and did not deviate from His purpose according to Mark who told of the many places that Jesus went to deliver His message. This shows that Jesus was always on the move. He indicated the major roles of Jesus ministry were to serve and suffer through his sacrificial love Marks intention could broadly be interpreted as a pastoral mission, that had a purpose of teaching and building up the faith of his listeners by showing the relevance of Jesus teachings in their own lives as it is in the church today. (3: 14-15) And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles,  to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons. Jesus entrusts His followers with the proclamation to all nations to the end. As Jesus gave authority then, it is the same authority given to the church today until the good news  is proclaimed to all nations. Overall, the characters and theological aim in Marks gospel can still be addressed in the church as a continuation of what Jesus started when He announced that the Kingdom of God was at hand. Therefore the call of repentance and belief should still be the theme in the church. Jesus came to serve not to be served, and he sacrificed his life for all mankind, so the church should illustrate this kind of servant hood as emphasised by Lightfoot, The purpose of the Lords manifestation in the future is not so much to introduce a new order of things, but rather to complete that which already exists. The church can be transformed through the influence of Marks gospel by compelling to a divine mission of not our own agenda but that of Christ and acknowledging for who He is (8: 29) He asked them, But who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, You are the Messiah. Dependency on God is a requirement today as much as interdependency to each other working in unity in order to continue reaching out with the gospel regardless of criticism and opposition as according to Mark. **Jesus often warned His disciples of the hardship and suffering that they would encounter as He did. The Church still faces persecution as in the days of Mark, but we are encouraged to remain steadfast in our faith as then. The characteristics and theological aims, of Marks Gospel teach the church, representative of Christ, to continue spreading the word of God. Discipleship is  a part of life for Christians as clearly demonstrated in Mark.   Known as missionaries today, discipleship duties of servant hood is still the core that is required, and through the teachings of Jesus who encountered both the sick and the sinful in this gospel transformation is relevant and still acts as a model for the church. Jesus has always been the representation of the just man, who was treated unjustly, but he responded with patience and he did not lose hope and trust in God. The theological aim of evangelism should be another influence in church as expressed in the first verse of Mark, to proclaim that Jesus is son of God and saviour. The need to lose one self remains as necessary and true now as it was then. In terms of discipleship it is from Jesus that discipleship started and that is still a relevant characteristic in church to follow the example of Jesus, which is another influence in understanding of Christian faith. Mark expressed a high degree of honesty in the disciples of Jesus then by giving an account about their misunderstanding of what Jesus was telling them and the fearful reaction of the events that surrounded the resurrection which mirrors the weakness in the church. Consumed by pride of who is the greatest and not confronting the fear of being misunderstood, has overwhelmed the church of the twenty first century. The church should continue to teach that true discipleship is only possible after the resurrection as stated in Mark, and thats when the full significance of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus can be known. The church today has no excuse than those first followers if it does not teach the believers to take up the cross and follow Jesus. The Gospel of Mark strengthened his listeners to stand strong in their faith even through a period of persecution as Jesus did; it is a characteristic that still needs to influence the church as it has never stopped being persecuted even in this 21st century. The importance of faith is stressed as the ambience in which Jesus mighty works were performed (6: 5, 6) From the analysis of the main features in Marks gospel, it becomes possible to draw certain conclusions in regards to his intention. Jesus prepared himself to total obedience to God as introduced by Mark The Son of God. The church should continue to have total faith and obedience in God as Jesus did in order not to deviate from the truth. It could be argued to a certain extent that the teaching and actions of Jesus have a continuing value in both Christian life and death and that the death of Jesus was not in vain. Therefore, according to the examination of the above characteristics and theological aims in Marks gospel, the church should still be strongly influenced, by that same message of redemption by following the example of Jesus who was a servant of the Lord regardless of deeds of suffering, strengthening in the faith and continue to spread the good news according to the gospel of Mark. (10: 44-45) And whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Arguments Against Censorship in Music

