Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Thomas Hobbes And The Civil War - 1620 Words
Thomas Hobbes wrote during the time of the English Civil War and these events were heavily reflected within his writing. This time demonstrated a tremendous amount of political instability within the state and the violent war caused tension and unrest amongst the citizens. Hobbes advocates for the need for an all-powerful sovereign in order to ensure peace and security within society. Hobbes argues that humans were naturally drawn into a state of war and the only way to escape this conflict was if humans entered into a social contract in which they traded their individual liberties in exchange for protection from a higher political power of authority. For Hobbes sovereignty is best achieved when humans, ââ¬Å"owe under the immortal God, [their] peace and defenceâ⬠(Hobbes, 332). According to Hobbes when humans sacrifice their personal liberty they are avoiding the fear of violent death and instead would be able to live a peaceful life. Hobbes states that in the natural sta te of war humans seek to destroy one another, ââ¬Å" if any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies; and in the way to their endâ⬠¦ endeavour to destroy, or subdue one anotherâ⬠(319). It is essential to enter into a social contract because without a constant source of political authority in their life, human life would result in chaos. In an attempt to avoid the violent wars that result in the state of nature and in order to escape violent death that heShow MoreRelatedThomas Hobbes : The Age Of Reason1313 Words à |à 6 PagesNolasco Green-Heffern Western Civilization 11/20/14 2 Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes was a political philosopher who lived at the beginning of the Enlightenment period, also known as The Age of Reason. He lived during a time when England was experiencing a lot of political conflict between the king and Parliament. (Green-Heffern) This was also a time when many questions existed about how to rule a country and what made a good government. Thomas Hobbesââ¬â¢ Elements of Law (1640), his analysis of the SocialRead MoreThomas Hobbes s Leviathan 1190 Words à |à 5 PagesThe source which will be analysed is the frontispiece of Thomas Hobbes most famous work ââ¬ËLeviathanââ¬â¢ and ââ¬ËLeviathanââ¬â¢ as a whole. The frontispiece is considered as prominent as the arguments put forth by Thomas Hobbes in the ââ¬ËLeviathanââ¬â¢ itself. The frontispiece depicts a crowned figure grasping a crosier and a sword. This figure, or ââ¬ËLeviathanââ¬â¢, represents the all-powerful, comprehensive state. When looked at closely, the torso and arms of the figure are made up of hundreds of individual people, whoRead MoreThomas Hobbes And John Locke1426 Words à |à 6 Pagesconflicts in its history, ultimately serving to influence some of the most phenomenal political philosophers in Europe --Thomas Hob bes, and John Locke. England was in constant unrest, choosing new forms of government almost on a whim in desperate attempts to restore order in the Country. The English Civil War in 1642 etched a legacy of dread in the people of England, and the war only appeared more disastrous and fruitless when it became apparent the new Puritanical regime was just as irresponsibleRead MoreThomas Hobbes And The Enlightenment878 Words à |à 4 Pagesas Enlightenment thinkers. They thought about two questions. First, are people naturally good or evil? Second, what type of government is best? Thomas Hobbes, an Englishman born in 1588, is one of the Enlightenment thinkers. Hobbes wrote The Leviathan, published in 1651, observing the violence and behavior of people near the end of the English Civil War. He believed that monarchy is the best government. John Locke, another Enlightenment thinker, is an Englishman born in 1632. Locke wrote Two TreatisesRead MoreThomas Hobbes And The Philosophy Of Polit ical Science1729 Words à |à 7 Pagesgovernment. While studying, Thomas Hobbes wondered about why people were allowing themselves to be ruled and what would a great form of government for England. He reasoned that people were naturally wicked and shouldnââ¬â¢t be trusted to govern themselves because they were selfish creatures and would do anything to better their position and social status. These people, when left alone will go back to their evil impulses to get a better advantage over others. So Thomas Hobbes concluded that the best formRead MoreDo Metaphors Really Matter?1208 Words à |à 5 Pagesthat will be used in this particular case will be the metaphor used by the famous English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, in his famous book, ââ¬Å"Leviathanâ⬠which was published in 1651. Thomas Hobbes and the Leviathan Thomas Hobbes was a philosopher who had his interests based mainly on political affairs. As stated earlier, his most famous piece of work, ââ¬Å"Leviathanâ⬠was a platform through which Hobbes expressed his ideas of how an ideal state ought to look like. The term ââ¬Å"Leviathanâ⬠is used in the BibleRead MoreThe Philosophy of Thomas Hobbs Essay1748 Words à |à 7 PagesThomas Hobbss philosophy Hobbes Moral: Thomas Hobbes is known best for his political thought and the English philosopher. The vision of Hobbes for the world is still relevant to modern politics. He always focus the problems of social and political order: that how human beings can keep away the terror of civil and difference to live together in peace and got authorize to decide every social and political matter. Otherwise state of nature anticipate us and closely remind us of civil war where thereRead MoreThomas Hobbes And John Locke911 Words à |à 4 Pagessocial contract theory, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke established many of the founding ideals that contemporary Liberalism is based on. While the shared many similar positions, there are some key distinctions to be made between the arguments Hobbes and Locke make in Leviathan and Second Treatise of Civil Government, respectively. In this paper I will argue the differences between how each of them viewed the right of the subjects to revolt from the sovereign. Thomas Hobbes published his most famousRead MoreEssay about Thomas Hobbes Concept of Natural Law1662 Words à |à 7 PagesThomas Hobbesââ¬â¢ concept of natural law is shown in his theory of the state of nature, the pre-state environment, and consists of two laws: individuals have to pursue a peaceful life, and are allowed to defend their existence by any means possible. This has particular ramifications in the formation of civil society, especially in terms of loyalty, morality and the relationship between man and the leviathan that is the state. Hobbesââ¬â¢ theory has two of flaws in particular ââ¬â the logic in his theory ofRead MoreJohn Locke and Thomas Hobbes Essay1077 Words à |à 5 PagesJohn Locke and Thomas Hobbes both believe that men are equal in the state of nature, but their individual opinions about equality lead them to propose fundamentally different methods of proper civil governance. Locke argues that the correct form of civil government should be concern ed with the common good of the people, and defend the citizenryââ¬â¢s rights to life, health, liberty, and personal possessions. Hobbes argues that the proper form of civil government must have an overarching ruler governing
Monday, December 16, 2019
What does Eliza consider to be her real education Free Essays
The play is an adaptation of the Greek myth of Pygmalion who fell in love with a statue as it was more real in the understanding of its own composition than the actual women he had observed and grown despondent to. It is a work that closely follows the relationship between society and linguistics, wherein the women is real, but has yet to have her manners sculptured. In particular, it highlights the role of convention and articulation in relation to identities, depicting this through the subject of Eliza. We will write a custom essay sample on What does Eliza consider to be her real education or any similar topic only for you Order Now In this paper the author will be addressing the subject of the play and its central character, whilst examining the effects that learning the speech of, what was considered, correct English had on her. Main Body When first completing the text, it is clear that there is an irony in the play that brings forth the now famed social and political points to the surface. However, one may be forgiven for considering these points relevant in todayââ¬â¢s society, though in a more fractured sense. This is because they relate to speech and language use in relation to social standing. // Although social standing in todayââ¬â¢s liberal society is becoming an ever more redundant concept, using someoneââ¬â¢s speech as an indication of someoneââ¬Ës identity is still in evidence. This notion is apparent in the main plot line in which Eliza becomes entrapped to the perspective of a new language system. When adopting the role of the speaker, Eliza adopts a slowly differing identity that emerges with child like astonishment before she changes into what is essentially a different person. It does not continue to be a liberating and learning experience. Rather, the liberation of a woman hiding behind the veil of civility in a bid to expose it, perhaps showing the power of the human spirit over class in the process, is lost. That is to say, that on speaking the language through the conventions of class Eliza loses sight of the world through her former eyes and comes to view it through her new language that cannot be escaped. Essentially, it is through this change in persona that the play delivers its moral warning and cutting implication in that the core of the human being cannot escape from the language that it uses to identify itself with. The language and convention used by those of high society is responsible for each of their perspectives and it is not the person or peopleââ¬Ës speaking the language. Essentially, if you are to change the personââ¬â¢s language, language use and perspective then they themselves will come to define themselves and their being according to the structural meaning inherent to the language that is used by that society. This is indicated throughout Elizaââ¬â¢s discussions and becomes the main rationale for all that she does. For example, in one part of the play she states that ââ¬Ëââ¬â¢you know I canââ¬â¢t go back to the gutter, as you call it, and that I have no real friends in the world but you and the Colonelââ¬â¢Ã¢â¬â¢ (Shaw, 1998). This short extract shows the great division based upon the language being used and the fact that it is represented by a social reality, in this case being social standing. What is interesting about the use of language in relation to others is the way in which Eliza is accepted and rejected at different times during the play. For example, it first appears that Eliza is rejected from society as her language does not denote the correct social grouping, stock and/ or class. This is first justified as being because of her use of language, accent and the incorrect convention. However, it appears on later reading that the convention is of little consequence as she uses the same convention, but put to a different context. Rather, it is the response from others alone that make it something of note. At one point during the play she makes the assertion that speaking properly (meaning without a cockney accent) is simply learning to dance in a fashionable way, which accentuates this point even further. Essentially, the assertion that she puts forward here relates to the realisation of the superficiality of language in its conventional format as both languages mean exactly the same thing from a pragmatic perspective. At this stage she is learning the meaning of language and the convention of getting from one thing to another via language use. She realises that the only difference is a superficial one as the functional meaning (cause and effect) is the same whichever language is spoken. Essentially, the only different in the language is the significance of the source of referents, which dictate a different context to convention. Therefore, her conclusion is that it is merely a state of fashion in which the dancer dances the same, but where one dancer adopts the fashionable style, the other is overlooked as being able to dance (Baudrillard, 1968). This conclusion relates to the elements of high society that come with the speakers of proper English and that are not afforded to those of a poorer language, such as cockney. Those that do not speak the language are simply those that do not speak of anything meaningful, when in reality there is simply a clash over the source of referential meaning. How to cite What does Eliza consider to be her real education, Papers
