Management Concepts

Managerial decision-making Problem avoiders Problem solvers Problem seekers Approaches to decision making Classical decision model Behavioral decision model Judgmental decision model 2. With references to decision-making theory covered in the chapter, describe the type of managerial decision-making evident in this case, and the conditions under which decisions were made. Managerial Decision Making *Problem avoidably problem solvers *Problem seekers Decision conditions: *Certain environment *Risk environment uncertain environment 3.Evaluate the decisions made in the case in relation to the classical, behavioral and Judgmental heuristics approaches to decision-making that are outlined In the chapter. Which model do you believe best describes the situation and subsequent decision-making process In this case? Justify your answer? Approaches to decision making Classical decision model Judgmental decision model Case decision *Classical decision model Problem: it was the flood that damage B risbane and PhysicsPossible alternative: Not releasing flood waters. Consequently threatened stability of dam Optimizing decision: Release of flood waters being aware of potential damage. SOOT Analysts: Strengths: *New technology *They set priorities *Manage time Weakness: Lack of communication Misunderstanding Misconduct Problem solving Crisis Opportunities: *Professional engineer *Employment Threats: Natural disaster (climate change) Damage roads and homes. Conclusion People should make wise decision to save the life's of the others.

Weber and Simmel’s Take on Power and Conflict

Amber Clayton Weber and Simmel’s Take on Power and Conflict Jon Witt, explaining Max Weber’s theory on resources of power, was not surprised at the fact that students do not use the party resource to fight for better tuition costs, because of the individualistic society of the United States. This fits into conflict theory because the school would be considered a rational-legal authority. The students â€Å"give in† to the rules and perceived rights of the school to raise tuition costs. As Jon Witt said â€Å"there are reasons†¦ for why people should do what they are told to do. If the school did not charge the students money then they would not be able to pay the teachers and professors to educate them. This idea fits into the broader theory because Witt’s claim about the US being individualistic is not expanded in this chapter, but it is in previous ones. In chapter 4, Witt mentioned â€Å"†¦we combine extreme interdependence (due to specializ ation) with a strong sense of individualism (tied to a weak collective conscience). We depend on each other more than ever, but we realize it less. In an article by Margaret Foster, she asks 70 college presidents â€Å"can you school continue to attract students at its current rate of tuition growth? † and 80% said yes. This tells me that students are simply following the rational-legal authority of the bureaucratic schools, choosing to accept the higher charges and taking out higher loans. The students most likely do this because they are too weak as individuals to do anything about it or they assume the school leaders are making these decisions because they have no other choice (bad economy, budget cuts, ect).George Ritzer claims that the unpredictability of human error has led to a desire for greater control and the replacement of human with nonhuman technology. The idea of companies (bureaucracies) replacing humans with technology to ensure efficiency fits into Weber†™s theory of formal rationality. As Ritzer explains â€Å"[Fast-food chains have] employed all the rational principles pioneered by the bureaucracy and is part of the bureaucratic system because huge conglomerates now own many of the fast-food chains.McDonald’s utilized bureaucratic principles and combined them with others, and the outcome is the process of McDonaldization. † Ritzer backs his claim up with multiple examples and evidence. One of which being the replacement of human communication over the telephone. Companies force people to go through a string of â€Å"press 1 for yes or 2 for no†s before they even talk to a real person. In some cases, the person doesn’t speak to a real person at all. Although annoying, people just excuse it away as a consequence of living in our technological world. This idea is expanded in an article by Karen Korzep.She outlines the advantages and problems with TeleHealth (medical technology) and the resistance among p eople to a total technological take-over. She explains in her conclusion that â€Å"just because the technology exists, does not mean that everyone will be accepting to it†¦ [however] [i]n my opinion, it will be at least one more decade before we see this technology take over and really have an effect on jobs. † Therefore, even though people may have resistance to the technology and worry that it will affect jobs negatively, the technology will still, most likely, take over in time.William J. Staudenmeier, Jr. claims in his chapter about Georg Simmel’s theories on social drinking that when a member of the group buys a round of drinks, the others would not simply pay them money, because â€Å"treating†¦ has to do with personal relationships, and it is not strictly an economic exchange. † This idea fits into conflict theory because the taverns are becoming more and more bureaucratic with rules and regulations that the consumers must follow or face the co nsequences (kicked out or banned for fighting or over drinking).Instead of backing his claim up with evidence, Staudenmeier expands on the idea by saying â€Å"the ‘surplus of satisfaction’†¦ comes from the value of giving and receiving in a group in which such actions and the thought of such actions make us feel good and make us feel a part of the group. This is outside the narrow cash nexus of economic exchange because what is calculated here is not mere profit and loss. † The issue of teenage pregnancy and how it fits into this theory is best addressed in an article by Linda Arms Gilbert.She outlined a study done by the Franklin Heights Federal Housing Project in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Murfreesboro Housing Authority partnered with the police department to help rid the projects from drug-related behaviors by developing positive relationships with the Franklin Heights families. The police department made over 500 contacts, creating a positive working relationship between the families and law enforcement as well as informed residents willing to provide tips against drug-related behaviors.The Parks and Recreation Department started an after-school program for 8-13-year old students, which included educational leisurely activities and an after-school tutoring program. A Parents as Teachers Program was started that allowed teen mothers to connect with their children. The program â€Å"held group meetings to help young parents understand the emotional, physical cognitive needs of their young children and to form a community of teen mothers who could offer support to each other. In the end â€Å"Franklin Heights has taught an entire city about the importance of collaboration and has shown what can be accomplished when individuals and agencies choose to look beyond the borders of their own job descriptions and departments to see the needs of families within that community. † The point is that, even in a bureaucratic society whe re, typically, rational-legal authority does not think about the well-being of their â€Å"workers† (in this case, the people who require government assistance), there can be an authority who thinks beyond what is efficient and profitable and helps the issue of teenage pregnancy, drug use, and violence. ——————————————- [ 1 ]. John Witt, The Big Picture: A Sociology Primer (New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. , 2007) p 89 [ 2 ]. Witt, p 86 [ 3 ]. Witt, 59 [ 4 ]. FOSTER, MARGARET. â€Å"Sticker Shock. † American Scholar 82. 1 (2013): 120. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Mar. 2013. [ 5 ]. George Ritzer, â€Å"The Weberian Theory of Rationalization and the McDonaldization of Contemporary Society†, Peter Kivisto, ed. , Illuminating Social Life: Classical and Contemporary Theory Revisited, 4th ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 2008), p 52 [ 6 ].Ritzer, p 45 [ 7 ]. Ritzer, p 54 [ 8 ]. Korzep, Karen. â€Å"The Future Of Technology And The Effect It May Have On Replacing Human Jobs. † Technology & Health Care 18. 4/5 (2010): 353-358. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Mar. 2013. [ 9 ]. Korzep, p 357 [ 10 ]. William Staudenmeier, Jr. , â€Å"Alcohol-Related Windows on Simmel's Social World,† Kivisto, 109 [ 11 ]. Staudenmeier, Jr. , p 110 [ 12 ]. Gilbert, Linda Arms. â€Å"The Teen Pregnancy Dilemma: A Different Solution. † Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin 73. 3 (2007): 5-8. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Mar. 2013. p 3 [ 13 ]. Gilbert, p 3