Arguments Against Censorship in Music Have you ever wondered why radios have to bleep everything? Or why some CDs can’t be sold in stores? Or why there’s a little â€Å"Parental Advisory† sticker on some albums? If you answered â€Å"yes† to any or all of these questions, then stick around, because for the next 5 minutes, I am going to explain to you why the censorship on our music is way too harsh. Censorship in music should be reconsidered because of many points such as political views, the fact that musicians are willing to fight for their own music, and most of all, freedom of speech! There’s a song that comes to mind when I think about political censorship. A song called â€Å"Not Ready To Make Nice† by The Dixie Chicks. The song won three Grammies in the categories of Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals. The song is about how they, the band, felt about the invasion of Iraq, and the responses to their position on this situation. Natalie Maines, the main vocalist of the group, was quoted as saying that â€Å"[they] don’t want this war, this violence, and [they’re] ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.† Some of the lines in the song are about the death threats that the band had received in 2003. â€Å"How in the world can the words that I said send somebody so over the edge that they’d write me a letter saying that I better shut up and sing or my life will be over.† Another line in the song â€Å"it’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her daughter that she ought’a hate a perfect stranger,† refers to an incident where a mother is actually egging on her young child to say to the band â€Å"screw ‘em!† Think about that. The next song that I think of is American Idiot by Green Day. From the beginning, this song was opposed by most people in the US because of the open lyrics that express the author’s feelings towards President George W. Bush, and certain political issues. Some believe that the song is â€Å"anti-American† because of the title. However, if you actually listen to the lyrics, you might see how patriotic the song really is. The title refers to the authors’ opinion of how politicians these days are telling people what to do, buy, and believe, and how they’re constantly dooped by all these commercials and campaigns that eventually turn is into, for lack of a better term, â€Å"American Idiot†[s]. In the song, the singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, says that he doesn’t want his nation to become idiots, and doesn’t want to be â€Å"part of a redneck agenda†, and doesn’t want this country to be hated because of decisions made by the gov ernment. â€Å"Welcome to a new kind of tension, all across the alienation.† For this next topic, let me give you some background information. The committee that labels CDs as â€Å"inappropriate† and put the Parental Advisory stickers on CDs is called the Parents Music Resource Center, PMRC. It was founded in 1985 by Tipper Gore. It was created with a goal of â€Å"increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed [by an unknown source] to be violent, have drug use or be sexual.† The people to whom I will be referring to are John Denver, a famous musician during the 70s, and Dee Snider, the lead singer for the band Twisted Sister. These people were called to a senate hearing about the PMRC, and stated their opinions on the topic. John Denver had prepared an official statement for the hearing. After he had given his statement, he spoke off the record, saying â€Å"in my experience, sir, all over the world, one of the most interesting things about music that young people are listening to, is it gives us as adults a very clear insight as to what is going on in their minds. We can know what they’re thinking by listening to the music they surround themselves with.† To me, this totally makes sense. It’s an easy way for parents to communicate, and understand what their children are feeling, and thinking. He goes on to talk about â€Å"the troubled children† he’s talked to, and the troubles they have about â€Å"an inability to communicate with their parents.† This would all be fixed if parents could just understand what their kids are feeling and thinking by just listening every once and a while. This next man, Mr. Dee Snider, is quite an amazing and humble man. He starts out his official statement by saying, â€Å"I am 30 years old, I am married, I have a 3 year old son. I was born and raised a Christian and I still adhere to those principles. Believe it or not, I do not smoke, I do not drink, and I do not do drugs.† Does this sound like a man who needs to be censored? I didn’t think so. In his statement, Mr. Snider talks about how he was attacked three different times because of his music. The first one, Tipper Gore had written an article in a Long Island newspaper where she â€Å"claimed one of [his] songs, ‘Under the Blade,’ had lyrics encouraging sadomasochism, bondage, and rape.† He actually talks about those lyrics and says that the lyrics are about the fear that people get before they go into surgery. Attack number two, Twisted Sister’s song â€Å"We’re Not Gonna Take It† was labeled as rated V because of â€Å"v iolent lyrical content,† when Snider assures everyone that â€Å"there is absolutely no violence of any type either sung about or implied anywhere in the song.† Lastly, Mr. Snider was accused of sexism because of a T-shirt Tipper Gore thought she saw. In response to this, Snider says â€Å"we have always taken great pains to steer clear of sexism in our merchandise, records, stage show, and personal lives.† Clearly, the PMRC is trying to make up stories to get their way. â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.† These are the exact words of the first amendment of the Bill of Rights. Basically, congress can’t make any laws saying that people can’t speak their minds. If you ask me, congress has done just that by censoring our music. I think that music is the most important and powerful form of expression that both entertains and informs. So, why hide it? Moral values? Racial implications? Fear? The actual censoring of music began in the 1950s when traditional conservative values were part of the peoples’ mindset. People during that time believed in those morals, and strived to determine what is â€Å"acceptable† for people to listen to. By the end of the 1950s, members of the society witnessed many young adults and teens expressing new attitudes about topics like sex and drugs. This movement started breaking down the â€Å"traditional moral order† in many ways, but especially in music. It may seem off that race would be a factor in music censorship, but it actually is a huge problem, especially in the 50s and 60s when rhythm and blues was first introduced to the world. Some older white people believed that RB was a threat that corrupted the young people who listened to it, and that it promoted â€Å"immoral behavior.