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Concept of Patenting- Free-Samples for Students-Myassignment
Question: Explain the: Concept of Patenting and possible motives for the Companies Involved. Answer: Patenting Concepts By definition, the aspect of patenting describes the possibility of having the interests of the inventors protected through the provision of exclusive rights towards ensuring that their inventions are used by a state (MAYER, 2017). The area of application of patented inventions is broad. However, inventions that are technical are considered to be patented if such inventions are new, and the innovative idea is based on a non-obvious activity, and lastly; is commercially important (Bala, 2017). Reasons for Patenting Some of the reasons as to why a company may use patents include: Inventors get exclusivity through patenting; towards ensuring that their inventions are used. Patenting rewards creativity and promotes originality through the prevention of redundancy and plagiarism. The rights to exclusivity that are given to the inventor last for a 20 year period and depend on its renewal. Market leaders also find patents useful. Such individuals have their ideas and technologies protected, though for a short time. However, the protection depends on the new technologys complexity. However, such individuals competitive advantages are maintained and thus having costs for competitors created(MAYER, 2017). Patents are also sources of revenue of which the companies have the potential of creating either direct or indirect profit. The profits are likely to be associated with the consumption of a company's products without associated risks of competitors receiving the patent. Another way of harnessing profit is through having licenses sold for money. Lastly is by having cross-licensing or otherwise, potential advantages get used for controlled diffusion. The overall result, therefore, is growing the customer base with regards to the entire market (class argument). Through patenting, the image of a brand can be positively cast to the stakeholders. The image of a particular brand illustrates the technological capacity and the level of expertise in a given organization. In such a case, patenting becomes crucial in soliciting partners for businesses, having the companys brand raised, and also helping the HR through the signaling innovators on the level of expertise against its technological capacity as a way of actively attracting them (class argument). Enlisted above were general ideas concerning patenting motives. With regards to the case studies provided, the general thoughts are important in identifying the manner in which the patenting concepts are applied. As described; therein: Points a) and b) describe the issue of exclusivity towards the use of a company's invention; a concept that Hubertzs has used to ensure profitability. The idea is as a result of the buzzing nature of the Internet computer games. Consumers are thrilled with the array of online games including the Football and World of Warcraft battles within the virtual space. However, with regards to Hubertzs business niche, he began his inventions by building the virtual soccer manager. What he was cautious about is having a new server paid from his pocket. To maximize profits, he had to take approximately fifty cents for every player transactions which led to a lucrative model within his business. Inventions that followed, and ultimately led to his success include the football ice hockey and the formula one. On the contrary, the mafia simulation game led to the realization of the innovative breakthrough. Concerning the online gaming breakthrough; the Sony scenario is best fit to try the same points , (a) and (b) to ensure that they obtain exclusivity owing to the financial retardation evidence about their originality and creativity. However, the company still faces financial and innovative crack-down crises even though it is regarded as the leading entertainment provider. It has experienced a period of falling off its bastion. After which it has been overtaken by competitor companies like Apple and Samsung in the production of products like iPods, TV sets, video cameras, and mobile phones. Bigpoint and Sony may be having similar motives and viewpoints as globally established companies and also market commanders. However, Sony may be lagging behind with regards to the issue of striving to achieve direct and indirect revenues through its innovative approach. The company has lost several millions of Euros, approximating to ninety million. As it realizes such kind of losses, its competitors like the Korean LG Electronics makes profits. From a personal viewpoint, it could be proposed that the huge losses are as a result of Sony's focus on their products to consumer interests. It is therefore sensible to understand why Stringer accuses the company of behaving like the electrical industry supplier. The new TV set technology should, therefore, be patented as a way of ensuring that the lost glory including profit gain is realized. However, Sony has been; for a long period, cocooned into a colorful content provider which is also networked. Patenting would, therefore, ensure that the company can reorganize the required equipment for the purpose of playing and viewing. Alternatively, they could sell to Stringer through a cross-licensing agreement. It would be so since Stringer is from the business sector and would, therefore, be able to construct an alternative technological product build the new technological product with regards to his plan of reconstruction. Since it is through patenting that the image of a brand can be positively cast to the stakeholders; illustrates the technological capacity; and the level of expertise in a given organization, Sony would only require the signaling effect as described as a motive towards the application of a patent. Sony will require a massive number of employees to ensure that the new technology is provided. Open Innovation The question on open innovation requires us to understand the definition of the same. As promoted by Henry Chesbrough, the term was noted to be meaning; a paradigm of assumptions made on the basis that firms have the capacity to use external and internal ideas and paths of marketing as a way of making technological advances (Open Innovation, 2003). However, with advancement in technology, the term is referred to as the distribution of processes of innovation by purposeful knowledge flows that are managed within the boundaries of an organization. The boundaries in question refer to those between businesses and their environment and the manner in which they get to be permeable allowing innovations to get transferred into and out of business (Open Innovation, 2003). Open innovation is all about user innovation, however, the aspect of user innovation is not portrayed in Sony, with regards to the provided case. Other aspects that would alternatively describe the subject matter are: Know-how trading Cumulative innovation Mass innovation Crowd-sourced innovation Distributed innovation. The piece of knowledge that lacks in Sonys case is the fact that open innovation has a fundamental principle that determines innovation and production. This core idea that masterminds innovation is that within the current system of production and in this global existence of dispersed knowledge, no given company can rely on their research. However, there is a chance of buying licenses or patents from other established corporations. Another fundamental factor to consider is the issue about internal inventions never getting employed in the businesses of a firm but instead exported from the company. In Sony's case, the new TV set technology should, therefore, be patented as a way of ensuring that the lost glory including profit gain is realized. However, Sony has been; for a long period, cocooned into a colorful content provider which is also networked. Patenting would, therefore, ensure that the company can reorganize the required equipment for the purpose of playing and viewing. A company like Sony should recognize that having the innovative partnership with other competitor companies ensures that the intended risk is shared and thus the outcome rewarded. Bigpoint, on the contrary, understands that paradigm of open innovation is interpreted to extrapolate beyond external innovation sources like: Customers Competitor companies Learning institutions Open innovation has been a source of change in Bigpoints intellectual property employment and management since the corporation has tasted the fruits of its research driven and technical generation capability. It would be evidently claimed that Hubertzs Bigpoint is an open innovation because he began his inventions by building the virtual soccer manager. What he was cautious about is having a new server paid from his pocket. To maximize profits, he had to take approximately fifty cents for every player transactions which led to a lucrative model within his business. Inventions that followed, and ultimately led to his success include the football ice hockey and the formula one. On the contrary, the mafia simulation game led to the realization of the innovative breakthrough. It is therefore understood that Bigpoint is an explorative venture. The exploration relied on the external and internal innovative opportunities. Summary Patenting describes the possibility of having the interests of the inventors protected through the provision of exclusive rights towards ensuring that a state uses their inventions. Inventions that are technical are considered to be patented if such inventions are new, and the inventive idea is based on a non-obvious activity(MAYER, 2017). However, open innovation is a paradigm of assumptions made on the basis that firms have the capacity to use external and internal ideas and paths of marketing as a way of making technological advances (Open Innovation, 2003). However, with advancement in technology, the term is referred to as the distribution of processes of innovation by purposeful knowledge flows that are managed within the boundaries of an organization Reference Alden, D.L., Steenkamp, J.-B.E.M. and Batra, R. (1999) Brand positioning through advertising in Asia, North America, and Europe: The role of global consumer culture,' Journal of Marketing, 63(1), p. 75. doi: 10.2307/1252002. Bala, R. (2017). Unit Guide. [online] Unitguides.mq.edu.au. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from https://unitguides.mq.edu.au/unit_offerings/72118/unit_guide Barbu, C.M., (2011). Cultural adaptation of products.Management Marketing,9(1), pp.105-110. Ke, W., Wei, K. (2006). Organizational Learning Process. Journal of Global Information Management, 14(1), 1-22. McClendon, K., Ho, T. (2016). Building a Quality Assessment Process for Measuring and Documenting Student Learning. Assessment Update, 28(2), 7-14. Messnarz, R., Ekert, D. (2007). Assessment-based learning systemslearning from best projects. Software Process: Improvement and Practice, 12(6), 569-577. MAYER, F. (2017). CET-Innovation Entrepreneurship . Sony falls back, 1-3. Open Innovation. (2003). Open Innovation:: Open Innovation Community. Openinnovation.net. Retrieved 13 June 2017, from https://openinnovation.net/about-2/open-innovation-definition/ Pieters, J., Limbach, R., Jong, T. (2004). Designing discovery learning environments: process analysis and implications for designing an information system. International Journal of Learning Technology, 1(2), 147. Snchez, L., Mitchell, R. (2017). Conceptualizing impact assessment as a learning process. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 62, 195-204. SPRUIJT, J. (2017). Open Innovation. Open innovation.eu. Retrieved 13 June 2017, from https://www.openinnovation.eu/open-innovation/ Trichkova, E., Stoilova, K. (2013). An Approach for Quality Assessment and Efficiency of a Web-Based System for Distance Learning. Cybernetics and Information Technologies, 13(4).
