Best Fit vs Best Practice

Meaning of Best Fit and Best Practice The terms ‘best fit’ and ‘best practice’ are used in strategic human resource management literature. The best fit approach refers to the firm using human resources management (HRM) to their particular strategies and adapting to the firm’s condition and the environment referring to workforce character and business strategy. With the use of the Best Fit Approach the SHRM can become more flexible to the response change of the organizational life cycle: start-up, growth, maturity and renewal/decline. For example, Met Wholesale had chosen low cost strategy to sustain its position in merchandise industry. Thereby under this approach supportive HR practices like employing part-timers, fresh graduates, and by applying training systems will be applied. The outcome will be that the operation cost will be reduced and they will achieve its goal. On the other hand the Best Practice approach speculate that there is a exact set of HR practices that are applied in almost any organization context which helps in the increase in performance to deliver outcomes which may be valuable for all stakeholders particularly employees. It is based on the idea that there is a set of best HRM practices and its application will help to superior organization performance. This practice could be source from other competitor’s successful strategy. For example, emphasizing the enhancement of employees’ abilities or knowledge and skills through good recruitment and strong training. Another can be through incentives and a reward system; the firm can place emphasis for motivating desired behaviour. Also, by better trained and motivated employees they would have more contribution of ideas and participation. What separates the two approaches, is that the Best Fit relates to firms’ competitive strategy where the SHRM will be designed according to the firms condition and the environment, where as for Best Practice, the firm is able to refer other firm’s successful strategy or general best practice model to improve the firm itself.

Florida V Riley Case Brief Essay

Legal Citation: 488 U. S. 445, 109 S. Ct. 693, 102 L. Ed. 2d. 835 (1989) Procedural History: The respondent, Michael A. Riley, was charged with possession of marijuana under Florida law. The trail court granted his motion to suppress; the Court of Appeals reversed but certified the case to the Florida Supreme Court, which rejected the decision of the Court of Appeals and reinstated the trail court’s suppression order. The Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari for Florida to review the decision of the Supreme Court of Florida. Question: Is surveillance of the interior of the partially covered greenhouse in a residential backyard from a vantage point of a helicopter located 400 feet above the greenhouse constitutes as a ‘search,’ for which a warrant is required under the Fourth Amendment and Article I, Section 12 of Florida Constitution? Facts: In this case, the Pasco County Sheriff’s office received an anonymous tip that marijuana was being grown on the respondent’s property. When the investigating officer discovered that he was not able to see the contents of the green house by the road. All he was able to see was a wire fence surrounding the mobile home and the greenhouse with a â€Å"DO NOT ENTER† sign posted on the property. He then circled twice over the respondent’s property in a helicopter at the height of 400 feet. With his naked eye, he was able to see through the openings in the roof, since there had been two missing panels, and identify what he thought was marijuana growing in the structure. A warrant was later obtained based on these observations, continuing the search revealed marijuana growing in the greenhouse. Which lead, the respondent, Michael A. Riley, to be charged with possession of marijuana under the Florida law. Decision: No. The surveillance of the interior of the partially covered greenhouse in a residential backyard from a vantage point of a helicopter located 400 feet above the greenhouse does not constitutes as a ‘search’ for which a warrant is required under the Fourth Amendment and Article I, Section 12 of Florida Constitution because helicopters are not bound by the lower limits of navigable airspace allowed to other aircrafts. Any member of the public could have legally have been flying over Riley’s property in a helicopter at the altitude of 400 feet and could have observed Riley’s greenhouse. Nothing implied that the helicopter interfered with respondent’s normal use of the greenhouse or the other parts of the curtilage. Therefore, the police did not violate his Fourth Amendment, right to privacy. Judgment: Reversed Principle of Law: The reason the court reserved the decision of the Supreme Court of Florida is because there is nothing in the records that suggest the helicopters flying at 400 feet are sufficiently rare in this country to lead substance to respondents claim that he reasonably anticipated that his greenhouse would not be subject to observation from that altitude.

The English Only Movement in US

Language has always been an important part of a country†s culture and way of life. When the U. S. was founded, it was common to hear as many as 20 languages spoken along with many documents that were printed in different languages. There have been many debates over establishing a national language, and a movement arose that strives to establish English as the nation†s official language. This movement is known as the â€Å"English Only† movement, and it â€Å"promotes the enactment of legislation that restricts or prohibits the use of languages other than English by government agencies and, in some cases, by private businesses† (ALCU). Many people whom support the â€Å"English Only† movement believes that multilingualism is too costly and inefficient for the government to operate in. Making English as an official language will have little day-to-day effect on the population and their lifestyles or private lives. They believe that declaring English as the official language is the fairest way to handle over 300 languages spoken in the U. S. (LIA). Many people support multilingualism and oppose having English as an official language because it is unfair to individuals who are not fluent in English. Also, they create false stereotypes of immigrants and non-English speakers. They conclude that it violates the diversity embodied in our Constitution, creating restrictions and limits instead of protecting individual rights, and it does not help the integration of language minority citizens into the American mainstream. I personally support keeping the U. S. as a multilingual nation. I feel that the nation is running smoothly enough and it does not need to be changed in that way. There are many nations that hold multiple official languages that run very smoothly. I do not see why it is necessary for our nation to require English to be an official language with more than 30 percent of the nation coming from a different ethnic group or culture. Therefore, I believe that this nation should not enforce English as the official language. For more than 200 years, Americans have gotten by without declaring English our official language. Congress had never even considered declaring English the nation's official language until 1981. The only previous official-language legislation dates back to 1923: a bill designating â€Å"American† the national tongue. Americans have traditionally resisted language legislation, beginning in 1780, when John Adams proposed to establish an official Language Academy to set standards for English. This idea was rejected by the Continental Congress as an improper role for government and a threat to individual liberties. There was no English proficiency requirement to become naturalized as a U. S. citizen until 1906 – the first major language restriction to be enacted at the federal level. Before World War I, bilingual education was common in areas where nonanglophone groups enjoyed political clout. During the 19th century, state laws, constitutions, and legislative proceedings appeared in languages as diverse as Welsh, Czech, Norwegian, Spanish, French, and of course, German. At other times, Americans have imposed restrictive language policies. California rewrote its state constitution in 1879 to eliminate Spanish language rights. In 1897, Pennsylvania made English proficiency a condition of employment in its coal fields, a none-too-subtle way to exclude Italians and Slavs. Security fears during the World War I era led to unprecedented bans on public use of the German language – in schools, on the street, during religious services, and even on the telephone. (Crawford) Proposition 227 was passed by a substantial majority of California voters. Its passage is the direct result of the state's poor student performance in English. Until its passage, California embraced bilingual education. Proposition 227 virtually ends bilingual education in California and reintroduces phonics based programs. The California Content Standards and California Education Code clearly define the course requirements under Proposition 227 and the goals for grade level performance. Many groups and organizations feel that making English the official language is essential and beneficial for the U. S. government and its citizens. These groups believe that official English promotes unity. â€Å"This long tradition of assimilation has always included the adoption of English as the common means of communication† (USE). Many studies show that immigrants learn English slower when they are supported by their native language. Since multilingual government services actually encourage the growth of linguistic enclaves, this causes the U. S. to divide into separate language groups because of racial and ethnic conflicts (USE). Also, immigrants will benefit from learning English by being able to participate in the government and the workforce. If immigrants were not proficient in English, they would be subjected to the low-skilled and low-paying jobs. â€Å"Knowledge of English leads to the realization of the American dream of increased economic opportunity and the ability to become a more productive member of society, which benefits everyone† (USE). Many organizations also feel that official English can save money from the unnecessary duplication of government services in multiple languages. â€Å"It is not the responsibility of the government to provide services in the 329 different languages spoken in the United States. It is the responsibility of each individual to either learn English or to find a friend or family member to translate† (USE). Of course there are exceptions including emergencies, foreign language instruction, safety and health services, and tourism promotions. Also, official English does not affect private businesses, religious services, or private conversations (USE). On the opposing hand, organizations oppose official English because they feel it is a violation of individual†s rights. They believe that â€Å"such laws are contrary to the spirit of tolerance and diversity embodied in our Constitution. An English Language Amendment to the Constitution would transform that document from being a charter of liberties and individual freedom into a charter of restrictions that limits, rather than protects, individual rights† (ACLU). There are some versions of the proposed English Language Amendment that disregards the government from providing services in languages other than English. These groups that oppose the â€Å"English Only† laws believe that it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. It interferes with the right to vote for individuals who can not read English and with the right of workers to be free of discrimination in certain workplaces. â€Å"Today, as in the past, ‘English Only† laws in the U. S. are founded on false stereotypes of immigrant groups. Such laws do not simply disparage the immigrants' native languages but assault the rights of the people who speak the languages (ACLU). With the debate over â€Å"English Only† laws, a topic of bilingual education arose. Many people who support official English oppose bilingual education. They feel that â€Å"bilingual education programs rely on the unproven theory that a child must spend years becoming literate in his native language before he or she can properly learn a second language. Under their own theory, bilingual educators should not have placed an English-speaking child in a Cantonese-speaking class† (USE). Wasted funds have gone into the support of bilingual education with the schools being inefficient at teaching English. Studies have shown that these bilingual education schools have little or no effect. â€Å"At the very least, federal and state bilingual education laws must be reformed to ensure that parents can easily remove their children from bilingual education programs. Because in America, a child shouldn†t be forced to file a lawsuit to get his education in English† (USE). Since the 1960s, research has shown that multiple language skills do not confuse the mind. Quite the contrary: when well-developed, they seem to provide cognitive advantages, although such effects are complex and difficult to measure (Crawford). Another discredited notion is that children will learn a second language rapidly if they are totally immersed in it. â€Å"For generations, this philosophy served to justify policies of educational neglect – assigning minority students to regular classrooms, with no special help in overcoming language barriers. Disproportionate numbers failed and dropped out of school as a result† (Crawford). The sink-or-swim approach was ruled illegal by the U. S. Supreme Court in Lau v. Nichols. Research has shown that the quality of English exposure is the major factor in English acquisition and not the quantity. Many believe that English as a second language is best taught in natural situations, â€Å"with the second language used in meaningful contexts rather than in repetitious drills of grammar and vocabulary† (Crawford). This approach is common in bilingual education programs, coordinated with lessons in students' native language. Also, native-language instruction also helps to make English comprehensible, by providing contextual knowledge that aids in understanding. Since language has always been an important part of a country†s culture and way of life, I feel that the U. S. should keep this nation a multilingual nation. If this nation can go 200 years without making English the official language, I believe that things should continue this way. I do not feel that the possibility of saving money should substitute the ease of life for immigrants and schools. I also believe that â€Å"an English Language Amendment to the Constitution would transform that document from being a charter of liberties and individual freedom into a charter of restrictions that limits, rather than protects, individual rights† (ALCU). Also, I feel that bilingual education should continue. I feel that it is the parent†s decision where their children go to school. I do not think that the government should interfere with that. Again, I do not believe that money should even be an issue in the rights of these individuals. I agree that English as a second language should be taught in a natural, relaxed environment, â€Å"with the second language used in meaningful contexts rather than in repetitious drills of grammar and vocabulary† (Crawford). It would be hypocritical since Americans learn a foreign language using English. For these reasons I believe that English should not be the nation†s official language, and that bilingual education should continue.

Abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Abortion - Essay Example Using abortion as a tool of gender selection is immoral from the point of view of Western cultures which support diversity and gender equality. India is not the only place where people are ready to do everything to have a boy; in China the situation is close to this. As far as gender inequality is a local cultural tradition, many years should pass before anything changes. This tradition is not only discriminatory; it is also harmful for demographical situation in the country because the number of men in the country significantly exceeds women. Knowing that a child will suffer from incurable mental or physical condition after birth, I will think twice depending on my ability to care about such a special child. I cannot give a definite answer in the case because this decision depends on many factors. Some of mental and physical condition can be cured and some are not. Special children require more attention and special treatment, so I would consider whether I can provide all these things to support and develop a child with special needs before making the final

How Professing Bible Believing Evangelical Christians View their Thesis Proposal

How Professing Bible Believing Evangelical Christians View their Responsibility to the Great Commission - Thesis Proposal Example Once that has been established, the reasons that the Great Commission has been largely abandoned will be explored in order to seek answers to the reasons that Christians are no longer as vigilant about attending the mandates that would define their personal ministries. One of the important messages that Mathew gave to the followers of Christ was that they should go forth and spread the message of the sacrifice that Christ made for the world.1 In creating and participating in missionary work, the followers of Christ would support the message of love and forgiveness and spread the message that salvation was available through belief. Culpepper writes â€Å"The Great Commission comes to us from the context of a caring community of faith†.2 Missionary work is more than just spreading the message of salvation. It is a method of showing what the love of Christ means and serving the world so that suffering can come to an end. Missionary work is intended to motivate people to think about the world and their culture, putting Christian beliefs into context with how change will make a difference in their lives. This is done by preaching, by witnessing, and by showing the light of Christian care for the troubles of the world. Where many religions tried to make people believe that their suffering was intended by their god or gods, Christians intend to show others that their burdens can be lifted through God. Much of this is through service to the suffering.3 The fact remains, however, that there has not been a continuation of increased numbers, suggesting that the mandate to continue the spread of Christianity has met with less effort. The purpose of this study is to find reasons and excuses that are being used by Christians for not putting significant effort into missionary work. Through an examination of the literature associated to the question, the topic will be explored and examined in order to find answers to the questions that have been put

Police as Crime-fighters Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Police as Crime-fighters - Essay Example Absolute transparency in policing is a pipe dream and it might endanger the operational efficiency of the police. At the same time to leave, police activities totally unleashed can vitiate the very purpose of a police service. The task of combining the right degree of control over the police with sufficient elbowroom for them to achieve operational efficiency is a feat and a few countries have achieved this formidable task. The police performance, the world over, has not only failed to achieve this delicate balance, but has, in many countries, totally lost the focus of citizen centered service. The sense of security that the citizens in a country feel is an incalculable asset. However, this sense security in most countries has become a mirage. In many countries the guardians of civil security, themselves are often the ringleaders of an undesirable criminal nexus. This paper analyses the complex problem of analyzing the police activity in modern times. The study has accepted the compl exity of the problem and would like to offer an integrated approach to remedy the problem of policing relying on the strength of knowledge gained over the years. Various disciplines like Sociology, Psychology, Politics, Philosophy etc will aid in our search for a solution. However, the ultimate force in this attempt is the civil sense of the citizens of a country and their will to build a just society. The important question that lies at the core of developing any adequate measure of police performance is for citizens and their elected representatives to decide what it is that is intrinsically valuable, or what it is that we as a political community value in the activities and operations of a public police department. (Braga and Moore, 2004) The Historical Evolution of the Police Force The idea of modern police force has evolved over many years. However the basic mission of the primitive police and the modern are the same, the mission of keeping public order by enforcing the rules of civil conduct has not changed much in the conceptual level. Like so many noble gifts to the world, the idea of modern police force is a British product. The man behind the organizational set up of modern police force is Sir Robert Peel, the founder and leader of the Conservative party. However, the idea of policing the country is somewhat old. The Praetorian Guard of ancient Rome is the rudimentary form of the modern police. The Romans achieved a sophisticated system of law enforcement. This remained in force until the disintegration of the empire. With advent of Middle Ages and the manorial system, the policing job was the responsibility of the local nobles. The nobles appointed officials called the constables. They carried out the law. The constable's duties included arresting and keeping away forcefully the criminals. For a long time the constables were voluntary citizens, who were not paid anything. In the passage of time, this became burdensome. By the middle of 16th century, the rich citizens often sought the help of paid helpers. Soon this practice became widespread and the quality of policing by these constables came down. The French Monarch King Louis XIV kept a small police group consisting of forty inspectors who

The explotation of slavery from colonial times to 1877 Essay

The explotation of slavery from colonial times to 1877 - Essay Example Slavery was a problem in the world from its birth. People who are sold, then asked to work ruthlessly and do not have any rights of their own are known as slaves. To build up the economy of America they needed people who could work according to what they required and thus at this time the African people were targeted and used as slaves. By the sixteenth century the use of these servants had become common and this made a way for the Africans to enter America. Agreements were made with these slaves, which stated that they would be bound to work for their master for some years. And after the specified period of time these slaves were set free. These were known as the contracted or indentured servants. During this era many of the African people who were bound with their masters for some years got free and started working as traders or land owners. At this time there was a greed for more land and a stabilized economy and thus this raised the demand graph of the slaves in America. At this time the slaves of Africa became popular and were highly charged for their services. Most of the Southern America needed workers for the plantations of rice, tobacco, cotton etc. These slaves were also used for other purposes such as crafting and personal servants. While on the other hand in Northern America these slaves were mostly used in trade, factories and farms. The demand of the slaves in America grew by a very significant rate and by the 17th century there were an estimated 180,000 African slaves working on the American soil. Sooner this number increased even further and in some states the black slaves consumed most of the population of the state. In the sixteenth century states like Massachusetts made new laws which made oppression as lawful servitude. This worsened the conditions of the Africans who were living in the American soil. They thus turned into chattel slaves who could be sold and purchased only by their owners. The people from Africa were known for their work in mining farming agriculture and other skills. People from Portugal were the first to start slave trading. Sudan was the basic area where slaves could be found. The wars which took place between different tribes in Africa gave way to the selling of tribes as the side which won kept some of their prisoners as captives and further sold them to other people. Many other people were kidnapped by the hunters which were then used as slaves. These slaves were very important for the economy of America as they were good at planting different agricultural goods. The rise of the slaves got on its peak when there was seen a rise in the demand of basic agricultural goods like cotton, tobacco and coffee. This trade of slaves gave so much profit that in the sixteenth century Royal African Company outdated other traders in term of profits. Slaves at a time were also known as the Black Gold. At this time many people from Europe moved to America to practice their religion with freedom. But on the other hand Slavery was to be justified as it provided such a boost to the economy of America. Therefore to defend that slavery was correct and legal, people started to justify it by classifying the group of blacks as substandard, low-grade and fated to be slaves. Even at those times the churches did not take up this issue seriously and did not try to eliminate slavery. Even some

Critique Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critique - Essay Example The paper under consideration was one of his initial developments about the subject, and was recognized, and published in the Journal of Genetic Psychology in the year 1996. Summary This paper leads to the awareness of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (later referred to as ADHD in this critique), primarily by means of discussing the various theories associated to ADHD and the possible adaptive function. The author agrees to the fact that no single theory succeeds at explaining the occurrence and presence of ADHD. Previously, however, it might have served as an adaptive function. The need for analyzing this issue comes from a clear pattern that shows distinctive behavioral changes amongst children, and some of them continue to show the same for longer periods of times. The research paper shows clear facts that approximately 5% of the school aged children are affected by ADHD and some half of these stabilize towards complete disorder in the later part of their ages. Identifying the need of this research by stating these facts and the need to understand this issue, the author then moves towards identifying the clinical features i.e. the symptoms of this issue leading towards the disorder. The author then refers to the biology of ADHD, where he describes the genetic reasoning of the issue.

