Nature of employment relationship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Nature of employment relationship - Essay Example Since 2002, SABB has implemented a strategic plan called "Putting Customers First". Under this plan, customers would be the primary focus of the bank instead of giving more priority to products and services. The plan called for a total internal re-organization of the Bank to train employees to be focused and to align the delivery of its services to both corporate and personal customers (SABB 2002: 14). SABB's confidence that the plan will deliver benefits to its customers, the shareholders, and the Bank as part of its vision to be the leading financial services group in Saudi Arabia is shown by the successful increases in net income from SAR 830 million to 2.5 billion, assets from SAR 41.92 to 65.9 billion, and deposits from SAR 31.5 to 48.5 billion from the end of 2001 to the end of 2005 (SABB 2006: 16-17). SABB is the leading provider of value added and innovative Islamic financial product and services in Saudi Arabia. This is achieved while following principles of Shari'a whose core investment and market guidelines are to follow the Islamic Shari'a, honesty and integrity, professionalism, strong customer focus, and excellent reputation (SABB, 2006: 9). The main reason is that SABB is a service organization that relies on customer contact and satisfaction for its business. It will be successful if the customers of the Bank are happy with how the employees perform their work of service. This is why employees have to be first satisfied with their relationship with the Bank, because if they are not, this lack of satisfaction will be reflected in poor service quality to the customers. Poor customer service quality results in poor performance, because customers will not deposit their money in the Bank or buy the financial services that the Bank offers. The need for quality customer service is the main reason why the Bank put into effect their "Putting Customers First" strategic plan. Research has shown that in service companies like retail banks, the quality of the customer relationship can give the bank an advantage over its competitors by attracting more customers (Keltner 65-68). The Bank's customer relationship strategy requires that it upgrades its employment relationship to help bank employees to meet the different needs of its customers, not only for personal banking products and services but for the Bank's more profitable private, corporate, and investment banking products and services. Like other banks all over the world, most of its low value-added transactions like cash deposits and withdrawals, bank balance inquiries, questions about basic products and services are all done through Automatic Teller Machines, Telephone Banking, widely available Point of Sale (POS) terminals in retail outlets all over the Kingdom, and the Internet where it is cheaper to deliver the service. The cost to the Bank is lower because technology is used to serve customers by processing their transactions (Morisi 32). This will allow high value-added services like private, investment, and corporate banking to be transacted face-to-face in the Bank's branch network. The use of technology allows the Bank to reach more

Supply chain management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Supply chain management - Essay Example Carter and Rogers (2008) define Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) as the strategic, transparent integration and achievement of an organization’s social, environmental, and economic goals in the systematic coordination of key interoganziational business processes for improving the long-term economic performance of the individual company and its supply chains (cited in Panayiotou & Aravosis, 2011; p.59). Two supply chain types have been identified such as supply-chains driven by lean, cost, and efficiency and supply chains driven by agility, pace and service (Cetinkaya et al, 2011). In order for companies to stay competitive in their SCM, it is important that they customize their supply chains according to the need and competition. The most widely recognized SSCM approach is the triple-bottom line approach which consider the economic, environmental and social contributions or impact that supply chains can make. The best known example of such a SSCM is that followed by S tarbucks Corporation. Starbucks’ purchasing philosophy has brought a complete shift in the way supply chain operated. Their purchasing philosophy considers their farmers, their customers and their business through their Coffee And Farmer Equity Practices (C.A.F.E).

UK Fashion Industry: Strategic Analysis

UK Fashion Industry: Strategic Analysis Introduction Fashion industry is one of the most thriving and profitable industries of the world. The advent of globalization has led to greater penetration of fashion into the mind of individuals. Mega fashion shows are being held in many nations across the world which has generated considerable interest among the individuals. The present study deals with the fashion industry of UK. The choice of the nation assumes significance as it is one of the largest fashion hubs of the world. The nation also houses some of the most popular brands in the fashion industry. A study conducted by research firm Grail puts UK as among the top hubs in the global fashion industry along with USA, France, Italy and Japan. London Fashion Week which happens to be the largest fashion related event in the nation is the only fashion event that promotes works done by students thus highlighting its commitment and presence in the global fashion industry. Prestigious awards like River Island Gold Award have their origins in U K (Grail Research, 2009, p.6, 8). The present study would focus on the industry analysis of the fashion industry particularly that of the UK market. The report would include an industry analysis along with the analysis of the competitive framework prevailing in the UK market. Subsequently the key success factors and strategic groups would be analyzed in the report. The report would also feature examples of the strategies that have been adopted by the market leaders to continue their sustainability in the industry. Industry Analysis Global Fashion Industry- An Overview Fashion industry includes fashion designer houses, retail chains and the firms engaged in the manufacture of apparels. A report published by Levis Strauss Co has pegged the value of the global fashion industry at US $ 1334.1 billion as on 2008. The report also predicts a northward trend for this figure in the subsequent years. Apart from being a style statement, fashion also generates creativity, well being and identity. The report also states certain shortcomings of this industry which primarily includes aspects like poor working condition of workers in the industry, wastage of resources and also encouragement of unrealistic consumption. Certain other shortcomings include unavailability and high prices of raw materials which also emerge as a major challenge for the firms engaged in manufacture of fashion apparels across the world. Numerous opportunities also exist for the industry from the emerging markets like India, China, Brazil and Russia which have started emerging as fashion hotspots of the world (Levis Strauss Co, 2010, p.5). Overview of the UK Fashion Industry UK has been among the pioneers in the global fashion industry whose association with the world of fashion dates back to the 1960s popularly known as the swinging sixties, the punk and romantic 1970s and Cool Britannia Image of 1990s. Present age fashion designer label brands like Vivienne Westwood, Burberry and Mulbery, to name a few, are some of the numerous brand names housed in the nation (British Council Fashion Oxford Economics, 2008, p.9). A recent trend observed in the industry is that the nation is shifting from home based manufacturing units to sourcing products from foreign retailers. This has been attributed to the aspects of high labour costs coupled with the rise in prices of raw materials which has forced manufacturers to outsource their production units to nations like China which offer a significant pool of talented resources and raw materials at cheaper rates (British Council Fashion Oxford Economics, 2008, p.16). UK is one of the pioneers in the fashion industry, and the nation is accredited with numerous innovations in the industry segment. A research study conducted on the fashion industry in UK states that consumer spending on fashion apparels in UK saw a growth rate of 6.5 percent in 2009 with sales figures reaching 2.5 billion Pound. One of the major market players in the UK market Newberry reported 19.1 percent growth on an annual basis. The growth of fashion industry has been fuelled by large levels of spending by the local people. Over the last ten years spending levels of individuals have grown by approximately six percent on a real term basis. The fashion industry also has made significant contributions to the economy of the nation. In the year 2009, the industry is said to have contributed approximately 20.9 billion pounds towards the economy of UK which forms about 1.7 percent of the total GDP figure of the nation. Retailer GVA alone has contributed approximately 6.5 billion pound s towards the economy of UK. Indirect contributions to the economy include providing employment options to about 816,000 individuals in a direct or an indirect manner. This figure represents about 2.7 percent of the total workforce in the nation which highlights the growth and importance of this sector towards the economy of the nation. On a standalone basis i.e., excluding the employees at the retail stores, the sector employed about 155,000 individuals or about 0.5 percent of the total workforce based in the nation. The fashion industry is also one of the major contributors to the nations exchequer with contribution figures ranging about 13.2 billion pounds which stands at 2.6 percent on absolute percentage terms. These contributions have mainly come from VAT and through the income tax paid by the employees engaged in this industry (British Council Fashion Oxford Economics, 2008, p.14). The magnanimity of the fashion industry can be adjudged from the fact that the contribution of fashion industry towards the GDP of the nation is significantly higher than chemical and publishing industry. Fashion industry is the fourth largest employment provider in UK and comes only next to travel and tourism, telecommunications and real estate (British Council Fashion Oxford Economics, 2008, p.20). This implies the huge potential of the fashion industry in UK. The following chapter would provide an analysis of the competitive framework prevalent in the UK market. Porters Five Forces Model Competitive framework for any industry can be analysed by using Michael Porters five forces framework. The analysis of a market using the framework proposed by Porter helps an organization to analyse the market potential of other players in the market. This helps in generating sustainable competitive advantage for the firms. According to this framework, the competitive framework can be analysed by using five factors namely, Bargaining Power of Suppliers Bargaining power of Consumers Competition from existing players Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes (Haag, 2007, p.72) Bargaining Power of Suppliers Suppliers have a high barraging power when the raw materials are available in scarce quantities. It also rises when the number of suppliers for a particular product or raw material is quite limited. In case of fashion industry, suppliers constitute of vendors who provide raw material like cotton and other textiles which serve as raw material for apparels. The UK fashion market is characterised by the presence of a few suppliers which is generally due to high costs of raw materials. The suppliers also use traditional practices which again increases the cost of goods sold (Karra, 2008, p.27). High cost of real estate also serves as a major source of concern to the fashion retailers. This analysis implies that suppliers have a fairly high bargaining power. Market leaders in UK have started outsourcing their manufacturing departments to vendors based in nations like China and India where cheap raw material is present at affordable cost of labour (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2004, p.2). Bargaining Power of Consumers Bargaining power of consumers arise when the market is characterised by the presence of numerous players who have a large product line. Presence of large number of competitors puts consumers in the drivers seat as they have numerous options. The present status of the consumer market in UK reveals the presence of large number players. Most of these players have high brand values products to suit every type of customers. This provides ample choices for the consumers. Hence it can be concluded that consumers have a high bargaining power in the UK market. Major players in the market like Marks and Spencer, Austin Reed have started providing value added services to consumers to woo them to their stores. Celebrity promotions have also been used to target consumers like Lane Crawford roping in supermodel Maggie Cheung for its promotions. Competition from Existing Players UK is characterised by the presence of large number of global players like Marks and Spencers, Next, Arcadia, Matalan and Bhs all of which have formidable brand image and an impressive product line to target consumers. Competition exists in almost every segment of the target market. This implies that competition from existing players has a significantly high impact on the fashion industry in UK. Market leaders have formulated policies that tend to win the consumers in favour of their brands. Fierce competition has prompted leading market players to vouch for newer locations like for example Marks and Spencers eyeing the Indian market. Threat of New Entrants New entrants do not pose sufficient threats to the existing players. This is mainly due to the fact that the present market in UK is completely saturated with big brands like Marks and Spencers, Next etc. Moreover, high cost of establishing a business deters new players from entering the UK market. This implies that new players do not have significant power to challenge the existing players. Threat of Substitutes Substitutes are those products which have attributes that are highly similar to the original products. The customer segments of firms like Marks and Spencers are highly niche in nature and are unlikely to switch to substitutes which basically constitute low priced products. Hence it can be concluded that substitutes do not present significant threats to the existing players present in the market. Key Success Factors The key success factors for the fashion industry are stated below: Government support Customer Awareness Ability to bring in continuous innovations Government Support Government support is a key element in the success of the fashion industry. Pro active policies by the government favour the emergence of new players as well as boost up the existing players by creating market conditions that tend to provide greater value to the customers. Creation of competition would automatically generate innovations which is the backbone of the fashion industry. Customer Awareness The success of fashion industry depends on high levels of consumer awareness. Consumer awareness implies that consumers get regular updates about the new products that are being innovated by the fashion industry. Events like London Fashion week, Paris fashion week and other such festivals have emerged as a platform for fashion designers and retailers to showcase their products and creativity. These festivals are characterised by presence of high profile celebrities who endorse products of different designers and fashion labels. In these events, awards and accreditations are given to talented individuals who generate creativity in their designs (London Fashion Week, n.d.). This also serves to motivate individuals to produce greater creativity. Ability to bring in Continuous Innovations Innovations are the key to success in the fashion industry. The basic tenets of this industry are based in continuous innovations. Firms like Hilfiger have created competitive advantage by introducing continuous innovations in their product line (Manlow, 2009, p.242). Innovations in fashion include amalgamations of modern and traditional fashion. Mega events like Paris fashion week and London fashion week serve as major forums where market players can showcase their products to the target audience. Firms are also roping in celebrities and supermodels to promote their designs. These innovations and subsequent endorsements by popular celebrities generate substantial interest among the target audience with regards to the diffusion of innovation among the general masses. Broad appeal and glamour of these events generate enthusiasm among the target markets with regards to adopting new products. The analysis of key success factors reveals the importance of factors like government, awareness among the target market audience. The aspect of innovation also generates sufficient interest among the firms to innovate their products. The UK market represents numerous potential for the market players as all the three key success factors can be achieved by organizations. A suitable mix of the three key success factors would help in generating sustainable competitive advantage for the firms in the highly competitive market. Strategic Groups Strategic groups are defined as a group of firms and organizations which operate within a specific industry who have similar strategies. It has been observed that in most of the cases the difference among the different market players is generally captured by the presence of strategic groups within the industry (Kim Mauborgne, 1999, p.86). The fashion industry in UK is characterised by market players like Marks and Spencers, Next, Arcadia, Matalan and Bhs who are global market players having operation in all major markets across the world. All these firms have the same target market and have a similar marketing mix for their products. The basis of forming a strategic group is based on the fact that all the above stated market players operate in a similar macroeconomic set up and have a similar target market. These firms intend to have similar positioning strategies. The presence of a strategic group also creates entry barriers for new entrants as well as generates sustainable competi tive advantage for these firms in the market. Presence of strategic groups tends to stabilise consumer preferences, it also generates greater competition and rivalries among the market players, as all the players in the strategic group are known to target the same customer segment. This leads to aggressive marketing by the firms to beat their rivals in the business markets. The scenario in UK market resembles a similar situation with firms trying to use every possible strategy to beat their rivals and capture the market (Hoskinsson, Hitt Ireland, 2008, p.87-88). Conclusion The concept of fashion has been prevalent in UK since time immemorial and the nation has been among the pioneers with regards to creativity in this sector. The study reveals that fashion industry is one of the most happening industries in UK. This can be gauged from its contributions towards the economy of the nation both in direct as well as in indirect terms. The UK market also represents tremendous opportunities for market players as it has a large customer base with high levels of disposable income which makes it an attractive destination for fashion brands across the world. The study also shows certain challenges which mainly arise due high cost of raw materials and labour. Presence of strategic group also tends to increase the competitive rivalry among the market players. In spite of this, the huge potential of the target market serves as an incentive for most of the market players to eye the lucrative market of UK. Hence, it can be concluded that success of an organisation pre cisely that of fashion, lies in its ability to generate continuous innovation and to mould the advantages of the market to generate sustainable competitive advantage.