Sunday, December 1, 2019
Marcel Sobieski Interview - the Man Who Goes Against the Wind
A while ago, we thought about starting a series of interviews with people who haveà succeeded in WordPress. From developers, to designers, bloggers, influencers, marketers, and everyone whos doing interesting things with WordPress in one way or the other. Today, the first interview is finally out.There are 10 questions in total, the same for everyone. We hope this will make the whole series fun, and that well see a range of different perspectives on common WordPress-related issues. But this is not only strictly business. We also want to outline the personalities of our interviewees. Thats why youre going to find a handful of off-topic questions too.So, lets break the ice! Welcome to the very first interview in ourà new Pirate Interviews series.Marcel Sobieski interview The CEO of TeslaThemesThe WordPress market is pretty much saturated at the moment, but TeslaThemes still made its way to becoming a profitable project over the years. It is a theme shop that delivers high-quality and stunning designs, bundled with all sorts of cool features.A curious thing to notice about Marcel, the CEO, and his team is that they dont provide free themes or, theyve built only one free theme to date. Their business is based on premium products only. Its been 3 years since TeslaThemes was born. And at the time of writing, they have 60 awesome themes in their catalog.The CEO position at TeslaThemes is not the only thing that Marcel is doing. Hes also the CEO at Red Sky Moldova, which owns Greedeals.com and WPMatic.io, and from 2006 to 2010 he held a COO and CEO positions for a Swiss and a Liechtenstein IT Company, all headquartered in Chisinau, Moldova, his home city.That being said, Marcel Sobieski is the man who always flew against the wind, as he describes himself. How did his theme shop survive in the competitive WordPress market of today? Lets find out:When and how did you start working with WordPress? Is there an interesting story here?Marcel Sobieski:Im in IT since 200 6 and the first three years I was managing a Swiss software company based in Chisinau, Moldova. We were focused on mobile payments and mobile platforms, working close with mobile operators. We were pretty much enterprise and did not know a lot of things about pure multimedia startups, design or B2C at that time.Nevertheless, one day we invited to an interview a web designer that we wanted to attach to a project for a Swiss client. He came to the meeting and rejected the offer, mentioning that he rather came to see a new company and touch the market instead of getting a job. He was a designer at a well established WordPress Theme Club up to today and money did not matter much. It was the first connection Ive had with these restless guys from the WP world. From that very moment I knew, we will return to this topic. And we did, in 2011. The year when our, at that time, flagship project Filestube.com started to shake under the major legislation changes of ACTA and SOPA regulations.What do you think youd be doing right now if WordPress didnt exist?Marcel Sobieski:Hard to say. We might joke that we would write it in the office with the team, but thats not the case. Definitely Id still be in the IT ecosystem, work with bright minded guys and colleagues. Would probably be in the mobile app industry, and this is also one of the directions we will take in a year from now. And would travel, and ride my bicycle.Whats your technique for staying productive throughout the day?Marcel Sobieski:There is an endless list of factors that distract us every day. From your daily Facebook notifications to concrete server issues, or a pissed off customer from hell, and you have to handle them all, no matter how. My case is a bit different because Im juggling from one project to another. We run simultaneously 3 successful startups in one office, with the same team. Somehow my the day is divided into clusters, dedicated to each project, to every issue, from product management to customer satisfaction and business development. This way I rarely get bored, being always refreshed and stimulated by my colleagues ideas and activity. In fact, this is the best team Ive ever managed to get in one company, a brilliant squad. But what keeps me and my team productive are actually the great results we see every day, from all over the world in these 3 projects.What keeps me and my team productive are actually the great results we see every day.How do you define being successful?Marcel Sobieski:At first, I would think about the cash we generate every month. Obviously, money talks and is a reliable criterion of your business success, maybe the biggest, although we should look at YouTubes or Twitters quarterly financial reports. In these two cases, the term success is not extrapolated into cash. Besides the financial profitability and constant offers to get acquired, we quantify our success in other metrics as well. Like having customers from 235 countries, like regular visits fro m North Korea, Afghanistan or Yemen, like excited testimonials our clients send us, like being well-known everywhere you go on this planet with the project we do, like respect and appreciation from our competitors and big fishes from the WP market. Like being able to inspire other youngsters or professionals to achieve even more, like seeing the astonishment on many faces when they find out that actually, we are TeslaThemes. These things, most of the times, matter more and make you feel both proud and humble about our success.What do you like to do when youre not WordPress-ing?Marcel Sobieski:Traveling and riding my bicycle. These are 2 of my passions. The more exotic the country I visit, the better. From Cuba to the Philippines, anytime and with excitement. I was lucky enough to ride my bicycle there as well. Im fortunate to spend my free time with my friends and family and my lovely girlfriend. In my spare time, I will always consider making some plans, both for our office and my personal life.What do you wish more people knew about WordPress?Marcel Sobieski:That WordPress is not easy anymore. Its a myth that in a couple of minutes you will have your website up and running. It used to be like that back in the day, but not now. In the same time, we want people to know that WordPress makes their lives so much easier if they choose a quality theme and partner with a strong theme club for the support.That way, they can save a lot of cash by using WP, and they can scale their websites with opulent and exuberant features, effects and plugins. My advice is to find a reliable and professional support provider, otherwise, alone, most probably, they will not be able to make it through.Exactly for this reason, seeing all these years so many users struggling hard to keep their themes alive the way they have imagined, we decided to help them and launched a new service WPmatic. Which is a 360-degrees 1-on-1 support and development center for any WordPress issue (includin g issues with themes).WordPress is not easy anymore.Whos doing things that are just cutting-edge and incredible in the WordPress space right now?Marcel Sobieski:Hard to say. Like seriously! Most of the players in the WordPress industry today think more about the money rather than leadership. How to make more cash, how to optimize work and save money again. So do we, everybody does, but there must be a significant room left for research and development, new intuitive frameworks for our moms and dads, for those who are not developers; smart and cool plugins; a different design layout trend. The market is tired of the general and boring templates: header, slider, about us, team and footer. Go to ThemeForest; all the themes are the same, nothing special, just a plastic theme multiplied. Everyone copies the most popular themes, changes the color and voila, ready to go. Its hard to mention a flagman, though there are some serious guys in the business. The first that come to my mind are Te slaThemes, WPZoom, MHThemes and ThemeIsle. I see soul and logic from these providers.Describe the WordPress community in one word.Marcel Sobieski:Crowded and at times overloaded. WordPress today feeds a lot of people, from Iraq to the US. Some of us made a fortune with WordPress. I cant imagine the world without it. We see so many new players entering this market every day and this makes us happy, cause competition develops and makes our lives better. But we still must think very seriously about my previous answer about solid and serious RnD and uniqueness when launching a new theme to the market, otherwise, we will totally compromise the WP core values.Whats the main threat to WordPress these days? Other platforms like Ghost, or maybe things like Squarespace?Marcel Sobieski:No external threats. WordPress itself is in a wonderful position as of today. The only real threat comes from within. It is about the bad quality that a lot of theme providers deliver in the run for earnings. Th ere is an ocean of WordPress themes on the internet that sincerely are useless, done without a logic, without a robust framework, just for the sake of sales, and people buy them, install them and get instantly pissed off and disappointed, a total mess and no support, and what happens? They move to Medium, they move to Ghost or any other nice, clean and intelligent platform. And I understand them. Every theme provider needs to bring quality, uniqueness, and usefulness to people. Many theme clubs think and work more to add intelligent tools to force their users to buy a theme, instead of convincing them with superb features, wonderful design and marvelous chromatic.The only real threat comes from within. It is about the bad quality that a lot of theme providers deliver in the run for earnings.What are your recommendations for a WordPress novice?Marcel Sobieski:Not to stay hungry and not to stay foolish. ðŸâ¢â But to eat good in the morning, and be vertical in his or her position, and persevere to bring something good, to be useful to the world, and be appreciated by those who use his or her artworks. Not to run for money, it will pop-up at the right time. Quality and usefulness are most important, plus add some luck on top.Those are indeed some golden tips from Marcel. I hope they will come in handy when youre working on your next WordPress project. What do you think about what Marcel Sobieski shared in this interview?
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Effective Praise Highlights Student Effort
Effective Praise Highlights Student Effort Praise works. In fact, educational research since the 1960s shows that students at every grade level and in every subject like to be praised for their work in the classroom. The empirical evidence from the research shows that praise can have a positive impact on both student academic learning and social behavior. Yet, as researchers Robert A. Gable, et al. note in their article Back to Basics Rules, Praise, Ignoring, and Reprimands Revisited (2009)à in the Journal of Intervention in School and Clinic, Given the documented positive effects of teacher praise, it is puzzling why so many teachers make little use of it. In determining why praise in the classroom is not used more often, Gable et al. suggest that teachers may not have had the training through peer coaching, self-monitoring, or self -evaluating and may not feel comfortable in acknowledging positive pupil behavior consistently.à Another reason may be that teachers may not know how to deliver praise that is effective. Teachers may give general praise using phrases such as, ââ¬Å"Great work!â⬠or ââ¬Å"Nice job, students!â⬠General phrases are not the most effective way for teachers to give feedback in the classroom. General phrases are directed to no one or to no skill in particular. Moreover, while these general phrases may be nice to hear, they may be too broad, and their overuse may result in becoming humdrum.à Similarly routine responses such as ââ¬Å"Awesome!â⬠or ââ¬Å"Excellent!â⬠by themselves do not inform the student what specific behaviors brought about success. Arguments against generic praise given indiscriminately have been made by education researcher Carol Dweck (2007) in her article The Perils and Promises of Praise in Educational Leadership. The wrong kind of praise creates self-defeating behavior. The right kind motivates students to learn. So, what can make praise the ââ¬Å"right kindâ⬠? What can make praise in the classroom effective? The answer is the timing or when the teacher gives praise. The other important criteria of praise are the quality or kind of praise. When to Give Praise When a teacher uses praise to acknowledge student effort in problem-solving or in practice, make the praise more effective. Effective praise can be directed to an individual student or group of students when the teacher wants to connect praise with a particular behavior. That also means that praise should not be given for trivial accomplishments or weak efforts by students such as minor task completion or the student completing their responsibilities. In making praise effective, a teacher should explicitly note the behavior as the reason for praise in as timely a manner as possible.à The younger the student, the more immediate the praise should be. At the high school level, most students can accept delayed praise. When a teacher sees a student is making progress, the language of encouragement as praise can be effective. For example, I can see your hard work in this assignment.You have not quit even with this tough problem.Keep using your strategies! Youââ¬â¢re making good progress!You have really grown (in these areas).I can see a difference in your work compared to yesterday. When a teacher sees a student succeed, the language of congratulatory praise may be more appropriate, such as: Congratulations! You put in the effort to succeed.Look at what you can accomplish when you do not give up.I am so proud of the effort, and you should be too, about the effort you put into this. Should students succeed easily without effort, praise can address the level of the assignment or problem. For example: Thisà assignment was not as challenging for you, so lets try and find something that will help you grow.à You may be ready for something more difficult, so what skills should we work on next?à Itââ¬â¢s great that you have that down.à à We need to raise the bar for you now. After giving praise, teachers should encourage students to take advantage of this opportunity to offer a chance for reflection So when you have another assignment or problem like this, what will you do?à Think back, what did you do that contributed to your success? Quality of Praise Praise must always be connected to a process, rather than student intelligence. That is the basis of Dwecks research in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2007). She showed that students who received praise for their innate intelligence with statements such as ââ¬Å"You are so smartâ⬠exhibited a ââ¬Å"fixed mindset. They believed that academic achievement was limited on innate ability. In contrast, students who were praised for their efforts with statements such as ââ¬Å"Your argument is very clearâ⬠exhibited a growth mindset and believed in academic achievement through effort and learning. Thus, we found that praise for intelligence tended to put students in a fixed mind-set (intelligence is fixed, and you have it), whereas praise for effort tended to put them in a growth mind-set (youre developing these skills because youre working hard). Of the two types of praise, Dweck notes, praise for studentà effort such as ââ¬Å"All that hard work and effort in completing the project paid off!â⬠improves student motivation. One caution in praising, however, is to Make sure teachers are careful not to be inauthentic to inflate praise for students with low self-esteem. Critics have raised questions about the legitimacy of classroom praise, as rewarding trivial accomplishments or weak efforts. There may be some schools that do not support the use of evidence-based practices such as teacher praise. Additionally, at the secondary level, praise may also be received by students as drawing unwanted attention to an accomplishment. Regardless, there is no evidence to suggest that effective praise has a negative effect on students. Instead, effective praise can provide students with the kind of positive reinforcement that builds on success, motivates them to learn, and increases their participation in class. Steps to Effective Praise Notice effort by the student(s).Make eye contact with the student(s).Smile. Be sincere and enthusiastic.Deliver praise to students in proximity, especially at the secondary level.Prepare for praise by deciding what to say that is specific to the task.à Describe the behavior you want to reinforce telling how you feel about it with specific comments like, Your thoughts were well organized in this essay.Keep records of successful efforts and praise so you can make connections in future assignments. Finally, and most importantly, importantly, do not combine praise with criticism. To keep praise separate from criticism, avoid using the word, but immediately after a compliment. All this can make praise effective in the classroom. Effective praise can provide students with the kind of positive reinforcement that builds on success, motivates them to learn, and increases their participation in class.
