Regulatory Behavior Essay

The human body is regulated by the nervous system and its functions. Under normal circumstances everything runs smoothly with no issues; however, fear can have an impact on how the nervous system works. One aspect that can be examined in relation to the nervous system and the ways that fear affects it is through body temperature regulation. When fear is present it bring on the production of specific hormones that cause certain responses within the body leading to the flight or fight situation. As with any function of the body there are impairment that are always possible as well. Knowing in advance what types of things can impair one’s thermoregulation process gives people a step up against having issues later in life. The nervous system consists of two parts, the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system (PNS) (National Institute of Health [NIH], 2013). Each part plays a role in our bodily functions. The CNS is made up of the brain and the spinal cord, the PNS is made up of the all the branch-like fibers that come off the spinal cord and reach all over the body- arms, legs, face, neck, etc. Without the nervous system there would be no way to get information from the brain to the rest of the body; all the messages that our brain sends out must be sent though the nervous system through neuron communication. â€Å"Neurons communicate with each other using axons and dendrites. When a neuron receives a message from another neuron, it sends an electrical signal down the length of its axon. At the end of the axon, the electrical signal is converted into a chemical signal, and the axon releases chemical messages called neurotransmitters† (NIH,  ¶ 3). This process is how the b rain tells the body to walk or blink or even body temperature regulation; it is a very important process that regulates all bodily functions. Body temperature regulation is the process by which our body maintains a steady internal temperature. This process is known as thermoregulation and is mostly controlled by the hypothalamus section in the brain (Vella & Kravitz, n.d.). When properly regulating the human body’s â€Å"normal core temperature at rest varies between 97.7 to 99.5 Fahrenheit† (Vella & Kravitz,  ¶ 2); however, a factor like fear can cause fluctuations from the core body temperature. According to the Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation, children who have high levels of fear have a harder time than children with regular amounts of fear when it comes to falling and staying asleep. The disturbance in a regular sleep cycle has been shown to affect how the thermoregulation process functions; fear can cause the body to overheat and not allow the body to cool down when needed (Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation [JBRF], n.d.). As with any function in the body fear produces a hormonal response. When a person experiences fear the hormones glucocorticoids, produced in the adrenal cortex, and catecholamines, produced in the adrenal medulla and sympathetic nerves, are released into the body and cause the individual to  either take the flight or fight stance (Rodrigues, Ledoux, & Sapolsky, 2009). Both of the fear induced hormones impact the nervous system in many ways. For example, glucocorticoids play a large role in the functioning of the CNS. It can lead to anatomical brain changes that result in a higher likeliness of sleep disturbances, psychiatric diseases, mood alterations, and cognitive impairments (lacroix, 2014). The body’s ability to thermoregulate its temperature can become impaired. This type of impairment is sometimes caused when a person goes under anesthetics. According to Daniel I. Sessler, M.D., Professor and Chair, â€Å"Anethetic-induced impairment of normal thermoregulatory control, and the resulting core-to-peripheral redistribution of body heat, is the primary cause of hypothermia in most patients† (Sessler, 2009,  ¶ 2). In other words, if the body is unable to control it’s thermoregulation it can start going into a hypothermic state which would lead to other risk factors and issues. During surgery a patients temperature is normally watched closely to make sure this is not an issue. On the other end of the spectrum, if a person suffers from dysautonomia they can experience excessively high body temperatures and have difficulty bringing their temperature back down to a normal resting temperature. If this does happen the person may experience irritability, disorientation and confusion; this type of disorder leaves the symptoms being able to be treated but not the cause. Some suggestions for ways to help lower the internal body temperature are drinking lots of fluids and water, but avoiding caffeine and alcohol, placing cool compresses across the neck and if necessary seeking professional help from a doctor or hospital if needed. Although the human body is a very complex and impressive organism it is not invincible to ailments. The nervous system keeps our bodies running and communicating so that we are able to act on and do every bodily function possible. Looking at the thermoregulation abilities that the body posses is very impressive and intricate, but it does have ways that things like fear are able to intrude. This intrusion can change the way our body responds to thermoregulation by emitting hormones that tell the body it may need to prepare for a flight or fight situation. Thermoregulation also has the  ability to fall prey to impairment that can be very debilitating to the individual; impairments can range from unable to bring the body temperature down to a normal range or up to a normal range. In closing, thermoregulation may be an involuntary regulatory behavior, but it is still possible to impress changes upon it by either ailment or other outside factors. References Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation (n.d.). _Sleep, activity patterns and temperature study_. Retrieved July 14, 2014, from http://www.jbrf.org/category/description-of-the-condition/ Lacroix, A. (2014). _Glucocorticoid effects on the nervous system and behavior_. Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://www.uptodate.com/contents/glucocorticoid-effects-on-the-nervous-system-and-behavior National Institute of Health (2013). _What are the parts of the nervous system_?. Retrieved July 12, 2014, from http://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/neuro/conditioninfo/Pages/parts.aspx Rodrigues, S. M., Ledoux, J. E., & Sapolsky, R. M. (2009). _The influences of stress hormones on fear circuitry_ . Retrieved July 14, 2014, from http://my.psychologytoday.com/files/attachments/37382/rodrigues-ledoux-sapolsky-arn-2009.pdf Sessler, D. I. (2009). _Temperature monitoring and perioperative thermoregulation_. Retrieved , from July 14, 2014 Synapse (n.d.). _Get the facts- temperature control and dysautonomia_. Retrieved July 13, 2014, from http://synapse.org.au/get-the-facts/temperature-control-and-dysautonomia-fact-sheet.aspx

Cultures: Theoretical Models

Cultures: Theoretical Models Walden University Cross-Cultural psychology examines human activities in various cultural settings, by engaging several approaches. Some of these approaches were self evident from the course video dealing with the Thailand women cultural wear of brass neck shackles. Evolutionary Perspective The culture of wearing brass neck shackles by the Thailand women is described by the relative evolutionary factors affecting human behavior. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection postulates that organism evolve with the pursuit of the biological traits that will promote longevity and survival. Such traits—aggressiveness, initiative, curiosity, obedience, intelligence, etc. , are so selected to reproduce offspring that will permeate and advance same competitive, advantageous genes to unending generations. These desired or preferred genetic—biological inheritance, elicited or interpreted in the form of beauty, reproductive behavior, proportional body size, bodily hormones, etc. form the bases for the cultural persuasion, (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). The sexes utilize these endowments as a measure of selection or discrimination for or against opposite sexes. Applicably, in the case of the Thailand women, the evolutionary perspective will continue to maintain and uphold this culture of elongating the neck by wearing the brass-neck shackles, because the culture promotes the selection of mates with long neck as a desired gene and shows altruism in a woman; the women, on the other hand, display the feature of a long neck as an attraction for the right mate. By right mate, the woman, who, by nature, longs for stability and security, targets material support in a partner. Sociological Approach Sociological Approach is a â€Å"general view of human behavior that focuses on broad social structures that influence society as a whole, and subsequently its individuals;† (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). Society as an entity creates social structures that are purposefully designed to assure its stability and conformity among its citizens. By creating these social norms, the society then imposes acceptance and subordination on the people. By default, the citizens of the society are nurtured and naturalized by the prescribed ethics and values. Consequently, these cultural norms and values are upheld in high esteem as a regulator of its citizen ideals, moral behaviors, ethics and expectations. Resultantly, the citizens pass on these cultural values or traditions from generation to generation, (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). Upon the above premises, the traditional Thailand custom—women wear of neck shackles to elongate the neck, reinforces the societal expectations by subjectively promoting the act as a required and desirable form of beauty; the transference of the norm to posterity. Ecocultural Approach Using the ecocultural approach, explain how the woman’s interaction with the environment supports the actions she takes. The above approach coincides with the principle that entities are the product of their environment. In essence, individuals interact with the domain environmental factors; have the ability to transform it and to be transformed by it. These environmental factors relate to ecological context—the economic activity of the population in reference to austerity of food, quality of nutrition, homeostasis, as well as, the density of the population. All these exert a considerable impact on individual. Another factor is the sociopolitical context—relates to the degree of the people’s involvement in both global and local decisions. Inclusive in this context are the presence or absence of political freedoms, ideological values and organization of government, (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). Thus, economically hostile environment creates cross-cultural differences, hence, the less privileged will be concerned or consumed with fending for daily scour; as a result, retain a culture of their own environment. As well, in politically unstable environments, long term customs are affected adversely. In the case of the action of the woman in the video, fleeing her country of origin to Thailand, to preserve her custom of wearing brass neck shackles intended to stretch the neck, was prompted by political instability and hostile environment, when in 1962, the Military Government decided to modernize the society and get rid of all primitive and tribal customs. All three approaches of examining human activities in human cultural settings—evolutionary, sociological and ecocultural approaches share similarities, among which are: They human organisms in a given setting maintain a defining culture or custom that governs their ways of life. These customs uphold their value system and detect their moral and ethical behaviors. Secondly, all three approaches show that these traditions, customs or culture are die-hard; and they are passed on from generation to generation. Nonetheless, certain differences exist among them. Firstly, while evolutionary approach observes culture or custom development from a natural selective—biological, principle and its outcome or foundation remains solid, the sociological approach deals with the development of culture through the impart of large social groups or institutions. The customs from the preceding setup are prone to undergo changes or reformations that produce societal disorder, economic disenfranchisement and dual-social order. Evidently, every society is regulated by one form of culture or the other. Such culture can be denoted with modernization, traditional or both. The clearer understanding of the custom of wearing brass neck shackles—for neck elongation, as shown on the video, was provided evolutionary approach. This is because of theory of natural selection; in which a desired trait is preserved and showcased. Such that, in the case of the Thailand women, the custom is the means of being selected by and attracted to the well-off men for economic security. Reference: Shiraev, E. , & Levy, D. (2010). Cross-cultural psychology: Critical thinking and contemporary applications (4th ed. ). Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Pearson Education, Inc.