Description of what is Typical grief noting all manifestations Essay

Description of what is Typical grief noting all manifestations - Essay Example Grief is a process of healing oneself to become a part of life after losing someone close. Bereaved comes out of it after a specific time period but it manifests in his behaviors and reactions. This paper discusses some of these manifestations. â€Å"Depersonalization is a term used to describe the experience when oneself or one’s body feels somehow strange or unreal .Derealization is the term used to describe the experience when external reality seems strange or unreal† (Davies, 2004,p.42). Lindemann (1944, as cited in Worden, 2009) explained physical sensation of a bereaved as a reaction of the loss. A sense of depersonalization is one of them. For example, a bereaved told that he walked down the street and felt everything is unreal including himself. Such reactions are taken for granted but hold an important place in grieving process (p.23). Disbelief or denial is a common manifestation of grief. It happens when bereaved is shocked by sudden or unexpected news of death or loss. According to Worden (2009), people tend to deny the fact and show mistrust by saying, it can’t happen or informer is mistaken. A widow told him that after the death of her husband, she kept waiting for someone to wake her up and tell her that she was dreaming. Another explained, despite of her husband’s long sickness, she was not quite ready for his death (p.34). Idealization is very common behavior; people idealize their lost or separated partners. Bereaved forgets about the negative characteristics or faults of deceased. Only good and loveable things are remembered without any reservation (HBM, n.d). Demonization refers to blaming enemies or evil powers for the loss. According to Worden (2009) anger, if handled in ineffective way can lead to the situation in which bereaved direct the loss towards some other person and blame him for death. They believe that the person

Bioinformatics for geneticists Essay Example for Free

Bioinformatics for geneticists Essay Bioinformatics is a recently evolved field in biology. The definition is still evolving but in essence, bioinformatics is the â€Å"computational branch of molecular biology† (Claverie 2007, p. 9). This is because the field integrates computer technology and information processing systems to combine biological data and analyse biological problems. The primary aim of this new field is the ascertainment of biological insights and establishment of a global view to support a unified understanding of concepts in biology. This found application in genetics by addressing the need for a database containing large volumes of biological information, especially on gene sequences. Eventually, bioinformatics allowed geneticists to access available data on genetics and combine new data for analysis to support continuity of knowledge building on genetics. (National Center for Biotechnology Information 2004) Bioinformatics Challenges for the Geneticist Bioinformatics create a number of challenges for geneticists. The aim of bioinformatics is three-fold. First is storage of large bulks of information in accessible databases. Second is the development and application of computer systems to support analysis. Third is the development of computer systems allowing interpretation of analysed data in a biologically meaningful manner. (Luscombe, Greenbaum Gerstein 2001) The second and third aims pose challenges for geneticists who need to be adept not only in accessing but also in developing and using information system tools in analysing and interpreting data in the context of genetic research. Having existing information in a database is useless without the competence to access specific data and integrate this with new data as well as analyse and interpret these in the context of the particular genetic research. Bioinformatics Needs of Geneticists Bioinformatics supports the needs of geneticists. One justification for computational systems in genetic research is to develop a global view of experimental design to integrate research efforts and results in different countries. This is necessary to link and bring together all existing knowledge on various areas of genetic research, especially nucleic and amino acid sequences. Another justification for bioinformatics in genetics research is database mining to facilitate the generation and testing of hypothesis on the functions and structures of gene and proteins by using available data as framework (Barnes Gray 2003) Managing and Manipulating Genetic Data Generally, there are two ways of managing and manipulating data. One is the use of software. A number of software emerged supporting the development genetic linkage maps and other purposes. Although software varies in function, the common aim is to aid in understanding genetic linkage information and automating the research process to support effective map building. (Weaver et al. 1992) The other is network systems comprised of a database and accessibility through network connections. Networks allow geneticists to access available information such as on genetic markers so they can combine this with new data for analysis and interpretation. This supports the continuity of global genetics research. (Cheung et al. 1996) Value of Bioinformatics The essence of bioinformatics to genetic research is innovativeness and huge potential in developing novel approaches to genetics research. Bioinformatics has the potential to analyse and interpret data not only for purposes of completing the research purpose but also for the practical purpose of usefulness in diagnosis or therapy. (Jones Phillip 2000) The potential of bioinformatics in translating genetic data into practical solutions for actual biological problems accounts for the expected increase in the value of the bioinformatics market to billions of dollars in the next five years (World Bioinformatics Market 2008). Bioinformatics for Genetic Study Designs and Analysis Bioinformatics allowed the development of better study designs and analysis for genetic research that address previous methodological problems. Genetics and bioinformatics both adhere to collaborative investigations. Genetic research necessitates phenotypes and researcher expertise in mapping or sequencing studies while bioinformatics depends on high quality databases as well as access and integration tools and expertise. (Schmidt 2003) Collaborative designs constitute a common challenge in genetics and bioinformatics. With bioinformatics, problem identification in research focuses on testing hypothesis such as gene identification in cancer research or linking new and previous data such as on mutations. Data gathering is through data mining by searching various databases using the Internet and networks. Data is then subject to integration and organisation according to the biological problem studied such as combining data on protein structure with its properties and functions contained in various databases. Data analysis considers breadth and depth. Breadth refers to analytical processes comparing genes using algorithms while depth pertains to the determination protein encoding of a particular gene. Tools such as modelling and simulation support data interpretation and presentation. (Luscombe et al. 2001) In the case of gene expression research, this required the efficient analysis of microarrays and population. Bioinformatics provided two-colour microarrays as a more effective analytical design by covering twice the number of distant pair design profiles and population. (Fu Jansen 2006) In cancer epidemiology research, bioinformatics supported the integration of genetic susceptibility factors to create innovative study designs (Malats Castano-Vinyals 2007). Non-Coding RNA Bioinformatics Bioinformatics plays an important role in non-coding RNA research. Hiro et al. (2006) explained that non-coding RNA genes have weak statistical signals and the potential of bioinformatics addresses this limitation by providing systems of searching and predicting non-coding RNA. Huang et al. (2008) discussed that bioinformatics can support non-coding RNA search through CYK-type and covariance programs but there is need to improve further programs to accommodate arbitrary RNA structures. Bioinformatics and Cancer Genetics Bioinformatics supports genetic research on cancer. Kato and Kato (2006) reported that that bioinformatics supports cancer research through omics data functions to support knowledge on genetic biomarkers linked to cancer including ‘predisposition, diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic markers’ using data and text mining programs. Barnes and Gray (2007) explained the contributions of bioinformatics to cancer genetics as cancer genomes, cancer genetics design, cancer gene mutations, and other breakthroughs. Bioinformatics and Gene Identification Biotechnology significantly contributes to the identification of disease genes by allowing the management of large bulks of data including DNA sequences and microarray data in identifying genetic functions that cause diseases. Chen and Chen (2008) explained the role of bioinformatics in linking genes and disease outcomes through gene identification algorithms incorporates into analytical software. Algorithms direct calculation and data processing by providing a sequence of instructions in handling data. Tu et al. (2006) discussed the use of the network-based stochastic algorithm in inferring disease causing genes and identifying regulatory pathways. Bioinformatics in Single Gene Orders and Mutations Bioinformatics is also useful in studying single gene orders and mutations to ascertain genetic causes of monogenic diseases. Barnes and Gray (2007) explained that the data storage and processing solutions of bioinformatics led to outcomes such as the genome-wide map of monogenic diseases, understanding of the nature of mutations in single gene orders, and implications of epigenetics on Mendelian traits. Cooper, Stenson and Chuzhanova (2006) explained that bioinformatics support studies of single gene orders and mutations via the Human Gene Mutation Database (HGMD) that contains a wide range of information on nuclear genes, particularly germ-line mutations that are associated with inherited diseases. In 2005, the database contained 53,000 lesions together with data on DNA sequences, splice junction, and polymorphisms. The database provides core data with which new data is combined to build knowledge on monogenic diseases. Bioinformatics and Genetic Data Mining Bioinformatics supports data mining and analysis in genetics research. Wang et al. (2005) explained that bioinformatics support genetic data mining and analysis through various databases on areas of genetic studies such as the gene mutation databases as well as software or programs operating through context-based algorithms. This enables analytical processes, to integrate genetic data, via clustering methods for microarrays, comparison of DNA structures, identification of sequence characteristics, discovering disease markers, indexing of pathways and sequences, among others analytical outcomes. Geneticists can select which algorithmic tool in bioinformatics to use in managing and analysing particular data involved in the study or integrating data from various databases. Since bioinformatics continues to evolve, new analytical tools would evolve to address current problems in data mining and analysis for genetic research. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (2004) identified two breakthrough contributions of bioinformatics in genetic data mining and analysis. One is protein modelling. DNA sequences can encode proteins with particular functions but protein structures cannot be visually seen using x-ray crystallography or nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy making it difficult to study protein encoding. Bioinformatics allows protein modelling to visualize proteins in three-dimensions and by using templates enables the prediction of structures of similar proteins. The other is genomic mapping for the management of sequence information, which is painstaking when manually made. Bioinformatics provide maps to guide geneticists in pointing the precise location of gene sequences. Bioinformatics in Improving Genetic Research Schmidt (2003) explained that bioinformatics improve genetic research by providing evolving and improving means of managing data explosion. Research advancements resulted to large data on nucleotide sequences comprising DNA and amino acid sequences comprising proteins stored in databases around the world. However, manually pulling out data for use in succeeding studies and analysing vast data takes time. Manual study of outputs has become tedious. Bioinformatics improve genetic research by allowing geneticists to search databases for the gene composition, proteins and mutations as well as model the chemical and structural compositions of living cells to support various health implications such as cancer and drug studies. A researcher cannot be familiar with every known genetic interaction, so that bioinformatics becomes necessary in managing and interpreting systems-level information. Conclusion Bioinformatics has transformed the field of biology, particularly genetics, by providing approaches, processes and tools to ease the difficulties of managing and analysing large bulks of data that have accumulated over decades of genetic research. Bioinformatics has made genetics an information and practice science from primarily a laboratory-based science. Furthermore, the continuously evolving field of biometrics holds the potential to facilitate further advancements in genetics through the development of new software, algorithms, and processes useful in filling research gaps in genetics. However, geneticists play an important role in directing and enhancing the role of bioinformatics in genetics. This requires geneticists to understand bioinformatics to develop data processing and analytical tools addressing the different needs in various areas of genetic research. References Barnes, M. R,. Gray, I. C. eds. , 2007. Bioinformatics for geneticists. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc. Chen, Y. P. Chen, F. , 2008. Using bioinformatics techniques for gene identification in drug discovery and development. Current Drug Metabolism, 9(6), pp. 567-573. Cheung, K. H. , Nadkarni, P. , Silverstein, S. , Kidd, J. R. , Pakstis A. J. , Miller P. Kidd K. K. , 1996. PhenoDB: an integrated client/server database for linkage and population genetics. Computers and Biomedical Research, 29(4), pp. 327-337. Claverie, J. , 2007. Bioinformatics for dummies. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc. Cooper, D. N. , Stenson, P. D. Chuzhanova, N. A. , 2006. The Human Gene Mutation Database (HGMD) and its exploitation in the study of mutational mechanisms. Current Protocols in Bioinformatics. Unit 1. 13. Available at: http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed/18428754? dopt=Abstract [Accessed 14 October 2008] Fu, J. Jansen, R. C. , 2006. Optimal design and analysis of genetic studies on gene expression. Genetics, 173(3), pp. 1993-1999. Hiro, K. , Akio, K. Masaru, T. , 2006. Bioinformatics analyses of non-coding RNA. Protein, Nucleic Acid and Enzyme, 51(16), pp. 2420-2424. Huang, Z. , Wu, Y. , Robertson, J. , Feng, L. , Malmberg, R. Cai, L. , 2008. Fast and accurate search for non-coding RNA pseudoknot structures in genomes. Bioinformatics, 24(20), pp. 2281-2287. Jones, P. B. Phillip, B. C. , 2000. The commercialization of bioinformatics. Electronic Journal of Biotechnology, 3(2). Available at: http://www. scielo. cl/scielo. php? pid=S0717-34582000000200002script=sci_arttext [Accessed 14 October 2008] Katoh, M. Katoh, M. , 2006. Bioinformatics for cancer management in the post-genome era. Technology in Cancer Research Treatment, 5(2), pp. 169-175. Luscombe, N. M. , Greenbaum, D. Gerstein, M. , 2001, What is bioinformatics? A proposed definition and overview of the field. Methods of Information in Medicine, 40, pp. 346–58. Malats, N. Castano-Vinyals, G. , 2007. Cancer epidemiology: study designs and data analysis. Clinical and Translational Oncology, 9(5), pp. 290-297 National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2004 Bioinformatics, Available at: http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/About/primer/bioinformatics. html [Accessed 14 October 2008] Schmidt, C. W. , 2003. Data explosion: bringing order to chaos with bioinformatics. Environmental Health Perspectives, 111(6), pp. 340-345. Tu , Z. , Wang , L. , Arbeitman, M. , Chen, T. Sun, F. , 2006. An integrative approach for causal gene identification and gene regulatory pathway inference. Bioinformatics, 22(14), pp. 489-496 Wang, J. T. L. , Zaki, M. J. , Toivonen, H. T. T. Shasha, D. E. eds. , 2005. Data mining on bioinformatics. London: Springer-Verlog. Weaver, R. , Helms, C. , Mishra, S. K. Donis-Keller, H. , 1992. Software for analysis and manipulation of genetic linkage data. American Journal of Human Genetics, 50(6), pp. 1267–1274. World Bioinformatics Market. 2008. ReportLinker. com. Available at: http://www. reportlinker. com/p092468/World-BioinformaticsMarket. html [Accessed 14 October 2008]