President Cleveland Essay -- essays research papers

Grover Cleveland Stephan Grover Cleveland is the fifth of nine children born to Reverend Richard Falley Cleveland and Ann Neal Cleveland. He was born on March 18th of 1837 in Caldwell, New Jersey, although he was raised in Fayetteville, New York. The actual house in which he was born still stands today on 207 Bloomfield Avenue. He was named in honor of Stephan Grover, a minister at a local Presbyterian Church who Reverend Cleveland had recently taken over for. Life as the son of a minister was different than most boys. The Cleveland’s spent every evening at home in prayer. Cleveland felt that this moral upbringing was his most valuable tool in life. Grover Cleveland visited an uncle in Buffalo, New York, and obtained a job in a law firm. While working there, he studied law and by May of 1859, the New York Supreme Court admitted him to the bar. Democratic politics had interested Cleveland since his arrival in Buffalo, so he became the county’s assistant district attorney. In 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The Confederacy had collapsed and the United States was reunited and slavery was abolished. As the nation returned to peace, twenty-eight-year-old Cleveland won the demanding position of sheriff. When his term ended in 1873, he returned to his infamous law practice. On January 1,1882, Grover Cleveland took an oath to honor the city of Buffalo as their mayor. Cleveland was tough and honest. He was known as the â€Å"Veto Mayor,† because he continuously vetoed bills presented by corrupt politicians. In November of 1882, by a landslide margin of nearly 200,000 votes, Grover Cleveland became know as the â€Å"Veto Governor.† He understood the tremendous challenge of being the Governor of the State of New York, but his principles and values remained as strong as ever. The door to his office was always open, and he kept no secrets. In two years’ time, Cleveland’s stubborn sense of fairness and honesty gave him the nickname â€Å"His Obstinacy.† He passed bills to enlarge the state’s water supply and established a 1.5 million-acre park at Niagara Falls. Due to his reputation, the Democratic Party convinced him to run for president. On the second ballot, Cleveland won the Democratic nomination. The Democrats chose Thomas Hendricks of Indiana, as ... ...irectly with the Treasury crisis, instead of with business failures, farm foreclosures, and increasing unemployment. On October 30, 1893, the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was repealed, and confidence was restored in the American dollar. In spite of Cleveland’s efforts, the national depression worsened, and the Democratic Party was divided. When railroad strikers violated an injunction in Chicago, the President sent Federal troops to break up the strike against the Pullman Company. His blunt treatment of the railroad company was very unpopular. His party deserted him and nominated William Jennings Bryan for president, in 1896. At fifty-nine-years-old, Cleveland felt disgraced as he finished his term in the White House. He retired peacefully in Princeton, New Jersey, but continued pressing for government reforms. At the age of seventy-one, Grover Cleveland died on June 24, 1908. Americans were deeply saddened and mourned the passing of this heavy, robust. man, who was so famous for his tremendous strength and energy. Grover Cleveland will always be remembered as courageous, hardworking, and honest, in spite of the outcome. He was a man of his word, a man of honor.

Pollution: Waste and People

Cleaning up our town Our rivers and lakes are polluted. That’s because people throw litter everywhere they want, factories dump their industrial waste near lakes and rivers. If people pollute our ground, everything will go to groundwater and we can’t drink that, nor can we swim in our body of waters. We have to do something. Firstly we should organise a clean up campaign. We have to encourage people, that volunteering is good. If we get together many people, we can clean up rivers, lakes, and sides of the roads.When we are done with that, we have to put put more rubbish bins. In that way less litter will occur in water. Secondly, we could fine factories that dump indusrtial waste into lakes and rivers. Factores won’t throw their wastes everywhere they want, but in places where that waste don’t harm nature. In that way water pollution will decrease and we can enjoy cleaner water. If local people and industry work together we all can clean up our lakes and r ivers. After working together we can swim and use the water again.Parandatud: Our rivers and lakes are polluted. That’s  because people throw litter everywhere they want, factories dump their industrial waste near lakes and rivers. If people pollute our ground, everything will go to groundwater and we can’t drink that, nor can we swim in our  body  of waters. We have to do something. Firstly,  we should organise a clean up campaign. We have to encourage  people that  volunteering is good. If we get together many people, we can clean up rivers, lakes, and sides of the roads.When we  are done with  that, we  have  to  put put  more rubbish bins. In that way less litter will occur in water. Secondly, we could fine factories that dump  indusrtial  waste into lakes and rivers. Factores won’t throw their wastes everywhere they want, but in places where that waste  don’t  harm nature. In that way water pollution will decrease and we  can  enjoy cleaner water. If local people and industry work together,  we all  can  clean up our lakes and rivers. After working together,we  can  swim and use the water again.