Political and historic perspective of Poland Essay

Political and historic perspective of Poland - Essay Example ng states would influence the course of Poland’s history from peace time to wars with specific periods in each of these countries’ histories, interconnected. For instance, according to Geoffrey Elton et al. (1990), the balance of power between landowners and the monarchy was so even throughout the century as to give to their relations, whether of conflict or co-operation, a significance that illuminates the more decisive conflicts which were at the same time being waged in the extremer parts of Europe. (526) More specifically, we have Poland’s war against Russia which reduced the country into near anarchy and eventually divided it among Russia, Prussia and Austria. Afterwards, the Second World War would leave the country in ruins, earning for Poland the distinction of the country with the most percentage of deaths among its citizens. After the war, Poland became a communist country with a Soviet imposed government patterned after the rest of the Eastern bloc. In the communism’s fall in the 1990s, a democratic government was set in place and thus, began the history of Democratic Poland. Ethnic groups that have settled in Central Europe, such as Slavic, Celtic, Baltic and Germanic is said to have given rise to Poland. A system that had some semblance to a government with a definite territory was first seen in 966 A.D. And since then, Poland had always had a unitary form of government except in the 12th century wherein the country descended into a period of feudal disintegration fragmenting the country into several states. Poland flourished during era of foreign migration, particularly during the influx of the Jews. The parliamentary system of government has been in place in Poland since the fifteenth to sixteenth century when the nobility wielded political power based on the local or country assemblies, which exercised parliamentary functions. (Elton et al. 528) I would like to underscore that around the period of sixteenth century there was a large number

Technology in TEFL Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Technology in TEFL - Essay Example It is against this background that this assignment is being written. This assignment aims at exploring the rational by which computer-based learning material has been designed. The computer-based learning material was designed to aid teaching among a group of Arabic students who are learning English at the per-intermediate level. The assignment would also give the learning context for the creation of the computer-based learning material. The learning context shall be made up of a vivid description of the students who are to benefit from the computer-based learning material that has been designed. Portions of the description shall include the strengths and weaknesses of students, the learning needs of students as well as the prospects of the students in becoming excellent English students. It is worth emphasizing that the computer-based learning material was designed based on the needs, weaknesses and future prospects of the students in questions. 2. Learning context Type of lesson: G eneral English Skills Covered - vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, reading, listening and speaking Level: Pre-Intermediate Time: 60 minutes Class profile The class to benefit from the computer based learning material is a group of Arab students at the secondary school level. The learning level of these students can best be described as being at the pre-intermediate level. ... As noted by Gucker (2010), students generally acquire and master the receptive skills before productive skills and this is no different among the class. The students have a better command over reading and listening than writing and speaking. Clearly, the situation has arisen because with the receptive skills, much of the effort comes from teachers as compared to students. For instance in listening, it is the teacher who does the speaking for students to list. Students therefore hear the correct usage and pronunciation of English words. The same applies to reading as the teacher normally reads verbatim for students to follow. However with speaking and writing, students are expected to produce their own efforts, a situation that causes a lot of learning stress to students. Again, in students’ attempt to speak or write, it has been observed that they always have conflict of language usage with their native Arabic language. The class is made of fifteen (15) students, all of whom a re females. The number of students is relatively handy and so class monitoring and feedback is not as difficult as would have been in classes with larger class size. This means that the problem identified does not have much to do with the class size. However the problem could be linked to the limited instructional period for English language. This is because students have English lessons only two hours in a week. This situation results in students having very little time to practice English language. Clearly, language learning is an interactive exercise that demands constant learning and application of ideas studied to ensure proper comprehension (Koduah, 2001:91). Needs of Students and Aim for Lesson The most immediate needs of students has to do with their pending end

Student loan vs bank loan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Student loan vs bank loan - Research Paper Example A majority of students applies for federal loans. However, there has been an increase in the number of students applying for bank student loans. The federal government determines the fixed interest rates of the federal student loans, while the lender determines bank student loan rates. The lender determines the fee to be charged on the principal amount, and this is based on the credit worthiness. Students who are apply for Stafford and Perkins loans to require credit worthiness but those applying for the PLUS loan require no previous adverse credit. Considering the pros and cons of each option, it becomes challenging to decide whether students should apply for the federal student loans or the bank student loans. There have been price wars about the federal loans and bank loans for students as reported in the media in recent times (Andriotis 1). One may argue that the bank loans for students are actually cheaper than those being offered by the federal government. A few years back students preferred to have loans from the federal government because the rates were subsidized. This means that in the case of a rise in the interest of the federal loan, the students’ rates were not affected. The students were allowed to pay the amount that was agreed. Many students preferred federal student loans because they are easy to qualify for compared to banks (Clark 1). The bar set for by the federal government understands the need of students to have the money to pay for education. Banks on the other hand need assurance they will get their money back. This means that to access money from a bank the qualifications are quite high. The credit history of the student should be clean. The students should also have a repayment ability convincing enough to the bank before accessing a bank loan. This means the students should have a source of income, which is highly unlikely in most cases. The bank will require financial information on

Electronic Surveillance at Work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Electronic Surveillance at Work - Essay Example A section of the report is dedicated to assessing the positive and negative impacts of using the electronic surveillance technique in the public. The positive implications of using the electronic surveillance technique in workplaces are also mentioned. the conclusion is of the report is framed by evaluating the need for the electronic surveillance techniques and assessing how the employer groups can use the system in the most value-adding manner. There may be two types of surveillance that can be employed in an organization. These are covert surveillance and covert surveillance. Electronic surveillance is a common type of overt surveillance used by organizations to monitor the activities and behaviors of employees in the workplace. Electronic surveillance at work refers to the use of different kinds of technological devices like computers, Closed Circuit Televisions (CCTV) systems and other devices for the monitoring, recording, and tracking of the employee activities in their workplaces (Fuchs, Boersma, Alrechtslund and Sandoval, 2012). The electronic surveillance can be employed in real time as well as a record maintaining system. There are a number of electronic surveillance techniques that are used in the contemporary organizations. These include the use of computer and Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems and telephone loggings, GPS tracking, mystery shopping, electronic recruitment and drug testing (Foster, 2011). T he developments in the electronic surveillance systems employed in the corporate world include the use of accelerometers in cell phones to monitor the activities of the employees, enterprise-wide computing device applications which are used to compile and monitor the information in the company that are posted by the employees in the social media applications and which are also used by the management of the firm and the facial recognition applications developed by Microsoft Corporation for assessing the mood of the individual.

Critical Thinking in the Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critical Thinking in the Workplace - Essay Example Let us now discuss an example to show how critical thinking can be applied to work-related decisions. One of my friends, James, was working as assistant manager in an event management firm. A conflict arose when one of his senior employees, Steve Hudson, refused to supervise a campaign on religious grounds. Hudson had to taste meat in front of the public to launch the campaign. The HR manager consulted the issue with James in order to find a proper solution to the problem. They came up with four options to resolve the issue. Those options included assigning Austin to a low-profile campaign, terminating Hudson’s services on the grounds of disobedience, switching place of Hudson with some other supervisor, and promoting one of Hudson’s subordinates to lead this campaign for this specific event. James and his manager analyzed all options and selected fourth option because that option was the most suitable one to resolve the issue. James and his manager gave preference to the religious views of Hudson over any other thing and did not terminate him on the grounds of disobed ience because he was a very skilled and talented employee of the company. Critical thinking plays a considerable role in decision-making processes. It makes people aware of all aspects of the issue, which helps them take most appropriate decisions based on the analysis of all aspects. Decision-making is the process of choosing the best alternative from the pool of choices. A person needs to look at all possible consequences of all choices before selecting the most suitable choice. The process of critical thinking is unbiased in nature and provides assists decision-makers in taking unbiased decisions. Critical thinking means to let the past assumptions go and embrace new ideas based on proper evaluation and reasoning. Upson (2011) states, â€Å"Critical thinking can help people to excel in their professional lives, allowing for clearer, more concise thought

