Opposition of the Quraysh to the message of the Prophet Muhammad The WritePass Journal

Resistance of the Quraysh to the message of the Prophet Muhammadâ Unique Resistance of the Quraysh to the message of the Prophet Muhammadâ . The worldwide Muslim people group at a junction. Santa Clause Barbara, Calif.: Praeger. Cohn, J. 2012 Muhammad: Prophet of Islam. New York, NY. Oxford University Press. Hashmi, S. 2003. The Quran and resilience: An interpretive paper on Verse 5: 48. Journal of Human Rights, 2 (1), pp. 81103. Ibn Hishaì„m, Ê ». A. what's more, Ibn Ishì £aì„kì £, M. 1955. The existence of Muhammad. London: Oxford University Press. Ibn Kathir, 2000. The life of the prophet Muhammad : an interpretation of Al-Sira al-Nabawiyya/ deciphered from the Arabic printed text of Mustafa ‘Abd al-Wahid by Trevor Le Gassick, v. 1 Garnet, 1998-2000, p. 278-310. Mcauliffe, J. D. 2006. The Cambridge ally to the Qurê ¼aì„n. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Diminishes, F. E. 1994. Mecca. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. Rahman, F. 1976. Pre-establishments of the Muslim Community in Mecca. Studia Islamica, (43), pp. 524. Ramadan, T. 2007. In the strides of the prophet. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Rubin, U. 1995. The eye of the viewer. Princeton, N.J.: Darwin Press. Tì £abariì„. 1988. The history of al-Tabari =. Albany: State University of New York Press. Venardos, A. M. 2009. Handbook of Current Islamic Banking and Finance Issues in South East Asia. Hackensach, NJ [u.a.]: World Scientific Pub Co Inc.

Free Essays on The Boat To Freedom

The pontoon unobtrusively leaves in the spooky obscurity of the late October night, 1989 wanting to arrive at the Thailand Gulf. On board are more than one-hundred Vietnamese individuals all things considered, some debilitated, yet generally glad, and overflowing with trust that they will arrive at the guaranteed land. This escalated get away from leaves them helpless, and the difficulties they experience are colossal; nonetheless, it shows their iron will against the degenerate acts of socialism. Morning comes to start an excellent day. The sky is clear and radiant. The vessel shakes somewhat by the waves and keeps on running at its max throttle. The individuals know so well at the time that there is no returning. Possibly they will make it or bite the dust some place in the gigantic and unforgiving ocean. Dread of the vulnerability and the obscure waits in their brains. Is it accurate to say that they are going the correct way? Will they endure? Will they be hit by the tempest or face the merciless and savage Thailand's privateers? Where will they end up...? On the third day, foreboding shadows are drifting over their heads and solid breezes begin to blow vigorously against their small wooden vessel. The quiet sea turns out to be progressively brutal with fierce waves driving their pontoon far away course. There is no sight of land, nothing with the exception of the thundering sky, the shuddering breezes, and the quick trembling pulses; the individuals are sobbing for help. Before long, they come up short on food, crude fish have become their principle wellspring of sustenance, however even that is uncommon. One can particularly hear kids crying for food while their folks stay there vulnerably. These uncertain guiltless children don't have the foggiest idea what has befallen them, and why they have been placed in the vessel to never observe their home again. Maybe the confirmation of having a delightful American burger after these battles could help them. A kid on and on in tears asks her mom, â€Å"When are we going home?† And nothing is as difficult than to understand that they don't have a home, the socialists... Free Essays on The Boat To Freedom Free Essays on The Boat To Freedom The pontoon unobtrusively leaves in the spooky obscurity of the late October night, 1989 planning to arrive at the Thailand Gulf. On board are more than one-hundred Vietnamese individuals everything being equal, some crippled, yet generally cheerful, and overflowing with trust that they will arrive at the guaranteed land. This escalated get away from leaves them defenseless, and the difficulties they experience are tremendous; in any case, it displays their iron will against the degenerate acts of socialism. Morning comes to start a wonderful day. The sky is clear and radiant. The vessel shakes somewhat by the waves and keeps on running at its max throttle. The individuals know so well at the time that there is no returning. It is possible that they will make it or kick the bucket some place in the tremendous and unforgiving ocean. Dread of the vulnerability and the obscure waits in their brains. Is it true that they are going the correct way? Will they endure? Will they be hit by the tempest or face the coldblooded and savage Thailand's privateers? Where will they end up...? On the third day, foreboding shadows are drifting over their heads and solid breezes begin to blow vigorously against their little wooden pontoon. The quiet sea turns out to be progressively vicious with brutal waves driving their pontoon far away course. There is no sight of land, nothing aside from the thundering sky, the shuddering breezes, and the quick trembling pulses; the individuals are weeping for help. Bef ore long, they come up short on food, crude fish have become their primary wellspring of sustenance, however even that is uncommon. One can particularly hear kids whimpering for food while their folks stay there vulnerably. These worried blameless children don't have a clue what has befallen them, and why they have been placed in the vessel to never observe their home again. Maybe the affirmation of having a delectable American burger after these battles could help them. A youngster on and on in tears asks her mom, â€Å"When are we going home?† And nothing is as excruciating than to understand that they don't have a home, the socialists...

What Your Favorite Season Says About Your Personality

What Your Favorite Season Says About Your Personality Theories Psychosocial Psychology Print What Your Favorite Season Says About Your Personality By Kendra Cherry facebook twitter Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author, educational consultant, and speaker focused on helping students learn about psychology. Learn about our editorial policy Kendra Cherry Updated on January 14, 2020 Jordan Siemens / Getty Images More in Theories Psychosocial Psychology Behavioral Psychology Cognitive Psychology Developmental Psychology Personality Psychology Social Psychology Biological Psychology Does a particular season of the year appeal to you more than others? Some people love the long, warm days of summer while others revel in the chillier days of autumn. Why is it that some seasons speak to us more than others? Could psychology explain our seasonal preferences? Why We Sometimes Prefer Certain Seasons While there is little research looking specifically at the psychology of seasonal preferences, researchers have found that seasonal changes in temperature and light can have an impact on moods and behaviors.?? Those born in the spring and summer months, for example, are thought to be more likely to have excessively positive temperaments and were more likely to experience rapid shifts in mood. Those born during the winter months, on the other hand, may be less likely to have irritable temperaments. While it might seem odd, psychologists have long recognized the powerful influence that seasons and can have on mood. The shorter months of winter are known for sometimes causing people to experience seasonal affective disorder, also known as the winter blues.?? Research has also shown that the onset of spring can actually lead to a temporary boost in positivity depending on how much time an individual spends outdoors. The surprising results of one study even found relationships between psychiatric disorders and birth month for study participants in England.?? Any sort of scientific explanation for our personal love of any particular season must also take geographic differences into consideration. Some Western states tend to have cold fall months that quickly turn to snow. Many Eastern states, on the other hand, often experience milder autumn weather that showcases the glorious and colorful transition from summer to fall. Where we live and the weather typical of that region can play a significant role in season preference. The Connection Between Weather and Mood Cold weather might influence our moods, but researchers have also found that dropping temperatures can have an effect on behavior as well.?? For example, room temperatures can affect how people judge criminal suspects. In one 2014 study, people in hot rooms were more likely to perceive accused criminals as impulsive and hot-headed, while those in cold rooms were more likely to view suspects as having committed cold-blooded, premeditated crimes.?? It turns out that temperatures can have a subtle yet profound impact on the judgments we make about other people. One 2008 study found that when people are holding a hot beverage, they are more likely to see others as warmer and more personable. Holding a cold drink, on the other hand, led participants to perceive others as interpersonally colder. Why Light Affects Mood Its no secret that light can have a significant influence on your mood. Bright, sunny days may leave you feeling happy and energized while dark, dreary days may cause you to feel gloomy and uninspired. Light might also play a part in your personal preferences for particular seasons of the year. Your bodys circadian rhythm, or the roughly 24-hour cycle of wakefulness and sleepiness, is influenced by sunlight. Decreasing amounts of sunlight cause the body to release hormones that trigger periods of lethargy.?? A lack of sunlight during the fall and winter months is linked to what is known as seasonal affective disorder. People who experience symptoms of this disorder may feel depressed during the darker, shorter days of the year and lose interest in activities they usually enjoy. They may also experience other symptoms such as increased fatigue and appetite.?? Those who are affected by SAD may prefer the sunnier spring and summer months when they are less likely to be impacted by symptoms of this seasonal disorder. People with SAD may find it helpful to increase their exposure to sunlight each day and to try light box therapy.?? What Your Favorite Season Says About You Temperature and light levels may play a role in determining which season you love the most, but could your personal preferences also reveal something about your underlying personality? Here are just a few possible tendencies that your favorite season might show about you. Spring For some parts of the world, spring is when the short, dark days of winter give way to warming temperatures and greener outdoor spaces. If spring is your favorite season, then you might crave new experiences and the spring season offers the chance of renewal that you need after a long, cold winter. Summer In many regions of the world, summer is all about longer, warmer, brighter days. If summer is your favorite time of year, it might mean that you love getting out and living an active lifestyle. The warm months of summer are a time to travel and enjoy the outdoors. You probably tend to be on the outgoing, extroverted side and people likely describe you as upbeat, personable, and assertive. Fall Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns, George Eliot (aka Mary Ann Evans) once wrote of her affection for the fall season. While parts of the world tend to think of spring as the season of renewal, fall is also a very good time for a fresh start. The vibrant orange colors and cooler weather of autumn appeal to your constant desire for change. The upcoming holidays inspire many to reflect back on the year that was and make plans for the year to come. Winter If you count the chilly months of winter as your favorite season of all, it might mean that you tend to be a bit of an introverted homebody. Donning a warm sweater and curling up on the couch with a hot beverage to escape the cold might sound like your idea of an ideal afternoon. Final Thoughts Seasonal changes in light and temperature can play a major role in how we think, feel, and behave. It is important to remember, however, that our individual preferences may be influenced by a wide variety of factors including our experiences. If you grew up enjoying the outdoors during summer months and have pleasant memories of the summer season, then it may be more likely that you will also love summer as an adult. Our preferences, including those for certain times of the year, are complex and likely influenced by a wide array of interacting factors.