European Studies Essays Inter-War Period

European Studies Essays Inter-War Period What conditions existed in the countries of central and Eastern Europe in the inter-war period that allowed the Communists to take power there after 1945? Various factors contributed to the emergence of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe after 1945, some arguably in the Inter-war period. These factors differed in effect and contribution from country to country. The factors will be discussed in greater detail below. Individual countries within the central and Eastern European region had communist parties with various levels of support and capabilities. Above all the situation in the Inter-war period presented internal and external factors that allowed for the implementation of communist regimes aligned to the Soviet Union, the debate being whether these factors contributed to the communist takeovers after 1945. Some of the countries in the region, most notably Poland had suffered under Nazi occupation whilst other countries such as Romania and Hungary had been allied to Germany. Politically much of the region could have been described as backward at the start of the Inter-war period (excepting the Czechoslovaks and Hungaria ns) and not as advanced as their western neighbours. Political backwardness was not a stumbling block to the communists obtaining power as Lenin and Trotsky had proved in Russia in October 1917. Aside from a short-lived Soviet Republic in Hungary during 1919 the communists had failed to gain power in the region prior to 1945.   Socialists rather than communists dominated the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Indeed the removal of the Soviet Republic led to the counter revolutionary if not fascist regime of Horthy who violently repressed the radical socialists and communists. The communists were ousted but they were not destroyed and were able to survive their persecution.   Lenins hopes of a revolution in Germany that would spread to her neighbours to the west and east were also dashed with the defeat of the Sparticus Putsch in 1919.   Communists throughout the region expected revolutions to occur quite rapidly, believing that the tide of history would move in their favour. In the 1920s especially after Stalin gained power the Soviet Union concentrated on building Socialism in one country ‘ instead of actively promoting revolution in the rest of Europe. The Soviet regime had too much to concentrate on internally without promoting revolution.   However the Soviet leaders were always looking for opportunities to cause revolutionary agitation abroad and funded communist parties in Germany, France, the United States and China as well as central and eastern Europe.   The Kremlin’s money certainly maintained the position of the various communist parties even if they were unable to gain power during the Inter-war period.  Ã‚   Communism was not particularly popular in parts of Central and Eastern Europe. Czechoslovak forces had actively fought against the Red Army during the Russian Civil War whilst the Poles had taken advantage of the collapse of the Tsarist empire (combined with German and Austrian defeat) to gain independence.   While P oland was in theory a democracy for most of the inter-war years it was virtually a dictatorship under Pilsudski and his successors most of it’s population being anti-German, anti-Russian and anti-Communist. Poland’s victory in the war of 1919-21 with the Soviet Union ended the threat of the Soviets providing military aid to communist revolutionaries or coups throughout the region during the 1920s and much of the 1930s. For the majority of the 1930s Stalin was more interested in collectivization, industrialization and carrying out the purges then actively seeking to promote revolution in central and Eastern Europe.   It was only after it became clear Hitler was a serious threat did Stalin seek allies in central and eastern Europe and giving their communist parties more instructions.   Poland’s communists had remained weak as they seen as too close to Moscow and had not been enthusiastic in campaigning for independence.   Across the region most of the commun ist parties would be banned at some stage during the Inter-war period and had to learn to survive as underground movements.   Experience of surviving underground proved beneficial during the war when communists became involved in resistance and partisan movements.  Ã‚   Future success would follow from gaining support amongst the peasantry. For much of the period communist parties were hampered by their image as been internationalist rather than nationalist in outlook, but conversely the communists also nurtured Yugoslav and Czechoslovak identities instead of rival ethnic nationalities.   It is worth noting how both states disintegrated rapidly after the end of communist rule.   The emergence of communism in Central and Eastern Europe was aided by the apparent failure of liberalism during the inter-war period. The states that appeared in the region in 1918 were to varying degrees economically backward. Only Czechoslovakia had a semblance of large-scale heavy industry and was also the closest to democracy. Poland and Hungary had industrial bases as well but also had large agricultural sectors. In the immediate aftermath of the First World War the region like the rest of Europe suffered from increasing unemployment and inflation that in turn produced social, political and industrial unrest. These conditions certainly gave the communists the opportunity to gain influence if not power. They largely missed this opportunity but not by the fascists and the far right when the situation deteriorated in the 1930s. The apparent economic recovery of the mid 1920s offered more stability. There was little or no economic co-operation between these countries and all suffere d after the Great slump of 1929. The economic dislocation was not as great as that of Germany that assisted the Nazi rise to power but it was bad enough to disrupt the capitalist system. In the 1930s the region laid between the two powers that offered a viable alternative to liberal democracy, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Communists also made some ground in the region by emphasizing collective security and popular fronts with other parties as a counter for fascism, Nazism, and the ruling right wing authoritarian regimes. The concept of collective security was undermined by appeasement. Communists also had difficulty in explaining the Nazi – Soviet pact. Stalin had been prepared to defend Czechoslovakia but then eagerly partitioned Poland. The communists were however able to redeem themselves in the role they played resisting the Germans.   The use of popular fronts was a useful way of gaining popular support and obtaining power without people realising they voting for a communist regime. That strategy would prove most successful in Bulgaria.   The adoption of popular fronts came too late to prevent Hitler gaining power in Germany, without that the communists could have made further ground in the region during the Inter war years. The communists of central and eastern Europe like many of their counterparts in Comintern did not see fascism as a serious threat rather more as a portent of capitalisms demise. If they had have done perhaps the regions convergence to communism would have happened earlier. The same conditions that helped undermine liberal democracy favoured the fascists and the right wing authoritarian parties as much if not more than they favoured the communists.   Fascists might gain power but (the communists hoped) inadvertently accelerate the victory of Marxist Leninism in the process. In a roundabout way that is what happened in much of the region eventually.   Social and economic developments during the Inter-war years meant there was a radicalisation of the working and peasant classes across the region sometimes mixed with ethnic and nationalist tensions in countries such as Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.   Yugoslavia suffered not only German occupation but a civil war based on ethnic divisions. In reality for large parts of the region the communists seized power after 1945 due to the close proximity of the Soviet army rather than the success or otherwise of the national communist parties during the Inter-war period.   Defeating the Germans gave Stalin the opportunity to establish communist regions friendly or submissive towards the Soviet Union. Communists gained power with help from Moscow and with the understanding that the Soviet army would ultimately back them up. The only exception was Yugoslavia were Marshall Tito and his partisans seized power themselves after defeating the Germans and winning the civil war. Those opposed to the new communist regimes also realised that the Soviet Union was given a free hand in central and Eastern Europe in return for Britain and the United States having the main influence in the west were ironically the communists enjoyed mass support in France, Italy and Greece.   Stalin was not bothered by how enthusiastic the peoples of the ce ntral and Eastern Europe were towards having communist regimes, what mattered to him was the Soviet Union’s security.   Stalin clearly understood that without Soviet military intervention only Yugoslavia and Albania would have turned communist on their own, and they would prove unwilling to be told what to do from the Kremlin.   The Hungarian communists had not done particularly well since the crushing of the Soviet Republic but they did start to recover during the war. The Czechoslovak communists were only outlawed after absorption into the German Reich but their patriotism was important in gaining support. The Poles and Hungarians proved most reluctant to accept communism and only hard bargaining and the threat of Soviet intervention would keep their regimes in power. Although communist regimes were also forced on Romania and Bulgaria they were eventually more enthusiastic. Therefore the communist parties within central and Eastern Europe were able to lay some if not all the foundations for their gaining of power during the Inter war period. The strength and success of the communists differed from country to country.   The communists laid the strongest foundations in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia despite facing right wing regimes, being allied to or occupied by the Germans.   In some ways the communists best success in the Inter-war period was presenting themselves as patriots in a time of impending war and as a force of resistance once it had started. The communists realised too late the possibility of popular fronts in preventing Hitler seizing power but their adoption in central and Eastern Europe proved useful at the end of the Inter-war period.   It was the prominent role that the Czechoslovak and Yugoslav communists played in resisting the Germans during the war that contributed most to their gaining of power.   