Rock 'n' Roll High School Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Rock 'n' Roll High School - Essay Example Rather, the term might describe a social situation of excessive libertarianism or direct democracy, as we find in the writings of John Cage. Thus, systematic anarchy would add more features to such a social situation. Systematic anarchy cannot lead to chaos, simply because it is systematic. The systemized social state of direct democracy or excessive libertarianism would definitely provide enough room for the individuals to express themselves. The systematic anarchy would culminate at freedom of expression and action in a social state that would lack institutional rigidity but appreciate the good sides of human character. In the context of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, this is the very social situation of a handful of hilarious students. They break conventions, do things that they should not, challenge our regular thinking, and explore a libertarian environment in the form of systematic anarchy. This systematic anarchy is not chaotic. Rather it is expressionist, combined with the flavors of realism, surrealism, and satire. The very plot of Rock ‘n’ Roll High School sets the backdrop of this certain kind of anarchy. In the Vince Lombardi High School, principals suffer from nervous breakdowns as the students of the school completely disregard education and love rock ‘n’ roll whole heartedly. Through a sequence of exciting and sometimes, funny events, these students invite the ‘Ramones’ (a rock band) and take over the control of their school. In response to this, they face criticism and pressure from their parents and teachers. The parents and teachers even move to police. Finally, in all this turmoil, the activities of the student lead to an explosive climax. Certain interesting scenes and sequences are created in the film. In the scene when the musical number â€Å"Do You Wanna Dance?† is set, we find the rock stars confused, even their instruments not plugged in, and the students jump and bounce all around in excitement and joy.

Television is the most important source of news for young people Essay - 2

Television is the most important source of news for young people today. To what extent do you agree - Essay Example Therefore, television is no longer the most important source of news for the young people. This paper will present an argument on the decrease in the number of young television users and how the means of presenting the news have changed. Firstly, the conventional news on the television has become very unpopular among the young people as the number of skeptics has increased. According to recent polls in the United States, only one in every four Americans believes information they see on the main news channels (Dimmick & Hoplamazian, 2011). This is due to the increase in the number of news sources as well as the improvement in communication between different parts of the world making the one sided nature taken by most news channels very obvious and hence tarnishing their credibility among the citizens. More young people are now turning to alternative media for the news which they believe is less biased and has no interest in brainwashing them (McCombs et al., 2011). There is also the fact that the young population is no longer glued on to the television set like in the past decades. The nature of television whereby individuals have to sit and watch programs in a sequential process is no longer popular as the internet gives viewers the ability to access the exact information and program which they wish to view (Dimmick & Hoplamazian, 2011). There are also several other advantages on the internet which has made television a less popular news source. Individuals can follow different events through social networks. The young population today is extremely active on social networks and the application features that are constantly upgraded make these the ideal platforms for relaying news to the community. In fact all news channels have a page on a popular social network such as Facebook, Twitter or instagram. According to studies there are approximately 760 million daily Facebook users (Broersma &Graham,

Koalas Essay Example for Free

Koalas Essay Obamacare, or what is formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is federal legislation that was signed into law on March 23, 2010 by present Barak Obama. The act aims to reform national healthcare and give more people than before access to affordable healthcare. The overall goal of the act is to cover all persons regardless of their conditions or other factors. The passing of Obamacare has led to much conflict in the government and throughout the nation. In particular, recently the act has been the root of heated disagreements and government unrest among the Democrats and Republicans. Obamacare, or the concept of a nation or statewide healthcare program, is not the first of its kind. The idea dates as far back as 1989 when it was proposed to Congress. Bill and Hillary Clinton had a similar objective in the 1990’s and Mitt Romney made similar reforms in 2006 while the governor of Massachusetts. The Clinton’s health care plan was similar to Obama’s in that they were national campaigns to provide universal healthcare. Also similar was the amount of controversy both drew up in the House as well as with the American people. The newly imposed ACA has many areas in which it aims to help those who cannot afford healthcare as well as better the healthcare system in the country as a whole. The main point of Obamacare is guaranteed issue of healthcare to all people and prohibits the denial of healthcare based on prior conditions. One benefit of Obamacare is allowing children to stay on their parents’ healthcare plan until age 26. Along with guaranteed coverage, Obamacare will institute an exchange so individuals can compare prices of private insurances and purchase insurance. It is estimated that over 15 million men and women will be eligible for purchase of healthcare. Families that fall within a certain distance to the poverty line will be compensated for choosing a policy using this exchange. This is an incentive for people to utilize this plan and purchase healthcare. On the business side of things, Obamacare also pushes towards the nationalizing of healthcare. There are penalties for businesses who employ over 5o employees and do not provide healthcare. Overall there are several efforts made in many areas of the country to push for healthcare for everyone in the United States. There are many areas in which families and individuals can benefit from the Affordable Care Act. According to ObamacareFacts, Americans making less than $45,960 or families making under $94,200 are eligible for free or low-cost insurance. Also, as a result of  Obamacare 24 million people will be exempt from the Individual Mandate which requires the purchase of health insurance. It is noted that anyone who feels they cannot afford healthcare will be covered under Obamacare and granted low-cost or free insurance. Dating back to 2008 the Democrats and Republicans had been on different sides of the national healthcare debate. The senate was close to passing the bill to reform healthcare in 2009. The Democrats needed 60 votes to pass, but due to a series of events leading to some members not supporting the bill or not voting, the act was not passed. After further delegation, what previously was a disagreement of terms and conditions had Republicans and Democrats in stark opposition to one another. All Democrats were strong supports of the bill and Republicans adamantly opposed. Now, it is clear the side the Democrats take on the Affordable Care Act. The real question is, why do Republicans oppose what appears to be such a proactive and achievable goal? The topic is an intriguing one, and one that does not have one definite answer. The Republicans themselves say nothing more than that Obamacare will destroy the country. Such a powerful accusation yet no real explanation or further comments lead only to more questions than answers on their true position. There are arguments that say the ACA is detrimental to the economy, and that businesses cannot afford to spend any more money on healthcare. Another claim was that Obamacare was unconstitutional, although the Supreme Court overruled this idea. Sources outside the Republican Party see the Republicans’ dislike of Obamacare solely because they dislike Obama himself. They appear to be against Obamacare simply just to be again st Obama. Another theory is the tax increases that would come along with Obamacare. One New York Times article highlights the â€Å"real reason† as to why Republicans are opposed to the Affordable Care Act. Eduardo Porter claims that Republicans are actually afraid that the American people will like Obamacare. They do not want the US population to realize that it will not actually destroy the economy and it can actually improve the lives of many people, many Republicans to be more specific. They are fearful of the positive impacts it could have on supporters of the Republican Party. One common problem many Americans admit to having with Obamacare. The nickname Obamacare is a point many people cannot get past, and when asked if they support it or not many say they do not. But the overwhelming majority of Americans agree with the actual terms  of the ACA and the steps it takes to better healthcare in the US. It could be that the simple concept of a nickname could be the main problem people have with an overall positive proposal. Although Obamacare itself has been spread out to institute new laws and regulations over the next 5-10 years, the effects of some of the early plans have already been present. ACA has already impacted the number of insured Americans and that amount is expected to continue to rise. Another change that has already been made is regarding dropping policy holders. No longer are insurance firms allowed to drop policy holders due to sickness or injury. Perhaps the most noticed and controversial part to date is the increase in healthcare costs and its effects on the national budget. The national debt limit has been a very sensitive topic and the affect Obamacare will have on it is not helping the problem. It needs to be determine the lengths necessary to go in order to make healthcare nationally available yet not impact the national debt in a way as to cause economic unrest. With a plan that has stirred up so much unrest in its early days, the future does not bode well for Obamacare. Johnathan Oberlander of the New England Journal of Medicine argues that many of the problems that the Affordable care act faces today will not be present once the act is more establis hed in several years. Once the disagreements on the actual passing of the bill fade, in come the disputes about what the act does and does not do and the boundaries of the laws. â€Å"Perhaps the most difficult long-term challenge facing Obamacare is cost control† (Oberlander, New England Journal of Medicine). Cost control is a serious issue that is seen to be a point of major contention in the future due to the lack of limits on spending. Another negative aspect of Obamacare is the affect it will have on our country in the global scheme of things. The spending on healthcare in the United States makes up 35% of the national spending, a whopping $1.38 trillion (Boot, Wall Street Journal). Much different than a time when the majority of spending was allocated to war or national security, many Americans now worry about the extent of healthcare costs in relation to other costs. Globally we are seen as a significant power, but with so much of our money dedicated to healthcare people are concerned for th e safety and protection of our nation. Along with the healthcare protection of Obamacare comes the increase in government spending, and with that comes the alarming reality of less and less spending on our national  security. In my opinion Obamacare is a very beneficial planned instituted by the government that receives an unnecessary and unfair amount of criticism. The Kaiser Health Tracker poll asked Americans whether or not they supported Obamacare and the majority were against it. However, the poll also showed that 88% were in support of tax credits, 76% in favor of expanding the coverage age of children to 26, and 71% and 66% in favor of expanding Medicaid and banning exclusions for preexisting conditions respectively. This shows that people are unfairly judging Obamacare, whether that be because of the nickname given to it or because it is President Obama’s plan. I feel that the overall objective of the plan is one that should not be so vehemently disputed and put down by Americans and other political parties. The goal of achieving a nationally supported healthcare is a very positive one that should be supported by anyone who is in favor of the well-being of our country.