Decreasing Animal Euthanasia

Animal Euthanasia is looked at in many different aspects and can be seen as a beneficial act or completely evil. Some may need to euthanize their animal for health issues, while others are just euthanizing their animal because they can't take care of them and nobody is willing to adopt. Euthanasia occurs daily, with innocent animals losing their lives because of our local animal shelters being over-crowded. Why is this? Well, many adopters are not responsible enough to take care of their animals in general, along with getting them spayed and neutered. Approximately 5 to 7 millions animals enter animal shelters annually, and about 3 to 4 million end up euthanized. (ASPCA, n. d. ) This is a prime example of a huge issue that needs to be paid attention to. These animals are having to lose their lives not because they are cruel, dangerous animals, but simply that our shelters are not big enough, and our adoption rates aren't high enough, and adoptive families aren't being forced to get their pets spayed and neutered to slow down the animal population. Spaying and neutering your pet will decrease the amount of euthanasia occurring in not only our hometown shelters, but throughout the United States as well. Adoptive families have the normal application along with reference checks and landlords if they are current renters. But is this enough to really know if someone is able to take care of an animal? Shouldn't there be a much more guided policy with strict enforcement on who adopts along with a signature to make sure at the right age, if applicable, they spay or neuter their newest addition to the family? We need to make a stand against how many animals go in and out of shelters and homes, then end up being killed because of a humans actions. It just isn't fair. Animal euthanasia occurs nationwide. Do you have an animal at home? Do you consider your pet a family member, or companion that you would be ashamed to lose? If you feel that way, its best to Decreasing Animal Euthanasia Page 3 be sure you spay and neuter your loved pets because if not, their liters could end up in the hands of wrong families, maybe not intentionally, but to families that may end up realizing they can't handle that pet, and bringing it to the shelter. Though it's only recommended that orphan animals stay a minimum of 5 days, before or after those 5 days that animal could be euthanized solely because of the caretaker, not that the animal was harmful or ill. (How Long.. Sleep? , n. d. ) According to the ASPCA, 60% of animals entering shelters in the United States are euthanized and around 4 million are euthanized simply because of shelter overcrowding. (Shelter, September, 2011. ) We have a huge issue here. This is the same as the homeless people we have on the streets today, its only going to progress! We need to take a stand and make shelter for these animals. We need to expand our shelters, and if not, maybe start spay and neuter clinics for a very low cost so more people can willingly come get their animals fixed to slow down the population of animals born each day. With almost 5,000,000 pets being destroyed annually, 13,700 daily, 570 hourly, and 10 animals each minute, within the time it took just to read part of this paper, multiple animals have been euthaniased. Animal League, n. d. ) Now think, if majority of those animals or at least half had been spayed and neutered, that would have led those numbers to be split in half, all because of a simple spay and neuter process that adoptive families are slacking to accomplish out of lack of concern. If the plan is to not spay or neuter your animal, plan to treat that animal as your own blood. When that animal ends up pregnant, the responsbility comes back on you. Same as the pregnancies today. Females take a birth control to avoid unwanted pregnancies, thats the pet owners responsibility to keep their animal from pregnancy as they can't go to the vet and pay to get it done themselves! After doing some research I have found that there are other supporters other than myself trying to make an end to this animal euthanasia for innocent animals. Fosterspot. com is a website that was Decreasing Animal Euthanasia Page 4 designed for stopping euthanasia to healthy animals and making this website a nation-wide network of fostering families. I thought this was a great idea because of the fact that some adoptive families are picky for what type of cat or dog for example they are looking for. On this website, people not only from our hometown would know what we have at our local shelters, but anyone interested in certain types of animals could see where they were available! Not only can we just simply adopt to stop euthanasia and its daily occurrences, we could also try to have a local fundraiser or charity fund to expand our local shelter. We would speak to the president of the animal shelter and work together with the shelter on this. If expansion wasn't a possibility, we could also help by spreading the word of adoption, along with being a volunteer at your local shelter if time permits. Any help in the humane society field would help! Also, helping fund/collect animal food so the shelter can put more money towards expansion or other plans that are more costly. Another big issue and something to promote, is getting adoptive families to spay and neuter their animals. Yes, its true that spay and neutering your animals is not cheap, though many people don't know that there are alternatives and ways to receive low-cost spaying and neutering. The Humane Society of The United States promotes a low cost alternative on their website where you can enter your zip code to find places close to you. (Humane Society of The United States, n. d) Luckily, our community of Waterville in Maine has our local humane society that offers low-cost spaying and neutering prices! If we could get the word out there on how crucial it is for families to bring their pets in for this procedure, not only would this help euthanasia statistics, but also the adoptive families in the long run of dealing with a pregnant female dog or cat in their household! They then would have to deal with a liter and getting rid of them, which isn't always as easy as people presume it to be! Spaying and neutering household pets not only keeps away from unwanted pregnancies, but has Decreasing Animal Euthanasia Page 5 other benefits as well! This keeps animals alive longer, have a healthier life, along with saving the adoptive family from frustration as well. Things like breast cancer or dangerous uterine infections in females or testicular cancer in males can be reduced or eliminated all together. Also, messy heat cycles in female animals aren't a very joyous experience. Yet many people complain of the cost of getting animals spayed and neutered but getting pets spayed and neutered will eliminate that extra expence for food or vet services in the event of an unexpected liter of kittens or puppies. So whats more worth it? Finding a low cost clinic and getting pets spayed and neutered or waiting for pregnancy to happen which in turn can be ten times the amount of a simple spay and neuter procedure! Following spaying and neutering household pets, its also important to make sure the animal can be identified because sometimes animals stray away and end up not coming home, which in turn either the foster family looks for the animal and calls local shelters if the animal has been found, or they just aren't concerned. This in turn also causes overcrowding in shelters, due to lack of care on the families end. Making sure that these pets are wearing an identification tag, including the foster families name, address and phone number would eliminate that part of the animals being put in shelters. Also, don't assume that indfoor pets don't need tags because many strays in shelters actually are told to be indoor animals that escaped. (Animal Shelter Euthanasia) One thing that I think I will always wonder if why animal euthanasia is legal, but human euthanasia is not. We don't take our homeless population and kill them because there is no place for them to go. Euthanizing an animal who is suffering and should be put out of misery is fine, but a human is not? If someone is suffering so much no matter from what the circumstances may be, we are either drugging the patient up to not feel the pain as much, or just letting them deal with it everyday. Euthanasia in humans is not permitted, even in the most extreme cases, though animals are being euthanized for simply having no place to stay, or being cramped in a kennel. It makes me think of Decreasing Animal Euthanasia Page 6 something like suicide and how people have to suffer to end their lives, or suffer simply in a hospital bed getting infused with all kinds of drugs. Whats the point of life when you've reached those limits? If animal euthanasia is permitted, I believe human euthanasia should too. Working in the medical field and pursuing my degree as a registered nurse, I see many patients suffer and their lives being just a miserable mess, along with the family dealing with seeing their loved ones suffer. Sure, some people have to suffer in order to get better, and then they can be back to normal some day, though others may not ever be able to communicate again, to walk again. I think with our freedom we have today, we should have the right to be euthanized if we are in severe sufferage and prefer to just go on to the after life. We are the voice for these animals though. We are their protectors and we are the ones who have to make their decisions. Euthanizing an animal simply because it would cause crowding in shelters, or because of adoptive families not following through on getting the pet spayed and neutered is just disturbing. I think that if we take these steps together, along with having others proceed on this issue with us, there will be more awareness and more information put out there. It truly is the only way to really get something across is to spread the word, and never give up on your beliefs and your goals and achievements. These innocent animals deserve a life just as you or I do. We all have one precious life, and once its taken, we never can get it back. People may not look at animals as an importance, but they are here for reasons, just as we as humans are. Animal euthanasia is immoral and wrong and I know that if you feel as strongly about animals as I do, you will do whats in your will power to help decrease animal euthanasia in your community. Wither you can make a big impact, or small, it really all balances out and everyone matters. It's about coming together and making a change for the better. So today is the day to take a stand and make a change. Go and get your pet spayed and neutered along with spreading the word and letting others know the importance of this matter. In the end it benefits more than just the Decreasing Animal Euthanasia Page 7 animal, but also yourself as you can be rest assured you made your impact on this issue.Reference Page Animal Shelter Euthanasia. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.americanhumane.org/animals/stop-animal-abuse/fact-sheets/animal-shelter-euthanasia.html ASPCA | Pet Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.aspca.org/about-us/faq/pet-statistics.aspx How Long Do Animal Shelters Keep Animals Before Putting Them to Sleep? | eHow. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/facts_7404543_long-animals-before-putting-sleep_.html Reducing Euthanasia – North Shore Animal League America. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.animalleague.org/about-us/how-we-help/reducing-euthanasia.html Shelter Animal Euthanasia Could End With Help From National Foster Home Network — CYPRESS, Texas, Sept. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ –. (n.d.). Retrieved fromhttp://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/shelter-animal-euthanasia-could-end-with-help-from-national-foster-home-network-129786818.html You Can Afford to Have Your Pet Spayed or Neutered : The Humane Society of the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/tips/afford_spay_neuter.html

Violence against Women in War is an Extension of Domestic Violence Essay

Violence against Women in War is an Extension of Domestic Violence - Essay Example Before such acts of rape, assault and physical violence against women occur during wars and conflicts, the same must have happened domestically, way before. Female genital mutilation forced marriages, forced and selective abortion, abandonment, gender discrimination in property inheritance, forced sex, rape and a series of other domestic abuses happen to women of different faiths, from different economic backgrounds, in almost all countries in the world, taking either of these forms or the other. Therefore, while such abuses, violence, and acts of aggression finds themselves into war and conflicts zones, it is because they have been happening under the cover of the domestic veil, only that wars and conflicts have created a better opportunity to accelerate and repeatedly commit the acts of violence, with no fear of legal consequences. More so, statistics have indicated that the servicemen, especially the military, operatives and combat personalities who have been involved in a series of operations in different regions of the world are more likely to attack, abuse or assault their intimate partners or children, while raping and assaulting the victims of conflicts and wars during their combat duties. Such occurrences are mostly contributed to, by the stress and substance use related consequences of the wars that such service men and combatants have been exposed to. The fundamental behavioral principle that connects domestic violence and violence against women in war is one, namely the overwhelming display of superior force, applied towards controlling and cowing the victims and putting them in a situation where they cannot express any resistance.

Response to Changing Perspective of Service in Financial Services Research Proposal

Response to Changing Perspective of Service in Financial Services Sector - Research Proposal Example The FSA has announced several measures to improve corporate governance in the financial services sector. The objective of these regulations is to increase the confidence level of the consumers about the working of the companies, taking into account the financial and non-financial aspects. Financial Services Act 1986 has been replaced by the Financial Services and Market Act 2000 with a view to tightening the controls on the financial services industry... d Market Act 2000 with a view to tightening the controls on the financial services industry, and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) exercises the statutory powers derived from this act. It is increasingly felt that the business model is based on incentives and the role of the independent financial advisors from the investors' protection point of view has become questionable. According to FSA (2010) Retail Distribution Review (RDR), launched in 2006 aims to address the problems inherent in the retail investment market, and is expected to be implemented by 2012 for regulating the sale of retail financial services such as life assurance, pensions, long term savings, and fund management, and it has a profound impact on the operations of the bigger players in the industry like Aviva. Aviva is the biggest insurance group in the UK and it is the world's sixth largest company in the insurance industry with market leadership in general insurance, fire insurance, pension, long term savings and fund management with worldwide operations. The regulatory issues are multifarious and as diversified as the industry.     

What is Success Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

What is Success - Essay Example Third, one can achieve success by describing success blatantly. It is impossible to achieve true success if one does not know its true meaning. This is because everybody defines success in a different manner. After looking up the word success, I learned that success is only important if it has a personal meaning to an individual. Establishing objectives that correspond with this meaning of success is the next method for realizing it. Struggling to succeed in keeping with another individual’s standards or meaning of success is not a good idea. One may achieve such success and earn admiration and respect from society when in fact he or she lacks a sense of personal fulfillment. According to William Sumner, one can only define success in either the context of public view or one’s idea of the world. As a result, what one thinks is important in life shapes our definition of success. There are numerous criteria for determining and measuring success. As a result, Sumner created â€Å"The Inevitable You† model for achieving success. â€Å"The Inevitable You† is supposed to help people come up ideas of success through psychological and â€Å"neural pattern† software (Sumner 2013). This software defines reality. I do not entirely agree with this program for achieving because of its extremely far-fetched basis. As a result, I do not think people should pay attention to what Sumner says about success. According to Jessica Hamilton, success is a modest and local livelihood that is thrilling skillfully and links or motivates an individual physically and spiritually (TEDx Talks 2013). Hamilton clarifies that success should entail repeated and fixed notions and images. Success should be capable of establishing a social benchmark. Irrespective of one’s salary, their plans for success should have a feeling of growth and purpose. Hamilton says that her children â€Å"are emotionally empowered† because she teaches them these aspects