Friday, November 22, 2019
An Overview of Chinas One-Child Policy
An Overview of Chinas One-Child Policy Chinas one-child policy was established by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1979 to restrict communist Chinas population growth and limited couples to having only one child. Although designated a temporary measure, it remained in effect for more than 35 years. Fines, pressures to abort a pregnancy, and even forced sterilization of women accompanied second or subsequent pregnancies. The policy was not an all-encompassing rule because it was restricted to ethnic Han Chinese living in urban areas. Citizens living in rural areas and minorities living in China were not subject to the law.à Unintended Effects of the One-Child Law There have long been reportsà that officials have forced women pregnant without permission to have abortions and have levied steep fines on families violating the law. In 2007 in the southwestern Guangxi Autonomous Region of China,à riots broke out as a result, and some people may have been killed, including population control officials. The Chinese have long had a preference for male heirs, so the one-childà ruleà caused many problems for female infants:à abortion, out-of-country adoption, neglect, abandonment, and even infanticide were known to occur to females. Statistically, such Draconian family planning has resulted in the disparate (estimated) ratio of 115 males for every 100 females among babies born.à Normally, 105 males are naturally born for every 100 females. Thisà skewed ratio in China creates the problem of a generation of young men not having enough women to marry and have their own families, which has been speculated may cause future unrest in the country. These forever bachelors will not have a family to care for them in their old age either, which could put a strain on future government social services. The one-child rule has been estimated to have reduced population growth in the country of nearly 1.4 billion (estimated, 2017) by as muchà as 300 millionà people over its first 20 years. Whether the male-to-female ratio eases with the discontinuation of the one-child policy will come clear overà time. Chinese Now Allowed to Have Two Children Though the one-child policy may have had the goal of preventing the countrys population of spiraling out of control, after several decades, there were concerns over its cumulative demographic effect, namely the country havingà a shrinking labor pool and smaller young population to take care of the number of elderly people in ensuing decades. So in 2013, the country eased the policy to allow some families to have two children. In late 2015, Chinese officials announced the scrapping the policy altogether, allowing all couples to have two children.à Future of Chinas Population Chinasà total fertility rateà (the number of births perà woman) is 1.6,à higher than slowly declining Germany at 1.45 but lower than the U.S. at 1.87 (2.1 births per woman is the replacement level of fertility, representing a stable population, exclusive of migration). The effect of the two-child rule hasnt made the population decline stabilize completely, but the law is young yet.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Science and Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Science and Religion - Essay Example In this point, it is evident that Plantinga is trying to create a view that science and religion can support each other in line with one consistent belief about Godââ¬â¢s existence and his divine works. Plantinga has two remarkable major points. The first one is an assertion that God created humans in his own image and likeness. In this point, Plantinga strongly believes that God in any way is capable of creating humans with moral sense, and has the capacity to love him (American Philosophical Association Central Division Conference 2). He tries to argue that our contemporary view of evolutionary theory has been Godââ¬â¢s major way of creating the modern humans we know today. Believing that God has the capacity to create everything in the world, Plantinga considers the evolutionary process as Godââ¬â¢s major way of creating humans in the best possible option. This is evident from his opening statement in a conference. He stated that ââ¬ËGod could have caused the right mut ations to arise at the right timeââ¬â¢ (American Philosophical Association Central Division Conference 2). In this manner, God is able to save the best species he intends to proliferate in this world through an evolutionary process. Plantinga believes that this sounds consistent with theistic religion and the theory of evolution and his main stand is to point out how it is unfailing with Darwinism as well.
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
US History and Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
US History and Government - Essay Example In 1990, American women would only vote in four Western States (Merchant, Gratton, and Gutmann 703). However, at the end of the century women could vote in all the States in U.S. with many of them intensifying their involvement in politics. Correspondingly, Merchant and his colleagues record that only six percent women were in the paid labor force in the United States (705). At the culmination of the twentieth century, approximately sixty-four percent of women were in the paid labor force. Further, in 1900, women accounted for one percent of lawyers and six percent of doctors, percentages that rose substantially to twenty-nine percent and twenty-six percent respectively. For women who strived for independence, this was a remarkable step in their quest for political and social freedom. During the twentieth century, household income of marginalized groups such as the African Americans improved (Steele 756). As recorded by Steele the gap in earnings between the marginalized Black Americans and Whites decreased (757). In the middle and on the start of twentieth century, blacks hardly earned forty percent of whiteââ¬â¢s incomes while, at the end of the century, they received eighty percent of what Whites earned. As these elements of discrimination prevailed, the youth from both divides of discrimination suffered as the political authorities disregarded their participation in the political arena and the job market. Most importantly, as Trujillo notes, the youths from the racial minority groups faced intensified opposition in the earth 1999s as compared to the White children (81). The factors that contributed to the revolution of the social and political status of marginalized groups in the twentieth century were majorly legislative in nature. The nineteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, guaranteed womenââ¬â¢s rights to vote. Trujillo recognizes political change as a critical milestone in the
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Windeby Girl Essay Example for Free
Windeby Girl Essay The body was found in 1952 in an estate called Windeby in Northern Germany. It was discovered when the owners decided to cut the peat to sell for fuel. During the process, the body of a 14 year old girl was found, however at that time, the machinery had already caused some damage to the body. It severed a leg, a foot and a hand. Work was then immediately stopped to investigate the find. State in which the body was found When the body was first found, parts such as the hand and hair were very well preserved by the bog. Her brain was said to have retained its size and shape. The chest had, at the time, decayed and the ribs were visible. The hair had been shaved on one side and there was a blindfold over her eyes. There was a leather collar around the bodyââ¬â¢s neck, and due to the long hair and small frame, it was instantly assumed to be a girl. Why did she die? There are different theories as to why Windeby died. The first interpretation when the body was found was that she was killed as punishment for adultery. Her head was shaved, led out naked with a cloth covering her eyes and leather collar around her neck then drowned in the bog. Another body was found about five metres from Windeby Girl, it was that of a man, and at the time was said to be her partner in the acts. However, this was later unproven as further investigation was done on the bodies. Carbon dating showed that Windeby Girl died during the first century AD, whereas her supposed partner lived three centuries earlier. Due to the fact that there were no signs of trauma or struggle according the evidence on the body, ideas that this may have been a sacrificial ritual were proposed. Later Investigation: Windeby Girl is a Boy In 1952, when Windeby Girl was first found, the discoverers assumed that she was girl due to the long hair and small frame. In 1970, Heather Gill-Robinson, a biological anthropologist, examined the bodyââ¬â¢s skeleton and proposed that the body could in fact be a boy. More than 30 years later, in 2007, a DNA testing was done ad a professor from North Dakota State University proved that the body was indeed male. The DNA and bone testing also showed that the boy may have been malnourished and was often sick during his life. This lead to the theory that the boy may have simply died due to natural causes and the blindfold was there to ââ¬Å"protect the living from the gaze of the deadâ⬠or may have merely been a band to hold back his hair and slipped down due to shrinkage of the body. His half bald head maybe have also been due to careless excavation or natural causes such as decay over time.
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Exploring the Role of Marriage in Paradise Lost Essay -- Religion God
Exploring the Role of Marriage in Paradise Lost In his epic poem, Paradise Lost, John Milton addresses the role of woman and man within the institution of marriage. More specifically, he explores why such a bond is considered sacred within the context of his Protestant religion. The book of Genesis offers two guidelines for an ideal marriage, both exemplified in the relationship between Adam and Eve. The first account states, ââ¬Å"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one fleshâ⬠(Gen. 2.24). A contextual reading gives the reader the impression that God encourages man and wife to pursue a spiritually enriched relationship, in which they share such intimate feelings that they seem to become a single person. The second account translates the word of God, ââ¬Å"Be fruitful and multiplyâ⬠(Gen. 1.28). This statement asserts that procreation is an important aspect of an ideal marriage. Miltonââ¬â¢s own account of Genesis within Paradise Lost, supp orts the first account, but does not discount the latter. Adam and Eve are the original parents of mankind, and do procreate within the Garden of Eden. However, Milton chooses to focus much more on the bond shared between them, instead of the results of their sexual relationship. Adam and Eve maintain a partnership that involves deep friendship and understanding for one other. Connecting with one another allows them to maintain a structured relationship without any confusion as to each role within the relationship. Concentrating on the bond between one another allows them this clarity, much like, in Protestant religion, a strong devotional relationship to God allows clarity within oneââ¬â¢s life. In emphasizing the importance of t... ...: A Study of the Divorce Tracts and Paradise Lost. Yale University Press. Conn.: New Haven, 1970. 3. Marilla, E.L. Milton & Modern Man. University of Alabama Press. Alabama: University, 1968. 4. Milton, John. Paradise Lost. The Riverside Milton. Ed. Roy Flannagan. Houghton Mifflin Company. Mass: Boston, 1998. 5. Nyquist, Mary. ââ¬Å"The Genesis of Gendered Subjectivity in the Divorce Tracts and in Paradise Lost.â⬠Critical Essays on John Milton. Ed. Christopher Kendrick. G.K. Hall & Co. New York, 1995. 6. Samuel, Irene. ââ¬Å"The Dialogue in Heaven: A Reconsideration of Paradise Lost.â⬠Milton, Modern Essays in Criticism. Ed. Arthur E. Barker. Oxford University Press. New York, 1965. 7. ââ¬Å"The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis.â⬠Handout. 9 October 2003.
Monday, November 11, 2019
My Best Memories Essay
Through out my life, I have lived with many special memories, some painful, sad, wonderful and happy. However, of all the memories, only exquisite memories are worth mentioning over and over again. Some people may have experienced similar memories; however, it all depends on how the individual holds a particular memory that matters in this regard. Sometimes, people will claim that their best memories were created with their lovers, traveling with family, or their childhood memories. As for me, my junior year in high school provided a special memorable event that I will always live to remember. There were several memorable instances such as joining the student association, meeting lots of friends at that particular time, everybody offered support to each other and we cared for one another. For me, school is not just a place to learn, but also a home and my haven. In 2004, I was studying at a missionary school called Taiwan Adventists Collage. Even though this was the first time I was living and studying away from home, I still remember that we sang together, cried together, laughed together, learned together and came through together, and sometimes we would hang out with my new friends till midnight. Now when I look back, I realize that it was not only fun, but also crazy and wonderful. At my gr. 10 year, I was really lively at school, and this made the School Student Association leader named Vicky to persuade me to join his group before my second year started. Certainly, YES! Joining this group was a privilege that I could not wish away. For my entire summer break, I worked with them for half a year on the schoolââ¬â¢s student activity project schedule. Vicky assigned me to the schoolââ¬â¢s sports day group and appointed me to be the group leader. She told me to prepare sports day with College Student Association and contact them about the first meeting. Nervousness, fear, and excitement described my mood before I met College group leader. It was a nice meeting at least for first time. I remember his name was Xian Sun. We talked about the time schedule, laid out the program, divided duties between his group and my group, and also planned for the next time we were going to meet. I had to inform my group of what had transpired in our meeting and the way forward. I still remember that this was my first time presenting something in front of the people bearing a very important announcement. My teammates were anxious, looking at me eagerly to deliver the message. ââ¬Å"Well, we decided to separate all the teammates to work in different small groups together with the College students. We will become five different small groups of graphic/music, shopping, planning, labor, and administration; each group will have five members. Each small group must have a team leader; this leader will have to report the achieved percentage of scheduled plan to me. The leader will also join us in the meeting every time to highlight on the scheduled process,â⬠I said. The first challenge came out when I was dividing the members. Some of my teammates did not agree with my decisions; they did not understand why they cannot work with their best friends in the same group while others did not like staying in the administration group but instead, they wanted to be in the shopping group. Subsequently, they started to threaten me because I was lower team leader in the hierarchy. I had to listen to their point of argument or else, they would tell our leader, Vicky and leave my team. At that moment, I was confused as to why they could not use their mind and understand that this was not for personal gain but for the benefit of the group as a whole? I was angered and had indignation to tell them that whatever I had done was the best way and cannot be changed anymore; if there were any questions then they should go ahead and tell Vicky. I did not care. Allover a sudden, Vicky came to meet me and asked me what had happened with some of my teammates and he offered to teach me on how to solve this problem. I tried to explain to the teammates the reasons as to why I separated friends into different groups. For instance, I put some people in the music group because they are good in music and others are good at planning programs or at administration issues and so on and so forth. In the end, all of them came to understand my decisions and accepted. We were all on the right track and we had to keep going before the second meeting with the college students. I later found out that the administration group was not necessary so I divided all students into four different groups. One of the groups was super strong for every sport. This group had the best players in school sporting disciplines like school basketball or track and field team players. For the other groups, they felt disappointed because they already knew that every sport game champion would come from the strongest group, this is their sport day, and not for other people. At first, I totally overruled their first team list and gave them second chance to change the membership of the group for this reason. They made some changes but still this was not enough to provide a fair playing ground. I was super angry and indignant to get the roll sheet changed to what it should look like. I did not know that they had decided not to do anything expecting that I will change everything unilaterally. I had not listened to them. What a big crime? How can I explain this? The other groups including the shopping group complained about labor group not going to support them in buying staff etcâ⬠¦ I tried to mediate and reconcile, oh how I wished sport day could hurry and come to pass! I tried my best to accommodate troubles and everything looked like going back to right way once more. I was busy all the time attending college group to meetings, our group meetings, catching up for support and anything, and reporting to my leader, Vicky. In a little while, I had a short meeting with College group and we kind of differed a little bit at that time. The reason to this was the money expenses were not going to be divided equally; College want high school to pay more because we have more participants than them. They want the high school to account for 65% of the expenses whereas the remaining 35% be footed by the College. ââ¬Å"This is not fairâ⬠I told their leader, Xian Sun. I told him that I had to consult preceptor. Consequently, I went back and come back with the answer. ââ¬Å"This is not a good deal for us, but I can agree on 60% for us and 40% for themâ⬠my preceptor said. ââ¬Å"Sorry Xian Sun, this is only what we can accept anyway,â⬠I said and looked at him and felt that he was kind of mad at me. Suddenly, I felt that this job was so hard for me. I was a mere 17-years old high school girl and I did not know how to communicate and balance this. I was not an adult enough to understand how to explicitly confer the bill. I did not understand why I had to care about those, why I was an evil being for everything. I felt sad, sorrowful and without confidence in my mind. I really tried to quit this job at that time. Vicky came to me and said, ââ¬Å"Nothing is impossible, see the impossible word can be broken into Im and possible so that it can be, Im possible! Eva I believe you can finish this job and that was one of the reasons as to why I chose you to become a leader at this time. I believe you can do it! Do not worry, everything will be fine. Add oil Eva! Go Eva. â⬠Subsequently this conversation always remind me of forces and dispassionate to govern and be hardy. Finally, the sport day came. Everything was perfect. The program went on unhindered. We were so happy to see this. Every student and the teachers had fun that day. I can see my teammates painstakingly strive with effort, and the fruits of that day. In end in our party, a lot of people turned to congratulate me because they had learnt a lot from me or from this activity. They knew something was wrong but did not want to tell me until I point out to them to their embarrassment. Anyway all passed, we still are friends. From there I learned that to be a leader is important, we can learn a lot from leadership, and according to what teachers have taught us, this process is the foundation of the future. Also being a leader is really good. Even though sometimes it was stressful from flights, reports, meetingsâ⬠¦ etc, these were our responsibilities for what leaders should do. However, all of these memories will live with my heart forever and ever.