Critical thinking skills

Critical thinking skills According to Loving and Wilson (2000), its challenging task to making sure the students have the critical thinking skills. To Novak, learning requires 5 components which are the teacher, learner, knowledge, evaluation and context to present. Novak also mentioned that students should be guided by a good teacher through actual learning and not just by just memorizing it. A concept map is taught to the students in order to improve their cognitive skills related to critical thinking skills which are useful in various fields. The concepts map is able to improve the students performance in the subjects requiring critical thinking skills (Daley et al, 1999). Hence, Ausubels (1968) assimilation theory is used together with Novaks (1998) concept map in order to promote critical thinking skills among the students because the characteristics of critical thinking such as analysis, interpretation, inference, explanation and self regulation are involved in the concept development. (Vacek, 2009) 5 steps of learning process such as concept formation, subsumption, progressive differentiation, integrative reconciliation and conlidation are described in the Ausubel assimilation theory. These steps are combined to make complicated critical thinking process so much easier through the building of a concept map (Novak, 1998). The formation of concept is divided into the primary concept and secondary concept. According to Ausubel (1968), the young children begin to recognize and label something that is regular using the language symbols and the concept formation is first occurring in them. Through observation, the young children shaped their intellectual activity and this makes up the primary concept which the example of primary concept include chair, table and cat (Novak 1998). The secondary concept is when upon having recognized much regularity, their cognitive structures are built, and many new concepts without any visible objects are taken by the children through children. The examples are love, anger and sadness. According to Novak (1998), the learning process of adults constructing the new concepts is similar with the process learnt by a child to create meaning for words. The formation of concept is also similar with interpretation of critical thinking.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to Ausubel (1968), the integration of the newly acquired knowledge with the previous knowledge is what known as the subsumption, a phase of learning process and meaningful learning. New content and old knowledge are linked together and this forms the assimilation theory.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In progressive differentiation, Ausubel (1998) stated that the natural sequence in which human beings cognitively organize and store knowledge is hierarchal from general to specific. It is rarely used in the education which causes many students to memorize the information than having a meaningful learning process. Human mind works by taking the whole with the assimilated parts than the vice versa process. Ausubel (1998) also mention that it can be achieved by arranging the information in a hierarchal series which its from the general to the details parts in a descending manner by having subset points branching from the main points.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Integrated reconciliation is a form of analysis which it will occur when a person understands a given concept which is different but also similar to another concept. Misconceptions will happens when integrated reconciliation is not done. Newly acquired ideas are integrated and related with the previously learned subjects. With integrated reconciliation, students will know how to interconnect his new learning and old learning through making full use of the previous learnt knowledge to support the new knowledge.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ausubel (1968) mentioned that consolidation is done through correction and clarification and it is important to master one lesson before learning the next lesson as learning might be interrupted if a student did not master the current lesson. Its a part of critical thinking as consolidation will create opportunity for the student to self-regulate their lesson.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The combination of Ausubels theory of assimilation and Novaks concept maps is used to promote and master the critical thinking skills. According to Novak(1998), a concept is defined as a perceived regularity in events or objects, or records of events or objected designated by label. A concept map can help people to decode, interpret and categorize the problems. A concept map is started by identifying and addresses the problems on maps and later presenting it from the general into more specific concepts in a descending hierarchal manner with cross-links that portrays a connection of knowledge. Barriers to Critical Thinking The integration of critical thinking skills to education are often hindered by barriers or obstacles. These barriers are lack of training, lack of information, preconceptions and time constraints. According to Broadbear(2003), the lack of training among the teachers in critical thinking methodology cause the poor the critical thinking skills among the students. The teachers dont know how to teach critical thinking skills although they have received the training methods and knowing the contents of the critical thinking skills. Next, Scriven and Paul (2007) mention that the lack of additional critical thinking resources in the instructional materials as only a few instructional materials provide it. Although, certain textbooks provide chapter-based critical thinking discussion questions but however it lacks additional information. Often, preconceptions such as personal bias about the instructional materials often inhibit and blocks the ability of the teachers and students to think critically as one of the characteristics of critical thinking skills is analytical skills which is being fair, open-minded and inclined to ask questions regarding the topics. (Kang Howren, 2004). Lastly, instructors have to cover a wide content within a short time period and hence, shortcuts are taken by these instructors in order to finish the syllabus. Lectures, tips or objective tests are given to the students instead of testing their analytical abilities through problem based questions. The instructors tend to focus on the content rather giving opportunities to the students to solve questions. Objective tests are given to the students as it is faster to grade than short answer questions and according to the research done, objective tests and lecturing are not the best assessment and instruction methods (Broadbear, 2003; Brodie Irving 2007). Critical Thinking Development: A Stage Theory   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are 6 stages in the critical thinking development. The stages start with the unreflective thinker stage followed by the challenged thinker, the beginning thinker, the practicing thinker, the advanced thinker and lastly, the master thinker stage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first stage, the unreflective thinker stage, which the thinker lacks the awareness regarding their thinking are affecting their lives and they dont know how to apply their knowledge and regularly practice in their daily lives. Clarify, accuracy, logic, or relevance are part of the standards for the assessment of thinking of which the thinkers in this stage are unaware of. Their thinking skills may have developed but they might not realize it. Besides, problems such as prejudices and misconceptions might occur in their lives due to lack of self-monitoring thoughts. Next, graduates graduating from secondary school or college can be still in the first stage and they lack the skills to assess or improve their thinking.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second stage, the challenged thinker, is defined when the thinkers realized and aware that thinking is part of their lives and also problems arises due to poor thinking. They are aware that their thinking has problems but unaware in identifying the problems are. Standards for the assessment and also awareness of thinking as involving concepts, assumptions and inferences are what the thinkers in this stage are becoming aware of although their understanding might be limited. The inconsistency of applying their thinking skills are making the thinkers believed that their thinking is better than it actually is. The beginning thinker which is the third stage is when the thinkers realized the basic problems in their thinking and begin to find ways to understand and improve their thinking through modification of some of their thinking but might have lack the systematic plans and limited understanding of deeper levels of problems. In this stage, the thinkers have enough skills to self regulate their thoughts and able to accept the critique of their powers of thought. Next, they begin to realize the needs of internalizing and using the standards for the assessment of thinking and also the role of thinking in their daily life. The fourth stage is the practicing thinker which the thinker recognize the needs to address the problems existed the in their thinking through a systematic practice in thinking regularly and internalize them into habits. However, they lack the understanding of the deeper levels of understanding which leads to deeper levels of problems embedded in the thinking. They becoming more knowledgeable and regularly monitor the role in their thinking and also assessing their standards for the assessment of thinking. The key trait in this stage is intellectual perseverance which will become a driving force developing a realistic plan for systematic practice. Stage five or the advanced thinker is when the thinkers are into problems at deeper levels of thought such as egocentric and sociocentric and also actively analyzing their thinking. They are able to systematically monitor the role in their thinking and regularly assess their standards of assessment. Next, the advanced thinkers are able to develop new habits of thought through the deep and systematic internalization of critical thinking. Besides, they are able to figure the strengths and weaknesses of their own thinking and systematic plans and will try to keep improving the plan. The last stage or the master thinker stage, the thinkers are to take charge of their thinking, self monitoring, and continue to improve their own set of thinking. They are highly conscious and intuitive regarding of their own critical thinking skills through many experiences and practices. They are fairly minded and have developed new insights into problems at deeper levels of thought. To summarize, master thinkers are able to critique, consistently monitor, improving, think through complex issues with good judgment and perform effectively in everything in their lives. Critical Thinking Cognitive Skills   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to Facione (1990), both cognitive skills and the disposition dimension are required for a good critical thinking. For critical thinking, cognitive skills such as interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation and self-regulation are the six 6 core skills.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Facione (1990) mentioned that the panels of experts defined interpretation as to comprehend and express the meaning or significance of a wide variety of experiences, situations, data, events, judgments, conventions, beliefs, rules, procedures, or criteria. Below the interpretation are the sub-skills of categorization, decoding significance, and clarifying meaning. In categorization, it is to sort and sub-classifying information in order to understand or describe events or situations. Describing intentions, purposes and motives of a persons facial expressions, language, signs or graphs and tables are what sub-skill of decoding significance about. Lastly, clarifying meaning is about to paraphrase or finding example which helps to explain something to other person while the meaning remains the same as intended.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Analysis is defined as to identify the intended and actual inferential relationships among statements, questions, concepts, descriptions, or other forms of representation intended to express belief, judgment, experiences, reasons, information, or opinions.. The sub-skills of analysis are examining ideas, detecting arguments, and analyzing arguments. Examining ideas are about defining terms, to compare ideas or statements, and also to identify problems or issues. In detecting arguments, its to determine the claims or against a given opinion based on given paragraphs, statements or descriptions. In analyzing arguments, its about finding the main resources, background and the sub-points of the main conclusion based on given reasons intended to support some claim.