† This prompted authorities to take action. An example of these actions; after receiving a myriad of angry letter from listeners, a Chicago radio station promised to censor â€Å"any controversial music, especially RB†. A more recent example of racial censorship in music would be MTV refusing to play music videos from black artists. During a live interview in 1983, famous musician David Bowie asked, â€Å"Why are there practically no black artists on the network?† Good question, Mr. Bowie. I’m sure everyone else was thinking the same thing. â€Å"Censorship is based on fear.† A fear that music will affect us negatively. A fear that music will prevent us from achieving a morally acceptable life. A fear that society will change significantly. Not for the better. The people who decided to censor OUR music are afraid of the unknown, and our music seems to hold that unknown and uncertainty. There’s a song from 1975 called â€Å"The Pill† by Loretta Lynn that was censored on many radio stations for more than 10 years after birth control pills became popular. People did this because they were afraid of the unknown, and thought that all their kids would start acting out, and going out of control. So, all these people who are afraid of our music just try to cover up the problem instead of facing it like adults. To end this speech, censorship in music should be reconsidered because of many points such as political views, the fact that musicians are willing to fight for their own music, and most of all, the freedom of speech. Now, instead of leaving it like this, I’m going to leave you all with a quote from R. Andre Hall. â€Å"From the Vietnam War to today’s Iraq War, and from the advent of the sexual revolution to today’s â€Å"culture wars,† music is recognized as a potential source of power to change values, ideas, and beliefs- as well as to influence actions. Those who fear this change try to stop it by censorship, even when, as history has shown us, censorship is futile when change is inevitable.†

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Essay --

I was on my way to the band room to see a few of my friends. I was dressed in my red McKinley High marching band sweatshirt and a plain pair of jeans. As soon as I walked in, I noticed my Spanish teacher, Mr. Schuester talking to my band teacher, Mr. Toffelmeir. Mr. Schue wore a smile and Toff wore that grumpy face. They were polar opposites, so I was kind of curious to see why they were talking. Mr. Schue said, "I was wondering if you had anyone that would be willing to join our Glee Club as a musician. We have almost everything covered, but we do need a mallet player and someone that can play a bunch of cool auxiliary." Toff looked around and his eyes stopped on me. He pointed. Mr. Schue grinned at me. "Myranda! Perfect! We'll be meeting today at lunch. Thank you, Mark." Then, he hurried out of the room. I blinked. "What just happened?" Toff laughed flatly. "You just joined Glee Club." I frowned. "But, Toff..." I sighed. He started to walk away. He said, "I'll be able to put on your letter of recommendation that you were willing to help me at any given chance and you were so willing to try new things." I stopped myself from groaning out loud. He got me there. I'm sure he didn't want to socialize with Mr. Schue, so he bribed me with that comment. After complaining about what Toff made me join, I went to class. I had AP Literature alone. I'm glad I did, because it was easier to pay attention that way. At least when the head cheerleader didn't walk by me, it was easy. She always tends to distract me with that short red skirt of hers. But, hey it's not my fault that the color red attracts more attention because it is such an intense color. It's even said that red quickens heartbeats. So, it doesn't entirely help that she wea... ...ion to what Rachel was saying. My eyes were stuck in a trap and so was my mind. Why was she staring into my eyes? "Myranda?" Rachel repeated and almost looked behind her to see what she was missing, but I cleared my throat. "Sure, Rachel. What do you need?" I asked, saving myself. "Email address and cell phone number would be great." She smiled as she pulled a notebook and a pen out of her bag. She handed it to me and it took me a moment to remember my phone number because all I could think about were Quinn's eyes and the intense the gaze had been. My heart was thumping. I took a deep breath and then handed the information over to Rachel. She beamed, "It was great to meet you, Myranda. Thank you very much." After the confrontation with the co-captain, who I decided I liked, I drifted back towards the band. Derik smiled at me widely. "What do you think of Rachel?"

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

A film I have seen :: essays research papers

A film I have seen   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I’ve seen a lot of films, and with a lot of different genres. But I don’t think that romantic films are pretty good. They are too boring. The good films are action or comedy films, but the best films are action and com-edy films mixed together. That’s why I’ve chosen the film Taxi 2. It’s a French produced film, with a lot of action and comedy. It’s a pretty new film, and I saw it in the cinema last month. I’ve looked very much forward to see that film, because Taxi was very good too. It took only 5 weeks to get 10 mil-lion Frenchmen into the cinema. Just for watching Taxi 2. The film is taking place in Paris. Samy Naceri is playing the lead-ing role as Daniel. Daniel is an illegal taxi driver, because he hasn’t any driver license. In the intro to the film he is overtaking Jean-Louis Schlesser (former worlds best rally driver) and drives a lot faster than him, because he had a woman should who bear, on the backseat. Daniel has a girlfriend called Lily. She had invited Daniel for dinner, so the parents could see him. Her fa-ther is an army man. Under the dinner the father tells some long stories about his experiences in a war. Suddenly the red telephone rings, and he had to go to the airport to meet the Japanese Minister of Defence. The father had a chauffeur who should pick him up, but the chauffeur were involved in a car accident on the way, and Daniel must drive him to the airport. In the airport Daniel meets Émilien (Frà ©dà ©ric Diefenthal) and Chief Inspector Gibert (Ber-nard Farcy) who he already knows from Taxi 1. The Japanese Minister of Defence was coming to France to see a French project to fight against the crime, because Japan had some problems with the yakuza (the Japanese ma-fia). The French police had planned a tour in Paris, with some planned crime factors. But the yakuza is also making a factor and is kidnapping the Japanese Minister of Defence. Then they together are trying to get the Japanese Minis-ter of Defence back. At last they succeed, and everything is fine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I like the film very much. I think its one of the best films I’ve seen ever. The comedy in the film is just my humour, and the action was okay.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Sexuality at Different Life Stages