Alzheimer's disease relate to aging Research Paper

Alzheimer's disease relate to aging - Research Paper Example This document examines the prevalence of Alzheimer’s among the elderly persons and the resources available in Marshall County for helping the victims of the condition. As persons advance in age, the body undergoes various changes in their brains and results to dementias (UCSF Memory and Aging Center, 2014). For example, the brain shrinks that occur in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. The shrinking of the brain interferes with memory, learning, planning, etc. The changes in neurons and neurotransmitters can degrade the white matter and result to reduction in communication (UCSF Memory and Aging Center, 2014). In some instances, plagues and tangles structures develops outside and inside of the neurons respectively thus causing the brain cells to stop working and eventually die thus causing failure of memory, change in characters and complications with carry out day to day activities (Swaab et al., 2011). Also, changes in blood vessels occur with age, resulting to reduced blood flow due to narrowing of the arteries and less growth of new capillaries. With age, there is an increase in brain inflammation and increase in damages caused by free rad icals that interfere with normal functioning of the brain (Swaab et al., 2011). The changes in brain that occurs with age are the most likely cause of Alzheimer’s among the elderly persons. The most notable change in brain with age is atrophy or the shrinking of some parts of the brain, the secretion on wobbly molecules known as free radicals, the brain inflammation and dysfunction of the mitochondrial resulting to collapse of generation of energy within the cells (Swaab et al., 2011). Various studies have established that five percent of persons with Alzheimer’s occur due to inherited factors from the parents. An example is the familial Alzheimer’s disorder caused by alterations occurring in one of the inheritable genes in human

Can food education reduce the obesity levels in schools Dissertation

Can food education reduce the obesity levels in schools - Dissertation Example Aims and Objectives†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..10 IV. Research Questions†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦11 V. Research Methodology and Design†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...12 Chapter Two/Literature Review†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦15 I. Definition of Obesity†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.15 II. Causes of Obesity in Children†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...16 III. Health Risk Factors Associated with Childhood Obesity†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.21 IV. Food Education in Schools as a Method for Reducing Obesity†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦24 Chapter Three/The UK’s Strategies for Reducing Obesity in Schools†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.29 Chapter Four/Findings and Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.............37 Bibliography†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..40 Chapter One Introduction Childhood obesity has doubled in developed countries over the past twenty of so years. The prevalence and growth of childhood obesity and its attending problems have caused health care professionals to characterize childhood obesity as a â€Å"public health disaster waiting to happen,† a â€Å"massive tsunami† and â€Å"a health time-bomb† (Waters, Seidell and Sweinburn 2010, 3). Although the UK’s childhood obesity levels are not unique, they have reached unprecedented levels and remain a major concern for policy-makers and health officials. All indications are therefore that the UK as elsewhere, have not yet found a method for reducing or reversing childhood obesity (Great Britain National... This essay "Can food education reduce the obesity levels in schools?" outlines the importance of food education in school in order to prevent the level of obesity among children of shool age. Childhood obesity has doubled in developed countries over the past twenty of so years. The prevalence and growth of childhood obesity and its attending problems have caused health care professionals to characterize childhood obesity as a â€Å"public health disaster waiting to happen,† a â€Å"massive tsunami† and â€Å"a health time-bomb† (Waters, Seidell and Sweinburn 2010, 3). Although the UK’s childhood obesity levels are not unique, they have reached unprecedented levels and remain a major concern for policy-makers and health officials. All indications are therefore that the UK as elsewhere, have not yet found a method for reducing or reversing childhood obesity (Great Britain National Audit Office 2006, 9). In 2004, obesity was identified by the UK government as a major policy concern and targets were established for reducing childhood obesity by the year 2010. In 2006, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) publicized guidelines for preventing, identifying, assessing and managing obesity and overweight in both children and adults. The guidelines makes recommendations for the NHS, local authorities (LAs), the public and community partners that can be carried out in schools, the work environment, personally and within community projects (Aiken, Arai and Roberts 2008, 1).

Walmart's Implementation, Strategic Controls, and Contingency Plans Essay

Walmart's Implementation, Strategic Controls, and Contingency Plans - Essay Example One of the main issues that had become the root of all problems was its core values of providing low prices always. Some of the strategies that the company had implemented into achieving these policies were called into question. One of the important objectives of implementing the strategy for change management was to revive the falling sales and get the company back on growth platform. One of the turnaround factors for wall mart that is going to lift it out of the stage that it is currently in is to grow leaders at all stage. To grow leaders at all stage of the organizations among both the managerial and non managerial workforce is to impart them adequate training. Since wall mart is a large multinational organization so to impart training at large scale will require adequate planning. The plan to grow leaders at all stage of the organization should be done step by step (Walmart Inc, 2006b). The plan should be first inducted as a training module for a single branch and then slowly spread into other branches at first in a country, then in a continent and then through all the continents. Before going into next step of the process the company must first ensure that the first step has been successful with clear and positive results. The company by utilizing its innovative CRM tools has huge pile of customer data that it has collected over the years. A simple strategy would be look into what has changed in the customers buying behavior. If the customers are moving towards other store why on earth are they doing so? The key is to analyze the key lacunas and fix them. One of the key areas where wall mart might be lacking as compared to its competitors is that in a drive to give its customers â€Å"Always low prices. Always† the company gives discriminatory wages to its employees. So the company suffers from low employee productivity as compared to many of its competitors (Cascio, 2006b). Costco produced $21,805 in operating profit per hourly employee. This is

Construction Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Construction Project - Essay Example The sector of construction has been playing some significance role in developed as well as undeveloped countries. The workforce in the developing countries such as Jordan is not perceived as a significant input to the industry despite the fact that labour from the construction project contribute the most significant and biggest percentage of the entire costs of project. Thus control of labour costs becomes very crucial for the sake of profitability in this industry. Due to this the managers and contractors considers this labour as high-risk thus any wastage reduction indicates big potential for increase in production efficiency. The Jordanian construction labour force has features of manual, traditional and hard labour. The workers, who have wide range of abilities and social-cultural backgrounds productivity, have their productivity affected by several factors. Research by Kazaz (2008) indicates that there is generally poor productivity of the construction craftsmen which becomes one of the most daunting problems of human resource. There is also poor efficiency of the construction labour. The major reasons for this include the fact that the sector has hardly been employing normal relations and policies related to labour. There has also been ignorance by the managers to perceive the various factors which have impact man power productivity. Productivity risk factor has also been found to create very strong effect on the duration of the construction projects. The poor labour Productivity has led to time overruns in these projects (Kazaz, 2008). Innovative development or improvement of existing practice The workers are the key in every project especially in a construction project. Even amidst the technological advances and innovations happened in the construction sector, the role of the workers cannot be underestimated. They are instrumental in determining the success or the failure of a project; defining the project goal, organization of the project, directing, coordinating and monitoring project activities. They achieve these goals using their interpersonal and organizational skills such as communication, delegation, decision-making and negotiation (Thwala &Monese, n. d, p. 5). Motivation of the workforce is an essential requirement for the growth of an organization irrespective of in which country or region it operates. The needs of the people are changing day by day and traditional motivational techniques may not work in today's work environment. Man, Material, Machine and Money are the four essential resource requirements for an organization. Among these 4M's manpower seems to be the most important one since the manpower controls all the other resources. Man cannot function like a machine since man has physical and mental requirements like food, shelter, happiness etc. In fact man is working only for catering these requirements. Whenever the organization fails to meet the physical and mental requirements of its workforce, the result would be less productivity. The sector of construction has been playing some significance role in undeveloped countries. The workforce in the developing countries such as Jordan is not perceived as a significant input to the industry despite the fact that labour from the construction

Brain and spine Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Brain and spine - Essay Example Thus, it is oxygenated in lungs, and de-oxygenated once it passes through tissues (Guyton and Hall, 2006). Because of its liquid nature, it is able to seep through spaces once a vascular injury occurs. We usually see it as bruising of the skin, when trauma causes breakage in the thin-walled capillaries in the dermis. The bruising then recedes with time, and the skin goes back to its previous appearance as if nothing happened. The same may not be applicable to other organs, more notably the brain. Although there is no obvious bruising similar to that seen on the skin, brain hemorrhages present with more serious signs of paralysis or changes in the sensorium, as caused by the ischemia and neuronal death of the area in the brain that should have been perfused by the injured vessel. Soon, ischemia of some brain tissue results to irreversible neurologic dysfunction. Prompt management is thus needed before neurologic defects become permanent (Kumar et al., 2010). The age of hemorrhage is important because it determines the management of intracranial hemorrhage, as will be discussed later. The stages of hematoma are based on the form of hemoglobin in RBCs. Initially, during the hyper-acute phase or hours after the development of the lesion, hematoma is made up of a liquid suspension of intact RBCs containing oxy- or deoxy-hemoglobin. If the blood came from an arterial source, which is the case in most non-traumatic etiologies such as aneurysm, approximately 95% of hemoglobin molecules are oxygenated. Later, water is resorbed by the brain tissue, resulting to a solidified aggregation of RBCs. As the blood ages further, the hemoglobin denatures from oxy- or deoxy- to met-hemoglobin. This transformation is dependent on the oxidation of ferrous (Fe+2) heme iron contained by oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin to ferric (Fe+3) state, turning the protein into

Absurdity of a Sivilized Society-an Analysis of Huckleberry Finn Essay Example for Free