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The panels of experts in Delphi study defined the evaluation as the to assess the credibility of statements or other representations which are accounts or descriptions of a persons perception, experience, situation, judgment, belief, or opinion; and to assess the logical strength of the actual or intended inferential relationships among statements, descriptions, questions or other forms of representation. The sub-skills of evaluation are assessing claims and assessing arguments. The recognizing of factor which makes a person as credible witness or to determine given claim is whether true or false are what sub-skill assessing claims are about. In assessing arguments, its about judging between two contradict statements and also judge whether the conclusion drawn have the evidence back-up.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inference is defined as to identify and secure elements needed to draw reasonable conclusions; to form conjectures and hypotheses; to consider relevant information and to reduce the consequences flowing from data, statements, principles, evidence, judgments, beliefs, opinions, concepts, descriptions, questions, or other forms of representation. The sub-skills of inference are querying evidence, conjecturing alternatives and drawing conclusions. In querying evidence, the information related to theory, questions, and issues is judged before it is decided. Next, multiple alternatives are create to solve a given question with a range of possible consequences, decisions and policies in the sub skill of conjecturing alternatives. Lastly, various opinions, evidences, relevant information together with ones own opinion are required before making a final conclusion for a given problem for the sub-skill of drawing conclusion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The last 2 core skills can enable people to think, explain their thinking and apply the critical thinking skills in their thinking thus improving themselves. In explanation, it is defined as to state and to justify that reasoning in terms of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, and contextual considerations upon which ones results were based; and to present ones reasoning in the form of cogent arguments. The sub-skills of explanation include stating results, justifying procedures and presenting arguments. Stating results sub-skill requires a person to analyze results of which he had produced accurate statement through reasoning and state ones research findings. In justifying procedures, a person shall record, evaluate, or justify his or her processes of solving problems based on other sub-skills and by presenting the evidences and also methodological. For example, it is used to show the steps in solving mathematical problems. La stly, to give reasons for accepting some claims is what sub-skill presenting argument about.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lastly, self-regulation is defined as self-consciously to monitor ones cognitive activities, the elements used in those activities, and the results educed, particularly by applying skills in analysis, and evaluation to ones own inferential judgments with a view toward questioning, confirming, validating, or correcting either ones reasoning or ones results. The sub-skills are self-examination and self-correction. In self-examination, it is based on ones motivation, reflections, values, reasoning or attitudes to verify results produced and correcting the cognitive skills involved. In self-correction, its to create steps to corrects the problems that are arises when self-examination reveals errors. Learning Theory Behaviorism Behaviorism is when the a person is a passive learner, which the teachers mere fill the empty minds of the students with knowledge for the sake of getting better results in the examination. Its based on principle of stimulus-response which the behavior is caused by the external or environmental stimuli. The learners are extrinsically motivated by the teacher and absorb knowledge only. Correct behavior will be reinforced by the teacher through a system of rewarding and incorrect behavior by the students will be punished by the teacher. The learner is an empty vessel and the behavior is shaped through positive or negative reinforcement. Thorndike (1911)s theory of law of exercise showed that a learners behaviors and thinking can be influenced through responses from a teacher. The thinking opportunities are limited as implicit thinking is through passive process as knowledge is obtained to exposure only. Constructivism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In constructivism, the learners are an active learner, which they keen on experimenting with materials, objects and ideas in order to understand new information and often, they enjoy group work. The learners can develop their own personalized understandings of how world revolved around them by constructing their own knowledge and understanding. New knowledge which is obtained by learners is checked against existing self-existing knowledge. Disequilibrium might occur as newly obtained knowledge might conflict with existing beliefs and new knowledge have to be assimilated into the new knowledge. The teacher can support the development of the thinking in the learners by giving challenging problems and this enables the learners to have cognitive processing. There are 4 stages of cognitive development according to Piagets theory. First stage, sensorimotor stage (birth to 2 year old), the infant is able to differentiate between self from other objects and ab le to understand how things by interacting with the environment. Assimilation and accommodation helps learning to take place. Next stage, between ages 2 to 4, preoperational stage, objects are represented through images and words as the child is able to learn to use language and also be classified in simple ways through the distinct features. The child is unable to think abstractly and needs concrete situations. Examples of abstract and concrete are justice and court. Third stage, the child is between age 7 to 11, a concrete operations stage, the child is able to think logically about objects because the child to think abstractly and conceptualize and also, the modified schemata due the object cannot be assimilated is increased due to accumulation of physical experience. The last stage, the formal operations stage, ages 11 to 15, the person is able to make deductive and hypothetical reasoning as his or her cognitive ability reaches the final stage and thus, the thinking is also simi lar to an adult in this stage. The implications of thinking are implicit thinking through assumed process and thinking outcomes by task resolution. Social Constructivism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Social constructivism is based on the Vygostkian ideas which social interaction is important for the development of thinking and cognitive as well. In Vygostkian idea, the main concepts are the More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). MKO is defined as a person who is more knowledgeable, better understanding, higher ability than learner regarding to a task, process and concept. The MKO can be anyone from teacher, coach, peers, younger person or computers. ZPD is defined by Vygostky (1986) as the the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers. An appropriate assistance or scaffolding which is given to learner for particular task will help the learner to achieve the task faster and once the learner mastered the task, the scaffolding can be removed as the learner is able to complete the task on his or her own. Language is important as its an important tool to put the inner thoughts and thinking into words. Vygostky also stressed that social interaction is important than development. Its a dynamic process between teachers and learners as teacher helps to meditate, scaffold and supports thinking. The thinking is explicit as the learner is actively sharing the cognitive and collective contribution to solve problems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Brain aspects that promote critical thinking are divided into 5 types which are the unique brain, the problem solving brain, the maturing brain, the adaptive brain and the emotional brain.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Factors that affect the uniqueness that is different in every human being are gender, exposure to abuse, specific disorders, culture and exposure to drugs, toxins or trauma. For example, a person with head trauma might have difficulty in learning compared to a person with a healthier brain.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the problem solving brain, a person is not born with ability to solve skills as problem solving requires many skills and these skills have to be learnt by the brain. The brain will change every time a person learns a skill by reorganizing the brain mass, cortical organization and interregional connectivity. Next, new synapses are created whenever there is a new learning which has a challenging task. In addition, repetition is the key for learning new skills in the brain. The process of learning a skill should work from particular sub-skill, generalizing sub-skill and lastly to real-life experiences. Theres should be a limit of interval for the training of new thinking skills. Besides, the production of new cells for learning and memory are enhanced by the gross motor activity or the movements of the large muscles of the body as the physical exercise can make reading easier to students who have difficulties in learning.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The environmental factors are directly affecting the maturation of the brain. Next, every parts of the brain have different maturation rates as brain frontal lobes may fully matured at the age of 25 to 30 as it is a slow process. The characteristics of the maturing brain are language and reading skills, social awareness, ability to know the cause and effect and ability to make hypotheses or inferences. Poor nutrition will cause the process of brain maturation to slow down. Lastly, past and life experience will shape the neurons in the frontal lobes of the brain which is responsible for higher order thinking skills such as critical thinking skills.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The adaptive brain is when the brain is shaped through by postnatal experiences. Highly complex interaction with the environment through stimulation will help to cause the brain to be specialized and thus allowing development of thinking in the learners brain. For example, higher SAT scores are obtained by students who are actively involved in school drama performance than the students that did not participate. It is important for the parents to let the children to play and early experiences that make them to make mistakes. Next, exceptional upbringing such as unusual mentor or parents will often results children with exceptional thinking skills. Next, nutrition also plays important roles in cognitive among the children. Lastly, opportunities should be given to the children to develop talents and abilities as its important for them to developing thinking skills.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The emotional brain relates to the ability to think critically. The emotions are always changeable due the brains sensitivity of responding to both internal and external stimuli and the brain are consists of cooperative neural clusters activated by chemical and electrical energy. The stable states or when neurons involved tend to coalesce into cooperative groups, self organizing in to collective behaviors are likely to occur again at another time if the stable states of that person is long. For example, a person who is frequency afraid will enter that afraid stage, the stable state of his anytime. Hence, its important for the student to be taught the ability to focus to become the stable states as the ability is not innate thus for a student to think well, the ability to control emotions is important as well. Sensations, mental state, and feelings are what make up of emotional states and only one part of emotional state is what we consciously feel at t he time. The ability to activate the state that is required to solve problems and suppresses the negative parts of the state is what make a good critical thinker.