They were success ful in portraying themselves as patriots and freedom fighters. In Bulgaria the popular front tactic in favour at the end of the Inter-war period was revived to gain power by stealth after 1945.   In other countries such as Poland, Hungary and Romania the communists had never been that popular and their main achievement was to survive the Inter –war period and the war in enough numbers to be installed in power in the wake of the Soviet army’s liberation of their various homelands.   Communists throughout the region would argue that they did not need to have mass support just the ability to seize control of their states, then the superiority of communism would win the public over any way.   Communists could also claim in the Inter-war years that liberal democracy could not survive the depression and fascism would not survive the forthcoming war to the death with communism. Bibliography Bideleux Jeffries   A History of Eastern Europe Crisis and Change (1998) Routledge, London Brendon, P. The Dark Valley a Panorama of the 1930s (2000) Jonathan Cape, London. Crampton, R .J Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century (1994) Routledge, London and New York Harvey, R. – Comrades The Rise and Fall of World Communism (2003) John Murray, London Matthews, A   Nationalism in Europe 1789 1945 (2000) Hodder Staughton, London. Roberts, J M   History of Europe (1996) Schopflin, G. The Politics of Central Europe (1993) Blackwell, Oxford Service, R    A History of Modern Russia from Nicholas II to Putin (2003) Penguin, London Vadney, T.E The World Since 1945 (1992) Penguin, LondonVolkogonov, D. The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire – Political Leaders from Lenin to Gorbachev (1998) Harper Collins Publishers, London

The British Imperialistic Presence In Northern Ireland History Essay

The British Imperialistic Presence In Northern Ireland History Essay The conflict in Northern Ireland in various literature and researches has been presented to us at its most basic as a struggle between those who wish to see Northern Ireland remain part of the United Kingdom and those who wish to see the reunification of the island of Ireland; the Protestants and Catholic respectively. However, reducing the whole cause of this conflict to this angle alone is blindfolding and remaining at its symptom level. It is important to note that the conflict was as a result of agglomeration of a number of factors such as the historical evolution of the Irish community, religion, politics, and economics . Prominent among these factors was the British imperialistic presence in Northern Ireland dating back the early antiquity and their system of divide and rule. The interplay of these factors created a fluid situation which was filled up by a violence that claimed thousands of lives, properties destroyed and, saw Irish community more fragmented . Therefore, this reflection paper will focus on how the British imperialistic presence from early antiquity among other factors planted the weeds that chocked the seed of peaceful co-existence and unity planted by Christianity in the protestant and Catholic communities of Ireland. The historical evolution of the British factor traces its roots from the first Norman invasion of the island of Ireland around 1169. This invasion was the starting point of direct foreign rule in Ireland, first by the English and later by the British engagement in Ireland. By this rule the whole Irish social system was not overhauled but halted and frozen thus making the history of Ireland a continuum of attempts to fight against oppression from foreign rule and social exploitation. They had to battle against the power of the sword with which the island was conquered and exploited by the Norman invaders. The inability of the Irish to resist and defeat the invasion resulted in to the sabotage and loss of their traditional clan system based on communal ownership of property and this was replaced by an exploitative system that saw much of the Irish land and wealth exchanging individual hands contrary to what existed before. Consequently, the Irish, who were majorly Catholics lost hold of their land and became landless in their own country with much of their land ending in the hands of the so called planters, who were majorly protestants from England and Scotland. With this, religious antagonism was already created. It was out of these planters that the British later created protestant oligarchy in Ireland as these planters increasingly became deeply rooted and absorbed the indigenous Irish way of life. In this kind of struggle for land ownership, conflict through rebellion was inevitable not only between the losers and winners of this struggle (the Irish and the Planter respectively) but also among the winners themselves(the planters) who were as well struggling among themselves to gain ownership of Irish land. This was one of the early conflicting situations Britain took advantage of through their system of divide and rule. As Hadden Peter puts it, à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"to rule in the face of these revolts the British chose to divide. Religion was the chosen instrument of division. Religious intolerance, the fostering of mutual suspicion, hatred and violence between Catholic and Protestant this became the shield of the ruling administration against the overthrow by the peopleà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ (Hadden P, 1980) . With a number of social, economic and religious differences already existing in the Irish society, an easier and a perfect environment was provided for the British to exercise their divide and rule policy which kept the Irish people fighting each other and made it possible for the British to advance their imperialistic interests in the whole of the Island. In other words, it was easier for the British to defeat and rule the Irish while divided other than while unified. At the onset of the 19th century, Britain had already established her imperialistic power in the whole of Ireland embodying her as part of the United Kingdom. This remained pain in the neck of the Irish people who wanted to run away from the British imperialism and form a unified republic of Ireland. The British implemented their colonial policy of divide and rule in Ireland by keeping high economic, social, political and religious disparity between the pro-British north and the rest of Ireland that remained anti-British. Economically,the north became more powerful as industry and manufacturing attained massive growth, offered better jobs and better living conditions, while in the south the reverse was true. The British managed to create protestant oligarchy in the south who owned much of the land and resources and this exposed the Catholic population in the south to deplorable conditions of poverty, unemployment and idleness . This later became a key factor in the conflict as the si delined Irish population began agitating for their welfare in seeking for social justice. The British successful prepared a battle ground through their divide and rule policy. The British imperialistic influence in Ireland further created more chaos as it antagonized the north and south of the country by passing the government of Ireland Act in 1920. By this Act, Ireland was split in into two different politically viable entities, each conferred with the powers of pseudo self-government. This Act was received with mixed reactions in that the Catholics mainly in the southern part of Ireland, who saw it as a perpetuation of British imperialism refuted it but the Ulster Protestants in the north, who saw it as a perfect move to keep their ties with England (protestantism) consented to the Act. The process of cultural and social diffusion and unity through trade, intermarriage, harmonious living, migration and settlement anywhere in Ireland was disrupted partly because the British then emphasized the differences and prejudices that fostered hatred and division rather than the similarities between the people of Ireland that would promote unity and harmonious liv ing. This was a deliberate act by the British to perpetuate their control over northern Ireland with the reasoning that the separation would give each country self autonomy to manage their own affairs and that they would continue dominating Northern Ireland people, who were more comfortable with their rule thus erasing the notion of the struggle for a unified Republic of Ireland that would either automatically oust them from the Island or suffocate their influence in the Island. This exploitative move by the British only succeeded in throwing the country in to division and bloody conflict contrary to what they expected. The British further perpetuated their imperialism in Ireland in late 1960s during a violent scuffle the involved the protestants and the Catholics in Belfast and Londonderry. In an attempt to quell this scuffle and bring about peace, the British government after a decade sought to the use of her mighty military power by sending soldiers to Northern Ireland. What remained puzzling was whether the involvement of the British soldiers in this scuffle was to play a neutral role or just to protect their imperialistic interests that were being threatened by the course of this conflict. However, the continued engagement of the British soldiers later answered this puzzle as the soldiers decided on a number of occasions to take parts in a number of conflicts siding more with the unionists who were promoting their interests while on the other hand used disproportionate military force to crackdown demonstrations, and uprising of the nationalists, whom they considered to be anti-British. With this kind of development, one would easily notice that the British had anterior motive to keep this conflict alive in order to extend a direct rule over Ireland in the name of restoring peace. They just wanted to create avenues for remaining colonial masters in Northern Ireland, thus the conflict. In conclusion, despite the fact that there were numerous other factor which brought the Irish into conflict, the British with their colonial policies prepared the weed bed and planted the weed against which the Irish were divided, weakened and failed to uproot it but simply nurtured it to their disadvantage. In other words, behind this conflict was British imperialism and for this imperialistic instinct to survive, the British had to divide the people of Ireland, who would continue fighting each other and remain weak so that it becomes easy to rule them. Unfortunately, religion was selected by the British as the best means to divide and later to rule the people of Ireland, thus creating the situation we read, watch, and hear of today in Ireland. Therefore, not mentioning it would be keeping a blind eye on what was evident, that the British colonial presence in Ireland from early antiquity to an extend was a catalyst in this conflict.