Saturday, November 9, 2019
Egyptian Cuisine
The Egyptian culture is as much festive as it is longstanding and complex. Egypt has been collectively influenced by just about every great civilization in Africa and Eurasia and still stands as the media, economic, and socio-cultural focal point of the Arab World. This stems from the fact that Egypt has stood as the cultural hub of the near East since the Greekââ¬â¢s Golden Age. This historical reality is transmuted into every facet of Egyptian society and Egyptian food in particular.The majority of contemporary Egyptian cuisine is influenced by the agriculture of the land. Egypt boasts a consistent harvest because of its geographical plane- namely, the NILE which runs through the entire country. Egyptian farmers have yielded a multitude of crops including dates, chickpeas, figs, grain, olives, barley, beans, and peas. Itââ¬â¢s yearly harvest of staples once provided for the entire Roman Empire, and have left the Egyptian people with a long history of bread and beer production .Also, fish and poultry are plentiful in the region and nutritious foods such as fava beans and spinach have kept this nation-state sustained for millennia. A few well-known examples of Egyptian cuisine are Foul Madammas, which are Fava beans cooked in olive oil accompanied by vegetables, goat cheese, and sometimes poultry eggs. Nile fish has been prepared for centuries either cooked or dried.The dried fish is seasoned with salt and left out to dry in the blistering, Arabian sun and called Faseekh. Spinach is prepared into a stew called Molakheya and can be served with rice or bread. The Egyptians are also fond of herbal teas and, due to the Ottoman invasion, boast various forms of Baklava including: Baklawa made with Phyllo pastry layered in between sugar, coconut, and pistachio and covered with a honey glaze and Basboosa- a light yellow cake coated with a sugar glaze .There are many more examples and variations of Egyptian foods. Egypt was gifted with a cornucopia of fruit, vegeta ble, and staple harvests as well as a yearly flooding of the Nile. The people of the land have known about these gifts for centuries and have capitalized. This is why Egyptian culture is as influential as it is and moreover, why Egyptian cuisine is so delicious!
Thursday, November 7, 2019
Free Essays on Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706. He was the 15th child, of 17 children in the Josiah Franklin family. Benjamin Franklinââ¬â¢s dad was a soap and candle maker, who lived in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife, Abiah Folger. Benjamin Franklin learned to read at an early age, but he only went to grammar school for two years. When he was 10 years old, Franklin was working for his father. But he did not like candle making, so two years later, he helped his brother James, as a printer. For five years, Franklin tried to get a hang of the printers' trade. During this time, he also tried to make his education better. Franklin read books and worked on his writing style. After a fight with his brother in 1723, Franklin left Boston and went to Philadelphia. There he again worked in the printing industry. He became friends with the governor of Pennsylvania, Sir William Keith, and at Keith's suggestion, Franklin decided to go into business for himself. But he didnââ¬â¢t work. So he went to London and worked at a printing house and saved up enough money to come to America. Franklin went to Philadelphia in 1726 and finished his trade. By 1730, Franklin had his own business. That same year, he married Deborah Read, a woman he met before his trip to England. Together they had a son, who died at four years of age; and a daughter. In 1731, Franklin started the first public library. During the next several years, Franklin also helped start the first fire department, a police force, and the Academy of Philadelphia, which became the University of Pennsylvania. Around 1744, Franklin invented a stove which reduced the chimney smoke. The Franklin stove is still in use today. In the 1740's, Franklin started to experiment with electricity, which led to the invention of the lightning rod. His famous electricity experiment, which included flying a kite during a lightning storm took place in 1752. In addition to his science projects, Franklin was ele... Free Essays on Benjamin Franklin Free Essays on Benjamin Franklin On learning of Benjamin Franklinââ¬â¢s death in the spring of 1790, the French National Assembly, the ââ¬Å"temporaryâ⬠French government established after the initial stages of the French Revolution, decreed three days of mourning, a fitting tribute for the man who was for most eighteenth-century European intellectuals the quintessential American. At his death Franklin ranked with Voltaire and Rousseau as a philosophe, one of those multifaceted geniuses whose writings helped inspire the wave of intellectual and political freedom which swept Western Europe in the closing years of the eighteenth century. Unlike most philosophers, however, Franklin had the chance to put his ideas into practice in the founding of a new nation: ââ¬Å"He seized the lightening from the sky and the scepter from the hand of tyrants,â⬠proclaimed the philosopher-scientist Turgot. Franklinââ¬â¢s life has become so much the stuff of legend that it is necessary to try to separate fact from myth. The youngest son in a family of eleven living children, Franklin was born in Boston in 1706. After one year of education at the Boston Grammar School and one year at George Brownellââ¬â¢s English school, he was apprenticed at age twelve to his brother James, a printer. The precocious and rebellious Franklin rejected his parentsââ¬â¢ pious congregationalism in favor of free-thinking deism before he turned sixteen. He reluctantly settled to a trade, threatening his parents with his desire to run off to sea, and his adolescent satire of Harvard College suggests that he resented those whose wealth enabled them to escape the drudgery of a tradesmanââ¬â¢s life despite their inferior intellectual talents. Franklin also joined vigorously in his brotherââ¬â¢s attacks on Massachusetts worthies such as Increase and Cotton Mather and Samuel Sewall, but after quarrelin g with his brother he broke his indenture at age seventeen and sailed secretly for New York and then Philadelphia. Franklinââ¬â¢s st... Free Essays on Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was born into a modest family, but later became to be one of the greatest statesmen in the country. He shaped this countryââ¬â¢s course of events, which forever changed the way we live today. Ben Franklin made many contributions to the revolutionary cause. One could say he was one of the greatest fighters in the Revolutionary War. Although he did not fight physically with weapons, he powerfully fought with words. Among many revolutionary contributions, he helped draft and sign the ââ¬Å"Declaration of Independence,â⬠he secured financial and physical aid from France for the war cause, he lifted many laws that were imposed on the colonies by the King of England, and in 1787, and he signed ââ¬Å"The Constitution of the United States of America.â⬠When he met with the assembly meeting over the ââ¬Å"Declaration of Independence,â⬠he addressed the delegates with the statement, ââ¬Å"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.â⬠During the French and Indian War, he supplied General Braddock and his men with 150 wagons and 259 horses so he could march on Fort Duquesne. Ben Franklin led a small group of soldiers along with his son to Gnadenhuetten to build a fort to protect Pennsylvania from the French and Indian invaders. Within a few weeks, he had three well-fortified forts spaced out over 15 miles and suitable living quarters for the men. If Ben Franklin had not participated in the politics of the American Revolution, the Americans could have easily lost the war. When he went to France to secure financial and physical aid for the war cause, it gave more power to the Americans, which probably led them to win the war. If he had not gone to England to lift the taxes, that could have mean that more British troops most likely would have been sent over to make people pay taxes, which could have lengthened the war. Had he not participated in the war, it mos... Free Essays on Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706. He was the 15th child, of 17 children in the Josiah Franklin family. Benjamin Franklinââ¬â¢s dad was a soap and candle maker, who lived in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife, Abiah Folger. Benjamin Franklin learned to read at an early age, but he only went to grammar school for two years. When he was 10 years old, Franklin was working for his father. But he did not like candle making, so two years later, he helped his brother James, as a printer. For five years, Franklin tried to get a hang of the printers' trade. During this time, he also tried to make his education better. Franklin read books and worked on his writing style. After a fight with his brother in 1723, Franklin left Boston and went to Philadelphia. There he again worked in the printing industry. He became friends with the governor of Pennsylvania, Sir William Keith, and at Keith's suggestion, Franklin decided to go into business for himself. But he didnââ¬â¢t work. So he went to London and worked at a printing house and saved up enough money to come to America. Franklin went to Philadelphia in 1726 and finished his trade. By 1730, Franklin had his own business. That same year, he married Deborah Read, a woman he met before his trip to England. Together they had a son, who died at four years of age; and a daughter. In 1731, Franklin started the first public library. During the next several years, Franklin also helped start the first fire department, a police force, and the Academy of Philadelphia, which became the University of Pennsylvania. Around 1744, Franklin invented a stove which reduced the chimney smoke. The Franklin stove is still in use today. In the 1740's, Franklin started to experiment with electricity, which led to the invention of the lightning rod. His famous electricity experiment, which included flying a kite during a lightning storm took place in 1752. In addition to his science projects, Franklin was ele... Free Essays on Benjamin Franklin Midterm Assignment ââ¬Å"Benjamin Franklinâ⬠The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was not an easy book to read. Writing styles have changed tremendously since the 1700ââ¬â¢s. Despite the cultural differences I learned a lot about the man and the time. Benjamin Franklin was a remarkable man. He was a printer, author, politician and an inventor. He was one of fifteen children in his family. Because he was from such a large family he was sent out to work at a very early age. He only had a few years of grammar school education when he started working in his fathers business. During his days off he educated himself through books. He was not happy working in his fathers business for very long. Unsure of what he wanted to do; his father took him around town to introduce him to other trades available to him. Not entirely pleased by the choices available, he settled on the printing trade. He worked as an apprentice in his brotherââ¬â¢s print shop for several years until tension ended their relationship. By this time he was in his late teens. He moved to Philadelphia to continue in the printing business. He did well in Philadelphia but was always unhappy working in someone elseââ¬â¢s print shop. The governor of Philadelphia offered him a letter of credit and introduction in England to help secure materials needed to start his own printing business. He accepted the offer only to find the offer less than reliable. This trip did not turn out as planned and he remained in England for two years trying to raise enough money to return to America. Upon Benjamin Franklinââ¬â¢s return to Philadelphia, he continued to master his printing trade. Within a few years he had established his own business. Several years later he started publishing a newspaper and was granted the honor of printing up the states currency. The main topic of this autobiography is the life of Benjamin Franklin and about all of his accomplishments and the hardships that he faced g... Free Essays on Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin - American Hero Essay written by: Tim Ross Throughout history icons emerge in each era that define that time, men who define the thinking, technology, culture, religion, and every other aspect of that time period. From the time of ancient Greece which possessed such prodigies as Socrates, and Aristotle men who were not only brilliant philosophers but also historians, mathematicians, and astronomers. To the Revolutionary period of America, which held such courageous enlightened men such as Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and Benjamin Franklin. Men who greatly helped shape Americaââ¬â¢s independence. A man who stands out among these names is ââ¬Å" The First Americanâ⬠, Benjamin Franklin who goes beyond being simply an icon of Americaââ¬â¢s conquest for freedom, but is truly an American hero. Benjamin Franklinââ¬â¢s heroism exists in his numerous achievements in politics, his scientific inventions, and his accomplishment of truly being ââ¬Å"The First Americanâ⬠. Franklinââ¬â¢s contributions to the world of inventions, and science prove his ideal heroism. Some of Franklinââ¬â¢s contributions include his improvements on Franklinââ¬â¢s stove, he invented the Pennsylvania fireplace, which retained and dispersed heat evenly in a room. Franklin shaped perhaps the first idea of electricity; he also helped improved cityââ¬â¢s pavements, street lighting, sanitations, fire companies, and police. These are a small amount of Franklinââ¬â¢s more material accomplishments, but they are also some of his strongest. Franklin is considered an American hero because although he was a politician, he felt the need to go above and beyond his regular duties. Franklin strived for perfection and had a strong to desire to help his fellow man. Whether it was improving the quality of his community by looking at such common aspects like city pavement, or street lights, or by making a large technological breakthrough and creating something like the musical a rmonica...