Flamenco Essay -- essays research papers

Flamenco is an individualistic folk art, a genuine Southern art form, which was mainly originated by Andalusian gypsies. It exists in 3 forms: El cante, song, el baile, dance and guitarrra, guitar playing. Its roots also are with Arabs, Spanish Jews and socially outcasted Christians. The flamenco essence is song, which is usually accompanied by guitar and improvised dance. Complex rhythmic patterns and sophisticated footwork differs from other European dance forms. The word "flamenco" has been questioned on why an Adalucian music form would be represented by a word that meant Flemish or flamingos. Most believe that it was Carlos I who brought with him to Spain from Flanders an entire Flemish court. These Flemish court men, on their spare time, partied with the gypsies. The two were groups were called Flemish which later translated into flamencos and as their dance culture blossomed, the word stuck. The dance music of flamenco is often divided into 3 categories: jondo, chico, or cante. Jondo is a word that means profound or serious. The music of this sort is usually intensely sad having to do with death, anguish or despair and also characterized as the cry of oppressed people for many years. Chico means light and deals with love, gaiety, humor or the countryside. El Cante is the most important which inspires "el toque" guitar playing and 'el baile." An example of a jondo would be a more serious flamenco in which hatred... Flamenco Essay -- essays research papers Flamenco is an individualistic folk art, a genuine Southern art form, which was mainly originated by Andalusian gypsies. It exists in 3 forms: El cante, song, el baile, dance and guitarrra, guitar playing. Its roots also are with Arabs, Spanish Jews and socially outcasted Christians. The flamenco essence is song, which is usually accompanied by guitar and improvised dance. Complex rhythmic patterns and sophisticated footwork differs from other European dance forms. The word "flamenco" has been questioned on why an Adalucian music form would be represented by a word that meant Flemish or flamingos. Most believe that it was Carlos I who brought with him to Spain from Flanders an entire Flemish court. These Flemish court men, on their spare time, partied with the gypsies. The two were groups were called Flemish which later translated into flamencos and as their dance culture blossomed, the word stuck. The dance music of flamenco is often divided into 3 categories: jondo, chico, or cante. Jondo is a word that means profound or serious. The music of this sort is usually intensely sad having to do with death, anguish or despair and also characterized as the cry of oppressed people for many years. Chico means light and deals with love, gaiety, humor or the countryside. El Cante is the most important which inspires "el toque" guitar playing and 'el baile." An example of a jondo would be a more serious flamenco in which hatred...

Helena Blavatsky :: Ukraine Biographies Writers Authors Essays

Helena Blavatsky Helena Blavatsky was an intriguing woman from the country of Ukraine. She could be considered a nomad for her time; however, she was not interested in finding food and shelter. Helena wanted to find those who were considered spiritualists like herself. She lived from 1831-1891 and can be considered a very influential woman from her era. Helena Petrovna Blavatsky was born August 12, 1831 in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. Her father was Colonel Peter von Hahn and her mother was Helena Andreyevna von Hahn. Colonel von Hahn was a military man fighting in Poland when Helena was born. Her mother, often hurt by her husband’s absence and wrote about the turmoil of being a woman in her time. She published 8 novels by the time she faced an untimely death at the age of 27 as a highly regarded novelist. Helena’s mother knew from the time she was born that she was no average child. (3, 4, 5, 6) When Helena was born she was very weak and the people around doubted she would even live. Therefore, before the baby was even 24 hours old a baptism was held. Helena’s aunt, a young child, was asked to stand in as a godmother. During the ceremony, the child became restless and knocked over a candle without anyone noticing. The priest performing the baptism suffered severe burns when his robe caught fire. The people at Helena’s baptism saw this as a sign. She was nicknamed Lyola because her grandparents and servants thought she had powers. (6) As a child, she had great passion for magic and the unknown. She was often found playing by the river in Ekaterinoslav. She said she was playing with the russalkas whom were green haired nymphs thought to haunt the riverbanks. When servants and other children bothered her, she threatened to have the russalkas tickle them to death. (2) While Helena, her mother, sister, and brother traveled a lot due to her father’s military position, Helena was always happiest playing with the servants’ children and not the children of her rank and aristocracy.

The Impact of Keynesian Theory on Roosevelts New Deal :: Economy

The Impact of Keynesian Theory on Roosevelt's New Deal The crash of the stock market brought many hard times. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal was a way to fix these times. John Stuart Mill and John Maynard Keynes were two economists whose economic theories greatly influenced and helped Franklin D. Roosevelt devise a plan to rescue the United States from the Great Depression it had fallen into. John Stuart Mill was a strong believer of expanded government, which the New Deal provided. John Maynard Keynes believed in supply and demand, which the New Deal used to stabilize the economy. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal is the plan that brought the U.S. out of the Great Depression. It was sometimes thought to be an improvised plan, but was actually very thought out. Roosevelt was not afraid to involve the central government in addressing the economic problem. The basic plan was to stimulate the economy by creating jobs. First Roosevelt tried to help the economy with the National Recovery Administration. The NRA spread work and reduced unfair competitive practices by cooperation in industry. Eventually the NRA was declared unconstitutional. Franklin D. Roosevelt then needed a new plan. Keeping the same idea of creating jobs he made many other organizations devoted to forming jobs and in turn helping the economy. One of those organizations was the Civilian Conservation Corps. This corps took men off the streets and paid them to plant forests and drain swamps. Another of these organizations was the Public Works Administration. This organization employed men to build highways and public buildings. These were only some of the organizations dedicated to creating jobs. Creating jobs was important because it put money in the hands of the consumer. This directly affected the supply and

Maid of Honor Speech

For those of you who don’t know, my name is Christina and I am the bride's younger sister and maid of honor. I feel both titles made me the luckiest person in the world. First of all I want to thank everyone who made this night possible. No word in the dictionary could explain my relationship with my sister. Paige, not only are you my sister, you were my first friend. We have been through a lot together, and through it all you have become my best friend. There's no one in the world quite like her.But as her sister, I see her a little differently. Most people see her as sweet Paige, but I know her true colors. As most of you know, my sister is going to be graduating college in December. She's probably one of the most intelligent people you would ever meet. But like I said, as her sister, I see her differently. Like the time she failed to realize she left an oven mitt in the oven while cooking a pizza. Or when she would always bring home stray cats and hide them in our closet be cause she knew mom would disapprove.That's the Paige I know. I didn't know Scotty before he met Paige, so unfortunately I don't have any embarrassing stories from when he was younger. When I first met Scotty, I wasn’t sure what to think of him, he was quiet, something completely different from my sister. I wasn’t sure that he could handle her outgoing personality. But after seeing the way these two acted towards each other, I knew it was true love. I never thought anyone in this world was good enough to marry my sister, but she found the one that proved my thought wrong.Not only is he going to be my sister’s husband, he will be the father to their child. I can’t picture anyone else more perfect to be part of our family. I used to believe that Scotty was the lucky one to have my sister, but I've learned over time that they are lucky to have each other. What they have is so precious and special and anyone can see that if you've ever seen them look at each o ther. I love you two so much. Congratulations!!