A Short History of the Nazi Party

The Nazi Party was a political party in Germany, led by Adolf Hitler from 1921 to 1945, whose central tenets included the supremacy of the Aryan people and blaming Jews and others for the problems within Germany. These extreme beliefs eventually led to World War II and the Holocaust. At the end of World War II, the Nazi Party was declared illegal by the occupying Allied Powers and officially ceased to exist in May 1945. (The name â€Å"Nazi† is actually a shortened version of the party’s full name: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP, which translates to â€Å"National Socialist German Workers’ Party.†) Party Beginnings In the immediate post-World War I period, Germany was the scene of widespread political infighting between groups representing the far left and far right. The Weimar Republic (the name of the German government from the end of WWI to 1933) was struggling as a result of its tarnished birth accompanied by the Treaty of Versailles and the fringe groups seeking to take advantage of this political unrest. It was in this environment that a locksmith, Anton Drexler, joined together with his journalist friend, Karl Harrer, and two other individuals (journalist Dietrich Eckhart and German economist Gottfried Feder) to create a right-wing political party, the German Workers’ Party, on January 5, 1919. The party’s founders had strong anti-Semitic and nationalist underpinnings and sought to promote a paramilitary Friekorps culture that would target the scourge of communism. Adolf Hitler Joins the Party After his service in the German Army (Reichswehr) during World War I, Adolf Hitler had difficulty reintegrating into civilian society. He eagerly accepted a job serving the Army as a civilian spy and informant, a task that required him to attend meetings of German political parties identified as subversive by the newly formed Weimar government. This job appealed to Hitler, particularly because it allowed him to feel that was still serving a purpose to the military for which he would have eagerly given his life. On September 12, 1919, this position took him to a meeting of the German Worker’s Party (DAP). Hitler’s superiors had previously instructed him to remain quiet and simply attend these meetings as a non-descript observer, a role he was able to accomplish with success until this meeting. Following a discussion on Feder’s views against capitalism, an audience member questioned Feder and Hitler quickly rose to his defense. No longer anonymous, Hitler was approached after the meeting by Drexler who asked Hitler to join the party. Hitler accepted, resigned from his position with the Reichswehr and became member #555 of the German Worker’s Party. (In reality, Hitler was the 55th member, Drexler added the 5 prefix to the early membership cards to make the party appear larger than it was in those years.) Hitler Becomes Party Leader Hitler quickly became a force to be reckoned within the party. He was appointed to be a member of the party’s central committee and in January 1920, he was appointed by Drexler to be the party’s Chief of Propaganda. A month later, Hitler organized a party rally in Munich that was attended by over 2000 people. Hitler made a famous speech at this event outlining the newly created, 25-point platform of the party. This platform was drawn up by Drexler, Hitler, and Feder. (Harrer, feeling increasingly left out, resigned from the party in February 1920.) The new platform emphasized the party’s volkisch nature of promoting a unified national community of pure Aryan Germans. It placed blame for the nation’s struggles on immigrants (mainly Jews and Eastern Europeans) and stressed excluding these groups from the benefits of a unified community that thrived under nationalized, profit-sharing enterprises instead of capitalism. The platform also called for over-turning the tenants of the Treaty of Versailles and reinstating the power of the German military that Versailles had severely restricted. With Harrer now out and the platform defined, the group decided to add in the word â€Å"Socialist† into their name, becoming the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP) in 1920. Membership in party rose rapidly, reaching over 2,000 registered members by the end of 1920. Hitler’s powerful speeches were credited with attracting many of these new members. It was because of his impact that party members were deeply troubled by his resignation from the party in July 1921 following a movement within the group to merge with the German Socialist Party (a rival party who had some overlapping ideals with the DAP). When the dispute was resolved, Hitler rejoined the party at the end of July and was elected party leader two days later on July 28, 1921. Beer Hall Putsch Hitler’s influence on the Nazi Party continued to draw members. As the party grew, Hitler also began to shift his focus more strongly towards antisemitic views and German expansionism. Germany’s economy continued to decline and this helped increase party membership. By the fall of 1923, over 20,000 people were members of the Nazi Party. Despite Hitler’s success, other politicians within Germany did not respect him. Soon, Hitler would take action that they could not ignore. In the fall of 1923, Hitler decided to take the government by force through a putsch (coup). The plan was to first take over the Bavarian government and then the German federal government. On November 8, 1923, Hitler and his men attacked a beer hall where Bavarian-government leaders were meeting. Despite the element of surprise and machine guns, the plan was soon foiled. Hitler and his men then decided to march down the streets but were soon shot at by the German military. The group quickly disbanded, with a few dead and a number injured. Hitler was later caught, arrested, tried, and sentenced to five years at Landsberg Prison. Hitler, however, only served eight months, during which time he wrote Mein Kampf. As a result of the Beer Hall Putsch, the Nazi Party was also banned in Germany. The Party Begins Again Although the party was banned, members continued to operate under the mantle of the â€Å"German Party† between 1924 and 1925, with the ban officially ending on February 27, 1925. On that day, Hitler, who had been released from prison in December 1924, re-founded the Nazi Party. With this fresh start, Hitler redirected the party’s emphasis toward strengthening their power via the political arena rather than the paramilitary route. The party also now had a structured hierarchy with a section for â€Å"general† members and a more elite group known as the â€Å"Leadership Corps.† Admission into the latter group was through a special invitation from Hitler. The party re-structuring also created a new position of Gauleiter, which was regional leaders that were tasked with building party support in their specified areas of Germany. A second paramilitary group was also created, the Schutzstaffel (SS), which served as the special protection unit for Hitler and his inner circle. Collectively, the party sought success via the state and federal parliamentary elections, but this success was slow to come to fruition. National Depression Fuels Nazi Rise The burgeoning Great Depression in the United States soon spread throughout the world. Germany was one of the countries to be most affected by this economic domino effect and the Nazis benefitted from the rise in both inflation and unemployment in the Weimar Republic. These problems led Hitler and his followers to begin a broader campaign for public support of their economic and political strategies, blaming both the Jews and communists for their country’s backward slide. By 1930, with Joseph Goebbels working as the party’s chief of propaganda, the German populace was really starting to listen to Hitler and the Nazis. In September 1930, the Nazi Party captured 18.3% of the vote for the Reichstag (German parliament). This made the party the second-most influential political party in Germany, with only the Social Democratic Party holding more seats in the Reichstag. Over the course of the next year and a half, the Nazi Party’s influence continued to grow and in March 1932, Hitler ran a surprisingly successful presidential campaign against aged World War I hero, Paul Von Hindenburg. Although Hitler lost the election, he captured an impressive 30% of the vote in the first round of the elections, forcing a run-off election during which he captured 36.8%. Hitler Becomes Chancellor The Nazi Party’s strength within the Reichstag continued to grow following Hitler’s presidential run. In July 1932, an election was held following a coup on the Prussian state government. The Nazis captured their highest number of votes yet, winning 37.4% of the seats in the Reichstag. The party now held the majority of the seats in the parliament. The second-largest party, the German Communist Party (KPD), held only 14% of the seats. This made it difficult for the government to operate without the support of a majority coalition. From this point forward, the Weimar Republic began a rapid decline. In an attempt to rectify the difficult political situation, Chancellor Fritz von Papen dissolved the Reichstag in November 1932 and called for a new election. He hoped that support for both of these parties would drop below 50% total and that the government would then be able to form a majority coalition to strengthen itself. Although the support for the Nazis did decline to 33.1%, the NDSAP and KDP still retained over 50% of the seats in the Reichstag, much to Papen’s chagrin. This event also fueled the Nazis’ desire to seize power once and for all and set in motion the events that would lead to Hitler’s appointment as chancellor. A weakened and desperate Papen decided that his best strategy was to elevate the Nazi leader to the position of chancellor so that he, himself, could maintain a role in the disintegrating government. With the support of media magnate Alfred Hugenberg, and new chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, Papen convinced President Hindenburg that placing Hitler into the role of chancellor would be the best way to contain him. The group believed that if Hitler were given this position then they, as members of his cabinet, could keep his right-wing policies in check. Hindenburg reluctantly agreed to the political maneuvering and on January 30, 1933, officially appointed Adolf Hitler as the chancellor of Germany. The Dictatorship Begins On February 27, 1933, less than a month after Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor, a mysterious fire destroyed the Reichstag building. The government, under the influence of Hitler, was quick to label the fire arson and place the blame on the communists. Ultimately, five members of the Communist Party were put on trial for the fire and one, Marinus van der Lubbe, was executed in January 1934 for the crime. Today, many historians believe that the Nazis set the fire themselves so that Hitler would have a pretense for the events that followed the fire. On February 28, at the urging of Hitler, President Hindenburg passed the Decree for the Protection of the People and the State. This emergency legislation extended the Decree for the Protection of the German People, passed on February 4. It largely suspended the civil liberties of the German people claiming that this sacrifice was necessary for personal and state safety. Once this â€Å"Reichstag Fire Decree† was passed, Hitler used it as an excuse to raid the offices of the KPD and arrest their officials, rendering them nearly useless despite the results of the next election. The last â€Å"free† election in Germany took place on March 5, 1933. In that election, members of the SA flanked the entrances of polling stations, creating an atmosphere of intimidation that led to the Nazi Party capturing their highest vote total to-date, 43.9% of the votes. The Nazis were followed in the polls by the Social Democratic Party with 18.25% of the vote and the KPD, which received 12.32% of the vote. It was not surprising that the election, which occurred as a result of Hitler’s urging to dissolve and reorganize the Reichstag, garnered these results. This election was also significant because the Catholic Centre Party captured 11.9% and the German National People’s Party (DNVP), led by Alfred Hugenberg, won 8.3% of the vote. These parties joined together with Hitler and the Bavarian People’s Party, which held 2.7% of the seats in the Reichstag, to create the two-thirds majority that Hitler needed to pass the Enabling Act. Enacted on March 23, 1933, the Enabling Act was one of the final steps on Hitler’s path to becoming a dictator; it amended the Weimar constitution to allow Hitler and his cabinet to pass laws without Reichstag approval. From this point forward, the German government functioned without input from the other parties and the Reichstag, which now met in the Kroll Opera House, was rendered useless. Hitler was now fully in control of Germany. World War II and the Holocaust Conditions for minority political and ethnic groups continued to deteriorate in Germany. The situation worsened after President Hindenburg’s death in August 1934, which allowed Hitler to combine the positions of president and chancellor into the supreme position of Fà ¼hrer. With the official creation of the Third Reich, Germany was now on a path to war and attempted racial domination. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. As the war spread throughout Europe, Hitler and his followers also increased their campaign against European Jewry and others that they had deemed undesirable. Occupation brought a large number of Jews under German control and as a result, the Final Solution was created and implemented; leading to the death of over six million Jews and five million others during an event known as the Holocaust. Although the events of the war initially went in Germany’s favor with the use of their powerful Blitzkrieg strategy, the tide changed in the winter of early 1943 when the Russians stopped their Eastern progress at the Battle of Stalingrad. Over 14 months later, German prowess in Western Europe ended with the Allied invasion at Normandy during D-Day. In May 1945, just eleven months after D-day, the war in Europe officially ended with the defeat of Nazi Germany and the death of its leader, Adolf Hitler. Conclusion At the end of World War II, the Allied Powers officially banned the Nazi Party in May 1945. Although many high-ranking Nazi officials were put on trial during a series of post-war trials in the years following the conflict, the vast majority of rank and file party members were never prosecuted for their beliefs. Today, the Nazi party remains illegal in Germany and several other European countries, but underground Neo-Nazi units have grown in number. In America, the Neo-Nazi movement is frowned upon but not illegal and it continues to attract members.