Sexuality at Different Life Stages Sexuality at Different Life Stages Through the different stages of our lives we experience sexuality in one way or another. In the stage of infancy we experience sexuality by the suckling our fingers to vaginal lubrication or erections. As we grow into older children we experience sexuality in the form of kissing and games such as doctor, or I will show you mine if you show me yours. In the case of Ana she is in the stage of adolescence. This is the stage when our body starts going through puberty and our sexual hormones are raging.This is also the time when we want the adults to be the most informative and answer questions that we may have without judgment. Ana is at the point in her life where she is at a fork in the road and is unsure of what she wants to do, and is feeling like she is being torn because of comments she is hearing from her mom. As much as her mom thinks that she is trying to keep her daughter. The next stage in life is adulthood. During adulthood there can be many different ways that one will experience sexuality.In the case of Tom and Susan they are both retired and although Susan is newly retired and has found interest in sex again Tom is not showing any interest. This could be a simple issue that could be taken care of with talking or even with medication. Then you can have the issue like in the case of Bill and being paralyzed which one may need to be informed of the possibilities into how he can be intimate with his partner. It is stated in Ana’s case that she is in the adolescent stage of her life and in love with her boyfriend who she has been dating for three years now.Her boyfriend is three years older and has putting pressure on her to have sex, and her mom is telling her that Ana’s boyfriend is going to take advantage of her because she is young. Ana needs to understand that what was right for her mother, or for her boyfriend may not be right for her. Ana needs to get away from the people that are in her ears and she needs to listen to what is in her heart. I do not believe in telling you Ana that I condone sex among adolescence, because I do not.Although I feel that the more informed you are about not only the possibilities that could happen from having sex, such as teen pregnancy and STD’s, the more you as an individual will be able to make an informed decision. When deciding to have sex with someone you need to stop and think about the reason you are having sex with this person. Is it because you want to or is it because you are feeling pressure from that person to have sex? You need to know what you morally believe in and be able to stand up for what you believe in.As far as your mother you need to let her know and to put her mind at ease that when you are ready to have sex with someone that you will make sure that you are having sex for all the right reasons and that you will be responsible about the decision you make. Keeping the line of communica tion open between you and your parents will help in being able to be informed about sex and the emotions that go along with it. A man can have sex with someone and not have it mean anything, but unfortunately for girls it is not the same.When a woman has sex with someone it is because she has strong feelings for that person and want to be together with that person and because she loves that person, and unfortunately that is not always the case for the person you decide to have a sexual relationship with. Tom and Susan you have both entered a stage in your life where you are at different stages sexually. Susan you are feeling sexual desire again in your stage of life whereas Tom may be at the stage where he is unsure that he may be able to perform.We all as individuals go through this in this stage of life because life takes a toll on us from our appearance being changed and looking older to maybe sexually things not working the way we want them to and this can play a big role in how we feel about ourselves mentally. As far as the way you look, all that matters is what your partner thinks of you and Tom thinks that your are more beautiful than the day he married you. As for you Tom being nervous about the possibility of things not working when you want them to can create a lot of unnecessary stress that could add to the problem of things not working.We can try one of two things, you can go home leave all your worries in my office and just enjoy each other and remind each other what you guys mean to one another, or we can look into prescribing something that will help you when you find yourselves wanting to be in that intimate moment. In the case of Bill he is at a point in his life that most adults if they are lucky will never have to go through and that is being able to be intimate with someone when you are paralyzed from the waist down. With a situation like this you as the individual going through the problem needs to know and understand the extent of your i njury.Knowing the extent of the injury would be able to let you know if you were able to achieve an erection or not. With everything that goes on between couples normally this is one more thing that can and will cause stress. There are many ways that you and your mate can find pleasure from each other you just need to be willing to think outside of the box. We as individuals go through so much as we grow and mature, that we often complicate the simple things in life instead of taking things in stride. In the cases that we went through we discussed many different ideas that can either be complicating a relationship, or making it better.