Absurdity of a Sivilized Society-an Analysis of Huckleberry Finn Essay The Absurdity of a â€Å"Sivilized† Society Authors often express their views on any given subject through their works, and Mark Twain is no exception. One may read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and believe it is simply a novel about a young boys childhood; however, a deeper analysis of the text reveals many of Mark Twain’s expressions about important moral and social issues. Perhaps one of the most prominent being the frailty of human justice and the hypocrisy we as a people foster in our societies. Throughout the novel, Huck meets people who appear to be good, civilized people, but always end up having a hypocritical fault about them. Though not every instance is a grave matter, Twain’s writing shows that societies in Huck’s world are based upon corrupted laws and principles that defy basic logic. Twain’s writing leaves the reader with an understanding that cowardice, illogical choices, and selfish as well as hypocritical people mark these societies. Twain begins weaving hypocrisies and cants early into the story; one of the most appalling being the issue of Huck’s custody. This flawed system of thought is first shown when the new judge in St. Petersburg rules that Pap has rightful custody of Huck. Although this would be bad for Huck if his father became his legal guardian, the judge asserts Pap’s rights to Huck as his biological son, despite the fact that this is placing Huck’s welfare below the so-called rights of his father. Ironically, this system would put Huck under his dad’s custody, leaving him worse off, whereas Jim is separated from his family despite being a far better father and person. However, the welfare of the individual isn’t highly valued in society, and thus they are placed in uncomfortable, often dangerous situations. The judge tries to put Huck back in contact with his horrid father and therefore abuse, but Jim, a loving parent, never receives help to be with his children and help rescue them from slavery and separation. This decision defies all logic one would find in a normal society, and yet this kind of thinking was commonplace. The values and welfare of a black person were nowhere near as important as those of a white man, and even though Jim is a grown man with the most in tune moral compass of any character in the book, Huck still has power over him simply because he is white. By comparing the situation of Pap and Huck with slaves and their masters, Twain hints that it is impossible for a society to be civilized so long as it practices slavery. Though not quite as harmful, another example of a hypocritical character can be found in the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. In an attempt to â€Å"sivilize† Huckleberry, Miss Watson reprimands him for smoking a cigarette and yet she snuffs tobacco. â€Å"Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn’t. She said it was a mean practice and wasn’t clean, and I must try to not do it any more†¦ And she took snuff, too; of course that was all right, because she done it herself† (Twain 2). She prevents Huck from doing what she believes is uncivilized and detrimental to his health, yet doesn’t think twice about proceeding to do something very similar simply because she herself enjoys it. This example of hypocrisy is not particularly malicious, but yet another example of how all the characters Huck is involved with has some form of a hypocritical flaw. Furthermore, Miss Watson is quite religious and, in efforts to teach Huck, tells him that all he must do is pray for something and he will have it. However, when Huck needs fishhooks and asks her to help pray for them, she calls him a fool. Then Miss Watson she took me in the closet and prayed, but nothing come of it. She told me to pray every day, and whatever I asked for I would get it. But it warnt so. I tried it. Once I got a fish- line, but no hooks. It warnt any good to me without hooks. I tried for the hooks three or four times, but somehow I couldnt make it make it work. By-and-by, one day, I asked Miss Watson to try for me, but she said I was a fool. (Twain 8). Miss Watson tells Huck that if he does something, he can expect a certain result but when things don’t work, he asks for her help and she chides him for it! The widow Douglas and Miss Watson are religious, educated, and yet, they are slave owners. They educate Huck, and teach him religion but find it perfectly acceptable to do things contrary to their teachings, such as snuff and practice slavery. The latter, being a more insidious humbug of St. Petersburg, is shown over and over again throughout Huck’s journey. As Huck begins to stray from his backwards, insincere town, he reaches different places with different people, all different in their own way and yet, very similar to those in St. Petersburg. The Duke and Dauphin are two despicable con men who join Huck and Jim as they continue to drift on the river. The Duke and Dauphin cause trouble for Huck and Jim, as well as the towns they visit. The fault here is that, the Duke and Dauphin are able to scam entire communities by lying, pretending to be someone they’re not, and cheating their guests. Though they spend most of the novel doing awful things or planning awful things, they both are hardly punished. After the first showing of The Royal Nonesuch, the first group of attendees realizes they have been cheated. However, instead of chastising the Duke and Dauphin, the audience that night chooses to lie about the performance in order to cheat a second group of attendees. Hold on! Just a word, gentlemen. † They stopped to listen. â€Å"We are sold—mighty badly sold. But we don’t want to be the laughing stock of this whole town, I reckon, and never hear the last of this thing as long as we live. NO. What we want is to go out of here quiet, and talk this show up, and sell the REST of the town! Then we’ll al l be in the same boat. Ain’t that sensible? † (You bet it is! —the jedge is right! † everybody sings out. ) â€Å"All right, then—not a word about any sell. Go along home, and advise everybody to come and see the tragedy. † (Twain 114). Most hypocritical, however, is the fact that the Judge of the town conceived this plan. He who stands as a pillar of justice and truth in the town decides to cheat the others in order to save face. By the third night, everyone in town has seen the play and the Duke and Dauphin make a large profit from their misconduct. Immoral acts committed by the Duke and Dauphin never yielded punishments, but brazen, drunk insults led to execution. Boggs, described as the â€Å"most easy going old fool in Arkansas†, began shouting insults and anathemas at Sherburn, the man who had cheated him. He [Sherburn] was standing perfectly still in the street, and had a pistol raised in his right hand—not aiming it, but holding it out with the barrel tilted up towards the sky†¦ Boggs throws up both of his hands and says, â€Å"O Lord, don’t shoot! † Bang! goes the first shot, and he staggers back, clawing at the air—bang! goes the second one, and he tumbles backwards on to the ground, heavy and solid, with his arms spread out. † (Twain 108). The Duke and Dauphin cheat entire communities and remain unpunished by their terrible acts; however, peccadilloes like shouting drunken insults result in execution. Twain’s writing exposes the issue of faulty justice and duplicitous nature of men. Furthermore, Sherburn’s speech to the angry mob around his house in relation to a lack of logic and cowardice capitulates Twain’s societal views. Twain’s use of hypocrisy helps express his views on societal issues. Though not every instance is harmful, such as Miss Watson’s snuff usage, other notable examples such as the execution of Boggs and the custody of Huck highlight his belief that cowardice, lack of logic, and selfishness are at the core of society, not the communal welfare that it should be. The repeated instances of insecure, logic defying justice are the root of the problem, as thoughtless crimes are punished severely whereas serious crimes go scot-free. Throughout the novel, Huck meets characters that appear good, yet Twain makes a conscious effort to prove they are prejudiced slave owners. The illogical choices and hypocritical people presented throughout the novel show the hypocrisy and ludicrousness of the â€Å"sivilized† society.