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
How the Goddess Athena Helped Hercules
How the Goddess Athena Helped Hercules Youve likely heard a number of references to the goddess Athena and her beauty, but her role as a protector of Hercules hasnt received as much attention. This Greek goddess of wisdom (born fully grown and armed, from the head of her father, Zeus) was also a warrior goddess. Strong and virginal, she repeatedly helped Hercules, the Greek mythological hero. The semi-divineà Hercules, the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, earned a name for himself by defeating fantastic beasts and making repeated trips to the Underworld. However, he also went mad, largely due to the wicked ways of his stepmother, Hera, whod tried to kill him since heà was a baby. Fearful that Hera would succeed at killing Hercules, Zeus sent Hercules to Earth and allowed a mortal family to raise him. Although his new family loved him, Hercules divine strength prevented him from fitting in with mortals, so Zeus eventually revealed his origins to him. To achieve immortality, like his father and other gods, Hercules performed the 12 labors for his cousin King Eurystheus, who, like Hera, hated Hercules. But Eurystheus and Hera hoped Hercules would die in the process. Fortunately, Athena, Hercules half-sister, came to his aid. The 12 Labors of Hercules Which Herculean tasks did Eurystheus and Hera want the demigod to complete? The entire list of 12 labors is below: The Nemean LionThe Lernaean HydraThe Wild Boar of ErymanthusThe Stag of ArtemisThe Augean StablesThe Stymphalian BirdsThe Cretan BullThe Girdle of HippolytaThe Cattle of GeryonThe Mares of King DiomedesThe Golden Apples of the HesperidesCerberus and Hades How Athena Helped Hercules Duringà the 12 Labors Athena helped Hercules during labors 6, 11, and 12.à To scare off the enormous flock of birds at a lake by the town of Stymphalos during Labor No. 6, Athena gave Hercules noisemaking clappers, known asà krotala. During Labor No. 11, Athena may have helped Hercules toà hold up the world when the titan Atlas went to fetch the apples of the Hesperides for him. While Atlas was off getting the apples, Hercules agreed to lift up the world, a task that the titan normally performed. After Hercules brought the apples to his taskmaster Eurystheus to complete this labor, they had to be returned, so Athena took them back. Finally, Athena may have escorted Hercules and Cerberus out of the Underworld during Labor No. 12.à Specifically, she helpedà Hercules in his madness, preventing himà from killing more people than he already had. After tragically killingà his ownà children when madness overtook him, Hercules was about to kill Amphitryon, butà Athena knocked him out. This stopped him from murdering his mortal father. So while Athena has been heralded for her beauty, her efforts with Hercules reveal how much of a warrior she was.
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Health Care Database Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Health Care Database Systems - Essay Example Database Management Systems (DBMS) have been introduced to develop and alter these data. Databases are widely employed across the healthcare industry for satisfying a range of needs. As Martin (2008) points out, healthcare databases really assist the industry by performing a range of healthcare functions, including the areas of patient care, hospital administration, and research and education. The author adds that the field of critical care medicine has significantly advanced with the development of well-integrated healthcare databases. Viljoen (2009) argues that these databases are greatly beneficial for physicians to obtain easy access to the previous health history of individual patients and hence to begin treatment as early as possible (p.v). In other words, healthcare databases eliminate the need for a prolonged communication between doctors and patients or any other unwanted delay in treatment. In the current healthcare environment, databases are widely used to facilitate local assessments or evaluations. For instance, health professionals rely on healthcare databa ses for assessing specific outpatient conditions or inpatient hospital events. In addition, these data are increasingly used regionally or nationally for evaluating and comparing the performance of various healthcare systems within or across the industry. As Martin suggests, administrative data provided by healthcare databases can be used for comparing across national boundaries and identifying the differences in healthcare and disease globally. The writer adds that ââ¬Å"administrative healthcare databases are uniquely suitable for epidemiological studies of disease, particularly for studying the incidence or outcome of rare diseases that are impossible to study locally or within traditional cohort studiesâ⬠(Martin, 2008).à Ã
Thursday, October 31, 2019
Tourism in the United Arab Emirates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 6250 words
Tourism in the United Arab Emirates - Essay Example Symptomatic of this trend is the proliferation of new and increasingly specialized tourism journals. Growth in the amount of research on tourism has not necessarily been matched by a parallel increase in the quality of research being done in this field. Not only is there a growing need to study tourism further as new issues and problems appear and the increasing magnitude of the sector enlarges its significance-socially, economically, environmentally and politically-but there is also a need to understand the phenomenon better as to why is tourism growing, and why is its development being encouraged? This issue can essentially be addressed from either a demand or a supply-side perspective. Demand or origin studies stress changes in market conditions which affect peoples motivation to travel and the factors which influence their ability to do so, for example, increased leisure time and disposable income, improved technology and travel organization (Pearce 1995). Supply-side or destination research tends to address the benefits that the development of tourism brings or is perceived to bring, to consider what leads both the public and private sectors to foster its growth and how this might best be achieved. The benefits of tourism development have largely been seen in economic terms, as in tourism ability to generate income, jobs and corporate profits, bring in foreign exchange, boost tax revenues, diversify the economy and aid regional development. Social and environmental benefits have also been recognized. As more traditional sectors of the economy, first agriculture and then man ufacturing, have come under pressure regarding their ability to deliver in these terms, so tourism has been increasingly targeted as a potential alternative or complement in an increasingly wide range of settings from the urban to the rural, from developed to developing countries. This paper will essentially discuss all the above-mentioned points in a general perspective, getting particular of UAE.