Monday, September 16, 2019

A variation of the Stroop effect Essay

Abstract The effects of completing a task which requires the use of both automatic and controlled processes was investigated through a two-process experiment designed around a variation of the Stroop effect. Previous research found that, when performing certain tasks, response time is longer when an automatic process conflicts with a controlled process, in this instance reading interferes with naming the colour of ink a word is written in. These results reinforced a two-process theory of attention. In the current experiment, the nature of the words in which various colours of ink were printed was manipulated. The results further supported a two-process theory by showing that the nature of the words used did have a significant effect on response times. Introduction If we consciously perceived the vast amount of stimuli available in daily life our senses would go into overload. Our brains have a restricted capacity and we only have the brainpower to attend to a limited amount of information. The conscious cognitive process of selective attention protects us from being overwhelmed by all the sensory signals impinging on our receptors by allocating processing resources where necessary. The conscious processing of information over which we can exert control (controlled processing) requires mental effort, drawing on the limited processing resources available to us in varying degrees depending on the task at hand, and can be easily interrupted. This was the stance assumed by Kahneman (as cited in Edgar, 2007) who put forward a ‘limited-capacity’ theory suggesting a general-purpose hypothetical mental structure with an upper limit in the amount of information it can deal with at any one moment. The responsibility of this processor is to a nalyse incoming stimuli and integrating it with information already within the memory, thus implying some information cannot be processed. While this suggests the central processor divides its resource pool between competing ongoing tasks, there are instances where attention can be successfully divided under certain conditions. Through a succession  of experiments Schneider and Shiffrin (as cited in Edgar, 2007) made a distinction between controlled and what they termed ‘automatic’ processes. Such processes require little or no mental resources and occur without conscious awareness, enabling our limited resources to be directed elsewhere allowing for some tasks to be done at the same time as others, thus preceding to the development of two-process theories. While automatic processing offers speed and economy of effort is has a notable disadvantage in that it can interfere with the conscious processing of information; a phenomenon that demonstrates said drawback is that termed the ‘Stroop effect’ (as cited in Edgar, 2007), which looks at what happens when we need to attend two conflicting sign als. In an experiment participants were required to identify the colours that were used to spell out the names of other colours, as swiftly as possible (the Stroop condition). In the alternate condition, in which participants tended to execute their response with greater ease, colour-neutral words were used (e.g. rat, grand, bolt, etc.). It would seem that the ability to read forms an automatic response, which during the Stroop experiments interfered with the controlled process of naming the colour of the ink. Through a variation of the Stroop effect, the present experiment investigated further the idea that automatic processing interferes with the information a person is consciously trying to attend. Rather than using colour words (e.g. red, purple etc.) the experimental condition employed colour-related words (e.g. blood, plum etc.) printed in a colour that was incongruent with the word; the control condition contained colour-neutral words (e.g. ledge, grade etc.). The research hypothesis was that participants would take longer to complete the condition where the words were colour-related than the condition containing colour-neutral words. This is a one-tailed hypothesis. The null hypothesis was that there will be no difference in the times taken to complete the two conditions. Method Design A within-participants design was employed. The independent variable (IV) was a list of coloured words which consisted of two conditions. Condition 1 (the experimental condition) was manipulated to compose of colour-related words printed in a colour that was incongruent with the word. Condition 2 (the control condition) contained colour-neutral words. In both conditions the participant was required to say aloud the colour of the ink that each word was printed in. The dependant variable (DV) was the time taken to correctly identify the ink colour of each word within the colour-related word list. This was accurately measured to the nearest whole second by the researcher using a stopwatch. Controls were introduced to limit the effects of any possible confounding variables. To avoid possible practice effects of doing both conditions in the same order for each participant, the order in which the conditions were presented was counterbalanced. Data on odd-numbered rows of the complete data set (1, 3, 5, etc.) are from participants who did condition 1 then condition 2, whereas data on even-numbered rows (2, 4, 6, etc.) are from participants who did condition 2 then condition 1 (A copy of the complete data set can be found in Appendix 1). Each colour-related word was used five times within condition 1; to avoid causing a practice effect the number of colour-neutral words used in condition 2 was the same. The same number of words was used in both conditions (thirty). The words used in the two conditions were matched for length. The different coloured inks were exactly the same hue for both conditions and presented in the same order. The instructions given to participants in both conditions were identical. Participants Of the twenty participants that took part in this experiment, 10 were male and 10 female, aged between 18 and 69. Sixteen of these participants were recruited from personnel at The Open University, or their family members and friends. The remaining four were selected from associates of the experimenter who had no knowledge of the hypothesis or the specific research sphere; all were informed that they would be taking part in a cognitive psychological experiment involving lists of coloured words, the resulting data would be used in a report to gain university course credits and that they could withdraw at any time. Each individual signed a consent form thereby obtaining informed consent. Materials The stimuli presented in each condition (a replica of which can be found in Appendix 2) consisted of a sheet of A4 paper on which 30 words, placed in two columns, were written in various colours of ink (red, blue, green, yellow, orange and purple). In the experimental condition (condition 1) colour-related words were printed in a coloured ink that was incongruent with the word (e.g. the word ‘grass’ printed in each of the above colours excluding its natural association, green). The words used were blood, sky, grass, lemon, carrot, and plum, each word appearing five times in each of its incongruent colours. The control condition (condition 2) contained colour-neutral words (blame, ledge, grade, career, plan and sty). Each word began with the same letter as its corresponding colour-related word (e.g. ‘Blood’ and ‘Blame’) as well as being identical in the number of characters; each of the words appeared in the list five times. The words were presen ted