Montesino Law Unique And Complex Needs - 2574 Words

Montesino Law understands that every business has unique and complex needs. It is important to take these needs into consideration when deciding what type of business entity is right for your business. This is where Montesino Law comes in! At Montesino Law, we will guide you through the network of entity options, while weighing the pros and cons of each class of entity against the needs of your business. Our only goal is your satisfaction through the upmost legal protection of your personal and business assets. Here you will find a basic description of some of the most common forms of business entities as an introduction to Montesino Law’s expertise in this area of law. As Montesino Law is located in Florida, many of our examples will be based on Florida law, yet our business expertise extends to all fifty States. Sole Proprietorship The vast majority of businesses in Florida and the United States are referred to as sole proprietorships. These are simply businesses owned by a single person, with which, there is no legal distinction between the owner of the business and the business itself. Sole proprietorships are the simplest type of business entity to create, yet also come with a lot of financial hazards. To set up a sole proprietorship in Florida, one can simply go into business. The simplicity of creating a sole proprietorship is also reflective of the taxation, duration, and personal asset liability protection principles that accompany this type of entity. Unlike theShow MoreRelatedIca Gh Syslabus26672 Words   |  107 PagesPerformance Outcomes of Each Part PART 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Financial Accounting Fundermentals Business Management Economics Management Information Systems PART 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Quantitative Tools in Business Audit and Internal Review Business and Corporate Law Principles and Practice of Taxation PART 3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Financial Reporting Public Sector Accounting Cost and Management Accounting Financial Management PART 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Advanced Financial Reporting Advanced Audit and Professional Ethics Corporate

Effects Of Obesity On Children s Children - 926 Words

Scope of the Problem Obesity in children is characterized by an excess amount of body fat (â€Å"Obesity in Children,† 2016). In the United States, obesity in children has become an epidemic that continues to increase at an astronomical rate. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), showed obesity among Hispanic children was 22.4% in 2011-2012 (â€Å"Childhood Obesity Facts,† 2015). According to a recent report conducted by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Hispanic children are at a heightened risk for obesity and comorbidities associated with obesity (Pulgaron, Patino-Fernandez, Sanchez, Carrillo, Delamater, 2013). Obesity in Hispanic children predisposes children and adolescents to bone and joint-related problems, social problems, sleep apnea as well as various psychological issues such as depression, negative body image, and low self-esteem (â€Å"Overweight in Children,† 2014). Obesity in Hispanic children also has a number of long-term affects primarily due to the strong correlation between childhood obesity and obesity as an adult. This places Hispanic children at an increased risk of suffering from asthma cancer, dyslipidemia, fatty liver disease, heart disease, osteoarthritis, stroke, and type 2 diabetes (â€Å"Overweight in Children,† 2014; Pulgaron et al., 2013; Raychaudhuri Sanyal, 2012). Social Determinants of Obesity in Children A comprehensive understanding of the varying social determinants that increase the prevalence of obesity in HispanicShow MoreRelatedEffects Of Obesity On Children s Children1384 Words   |  6 PagesResearch Paper: Effects of Obesity in Children â€Å"From small fries to BIG MAC’s† America, home of the brave, land of the free and plagued with obesity. For many years this country has fallen victim to obesity and the many effects that it has as a direct result. America has become the fattest nation in the world even though it is more advanced than most countries. We as Americans tend to consume whatever we want whenever we want and this has begun to affect our future. The children of America haveRead MoreThe Effects Of Obesity On Children s Obesity Essay1277 Words   |  6 PagesChild Obesity Having obese children is a problem. The question resumes, why? Are children less active? Are they not eating the right things? Or are they a product of their parents lifestyle? Whatever the answer maybe, we must find it quick. Obesity in children Is becoming an epidemic. And the African American population is leading the way. According to WE Can!, a program of the National Institutes of health 31.7 percent of children between the age of 2-19 years old are overweight or obese. IncludingRead MoreEffects Of Obesity On Children s Health Levels1006 Words   |  5 PagesWhat is obesity? Obesity is a serious, sometimes fatal condition in which a person is significantly overweight for his or her age and height. Many children suffer from this condition all over the world. Childhood obesity is one of the most increasing health threats that the United States faces. It causes many problems with the children’s health levels. Childhood obesity can lead to diabetes and many other health problems.There may be no symptoms other than weight that s above normal. Many researchersRead MoreEffects Of Obesity On Children s Life Essay1350 Words   |  6 PagesBut as technology grows there has also been a huge amount of increase in weight. Obesity is something that many people in the United States suffer from, currently according to the CDC more than 36.5% of adults and 17% of children suffer from childhood obesity. These numbers keep growing year by year, and if these numbers continue to rise, obesity can have a huge impact in peoples life especially children’s. Children who are obese can suffer from high blood pressure, breathing problems, joint problemsRead MoreEffects Of Obesity On Children s Health890 Words   |  4 Pagesfew decades. Unlike a generation before, the children of today have the luxury of living in a world that is full of technology and convenience that was not experienced by their parents. However, the overabundance of convenience food and the ne ver-ending technology based entertainment options for today’s children have had an alarming result. No longer do children play until dusk on their bikes and run home to eat a home cooked meal. More and more, children are entertained by a television or computerRead MoreThe Effects Of Advertising On Children s Obesity Rate1056 Words   |  5 PagesThe Effect of Advertising on Children’s Obesity Rate It has come down to this, there is an obesity epidemic. It s like people can’t stop themselves from eating so much. Well, I guess eating isn t necessarily the big problem here... It s the type of food that people are consuming, fast food. America tops the list of world s most obese countries. It s just sad and something needs to be done about it. The worst part is that there are so many children being affected by obesity. According to CDCRead MoreEffects Of Obesity On Children s Behavior997 Words   |  4 Pagescontributed a profound portion towards this issue, ultimately holds that sugar and artificial sweeteners contribute to ADHD. Throughout the decades, many parents have suggested that sugar, as well as other sweeteners; have major effects on their children’s behavior. Hyperactivity in children, which was also stated to impact their attentiveness, seemed to be the main concern among parents regarding their children’s acute consumption of high levels of sugar s or other sweeteners. Shortly after these claims becameRead MoreEffects Of Obesity On Children s Self Image1177 Words   |  5 Pages Childhood obesity has nearly doubled in the past 30 years. Being obese is classified as having an excess amount of body fat. Obesity in children has detrimental effects. Children who experience obesity are more likely to suffer from different health effects such as cardiovascular disease, various cancers, diabetes and much more. Besides these obvious health factors, being overweight can also lead to children being teased, which can lead to children having a negative self image. Self-image is crucialRead MoreChildhood Obesity And Its Effect On Children s Wellbeing And Health999 Words   |  4 PagesChildhood obesity is described as a condition whereby excessive body fat interferes or affects child’s wellbeing and health. The condition is often diagnosed based on the Body Mass Index (BMI) since it is considerably difficult to determine the body fat directly. This condition is now recognized as a serious issue requiring public health concern owing to the increased of its prevale nce among the children. To avoid stigmatization, overweight is often used in children rather than obese (Ogden, 2014)Read MoreThe Effects Of Childhood Obesity On Children s Book By Danielle Jess884 Words   |  4 Pagesat a dinner plate and know exactly where and from what the food had come from. However, with the addition of more processed food it’s becoming increasingly difficult for children to distinguish the foods from which they eat. Childhood obesity has been steadily rising in the United States making it all the more important for children to understand what they are putting into their bodies (Jess). This problem begs the question as to what can we do to inform the youth of today? Danielle Jess, the presenter

Araby

Araby- Vanity Essay The characters in Araby display a wide spectrum of vanity that encompasses a variety of people. The narrator of the story is the best example of vanity. He is obsessed with a girl that lives next door to him. He never remarks about her personality but does remark that her image accompanied me even in places the most hostile to romance. A mind that is only intrigued by images is the pinnacle of vanity. Another example of this vanity in the narrator is noted within other statements about the girl. The narrator remarks that her name sprang to my lips at moments in strange prayers. Her image and vision was now controlling his prayers and the girl is the only God that he now acknowledges within his narrow vanity filled view of the world. Also the narrator speaks about rarely thinking about the future, only present events are taken in due course. The narrator further states that his body was like a harp and her words and gestures were like fingers playing his emotions. This statement fully proves the amount of vanity that exists in the narrator. He is fully driven by beauty, and every aspect of beauty controls his life. The narrator conveys Joyces view of vanity and displays this view with sinful intentions throughout the story. The pursued girl also displays this view of vanity in many instances. The girl is noted as twisting a silver bracelet while talking of the Araby bazaar. The girl was inadvertently displaying the richness of her life and hinting to the narrator to buying a gift for her. She may not even have wanted to go to Araby but points out her wishes as to get a free gift out of the ordeal. The narrator was obsessed with beauty and the girl was obsessed with materialistic beauty, which are both separate but equal vanity sins. The situational detail also displays vanity with examples of rash thought and selfish actions. The narrator decides to go to the Araby and purchase something for the girl. He notes that he cannot wait for the day of the festival and he chafed against the work of school. This rash decision shows how his vanity clouds his reason. Another example is noted when the narrator states that life stood between and desire. This displays a total shunning of hard work and decency; two things that are the foundation of good values and morals. A further example of selfish rash behavior exists within the narrators anger in his uncle. The uncle accidentally forgets to hand the narrator money to go to Araby. Upon realizing this the aunt notices the narrator did not smile. The narrator is selfish for his own needs and is not in good spirits unless his selfish needs are met. He is totally driven to experience his sin of vanity and will not be stopped by a forgetful uncle or anything else that could hinder his pleasure. Character traits and events that take  place within Araby are used to portray the sin of vanity that is very dominant throughout the story. A predominant effect of vanity causes a degradation of the spirit and free thought. James Joyce provides the reader a glimpse into the selfishness of one boys drive towards sin.