The Montessori Method Essay examples -- Teaching Education

The Montessori Method (Word count includes Annotated Bibliography) The Montessori method began in the early 1900's by the first female doctor in Italy, Dr. Mary Montessori, as a way of educating mentally disabled children. Her ideas were so successful with these children that she began to apply her understanding of learning to study the potential of normally functioning children (Oalf, 2001). Dr. Montessori's approach to education stresses the importance of learning styles, independence and responsibility. According to Maria Montessori, 'In the special environment prepared?in our schools, the children themselves found a sentence that expresses their inner need, 'Help me to help myself.' ? (Standing, 1957). The ?prepared environment?, according to Montessori, consists of clean, bright, multi-sensory stimulating materials that are engaging for the child and that are placed in at their level so they can be accessed freely. There is a concentration on ?discovery moments?, defined as when a child learns new information through personal exploration (Fisher, 1964), in reading, math, social skills, and other subjects. The guided discovery approach means careful planning and direction for the child and that adults must know the purpose and meaning of each activity the child chooses in the classroom. Montessori teachers attempt to instill an internal drive into the children using this child-centered approach to teaching. An example of this is the use of mats or rugs in the classroom. Eac h child has a mat or rug to spread their materials out on. Every other child is respectful of this child?s space and he/she, in turn, is respectful of others. The result of this approach is a classroom full of self-monitoring students. ... ...cation Week, 21, 24. Retrieved April 14, 2004 from ERIC/EBSCO database. This article discusses the difference between direct instruction and the Montessori method, using the example of one school in Texas, which offers parents a choice of which instruction they would like for their child. The end of this article tells that test results from each classroom turn out about equal, despite the radically different teaching approach. This is because different children do well in different types of classrooms. Zad, M. (1990, November 18). Montessori way highlights video for preschoolers. The Washington Post, pp. y.08. This is a local article taken from The Washington Post regarding the use of video in Montessori classrooms. The use of video technology corresponds with the Montessori method if it is stimulating to the child and aids in discovery learning.

The Setting of Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay -- Young Goodman

The Setting of â€Å"Young Goodman Brown†      Ã‚   This essay will examine the main physical settings within Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† These are four in number and begin and end in the village of Salem. The tale opens at Goodman and Faith Brown’s house, in the doorway where the protagonist is telling his wife goodbye, and where she is trying to dissuade him from his planned adventure on this particular night. Most of the elements in this setting are positive, bright, hopeful: a sunset; a familiar street and home; pink ribbons on Faith’s cap. As Goodman departs and walks down the street past the meeting-house, his physical setting begins to deteriorate as he turns onto a "dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind."†His new setting in the woods is â€Å"lonely,† has â€Å"solitude,† and reflects Goodman’s footsteps, which are â€Å"lonely.† His suspicion and fear grow as he reflects:   â€Å""There may be a devilish Indian behind every tree," said Goodman Brown to himself; and he glanced fearfully behind him, as he added, "What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!" When he turns his head to the front again, after pa... ...ond.   "'Young Goodman Brown': The Second Time Around."   The Nathaniel Hawthorne Review 19 (Spring 1993): 18-21. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Complete Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Doubleday and Co., Inc.,1959. The Holy Bible, King James Version-Old and New Testaments, with the Apocrypha http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/kjv.browse.html James, Henry. Hawthorne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997. Martin, Terence. Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Twayne Publishers Inc., 1965. Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.

The Marigolds- Lizabeth

THE LIFE THAT MAKES UP WHO LIZABETH IS TODAY Because of her going through depression and regretting mistakes she has done, Lizabeth’s maturity level has risen and so has her understanding of life– causing this to make up the person she is today. To begin with, Lizabeth’s depression interferes with her teenage experience. â€Å"When I think of the hometown of my youth, all that I seem to remember is dust– the brown, crumbly dust of late summer– arid, sterile dust that gets into the throat between the toes of bare brown feet. According to the story, Lizabeth sounds like a depressed person that would rather stay in the house all day alone than go outside and have fun with friends. She is letting the Great Depression ruin her one-in-a-lifetime experience that no child will ever forget. â€Å"And so, when I think of that time and that place, I remember only the dry September of the dirt roads and grassless yards of the shantytown where I lived. † Lizabeth only thinks of her past and remembers it better than any other of her childhood memories.The reason is because the depression has a huge effect on her and her family’s life because they are poor and they live in poverty. Also, it is difficult to make a living off of so little money back then, especially with only the mom working. It is also hard to support a family with only one person working. Not only does Lizabeth suffer from depression but she also has regrets. â€Å"I feel again the chaotic emotions of adolescence, illusive as smoke, yet as real as the potted geranium before me now. Lizabeth regrets what she does in the past and she cannot find any way to deserve forgiveness. Lizabeth is a confusing teenager that still believes she has no idea why these things have been happening to her. Furthermore, Lizabeth’s maturity level rises as she deals with her problems as an adult rather than be childish about things. â€Å"Joy and rage and wild animal gladne ss and shame become tangled together in multicolored skein of fourteen-going-on-fifteen as I recall that devastating moment when I was suddenly more woman than child, years ago in Miss Lottie’s yard. â€Å"We children, of course, were only vaguely aware of the extent of our poverty. Having no radios, few newspapers, and no magazines, we were somewhat unaware of the world outside of our community. † Lizabeth knows that the Great Depression is going on but she isn’t worried because she has always been living in poverty; with no communications with the outside world she will never know how poor her lifestyle really is.Last but not least, although Lizabeth is a confused teenager, she still knows her right from wrong and she is shameful of the disrespectful and rude remarks she makes at Miss Lottie. â€Å"Of course I could not express the things that I knew about Miss Lottie as I stood there awkward and ashamed. † â€Å"For one does not have to be ignorant an d poor to find that his life is as barren as the dusty yards of our town. And I have too planted marigolds. † Lizabeth finally accepts who she is as a person and does the right thing by moving on and forgetting the past.