in no specific pattern, but the same in both conditions. Participants’ response time for each condition was measured with a stopwatch and rounded to the nearest whole second. Results were recorded on a pre-prepared response sheet. Verbatim instructions were issued to each participant. Procedure Each participant was approached and asked if they would be willing to take part in an experiment that was investigating one aspect of cognitive psychology. They were informed of what participation would entail. If they agreed to take part, each participant signed a consent form (Appendix 3) and was reminded that they could withdraw at any time. The age, sex and order of conditions were then recorded on a pre-prepared response sheet before each participant was tested individually. The instructions for the experiment were read verbatim to each individual. They were told that they would be presented with two lists of words, one at a time, and that they should say out loud the colour of the ink that each word was written in as quickly as possible starting at the top left of the list working downwards and then proceed to the top of the right column. To ensure they understood what was being asked of them they were shown an example sheet; once the participant confirmed that they understood what was required of them, either condition 1 or 2 was placed face down in front of them (the order of presentation alternating between participants to avoid a possible confounding variable).  This information was also recorded on the response sheet. The paper was turned over and the stopwatch was started. When the task was complete, the time taken for each condition was recorded on the response sheet to the nearest second. The participant was then thanked, fully debriefed as to the aims of the experiment and given the opportunity to ask any questions they had. Results The research hypothesis in this experiment was that participants will take longer to complete the condition where the words were colour-related than the condition containing colour-neutral words. The time in which it took for each participant to complete the required task was measured for each condition to the nearest second. Discussion The results of the present experiment showed that it took longer to complete a task when it was required to attend to two conflicting signals at the same time indicating that automatic and controlled processes operate simultaneously. Response times in the condition where participants had to identify the colour of ink used for colour-related words were longer and therefore statistically significantly different from the condition where they had to identify colour-neutral word colours. This suggests that the process of reading interfered with participants’ ability to name the colour of ink each word was written in when the words were colour-related. Stroop (as cited in Edgar, 2007) similarly demonstrated some of the costs associated with an interaction between automatic and controlled processes through the stroop effect experiment; namely that people tended to find it more difficult to respond with the colour of the ink a word was written in if the word itself described a colour, as opposed to a colour-neutral word. Stroop used his findings as evidence for a two-process theory of attention, indicating that automatic processing interfered with the information the participants were consciously trying to attend (controlled processing). If it were so that a general-purpose central processor divided its limited resource pool between competing ongoing tasks, as suggested by Kahneman (as cited in Edgar, 2007) it could be expected that in the present experiment the response times for the two conditions would be similar in value as the participants would find neither condition more difficult than the other. However, this is not the case; on average participants did take longer to complete the experimental condition, therefore it can be assumed that they found it more difficult. This result implies that multiple pools of resources are present with regards to attention and that automatic and controlled processes operate concurrently. Numerous controls were put in place to ensure any possible confounding variables were at a minimum, however, there are factors that could contribute to these despite the practices put in place. Automatic processes can be influenced by individual strategies and so it may be that participants were able to exert extra control over their attention within the experiment. One method of doing this  would be to focus their attention on the initial letter of each word, with the aim of ignoring the word itself as much as possible, allowing for a greater available resource pool which can then be applied to the identification of ink colours. To combat this, the order in which participants completed each condition alternated, however this method has its limitations as it doesn’t guarantee the complete absence of a confounding variable. In conclusion, the results of the experiment reported here do support a two-process theory of attention. However, although the statistical results allowed for the rejection of the null hypothesis, it is possible that by performing the experiment on more than twenty participants, a greater difference in response times could be produced allowing for more solid support for the theory. Future studies conducted in this area should attempt to carry out experimental research on a larger sample of participants in order to strengthen the evidence and lessen the possibility of aforementioned confounding variables. References Edgar, G. (2007) Perception and attention. In D. Miell, A. Phoenix, & K. Thomas (Eds.), Mapping Psychology (2nd ed., pp.3-50). Milton Keynes: The Open University.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Rebbecca Skloot Henrietta Lacks

In Rebecca Skloot’s â€Å"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,† the ethical issue of the hospital taking Henrietta Lack’s cells seems be a very major deal and plays an important role throughout the entire book. The books starts off telling you of Mrs. Lacks’ life struggles which helps build an emotional appeal to her. Rebecca Skloot painted a vivid picture of Henrietta’s life to help give the readers a greater of how immoral the doctors were when they took her cells without her permission. Henrietta was a part of a very poor family.The book describes how they didn’t have very much money so they left their home in Roanoke, VA to go to MD for a better job opportunity for her husband, David Lacks, which was also her 1st cousin. The doctors at John Hopkins typically felt like they had the right to take certain things from their patients who were in the public ward since they were a giving away a costly service for free. They felt like they were entitled to some kind of payment so taking cells from unaware patients was a justified trade-off in their eyes.Henrietta had six children, so it safe to say that it was hard just living off of her David’s salary. The book described that several things were wrong with Henrietta, besides the cervical cancer. Henrietta also had syphilis and gonorrhea. Henrietta wasn’t the only person in her household that had medical problems either. Henrietta’s daughter, Elsie, was simple and Henrietta also had a couple of very young children. Her medical problems and her children’s medical needs were very costly, so as it was common for poor folk, they just ignored them.Henrietta’s family were too poor to afford health care and would continue to be to poor enough to afford health care after the doctors began to sell her cells