Economic globalization and environment change Essay

Ever since the evolution of globalization, which began in 1990s, Asia and Europe have been benefiting with industrial success and economic development. As a matter of fact globalization is lead by United States under the leadership of WTO and United Nations. Globalization has developed a business network connectivity through Internet technology bringing global businesses to a single platform enabling exchange of goods, services and technologies. Globalization operates on predetermined success followed by global norms of business principles, bringing a change in global civil society at a macro level. Some of the benefits of globalization are, increased employment opportunities in computer technology, opportunities to commence new businesses, scope for finding new customers through Internet. Globalization is not similar to internationalization, which reinstate a fact that in order to encourage globalization, political and economic processes of nations also have to be globalized to be in tune with globalization. Globalization can be successful, only when a nation’s economic policies are globalized. This once again reinstates a fact that there is a clear and close interconnectivity between globalization and economic development of nations. Economic globalization expands businesses, industrial sector, technology sector, science and research. Economic development strengthens the financial capacity of nations whether it is through export of goods or by a rise in stock market. Certainly, there is a huge impact on global civil society who directly or indirectly, participate and reciprocate by contributing a portion of service to the nation. International global political economy (IPE or GPE) is it in any way related to globalization? In this regard, â€Å"It is generally agreed that the 1970s have seen fundamental changes in the way in which the international political economy is organized, leading to a more global approach both in IPE/GPE and environment†. (Strange 1996; Scholte, 1993; Mittleman, 1997, Lipschutz, 1996). Further, it is important to understand what the ‘global’ definition states. â€Å"the encompassing of the whole globe rather than just regions. Therefore, it would not be technically, geographically, or indeed spatially correct to use the term globalization for economic, social, or political phenomena that affect only part of the (inhabited) world, as many authors do indeed propose†. (Gabriela Kutting, 2004). The environmentalism celebrated its anniversary in the year 2002 conducted by United Nations Conference on Economic Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. This was followed by 1971 Earth Day which framed the importance of global civil society. And it was 40 years since Silent Spring (Carson 1962) began the consciousness-raising work that many now credit with the birth of environmentalism as a social movement in America. †( Sheila Jasanoff, Marybeth Long Martello. 2004) â€Å"The concept â€Å"global† in contemporary environmentalism remains in this respect as essentially contested as are â€Å"liberty† and â€Å"accountability† in democratic politics†. â€Å"For now the struggle to define â€Å"global† may be one of the best avenues we have for engaging in a meaningful politics of globalism. (Sheila Jasanoff, Marybeth Long Martello, 2004) Protecting environment is an important aspect in global perspective. Conservation of forests, protection of wildlife, natural resources, controlling population, construction of dams, transport and infrastructure of states, are some of the basic criteria of a well developed nation, for which governments allocate a portion of budget every year. Global warming is also due to the cause of excessive industrialization and industrial pollution. Glaciers are also one of the causes, to the rise of water level in seas and oceans, causing floods, cyclones or other natural disasters to environment. United Nations has particularly been following up with island states in order to minimize the impact of the UN Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction. In simple form to explain, economic globalization leads to emission of more hazardous industrial gas, green house gases and automobile pollution. As a result of this, the health of environment is damaged bringing new sicknesses and epidemics such as SARS to people. There is a particular concern in 21st century about protecting environment above the parameters of economic development through globalization. From the times of 1940, when the actual industrialization began in United States till the present date, when globalization and industrialization has reached its peak and is still growing at a robust rate, a significant concern has emerged about global warming and about emission of green house gases, the causes of which have to be dealt with on an emergent need, which if ignored, may further deteriorate environment in a vast measure. This discussion of economic globalization and environment change are affecting each other, and it is important to give due consideration to each issue as a separate identity i. e. economic globalization advantages, disadvantages and its impact. Similarly the changes in environment, its negative impacts and effects and how these can be prevented. Especially environmental system brings huge unforeseen losses, such as loss of human lives in Tsunami (2004), Katrina ((2005), epidemics and loss of industrial houses and businesses, and in view of these, funds for disaster management have to be adequately provided. A periodical report of economic globalization and its impact on global civil society and above all, environment change must be followed by United Nations, WTO and World Bank in order to monitor, organize globalization and environment. The present world population is crossing the limit of six billion, which reveals a fact that, it is important to protect environment for the safe and secured health of its people. Further economic development has further disadvantage with devaluation of currency and inflation. Globally accepted currency for exchange of goods and services is admittedly U.  S. Dollar. A nation’s financial strength is determined by its regional currency exchange with U. S dollar. When U. S. dollar is devalued, it has a greater impact on all those nations, which are in trade with United States. â€Å"At the beginning of 1970s, Americans faced two economic problems: declining competitiveness and rising inflation. In 1971, for the first time in the twentieth century, the United States posted a trade deficit, meaning that Americans purchased more goods from other countries than they sold to people living in those countries†. Robert K. Schaeffer, 2005) Further U. S spends huge amounts on wars such as Iraq (2003) and disaster management for Katrina (2005) which further adds to the deficit of U. S. budget. These unforeseen events, lead to an excessive monetary pressure on governments resulting in deficit budget and in slowing down the growth in economy, resulting in inflation. This further puts work pressure on workers of industries to produce more output as compared to the regular working hours. Whenever there is a crisis in government, the negative impact of crisis affects its population both financially and at emotional level. â€Å"On August 15, 1971, President Richard Nixon confronted both problems simultaneously. To improve U. S. competitiveness, he took steps to devalue the dollar in relation to currencies in Western Europe and Japan. And to fight inflation, he introduced price and wage controls, which were designed to limit wage raises and price increases. The Nixon shocks, as these were called in Japan, marked the beginning of U. S. efforts to solve two serious economic problems†. (Robert K. Schaeffer, 2005) There is financial crisis existing in all parts of the world. The World Bank and other respective regional Central Banks have been funding nations, to use funds in order to sustain financial crisis. Conclusion Protection of environment vis-a-vis economic development along with globalization are equally important for global economy whereas appropriate measures have to be considered.

Beijing EAPS Consulting, Inc.

The case study, â€Å"Beijing EAPS Consulting, Inc. † in the Custom Book, (2011), examines the project management structure of the Beijing EAPS Consulting (BEC) company. This case study also addresses about project plan itself and how the co-workers are struggling with this communication between both mangers. This project plan has demonstrated many strengths and weakness. The one thing that the project plan needs put into action is safeguards to insure that the project is completed on time. BEC has taken on the matrix organizational structure.This type of structure combines functional and divisional organization structure styles. There are advantages and disadvantages in utilizing this type of organizational structure. Advantages include resource utilization, specialization, cross functional areas, communication and flexibility. Resource utilization allows for the project departmental managers to focus on their strengths. Also, it allows for the managers to all the workers to specialize in an area of important for that project. In turn, it uses people across the company who specialize in a field that relates to the project at hand.This matrix structure permits cross departmental communication and flexibility to work on different projects across the company structure. ( Guzman, 2012) However, with advantages come disadvantage with this type of matrix organizational structure. This structure increases complexity within the organization by leading to confusion among both workers and managers. The managers may not know what a certain employee has on their plate. In reverse, the employee will obtain an overload of work because they are receiving work from two different types of managers.Another disadvantage is an increase in overhead cost for the company due to the need for double management. This double management can lead to confusion between managers as to who has the higher priority of work creating a power struggle. (Johnson, 2012) The case study,  "Beijing EAPS Consulting, Inc. † in the Custom Book, (2011), reveals many advantages and disadvantages to this matrix organizational structure. For instance, the project manager, Ms. Song, and the departmental manager, Mr. Yang, are having a problem deciding who makes the final decisions on work to be completed because they are the same level in the management structure.Ms. Song feels like she does not have the authority to give direction to Mr. Yang’s employees. She is also wary about asking Mr. Yang to give his employees work from her because of his temperament. The loud and abrasive attitude of Mr. Yang represents the rational personality type. A rational trait is more forceful and can get angry quickly. (Lewis, 2003) Mr. Yang knows he has this type of personality; however, he does not do anything to curve this problem when he notices that Ms. Song is not communicating with him.Also, the employees do not know which manager to listen to or how to prioritize their work at hand. This causes more conflict between the employees, the project manager and departmental managers. In addition, these employees are not sure if the project manager or the department manager is their direct supervisor. This in turn causes conflict between both managers. There are some strengths and weaknesses that have been made clear about the project plan in the case study, â€Å"Beijing EAPS Consulting, Inc. † in the Custom Book, (2011).These weaknesses include an overload of individual and team projects. The employees need to work extra hours to keep up with tight deadlines. They are also working across department lines meaning they have to meet the demands of more than one manager at a time. When urgent matters arise they are required to add the new work to meet a new deadline on top of the current work load which now causes more stress on the employees and managers. On the other side, some of the strengths include being more efficient and market-oriented. These st rengths will help the company grow in size and profit.Also, being a matrix structure allows for multiple cross functional teams to work together. This helps the company work in a team environment with collaboration across all departmental boarders. Kloppenborg, Shriberg, and Venkattaman in Project Leadership (2003) discuss many factors about working in a team environment and the type of team behavior that is needed to help balance the expansion and management problems facing the Beijing EAPS Consulting company. To begin, the team environment needs a leader that is committed to the company and to them.This leader also needs knowledge of the project at hand, as well as the skills to help facilitated the project completion. Also, within this team environment it is a good idea to bring in the team members to participate in the 5 classical team development steps. These include forming, storming, norming, preforming and adjourning. By bringing in the entire team, a sense of community and rapport is built with the rest of the team. This helps to create a better cohesive and happier team environment. Team behavior is very important for a growing company like BEC. They need to make sure that heir employees have the correct company vision and attitude to expand. One of the big factors in getting a team together is to make sure that they socialize. They need to get to know each other and to understand their team members backgrounds both personally and professionally, along with their skills and behaviors they emanate. This will help lead to respect within the team environment. One of the major factors BEC is missing within its team environment is ground rules and codes of conduct. This helps the team share in understanding and expectations of the team as a whole.This implementation would help promote the correct behavior for any given situation within the team environment. These rules would also let them know who is in charge and who they report to for a specific project or goal they have been assigned. (Exforsys, 2010). Once you have a team in place, the next important goal is to make sure that your projects are completed on time. There are many ways safeguards and project planning can be done to mitigate the risk of being late for a project completion. The first thing that would need to be done is a Work Base Structure (WBS).This would insure that all aspects of the project have been planned out with timelines and schedules of smaller milestones. The WBS would take into account any risk management planning that would need to occur along with any communication planning. Another great safeguard is to build on some time to the end of the project deadline for any unforeseen events but have a set firm deadline. This firm deadline will give the project team a sense of responsibility to get the project done within that timeframe. This is a commitment from, not just the company, but the sponsors, team and project managers.In saying that, the project mana ger would need to track the progress of the work completed and the schedule to make sure that everything is running smoothly. Once milestones are met upper management would be notified as to the progress of the project. (Phillips, 2004) Every company needs a designed structure for communication between employees and management. The employees need to understand the reporting structure up though management and whether they are reporting to a project manager or a department manager However, it is not just the employees that need this definition of reporting structure but the managers need it as well.When the project manager is developing the team they need to create a community type of feeling within the team environment. This will help to insure that there is communication and good rapport with the team. Finally, making sure that a team stays on track and meets deadlines is a major under taking for the project manager. They need to build a WBS and take into account safeguards to insur e that deadlines are met.