Transportation Planning And Urban Form Environmental Sciences Essay

Transportation Planning And Urban Form Environmental Sciences Essay Transportation planning should be about more than concrete and steel. It should be about building communities. Rodney Slater The topic of my paper is Transportation planning and urban form. It is well known fact that urban form is highly correlated with the evolution of transportation systems. There exist complex relationship between transportation, land use and urban form. City development patterns are highly correlated with the evolution of transportation systems. As we glanced through the history of transportation Planning in US we see that there has been rational comprehensive approach in the beginning which than with environmental concerns and sprawl changed to another perspective of advocacy. In this paper I am going to focuses on rational approach and Advocacy Planning paradigm for issue of urban form and Transportation and contrasts and compare two different approaches through case studies. History of Transportation Planning and Urban Form1 Transportation planning in the 20th century grew up with the success of automobile industry. According to Rick Adams, Comprehensive plans that included rail transit, such as Forest Hills Gardens, New York, quickly proved to be the exception. Transportation planning soon became the handmaiden of the automobile, taking it where it wanted to go, often regardless of the consequences. By the early 1920s, the popularity of the automobile had largely displaced interest in planning for public transportation, which faced declining rider ship and loss of profits1. Public transit failed to pass public voting. The automobile quickly became the future and national progress. According to Rick, The planners preference was certified at the 1924 National Conference on City Planning when the way of the horizontal city of the future was declared-by the automobile. The sudden tidal wave of auto mobility swept over cities throughout the 1920s.2 As result of this suddenly, suburbs began to grow at a much faster rate than cities. As early as 1923, some cities were debating the banning of cars downtown because of congestion. Commuters by automobile quickly outnumbered those by transit. The single answer for congestion was to build more roads, usually in straight radial lines from the center of the city into territories of developable land at the citys edge. The good roads movement gained in popularity. The concept of a continuous national system of highways was instituted in the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 with the adoption of a numbered U.S. highway system composed of routes extending across the nation. According to Rick Adams, No one was more aggressive at road building than Robert Moses, who, from 1924, amassed unprecedented power in New York to steamroll thousands of miles of highway building projects.3 The Regional Plan Association of America (RPAA), composed of the eras most reform-minded planners, including Lewis Mumford, Clarence Stein, and Henry Wright, proposed the idea of the townless highway, thoroughfares that would encourage the building of real communities at definite and favorable points off the main road. With the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1934, Congress authorized funds to state governments for surveys, plans, engineering, and economic analyses for future highway construction projects. By 1940 Los Angeles soon became the world model of up-to-the-minute modernity in its enthusiastic embrace of transportation planning for the automobile. Congress passed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1944, financing an interurban system of 32,000 miles that bypassed urban areas. The act immediately created a debate: transportation planners, such as Harold Bartholomew, and power broker Robert Moses wanted to use new roads to attack urban blight, charting expressways through urban residential areas to entirely redevelop them. Once again, the debate over roads fight blight came to center stage, with many planners insisting that the new highways must penetrate t o the center of urban areas to remove slums and improve the connection between outlying suburbs and downtown offices and retail areas. In June 1956, the Interstate Highway Act was passed with only a single vote in opposition. The $41 billion bill became the largest public works program in the history of the world, and which set imbalance that favored the private automobile over public transit. By the early 1960s, the automobile was essentially putting other forms of transportation out of business. It soon became apparent to transportation planners that an undue reliance on the automobile was creating as many problems as it was eliminating. As each new interstate was completed, fresh new problems of displacement, pollution, and congestion arose. Although an well-established group of planners continued to argue for more highway building, other voices began to be heard in support of the idea of balanced transportation. In the article Rick Adams4 says that in 1962, for example, the San Francisco Bay Area passed a voters referendum for a 71-mile rail transit system after a prolonged freeway revolt had voiced popular dissatisfaction with more and more highway building. The year 1962 also saw the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act, which mandated local transportation planning. According to John Edward6 The Urban Mass transportation Act of 1964 (UMTA) was the first significant effort of the century to recognize the need to improve and expand public transit. Expenditures increased from approximately $100 million in 1964-65 to approximately $1.3 billion at the end of the 1970s. Under the program, a type of balance was anticipated against the huge federal subsidy for highway building by offering matching funds for capital acquisitions of local transit, and the principal aim was to attain congestion relief by making public transit faster and more comfortable. However, the act also promoted plans for new rail transit, such as the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) in the Sa n Francisco Bay Area. The ironic consequence of most of these public transit efforts, however, was to spread decentralization of urban downtowns and frequently contribute to the deterioration of central city neighborhoods, often increasing racial segregation. Many of the public transit improvements only facilitated suburban commuting in place of intracity transportation. BART, for example, became a high-speed conduit for financial district office workers from the East Bay suburbs of Contra Costa and Alameda. San Francisco residents were seldom to be found on the bright futuristic cars that sped beneath the city streets. In city after city, the main beneficiaries of the new systems or extensions were suburban commuters, not residents of central cities. After 1970, pollution in urban areas became a major federal concern, and the EPA sought to develop plans that would diminish traffic in urban areas to reduce pollution, although planners generally continued to ignore the automobiles co ntribution to urban sprawl. The shift in focus from reducing congestion to reducing pollution brought about certain restrictions on automobiles in central areas, converted downtown streets into pedestrian malls, and reduced downtown speed limits. Although critics continued to argue that the federal role in transportation planning was only codifying the decentralization of urban areas or providing Band-Aids to the problems of automobile pollution, the notion of balanced transportation continued to be advanced. Increasingly, the federal role in transportation planning grew more inconsistent during the 1980s. Public transit advocates complained that the government was not doing enough, local jurisdictions complained that it was requiring too much, and congressional representatives increased their opposition to what they termed big-government intrusion into local affairs. A kind of deadlock expand throughout the 1980s, with mounting opposition to freeway building by quality-of-life advo cates and suburban home owners on the one hand and by public transit advocates faced with reduced federal subsidies for public transit development on the other. Although there were some notable successes of locally funded transit programs, such as in San Diego, California, and a number of other cities that cobbled together funding for new light rail vehicle systems, congestion and sprawl continued to increase as a new phenomenon of edge cities grew into the planners purview with the most far-reaching requirements for automobile commuting yet. The 1990s saw the influence of numerous state growth management plans that for the first time addressed the comprehensive relationship of urban growth to balanced transportation principles. As state growth-management plans began to extend the idea of what balanced transportation meant, federal transportation planning was also influenced. Passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Act attempted to put the highway-only approach to transport ation planning to rest forever. For the first time, federal transportation planning included significant provisions to balance local land use planning, the environment, historic preservation, and mobility for children, the elderly, and the disabled. The pessimist would point to the stranglehold of the automobile on everything from the shape of cities to the air we breathe and conclude that transportation planning has only contributed to the problem. The optimist, however, might point to the incremental progress that is apparent in transportation planning over time, including the increasing interest in what is often called smart growth legislation that attempts to address the relationship of transportation planning and land use, and the increased use of public transportation. As the century ended, public transportation rider ship was again on the rise, with an equivalent of a million new trips of public transportation rider ship, increasing by percentages greater than any other travel modes, including motor vehicle travel. Significantly, these gains were evident in central cities, suburbs, and even rural areas, and the idea of a comprehensive approach to transportation planning shows evidence of spreading with increased levels of influence and acceptance. Hence through out the century transportation has been detrimental factor defining the urban form and vice versa. Urbanization has been one of a dominant trend of economic and social change since the second half of the 20th century. paradigms Comprehensive Rational Planning: There were major criticism of post-war planning thought that emerged in 1950s and 1960s. Planning theory had failed to understand the empirical relationship of planning. The planners did not comprehend the understanding of the relationship between social planning and physical planning4. Criticisms of physicalist bias of post war town planning theory were criticized at two levels. At level one it was criticized for concentrating on physical environment to the extent of ignoring social environment. And at another level, to the extent that town planner did not consider social environment in their plan making. Another criticism of early planning was lack of consultation and public involvement and hence was viewed as political nature of planning. The early physical and blue print planning was criticized not to be aware of reality of the living space. So common theme of all criticisms was the accusation that planners were insufficiently informed about the n ature of the reality they were tampering with. Planners had lack of understanding of cities which was exhibited in their normative ideals. In its Utopianism, its anti-urbanism, its simple tree like models of urban structure and its assumptions about consensus over what ideals of good planning should be, traditional town planning thought failed to grasp the complexity and richness, as well as undoubted problems of human social life and its manifestations in cities. So in respond to this criticisms new Planning theories were developed. This type of planning was described to be technical, abstract and highly mathematical. The systems view of planning arose in criticism to the physical design which is substantive theory, while rational process view was clearly procedural theory of planning. This was a more quantitative approach. Both theories are viewed as sharing certain fundamental assumptions about nature of world and possibilities for human progress within it. The general rational p lanning process involved the steps of defining a problem, identifying alternatives, evaluating them, implementing plans and policies and monitoring their effects. The rational planning theory had a certain methodology that could be applied to smaller problems and in a modified form. The drawbacks to this theory would be the impossibility to grasp all variables and the lack of resources and time to collect information. So from new planning theories, we see that planning has been process of trial and error and that has given rise to so many paradigms in field of Planning. Both Gunton and Hodge note that Rational Comprehensive Planning (RCP) rose in response to problems brought on by urban growth in the Nineteenth Century when scientific methods were applied to find solutions to urban problems (Hodge a, 83). Most planners now style themselves as using RCP. This is evident in Official Plans and the plan-making process which involve scientific instruments like forecasts, analyses of issu es and concerns, studies of anticipated social and environmental impacts and goal statements (Perks Jamieson, 490). As its name implies, this theory applies rational decision-making to planning. The four typical elements of RCP are: goal setting, identification of policy alternatives, evaluation of means against ends, and implementation of decisions with feedback loops and repetition of steps (Hudson, 388). Using this method requires exhaustive information gathering and analysis. It stresses objectivity, the public interest, information and analysis which allow planners to identify the best possible course of action. Requirements for Rational Comprehensive Planning are it assumes that decision makers have well defined problem, full array of alternatives to consider, they are well informed, they have full information about the consequences of each alternative, and they are well equipped with resources and skills. The ideal-typical decision-making model in planning has seven identifiable stages (source Freidman): Formulation of goals and objectives; Identification and design of major alternatives for reaching the goals identified within the given decision-making situation; Prediction of major sets of consequences that would be expected to follow upon adoption of each alternative; Evaluation of consequences in relation to desired objectives and other important values; Decision based on information provided in the preceding steps; Implementation of this decision through appropriate institutions; and Feedback of actual programme results and their assessment in light of the new decision situation. RCP approaches problems from a systems (integrated) viewpoint, using conceptual or mathematical models that relate ends (objectives) to means (resources and constraints) with quantitative analysis (Hudson, 388). It attempts to side-step the issue of conflict by presuming a discernable public interest. Here there is assumption that communitys various collective goals can be measured in some effective or quantitative way (Altshuler, 194)6. The method strives to be objective, technical and exclude subjective and emotional discussion. It attempts to separate planning from politics by ignoring the political considerations of public interest. (Hudson, 390). The major advantage of RCP is its simplicity. Following a logical, deliberate process, it is easily grasped, its analytical techniques are standard applications of social science, and its intentions are straightforward (Hudson, 389). It has wide applicability and incorporates the fundamental issues, ends, means, trade-offs, and action-taking which are part of most planning activities (Hudson, 389). The major weakness of RCP is that it is unrealistic. As a methodology, it can only be applied to relatively simple problems and then only in modified form. It is more of procedural theory than substantive. In the real world, inherent limitations on resources, information and time make it impossible to use RCP in its purest form. Lindblom comments that its non-implementability takes away any point in using it (Faludi, 117). Simon and March critiques of decision making process in RCP are that it is ambigious, planners consider themselves to be well informed but infact they are not. ( Forester, 1989.) Its demands are considerable and require more than decision-makers are capable of giving. The impossibility of predicting all consequences or grasp all variables and the lack of resources and time to collect information needed for rational choice limit its practicability (Etzioni, 219). Lindblom further notes that the costs of being more comprehensive often exceeded the benefits (Gunton, 406). Lastly, it relies heavily on a particular model of a clear, unitary notion of the public interest which is impossible to achieve in the real world. Interests in reality are pluralist: citizens, politicians and administrators have differing and conflicting values and objectives. This makes it difficult for planners to ascertain the majoritys preference and public debate is rarely wide enough to accomplish this (Lindblom, 156). The rational planning theory came into emergence after the physical planning theory. The rational planning theory which came along on the bases of the systems theory, had actually originated in highly technical fields of operations research and cybernetics. The rational planning approach follows a certain methodology to the planning process and the planners need to be answerable to any questions that might come up. The renewed faith of the application of science was on of the chief reasons for the start of rational planning theory. The rational planning process is practiced in the planning field even today to a great extent. The benefit-cost analysis done for execution of various projects is a major part of the procedural planning theory. The criticism of the rational planning theory is that in identifying and defining problems, something that is assumed to be a problem is actually a problem. Also the different alternative proposed and the selection within them should not favor a particular group. The rational planning theory persists in the planning field today with the specialized consultants practicing planning. They are hired to solve a certain p roblem with quantitative analysis, technical approach to problem solving and other analytical skills. The rational planning also persists in the form of academic courses. Some of the schools have a curriculum that focus on the more technical and analytical approach towards planning problems and the others are public policy and social economically oriented. Thus, as academics emphasizes on the procedural planning theories, this in turn leads to planners perception and approach towards planning to be rationalistic. Thus, there have been arguments about whether the rational planning approach is the most comprehensive approach to planning. Advocacy planning: The numbers of public policy decisions that are made in planning seem to be favoring a certain group of individuals who are involved in the planning process and not the underprivileged or the minority groups. The very technical and analytical way of planning did not seem to be concerned with human feelings or the opinions of the ordinary people, who were also a major part of the society. Accordint to Paul Davidoff Planning decisions were influenced by political steering, they seem to be neglecting the most disadvantaged7. Advocacy planning, as initiated by Davidoff, is an attempt to incorporate the voices or values that would not otherwise be represented by the incremental approach. Through advocacy planning, planners can advocate the interests of those who are out-of-reach and powerless to represent their own interests. Thus, advocacy planning is a representation of certain social groups by advocacy planners, using the applied techniques of law. Advocacy planning has its origins that such groups needs planners to make their case, thus leading the planners to search for a new kind of clientele. Advocate planner take the view that any plan is the embodiment of particular group interests, and therefore they see it as important that any group which has interests at stake in the planning process should have those interests articulated. They start to reject the notion of general welfare in other words. The clientele is mostly the low income communities. It talks about the slums not having any community association or leaders that could voice their opinions. Thus, they need a support of the planners of the society to improve their needs. The concept of advocacy planning could be reasoned with an understanding that if the lowest needs are taken care of, the higher needs are taken care of and this leading to the over all improvement of the quality of life of the society. There is analogy made between the legal representatives and the advocate planners. Thus, advocacy planning appears to be a new kind of politics. It is considered to be an apparatus by which the society is humanized over the technical apparatus. In the early 1970s advocate planners started working with the city governments that shared their commitment to real pluralism. The criticism of advocacy planning was that if the shift of planners concern was from one group to another. Even though advocacy planning favored the disadvantaged group, it totally was considered to be not concerned with the other groups. The planning process thus started to occupy the rational comprehensive approach. This was trying to create a balance between the loopholes of the two planning process to achieve a better and effective functioning of planning in general. Theorists suggested that since planning was for the people, by all means it should be by the people and of the people too. So was born Advocacy planning wherein even a laymen with the slightest knowledge of plan ning could voice his expressions regarding planning policies that could have direct or indirect effects on his life. Advocacy planners felt that any plan is the embodiment of particular group interests and therefore it is important that any group which has interests at stake in the planning process should have those interests articulated. This view of planning was also considered as a boon for the poor, low income communities and the under represented groups, because the advocacy planning groups proposed to help people from every fraction of the community to voice their interests. Case Study I: Study of De Moines Metropolitan Area9 As discussed in introduction to this paper it is well known that urban form is highly correlated with evolution of transportation systems. This case study focuses on developing planning tools that are responsive to the complicated interaction between transportation and land use, which is helpful to identify the typical characteristics of development of urban form. The historical development of Des Moines area is reviewed to see how urban form is accommodated by transportation evolution and conventional transportation modeling process is reviewed to see how urban form is implied in transportation modeling process. Spatial measurements are used to quantify urban form of Des Moines and its existing transportation network. Historical Development of Des Moines Area: Review of historical development of Des Moines area is given to provide pictorial description of how transportation and urban form have accommodated each other. The above table summarizes different phases of Des Moines development, its corresponding transportation systems and transportation eras. We see that the since From the table above we see that in the year 1968 planning approach for Des Moines Metropolitan areas has been Comprehensive and Rational. Transportation system can be considered an expression of urban spatial pattern during the historical development of the city. Conventional Transportation Modeling Process: Transportation models are computerized procedures used to estimate changes in travel patterns in response to changes in development. Table 2 summarizes how urban form is implied in conventional, sequential transportation modeling processes of trip generation, trip distribution, modal split and traffic assignment. Urban form of Des Moines metropolitan area is measure by seven spatial criteria such as homogeneity, directionality, connectivity, design pattern, density gradient, concentricity and sectorality. From the table 3 below we see that the elements of modeling process were land use, socio-economic, demographics, travel impedance, Transportation policy, Residential density, income, distance from CBD, Geometrics, Capacity of roadway and transportation network. So we see that there has been no consideration for personal preference or public involvement at any stage of modeling. Data has been collected for different social areas and transportation network in Des Moines metropolitan area, for number of housing units, relative location of CBD, the city and Metropolitan area centers. Finally based on this data, results of CBD and Corridor study are summarized. The outcomes of the rational planning process for Des Moines Metroplolitan Area are as follows: Population density gradient shows that the central part of Des Moines metropolitan area has highest population density. The city of Des Moines is still focal point for employment and population in the metropolitan area. The other cities are bedroom communities, even though they are beginning to show significant commercial and retail development. The development largely follows interstate highway development along I-235, I-80 and I-35. The urban pattern of Des Moines metropolitan area is radial in terms of trip attraction. The location of CBD of the city of Des Moines was largely influenced by Raccoon River and Des Moines River. Development in the city of Des Moines has since shifted southward. With metropolitan area, new development is located northwest of the geometric center of metropolitan area, which is close to the cities of Urbandale, Clive, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights. It is assumed that new developments tend to shift to the geometric center of city or region to over come the friction of distance or space. People tend to make tradeoff between transportation costs and land values. It thus suggests that when examining the development trend for city or region, the geometric center or its vicinity may be first measure that should be considered. Based on census data, bicycle trips comprise only 0.2% of total work trips while walk trips make up 3.2% and bus trips are 2.9%. Future urban design would consider more use of these modes to make Des Moines more walkable and more bicycle and transit friendly. Assess the importance of life style as a determinant of urban form. Measure more cities with different urban patterns and cities of different sizes to determine the statistical relationship between density gradient, urban pattern and transportation networks. Finally realizing that not all transportation networks and investments are rational, truly understanding the relationship between transportation and urban form helps to make more rational decisions. The purpose of this research is part of the planning process to provide better transportation networks and make more efficient investments on existing networks to provide residents a better place to live and work and make more livable and sustainable city based on existing transportation network. Case Study II: Fruitvale Transit Village Project The Unity Council, Bay Area Rapid Transit District, City of Oakland10 The Fruitvale Transit Village is the result of broad partnership among public, private and non profit organizations working together to revitalize a community using transit oriented development. Transit oriented development is planning concept that uses mass transit stations as blocks for economic revitalization and environmental improvement. In 1999, groundbreaking took place on a $ 100 million mixed use development adjacent to Fruitvale Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) station in Oakland, California. Fruitvale, one of the Oakland seven communities is predominantly minority community with low income, experiencing economic stress. Fruitvale Transit Village is brainchild of Unity Council, a community development corporation (CDC) formed in 1964 by activists who wanted to create forum for working on issues important to Fruitvales Latino community. In June, 1991 BART announced plans to construct a multi level parking facility adjacent to Fruitvale BART station. The community agreed that new parking was necessary, but the design and location of the facility did not sit well with Fruitvale residents and business owners. Members of community were concerned that proposed structure would increase traffic and pollution and further separate Fruitvale neighborhood from BART station. The Unity council which was CDC galvanized the neighborhoods opposition to the parking structure design and location, arguing that any development around BART station should be guided by broad based community planning process. Faced with strong community opposition BART withdrew its proposal and agreed to work with the Unity Council on plan for the area. In February 1992, City of Oakland awarded Unity Council $ 185,000 in Community Block Grant (CBDG) funds to initiate community planning process for revitalizing the area around Fruitvale BART station. During next couple of years Unity Council engaged local stakeholders in comprehensive visioning and planning process that laid out the parameters for Fruitvale Transit Village. Impressed with Unity Council community involvement strategy, the US DOT awarded agency a $470,000 FTA planning grant in 1993 for Fruitvale Transit Village. The vocal and sometimes contentious meetings between BART and community representatives gave birth to idea for Fruitvale Transit Village. The project is consider reducing traffic and pollution in and around the community as residents of neighborhood would have easy access to goods and services within waling distance of transit station. Unity council organized workshops to help community reach on consensus and to identify both positive and negative qualities of Fruitvale Community and to indicate their development preferences. There were about 30 people who participated in this workshop. Participants identified crime, lack of retail business and community service s, the areas negative image, and lack of connection between BART station and community as issues of concern. Plan included mixture of housing, shops, office, library, a child care facility, pedestrian plaza and other community services all surrounding BART station. This project had strong commitment to public involvement by lead agencies involved. Typically, either city officials or private developers represent driving force behind large scale development projects. Series of workshop were conducted and they showed increased number of participation. Normally residents are usually in position of responding to plans that are initiated by others. Whereas here during third workshop, participants were asked to provide feedback on two alternative land use plans prepared by the project design team. In this case under Unity Council who represented the community, played leader role in the project. It helped and ensured communitys own vision for transit station and its surrounding area served as guiding principles for planning and design. Finally, the planning effort behind the Fruitvale Transit Village represent an innovative strategy for using mass transit as lever for revitalizing an urban communit