Berger’s Portrayal of Men vs Women

John Berger’s Portrayal of Male versus Female Nudity and it’s relation to Modern Society In the book Ways of Seeing, chapter 3 by John Berger, Berger outlines his portrayal of the differences between men and women and the manner in which they are culturally represented by analyzing nude depictions of woman in the European artistic tradition through paintings. The paintings overtime have demonstrated that men have more power over women as they are the main spectators of the paintings, and the women are the object of the paintings.These standards described in his article are still significant in today’s society, as seen by the reaction of the public to the advertisement displays of male nudity for the Leopold Museum in Vienna. According to Berger, the male’s presence is all about potency, power, strength and his abilities. He is viewed as the dominant being over the woman whereas the women’s presence is about only her and what can or cannot be done to her. Women are more concerned with surveying themselves the way they think others will see them so that they can act in a way that is appealing toward the men.This suggests that the way she views herself is the way society will see her. This theory is displayed in the styles of the European paintings. The paintings are geared toward the male viewer which gives him a legitimate excuse for looking at the nude women in order to flatter himself. The paintings clearly demonstrate through the expression of the woman that the woman is aware that she is being viewed thus objectifying herself as a subject of a gaze. Berger simplifies this by saying â€Å"Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. † (Berger, 47).The overall point the chapter makes is that men have more power over women, and because of this, women are property of the men. Berger’s chapter gives many examples that support his portrayal that men are the more dominant gender. For example, when refle cting on the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, it is Eve who gets punished, and Adam that becomes the agent of God. In another painting, The Judgement of Paris, Paris awards an apple to the women he believes to be the most beautiful thus turning beauty into a competition. The woman who is the most beautiful is to be owned by the judge, thus objectifying the woman to the man.Berger also mentions that some paintings also include a male lover however the attention on the women is rarely toward him, but is geared toward the viewer of the painting thus allowing the spectator the belief that he is the owner of the woman. Although Berger mainly talks about the cultural perspective of men and women, it is clear that his belief that men have more power over women are still occurring in recent society as seen in an article from The New York Times, and an article from BBC news on the public reactions to the nude male advertisements for the Leopold Museum in Vienna.Society today even creates this image that men have more power over women, and when the roles are reversed, as displayed in the male nude advertisements, it causes public outrage. In the BBC article, according to Tobias Natter, the director of the Leopold Museum, when it comes to male nudity, â€Å"Somehow it is taboo. † (Bell). It is true that male nudity is getting a new presence in modern society and is becoming increasingly more normal, however one can still assume a few reasons as to why there was an opposition to the display of the naked men on the posters.Going along with Berger’s view of women being the objects of the photos, the first reason is that having the men become the objects of the photos is extremely unusual and not something society is accustomed to. This is because the male is generally the power figure, and to see a man so vulnerable is such an unnatural thing. Another reason why these photos are deemed inappropriate is that because the male is now the object, the r ole of the spectator is now more difficult to define. Men do not want to be put in a position where they survey themselves. According to Berger, that role belongs to the women.Men also do not want to be seen as having less power and more vulnerability. Female nudity is associated with beauty and erotics. It is meant to be unthreatening. Male nudity however is much more challenging. Society in general is uncomfortable with seeing male genitalia in the public. Erich Kocina from the BBC news article states â€Å"We are not used to seeing a penis – I think that is the main problem for people. † (Bell). This opposition was reportedly greater among women because some women felt as though the images were pornographic and inappropriate for children to see.In the New York Times article, Klaus Pokorny, the museums spokesmen, stated that women had to shield their children’s eyes from the pictures of the naked men. (Cottrell). Also, because women are slightly more modest th an men, they might be more prone to embarrassment. Even though society has advanced in so many ways, it is still a little slow in adjusting to the views of men and women. Many people these days say that men and women are equal. More women are working â€Å"manly† jobs, and more men are becoming stay at home fathers. However, male versus female nudity still appears to be an issue.This should not be the way society thinks but unfortunately, nudity is still not totally accepted. The advertisements of the nude men should be a good way to open the eyes of the public to see the direction in which society is advancing and have awareness that men and women should not be portrayed so differently. Works Cited Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin, 1972. 45-64. Print. Bell, Bethany. â€Å"The shock of the (male) nude. †Ã‚  BBC News Magazine  [Vienna] 18 Nov 2012, Web. 19 Jan. 2013 Cottrell, Chris. â€Å"Viennese Museum to Cover Nude Ads. † The New York Times 17 O ct 2012, U. S Edition, Web. 17 Jan. 2013.

Web-site Search

Decisions about who Is considered needy and how they are to be helped are dependent on our economic development, political views, and are often dependent on government resources (Stern & Axial, 2012). In research, primary data sources are beneficial when assisting the learner to completely understand every facet of a topic as It relates to the topic of discussion or a body of work. As it pertains to social welfare, it is vital to build a foundation which encompasses past, present and future happenings that will impact the body of work.While doing research web-sites about primary documents as it relates social welfare policy, the following site seemed useful http://www. Ass. Gob/history/PDF/heisted. PDF. The Historical Development document discusses the history of the U. S. Social Welfare structure. There is also an interactive timeline provided for the Social Security Acts and the Development of U. S. Social Security Programs. One is provided a sequential view of the progression of t he Development of U. S.Social Security Programs, such as unemployment, Public Assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families In 1 996 TAN), Public Housing, National School Lunch Program and the Food Stamp Program, amongst many more programs. This tool has provided this learner an insight to the key historical, political and social events that have impacted our country. As The united States approached the sass's, the Great Depression was upon us, which resulted in our government taking a greater role in helping the poor and the establishment of the Social Security Act of 1935.As one continues to study the history of social welfare, we will began to gain a better understanding of what drives our programs as well as how we can contribute to their success. Reference: Axial, J. , & Stern, M. (2012). Social welfare: A history of the American response to need (8th deed. ). Boston, MA: Allan and Bacon. Http://www. Ass. Gob/holster/PDF/ Halsted. PDF. Web-site Search By Krishna reforms o f today. Be sure to format your citation in proper PAP format in your The history of Human Services is important for us to understand so we can grasp the goals of our current social welfare programs.

Port Aventura

————————————————- CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM To:| Fernando Aldecoa| From:| | Date:| | Re:| Port aventura| ————————————————- ————————————————- Executive Summary Port Aventura was launched in 1995 and since that time has transformed from a theme park to an all-encompassing resort. Due to this change, management now requires the ability to identify and target individual customers, as opposed to statistical averages of broad groups. One-to-one communication will allow for customized marketing packages and the ability to maximize revenues.However, information management systems currently in place are not capable of tracking customers to the degree needed to supp ort a one-to-one marketing approach. Therefore, it is the recommendation of Nielsen consulting that Port Aventura implements a data warehouse to facilitate the required analytics to determine who their customer is. ————————————————- Problem Identification Port Aventura is poised with the problem of having insufficient information and data on their individual customers.Seeing as the customer base is comprised of vastly different groups, it is imperative that Port Aventura take the time to identify who their customers are and what their individual profiles look like in an attempt to not only better serve customer requests, but also maximize park profits. Accurate and detailed information such as favorite restaurants, spending patterns, hotel stays and park activity preferences will allow Port Aventura to market to individual customers wants and needs on a one-to-one basis. T he lack of customer information is due to inadequate information management processes and systems.Port Aventura does not currently have the infrastructure needed to properly collect and manage large amounts of customer data or the ability to strategically analyze that information. Multiple small information systems are collecting high level data, but these systems are not integrated nor do they provide the level of detail required for successful one-to-one customer marketing. ————————————————- Evaluative Criteria Collect Individual Customer Preferences The desired solution must be able to present a concise snapshot of individual customers preferences based on past behaviours.Examples of required information include: * Frequency, seasonality, and duration of a customer’s visit * Did the customer stay in one of the hotels, and if so which one and what type of room * I s the customer visiting for business or pleasure or a combination of the two * Which park activities did the customer partake in; golf, amusement rides, beach club, shows, water park, corporate events * How much does the customer spend and what are the funds being spent on * What is the social-economic attributes of the customer: age, gender, family members, annual income, geographical location This type of detailed information will allow Port Aventura to intimately know each of its customers and provide the opportunity to understand consumer value preferences. Searchable and Scalable for Data Mining The solution must be conducive to analytical queries and provide the ability to turn raw data not only into customer information, but customer knowledge. This knowledge will then translate into business intelligence which will provide the basis for data mining.Port Aventura needs the ability to extract the relevant information to identify opportunities, strategies, and predictive behavi ours on its customers. Additionally, historical data must be stored and easily accessible while maintaining data integrity. Ease of Implementation and Ease of Use The optimal solution must be one that can be implemented quickly and without considerable disruption to the work flow within Port Aventura. Employees must be educated on the data collection processes to ensure the information management system is usable and accurate. Therefore, training must be thorough, concise, and cost effective. System maintenance and sustainability must also be possible through the use of the Information Systems Department employees. CostTotal cost to implement, train employees, and maintain the infrastructure needs to be kept in mind when determining the optimal solution. ————————————————- Alternatives Data Warehouse A date warehouse would allow Port Aventura to leverage the information man agement processes currently in place and provide a precise means of tracking individual customers. * Collect Individual Customer Preferences – The implementation of a loyalty rewards program and unique customer ID will allow the existing management systems to feed the required information into the data warehouse. * Searchable and Scalable for Data Mining – A data warehouse will provide a central storage from which customizable reporting tools can be made. Ease of Implementation and Ease of Use – A data warehouse will require the hiring of a project manager and take approximately 3 months to implement. Training for end user staff in both data entry and reporting will be minimal as there is already familiarity with the existing systems. IT staff will be trained on the data warehouse in order to ensure ongoing support and maintenance. * Cost – Cost for the implementation of a data warehouse is estimated at $250,000. New Integrated Information System Port Ave ntura could retire all of the existing information management processes and implement a new fully integrated information system to tie all aspects of the business together and track individual customer behaviour. Collect Individual Customer Preferences – A new integrated system will be designed for optimal information gathering and tracking. * Searchable and Scalable for Data Mining – Custom reporting will enable identification and tracking of all individual customer behaviours. * Ease of Implementation and Ease of Use – A new integrated system will require the hiring of a project team to scope, tender, and organize the undertaking. Implementation will take approximately 1 year. Systems will be required to run in parallel for some time to ensure functionality of the new system. End user and IT staff will be required to undergo extensive training to familiarize themselves with the new system. Cost – Cost for a new integrated information system is estimated at $1,000,000. See Exhibit 1 for the Decision Matrix for the above two alternatives. ————————————————- Implementation The optimal solution for Port Aventura is the implementation and integration of a data warehouse. Seeing as the existing infrastructure can be modified to provide the required data tracking elements, a data warehouse will be the timeliest, most cost effective, and efficient means of implementing one-to-one marketing to customers. Action Plan In securing the data warehouse for Port Aventura the following action items are recommended: * Hire an independent project manager.The total duration of the project is mapped to last 3 months; therefore the total cost of the project manager will be approximately $25,000. Start date for the project manager is June 15, 2009. * The project manager will meet with the principal owners of the data warehouse project to gather requirements. * Fernando Aldecoa – Director of Finance * Robert Magi – Director of IS * Mercedes de Pablo – Managing Director of Port Aventura Additionally, the project manager will meet with end users of the existing management systems to understand processes and procedures as well as current functionality. * Users of the Prestige Hospitality Management Tool Users of the Presence system – contact center operators * Users of Store Flow system * Users of the Concept Golf System Interviews and requirements gathering is mapped to last 2 weeks. * Issue a RFP for a data warehouse vendor. The duration of the tender is mapped to require 1 month. Selection of the data warehouse vendor will be based on the above pre-determined criteria. Cost for the data warehouse is estimated at $250,000. * The Marketing Department will design a loyalty rewards program whereby unique customer ID’s will be created as a means of tracking individual customers behaviour. The project manager will be responsible for implementing the unique customer ID entity into the existing information management systems.The marketing department will be responsible for rolling out the loyalty rewards program in conjunction with the implementation of the data warehouse. Total cost for implementation and marketing of the loyalty rewards program is estimated at $100,000. * Implementation of the data warehouse is mapped to require 1. 5 months. During this time, IT staff will be trained on the functionality of the data warehouse and end users will be trained on the new data inputs as well as the data mining capabilities of the data warehouse. * The go-live date is mapped to be September 15, 2009. Ongoing support and maintenance will be provided by Port Aventura IT staff. Reporting functionalities are then to be used by the marketing department to implement one-to-one communication with customers. Summary The implementation of the data warehouse is expected to last 3 months a nd requires $375,000 in capital (including the implementation of the loyalty rewards program). Ongoing support and maintenance of the data warehouse is estimated at $25,000 per year. This cost is minimal compared to the expected revenue from one-to-one marketing to consumers. ————————————————- Exhibit 1: Decision Matrix | Weight| Data Warehouse| New Integrated System| | | Raw| Weighted| Raw| Weighted| Individual Customer Preference| 30%| 8| 2. 4| 9| 2. 7|Data Mining| 20%| 8| 1. 6| 8| 1. 6| Implementation and Use| 20%| 7| 1. 4| 1| 0. 2| Cost| 30%| 8| 2. 4| 2| 0. 6| Score| | | 7. 8| | 5. 1| Raw Data is out of 10 with a score of 10 being the best option ————————————————- Exhibit 2: Data Warehouse Data Warehouse Data Warehouse Extract Transform Load Extract Transform Load Extract Transform Load Extract Transform Load Sales Sales HR HR SAP R3 SAP R3 Purchasing Purchasing Finance Finance Fix Assets Fix Assets Presence Presence Website Fans Website Fans Survey Results Survey Results Storeflow Storeflow Clients Club Clients Club Concept Golf Concept Golf Galaxy Galaxy Prestige Prestige