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 68
History - Essay Example Discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus also made people question existing view of geography by Ptolemy (the world is flat). These discoveries spawned a scientific revolution as it spurred new questions to be asked. There was much resistance to new discoveries because the people were skeptical of these discoveries and would rather stick with their old beliefs. But perhaps more importantly, resistance came from the Catholic Church because ideas from the scientific revolution challenged their hold on the masses by using faith and superstition. In other words, scientific discoveries threatened the social, economic, and political order based on religion, as Christianity was often the central coherent ideology in many European societies. The people would naturally tend to question the authority of the Church because there were now being offered scientific explanations based on reason and logic for many natural phenomena like lightning (just a form of electricity) and not an act of God. The scientific studies by Copernicus in 1543 theorized the Sun to be the center of the solar system and not the Earth as had previously been taught. This striking departure from past beliefs made people realize not to accept dogma as truth anymore; science started to challenge the many ideas of religion. The Enlightenment is also called as the Age of Reason and it was influenced by the Scientific Revolution in the sense every observable natural phenomena has to have an underlying scientific, logical explanation for it. The Industrial Revolution was similar to the Scientific Revolution because it altered the way people think and perceive the natural world. In other words, it was a big paradigm shift for them and society in general. In particular, capitalism destroyed the old feudal order in which the wealth of a person was derived from ownership of vast tracts of land with many people or serfs serving in bondage as peons. The old pattern or business model (paradigm) of
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Type 2 Diabetes Health Inequalities
Type 2 Diabetes Health Inequalities This paper will discuss diabetes mellitus, which is a chronic medical condition that worsens over time. The levels of glucose in the blood become too high because the body cannot use it properly. The pancreas fails to produce enough of the hormone insulin which controls the levels of glucose (WHO, 2002a). If diabetes is not treated, it can lead to heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, lower limb amputation, sexual dysfunction, and pregnancy complications in women (Diabetes UK, 2009). The paper will review health inequalities in people with diabetes living in the UK from the ethnic minority of the south Asian community (SAC). The focus will be on the most common preventable type 2 diabetes (T2D) in this community. This community is at higher risk of developing T2D, and cultural practices, for instance fasting if not managed appropriately makes their condition to become worsened. The community comprises a heterogeneous group of people of Afghanistan, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Sri Lankan origin that have different language, religion, culture and rates of diabetes especially T2D and live in all areas of the UK (Qiao, et al, 2003; Mohan, 2006; Katulanda, 2006, 2008). Their clustering in certain areas reflect the migration patterns such as a high intensity of Indians in the East and West Midlands as well as in Greater London, fairly low proportion of Pakistanis in Greater London and a high intensity in West Yorkshire and West Midlands (Raymond, 2009). Those of Bangla deshi origin are established mostly in Greater London particularly in Tower Hamlets with growing numbers in the West Midlands (Grace, 2008). The condition is not equally impacted upon every person in our society and considerable inequalities are present in the risk of disease development, access to health services and service quality, and in health outcomes in particular those with T2D. Since health is unequally distributed within and between populations, a health inequality arises where variations in health status exist or in the allocation of health determinants amongst various population groups. Also it can be from unjust or unfair differences in health determinants or outcomes within or between defined populations. An increased risk of developing diabetes is witnessed in those who are overweight, physically inactive or got a family history of diabetes. The UK is facing a huge increase in the number of people with diabetes from 1.4 million in 1996 to 2.5 million people diagnosed with T2D (Diabetes UK, 2009) and up to 500,000 undiagnosed cases (Department of Health, 2008). By 2025, it is estimated that more than four million people will have the condition. Also Department of Health states that understanding of diabetes in people differs significantly which further increase the complications of controlling and preventing the disease. Although there has been a lot of literature on social circumstances affecting health, a lot more needs to be done in facing challenges that will fully address health inequalities in this group of people with studies that are more inclusive of this group rather than of a focus of a single ethnic group. Epidemiology of Variations in Type 2 Diabetes Incidence and prevalence Type 2 diabetes continues to be one of the top public health challenges for the National Health Service (NHS, n.d.). Incidence of T2D is swiftly increasing globally, mostly for south Asian people living in urban areas (Qiao, et al, 2003; Riste, 2001). Although enormous steps have been made in detecting those with diabetes, there is yet a lot to be done to boost prevention and enhance services for the diagnosed, in addition to progressing with identifying new cases (Mayor, 2005). A four-fold to six-fold risk of developing T2D is bigger in south Asian individuals who get the disease at an earlier age, and have higher rates of renal and cardiovascular problems than do other ethnic groups (Burden, 1992; Mather, 1998). The completed local ethnic profiling in Liverpool (Lee, et al, 2000) established that people from ethnic groups (aged 40 years and over) were more likely to self report diabetes compared to white British in the same age group, indicating a greater occurrence of diabetes within ethnic groups. As reported in the Health Survey for England (2004), diabetes diagnosed by a doctor is nearly four times as common in Bangladeshi men, and nearly three times as common in Pakistani and Indian men in contrast to men in the general population. Also amongst women, the condition is more than five times as likely among Pakistani women, at least three times as likely in Bangladeshi women, and two-and-a-half times as likely in Indian women, compared with women in the general population. In the same survey, diabetes was highest among Indian men (2 per cent), Black African men (1.7 per cent) and Irish women (1.7 per cent) (Diabetes UK, 2009) (Table 1). Table 1: Showing the prevalence of self-reported, doctor-diagnosed diabetes in England by minority ethnic group and sex (Diabetes UK 2009). Source: Adapted from Diabetes UK 2009: Key statistics on diabetes. Diabetes complications and control The SAC has been identified of significantly having higher rates of diabetes-related complications (Chowdhury, 2002; Chandie and Shaw, 2006) such as diabetic reinopathy (Pradeepa, 2008), worse control of hypertension as shown in a study by Lanting, et al (2005), and according to Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (2005). The above contributes to SAC suffering more from health problems than the majority population of the country they live in as they bear an unequal burden of the diabetes epidemic (Mohanty, 2005). There is need for studies from the SAC to examine effects of renal disease on mortality. Also improved ethnicity data would help to understand the incidence of end-stage renal disease complications in order to plan for effective control of the disease. Variations in quality of care and health service Similarly in any community, there are a variety of opinions and views over health and this is also witnessed amongst the SAC who live in the UK. In reviewing the research evidence, there is substantial data that ethnic minorities have a higher diabetes disease burden (Mohan, 2004; Muhopadhyay, 2005) and encounter variations in the quality of care they get (Howthorne, 2001). However, reports of problems in obtaining health care have emerged to be different among ethnic groups and the remainder of the UK population. It has to be noted that this community frequently needs to be dealt with in different ways from that of the White British community, but concurrently, age, gender, language and faith variations within the SAC should be valued when conveying health messages. Health care interventions that seek out to enhance diabetes care are likely to enhance health outcomes and bring down health variations amongst this community of people. This review also assimilates the available evidence regarding the effectiveness of such interventions. Ethnicity data collection in the UK has occurred twice, in 1991 and 2001 giving the ethnic composition of the English population where the Asian community comprised of 6.6% (UK census, 2001) forming a special population subgroup. In addition to largely belonging to the groups with lower socioeconomic position (Connolly, et al, 2000), their health status is also affected by their cultural practices and behaviour, circumstances of life before arrival to the host country, stress of migration, and adjustment to the new lifestyle in the UK (Mackenbach, 1997; Fischbacher, 2004; Greenhalgh, 2001). Although their need of health care is often heightened due to a poorer health status, utilisation of health services by the SAC is often held back by lack of understanding of the system and inadequate language skills. Evidence for inequalities in health among migrant populations in different host countries is as abundant as evidence for socioeconomic inequalities in health. This community faces a substantial amount of barriers to accessing care as already been noted. Stress has been another suggested factor where belonging to a minority group has been linked with accelerated stress levels (Abate and Chandalia, 2003) and the chances of T2D development has also been linked with stress (Mooy, et al, 2000). Abate and Chandalias (2003) study shows the effect of lifestyle factors on obesity and diabetes to be predominantly common within ethnic groups. This might be due to environmental changes from host country that promotes obesity and also predisposition to T2D in the SAC. A reduction in fibre consumption and increased intake of animal fats and processed carbohydrates are the major adjustments in dietary behaviours adopted by SAC. Diet and exercise are very important determinants of the variation in T2D in the SAC. While the main concern in public health is preventing diabetes, averting complications in those patients with confirmed diabetes is similarly imperative. The study by Gaede, etal (2003) shows evidence from randomised trials that this precedence can be accomplished by multi-factorial interventions, decreasing cardiovascular risk problems by up to 50%. The challenge remains on how to apply such interventions cost-effectively, particularly in high-risk ethnic groups such as south Asian patients, to minimise health inequalities that exist between SAC and the indigenous UK population (Barnett, 2006; Hanif, 2008). Despite the public health domain operating in addressing national patterns of health inequalities that bring about drawbacks among ethnic minority groups, significant recognition exist that regional, socioeconomic, and personal factors affect intra-group variations in risk (Alberti, 2007). The SAC requires those responsible for planning and delivering diabetes services to write policies that address their specific needs, extremes of age, hard to reach groups (such as the housebound, young adults), people living in institutions, the socially excluded, and taking account of the different needs of both genders. Issues of health inequalities have been a central focus within the health-related research community since the publication of the Black Report more than twenty years ago (Black, 1988). The deep-rooted and extensive temperament of health inequalities proposes that policy interventions will face meticulously difficult issues in formulating and putting into practice policy at national and local levels. To shed light precisely on those issues referred to above, i.e. the connections relating to health inequalities evidence, policy and implementation. In England, the government has asked for the primary care trusts (PCTs) to be at the fore front of the responsibility at a local level for dealing with inequalities in health. From 1997 the PCT and its previous organisations have sought to react to and apply government policies to deal with inequalities in health. Although there has been dedication and support for action on inequalities at Board level and together with senior management team, various barriers to local execution of policy on health inequalities have been met. A significant contextual factor has been the huge and re-emerging financial shortfall taken over by the PCT from its predecessor health authority. This has accentuated the priority given to attaining financial balance and access targets within NHS performance management. The SAC from the above evidence is likely to be served less well by the health services. The barriers to accessing care and health service Further to the concerns already raised in variations to quality of care and health service, barriers to accessing care by the SAC still exist. The issue of how places have an impact on health was addressed in studies by Picket and Pearl (2001); Macintyre, et al (2002) and Tunstall, et al (2004). As a result they showed an understanding of place-specific factors, cultures, and societies which are also required at the level of policy making in order to address health inequalities. Individuals from SAC who are excluded socially also comprise of prisoners, refugees and asylum seekers, and those with learning or mental health problems may be given poorer quality care. More than one of these risk factors may apply to some individuals in this community. There is a range of evidence that ethnic minorities have different health outcomes to those of the general population of the society in which they are living (Jenum, 2005; Britten, 2007; McElduff, 2005; Sahu, 2007). Furthermore, their diabet es is generally less well controlled in that it gets more serious more quickly and there are added health problems (Millett, 2007). The reasons for the rise in occurrence is not fully known though various factors might appear to contribute such as different levels of inactivity and physical fitness; social deprivation, a lack of education and/or employment (Diabetes UK, 2001). A number of barriers (consisting of language barriers, cultural differences, transport problems, poor knowledge of services) with regard to their motivation to try to find medical aid deter them from accessing the services required in managing their condition. Also limitations in speaking English makes it difficult to target the largest part of this risk-group with lifestyle interventions as SAC is relatively isolated from mainstream society and has variable knowledge of and motivation to make use of conventional services (Greenhalgh, 2005). The above still poses a lot of challenges in the elimination of the prevailing health inequalities. It is however, believed that the main barriers to physical activity (p.a.) in this group is lack of time due to extended working hours and household tasks. Furthermore, access to leisure and sporting facilities determined by their availability, costs and times they are open; the fear for individual safety in public open spaces; the absence of other persons from their community accessing the facilities, and, actual, or potential experiences of racism also contributes to barriers in accessing health services. Also dress codes for the women, absence of privacy in changing areas as well as lack of distinct gender provision possibly prevents the access to p.a. Since physical fitness and management of weight are very important with regard to preventing the onset of diabetes, these are also very important issues for this ethnic community. Type 2 diabetes is also most common among those subjected to socioeconomic deprivation which is linked with elevated levels of obesity and overweight, sedentary lifestyles, poor blood pressure control and smoking. However, other factors prevail that include reduced glucose control, referral bias, poor access to services and limited education with those subjected to social exclusion feeling a sense of despair that may put them off from developing a belief