Braveheart -Movie vs. Real Life Essay

This Essay is about the differences in the movie BraveHeart vs. accual events in the life of William Wallace(AKA BraveHeart) a Scottish peasant and freedom fighter fighting for his country’s freedom from the unfair rule of the English King Edward II(Longshanks). It goes over differences such as the battle of Stirling Bridge and when and how Hollywood came into play. This essay was assigned in my history class after watching the movie BraveHeart and reading about the life of William Wallace in our text books. The idea was to learn about his fight for freedom†¦. Braveheart -Movie vs. Real Life The name Braveheart refers to a Scottish peasant named William Wallace whom which fought for Scotland’s freedom against the English King, Longshanks (Edward II). There is little true knowledge known about William Wallace, and what is known is questionable. Recently there was a movie made about the life of William Wallace, which was titled Braveheart. Overall, the movie portrayed a very clear picture of William Wallace’s life, but there were also some things that happened in the movie that were fiction. Such as there wasn’t a bridge at the battle of Stirling Bridge, the relationship between the Princess and William Wallace, and the Hollywood stuff in the movie. In this essay I will talk about these ways in which I feel that some of the movie was fictional. The first thing is the battle of Stirling Bridge. In real life, the battle took place on a bridge. In the movie, however the battle took place on a large grassy battlefield. The Scottish were quite quick to attack the English who were trying to assemble on the other side of the bridge. That was the way the Scottish won in the actual battle. However in the movie, the Scottish just got lucky and won the highly outnumbered battle. This is probably the most noticeable piece of history poorly portrayed in the movie. The second is the relationship that William Wallace had with the Princess of England. This is ridiculous for several reasons. First, a royal princess would most likely never touch a dirty, Scottish peasant; forget having a  serious relationship with him. And second the princess would have only been about 6 or 7 years old when this situation would’ve taken place. So that is another thing that was quite fictional in Braveheart. The last difference that I want to point out is that there were a lot of little things that I think didn’t happen in real life, and were used because it was a Hollywood movie. An example is that when they were in battle all of the Scottish mooned the English. It is possible because of their ancestor’s, the Kilts, fighting style, but it still seems unlikely to me. Also there is the way that William Wallace killed the Scottish Nobles. He just charged on his horse into their bedrooms in the middle of the night and slit their throats. Things like that probably didn’t happen at all. So in conclusion, Braveheart was a quite informative and entertaining movie that showed a good idea of the life of William Wallace. However there were several things such as there wasn’t a bridge at the battle of Stirling Bridge, the relationship between the Princess and William Wallace, and the Hollywood stuff in the movie, that made the movie less factual than possible. No matter what it was still a good movie, and I would recommend it to somebody wanting to learn about Scotland’s past andor the life of William Wallace.

Evidence for American Human Settlement Before Clovis

Evidence for American Human Settlement Before Clovis Pre-Clovis culture is a term used by archaeologists to refer to what is considered by most scholars (see discussion below) the founding populations of the Americas. The reason they are called pre-Clovis, rather than some more specific term, is that the culture remained controversial for some 20 years after their first discovery. Up until the identification of pre-Clovis, the first absolutely agreed-upon culture in the Americas was a Paleoindian culture called Clovis, after the type site discovered in New Mexico in the 1920s. Sites identified as Clovis were occupied between ~13,400-12,800  calendar years ago (cal BP), and the sites reflected a fairly uniform living strategy, that of predation on now-extinct megafauna, including mammoths, mastodons, wild horses, and bison, but supported by smaller game and plant foods. There was always a small contingent of the Americanist scholars who supported claims of archaeological sites of ages dating between 15,000 to as much 100,000 years ago: but these were few, and the evidence was deeply flawed. It is useful to bear in mind that Clovis itself as a Pleistocene culture was widely disparaged when it was first announced in the 1920s. Changing Minds However, beginning in the 1970s or so, sites predating Clovis began to be discovered in North America (such as Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Cactus Hill), and South America (Monte Verde). These sites, now classified Pre-Clovis, were a few thousand years older than Clovis, and they seemed to identify a broader-range lifestyle, more approaching Archaic period hunter-gatherers. Evidence for any pre-Clovis sites remained widely discounted among mainstream archaeologists until about 1999  when a conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico called Clovis and Beyond was held presenting some of the emerging evidence. One fairly recent discovery appears to link the Western Stemmed Tradition, a stemmed point stone tool complex in the Great Basin and Columbia Plateau to pre-Clovis and the Pacific Coast Migration Model. Excavations at Paisley Cave in Oregon have recovered radiocarbon dates and DNA from human coprolites which predate Clovis. Pre-Clovis Lifestyles Archaeological evidence from pre-Clovis sites continues to grow. Much of what these sites contain suggests the pre-Clovis people had a lifestyle that was based on a combination of hunting, gathering, and fishing. Evidence for pre-Clovis use of bone tools, and for the use of nets and fabrics has also been discovered. Rare sites indicate that pre-Clovis people sometimes lived in clusters of huts. Much of the evidence seems to suggest a marine lifestyle, at least along the coastlines; and some sites within the interior show a partial reliance on large-bodied mammals. Research also focuses on migration pathways into the Americas. Most archaeologists still favor the Bering Strait crossing from northeastern Asia: climatic events of that era restricted entry into Beringia and out of Beringia and into the North American continent. For pre-Clovis, the Mackenzie River Ice-Free Corridor was not open early enough. Scholars have hypothesized instead that the earliest colonists followed the coastlines to enter and explore the Americas, a theory known as the Pacific Coast Migration Model  (PCMM) Continuing Controversy Although evidence supporting the PCMM and the existence of pre-Clovis has grown since 1999, few coastal Pre-Clovis sites have been found to date. Coastal sites are likely inundated since the sea level has done nothing but rise since the Last Glacial Maximum. In addition, there are some scholars within the academic community who remain skeptical about pre-Clovis. In 2017, a special issue of the journal Quaternary International based on a 2016 symposium at the Society for American Archaeology meetings presented several arguments dismissing pre-Clovis theoretical underpinnings. Not all the papers denied pre-Clovis sites, but several did. Among the papers, some of the scholars asserted that Clovis was, in fact, the first colonizers of the Americas and that genomic studies of the Anzick burials (which share DNA with modern Native American groups) prove that. Others suggest that the Ice-Free Corridor would still have been usable if unpleasant entryway for the earliest colonists. Still others argue that the Beringian standstill hypothesis is incorrect and that there simply were no people in the Americas prior to the Last Glacial Maximum. Archaeologist Jesse Tune and colleagues have suggested that all of the so-called pre-Clovis sites are made up of geo-facts, micro-debitage too small to be confidently assigned to human manufacture.   It is undoubtedly true that pre-Clovis sites are still relatively few in number compared to Clovis. Further, pre-Clovis technology seems extremely varied, especially compared to Clovis which is so strikingly identifiable. Occupation dates on pre-Clovis sites vary between 14,000 cal BP to 20,000 and more. Thats an issue that needs to be addressed.   Who Accepts What? It is difficult to say today what percentage of archaeologists or other scholars support pre-Clovis as a reality versus Clovis First arguments. In 2012, anthropologist Amber Wheat conducted a systematic survey of 133 scholars about this issue. Most (67 percent) were prepared to accept the validity of at least one of the pre-Clovis sites (Monte Verde). When asked about migratory paths, 86 percent selected the coastal migration path and 65 percent the ice-free corridor. A total of 58 percent said people arrived in the American continents before 15,000 cal BP, which implies by definition pre-Clovis. In short, Wheats survey, despite what has been said to the contrary, suggests that in 2012, most scholars in the sample were willing to accept some evidence for pre-Clovis, even if it wasnt an overwhelming majority or whole-hearted support. Since that time, most of the published scholarship on pre-Clovis has been on the new evidence, rather than disputing their validity. Surveys are a snapshot of the moment, and the research into coastal sites has not stood still since that time. Science moves slowly, one might even say glacially, but it does move. Sources Braje, Todd J., et al. Finding the First Americans. Science 358.6363 (2017): 592–94. Print.de Saint Pierre, Michelle. Antiquity of mtDNA Lineage D1g from the Southern Cone of South America Supports Pre-Clovis Migration. Quaternary International 444 (2017): 19–25. Print.Eren, Metin I., et al. Refuting the Technological Cornerstone of the Ice-Age Atlantic Crossing Hypothesis. Journal of Archaeological Science 40.7 (2013): 2934-41. Print.Erlandson, Jon M. After Clovis-First Collapsed: Reimagining the Peopling of the Americas. Paleoamerican Odyssey. Eds. Graf, Kelly E., C.V. Ketron and Michael R. Waters. College Station: Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas AM, 2013. 127-32. Print.Faught, Michael K. Where Was the Paleoamerind Standstill? Quaternary International 444 (2017): 10–18. Print.Fiedel, Stuart J. The Anzick Genome Proves Clovis Is First, after All. Quaternary International 444 (2017): 4–9. Print.Halligan, Jessi J., et al. Pre-Clovis Occup ation 14,550 Years Ago at the Page-Ladson Site, Florida, and the Peopling of the Americas. Science Advances 2.e1600375 (2016). Print. Jenkins, Dennis L., et al. Clovis Age Western Stemmed Projectile Points and Human Coprolites at the Paisley Caves. Science 337 (2012): 223–28. Print.Llamas, Bastien, Kelly M. Harkins, and Lars Fehren-Schmitz. Genetic Studies of the Peopling of the Americas: What Insights Do Diachronic Mitochondrial Genome Datasets Provide? Quaternary International 444 (2017): 26–35. Print.Morrow, Juliet E. After Anzick: Reconciling New Genomic Data and Models with the Archaeological Evidence for Peopling of the Americas. Quaternary International 444 (2017): 1–3. Print.Potter, Ben A., et al. Early Colonization of Beringia and Northern North America: Chronology, Routes, and Adaptive Strategies. Quaternary International 444 (2017): 36–55. Print.Scott, G. Richard, et al. Sinodonty, Sundadonty, and the Beringian Standstill Model: Issues of Timing and Migrations into the New World. Quaternary International 466 (2018): 233–46. Print.Shillito, Lisa-Marie, et al. New Researc h at Paisley Caves: Applying New Integrated Analytical Approaches to Understanding Stratigraphy, Taphonomy, and Site Formation Processes. PaleoAmerica 4.1 (2018): 82–86. Print. Tune, Jesse W., et al. Assessing the Proposed Pre-Last Glacial Maximum Human Occupation of North America at Coats-Hines-Litchy, Tennessee, and Other Sites. Quaternary Science Reviews 186 (2018): 47–59. Print.Wagner, Daniel P. Cactus Hill, Virginia. Encyclopedia of Geoarchaeology. Ed. Gilbert, Allan S. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 2017. 95–95. Print.Wheat, Amber. Survey of Professional Opinions Regarding the Peopling of America. SAA Archaeological Record 12.2 (2012): 10–14. Print.