The Two Faces of Globalization Essay Example

The Two Faces of Globalization Essay The goal of this paper is to emphasize the importance of the role of contemporary literature in understanding the neocolonialist and imperialist aspects of globalization by exploring the depiction of globalization in Arundhati Roy’s novel â€Å"The God of Small Things† and Steve Tesich’s play â€Å"On the Open Road. Although both of these works criticize corporate globalization as a profit-driven enterprise controlled by and catering to the interests of economic, political and intellectual elites, they also express hope in the possibility of a different kind of globalization, which would be based on a genuine struggle for equality and justice for everyone. Introduction: The Two Faces of GlobalizationIs globalization a process which enables greater freedoms in the movement of money, knowledge and people across state borders and is thus beneficial for people across the globe, or is it a process which enables Western powers to exploit other parts of the world in a relatively new way and is thus merely the latest stage of Western imperialism? This question lies at the core of the ongoing disputes between proponents and opponents of globalization. Proponents of globalization insist that the former is the case, while the opponents argue it is actually the latter.In the article titled â€Å"Globalization: Threat or Opportunity? † published in 2000 by the International Monetary Fund staff, economic globalization is defined as â€Å"a historical process, the result of human innovation and technological progress. It refers to the increasing integration of economies around the world, particularly through trade and financial flows. † The article further explains, â€Å"The term [globalization] sometimes also refers to the movement of people (labor) and knowledge (technology) across international borders.There are also broader cultural, political and environmental dimensions of globalization that are not covered here. † (Internatio nal Monetary Fund, 2000) For the sake of briefly defining those broader dimension as well, it is useful to borrow words from Manfred B. Steger’s â€Å"Globalization: A Very Short Introduction,† in which he defines cultural globalization as â€Å"the intensification and expansion of cultural flows across the globe,† (Steger, 2003 , pp. 69) political globalization as â€Å"the intensification and expansion of political interrelations across the globe,† (Steger, 2003, pp. 6) and, finally, environmental globalization as the aspect of globalization which deals with the issue of global environmental degradation through phenomena such as the loss of biodiversity, hazardous waste, industrial accidents, global warming and climate change. (Steger, 2003, pp. 87) On the other hand, Vandana Shiva’s definition of globalization can be read as a negation of the above-cited definitions. In her essay â€Å"Ecological Balance in an Era of Globalization,† Shiva states that â€Å"Globalization is not a natural, evolutionary, or inevitable phenomenon, as is often argued.Globalization is a political process that has been forced on the weak by the powerful. Globalization in not the cross-cultural interaction of diverse societies. It is the imposition of a particular culture on all others. Nor is globalization the search for ecological balance on a planetary scale. It is the predation of one class, one race, and often one gender of a single specie on all others. ‘Global’ in the dominant discourse is the political space in which the dominant local seeks control, freeing itself from local, regional, and global sources of accountability arising from the imperatives of ecological sustainability and social justice. Global’ in this sense does not represent the universal human interest; it represents a particular local and parochial interest and culture that has been globalized through its reach and control, irresponsibility, and lack of reciprocity. † She further explains, â€Å"Globalization has come in three waves. The first wave was the colonization of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Australia by European powers over the course of 1, 500 years. The second wave was the imposition of the West’s idea of ‘development’ on non-Western cultures in the postcolonial era of the past five decades.The third wave of globalization was unleashed approximately five years ago as the era of ‘free trade,’ which for some commentators implies an end to history, but for us in the Third World is a repeat of history through recolonization. Each wave of globalization is cumulative in its impact, even while it creates discontinuity in the dominant metaphors and actors. Each wave of globalization has served Western interests, and each wave has created deeper colonization of other cultures and of the planet’s life. † (Shiva, 2000 , pp. 22-423) Arundhati Roy’s novel â€Å" The God of Small Things† and Steve Tesich’s play â€Å"On the Open Road† show that the reality of globalization for people outside of the local and global economic, political and intellectual elites coincides with the view of globalization given by Shiva and not with the one given by the IMF. Roy’s and Tesich’s works also offer a vision of a different kind of globalization, which would not be based on corporate interests and profits, but on the universal human quest for love, equality and justice.Destruction of Local Economies, Corporate Takeover of People’s Land and Resources, Ecological Degradation and Limited Wars A good example of the impossibility of small local businesses to survive under the conditions imposed by big corporations with the help of local governments and organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization is shown in the demise of the factory owned by the Ipe family from â€Å"T he God of Small Things. The factory was started by Mammachi, after she had been asked to make some banana jam and mango pickles for a local fair and her products turned out to be in high demand during the fair. Initially, her factory was a small, but successful enterprise. However, as soon as her son Chacko became involved in the running of the business, he tried to expand it and make it more competitive on the global market. Even though he managed to get loans from a bank to put his plans into action, his actions proved to be detrimental to the success of the factory, whose financial slide began almost immediately.In addition, the family had to mortgage the rice fields around their house in order to get the bank loans in the first place. Furthermore, under the new production laws, the factory was technically prohibited from producing its famous banana jam, merely because it did not fit into Food Products Organization’s arbitrary classification of products, as it did not rese mble their definition of either jam or jelly enough. Nevertheless, the factory managed to continue producing it illegally, which speaks volumes about the inefficiency of the local government and the organizations in charge of globalization to enforce their own laws.Their inefficiency in law enforcement is even more evident in the area of labor wages, given we learn that the workers from the factory began receiving a wage bellow the legal minimum specified by the Trade Union as soon as the factory’s financial slide began, without anyone of the authorities bothering to do something about that. Or at least no one other than Comrade Pillai, a local politician who merely wanted to use the situation to advance his own political career, with little to no real concern for the protection of the rights of the workers.Roy’s novel also gives us an insight into how governments of developing countries take control over the local resources in order to use them primarily with the inte rests of global corporations in mind and not the interests of the local community. As a result, local resources are exhausted, people often displaced from their land in large numbers and traditional trades based on making use of local resources are no longer possible. The governments of developing countries also allow them to be turned into dumping grounds for the waste from developed countries.Now that he’d been re-Returned, Estha walked all over Ayemenem. Some days he walked along the banks of the river that smelled of shit and pesticides bought with World Bank loans. Most of the fish had died. The ones that survived suffered from fin-rot and had broken out in boils. (Roy, 1997, pp. 7) Years later, when Rahel returned to the river, it greeted her with a ghastly skull’s smile, with holes where teeth had been, and a limp hand raised from a hospital bed. Both things had happened. It had shrunk. And she had grown.Downriver, a saltwater barrage had been built, in exchange for votes from the influential paddy-farmer lobby. The barrage regulated the inflow of salt water from the backwaters that opened into the Arabian Sea. So now they had two harvests a year instead of one. More rice—for the price of a river. [†¦] Once [the river] had had the power to evoke fear. To change lives. But now its teeth were drawn, its spirit spent. It was just a slow, sludging green ribbon lawn that ferried fetid garbage to the sea. Bright plastic bags blew across its viscous, weedy surface like subtropical flying-flowers.The stone steps that had once led bathers right down to the water, and Fisher People to the fish, were entirely exposed and led from nowhere to nowhere, like an absurd corbelled monument that commemorated nothing. Ferns pushed through the cracks. (Roy, 1997, pp. 59) Steve Tesich’s play â€Å"On the Open Road† offers an even more straightforwardly grim image of the effects of globalization on countries outside of the First World ( or the so-called Free World, the name to which Tesich alludes in the play by calling the place to which the main two characters want to go the â€Å"Land of the Free†).Unlike in Roy’s novel, where wars occasionally appear in the background of main events, in Tesich’s play all events, save for the ones from the last scene, take place during a civil war. The temporal and geographical location of the play’s events is deliberately unspecified (we are told that the setting is â€Å"TIME: A time of Civil War [,] PLACE: A place of Civil War†) and the misfortunes of Tesich’s fictional country vaguely resemble the misfortunes of any war-inflicted country since the end of the Second World War, albeit in an allegorical sense.The fictional country from the play has a chance to successfully end the civil war for good and become â€Å"free† itself, but it must first kill its Jesus Christ, who appears as a character in the play and symbolically repr esents the undying faith in the possibility of a different kind of human society, a society based on love, equality and justice, all of which are values unwelcome in the Free World, where the only value that matters is the commercial one. The new government, which is a coalition â€Å"of all the former implacable foes,† (Tesich, 1992, pp. 6) entrusts the task of killing Jesus to Al and Angel, whom the government forces captured while they were trying to escape to the Land of the Free. If they kill Jesus for the government, they will be released and given exit visas to go to the Land of the Free. Al: Nervous? Angel: It’s nothing. Just nerves. Why does Jesus have to die? Al: You know why? So we can save our ass. Angel: I know that part. But why do they want him to die. Al: So they can get on with their reforms. They want to overhaul their whole system and he’s in the way.Angel: What system? Al: THE system. Life. Everything. They want to make moral integrity access ible to everybody. If you have a fixed standard it’s tough. But if you let the standards float, like currency, then everyone’s got a shot. Angel: It’ll be a lot more democratic that way, right? Al: Right. (Tesich, 1992, pp. 64-65) Divide and Rule and the Role of the Left One of the aspects for which â€Å"The God of Small Things† has been criticized is its portrayal of the Indian left. E. K.Nayanar, the late leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and three times Chief Minister of Kerala, accused Roy of taking an anti-communist stance in her novel and insinuated that it is thanks to such a stance that the novel became popular in the West. However, Roy’s novel more accurately reads as a thoughtful examination of various reasons why communism in Kerala and, by extension, India in general failed to resolve the society’s deep-seated caste issues, rather than an attack on communism per se.Roy’s criticism in the book is primarily a imed at people who embrace communist rhetoric for the sake of pursuing self-serving agendas, rather than out of any desire to truly reform the society. One such figure is the aforementioned Comrade Pillai, whose interest in the treatment of Ipe family’s factory workers primarily stems from his desire to advance his own political position. He tries to start a rebellion among the Ipe family’s factory workers, even though he is not only a personal friend with Chacko and the rest of the family, but also prints labels for their factory.Yet he sees nothing wrong with simultaneously working against them and for them, because both actions serve his personal interests. Earlier in the year, Comrade Pillai’s political ambitions had been given an unexpected boost. Two local Party members, Comrade J. Kattukaran and Comrade Guhan Menon had been expelled from the Party as suspected Naxalites. One of them—Comrade Guhan Menon—was tipped to be the Party’s can didate for the Kottayam by-elections to the Legislative Assembly due next March. His expulsion from the Parry created a vacuum that a number of hopefuls were jockeying to fill.Among them Comrade K. N. M. Pillai. Comrade Pillai had begun to watch the goings-on at Paradise Pickles with the keenness of a substitute at a soccer match. To bring in a new labor union, however small, in what he hoped would be his future constituency; would be an excellent beginning for a journey to the Legislative Assembly. [†¦] Comrade K. N. M. Pillai never came out openly against Chacko. Whenever he referred to him in his speeches he was careful to strip him of any human attributes and present him as an abstract functionary in some larger scheme. A theoretical construct.A pawn in the monstrous bourgeois plot to subvert the revolution. He never referred to him by name, but always as â€Å"the Management† As though Chacko was many people. Apart from it being tactically the right thing to do, thi s disjunction between the man and his job helped Comrade Pillai to keep his conscience clear about his own private business dealings with Chacko. His contract for printing the Paradise Pickles labels gave him an income that he badly needed. He told himself that Chacko-the-client and Chacko-the-Management were two different people. Quite separate of course from Chacko-the-Comrade. Roy, 1997, pp. 57-58) Comrade Pillai’s opportunism and hypocrisy are even more transparent in his relationship with Velutha. Though Comrade Pillai includes â€Å"Caste is Class, comrades† (Roy, 1997, pp. 132) in his speeches, his efforts in helping the lowest castes are dubious at best. During one of his conversations with Chacko, he reveals that his own wife does not allow Paravans one of the lowest castes, also referred to as â€Å"Untouchables,† which is a joint name for several lowest castes into their house and that he has not managed to change her mind about that, though he has allegedly been trying.He adds that the same is true for the workers from Chacko’s factory, who continue to look down on Velutha because of his Paravan status, despite Comrade Pillai’s supposed attempts to make them overcome their prejudices. Furthermore, he advises Chacko to fire Velutha, so that his presence in the factory would not disturb other workers. When Velutha himself comes to Comrade Pillai to ask for help after the Ipe family learns about his affair with Ammu, Comrade Pillai turns him down, only to later use Velutha’s murder by the police for his own purposes.Namely, since it was well-known that Velutha was a communist, Comrade Pillai tells the workers that â€Å"the Management had implicated the Paravan in a false police case because he was an active member of the Communist Party. † (Roy, 1997, pp. 141) This results in the workers laying siege of the factory and Comrade Pillai getting the publicity he wanted. Another character