Fat Tax Essay

Imposing a fat tax on saturated fat, junk foods, sodas, etc. would be best because of many health and money related issues that it could possibly solve. A fat tax could help control many health problems the United States is facing today by giving some incentive to buy healthier foods. Taxing these certain foods may help control the way people eat and in turn change lifestyles to much healthier ones than there are now. The healthier lifestyles would help lower the amount of money spent on health care, in turn saving money. The tax, along with saving the United States money, would also produce large revenue helping to boost the economy and pull out of the debt crisis. Many other countries have begun taxing fatty foods and have produced very nice revenue because of the levies. The tax might pose some problems at first, but in the long run will prevail and produce great gains for the country. In order for a tax to work, it will have to be done correctly. A very organized operation, in which the correct fatty foods would be taxed in order to target certain items which create health problems, would be a start. The United States as a whole is becoming a very unhealthy society because of how Americans eat. Fast food restaurants are part of the main cause because of their affordability and accessibility. It is so easy for people to skip cooking healthy foods and just stop off at McDonalds to grab a quick burger. â€Å"The United States obesity rate has reached up to 34% according to the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention† (Salahi 1). A fat tax could possibly slow the consumption of these fatty foods and fast foods, which in turn would reduce the obesity numbers. Obesity is not all that these fatty foods are causing; there is also heart disease, diabetes, and many others, all of which come about because of behavior. Imposing a tax on the fatty foods that cause these diseases could change the behavior of the consumers (Vijayaraghavan 1). An example of behavior change is gasoline prices, the higher gas prices have changed the types of vehicles being made. If a tax was levied on junk foods, sodas, etc. , there should also be a price drop in fruits, water, and healthier foods, which would push the consumer to buy the healthy foods. If consumers would begin to purchase these healthier foods, the death rate of around 300,000 people per year will drop (Chouinard 22). Studies have shown that the healthier the person, the more productive he/she usually is because of an active lifestyle. The fat tax, if effective, could possibly produce a healthier, happier, and more productive society as a whole. If the country becomes much healthier as a whole, then a lot of government spending would begin depleting causing huge gains in Medicare and Medicaid where costs have doubled in the past ten years. The government could then use that money to put towards other areas needing improvement in health-care. Although taxing certain foods would create large revenue for the nation, as well as decreasing the enormous bills for health care, which citizens are taxed for anyway. â€Å"The Congressional Budget Office predicts, with a three cent tax, a fat tax could produce twenty-four billion dollars within four years† (Salahi 1). That type of revenue could pose great possibilities for both state and federal government funding for other areas needing improvement. Seventeen states in the United States already have certain taxes on junk food which produces somewhere around one billion extra revenue dollars annually. If the United States would impose these taxes nation-wide, that would be an extra fifty billion dollars of revenue to a broken economy and could help the debt crisis immensely (Drinkard 1). As well as producing a large revenue for the country, if effective with obesity, a fat tax would also drop our health-care expenses which are somewhere around one hundred billion dollars per year. The amount of money saved on health-care, combined with the revenue generated by tax dollars, the United States could possibly earn three-hundred billion dollars over a four year period (Salahi 2). The money produced by the taxes would create great opportunities on both state and federal levels. The debt crisis that the United States is facing would begin to deplete and could create new organizations regulating this fat tax in which new jobs would be created. In 1917 the United States imposed a tax similar to this fat tax on sweets and sodas as part of a plan to help pay for involvement of World War I. At that time, the taxes seemed to appear during times of need when money was needed to produce, and it worked. The United States is in a debt crisis, and if the country would impose these taxes on fatty foods it would produce much needed revenue to help pull the country out of debt (Drinkard 4). Many European countries such as France, Denmark and Hungary have already begun instituting a tax on unhealthy food to boast a healthy society and produce revenue. Denmark has setup its fat tax by the percentage of saturated fat in each item. The tax is around three dollars per two and a half pounds of saturated fat. Denmark’s plan was to impose the tax in order to increase the life expectancy average of its citizens by trying to force people to eat healthier (Jaslow). They are trying to force the citizens to avoid the saturated fat because of heart disease and cancer that it can cause. Romania was planning to start a tax on fatty foods that was more complex and was said to raise around seven-hundred million Euros a year. The plan was pushed aside though because of already high and steadily rising food prices. Hungary believes their fat tax will be most effective on peoples buying habits because of its citizen’s low salaries. The people will have to choose the cheaper, healthier foods in order to survive with the amount of money they make. Hungary also plans to levy a 25% extra tax on fatty foods and drinks, and if passed, it will be the first in the world (Cain 2-3). The United States also has had its own versions of this fat tax before on sodas and candy in the early 1900’s, but most only lasted a short while each time they were instituted. In Denmark their plan to tax the saturated fat in order to make people live healthier has backfired on them, and obesity rate has actually increased (Dietriffic 3). Although there are many reasons a fat tax would really help the United States, there are still some grey areas and problems it would pose. First, the government would be controlling how people make some of their decisions. The higher taxes pose a problem for certain companies which produce these fatty foods causing them to slow production which would result in more and more job losses. This country already has too high of an unemployment rate to put itself in a position in which that rate will grow any higher. The debt crisis in the United States is a big problem for the tax as well as unemployment, because now an already struggling society is being taxed. The United States has instituted a tax similar to this before in 1932 and expected to raise around twelve million dollars, but it was overturned after two years because of lack of revenue production and was very unpopular (Drinkard 4). Such a tax would still be unpopular today with people who do not have an obesity problem. They would be taxed trying to solve a problem that has nothing to do with them, and targeting strictly obese people would be immoral. The tax could possibly backfire as well, and the obesity rate would continue to grow larger as people just spent more money on food. There was a study done on smoking bans in bars that showed the drunken driving fatalities increased because people drove further to bars in order to be able to smoke, and that is an example of what might happen with the fat tax. In other words, the fat tax could be passed, and then not necessarily work and just fade out like in the past or could have the opposite effect like it has had on Denmark. There is no actual way to change the eating habits of people; they can only be given incentive to try to change (Montopoli 2). The problem with the tax at this time is taxing people who are already struggling to make ends meet. With the unemployment rate being so high, it is going to be really hard to pass a tax to increase prices on food even more than they already are because humans must eat to live. In a case where the tax causes people not to be able to pay for the high cost of food, then people then the government ends up spending more with food stamps. This result would then make the gains of the fat tax ineffective because the revenue produced would keep up with the government spending caused by the high cost of food. A manufacture’s tax would erase the problem of over taxing citizens, but then could cause the companies to either increase their prices or go under, and turn would create greater unemployment. A fat tax should be imposed in order to first off help with our debt crisis. The revenue that this tax could produce for the United States government could make great gains in the right direction. It could create new jobs in the Government to regulate how this tax is accessed. The health gain that could be possible because of the fat tax would be huge for the country. If the country were able to stop the consumption of these fatty foods and drop the obesity rate, it would help drop government spending in turn also helping with the debt. The obesity rate drops and the production climbs according to health studies. If our production is increased in all areas, that will also help with greater revenue gains (Drinkard 7). To have a healthy society as a whole, would make the country a better place to live in and would boost spirits to a society that is down and out due to a very slow economy. If health-care could move away from studies on obesity and heart disease caused by unhealthy eating habits, then Americans could focus more on different diseases such as cancer. In order for this fat tax to work, it must be setup correctly with much research from others who have imposed similar taxes thus far. If certain foods deemed unhealthy are taxed in order to boast healthy eating habits, then the foods that are healthy need to be subsided that way it really puts some incentive in eating healthy. It is too easy to just stop by a fast food restaurant and grab a quick burger and fries although it is one of the unhealthiest things to do. There must be something extra, subsides on healthy food, in order to change the way people are going to eat. Cigarettes are a good example of how taxing fatty foods would not work; just because you tax something and raise the price is not going to prevent people from buying it. The extra subsides on healthy food give the extra edge for people to buy them which in turn will then create the healthy eating habits (Salahi 1). The most important part of the tax at this time is the amount of revenue it will produce, and the United States needs it desperately. If the revenue is produced according to plan, then it has served its purpose over a four year period and will begin to help with the health issues on its own eventually. It is a serious issue in the United States and needs to be addressed, but it will be a long process to get to that point. The possibilities posed by the fat tax are wonderful and would help the United States greatly.