The Battle of Ypres 1915 Cost 6000 Canadian Casualties

The Battle of Ypres 1915 Cost 6000 Canadian Casualties In 1915, the second Battle of Ypres established the reputation of the Canadians as a fighting force. The 1st Canadian Division had just arrived on the Western Front when they won recognition by holding their ground against a new weapon of modern warfare - chlorine gas. It was also in the trenches at the second Battle of Ypres that John McCrae wrote the poem when a close friend was killed, one of 6000 Canadian casualties in just 48 hours. War World War I Date of Battle of Ypres 1915 April 22 to 24, 1915 Location of Battle of Ypres 1915 Near Ypres, Belgium Canadian Troops at Ypres 1915 1st Canadian Division Canadian Casualties at the Battle of Ypres 1915 6035 Canadian casualties in 48 hoursMore than 2000 Canadians died Canadian Honours at the Battle of Ypres 1915 Four Canadians won the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Ypres in 1915 Edward Donald BellewFrederick Bud FisherFrederick William HallFrancis Alexander Scrimger Summary of the Battle of Ypres 1915 The 1st Canadian Division had just arrived at the front and were moved to Ypres Salient, a bulge in the front of the City of Ypres in Belgium.The Germans held the high ground.The Canadians had two British divisions on their right, and two French army divisions on their left.On April 22, after an artillery bombardment, the Germans released 5700 cylinders of chlorine gas. The green chlorine gas was heavier than air and sank into the trenches forcing soldiers out. The gas attack was followed by strong infantry assaults. The French defenses were forced to retreat, leaving a four-mile wide hole in the Allied line.The Germans did not have enough reserves or protection against the chlorine gas for their own troops to take immediate advantage of the gap.The Canadians fought through the night to close the gap.On the first night, the Canadians launched a counter-attack to drive the Germans out of Kitcheners Wood near St. Julien. The Canadians cleared the woods but had to retire. More attacks t hat night resulted in disastrous casualties but bought some time to close the gap. Two days later the Germans attacked the Canadian line at St. Julien, again using chlorine gas. The Canadians held on until reinforcements arrived.

History of the Wailing or Western Wall

History of the Wailing or Western Wall The Wailing Wall, also referred to as the Kotel, the Western Wall or Solomons Wall, and whose lower sections date to about the second century B.C.E., is located in the Old Quarter of East Jerusalem in Israel. Built of thick, corroded limestone, it is about 60 feet (20 meters) high and close to 160 feet (50 meters) long, though most of it is engulfed in other structures.   A Sacred Jewish Site The wall is believed by devout Jews to be the Western Wall of the Second Temple of Jerusalem (destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E.), the only surviving structure of the Herodian Temple. The temples original location is in dispute, leading some Arabs to dispute the claim that the wall belongs to the temple, arguing instead that it is part of the structure of Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. The structures description as the Wailing Wall derives from its Arabic identification as el-Mabka, or place of weeping, frequently repeated by European - and particularly French - travelers to the Holy Land in the 19th century as le mur des lamentations.  Jewish devotions believe that the divine presence never departs from the Western Wall. The Wailing Wall is one of the great Arab-Israeli struggles. Jews and Arabs dispute who is in control of the wall and who has access to it, and many Muslims maintain that the Wailing Wall has no relation to ancient Judaism at all. Sectarian and ideological claims aside, the Wailing Wall remains a sacred place for Jews and others who often pray - or perhaps  wail - and sometimes slip prayers written on paper through the walls welcoming fissures. In July 2009, Alon Nil launched a free service allowing people around the world to Twitter their prayers, which are then taken in printed form to the Wailing Wall. Israels Annexation of the Wall After the war of 1948 and the Arab capture of the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem, Jews were generally banned from praying at the Wailing Wall, which was at times defaced by political posters. Israel annexed Arab East Jerusalem immediately after the 1967 Six Day War and claimed ownership of the citys religious sites. Incensed - and fearing that the tunnel the Israelis began digging, starting from the Wailing Wall and under the Temple Mount, shortly after the war was over was designed to undermine the foundations of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islams third holiest site after the mosques in Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia - Palestinians and other Muslims rioted, triggering a clash with Israeli forces that left five Arabs dead and hundreds wounded. In January 2016, the Israeli government  approved the first space where non-Orthodox Jews of both sexes can pray side by side, and the first Reform prayer service of both men and women took place in February 2016 in a section of the wall known as Robinsons Arch.

Critically evaluate the tests for certainty of objects in the law of Essay

Critically evaluate the tests for certainty of objects in the law of trusts and assess whether developments in the last half century have had a positive or negative impact on the law - Essay Example The assessment of certainty of objects is complex because the test varies between mere powers, fixed trusts and discretionary trusts. The reason for identifying the objects of trust is to ensure that there is a person who can enforce trust against the trustee. Additionally, there must be someone who can bring an action in court in case the responsibilities of the trustee are not achieved. The trust must also have the ability of being executed in that when there is no human persons to benefit from the trust then the concept of trust becomes pointless2. Therefore, when a beneficiary is explicitly named in the trust deed there is no confusion when it comes to the certainty of objects. In cases where a person is not explicitly named in the trust deed, but the trust document provides a description of an individual that should profit from the trust property. Additionally, in case the description is clear and precise that it is a particular person then this prerequisite is satisfied. In a certainty of objects where the trust is made for a set of people for example, ‘my children’ this clause will succeed where it has been established that there is adequate certainty to identify each member of the group/class of people3. When a group of people are not clearly described, defined, or stated in vague terms their meaning can be interpreted using the conceptual uncertainty. Two tests that have been created to establish whether all persons within the group can be clearly recognized. They include the class ascertainability test, which comes into play where trustees make a complete list of each individual that comes within the class of people to benefit from trust. Although the courts do not need to know the entire class in order to decide whether the trustees are selecting within the group, in case the trustees do not do so then it must be said that the trustees are not exercising their duties in case they have

WC mod 5 discussion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

WC mod 5 discussion - Assignment Example Rich people in the society are related with corporate crimes as they can afford to hire lawyers to defend them while the poor are most likely to commit street or minor crimes. However, minor crimes get heavy sentences as compared to corporate crimes. In most cases, females and minorities live in poverty; on the other hand, teenagers are most likely to commit minor crimes. However, older people stand high chances of being rich; therefore, they are prone to committing corporate crimes (Waterkeyn, 2005). Considering gender, males are related to violent crimes as compared to females who are less violent and tend not to go for violent crimes. As previewed, criminology and critical studies may be perused in future to expand multi-disciplinary knowledge. This aims at exploring the under-developed where female peers support certain types of pornography. However, the media has played a significant role in dealing with the matter of female crimes. Through women empowerment programs, many women have changed positively and the rate of female crime has gone down (Mallicoat, 2011). The media has gone a step ahead to mobilize awareness campaigns about crime and how women have suffered in the hands of

Salome with the head of St John the Baptist Essay

Salome with the head of St John the Baptist - Essay Example Salome is said to be the lady in the painting. In the painting, Salome is carrying St. John the Baptist’s head. The painting is believed to have been painted in 1680s and was once paired by another equally gory painting showing David while carrying Goliath’s head. The two paintings depicted the beheading of two famous biblical figures; John the Baptist and David. According to these two paintings, their theme was the cruel deaths of biblical heroes who were murdered in mysterious circumstances. That notwithstanding, Carlo Dolci’s painting was also an illustration of one of the most agonizing scenes ever recorded in the bible (Spike, Michelangelo, & Michèle, 131). When it comes to the art, the painting was professionally done. The colors were chosen according to the theme. Most importantly, the look on Salome’s face as depicted in the painting was a clear illustration of the mood of the painting. One can readily tell the mood of the painting from merely looking at it. This implies that one does not have to read the illustrations of the painting in order to tell the message that Carlo Dolci intended to pass in his work. Black color is always associated with evil or some sort of calamities. Carlo Dolci chose to use black color as the background color of the painting. This was a clear indication of his intention of portraying the arrest and subsequent beheading of John the Baptist. The painting also shows Salome’s head tilted on the left; and impression of the melancholy Salome was going though.

Prison in the US justice system Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Prison in the US justice system - Research Paper Example The current conditions of prisons will be considered, as well as the presence and implementation of recidivism programs, rehabilitative programs, introductory back into society programs, and steps taken to ensure the safety of the public after a prisoner has been released. When most people think of prisons, cold, rundown jail cells for the purpose of punishing hardened criminals is what usually comes to mind. While punishment is one of the primary reasons that prisons exist, there are two other reasons that often go overlooked: to protect and to rehabilitate. Prisons are used to protect both society and the criminal. Society needs protection against harmful individuals and groups, and the criminal needs protection from those in society wishing to seek revenge for any wrongdoings (for example, the father of a murdered child might feel tempted to go after the murderer). Prisons also help to rehabilitate to prisoners so that they can learn to handle their anger in healthy and beneficial ways, and will also be less likely to commit crimes once they have been released. In recent years, many state and federal prisons have been under fire due to the physical conditions that prisoners are being forced to live. The majority of these issues have stemmed from the two greatest ordeals that prisons are facing, which are overcrowding and underfunding. As early as 1991, prisons throughout the United States have faced a significant increase of inmates, and thus an increase in prison overcrowding (Weschler, 1991). The number of prisoners being released back onto the streets is shrinking while the number of prisoners being brought into prisons is continuing to grow. The demand to maintain prisoners is too great and cannot be kept up with. To make the overcrowding even worse is the underfunding of our state and federal prisons. Due to nationwide budget cuts and our current economic recession, our prisons are among the institutions that are being given the cold shoulder

Commerical banker Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Commerical banker - Essay Example Similarly banking sector has expanded and developed by leaps and bounds in south Asia. After china, Indonesia and Malaysia the banking sector in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has been tremendously growing. This trend in the growth of banking sector has actually been the need of the economies to accommodate and sustain the needs of these economies. In fact commercial banking and its tremendous growth has been the pushing and pulling factor in the sustainable growth of these economies. The accelerated activity of agricultural sector, the small and medium enterprises, the construction and real estate have yielded the fairly large ground for commercial banking sector on local basis in south Asia. Since the return rates on any business in south Asian countries is the highest one in the world (almost 20 % per annum), there has been every chance of emergence and growth of commercial banking in South Asia. A large number of fresh MBAs are attracted to the commercial banking and they get appropriate training facilities. Their remuneration in the commercial banks remained high and they also got monthly pro-rata commissions on their retail performance. The attitudes of young graduates employed in the banks are molded towards professionalism and business.