through whom Roy voices her criticism of certain abuses of communism is Chacko.A member of the middle class intelligentsia, he is â€Å"a self-proclaimed Marxist† (Roy, 1997, pp. 31) whose devotion to Marxism amounts to his diligent reading of Marxist theory (especially that written by the local Marxists), arguing with his father about Marxism and using Marxism as an excuse to approach female workers of his factory and make advances at them. In practice, his interests as the factory owner are directly opposed to the interests of his workers and his concern for them exists only on the level of words.The only time when he contemplates actually doing something for them, the thought crosses his mind primarily because he fears that unless he acts first, Comrade Pillai might steal his fame as a working class hero and savior. His hypocrisy is further highlighted by the fact he avoids delivering any unpleasant news to the workers himself, preferring to leave that to his mother, so that she is the on ly one who gets the reputation of a harsh boss, though the two of them make the decisions about factory management together.However, Roy paints a much more sympathetic picture of communism through Ammu and Velutha. While Ammu does not identify as a communist, she understands and sympathizes with the struggles of the factory workers more than either Comrade Pillai or Chacko. It is she who points out Chacko’s hypocrisy and abuse of power to him by telling him that what he does is merely â€Å"a case of a spoiled princeling playing Comrade. Comrade! An Oxford avatar of the old zamindar entality—a landlord forcing his attentions on women who depended on him for their livelihood. † (Roy, 1997, pp. 31) Moreover, along with her two children, she is the only character in the novel who treats members of the lower castes as her equals and not inferiors. In fact, she first becomes romantically interested in Velutha when she senses that the two of them might share a profoun d anger about the unjust, hierarchically-ordered world they live in. Suddenly Ammu hoped that it had been him that Rahel saw in the march.She hoped it had been him that had raised his flag and knotted arm in anger. She hoped that under his careful cloak of cheerfulness he housed a living, breathing anger against the smug, ordered world that she so raged against. (Roy, 1997, pp. 84) As for Velutha himself, he is arguably the most sympathetic character in the novel. Though hard-working and highly competent, he is paid less than other workers for his work in the factory because he is a Paravan.Moreover, the prevalent attitude in his community is that, due to the fact he is a Paravan, he deserves neither the job nor the training he previously received in order to be able to develop his talents. Even his own father, who has entirely internalized the values of the caste society, thinks Velutha should be grateful for what Mammachi has done for him, though in fact Mammachi’s alleged generosity towards him is entirely self-serving, given Velutha does an extraordinary amount of work both in the factory and the Ipe family house without being paid properly for his services.Moreover, though Mammachi is not overtly rude to Velutha before she learns about his relationship with Ammu, she still treats him as an inferior. Roy also uses Velutha’s character to criticize the treatment of the Naxalites, the most militant fraction of the communist party in India, whom Velutha eventually joins. The Naxalites are dismissed even by other communists for their ties with Maoism and feared by the entire community for their alleged use of excessive violence.Yet from Roy’s description of Velutha’s position and the position of other Untouchables, we understand that the violence the Naxalites use is primarily their defense from the violence against them that is legalized within the caste system. Not only are they condemned to poverty and hard labor for minimum wage, they are also subjected to brutal beatings, rapes and murders by the authorities for even the smallest violations of the discriminatory laws against them. Non-violent resistance is simply not an option for them under such conditions.In addition to criticizing some fractions of the Indian left for their inefficiency in putting an end to the caste system and in protecting those most endangered by it, Roy uses the example of disagreements between the Indian and Chinese communists and the fracturing of the original Communist Party of India into the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to illustrate the dangerous tendency of the radical left to divide itself and thus make it easier for capitalism and imperialism to triumph over it. The God of Small Things† also draws attention to how inner divisions and conflicts within and among the countries of the developing world generally make them more susceptible to the influence of Western neocolonialism and imperialism, which encourages these divisions and conflicts for its own purposes, occasionally creating limited wars. Though â€Å"The God of Small Things† focuses primarily on the divisions and conflicts within the Indian society, it also informs us of the wars that broke out between India and its neighbors.The perniciousness of inner divisions of a society and the way local political elites and Western imperialism benefit from them is one of the themes Tesich’s â€Å"On the Open Road† deals with as well. In Al’s and Angel’s country there are so many opposing parties using the civil war as an opportunity to come into power that the majority of people have lost track of how many of them there are and what the differences between them are, given that they, unlike the politicians, have to worry about their bare life.Al: Whose side are you on? Angel: You mean the Civil War? Al: What else is there? Angel: I’ve lost track of sides. Al: Let us say you ran into Christian Democrats or Social Democrats, or Corporate Christians or the Blues or the Reds or the Whites or some splinter group of any of the above? Which of them would you be most likely to join? Angel: If the King of Hell had a fraction, I’d sign up if he’d set me free. (Tesich, 1992, pp. 9) Like Roy, Tesich here criticizes the behavior of the political and intellectual elites.That the political parties who are fighting for power are hypocritical and opportunistic is evident enough even from their names (for example, â€Å"Corporate Christians†) and becomes even more transparent when they eventually end up forming a coalition government, despite their allegedly irreconcilable ideological differences. As for the intellectual elite, Al’s character serves as critical comment on their compliance with oppressive systems. Unlike Roy’s Chacko, the self-proclaimed Marxist, Al is a skeptical intellectual whose intellect is completely divorced from empathy and who has rejected the values of love, equality and justice.Thus instead of encouraging people to fight for them, he tries to teach them that they are false and unreachable. Commodification of Art, Culture and Education A great example of how the alleged â€Å"intensification and expansion of cultural flows across the globe,† (Steger, 2003, pp. 69) in practice often consists of the expansion of Western (primarily American) pop culture and consumerist culture across the globe can be seen in Roy’s portrayal of the Ipe family household after the introduction of satellite television into their lives.Television quickly makes Baby Kochamma abandon her previous interests and passions, such as her ornamental garden, and spend a large portion of her days eating snacks in front of the TV and ordering various products advertized in the TV commercials in the company of her servant Kochu Maria. Though at first sight the image of them watching television together mig ht seem to be indicative of television having helped them to overcome class barriers and become closer, this is not really the case.This â€Å"television-enforced democracy† (Roy, 1997, pp. 42) actually only further alienates them from each other and their local community and distracts them from their own lives and problems. Furthermore, there is also something unsettling about the very nature of the content offered by television. While in theory television could serve as a great means for bringing information and education to a large number of people, in reality news programs, political shows and even educational programs often serve to spread deologically-motivated misinformation, while trivial, superficial programs, such as soap operas and reality shows, are pushed to the foreground at the expense of any more substantial programs that might exist. In addition, the increased exposure of people to images of graphic, real-life violence via TV seems to desensitize them moreso than make them aware of how horrible the atrocities taking place around them are. Baby Kochamma had installed a dish antenna on the roof of the Ayemenem house.She presided over the world in her drawing room on satellite TV. The impossible excitement that this engendered in Baby Kochamma wasn’t hard to understand. It wasn’t something that happened gradually. It happened overnight. Blondes, wars, famines, football, sex, music, coups d’etat—they all arrived on the same train. They unpacked together. They stayed at the same hotel. And in Ayemenem, where once the loudest sound had been a musical bus horn, now whole wars, famines, picturesque massacres and Bill Clinton could be summoned up like servants.And so, while her ornamental garden wilted and died, Baby Kochamma followed American NBA league games, one-day cricket and all the Grand Slam tennis tournaments, On weekdays she watched The Bold and the Beautiful and Santa Barbara, where brittle blondes with lip stick and hairstyles rigid with spray seduced androids and defended their sexual empires. Baby Kochamma loved their shiny clothes and the smart, bitchy repartee. During the day, disconnected snatches of it came back to her and made her chuckle (Roy, 1997, pp. 14)As for local cultures, in Roy’s novel we see how they are reduced to mere commodities to be sold on the market in a way that deprives them of their substance. Under the conditions imposed by globalization traditional stories and dances, for instance, are often deliberately decontextualized and deprived of any meaning. In â€Å"The God of Small Things† this can be seen on the example of the kathakali being performed for rich, foreign tourists in an altered, mutilated form that is appealing enough to people whose attention span is short and interest in the local culture nothing but superficial.In the novel, performers themselves are described as deeply uncomfortable with taking part in such trivialization and com modification of stories to which they deeply relate. To the Kathakali Man these stories are his children and his childhood. He has grown up within them. They are the house he was raised in, the meadows he played in. They are his windows and his way of seeing. So when he tells a story, he handles it as he would a child, of his own. [†¦] He tells stories of the gods, but his yarn is spun from the ungodly, human heart. The Kathakali Man is the most beautiful of men. Because his body is his soul. His only instrument.From the age of three it has been planed and polished, pared down, harnessed wholly to the task of storytelling. He has magic in him, this man within the painted mask and swirling skins. But these days he has become unviable. Unfeasible. Condemned goods. His children deride him. They long to be everything that he is not. He has watched them grow up to become clerks and bus conductors. Class IV nongazetted officers. With unions of their own. [†¦] In despair, he turn s to tourism. He enters the market. He hawks the only thing he owns. The stories that his body can tell. He becomes a Regional Flavor. (Roy, 1997, pp. 109-110)Furthermore, images invoking some aspects of the traditional culture are even arbitrarily put on the advertisements for locally-produced goods to give them a â€Å"Regional Flavor,† even if there is no logical connection whatsoever between the product itself and the image on its advertisement. For example, an image of a kathakali dancer is on the advertisements painted on the Ipe family’s car, though their factory produces food and therefore has nothing to do with kathakali. â€Å"The God of Small Things† also draws attention to the phenomenon of imperialism and corporate capitalism trying to commodify even most explicit forms of resistance to them.The Hotel People liked to tell their guests that the oldest of the wooden houses, with its airtight, paneled storeroom which could hold enough rice to feed an a rmy for a year, had been the ancestral home of Comrade E. M. S. Namboodiripad, â€Å"Kerala’s Mao Tsetung,† they explained to the uninitiated. The furniture and knickknacks that came with the house were on display. A reed umbrella, a wicker couch. A wooden dowry box. They were labeled with edifying placards that said Traditional Kerala Umbrella and Traditional Bridal Dowry –box.So there it was then, History and Literature enlisted by commerce. Kurtz and Karl Marx joining palms to greet rich guests as they stepped off the boat. Comrade Namboodiripad’s house functioned as the hotel’s dining room, where semi-suntanned tourists in bathing suits sipped tender coconut water (served in the shell), and old Communists, who now worked as fawning bearers in colorful ethnic clothes, stooped slightly behind their trays of drinks. (Roy, 1997, pp. 60) These paragraphs were specifically criticized by the aforementioned E. K.Nayanar, who interpreted Roy’s mo dification of historical facts for the sake of making her point about communism as ideology being commercialized as another proof of her book being an attack on communism. However, bearing in mind we live in the age in which Che Guevara’s image, for instance, has become habitually used for selling merchandise and, furthermore, in which â€Å"theory is taught so as to make the student believe that he or she can become a Marxist, a feminist, an Afrocentrist, or a deconstructionist with about the same effort and commitment required in choosing items from a menu† (Said, 1993, pp. 21), Roy’s warning about the abuses of revolutionary leaders and theories does not seem either malicious or misguided. In Tesich’s â€Å"On the Open Road† we also see how art, culture and education have been reduced to products to be sold on the market. Al and Angel spend the entire first act collecting artifacts from bombed-out museums and houses of the rich, so that they cou ld trade them for the entrance into the Land of the Free. Moreover, Al is trying to educate Angle about art and culture, because â€Å"they don’t let refugees into the Land of the Free by the metric ton anymore.You have to be culturally qualified to get in. † (Tesich, 1992, pp. 19) The developed world is interested in helping the people from the developing world only if they can somehow profit from it themselves. The primary purpose of education in the age of globalization is the advancement of one’s personal socioeconomic position. Furthermore, a detached and desensitized approach to art is completely normalized and is the one that is most demanded on the market.Even though Angel informs us that one of the incidents which marked the beginning of the civil war in his and Al’s country occurred in a museum when the poor museum visitors became infuriated with seeing the rich museum visitors moved by the suffering depicted on paintings, although they were com pletely oblivious to the suffering in real life, it is precisely that kind of a detached approach to art that Al is trying to teach Angel because he knows that this kind of approach to art is valued in the Land of the Free.Conclusion: Art as a Form of Resistance and Creative Maladjustment Though both â€Å"The God of Small Things† and â€Å"On the Open Road† draw attention to the increased trivialization and commodification of art in the time of globalization, neither work suggests that these practices are entirely successful at stripping art of its revolutionary potential. In Roy’s novel we see how, for example, listening to her favorite songs on the radio has an empowering effect on Ammu.In those moments, she casts away the socially-imposed roles and behaviors and enters a state in which she can explore what her authentic desires might be more freely. Music even helps her finally de