in themselves to control their diabetes successfully (BMA, 2004). Evaluation of strategies or measures in tackling T2D in the UK south Asian community Ever since the 1980s a lot of research has been gathered on the strong positive associations between inequalities and ill-health, including some showing that the health gap between the affluent and deprived is widening. The health of the nation strategy for England, cited that successful strategies for improving health have to be responsive to differences in health, and guidance was made available to health authorities (HAs) on decreasing such differences. However, there was no target on inequalities in the health strategy and not considerable known facts had been gathered on effective interventions. However, the emergent body of data on the relationship between socioeconomic inequalities and ill health has revitalized the drive to tackle inequalities. Increased evidence also resulted in the establishment of a Chief Medical Officer working group to advise the Department of Health and the National Health Service on what it should be doing to tackle disparities in health. The findings of this group were published in 1995 in Variations in health: what can the Department of health do? Recommendations followed from it that HAs ought to have an inclusive plan that identifies and tackles differences, making it an important aspect in public health. The issue of inequalities in health is continuously felt to be extremely important within the department of health authorities as evidenced by the extensive analyses and completed and continuing projects in many HAs. The findings of the Black Report in the UK were no different in showing the disparities in health. However, health-care delivery in the SAC is more challenging because of cultural, communication, and comprehension difficulties, which along with social deprivation further complicate the achievement of defined targets (Stone, 2005). Shekelles (2003) study shows that payments for UK general practices based on their achievement of quality (Quality and Outcomes Framework) targets do not distinguish different ethnic groups. Shortfalls still exist in the quality of care available for those in hospital and various activities are taking place by the Joint British Diabetes Society. Diabetes UK as a member of the society created a tool being used by adults with diabetes to know what care to anticipate throughout a hospital stay. Furthermore, enhanced care packages based in the community have been associated with improved metabolic outcomes in some ethnic groups but have not been fully assessed in large randomised controlled trials. Such trials are scarce in people of south Asian ethnic origin (Gammon, 2008). Appropriate standards of care, tailored patient education and ease of access to services must be provided when needed (Diabetes UK, 2001). The United Kingdom Asian Diabetes Study (UKADS) assessed a community-based complex intervention that aimed to reduce cardiovascular risk in south Asian people with T2D (Davis, 2001; OHare, 2004). The intervention package was tailored to the needs of the south Asian community and consisted of additional time with a practice nurse, Asian link workers, and input from diabetes-specialist nurses, who were working to protocols to achieve clearly defined targets. The UKADS study hypothesis was that an enhanced care package for diabetes would improve cardiovascular risk profi le in patients of south Asian origin, with established T2D. Tackling health inequalities is important because inequality is widespread and in many cases this has widened over the last two decades. Unless concerted action is taken, most policies inadvertently widen health inequalities. The two national goals are specifically focused on health inequalities by following the National Service Framework for Diabetes (NSFD) that aims in the long term, up to and beyond 2010 to reduce health inequalities by tackling the wider determinants of health such as poverty, poor housing and education (DH, 2001). The integration of care plans for those with complex diabetes requirements should be put into service and for them to be effective, a dedicated budget is required. It should be noted that alleviating diabetes health inequalities is expensive and thus requires the government to encourage PCTs to channel their funding to their environment accordingly (deprived areas, diverse communities, e.t.c.). Although it has been widely accepted in the public health field that many cases of T2D could be slowed down or stopped with lifestyle interventions, there still exists challenges in the government acting to restrict advertising of foods high in salt, sugar, and/or fat as well as ensuring that Food Standards Agency guidelines are adhered to by food manufacturers. This will assist consumers to be more aware of the contents of processed foods thus contributing to reducing the burden of the disease. However, the NHS and government can gain knowledge from other programmes of work in the SAC (The Equal Access to Diabetes Healthcare Pilot Study established in Wolverhampton) on how improved care can be offered to all those not currently receiving adequate care. While the SAC is relatively concentrated in certain areas, others are more widely scattered and services must not ignore these groups because there are not large enough to warrant prioritisation. In 2004, Lewisham PCT undertook its own research that focussed on diabetes and hypertension for its ethnic minority populations with findings of service inadequacy consisting of cultural barriers. This resulted in a recommendation of a community based diabetes awareness education that addressed cultural beliefs and socioeconomic factors. In addition, cultural awareness was introduced to staff. Improvement in the field of health inequalities will eventually be revealed by complete decrease in preventable morbidity and mortality among those in this most at-risk group. Factors such as the dedication of HAs staff to the inequalities schema, the setting of priorities, increasing awareness, thorough and enlightening analyses, execution of interventions and alliance working are evidently significant in accomplishing this goal. It is to be hoped that recent national initiatives for talking socioeconomic differentials in health will allow and urge HAs and new local partners to completely take on their role and act to eliminate these present health inequalities in this community and others. Nevertheless, as brought to light by Acheson, a more strategic approach is needed and will be an essential marker of HAs seriously dealing with this issue. However, authorities on health inequalities at the international level have recommended that measuring health inequalities is a requirement t o developing strategies and programmes to deal with them (Wagstaff, 2000; Houweling, 2003). DISCUSSION Research has shown that there are individual differences in susceptibility to disease. Geofrey Rose taught us that the causes of population rates of disease may vary from the causes of personal cases (Rose, 1992; WHO, 2001). In Britain, the short-hand term inequalities in health refers to differences between social groups (Black, et al, 1988; The Stationery Office, 1998). The Black Report on Inequalities in Health was seen as putting forward an opposition between an approach to an account that concentrated on health behaviours and one that focussed on the material forms of life (Blane, 1985). Following Blacks report, one ought to think of health inequalities as coming from material situations of life not psychosocial factors (Lynch, 2000). However, health inequalities are not limited to those living in absolute deprivation but are witnessed in those living at a material level above the threshold required for good health (Morris, 2000). Material conditions and psychosocial factors are closely related (Marmot, 2001) which the association was also made in the Black Report. A component of the difficulty of inequalities in health has to do with education with circumstances at work, with job uncertainty and joblessness and the nature of the neighbourhoods. Subsequent to Blacks and a lot of the work prior to and ever since demonstrates that inequalities in h ealth show inequalities in society. However, up till now a small amount of UK studies have included south Asians (Bartlett, 2003; Sheikh, 2004; Jolly, 2004). Hussain-Gambles (2006) explored on the causes for their abstention in clinical trials, including motivation (e.g. helping society, improving ones health); and constraints (e.g. busy lifestyles, prior experiences and language difficulties). Professional views comprised of a lack of time and resources and insufficient sustainability. It has also been brought to light that south Asians are frequently explicitly left out due to the supposed cultural and communication problems (Greenhalgh, 1998; Erens, 2001; Rhodes, 2003; Baradaran, 2004; Vyas, 2003; Lawton, 2006), as well as studies where there might be language/literacy problems in getting informed permission. In addition, Choudhury (2008) shows that a lot of people from south Asian upbringing are reluctant to take part because they acknowledge their illness as an irreversible punishment from God or have a fear of wh at research actually entails. It is widely accepted that people with low socioeconomic positions have in general poorer self-rated health than persons with high socioeconomic status (kawachi, 1999; Lantz, 2001). Several theories have been put forward to explain observed social gradients in health (Elstad, 2000). The materialist or structural theory suggests an important role of the physical environment e.g. working conditions, material conditions, and housing environment. These theories further suggest that differences in the material environment of the social classes are the key determinants of health inequalities and inequalities in the use of health services which may operate directly (physically) or psycho-socially. However, in this review it is noted that the south Asian community might feel alienated from the wider society as a whole and having very little or no support at a local level for their needs. In some parts of the UK, the level of care that people get varies in accordance to place of residence and this means the non existence of a devoted service framework in place, service tumbles well under NICE suggested standards. Since individuals with diabetes require educational access, psychological and emotional help and care and care planning so that they deal with their own condition. Diabetes UK keep on prioritising collaborated self-management in its policy and campaigning activities, and request the government and the NHS to invest in improving services and infrastructure that assist in enhancing peoples lives and produces future benefits. The behavioural or lifestyles theory came to sight when individual risk factors for instance unhealthy eating, physical inactivity, smoking, and alcohol use were recognized as health determinants. As already evidenced in this review on behavioural and cultural problems experienced within the SAC, this theory is relevant. The theory states that, social dissimilarity in beliefs towards health and actions are accounted for by an unhealthier lifestyle amongst those with deprived positions. Various social classes lifestyles are perceived as contributors to health that is excellent or poor which is considered to be actively chosen and thus open to transformation by way of promoting health. However, critics have argued that it can lead to a tactic of victim-blaming which contributes to widening of health variations as already cited in this review. The psychosocial theory proposes that unhealthy habits are a reaction to stress and a way to alleviate frustration and that social capital, social support, and autonomy represent key elements for good health (Marmot and Wilkinson, 1999; Marmot and Wilkinson, 2001). However, none of these theories have been able to completely explain social differences in health. It is important to separate the roles played by lifestyle, material factors, and psychosocial factors in health disparities. This will enable us to understand whether interventions should be aimed mainly at changes in lifestyle, in material conditions, or in the psychosocial environment. A view held by many sociologists is that explanations of health inequalities need to take into account both material inequalities and cultural/behavioural differences. Behaviours regarded as individual choices are chosen from within unequal social locations. Some privileged social locations facilitate or enable healthy lifestyles, whilst other deprived material locations prevent, hinder or militate against healthy choices. For instance, if an individual from the SAC is in an unskilled job that provides barely enough wages which in turn provides a small chance to make choices as a consumer. In circumstances like that certain irrational behaviours (e.g. smoking, fatty foods) may arise as rational coping strategies. Socioeconomic variations in health continue to be debatable as to whether they are by way of economic and material conditions or psychosocial factors like social support and employment control (Marmot and Wilkinson, 1999; Marmot and Wilkinson, 2001; WHO, 1997; Lynch, et al, 2000, Lynch, 2001). In addition, Denton (1999) and Alvarez-Dardet (2001) also highlighted the significance of lifestyle factors. The various opinions are focused on deviating theories that are also evidenced in this south Asian community on the causes of ill health (material/psychosocial factors) and whether ill health burden rests upon the individuals (lifestyle) or on society (structural factors). Van Lenthe (2004) suggested that in clarifying socioeconomic variations in health, all these factors play a role. Strategies or measures in tackling the health variations in UKs south Asians The government, NHS and partner organisations continue implementing strategies and policies to help tackle T2D variations in the SAC. Public policy development is a multifaceted and iterative process which in turn has to tackle the multiple causes of health inequalities. While we ought to be concerned with health inequality, health is a fundamental component of well-being, whether or not it is associated with inequality in other dimensions of well-being. Utilization of evidence is a vital part of this process if knowledge is provided that is significant to policy questions (on costs, effectiveness, etc.), if it fits in with the overall political vision, and has distinct potential for practical implementation. Presently in the UK, policy on health inequalities is perceived as evidence-informed and is a national priority as reflected in key targets. There is however, restrictions of the evidence base for effective interventions. Despite all efforts made in the past decade to gather substantial evidence to tackle the present T2D health inequalities, one would ask why we still have an increase in the prevalence of T2D in this community. However, the report presented by Diabetes UK and the South Asian Health Foundation (2009) promotes a correlation of work in partnerships and vibrant partnerships to thrive among researchers and organisations alike, to operate towards accomplishing major improvements in the understanding of diabetes and its impacts on this community living the UK. The same strong information basis is necessary for any health policy or health programme on tackling health variations thus calling for reliable research (i.e. valid, timely with relevant information) on the extent an d causes of health inequality presented in the SAC. The health equity audits (HEAs) identify how fairly services or other resources are distributed in relation to the health needs of different groups. They use evidence on inequalities to inform decisions on investment, service planning, commissioning and delivery, health equity audits should help organisations address inequalities in access to services and in health outcomes, such as the inequalities experienced by these minority ethnic groups. The Audit Commission Patient Survey previously highlighted significant gaps in patient knowledge, understanding and confidence in managing diabetes, which were substantially more pronounced for ethnic minorities than the white population. The 2001 Census revealed that from 10 ethnic minority households, six did not have English as their main language. Facilities accessible are often unsuitable such as where language and cultural barriers between healthcare and patients has often resulted in misunderstanding or even no information given at all. The PCTs and their partner organisations are required to consider the particular needs of their population, taking into account various needs and priorities within each community as per the 2005-2008 NHS Planning Guidance. Health inequalities have been retained as a key priority for the NHS, as set out in the NHS Operating
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