Emotional development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Emotional development - Essay Example A multi-agency team, consisting of a play worker, a nursery nurse, and a teaching assistant, worked with Rose to help her come out of her emotional trauma. Fun tools available to the kids and the types of play activities were observed, along with special consideration given to the team’s supervision and other adults’ direct or indirect contribution in play activities. The team saw positive outcomes. 2. Importance of Attachment and Its Effects on Brain The importance of attachment of infants and toddlers with the parents or caregivers cannot be denied in terms of healthy mental development. â€Å"The impact of attachment disruptions on children’s lives can be devastating and far-reaching†, state Kaduson and Schaefer (2006: 148). When the child enjoys vigorous attachment with the caregiver, he will learn how to offer and maintain a devoted and compassionate relationship that benefits the child in both the short and long run. He will learn to rely on others. The long term outcome will be a contented, independent, and confident personality. On the other hand, when the child does not have an attachment bonding with the caregiver, he will learn to fear, to feel guilty, and to feel the world as a place which is not safe and where his needs are not going to be met. The long term outcome is a timid personality suffering from inferiority complex. Hence, we see that the attachment between the infant/toddler and the caregiver has significant importance in terms of personality developmental outcomes. 3. Components of Healthy Attachment According to Kaduson and Schaefer (2006: 267), â€Å"a healthy attachment allows for a balance between the toddler’s developmentally appropriate exploratory drive and need for emotional reassurance and support.† A healthy attachment between an infant and the caregiver has two components. the infant’s needs that he wants the caregiver to fulfill the timely response of the caregiver The attachmen t occurs when the infant has a sure feeling that the parent or the caregiver will always be there to fulfill his needs of hunger, thirst, clothing, cleaning, and the like. When the caregiver gives a timely response to the infant, this gives rise to trust. The infant forms trust on the caregivers when his needs are fulfilled and forms an attachment with them. When the infant feels otherwise, he learns to mistrust others. Attachment also includes such efforts by the infant with which he tries to remain in physical contact with the caregiver, for example, holding a finger tight, clinging to the bosom, sticking to the lap, and etcetera. 4. Parenting Styles and Attachment Parents and caregivers can play very important role in developing and maintaining healthy bonds of attachment with the children (Maccoby 1992). When the caregivers give the children the chance to share their problems and express their needs to them, they are actually ensuring them that they can always depend upon them f or a solution. Parents use many approaches while parenting, most common of which are authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and uninvolved styles. Attachment occurs when the child feels secure with his parent’s parenting style (Strage & Brandt 1999). Authoritarian parents leave no room for reasoning and communication. Authoritative parents leave room for objections. They listen to their child’s ideas and reason with them due to which the child

Commerical banker Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Commerical banker - Essay Example Similarly banking sector has expanded and developed by leaps and bounds in south Asia. After china, Indonesia and Malaysia the banking sector in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has been tremendously growing. This trend in the growth of banking sector has actually been the need of the economies to accommodate and sustain the needs of these economies. In fact commercial banking and its tremendous growth has been the pushing and pulling factor in the sustainable growth of these economies. The accelerated activity of agricultural sector, the small and medium enterprises, the construction and real estate have yielded the fairly large ground for commercial banking sector on local basis in south Asia. Since the return rates on any business in south Asian countries is the highest one in the world (almost 20 % per annum), there has been every chance of emergence and growth of commercial banking in South Asia. A large number of fresh MBAs are attracted to the commercial banking and they get appropriate training facilities. Their remuneration in the commercial banks remained high and they also got monthly pro-rata commissions on their retail performance. The attitudes of young graduates employed in the banks are molded towards professionalism and business.

Institutional Racism and Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Health Care System Essay Example for Free

Institutional Racism and Racial Discrimination in the U.S. Health Care System Essay Institutional racism and racial discrimination in the U.S. health care system has been part of a long continuum dating back over 400 years. After hundreds of years of active discrimination, efforts were made to admit minorities into the mainstream health system but these efforts were flawed. Colin Gordon in his book Dead on Arrival portrays a very strong stance towards this issue when he states, â€Å"The American welfare state has always been, at root, a Jim Crow welfare state – disdainful of citizenship claims of racial minorities, deferential to a southern-controlled Congress, and leery of the racial implications of universal social programs† (172). It is evident that throughout the history of U.S. health care that race has shaped health provisions in a number of ways, most noticeably in private and public health care institutions. Gordon throughout his books discusses the ways in which institutional racism, specifically in the field of healthcare, has manifested itself throughout history. One of the most prominent manifestations of institutional racism in the healthcare field comes to light when examining past (and sometimes present) policies regarding admission (to healthcare facilities) and discrimination of minorities. It is evident when observing the adoption, administration, and implementation of these policies in the past that they were purposefully constructed to be exclusive of minority citizens (specifically African Americans and Latinos). Gordon gives an example of such policies in 1939 under the Social Security reforms. In the formative years of the New Deal southerners in Congress pushed for and won for the exclusion of agricultural and domestic labor from coverage under the National Recovery, Agricultural Adjustment, Social Security, National Labor Relations, and Fair Labor Standards act, this affectively excluded 90 percent of the southern black workforce (185). The implications of this act of agricultural exclusion are most clearly evident in the South and Southwest—regions whose economies were dominated by agriculture, who agriculture systems were peculiarly labor intensive, and whose agricultural labor markets were organized around low wages, tenancy, harsh legal controls, and violence. Gordon argues that segregation  persisted in medicine and hospitals longer than in any other public institution or facility partly due to the fact that Southern Congressmen pushed for local control of any federal expenditure; and later on this pushed Southern and Southwestern leaders into a partnership with doctors, employers, and insurers to keep racial minorities excluded from the health system. Southern interests led to a push for job-based private insurance, locally administered subsidies for hospital construction, and penurious charitable programs for those left behind, â€Å"southerners persistently worked to exclude African Americans from coverage, tap into federal funds without sacrificing local practices, and ensure that charity programs remained under local control† (174). Employment-based benefits, initially developed as a surrogate for national policy, was successful in leaving behind the majority of African Americans and Latinos due to the fact that they were grossly underrepresented in the unionized industrial economy, and in part because benefits such as these did not extend to casual or domestic or agricultural workers. Private health benefits came to be looked upon by many Americans as a â€Å"wage of white-ness† (176). Federal agencies, both out of practical and political necessity, consistently surrendered control over federal funds and standards over to state and local administration, â€Å"states set their own standards for care and eligibility and controlled the pace and scope of federal matching funds. Local political and medical authorities wielded considerable informal power and discretion† (187). In 1948 the Brookings Institution published a book-length assault on health reform. The conclusion of this publication was that higher black mortality rates are â€Å"predominately the result of economic, cultural and social differences† although, the research for this publication based cost estimates off of the ordinary expenditures of white families and confined comparative mortality rates to the white population, this led to them to conclude that the United States was among one of the most healthful nations in the world (188). Seconding this conclusion and also asserting that higher rates of non-white mortality were due to such things as poor sanitation, housing, education, and the lack of ordinary individual and community common sense was the AMA. The partnership between these two organizations is evident. At the root of the hospital issue in the South was not only professional and patient segregation but also the way in which it was countenanced by federal efforts  to address the region’s dearth of facilities. What is shown here is the long-standing political strategy to try and appease reformers by granting federal funds but to simultaneously placate opponents by relinquishing control to local or private interests; federal aid to hospitals both in 1940 and under the 1946 Hill-Burton Act â€Å"avoided any commitment to maintenance: once built, hospitals would reflect local control and local custom† (193). This however did nothing to prevent segregation seeing as in order to be considered nondiscriminatory a hospital was only required to grant equal access to the portion of the hospital that was built with federal funds. Perhaps the most compelling public health issue during the formative years of the American welfare state was the dismal status of rural services. In places in the South and Southwest and the nation’s inner cities basic services such as a hospital, public health clinic, and a doctor accepting Medicaid patients did not even exist. Gordon offers the example in Mississippi in 1948, there were only five general hospital beds for every 100,000 blacks in the state—at a time when four beds for every 1,000 citizens was considered adequate (175). It is evident that health care in the twentieth century has been shaped by a myriad of â€Å"direct and indirect discrimination, strong southern interests and local administration, the uneasy intersection of public and private (job-based) benefits, and the sharp political distinctions routinely drawn between contributory and charitable programs† (209). According to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Despite the existence of civil rights legislation equal treatment and equal access are not a reality for racial/ethnic minorities and women in the current climate of the health care industry. Many barriers limit both the quality of health care and utilization for these groups, including discrimination. Importance of Health Care Access to comprehensive, quality health care services is important for the achievement of health equity and for increasing the quality of a healthy life for everyone. Access to health services entails the timely utilization of personal health services in an effort to achieve the best possible health outcomes. The utilization of and access to health care has many substantial impacts on a person’s life. A person’s overall physical, social and mental health statuses are all impacted by the ability to be examined and treated by a medical professional. Health care also plays a significant role in the prevention of disease and disability, the detection and treatment of health conditions and a person’s quality of life. A structured healthcare system assists in providing a foundation for a healthy lifestyle for both individuals and their families. Without access to healthcare, minor health issues have the potential to escalate either permanently affecting living standards or worse resulting in death. The health care sector also has an impact on the local economy. Health care facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes provide jobs and income to people in the community. As these employees spend their income in the community, a ripple spreads throughout the economy, creating additional jobs and income in other economic sectors. Also, providing healthcare may also be a business incentive to companies. Healthy employees can mean a healthier, happier, more productive workplace. A company’s decision to invest in and offer health care to their employees not only filters back into the economy but also may help them to recruit and retain quality employees, improve employee satisfaction, and reduce absenteeism due to sickness. Business that offer health insurance as part of their employee benefits package are probably better able to attract more qualified applicants than those who dont. Also, offering health insurance coverage is a way of keeping operating costs low, because employees are generally more apt to take a position at a lower salary when health insurance benefits are provided. This is because it generally costs more for someone to obtain an individual or family health insurance policy than to get employer-sponsored coverage, making the difference of a lower salary negotiable. Businesses offering health insurance can deduct their portion of the contribution toward their employee plan as a business expense and get a tax advantage. If the business is incorporated, the business owners insurance and the coverage paid for employees are deductible. Access to health care services and insurance plays a vital role in individual and families lives along side society as a whole.