art history terms Essay

art history terms Essay art history terms Essay Dark Age to Archaic Greece Iron Age: the period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. Geometric Style; a phase of Greek art, characterised largely by geometric motifs in vase painting, that flourished towards the end of the Greek Dark Ages, circa 900 BC to 700 BC. Its centre was in Athens, and it was diffused amongst the trading cities of the Aegean Orientalizing Style; The period is characterized by a shift from the prevailing Geometric style to a style with different sensibilities, which were inspired by the East. Archaic Style:The termini of the Archaic period are defined as the "structural revolution", meaning a sudden upsurge of population and material goods that occurred c. 750 BC, and the "intellectual revolution" of classical Greece.[1] The end of archaism is conventionally marked by Xerxes' invasion of Greece in 480 BC. Zeus; rules the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father rules the family according to theancient Greek religion. He is the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. Athena; goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Herakles; Steal the apples of the Hesperides (He had the help of Atlas to pick them after Hercules had slain Ladon). Hermes; Hermes is a god of transitions and boundaries. He is quick and cunning, and moved freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine, as emissary and messenger of the gods,[1] intercessor between mortals and the divine, and conductor of souls into the afterlife. Dionysus; the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness andecstasy in Greek mythology. Apollo; The ideal of the kouros (a beardless, athletic youth), Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun, truth and prophecy, healing, plague, music, poetry, and more. Medusa; a monster, a Gorgon, generally described as having the face of a hideous human female with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone. Perseus; founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty of Danaans, was the first of the heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths of the Twelve Olympians. Perseus beheaded the Gorgon Medusa, and saved Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus. Nike;a goddess who personified victory, also known as the Winged Goddess of Victory. kouros; meaning (male) youth, was first proposed for what were previously thought to be depictions of Apollo by V. I. Leonardos in 1895 in relation to the youth from Keratea,[2] and adopted by Lechat as a generic term for the standing male figure in 1904.[3] kore; equivalent to a male kouros. They both show the restrained "archaic smile", but - unlike the nude kouroi - korai are depicted in thick drapery, ornate and (in painted examples) very colorful and often have elaborate braided hairstyles. Parthenon in 1886 and called "the Korai of Acropolis". peplos; a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by 500 BC (the Classical period). polis (mean: city-state); a political entity ruled by its body of citizens. archaic smile: their subject was alive, and infused with a sense of well-being. â€Å"Catastrophy† in the Aegean: Theories Evidence Effects Us vs. Them: Manufacturing Communities on Mainland Greece Darwinian/Evolutionary Theory; Johannes Winkelmann Archaic to Classical Greece Persian War; Cyrus; the founder of the Achaemenid Empire.[9] Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East,[9] expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia Xerxes; the fourth king of the kings of Achaemenid Empire. Ionian Revolt; The cities of Ionia had been conquered by Persia, the ionians then revolted Marathon; Greeks win Thermopylae; Xerces

Human and Animal Interrelationships from Domestication to Present Term Paper - 7

Human and Animal Interrelationships from Domestication to Present - Term Paper Example At the point when one of his customers was ridiculed in court for favoring a country way of life, Cicero shielded nation life as the educator of economy, of industry, and of equity. Therefore, this article will focus on the early agriculture in Rome. Unlike modern times, Agriculture in Rome was not considered that important rather a privilege associated with the wealthy. The social elites of ancient Rome had undertaken the practice of agriculture as a respected occupation. The writings of Cicero clearly indicate that back in the time agriculture was quite a profitable and a joyful occupation which was means to acquire a better life (Smith 95). For this reason, the rural lifestyle was also readily acquired by the wealthy and others in the society also strived to adopt similar lifestyle. Two of the most popular crops which were more of a necessity for every table in Rome were wheat and spelt. Romans also relied on various provinces they had acquired after wars for agriculture yet most of their focus was on Italy which was quite suitable for a wide variety of crops (Johnston 55-56). During this era, Romans were also fond of purchasing food from the neighboring countries. Land ownership was the means to constitute a part of the aristocracy in Rome; the more land a person acquired to higher his esteem in society and politics was. Even the brave soldiers were allocated land as rewards for their services. Land was also the sole factor behind slave labor since men were enslaved to work of these fields. Thus, the paper aims at exploring how the Romans farmed to understand their values more as agriculture was the dominant factor behind every aspect of Roman life. Despite the fact that roman life was fixated on urban areas, a great many people existed in the nation becoming products, working the area, tending vines and herds. Agriculturists underpinned the citys fuel and sustenance

Cultural Influences on Communication in Groups Assignment - 1

Cultural Influences on Communication in Groups - Assignment Example This is because if a house has a good athlete for a game, then there are very high chances of him/ her winning the gold and thus earning points for the house, which might culminate into the house winning the House Cup. Once a consensus of the representatives was reached on what had to be included then it would be approved by the patron of the society, after which the practices were t follow. Joe initiated the discussion by giving a brief to everyone, regarding what the meeting was about, just as a warm up speech. When he opened the floor for discussion, Artem was the first one to take the lead in the discussion by talking about the general events that are included almost every year such as sprint, relay, 200m and 400m race for boys, Javelin throw, high jump, long jump and discus throw. Once the specifications of all these events were listed down by Joe, the discussion on the real matter that was to be debated began. Up till now Zarina and Aset had behaved more or less like passive li steners of the discussion, contributing just about as a formality here and there. Artem had been vocal throughout. He was more like helping Joe out with sorting out the specifications of all the games, just like someone genuinely interested in sports would do. Ainura was comparatively more participative than Zarina and Aset, she sat back in her seat and paid considerable attention to what was being discussed and also added a few valuable points such as raising the height of the bar for high jump compared to what it was last year and so forth. However, what followed was quite unexpected. Normally one would expect the discussion to continue with the same flow it started with. However, as soon as the topic about debatable games started Zarina’s and Aset’s body language changed completely. Rather than sitting in their chairs in the sloppy posture they had during the beginning of the discussion, they now sat erect, with their hands on the table as opposed to their laps. Art em was attentive as always and Ainura also maintained her general composure. The next topic under discussion was whether 200m and 400m races should be included for girls or not. Zarina advanced her point of view in what would strictly be referred to as an authoritative way and said that these games require a lot of stamina which is too much to expect from girls. This was countered by Ainura, who herself had been practicing running both 200m and 400m for the athletic meet, she was articulate and firm in making her point clear that if the girls practice enough stamina will not seem to be an issue. Zarina got agitated and cut her midway; her voice’s pitch was getting higher by the second. Artem and Aset intervened both with opposing viewpoints on the issue, however both were trying to reason the issue out as opposed to Zarina. Joe was convinced that Zarina’s interruptions and aggression along with the different interests of the group representatives would not lead the gro up to a consensus. Therefore he proposed that the matter be resolved with the help of a vote, which was indeed the right choice. Next in line was the debate on the inclusion of the Discus throw and Shot put, Artem was the one against the inclusion this time, he was sided by