Monetary Policy in the US Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Monetary Policy in the US - Assignment Example In order to overcome this problem, it is recommended that the policy implementation shall be incremental in nature with built in mechanisms to set threshold levels to trigger automatic responses where policy do not seem to deliver the desired monetary policy outcomes. Open market operations is one of the most frequently used tools that is being exercised by any central bank including FED. Open market operations basically involve the buying and selling of securities in open market in order to achieve the different monetary policy outcomes. Open Market Operations tend to provide an opportunity to FED to affect the banking system in following manner: 1. Affecting interest rates: through open market operations, FED basically mop out or in the liquidity within the banking system. By buying the securities, FED basically increase the supply of loanable funds thus interest rates tend to go down for short term period whereas by selling the securities, the liquidity is decreased which than increase the interest rates. 2. Controlling the volume of Credit: Through open market operations, FED basically increase or decrease the volume of credit as it either suck in the excess liquidity from the market or pump in new funds into the system. Through both methods, the overall extent of loanable funds can be increased or decreased in order to achieve the monetary policy objectives of the firm. 3. Open market operations also tend to affect the bank deposits because by floating securities in the market, FED basically take out funds from the banks which indirectly affect the deposits of the banks. Banks are required to keep a certain percentage of their funds as reserve with the FED in order to meet the uncertainties. FED can increase or decrease this percentage with the passage of time and according to the economic situation. Further banks can also borrow from the one window facility at the FED and the rate charged by FED on such funds is called discount rate.

Last Judgement by Michelangelo- Issues around the artwork that make it Research Paper

Last Judgement by Michelangelo- Issues around the artwork that make it controversial and interesting - Research Paper Example The painting is clearly inspired by the bible with Jesus Christ being the central figure of the painting and the rest art form revolving around him (Andrew, 2008). The painting was a centre figure in a controversy which in turn enriched the history attached with this fresco. Controversy Great controversy has revolved around â€Å"the last judgment† since the day it was conceived to the present era which has increased the value of the art, which can be dubbed as a controversial depiction of saints, religious figures and the religion itself. Who knew, Michelangelo had a sense of humor not many could comprehend. This art piece was threatened by many critics who bared the flag of the Catholic Reformation and those who understood art to its very core. Michelangelo; due to this masterpiece, was blamed for bringing nudity and religion together which was a breach of decorum in the artistic world, especially those related directly or indirectly to the Vatican. The â€Å"Council of Tre nt† issued notices blaming Michelangelo for public nudity and disgrace to sacred figures; especially in such sacred place and that this art form should be destroyed or hidden. The pope’s Master of ceremonies, Biagio da Cesena termed it as a piece that should be depicted in taverns and public bathrooms, such was the criticism found in the ranks of the Vatican. Michelangelo painted â€Å"Cesena† as a nude figure depicting his illogical thoughts by donkey ears and a snake wrapped nude body as revenge. Although, Cesena lodged his reservations with the pope, the pope insisted in upholding the art as his authority did not lead into the after-life (Domenichi, 1556). As the â€Å"Council of Trent† had passed its judgment and recommendations regarding the objectionable points in the â€Å"the last judgment†, it was ordered to cover any nudity or profanity in the painting. This order was executed after the death of Michelangelo in 1564. Some art critics accus e of Michelangelo depicting himself as St. Bartholomew, over the row with the authorities on receiving the permission to paint the chapel’s wall after a huge gap in its designing, almost 20 years. His open questions to the theory of life and life-after-death did not please the close knit Vatican fraternity, calling for his head for such an artistic depiction (John, 1994). Restoration The most interesting fact about the artwork is the detail of work that has been done on it, after the demise of Michelangelo. Acting on the recommendations of the â€Å"Council of Trent†, the genitals depicted in the painting were covered by fig leafs. During the 14 years, in between 1980 and 1194, major restoration was carried out under the supervision of Frabrizio Mancinelli. Many facts that were unknown for centuries were discovered after the restoration. The most dominant discovery was of the female that is depicted to be condemned to hell. For many decades it was imagined to be a male figure, which changed after the removal of the fig-leaf showing clearly that it was a female figure (Hurst et all, 1994). The painting is also known to be the first depiction of Christ as the centre of the universe like the sun is for the planets. Not only the technical details of the masterpiece has attracted people towards it but also the controversial history surrounding the shift in cosmology that Michelangelo depic

Story Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Story - Essay Example She did not expect to find Joe at home since that was rather unusual. Joe always left home as hurriedly as he would arrive from school. Being an only child, his mother was so fond of him. On this day, Joe had left school early and changed his clothes. However, he neither joined his mother in the market nor was he in the garden. According to the neighbors, he left home and hurried in the direction of the market. It was getting rather dark and Joe’s mother was worried that something had happened to her son. She set off asking the passersby and in her friend’s homes. Finding no relevant information regarding her son’s whereabouts, she decided to go to the next village. She asked a few people about any child found loitering in the village that same day. From one of the villagers, an old man who had retired from the military, a boy who met the description of Joe was at an abandoned house. The man led Joe’s mother to his homestead. Since he was known for his crazy antics, his mother was not surprised when she found him pinned to the clothes line in the backyard. However, all who were present were surprised with Joe’s explanation. Joe explained later that a few naughty boys had pinned him there when he declined an offer to smoke. Being underage and quite reasonable, everybody was amazed. His mother was proud of him and promised to protect him. In one accord, the villagers decided to hunt down and discipline the naughty boys to ensure they do not spoil any child in the