Research Methods Chapter: Filipino Work Values in Education

Research Methods Chapter: Filipino Work Values in Education Chapter II METHOD OF THE STUDY The descriptive-correlation method is utilized to describe the general characteristics of the respondents in this study and to examine the existing relationship or differences between work values, job satisfaction and work performance. This method enables the researcher to make a thorough analysis of the relationship between the indicators of FWVS, JSS and the results of the Teachers’ Efficiency Rating of the respondents. Specifically, descriptive method was used to define the respondents’ dominant work values, level of job satisfaction and the level of work performance according to the different indicators given in the utilized tools. Moreover, this method is also used to describe the capacity of work values to determine the future outcomes of job satisfaction and work performance. While, correlation method was utilized to delve on the relationship between the different aspects of work values and job satisfaction, and work values and work performance. INSTRUMENTS/ TECHNIQUES To obtain the pertinent data for this study, standardized tests and evaluation tool were utilized as the main instruments. Standardized tests This study utilized the Filipino Work Values Scale Employee Edition (FWVS EE) The Filipino Work Values Scale (FWVS) is a standardized instrument designed to determine a persons work values. The scale consists of 80 items, distributed into 10 subscales. It takes approximately 15 to 20 minutes to accomplish it (Manual, 1987). The 10 subscales are the: Environmental, Familial, Intellectual – Achievement, Interpersonal, Management, Material, Occupation, Organization, Religious and Variety. This tool was rated using the Likert Scale Rating (1 – Very Unimportant, 2 – Unimportant, 3 – Neutral, 4 – Important and 5 – Very Important). This test consists of a test booklet where the general and specific directions were indicated, and a separate answer sheet to indicate the respondents’ answers. This test can be self – administered. The author sought for the permission of the owner of this tool which is attached in Appendix B. To obtain the level of the job satisfaction of the participants, Job Satisfaction Survey by Paul E. Spector was used. The Job Satisfaction Survey, JSS is a 36 item, nine-facet scale to assess employee attitudes about the job and aspects of the job. The nine facets are Pay, Promotion, Supervision, Fringe Benefits, Rewards, Co-workers, Nature of Work, and Communication which are rated from 1 or â€Å"Disagree very much† to 6 or â€Å"Agree very much.† Although the JSS was originally developed for use in human service organizations, it is also applicable in the education setting (Spector, 2001). The survey has an existing norm for teachers in Asian countries. This tool has been widely used and has existing local norm in the Philippines such as in the study conducted by Bansil (2010) in the study entitled â€Å"The relationship of job satisfaction and job performance of call center agents in outbound program† and Rosales and her colleagues (2013), â€Å"Nursesâ€⠄¢ Job Satisfaction and Burnout: Is there a connection?†.The author obtained permission from the local authors who utilized JSS in their local researches for reliability and validity purposes. The copy of the letter of permission was attached in Appendix C. Documentary Analysis The researcher obtained and analyzes the respondents work performance from the institutions previous school years work evaluation, Teachers’ Efficiency Rating. Efficiency Rating tool is a key component of employee development. It is intended to be a fair and balanced assessment of an employees performance (Claret Employee Manual, 1999). Administration. After securing permit from the school administrators, the researcher prepared the materials which are: Filipino Work Values Scale (Employee Edition) which was obtained from the author, Dr. Vicentita Cervera, and the Job Satisfaction Survey by Paul E. Spector, which was obtained from the website and was utilized upon the approval of the author. The tests were self-administered and there was no time allotment. The instructions were indicated in the booklets and answer sheets, where the respondents can readily read the instructions and understood easily. The materials were distributed during the in-service training seminar in the Audio-Visual Room (AVR) of CSQC where all the old and newly hired teachers were required to attend. The researcher was able to obtain the target respondents. The researcher was given 1 hour to conduct the administration of the tests. Other Guidance Counselors facilitated the distribution of the materials while the researcher explained the instructions where ten minutes was consumed. Fifteen to twenty minutes was allotted in answering the FWVS and another ten to fifteen minutes was given in answering the JSS. After each test, the Guidance Counselors collected the materials and proceeded to the inspection of answer sheets. Those answer sheets with incomplete responses and answer sheets of newly hired teachers were eliminated. A total of 109 qualified answer sheets were collected. The checking and scoring of the accomplished FWVS and JSS answer sheets started immediately after the data gathering and this was done for one month. The encoding of responses followed by the end of July, 2014 using the SPSS version 11.5 package. SAMPLING PROCEDURE The researcher utilized the non – probability purposive sampling technique (Rosales, 2013). This method was used based on the given criteria and specifications identified by the researcher. In this technique, the researcher based on his personal judgment in selecting the participants who best meet the purposes of his study. Ariola (2006) explains that whoever qualifies and is available is taken until the desired number of sample is attained. Specifically, stakeholder sampling (Palys, 2014) is utilized, one of the kinds of purposive sampling which is useful in the context of evaluation research and analysis of the teachers’ work values, job satisfaction and work performance, who are also involved in receiving and affected by the program that is designed according to the results. TREATMENT OF DATA Data were computed and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 11.5). Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics included weighted mean to describe the teachers’ dominant work values difference work values, extent of job satisfaction and work performance and linear regression analysis to identify the future outcome of job satisfaction and work performance based on the dominant work values. Pearson – r coefficient of correlation was utilized to determine the correlation of variables and its significance. Weighted Mean. The researcher utilized this computation to get the weighted mean scores of each work values to identify the extent of importance on each work values, criteria of job satisfaction and work performance, with a formula of: ∑x = N/ n To determine the verbal interpretation of work values, this scale was used: Mean RangeDescription 4.50 to 5.00Very Important 3.50 to 4.49Important 2.50 to 3.49Neutral 1.50 to 2.49Unimportant 1.00 to 1.49Very Unimportant To determine the verbal interpretation of the job satisfaction, this scale was used: Mean RangeVerbal Description 5.50 to 6.00Agree very much 4.50 to 5.49Agree moderately 3.50 to 3.49Agree slightly 2.50 to 3.49Disagree slightly 1.50 to 2.49Disagree moderately 1.00 to 1.49Disagree very much To determine the verbal interpretation of the respondents’ work performance, this scale was utilized: Mean RangeDescription 4.5 to 5.0Very Evident 3.5 to 4.4Evident 2.5 to 3.4Fairly Evident 1.5 to 2.4Hardly Evident 1.0 to 1.4Not Evident Pearson – r. The Pearson – r or Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (r) is used in determining strength of correlation or association between two or more interval or ratio data (Ariola, 2006). This treatment was used to determine the degree and the nature of correlation between work values, job satisfaction and work performance. To determine the degree of relationship that exists between the variables, the following scale was used: If r =+.70 or higherVery strong positive relationship +.40 to +.69Strong positive relationship +.30 to +.39Moderate positive relationship +.20 to +.29weak positive relationship +.01 to +.19No or negligible relationship -.01 to -.19No or negligible relationship -.20 to -.29weak negative relationship -.30 to -.39Moderate negative relationship -.40 to -.69Strong negative relationship -.70 or higherVery strong negative relationship (http://faculty.quinnipiac.edu/libarts/polsci/Statistics.html) To determine the interpretation of the computed generated p – value in comparison with the level of significance, SPSS as used as shown on the scale below: ComparisonDecisionInterpretation P-value < 0.05Reject Ho Significant level of significance p-value > 0.05Accept HoNot Significant level of significance Correlation of coefficient reveals the positive (+) or negative (-) relationship between work values (x variable) and job satisfaction or work performance criteria (y variable). Positive significant relationship explains that as the x variable increases, y variable also increases, and vice – versa. Additionally, the significance of relationship of work values was based on the Ï  – value, where the computed Ï  – value