Transparency in Central Banks: An Analysis

Transparency in Central Banks: An Analysis Introduction The origin of central banking system can be traced back to 1694 when the Bank of England came into being as the first ever central bank. The bank was established to help King William III out of his governments financial crisis but it did not behave as a lender of last resort until much later (See Lovell, 1957)1. Central banking has undergone a remarkable change during the last decade. The new paradigm in monetary policy appears to be central bank self-governing and transparent. First of all lets see what central bank and transparency means, a central bank is a Government agency that performs a number of key functions: (1) central bank is the only bank which has the authority to issue currency on behalf of its nation; (2) central bank has authority to increase and decrease the supply of credit in the economy which controls the interest rates; (3) manages the external value of its currency in the foreign exchange markets; (4) central bank holds a percentage of deposits as reserves of other banks and other central banks so as to reduce the risk of banks overextending themselves and suffering from bank runs, (5) acts as Fiscal Agent for the central government, when the government sells new issues of securities to finance its operations; and (6) The central bank also plays a vital role of reserving the nations emergency funds, and it is because of this the central bank is called lender of last resort. Transparency in the physically meaning, transmitting light, in the conceptually meaning, clarity, in the economically meaning, symmetric information, and in the practically meaning, openness, honesty, clarity, common understanding2. We can say that central bank is a combination all these that is, it openly correspond or communicates important and necessary information to the investors, shareholders and the public in short absence of asymmetric information between central bank and other economic agents. Therefore a central bank is said to be transparent when there is less or no information asymmetry. Moreover a central bank is said to be transparent if its actions are easily identified, its policies are readily understood, and its statements are honest or true. A central bank is transparent when it provides at all times sufficient information for the public to understand the policy regime, to check whether the banks actions match the regime and to pass judgment on its performance.3 Over the past years, financial institutions have tried to implement various strategies to increase its transparency. One of the important strategies among these is, disclosure of information in published accounts has been prominent even though it was present but less prominent. A great amount of focus was given towards economic policymaking so as to become more transparent particularly with respect to monetary policy, inflation targeting a very transparent monetary policy regime was adopted by and a number of central banks, including Swedens Riksbank and Britains Bank of England. Yet, few other countries like the United States have not yet subscribed to inflation targeting, but the Fed has also become much more transparent about its policymaking and operations over the past 15 years. The New Basel Accord (Pillar 3) has introduced a number of disclosure requirements that aim to improve the markets ability to assess a banks risk and value. The drift towards central bank being more transparent can be easily seen in our day to day life by casual observation. Some of the prominent examples of various central banks who have given great importance to becoming transparent are the central banks of New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and Sweden. These few nations have adopted a framework of inflation targeting from the early 1990s itself, which is characterized by an explicit inflation target and the publication of inflation forecasts.4 Many others countries have even started to give importance to having adopted greater openness as well, even if its not in the form of inflation targeting or inflation forecasting. The few other central banks which have adopted this includes central banks in emerging markets like Brazil, the recently founded European Central Bank (ECB), and even the well established central banks like those of the United States, Japan and Switzerland. Literature Review Consider the legions of economists whose sole function it is to interpret U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspans every twist and turn of phrase so as to divine which way the monetary winds are blowing. Caroline A. Baum, The Last Word p.645 From the above phrase, two important points can be looked upon; one is that by trying to assume what the actions of monitory policy will be the resources are used up. The other is that statements are being made by the central bank that might yield some insight into its future plans, but the messages are not typically transparent. The economic policy outcome can easily be identified to a great extend by the increased transparency on central bank through various channels. It cannot be assumed that all the aspects points out the same way. Moreover, central bank transparency cannot be universally defined in all aspects6. The concept of transparency differs from authors to author in various ways, some may focus mainly on the decision-making process, while some others may focus on various other aspects like models, preferences, and even more some may look into the knowledge about the shocks hitting the economy, or the implementation of policy decisions.7 The private informations about the central banks objectives or intentions can be easily assumed from the models derived by Faust and Svensson (2000, 2001), Jensen (2000), Geraats (2001a), and Tarkka and Mayes (1999). The model by these eminent economist states that, transparency is modeled as the degree of asymmetric information about control errors (Faust and Svensson (2001) and Jensen (2000)) or (anticipated) economic shocks reflected in the policy instrument (Cukierman (2000a,b) and Tarkka and Mayes (1999)). Kuttner and Posen (2000) yet another eminent economists explains about the reduction of exchange rate volatility when there was a shift in the Federal Reserves and the Bank of Japans degrees of transparency.8 In addition to this, political pressures, increased accountability, facilitation of fiscal and monetary policy co-ordination, and improved internal organization of central bank analysis is yet another arguments in favor of transparency in monetary policy.9 Analytically, the three different regimes of transparency that is the least transparent, highly transparent and the extreme transparent are being distinguished by Faust and Svensson (2001). In the first regime, that is the least transparent, neither the employment goals nor the intentions of the central bank can be seen by the public. Inflation intentions of the central bank can be easily observed by using the second regime that is highly transparent. As a result of this increased transparency in inflation intentions there arises a lower inflation rate because the sensitivity of a central bank is increased which in-turn increases the reputation to its actions, making it more costly for the central bank to pursue a high-inflation policy. In the extreme transparency regime, that is the third according to the author, both the intentions of the central bank as well as the employment goals can be seen. The central banks reputation as well as its actions are no longer conveyed about the in flation bias. Higher inflation, inflation volatility and unemployment variability can be reached at as a result of inflationary bias.10 Yet another similar structure to Faust and Svensson (2001) was adopted by Jensen (2000) assuming that central bank is informed privately about its output target and that publics capacity to assume the inflation control error is greater. On comparison with Faust and Svensson (2001), whos main focus was on the future credibility effect of central bank, while Jensen (2000) focus was towards the marginal cost of inflation within the current period with the help of new Keynesian elements (staggered price-setting and monopolistic competition). Due to this increase in the transparency, there was an increase in the discipline and credibility to the reputational costs of deviations from the inflation target. According to some of the eminent economist, transparency is not only the tool used for independent central banks to be held accountable, but it is often argued that the economic point of view too can be desirable from it. The effect of central bank being transparent is being immensely discussed by various policymakers and researchers. Although most of the literature tends to favor transparency of central bank, its not the case, the debate still continuous whether or not central bank should be transparent or not. Most of the practical and observed research concludes that the transparency maintained by central bank previously were desirable from an economic point of view. An important question to be asked is, whether central banks pushing toward more disclosure of information are beneficial or not. Indeed, there are a number of good reasons to it. First, it can be argued that banks from the early time itself are opaque institutions, and increase in disclosure might not change this opaqueness. Second of all, transparency might not necessarily be reached at by just simply increasing the quantitative disclosures. In the words of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan: A more complex question is whether greater volume of information has led to comparable improvements in transparency of firms. In the minds of some, public disclosure and transparency are interchangeable. But they are not. Transparency challenges market participants not only to provide information but also to place that information into a context that makes it meaningful (Greenspan 2003, p. 7).11 Third, disclosure is costly. Clearly, requiring disclosure of information imposes a cost on banks, as on any firm, and this cost must be offset by resulting benefits for it to be justified (Schaffer 1995, p. 26).12 Publishing information and producing information are some of the direct cost involved in the cost of disclosure, even though these are the direct cost involved, when a bank publishes its information in the financial market, there arises a threat of its competitors exploiting the information which might result in indirect cost. Cukierman and Meltzer (1986) eminent economists developed concept of central bank transparency13. Bankers, mainly the central banks use of monitory policy control was in great fault or imperfect in order to hide their intentions. In other words, the absence of transparency with control error was evident to meet the central banks objective, at least possible reputation cost. More recently, with the setup from the Cukierman and Meltzer, Faust and Svensson (1999) was able to differentiate more between transparency and control error. Central bank chose the pair that maximizes it objective and it was to be opaque. There are still some argument that incomplete transparency is optimal, as by being incomplete optimal, the central banks ability to control inflation has to be balanced against the private sectors wish to see price stability, employment and output.(see for example Faust and Svensson, 2001 or Jensen, 2000). Others argue that for operational reasons, it is important to have certain restrictions on transparency. The main idea behind this is to differentiate between the need to know (see Eijffinger and Hoeberichts, 2002) and the need to understand factor (Issing, 1999) and to reinforce the Banks credibility. There are yet more evidence of central bank being transparent and central bank transparency being one of the important feature of monetary policy, which is been recorded in one of the most comprehensive survey being conducted till date on monitory policy of central bank. Its been recorded in the 1998 survey of 94 central banks by Fry, Julius, Mahadeva, Roger and Sterne (2000). This survey discloses that about 74% of central banks consider transparency as a vital or very important component of their monetary policy framework, only exceeded by central bank independence and the maintenance of low inflation expectations (with 83% and 82%, respectively; Fry et al. (2000, p. 135)). Subsequently, the relevance of transparency have only increased when certain changes are being done by central bank. Analysis According to one of the famous journalist, Caroline A. Baum, she says that from the phrase given by Alan Greenspan, the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, the resources are being used up at the same time the statements made by the central bank are far too less transparent. What it means to say is that the central bank should be more transparent enough so that its monitory policy at the same time its future plans can be easily understood by even a layman who might have little knowledge about the norms and policies of the central bank. By central bank being more transparent, the economic policy outcome can be know to a certain extend through various means, but it cannot be said that by central bank being transparent, all the aspects related to it can be easily viewed at. The concept of transparency differs from person to person, while so concentrate on the decision making process, others may look into the fact of policy making etc. Therefore it can be said that there is no universal meaning to central bank and varies from person to person and country to country. For example the transparency of central bank in India might not be same as the transparency in England besides taking into some common facts. According to some of the eminent economist, central bank should have an optimal degree of transparency mainly for the monitory policy, but on analysing the facts by few others about whether central bank should be more transparent or not, two aspects can be taken into account, one is the uncertainty and the other is information overload. If central banks becomes more transparent, it could lead to uncertainty, that is, when lots of information are provided to the public, they tend to look at the complexity of monitory policy making and the uncertainly around it which might not be as complex as it seems to be. The second is the high degree of information overload or confusion. If large amount of information is being disclosed to the public, there is a high risk of information getting overloaded or confused. Therefore analyst say central bank should have an optimal transparency. Kuttner and Posen states that when central bank becomes more transparent, there is less volatility in the exchange rate. Yet other important factors supporting central bank transparency are the fiscal and monitory policy coordination, political pressures, accountability etc. According to Faust and Sevensson, transparency can be segregated into three divisions, the least transparent where in the public does not know about the employment goals as well as the intentions, this