Addictive Aspects of a Role Playing Game

Addictive Aspects of a Role Playing Game This dissertation focuses on addictive gameplay mechanics for a role playing game. The primary motivation for the content and structure of this dissertation are based on my personal experiences from playing role playing games and research and analysis I have conducted. In this dissertation we shall discuss various aspects of mechanics in role playing game; we shall also discuss the sub mechanics related to it. What are also worth discussing are the various kinds of role playing games which have existed in the past and how they have developed and evolved RPG genre in modern times. This dissertation shall also discuss the various drawbacks and failures of current gen RPG mechanic and answers to correct those drawbacks Aim To identify various game mechanics in various Role playing games which lead that game to become addictive in nature. Objective The following are the objectives of the dissertation To identify various role playing games To explain the evolution of role playing games To identify and explain various theorems on role playing game To create new mechanics based on research Method Explanation of role playing as a genre in games Explanation of different platforms which use role playing game Explanation of game mechanics and game play Differentiation between turn based, text based, board based and real time based role playing game with respect to game mechanics Explanation of LARPS, GNS, chaos RPG and many more theorems Analysis and creation for new game mechanics and its subsystems Summary of chapters First chapter titled Introduction introduces Role playing game along with a brief history. Here readers will understand what role playing games are and how they are different from other genres. The second chapter titled Different kinds of Platforms will make readers understand how RPG games are seen through different platforms, how platforms greatly affect the scale of role playing games. The third chapter titled Game Mechanics and Gameplay introduces to reader what game mechanics actually means and how it is different from gameplay. The fourth chapter titled Game mechanics for RPG will describe readers various game mechanic rules used by RPG, will also explain popular game theorems and its working principle. This chapter will then further break down to discuss the popular RPGs and what game mechanics made their game addictive. Fifth chapter will discuss in-depth all the addictive game plays and mechanics from the previous chapter. Sixth chapter will show reader of new game mechanic and gameplay created by us and how and where these mechanics can be implemented. Introduction Video games for many years have been considered a way of storytelling. To be put short they are called interactive storytelling. Interactive storytelling means that a person is actively taking part in the continuation of a story by enacting the central character virtually. Now it is not justified to say that all video games are interactive storytellers but there are a lot of genres which hold true to this. Even arcade games like street fighter where the player had only fighting to do have a story to tell. The genre which gave the true meaning to Interactive storytelling has to be Role Playing Game. Role playing games revolve around the one central character which you play and his interaction to the world around him, it is through your decisions and choices that the story progress and the progress is almost never linear. In role playing games or any genre which used its basic mechanics never had a single ending, the game could be finished or story could be ended with different conclus ions by the choices you made. This dissertation will give a brief description on how this genre became the best tool for delivering interactive storytelling, and hence will discuss in depth the core mechanic and function which made it work and made it addictive. What is role playing game A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game in which the participants assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create stories. Participants determine the actions of their characters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or fail according to a system of rules and guidelines. Within the rules, they may improvise freely; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the games. Role playing games are broadly categorized into 3 forms based on the platform they serve. They are board games, console games and PC games. History of board based RPG Birth of RPG could be dated to 16th century Europe where traveling teams of players performed a form of improvisational theatre known as the Commedia dellarte. These theatre artist carried with them stock situations, stock characters and improvised dialogue. Helwig, Master of pages and even Duke of Brunswick which all be created as battle emulation games in late 1780 drew great inspiration for Chess. Max Boot author of the book War Made New had stated in his book that the period between 1803 to 1809 saw the Prussian Army developing War games, this war game which was same as chess had additional rules like Dice rolls for random chance of attacks and a neutral referee the score the results. Wargames eventually shifted from professional training to more of a hobby for the general public, this led to the creation of a game called Little Wars from H.G. Wells in 1913. 1970-1990 Dungeons and Dragons was the first commercially sold Role Playing game Published by TSR. Dungeons and Dragons sold around 50,000 copies upon its release which led to establishment of a cult following for BRPG (Board role playing games). Its success also led to the birth of several cottage industries and merchandises. In a period of 2 years other fantasy games appeared which copied almost the entire look and feel of the original DND. Some of the successful clones where Space Opera, Rune Quest and Dragon Rune. In the year 1977 TSR released an advanced Game Rules for its game aptly named Advanced Dungeons and Dragons(ADD), which was later improved and made into a second Edition in 1989. this project led to creation of rule book which cover every detail from finding specific weapon in loot to getting information form NPC(non player controlled character) 1990-2000 Ars Magica released in 1988 was the first game which solely emphasized on characterization and storytelling and had a loose game mechanics and combat system. This game was later bought and led to highly influenced Vampire Masquerade, which led to being a huge success. In the year 1993 Mr. Perter Adkison and Mr. Richard Garfield who were Students of University of Pennsylvania released competitive card collecting game. The theme was based on fantasy role playing and was named Magic the Gathering. 2000-todate The beginning of the year 2000 saw a massive down turn in sales of Game supplements and core books required to play the BRPG. Solution to this problem came through enactment of Open Gaming License by DND owner TSR. They spread the policy of letting other company publish DND compatible games which spread the cost of production and led to higher sales of core book. This new system named D20 system and still enjoys great success. It was during this period which led to birth of Indie Role Playing Game Developers in the internet. This birth was possible mainly due to the fact the existence of print on demand and PDF publishing. History related to Console Role Playing Game Dragonstomper was the first RPG game released on Atari 2600 in 1982. Dragon Quest was also released in this year but was only published for Japanese public, In 1989 the game was released as Dragon Warrior in America and Europe. With the release of Zelda II in 1987 the genre came to its own. Zelda which was released for Famicom Disk System was the earliest action-role playing game. Megami Tensei released for NES was the first to explore the RPG setting Beyond Medial Fantasy Theme. This game also developed the Demonà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"summoning system (DSS) which allowed players to recruit enemies. The development of DSS led to creation of games specific to its core game mechanics like Phantasy star and more popular PokÃÆ' ©mon. In the year 1990 Square developed Final Fantasy for NES which developed the Experimental Character creation system that allowed a player to choose his own party and give his characters Job calls. It also created to concept of transportation and weapon upgrade. The console genre of RPG grew leaps and bound in early 1990à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. it is in this period that Dragon Quest introduced a new way of storytelling, the divided the campaign into chapter in which each chapter concentrated in telling the back-story of a single character of your party. This is also the period when birth of fifth generation of console took place. The median was playing games was no longer cartridges but optical disks, this led to RPG having longer and more involved quest. It also led to having better audio and cinematics. In year 2000 Final Fantasy X introduced voice-acting. Final Fantasy XII features full 3D background. COMPUTER ROLE PLAYING GAME Birth of role playing games took place in computers much before it took place in consoles, the first RPG game developed in the year 1975 by a university which was text based in nature and used game mechanics inspired from DND. Popular example of a text based RPG in that period was MUD (multi-user dungeons). In the year 1980 text based RPG named Rouge which featured ASCII graphics and deep system of gameplay popularized RPG for Computer users. The older editions of Ultima and Wizardry which were released in 1983 acted as role models for more popular console RPG. A large amount of its gameplay innovations are still considered standard for current gen RPGà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s. Mid 1980 also was the period of emergence for Action Role Playing games in computers. Dragon slayer Xanadu released in 1985 the first Action Role Playing game. Evolution of Multi -Player Role Playing Game Initially computer role playing game offered its users only single player experience, the popularity and emergence of multiplayer mode came in the year 1996 with the title name Diablo. Diablo contained both RPG and Action game elements and featured Internet multiplayer mode. A player would party together with 3 more players and enter the same world or dungeon and fight enemies, the game also allowed players to fight each other and test their skill. Diablo acted as the founding stone for many developers to create what today is the most popular the highest revenue generating genre in Games and entertainment media.