Comparing My Name is Asher Lev, Naked Lunch and Animal Farm Essay

Comparative Analysis of My Name is Asher Lev, Naked Lunch and Animal Farm  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   What do a junkie, Communists pigs, and a little Jewish boy have in common? No, this isnÕt an Anti-Semitic crack. In fact, the answer is really nothing. Then how would Naked Lunch, Animal Farm, and My Name is Asher Lev make a good comparative research paper? ThereÕs no magic involved really. To solve this perplexity one must think like Chaim Potok who said that "no feeling, no thought, and no sensibility cannot be tapped or explored and revealed" (Abramson 59). By looking deeper into the fibers of history, satire, criticism, and philosophy that are woven into each of these stories, the connection becomes less ambiguous.    As with many great novels, there is usually more to the story than what is written on paper. Each author, in his novels, incorporated his critical view of the world into the story by using the theme of individual vs. society. These views portray their cultures in the negative light in which they saw them. Therefore, the criticisms were the authorsÕ way of exhibiting and lashing out against what, in their minds, were the evils within the society they lived in. These problems range from politics, to religion, to the human condition.    My Name is Asher Lev, Naked Lunch, and Animal Farm were all written with a specific, social criticism in mind. Chaim Potok, author of My Name is Asher Lev, though an ordained rabbi of the Jewish faith, (Abramson 2) sought to justify the "conviction that no idea should be foreign in our world (Potok)" by challenging the JewÕs belief that "art holds no place in the Jewish faith. (Kremer)" Though raised in a strict, Orthodox household Potok grew interested in art from an early age and,... ...l. 2. Feb, 1976. 321-322. Potok, Chaim. Interview with Jennifer Gilmett. Seattle Pacific University. 29 Oct. 1997.http://www.lasierra.edu/~ballen/potok/Potok.interviews. SPU.html Potok, Chaim. Lecture. Southern College of Seventh-Day Adventists. Collegedale, Tenn. Ed. Dr. Jerry Gladson. http://www.lasierra.edu/ ~ballen/potok/Potok.unique.html#Asher Seltzer, Alvin J. Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 42. Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1985. 80-85. Skerl, Jenny. "William S. Burroughs". http://www.bigtable.com/0009e.html Smyer, Richard I. Animal Farm: Pastoralism and Politics. Boston: TwayneÕs Masterwork Studies, 1988. 11-30. Smyer, Richard I. "Primal Dream and Primal Crime: OrwellÕs Development As a Physchological Novelist". DIScovering Authors Modules Online. University of Missouri Press, 1979. http://www.galenet.com         

Oliver Twist - Summary :: essays research papers

During the summer of 1999, I have chosen to read the book, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. Reading this book will better prepare me for my upcoming course of global studies because it deals with many of the regions and time periods we will be studying in class. Although this book was a classic that I thought I had known so much about, reading it and paying attention to the setting and surroundings of the young boy’s life, I noticed many historical events and customs from his time period. The following is a report including the answers to the questions provided for my summer reading program. The story begins with a woman giving birth to a baby without the proper instruments necessary and dies. The boy is brought up in a dirty home with little to eat and under poor conditions. No one knows of the boy’s identity. His government caretakers give him the name Oliver. Oliver grows up in a world with no sympathy for poor orphans. He goes to London to escape his mean guardians and to try to make a better life for himself. On his journey he is mixed up with thieves and is caught stealing even though it was the people he was with. He gets sick and is taken care of by the people who he originally stole from and they grow to love him. The thieves find out about him staying with the people and kidnap him. More stealing takes place and Oliver is trained to be a better thief. One time, during a robbery, Oliver is shot and left for dead by the thieves. The people at the house Oliver was to rob took him in and gave him a home. Oliver’s identity is found. It turns out that O liver was supposed to receive an inheritance from his father and one of the people who got him caught knew this. After confessing, Oliver received his inheritance and lived a happy life from then on. After reading this book and studying the surroundings of the main characters as well as the other characters, I am lead to believe that this book takes place in two different sections of England in the late seventeen hundreds to the early eighteen hundreds. Most of the story takes place in warehouses and in broken down buildings or other hideouts. Other scenes take place in the home of wealthy people in London.

Fate decides how you are born Essay

As with all Shakespearean tragedies, King Lear, lays bare all the possible permutations and combinations in human relationships. It is not uncommon to hear modern writers to lament the fact that Shakespeare has not left untouched any aspect of human interaction. The sub plot of Gloucester and his two sons, the legitimate Edgar and the bastard son Edmund is a curious complement to Lear’s own follies of trusting the outwardly affectionate and as a consequence alienating the sincerely loving child. The lesson of human nature this sub plot provides is about knowing when the bitterness towards an accident beyond your control takes primacy of purpose in your life. Edmund let his illegitimate status drive him to indulge in all villainous acts only to further the depravity of his soul. You might not be able to help certain circumstances that stigmatize your existence but the best way out of it is to lead a life of virtue and not resorting to illegitimate acts to get back at the world and the society that condemns you for no fault of yours. The essential difference between Lear and Gloucester is the motivation of the usurpers of their kingdoms. In the case of Lear, they are just greed and ambition. It is not quite that simple with Gloucester. He does love his illegitimate son Edmund and acknowledges his status as the young man’s father openly and publicly. But, every kind word and every single attempt at showing Edmund that he is loved by his biological father translates into a sting aimed at the circumstances of his birth. His entire personality is defined by the antipathy that kindness evokes in him. Through Edmund’s characterization, Shakespeare shows the readers that the stigma that affects any person and changes his personality traits need not necessarily be external. The stigma attached to any person tends to color his judgment, his motivation and actions for all his life and he continues to see the world and its actions through the refracted light of his yearning for legitimacy. Though it might be known to Edmund that whatever he achieves, legitimacy is one thing he shall never achieve as his status is indelible for all future. This drives him to a state where he wants to snatch things from his half brother, usurp his father’s crown and also help others in similar quests. One thing he fails to cultivate in all his life is a relationship based on trust. He can trust nobody and become trustworthy to no body in return. Failure to accept one’s station in life can be a great factor that evaporates any kindness and nobility from the soul which is what happens in the case of Edmund. The paradox of a mind consumed with one single purpose – retribution- aimed at world at large is brought forward elegantly in the soliloquy of Edmund before he sets up on his decided path of deceit. He wonders why he is not worthy in the world’s eyes and laments the fact that he can never be accorded the tag of legitimacy. EDMUND â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Why brand they us With base? with baseness? bastardy? base, base? †(1. 2. 11-12) But he fails to recognize the veil he is allowing to grow in his soul as he proclaims â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Edmund the base Shall top the legitimate. I grow; I prosper: Now, gods, stand up for bastards! †(1. 2. 20-22) Such evil intentions are enough to provide proof to Edmund that his mind is playing games with him and making him the slave of his deep rooted stigma of irregular birth and his yearning for legitimacy. But he fails to see them or perhaps, he wants to fail to see them. In the same context, Shakespeare also tries to invoke the belief held by man that stars and celestial events have a bearing on the behavior and relationships of man. GLOUCESTER â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦yet nature finds itself scourged by the sequent effects: love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide: in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; and the bond cracked ‘twixt son and father. This villain of mine comes under the prediction;†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †(1. 2. 101-108) It is an attempt by a father to hang on to his last vestige of love for his son by claiming that un natural or non-regular celestial events like eclipses had something to do with his son turning against him. In private, Edmund completely rubbishes any such possibility and laughs at the weakness of his father for attributing his misfortunes to stars and nature. In support of his argument he says that his nature would have remained the same even if he had been fathered under the auspices of the luckiest celestial combination EDMUND â€Å"when we are sick in fortune,–often the surfeit of our own behavior,–we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ (1. 2. 118-120) â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Tut, I should have been that I am, had the maidenliest star in the firmament twinkled on my bastardizing†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬  (1. 2. 132-134) The treachery of Edmund and his subsequent blinding at the hands of Cornwall, alienation from his son Edgar all lead to a decidedly defeatist philosophical outlook in Gloucester and he tries to explain his misfortune by saying that Gods inflict pain and suffering on humans for fun and as a pastime. He laments GLOUCESTER â€Å"As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport. † â€Å"(4. 1. 37-38) He then decides to take his and asks the mad man (his son Edgar in disguise) to lead him to a cliff and let him jump from the heights to give up his life. Edgar cleverly takes him to a flat bit of land and pretends that he has let him jump, then quickly changes the way he speaks to make Gloucester believe that he has survived a fall from a great cliff because he was led by some angel posing as the mad man. Though far younger in age and having endured infamy and difficulties galore, Edgar had wisdom beyond his years and whenever his father falls prey to despair, he helps him out of it by explaining the meaning of life’s journey. When Gloucester decides that he shall go no further and shall prefer rotting in the same place, Edgar tells him that man’s duty is to endure and the journey can not be cut short for despair. Ageing, losing one faculties, suffering reversals are all part of life and shall not impede the journey. The success of a life well lived lies in the times that one has fallen and in spite of his fall, has managed to stand, dust himself off and started moving forward again, with hope in his heart that good shall overcome evil. It is well captured in Edgar’s entreaty to his father EDGAR â€Å"What, in ill thoughts again? Men must endure Their going hence, even as their coming hither; Ripeness is all: come on. † (5. 2. 9-11) After several trials and tribulations Edgar finally accosts his half brother Edmund when he is invited for a duel and vanquishes him without identifying himself. When there are questions all around about the accusations he hurled at Edmund – as the chief perpetrator of cruelty and brutality against his own father Gloucester – Edgar finally reveals that he is the originally noble blooded son of Gloucester and he explains the difficulties he had to endure and the compulsion of his to act like an almost naked mad man, the attempted suicide of his father Gloucester and how he managed to save him with most implausible of stories. In the midst of all this exchange one more facet of Edmund’s villainous treachery bears its evil fruit. EDMUND â€Å"Yet Edmund was beloved: The one the other poison’d for my sake, And after slew herself. † (5. 3. 272-274) Edmund managed to manipulate even the love of two married ladies for him and this ends in tragedy when Goneril poisons Albany and subsequently kills herself. Misery and tragedy is what results in every venture that Edmund starts out on because his heart is so corrupted with wanton revenge and retribution but it is directed not at any person but at the circumstances of his birth and his burning desire to camouflage it with a magnitude of achievements that border on fantasy. As he senses the end of his life, Edmund suffers a conscience attack and wants to do some good. He finally realizes that ambition coupled with treachery ca take one only thus far and no further. Nobility of soul and purpose always manages to carry the day and it is evident from the fall from grace and favor of Edmund all so suddenly in the last act of this tragic play. Just before he is challenged to a duel by his half brother Edgar, he issues an order to kill Cordelia and King Lear. He also plans to pass it off as an apparent suicide. When he finally sees the mayhem he has created and the result of his treachery leading to two sisters dying, one by poison and other by her own hand, his conscience beseeches him to do at least one good deed before he is dead. He entreats the gathering to send some one to stop King Lear and Cordelia being killed as per his orders. EDMUND â€Å"I pant for life: some good I mean to do, Despite of mine own nature. Quickly send, Be brief in it, to the castle; for my writ Is on the life of Lear and on Cordelia: Nay, send in time. †(5. 3. 276-280) The sub plot of Gloucester launches the main villainy of Edmund on to the main stage of the play and holds his evil nature central to all misfortunes, well helped by the human infirmities of King Lear’s two daughters. But it also cleverly counters the numerous noble characters of the play – Albany, Kent, Edgar- and the like. Evil wins several battles but ultimately loses the War. Good suffers several trials by fire but manages to hold its own at the end. Two kings who let flattery and suspicion take over their better judgments suffer the moist implausible of consequences and in this, Shakespeare leaves a lot of lessons for all future generations. He almost seems to list out some commandments about human nature 1. Thou shalt not fall prey to flattery – King Lear 2. Thou shalt not allow suspicion to encroach your judgment but shall seek out complete facts – Gloucester 3. Thou shalt not let bitterness pervade your soul, in acting with bitterness you invite bitter ends – Edmund Apart from all these, Shakespeare seems to ask us to evaluate at every step if our intentions and actions have the desired effect on the people who are affected by it. If you love, let not the love patronize or smother the loved ones. And as one learned professor confessed to a student conversationally â€Å"When in doubt about how to go about life, read Shakespeare. You might very well find the answer you need†