without her permission and well after her death, even up to the point that this book was being written. Henrietta’s cells were her prop erty and no had the right to make a profit of it without her permission. Henrietta’s cells were taken against her will, so they were stolen! Her cells great impacted medical research. They have been used to find cures for cancer and AIDs, to test human’s sensitivity to certain products, gene mapping, and were used to test vaccines for polio.Henrietta’s cells were very instrumental for the production of modern medicine and also very profitable as well. They greatly impacted the lives of people all over the world, but it seems like they almost did nothing for Henrietta and her family. Henrietta’s cells were used to help advance medical research, but still Henrietta’s family still couldn’t afford health care. Her family wasn’t informed that her cells had been taken until almost 20 years after her death in the 70s. Henrietta’s family just struggled through life like they hadn’t changed medical research for ever.Henriettaâ₠¬â„¢s cells were the first â€Å"immortal cells†, yet it was horribly immoral for the scientists and doctors to steal it from her and then use to them to make millions, while her family barely made it by day to day. The HeLa cells, the cells from Henrietta Lacks, were used to grow tons and tons of cells. The cells, though token wrongly, were used to do very positive things. The people in public wards were used wrongly as guinea pigs. The doctors had no right to steal from them and test on them, just because they couldn’t afford health care. They had rights!They were human beings! They deserved the right to be notified and they deserved the right to be asked for their permission of whether or not they wanted to give small parts of their body to be researched on, no matter how miniscule. They belonged to the patients and therefore they had the upmost right to be informed and given some type of payment for their contributions. If I own some land and my neighbor decides he wants to grow some crops on it without my permission, because he felt like I wasn’t using it and he grows one of the most successful batch of wheat or corn.Do I not deserve some of the credit or some of the proceeds? Yes, it was his seeds that he used and his labor and also his tools, but my neighbor also used my land and therefore my neighbor is indeed indebted to me and owes me a portion of what he received. This is the exact same for Henrietta Lacks situation. Their tools were used to grow the HeLa cells, but they still took cells from Henrietta and her family was definitely entitled to gaining something.I completely agree with Rebecca Skloot’s position on this problem and she was definitely depicted this story in a very well delivered way and I believe that she did indeed address this ethical issue and even went into it a little more when she mentioned the Tuskegee experiment with syphilis. All in all, Ms. Skloot did a very excellent making this story very underst andable and very attractive. She delivered an amazing story on how the health system betrayed one of their patients and took advantage of her and treated public ward patients immorally wrong.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Being a Part of a Team More Important Than Leading It

â€Å"Being part of a team is more important than leading it. † It is too difficult these days during the complexity of business and corporate pressure to build out teams, in order to resolve business challenges situations like service, product renovation, turnaround recovery plans, launch new products, meet the market changes and challenges it’s important to pay attention to building a team.Team, by concept, is a group of members whom could be selected or nominated usually by management; the role is to execute a certain business â€Å"mission† within the organization under a very clear goals and objectives with a defined timeline as well as deliverables. Now a day’s both economy and the business growing very fast and the challenges is continuously increasing.New concepts came up, new technology and new strategies invented ,the world moving very fast ,everything now in a mass, production in a mass ,corporate in a mass ,so all the people they don’t h ave time to work individually to achieve the mission assigned to them ,so now the techniques to work in a group came up with all the challenges we have it, one person can’t solve the problem right from the first time and with required time.Single person doesn’t have the time, the required skills and /or the expertise to accomplish various tasks, task that must be carried out successfully in order to successfully tackle the problem of interest. By wording we are calling it a team not a group, hence there is a big difference between the both, we can’t call the football or basketball team a football group, group not like the team, team usually have one goal, one mission, one task and one problem to solve, but the group is a group of people from different place and different objective but they met together, Like a random sample taken. There is no I in team but there is in win† , team must have a harmony between each other’s and with the team leader they must have the same spirit and the same challenges with different skills /experiences to complete each other’s and reach to the ideal team, â€Å"I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team not the individual is the ultimate champion†, It is not only the matter to form a team and nominate a team leader to let the team working under his/her coaching, but all the team member including the team leader must be an effective member, and to be an effective team member it is must have good people skills and communication skills in addition to a high strong technical skill set, the guidelines for being an effective team member include: ResponsibleA team member must be a proactive ,if they came to know there is a task needs to be solve or done, the team member have the skills to do it ,a team member has to take the initiative to do it and to be dependable to do fair share of the work and strive to accomplish any tasks in a timely manner, doing so will allow the team to meet the dead line, and to be accountable if the team member agreed to take on a specific task. It is also important to deliver his promises and if he faces difficulties in solving the problem he has to communicate to the team at the right time so they can come up with alternatives to solve a problem and meet the dead lines as well as obligations, as a result the team can meet the goal desired. Effectively communicationGood communication skills s important for an effective team member, that’s mean all the team members must be open to each other, talk to each other, listen good and show the respect to the new ideas and take the intuitive to share to add value to the ideas generated by any team member, this is important to reach to the a good guidelines to achieve the team mission at the end, a good communication style involves honesty, friendliness, thoroughness, and high quality in achieving the goals. Respect As a team member, one has to respect other members and understand each member is an expertise in his field and has the enough knowledge to meet the task required from him, the respect attitude has to be shown between all the members and therefore there is no one better than the other, all are equal and complete each other’s. ContributionAll the team members must contribute with each other each member must do the his/her full efforts and contribution to meet the team objectives and