Donald Trump :: essays research papers

Donald Trump, one of the great New York City business tycoons, has written several biographies that explain in detail his dealings in the business world and his personal life throughout his career. The book that I have read is titled Trump: The Art of the Comeback. In this biography Donald tells about the time in the eighties and early nineties that he was struggling financially because of the economy and the hardships that he went through to make a comeback. Each chapter tells a story about his return to the top and how he did it. This book is his account of how he engineered one of the most remarkable business comebacks in history. He has accumulated a net worth of well over three billion dollars.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the things that has helped Donald Trump throughout these times was his ability to make wise decisions based on his experience. I realized when reading this book that he was very talented in the area of decision making. He knew exactly when to buy or sell his assets to maximize his profits. Trump starts of by listing his top ten comeback tips. Some seem ridiculous, but apparently they work. He suggests things such as playing golf, being paranoid, going with your gut instinct, and always having a prenuptial agreement. The first chapter explains briefly his rise to the top and the rest of the book tells how he survived the low period and eventually regained his status. One of the main reasons for Donald’s downfall was the plummeting value of his vast real estate assets. He claims that his investments in Atlantic City are what eventually saved him from really going under between 1989 and 1992. Trump then bought Mar-a-lago, a gigantic mansion in Palm Beach and restored it. He vacations there and has had dozens of celebrities vacation there also. Donald Trump then acquired 40 Wall Street in 1995. The deal that he was able to make on this property was unbelievable. He paid the Kinson family one million dollars for a building that they had already previously paid for and had also sunk tens of millions into. He truly stole this property from them. The difficulty that the Kinson family was having was dealing with the German family that owned the ground lease. As soon as the Kinson family signed the papers he was on the phone working out a new 200-year ground lease with the Hinnebergs.

Indian Killer Essays -- essays research papers

In Indian Killer Alexie uses a pulp-fiction form, the serial killer mystery, to frame the social issues facing American Indians. He populates the book with stock characters such as a grizzled ex-cop, a left-wing professor, a right-wing talk radio personality, drunken bums, thuggish teenagers and a schizophrenic main character who serves as the most obvious suspect in a mystery that never quite resolves itself. John Smith, the troubled Indian adopted by whites appears at first to be the main character, but in some respects he is what Alfred Hitchcock called a McGuffin. The story is built around him, but he is not truly the main character and he is not the heart of the story. His struggle, while pointing out one aspect of the American Indian experience, is not the central point. John Smith’s experiences as an Indian adopted by whites have left him too addled and sad, from the first moment to the last, to serve as the story’s true focus. The damage that had been done to John Smith was irreparable from the moment the story began. His death, while a gloomy ending for his character, is in many ways a release from his torment, as demonstrated by his rising from the point of impact and leaving his body behind. The value of John Smith is to serve as an extreme example of the damage being done to Indian society. The heart of the story is the experience of Marie Polatkin. Unlike the somewhat stock characters that make up much of the mystery element of the novel, Marie is a fully real...

Education of Philosophies Essay

After reading through the different philosophies of education, I have come to the conclusion that I can relate to the student centered philosophy the most for several different reasons. As stated in the chapter, education is not a competition. I don’t agree with having students take multiple choice tests to see who gets the highest amount of right answers. Many students suffer from test anxiety and giving them one chance to prove they are educated on the subject isn’t fair. I am a firm believer that students don’t gain knowledge from textbooks, they gain knowledge by being out in the real world. To me, experiencing things first hand is the strongest way to learn about a subject matter. This leads me to the progressivism philosophy of education. I am all for experimental learning, having students have the chance to learn by doing. Another method of this is called the scientific method. This happens by expecting students to pursue their answers through problem solving and critical thinking, and are rarely expected to find their answers in a textbook. Another method I agree with is social reconstruction. Democracy in a classroom encourages teachers to guide an important dialogue among the children, but to avoid telling students how to think or what to believe. Social purpose gives students an opportunity to instill habits or values that are useful to the greater community. I believe students should be encouraged to think about local, national, and international issues in the real world. More importantly, I believe existentialism is the most crucial student centered philosophy in education. Giving students the ability to develop their own creativity and different ways of self-expression is something that should be focused on in every school. Students should be allowed freedom to go at their own pace and should be inspired by the things shared among peers  in the classroom. Students are expected to be in control of their own lives at school while playing an active role in functioning community, students should leave the school with the important ability to think critically.