has also been stated by Cukierman and Meltzer. In the second division, that is if central bank in highly transparent, the inflation intention can atleast be know by the public and finally in the case of extreme transparency, both the intentions as well as the employment goals can be seen. It can seen that Jensen another eminent economist has also taken up a similar structure to that of Faust and Svensson where the difference is that while Faust and Svensson focus on the future credibility effect of central bank, Jensens focus was on the marginal cost of inflation. Some argue that by increasing its disclosure doesnt completely increase the transparency, to support this economist states that banks have been an opaque institution from the past itself. Greenspan says that transparency is not reached at by just simply giving quantitative disclosure; it should be both quantitative and at the same time should be relevant and meaningful. Moreover disclosure is costly, that is when central bank publishes information, it incur cost both direct and indirect. Some other economists (Eijffinger and Hoeberichts and Issing) state that central bank should transparent in such a way that the information which should be known to the public should be disclosed rather than disclosing all the information. Conclusion The dispute whether central bank should be more transparent or not is still being discussed immensely by various researchers and policymakers. Most of the economist favour central bank being transparent, as well as according to the study done, it can be understood that central bank being transparent will give a clear cut information to the public regarding the various monitory policies, its decision process as well as its goals and intentions. Moreover by central bank being transparent, it reduces the macroeconomic uncertainty like the interest rates, inflation etc, promotes financial stability and mainly helps the central bank to stand out from the various other banks that is being independent. References Petra M. Geraats, Central Bank Transparency, (2007). Cruijsen and Eijffinger, Actual versus perceived central bank transparency: The case of the European central Bank, (2007). Ursel Baumann and Erlend Nier, Disclosure, Volatility, and Transparency: An Empirical Investigation into the Value of Bank Disclosure, (2004). Petra M. Geraats, Central Bank Transparency, (2002). Joseph H. Haslag, On Fed Watching and Central Bank Transparency, (2001). Georgios Chortareas, David Stasavage and Gabriel Sterne, Does it pay to be transparent? International evidence from central bank forecasts, (2001). ICMB, Why do Central Banks Need to Talk, (2001). Gary Gorton and Lixin Huang, Banking Panics and the Origin of Central Banking, (2001). Websites http://www.blurtit.com/ http://www.answers.com/ http://papers.ssrn.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/ Analysis of Hospital | Advocate Good Samaritan Analysis of Hospital | Advocate Good Samaritan ADVOCATE GOOD SAMARITAN 1 Advocate Good Samaritan is an hospital located in Illinois, and it is one of the best hospitals in United States. This organization has some of the best medical facilities, and highly skilled doctors and medical practitioners working for it. This medical organization was founded on the biblical principles of taking care of your neighbor, and it is managed by religious organizations. Introduction: Advocate Good Samaritan is a medical organization that is found in Downers Grove, a location in Illinois. This organization was opened in 1976, and since then, it has transformed itself into a national health care leader, managing to be listed as a top 100 hospitals for four times. This paper addresses the mission of the organization, its organizational structure, its SWOT analysis, sources of funding, its management information system, and the nature of the hospital. Mission and Goals of the Organization: Advocate health care is a hospital which has about 12 acute care facilities, with more than 250 outpatient locations. The mission of the organization is to offer home health care services, corporate health services, hospice and occupational health services. The company aims to achieve this mission by employing highly skilled medical personnel who have a dedication to research, education and patient care delivery. These skilled medical personnel will also be involved in the development of policies that the organization needs to pursue. The policy under consideration must be one that reflects the mission of the organization that is providing high quality services in health care (Montalvo and Dunton, 2007). The hospitals core values of excellence, compassion, stewardship and partnership provides the foundation upon which the patient and his or her family are the nucleus of the organization. On this basis, the policies that the hospital formulates are centered on the needs of the patient. In regard to this, the mission of the organization is to formulate and pursue policies aimed at taking care of the needs of the patients. By taking care of these needs, the organization believes that patients will be able to recover quickly from the various diseases and medical problems that they encounter. The organization does not only seek to carter for the needs of patients (Montalvo and Dunton, 2007). It also seeks to ensure that its employees get an opportunity to advance their career, and succeed. This is by training its medical personnel on the better medical and nursing practices. It also seeks to achieve this objective through research and development aimed at developing better medical practices that its employees need to use and adapt. In conclusion Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital values human beings as people created by God, and on this basis, it seeks to carter for their health needs based on the knowledge that people are creatures of God (Montalvo and Dunton, 2007). Organization Structure and Corporate Culture of the Hospital: For any organization to succeed, it must have an organizational structure that helps employees to know who their leaders are, and how they should relate to one another. Advocate Health Care has a top to down organizational structure whereby orders come from the top, and are channeled to the various officers down the ladder. This is for purposes of implementing the policy under consideration. The following is the organizational structure of Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital from the top, to the junior managerial staff. The President, who also acts as the Chief Executive Officer. The Executive Vice President who also acts as the Chief Operating Officer. The Executive Vice President who also acts as the Chief Medical Officer. The Senior Vice President who takes up the roles of the Chief Human Resources Officer. President of Advocate Medical Care Group. President of the Ambulatory and Physicians services. Senior Vice President who acts as the Chief Marketing Officer. Senior Vice President who acts as the Treasurer. Senior Vice President who is in charge of strategic planning. Senior Vice President who is in charge of Spiritual Care. Senior Vice President who is in charge of information. Advocate Good Samaritan also has an organizational culture, and it is diversity. The employees of the organization came from different backgrounds, cultures and racial origins. These people help in bringing about their experiences, personalities, and talents into the business organization. This is one of the main reasons as to why the organization managed to achieve success in the provision of health care, making it a top 100 hospital in United States of America. The organization does not only encourage diversity in its work force, but also focuses on meeting the various diverse needs of its customers. SWOT Analysis of the Organization: The following are the strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the organization (Truven Health Analysis, 2013); Strengths: It is the biggest integrated health care system in the US. It operates the largest emergency trauma network in the state of Illinois. The organization treats the highest number of pediatric patients in Illinois. The organization diagnoses and treats the highest number of cancer patients in the state of Illinois. It has more than 250 health care sites and this includes 10 hospitals that offer acute care, and a children’s hospital, which has two campuses. It has a high number of human resource personnel, and this includes approximately 30,000 associates, 9000 nurses, and about 6000 physicians. The hospital has teaching and academic affiliations with major universities that are located at the Chicago Metropolitan Area. The organization also has teaching hospitals namely Lutheran General Hospital, Christ Medical Centre, and Masonic Medical Centre. These institutions are responsible for training health care workers on primary health care systems. Weaknesses: Due to the large size of the organization, policy formulation always takes a long process. The top to down management policy makes it impossible for junior officers to participate in the process of policy formulation. The organization spends so much money on paying salaries and wages, at the expense of providing other services such as research and development of new medical practices/ techniques. Opportunities: The opportunity to earn more customers and referrals because of the high quality of its services, and the availability of resources to handle any type of medical condition/diseases. Opportunity to form more partnerships with learning institutions and health care providers for purposes of carrying out a research on the various medical problems that affect the society. The opportunity to attract highly skilled and talented medical practitioners because of the organizations attractive salary package and benefits. Threats: Financial uncertainty is one threat that faces the organization. This arises because of high levels of unemployment, and the state of the American economy, which is only coming out of recession. The health care reforms initiated by the Obama administration, and specifically the affordable care act, popularly referred to as the Obama Care laws. These laws area aimed at changing the structure of the health care system in the United States, creating uncertainties on how the hospital will work with other stakeholders for purposes of providing better health care services. Sources of Funding: Advocate Good Samaritan is a not for profit hospital, and it gets most of its funding from donors. The organization runs a program referred to as Giving, which aims at raising money for its various activities/ programs. People are encouraged to make a donation through a secure online payment system, or through a cheque payable through the internet. The office responsible for receiving these funds is Advocate Charitable Foundation (Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, 2014). The following are the programs initiated by Advocate Good Samaritan for purposes of raising funds. Thee first program is referred to as Matching Gift Program. Under this program, the organization encourages companies to prevail upon their employees to contribute some amount of money to the organization. It also encourages the employees of these companies to offer some volunteering services to the company. The company also accepts bonds or stocks offered by donors (Truven Health Analysis, 2013). This is also advantageous to the donor because he or she will receive a tax break, or pay less taxes incase his or her stocks increase in value. The organization also encourages co-operation organizations to give under the co-operate giving program. This program aims at providing information to cooperate organizations on the various programs and activities of the company, and hence the need of supporting the activities under consideration. To raise funds also, the organization has created the Presidents Health Society Association. People of all walks of life are encouraged to become members, but they have to pay an annual membership fee of $ 1000. (Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, 2014) Finally, the organization has an endowment policy, which is a long term financing program for the activities of the organization. Under this strategy, an individual finds an activity that he or she wants to support. The same individual must make a commitment that he or she plans to support the program over a long period of time. The Nature of the Hospital: The hospital is a teaching and referral hospital. It has approximately three hospital units that are responsible for teaching and training medical practitioners, and this includes nurses and doctors. These teaching centers are, Lutheran General Hospital, Christ Medical Centre, and Masonic Medical Centre (Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, 2014). The organization is also a referral hospital, and this is because of the facilities and resources it has. The organization has an up-to date cancer care centers, making it the leading center for cancer diagnoses and treatment in the state of Illinois. Management Information System: The organization uses technology for purposes of communicating with its employees, and patients. For example, the organization has developed computerized software referred to as Active FAX. This software helps the organization to store all the information concerning patients, and members of staff, electronically. This information management system aims to reduce the usage of files for purposes of keeping information (Truven Health Analysis, 2013) . The main advantage of this type of information management system is that information is readily available to the concerned party, at the click of a button. The organization advocates and uses the CPOE. As of 2009, it was the target of Advocate hospital that 55% of all patients must make an order, using the physician computerized order entry. Conclusion: In conclusion, Advocate Good Samaritan is one of the best hospital organizations in the United States. The hospital enjoys a good public image and reputation, partly because of the quality of services it offers, and its philosophy of putting the needs of patients at the fore-front. The hospital is not a profit making organization, and it mostly depends on donors and financial grants for purposes of carrying out its various programs and activities. This paper therefore manages to highlight virtually all aspects of the hospital. This includes its mission and goals, organizational stricter, its swot analysis, its management information system, and the kind of services it offers. References: Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital. (n.d.). Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital. Retrieved  January 21, 2012, from http://www.advocatehealth.com/gsam/ Montalvo, I., Dunton, N. (2007). Transforming nursing data into quality care: profiles of  quality improvement in U.S. healthcare facilities. Silver Spring, Md.: Nursesbooks.org,  American Nurses Association. Truven Health Analysis. (2013). 100 top hospitals: study overview. (20TH ed.). Ann Arbor:  Truven Healt Analytics.