goals, this one of the important role for an effective team leader to get all the member share equally the contribution and spread the spirit of working in an effective teal to let the team succeed. Team could suffer heavily from a team member who is not cooperating, or blending, or benefiting the team with his expertise and input. A survey conducted by The American Institutes for Research, showed that one-third of 1,000-plus respondent organizations reported that strong internal resistance and/or sabotage is a sign ificant barrier to be overcome on the road to successful team implementations. Conflict of interestConflict is unavoidable whenever we work in a team, each member has a different views/opinions and sometime stuck on it, as an effective team member one must work on it and show the other member respecting of his/her views and try work with and adapted it slowly to show the positive if we do some alteration or changes for the member views and this one of the most common difficulties meet an effective t eam. Appreciations Not all of the team members do the same efforts, it different from one member to the other, and here the role of the team leader appear to give the credit to the member who do the best efforts and encourage other members to do the same and get the credit and keep up the work, but this tactics must be done by the right way to avoid any bad feelings against the other member. All the above mentioned points rose to reach for an effective team member to achieve the team mis sion, and goals. The way a team plays as a whole determines its success, you may have the greatest bunch ofcindividual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime† , as we covered the guide lines to have an effective team member, now it comes the role of the team leader, the objectives, the goals and the leadership style. The leadership style is simply the patterns of behavior a leader adopts to plan motivate and control, it is the extent to listens, set the goals and standards, develop action plan (long/short term), guide others, gives his/her feedback and reward and punish. Although the leaders face an unlimited range of situations, research has shown that there are six styles or behavior patterns that they apply to the situations they encounter: 1-The coercive styleThis style primary objective is immediate compliance from employees but the downside of it is lack of flexibility, empowerment and responsibility. This style can be used in straight forward tasks and in crisis situation (team needs clear directions and you have relevant information), but it is a least effective in a complex tasks and over the long term. 2-The authoritative style This style primary objective is providing long term direction and vision for the team, the downside is that it’s not good with expert groups, this is can be more effective when a new vision is needed and new team member needs guidance, this style should be avoided when employees are experienced and know as much if no more than the leader. 3- The affiliative styleThis style has the primary objective of creating the harmony among employees and between the leader and the team, the downsides of this style is lack of constructive feedback and direction, this style to be used more effective in a straightforward task and with an adequate performance, this is style should be avoided when employees’ performance is inadequate and corrective performance feedba ck is required. 4-The democratic style This style has the primary objective of building commitment and consensus among employees, the downside of this style is the time consuming, leave team member confused, this style is more effective when the team member are competent and have a knowledge more than the team leader and least effective in crisis situation and there is no time for a meetings or discussions. 5-The pacesetting styleThis style has the primary objective of accomplishing tasks to a high standard of excellence, the downside of this style can lower moral and lead to feelings of being overwhelmed and pressured, this style more effective when team members are also pacesetters and resource or time constraints necessitate the leader involvement. This style is least effective when direction of the team is unclear and team members are unconvinced 6-The coaching style This style has the primary objective of employees long term professional development, this is style is not effect ive when employee lacks motivation, resistant to changing, or leader lacks expertise, this style most effective hen the team member have a clear sense of aspirations and are motivated, this style is least effective if the team members are new and have a lack of experience, it’s important to avoid this style during crisis situation. Before applying any style from the above mentioned leadership styles, the leader has to stimulate his/her thinking about which style to use, and how the style will affects others motivation, the effective manager has to diagnose the demand of the situation, the experience of the team, the strengths and weakness of the team member, another dimension to watch is the complexity of the task, time pressure, resources available, and keep an open mind and watch out for changes in the situation.Leader should avoid using one style as a habit, the style should match the situation as one style does not apply for all ,the team leader has to select a style that best fit the situation and even the leader can as the team member too to assist him/her to select the style matching with the situation and the team goals and objectives ,the team leader must be flexible to switch from one style to another, even the leader can mix two or more styles to meet all required tasks and to assist for achieving the team goals, â€Å" A working relationship that provides influence or support on a regular basis for the most important decisions a has to make† , Form my opinion I think the team must slow down first before speeding up to tasks, most of the teams like to jump right into the task, but relationship building, active development of norms, and goal setting is needed first. The team leader must be more strategic about the first team meeting, he/she must structure team culture first and not to leave it to chance, building a relationship and trust first is a key to avoid long term problems like task conflict and discovering expertise. One of the most crucial components of success is to know how to work productively in a team environment, working well with others and having strong interpersonal skills can take a person far in life, in career settings and beyond.It is a combinations between the team leader and the team member starting from constructed the team till set the team goals and objectives, all parties including team member and team leader have to work together effectively to put the style of work and agreed to spread a good spirit between all the members, the whole team has to work as one person everyone knows his/her responsibilities very well and ready to assist the other to achieve their goals, it’s not about raising the hands and step away from the other member hence the successful of the team depend on all parties not one party , It is the responsibility of the team leader to set everything before starting the task and the responsibilities of the others to believe they are like a stone corner for the tea m no way the team finish the task without the other ,,, Amgad Ali ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Michael Jordan. [ 2 ]. Mia Hamm. [ 3 ]. Case commentary by Ed Mussel white. Ditto. [ 4 ]. Babe Welch. [ 5 ]. Nigel Nicholson.