Legal Aspects of Healthcare

Brett R. Myers Module 2 SLP BHM 443: Legal Aspects of Healthcare Dr. Holly Orozco 25 October 2010 Brett R Myers BHM 443 Dr. Holly Orozco There are 2 classifications of crimes that criminals in the United States can be charge with either a misdemeanor or a felony. Depending on what state someone commits a crime determines what classification of crime they are charged with. Many states take the crime and the max incarceration period into consideration when determining what to classify ones crime as.If one is charged with a misdemeanor they normally will not be incarcerated for longer than a year. Examples of misdemeanors are theft under a certain dollar amount, vandalism, public intoxication, and or reckless driving. The financial burden of a misdemeanor compared to a felony is lower as well. If charged with a felony they will normally stay long after a year. Examples of felonies could be money laundering, murder, or manslaughter. Under the classification of a felony some jurisdictions also classify felonies into degrees or grades of seriousness for example class 1-6 felony and aggravated felony.When a healthcare professional is charged with a crime there careers could potentially be over. In the state of New York when a healthcare professional commits a felony even if not deemed medical misconduct or even involving their practice their license to practice medicine can be revoked. The state of Arizona as well will revoke all license of a physician if charged with not only felonies but also has the choice even if convicted of a misdemeanor. The Food and Drug Administration does have the authority to disbar physicians who are committed of felonies in all states.With being Military a military physician can be held accountable in both civilian and military courts if charged with a crime. With doing my research over these questions to me the penalty for committing a simple misdemeanor can be pretty harsh on a physician.References http://www. craiggillespie. com/profes sional-licensing. html Collateral Consequences of Criminal Convictions of Physicians. (Michael S. Kelton 2006) http://www. superpages. com/supertips/definition-of-felony. html

Peer pressure at school

The school playground is often a mine field of potential social challenges for many children. While some children thrive in the playground, few are immune to at least some difficulties with their peers. This article highlights seven common peer problems your children may face at school. Teasing and bullying Teasing and bullying are unfortunately still common in the school yard. These issues will often not occur until after age seven or eight, and research indicates that at least three out of five sixth grade students experienced or participated in bullying in schools in New South Wales. See links below for more information. Loneliness Making friends is more challenging for some students than for others. Some parents become concerned if their children do not have a large number of friends. However, research indicates that the number of friends your child has is less important than the depth of the friendships. Better to have a narrow but deep pool of friends than a wide and shallow friendship circle. Good friendships take time, attention, and more time to develop. Get your children together with other kids regularly to solidify their relationships. Ostracism Some children will be intentionally left out of activities. There may or may not be teasing and bullying involved. This is a particular challenge, not just in the schoolyard, but also when birthday party invites are being distributed. Missing out can make a child feel awful. If your child is being ostracised, provide support, encourage alternative friendships, or consider involving your child’s teacher. Gender Issues Boys and girls are beginning to learn about one another throughout primary school. Most of the time boys and girls will choose to play separately. But by around age nine, some children are beginning to have an increasing awareness of the opposite sex and may even start to claim boyfriend and girlfriend status. While this can often be harmless, in many instances having a boy or girlfriend can create significant social challenge. Teasing can occur. Children can be unceremoniously dumped when friends uncover the ‘relationship’ and spread rumours about it. Most teachers and parents will typically agree that boyfriend and girlfriend relationships should be discouraged in primary school years. Many parents would prefer to discourage them until at least age 16! ) Being Cool†¦ or Not By around the age of nine, many children have a keen sense of what is cool and what is not. Much of this is controlled by what they are exposed to via the media (through the Internet, television, and movies). If your child has not got the latest media gadget (e. g. ipod or mobile phone), seen the latest movie, or does not know the words t o the hottest song in the country, they may feel excluded and could be teased or ostracised. This does not mean that children should be indulged or that your personal standards should be altered, but sensitive parents will likely take care to discuss such issues with their children and seek mutually agreeable solutions. Poor performance Children who perform poorly in academic (or other pursuits such as sport) may be excluded or find distance between themselves and their peers. This is a challenge that can be overcome using strategies outlined. Marginalising Minorities Children who present obvious differences to the majority of students, such as race, religion, or even socio-economic status, can often suffer socially because of the perceptions that they are not like everyone else. These issues can be particularly salient for girls once they reach age ten to twelve, although both genders can be affected. Skin colour or ethnicity, like religious habits, cannot and should not be changed to accommodate the majority. Instead, tolerance can be promoted by parents and schools to aid in peer relationships. Peer pressure â€Å"He who saves one life it is as though he saves the world†. You make the call, you have control over what you want to do or not do. Do you really want to do it, or are you too scared to stand up for yourself and just say no? You must stand up for yourself, and be confident with your decision. What if you say yes? What if you decide not to stand up for yourself? What if you are not confident? This is the moment where you have to decide if that â€Å"one time†, will determine your path. But you really have to stop and think for a moment. Is what you are doing a complete and true definition of you? Whose life are you really leading? There are two kinds of peer pressure. The Positive kind, and the Negative kind. The positive kind of peer pressure is, being pressured or convinced to do a certain task that you may not have had the confidence to complete or to do yourself. Another kind of positive peer pressure is when friends convince you not to do something that may not have been in your best interest. Negative peer pressure is just what it sounds like—It is when Peers try to make you think that they know what is best for you. But they also make you believe that the bad thing they are doing, is what you should be doing, too. They try to direct you down a path, which is not the correct one. They push for you to have JUST ONE drink. To smoke JUST ONE cigarette†¦. But, the thing that you can do to save yourself is not always the easiest thing to do– saying NO. But just saying no may or may not be the end of the problem. What it means is that you have to be certain and confident with your choice, and have the inner strength to know that you are doing the right thing. Being accepted by people who want you to be a follower, and to go down what may be the wrong path, is being accepted or thinking that you will be accepted by people who are not really your friends. Many people forget what the true definition of friend is. Peer pressure, is something that is commonly used on teens. Peer pressure is used, both in positive and negative ways, unfortunately it's used more often in negative ways. Because of this, I feel that peer pressure is more harmful than beneficial. Peer pressure can be a very powerful tool against teens. It can be used to onvince peers to drink, smoke, steal and many other things. Too many times teenagers end up in jail, pregnant, or in some other kind of trouble because of something they were pressured into doing. They do things they have never done before like; lying to their parents, drinking alcohol, smoking, and sometimes illegal things. They do all these risky things because they have been pressured into doing what is â€Å"co ol†. It can be very hard to stand up for yourself, as a teen trying to fit in, especially when your being ganged up on by your peers to do something you wouldn't normally do. Peer pressure can also be used by teens to convince other teens to go to church, not party, or hang with the wrong crowd. Although this kinda of peer pressure is rarely used, it's very beneficial. Sometimes when one teen see's another going down the wrong path and making bad decisions, they try to pressure them into doing the right thing. Teens often tell each other to â€Å"be safe† when their; having parties, drinking, or putting themselves into any situation that they could get into trouble. Although this is positive peer pressure, it's normally not as powerful or convincing as negative peer pressure because it implies that what that teen is doing, is okay or safe. Peer pressure is a very diverse tool, that can be used for good and bad, but overall it's a more powerful tool when used in a negative way. Because of this and the fact that negative peer pressure is used more often, I believe that peer pressure can be, but is not, more beneficial than harmful. Peer pressure is the influence of a peer group to an individual, causing them to change their attitudes, values and behaviour. It refers to any individual who is being persuaded in doing something that is against their judgment but does not have the courage to stand their ground and do the right thing. It weakens the sense of an individual because of the saying â€Å"everybody is going to do it† which makes them think that such thing is correct. It causes the youth to strive for social acceptance which makes and individual do something he/she is not comfortable of doing. Peer pressure is most commonly associated with the youth, especially the students, because they spend most of their day in school with their friends and classmates. Although peer pressure does not necessarily have to be negative, it also has some positive sides. It can make a student strive for academic success because of their peers or it can improve the study habits of students. The study habits of students are highly affected by peer pressure. Study habits are the approach on how school works are done and how students budget their time in doing tasks. It is crucial to the performance of students but also easily affected by peer pressure. It may cause some positive or negative effects. Peers may influence their classmates to study or not. Students also study together.