Epidemiology Of Childhood Obesity Health And Social Care Essay

This brings me to the Epidemiology of Childhood Obesity. One of the Major wellness jobs that plague the United States is Childhood fleshiness. Since the 1980 the sums of kids who have been considered fleshiness have been at an dismaying rise and the prevalence among kids under the age of 12 has more than doubled. â€Å" Harmonizing to the 1999-2002 National Health Association ( NHA ) study, 16 per centum of kids ages 6-19 old ages are overweight. The major population that seems to be plagued by childhood fleshiness are minority population. NHA found that African American and Mexican American striplings ages 12-19 were more likely to be overweight, A than non-Hispanic White adolescents.A The disparity of being overweight in the adolescences has been the major subscriber to a high hazard of developing high cholesterin, high blood pressure, respiratory complaints, orthopaedic jobs, depression and Type 2 Diabetes as a young person. One disease of peculiar concern is Type 2 Diabetes. Due to these addition in negative wellness behaviours The infirmary costs entirely associated with childhood fleshiness were estimated at $ 127 million during 1997-1999 ( in 2001 changeless U.S. dollars ) , up from $ 35 million during 1979-1981 † ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p 1 ) The epidemiology triangle long-run effects of being an fleshy stripling is that there is a 70 % opportunity of them going overweight or corpulent grownups and 80 % if one or more parent in the place A is fleshy or corpulent. When fleshiness in childhood falls over into maturity, it increases the hazard of diabetes, high blood force per unit area, high cholesterin, asthma, arthritis, and a general hapless wellness position. In 2000, the entire cost of fleshiness for kids and grownups in the United States was estimated to be $ 117 billion where $ 61 billion are direct medical costs ( The World and I, 2006 ) . Childhood fleshiness has many finding factors.A The most outstanding factor that causes childhood fleshiness are A deficiency of physical activity, Unhealthy feeding, genetic sciences and societal factors, † socio-economic position, race/ethnicity, media and selling, and the physical environment are besides lending factors to child goon fleshiness. † ( Kumanyika, 2008 ) . In general, kids and striplings are eating more foodsA at fast nutrient eating houses than they are eating at place, imbibing more sugary drinks, and bite on more unhealthy nutrients like french friess and french friess often. This alteration is contributed to the American demand for Convenience. This is taking more people to devour speedy service or eating house repasts or to purchasing microwavable ready-to-eat, low cost, rapidly accessible repasts to fix at place. â€Å" The nutritionary composing of kids ‘s diets every bit good as the figure of Calories consumed is of involvement to find the consequence of nutrient ingestion on childhood fleshiness. In relation, part sizes increased between 1977 and 1996. Average part sizes increased for salty bites from 1.0 ounces to 1.6 ounces and for soft drinks from 12.2 ounces to 19.9 ounces. A Below shows the major alteration in nutrient parts, which has contributed to the major factors of fleshiness † ( Department of Health an d Human Services, 2010, p 1 )AAAFigure 2: Proportion of Vegetable Helpings, 1999-2000Figure 3: Proportion of Grain Servings, 1999-2000Note: Children 2-19 old ages. Beginning: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, NCHS, CDC. Note: Children 2-19 old ages. Beginning: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, NCHS, CDC. A † Other surveies indicate that kids are non eating the recommended helpings of nutrients featured in the USDA nutrient pyramid and that there have been important alterations in the types of drinks that kids are devouring. i‚ ·A A A A A A A A Merely 21 per centum of immature people eat the recommended five or more helpings of fruits and veggies each twenty-four hours. As shown in figure 2, about half of all vegetable helpings are fried murphies. i‚ ·A A A A A A A A Percent entire energy from fat really decreased between 1965 and 1996 for kids, from 39 to 32 per centum for entire fat, and 15 to 12 per centum for concentrated fat. † i‚ ·A A A A A A A A In 1994-1996, adolescent misss and boys merely consumed 12 and 30 per centum, severally, of the Food Guide Pyramid ‘s helping recommendations for dairy ; and 18 and 14 per centum, severally, of the helping recommendations for fruit. † i‚ ·A A A A A A A A Soda ingestion increased radically in the early to mid-1990s. Thirty-two per centum of adolescent misss and 52 % of adolescent male childs consume three or more eight ounce helpings of soda per twenty-four hours. Soft drink ingestion for stripling male childs has about tripled, from seven to 22 ounces per twenty-four hours ( 1977-1978 to 1994 ) . Children every bit immature as seven months old are devouring sodium carbonate i‚ ·A A A A A A A A Milk ingestion has declined during the same period. In 1977-78, kids age 6-11 drank four times every bit much milk as any other drink. In 1994-1996 that decreased to 1.5 times every bit much milk as sugar sweetened drinks. In 1977-1978, striplings drank 1.5 times every bit much milk as any other drink and in 1996 they consumed twice every bit much sugar sweetened drinks as milk. Milk ingestion decreased for adolescent male childs and misss 37 and 30 % severally, between 1965, and 1996. † ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010 ) . This research showsA thatA the lessening in existent physical activity and the addition in nutrient consumption is the major subscriber to childhood fleshiness. Physical activity tendency informations for kids are limited, but cross sectional informations indicates that one tierce of striplings are non having recommended degrees of centrist or vigorous activity, 10 % are wholly inactive, and physical activity degrees fall as stripling ‘s age ( Booth, Murphy, Phongsavan, Salmon & A ; Timperio, 2007 ) . A A A A A A A A A Americans need for watching telecasting, utilizing the computing machine, and playing video games occupy a big per centum of kids ‘s leisure clip, which are act uponing their physical activity degrees. â€Å" It is estimated that kids in the United States are passing 25 % of their waking hours watching telecasting and statistically, kids who watch the most hours of telecasting have the highest incidence of fleshiness ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p1 ) . This tendency is evident and a major hazard factor to child goon fleshiness because while the sedentary activity of watching Television and picture games normally involves the composing of repasts high in fat. Along with the dietetic alterations that affects child goon fleshiness schools are besides lending to the job by diminishing the sum of free drama or physical activity that kids receive during school hours. There are merely a 3rd of American simple schools, allow kids to hold day-to-day physical instruction, and merely a 5th of the simple schools have extracurricular actives for the kids to take part in. â€Å" Daily registration in physical instruction categories among high school pupils decreased from 42 % in 1991 to 25 % in 1995, later increasing somewhat to 28 % in 2003 † ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p 1 ) . â€Å" Experts have looked progressively to the physical environment as a driver in the rapid addition of fleshiness in the United States. In urban countries, infinite for out-of-door diversion can be scarce, forestalling kids from possessing a protected topographic point to play. Neighborhood offense, unattended Canis familiariss, or deficiency of street lighting may besides suppress kids from being able to walk safely out-of-doorss ; and busy traffic can hinder commuters from walking or bicycling to work as a agency of day-to-day exercising. Though few surveies are available on the direct effects of the physical environment on physical activity, there are marks of the possible for betterment, evidenced by Toronto ‘s 23 % addition in bike usage after the add-on of motorcycle lanes, and London ‘s pathway usage addition within the scope of 34-101 % ( depending on location ) as a consequence of improved lighting there has been less research on the relationship between the physical environment and physical activity for kids than for grownups ; nevertheless the findings for kids appear to be consistent with those of the grownup population. The per centum of trips to school that kids walked declined from 20 % in 1977 to 12 % in 2001. Because kids spend a significant sum of clip going to and from school, this may be an country in which to integrate and increase physical activity into kids ‘s day-to-day wonts † ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p 1 ) Surveies suggest that parental nutrient penchants straight influence and form those of their kids. In a survey by Oliveria and co-workers, they reported that parents who ate diets high in concentrated fats besides had kids who ate diets high in concentrated fats ( Birch & A ; Fisher, 1998 ) . â€Å" It is suspected that this observation is non simply due to the nutrients parents feed their kids, but instead due to the penchants kids develop through exposure to nutrients that their parents take to eat in their lives. Birch and Fisher postulate that exposure to fruits and veggies and nutrients high in energy, sugar and fat may play an of import function in set uping a hierarchy of nutrient penchants and choice in childs. Other surveies have showed that when parents eat fruits and veggies and they are readily available the penchants for kids to wantA such an point as a pick of bite are increased † ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p1 ) Research workers besides indicate that the societal context in which a kid is introduced to or has experiences with nutrient is instrumental in determining nutrient penchants the feeding environment that a kid is involved in will find the feeding pattern the kid will do in his or her life-time ( Birch, 2006 ) . â€Å" For many kids, feeding is a societal event that frequently times occurs in the presence of parents, other grownups, older siblings and equals. Children typically observe the behaviours and penchants of others in their milieus. This becomes the function theoretical accounts. Children observation in unhealthy eating wonts and behaviours have brought a rise in childhood weight jobs † ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p1 ) . â€Å" Several possible mechanisms have been proposed to explicate this phenomenon including the followers: i‚ ·A A A A A A A A Constraints on parent ‘s clip potentially contribute to kids ‘s weight jobs, as working parents likely rely more to a great extent than non-working parents on prepared, processed, and fast nutrients, which by and large have high Calorie, high fat, and low nutritionary content. i‚ ·A A A A A A A A Children left unsupervised after school may do hapless nutritionary picks and prosecute in more sedentary activities. i‚ ·A A A A A A A A Childcare suppliers may non offer as many chances for physical activity and may offer less alimentary nutrient options. i‚ ·A A A A A A A A Unsupervised kids may pass a great trade of clip indoors, possibly because of safety concerns, watching Television or playing video games instead than prosecuting in more active out-of-door chases. â€Å" ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010 ) . In short, the recent societal and economic alterations in American society have encouraged unhealthy wonts of extra ingestion. â€Å" These alterations have [ influenced ] the nutrients available in the places, the grade of influence parents have when kids make nutrient choices and has led to additions in sedentary behaviours among young person † ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p1 ) A Finally there has been a big argument over whether or non overexposure to nutrient advertisement has increased the incidence rates of childhood fleshiness. Although there has been a positive correlativity between â€Å" the hours of telecasting viewed, organic structure mass index, and fleshiness incidence has been documented, the exact mechanisms through which this occurs are still being investigated. It has been estimated that the mean kid presently views more than 40,000 commercials on telecasting each twelvemonth, a crisp addition from 20,000 in the seventiess † ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p1 ) . Furthermore, an â€Å" accrued organic structure of research reveals that more than 50 per centum of telecasting advertizements directed at kids promote nutrients and drinks such as confect, convenience nutrients, bite nutrients, sugar sweetened drinks and sweetened breakfast cereals that are high in Calories and fat and low in fibre and alimentary densenes s. The statistics on nutrient advertisement to kids indicate that: i‚ ·A A A A A A A A Annual gross revenues of nutrients and drinks to immature consumers exceeded $ 27 billion in 2002. i‚ ·A A A A A A A A Food and drink advertizers jointly spend $ 10 to $ 12 billion yearly to make kids and young person: more than $ 1 billion is spent on media publicizing to kids ( chiefly on telecasting ) ; more than $ 4.5 billion is spent on youth-targeted public dealingss ; and $ 3 billion is spent on packaging designed for kids. i‚ ·A A A A A A A A Fast nutrient mercantile establishments spend $ 3 billion in telecasting ads targeted to kids † ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p1 ) . Available research shows that there are a figure of root causes of fleshiness in kids. Choosing one or two chief causes or indispensable factors is following to impossible given the current information because the possible influences of fleshiness have many interlacing factors. There are big spreads in cognition and research, which is restricting the ability to nail a peculiar cause and find the most effectual ways to battle childhood obesity. â€Å" Another research spread stems from deficiency of a perspective longitudinal survey that links dietetic and other behaviour forms to development of fleshiness. Another complication of current informations is that there is a demand for more precise and dependable steps of dietetic consumption and activity degrees, as single callback of events and diet are non the most reliable beginnings for information † ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p1 ) . When believing approximately early bar of fleshiness, it is indispensable that more is understood about how genetic sciences is involved and how the cistrons are triggered or respond to environmental alterations and stimulation. â€Å" Research is merely get downing to explicate how gustatory sensation penchants develop, their biochemical underpinnings and how this information may be utile in controling childhood weight addition † ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010, p 1 ) . Primary bar is non an option for many kids who are already fleshy. Research on successful intercessions for kids who are fleshy or at hazard of going corpulence is highly of import to cut down efficaciously childhood fleshiness in this state ( Maternal and Child Health Library, 2008 ) . Generally, research has merely begun to rub the surface in clarifying the causes of fleshiness in kids. Filling in the cognition spread will take clip, as implementing some of the survey designs that will outdo light the complex interactions are clip devouring and dearly-won. However, the basicss are clear, to remain healthy, eat a balanced diet and give equal clip to physical activity ( Department of Health and Human Services, 2010 ) . This will assist epidemiologists and maintain down the cost of going healthy.