Encounter of the East and West Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Encounter of the East and West - Essay Example The three years spent by the French team in Egypt had great influence on the west and specifically Europe at that time. The invasion of the outsiders to Egypt has formed a benchmark onto which the east and west convened and exchanged different aspects. The western culture diversified because of the Egyptian influence. The Egyptian ancient society fade away with time as the encounter between east and west persisted over time. Ancient Egypt civilization as described by the napoleon team was rich in artefacts that triggered great interest to the west. These included the famous Egyptian pyramids, temples, and representations of pharaohs and gods. The sphinx of Giza is one of the statues that have amazed the world because of its age and meaning. The sphinx is a monument that bears the head of a human and the body of a lion. The great monument standing on the Egyptian desert is currently in ruins because of the persistent wind, sand of the desert and rainfall. The sphinx lies amidst Egypti an pyramids in Giza and the meaning that Egyptians have attached to the monument over time is perplexing. Time has redefined the meaning and representation repeatedly. The sphinx stands as a clear illustration of the dynasties existing in the previous civilizations before European intervention. Speculations from the old times indicate that the human face was in honour of one of the pharaohs. The sculpture probably dates back to the fourth dynasty and the face represented belonged to pharaoh Khafre. The monument dimensions are 238 feet in length and 65 feet in height. The origins of the bedrock making the sculpture re not very clear. The lion body depicts the royalty awarded to the dynasty by the people. Ancient Egypt was rich in style and this is the reason why the pyramids of the old times have persisted in world history. The ancient Egyptian civilization greatly influenced the succeeding new kingdom of the modern history. The great sphinx receives respect and honour from the peopl e. For some people, it represented the pharaoh who instructed its building. Others believe that the pharaoh Khafre’s father instructed its building (Bayly, 2004:75). The monument has both political and religious value for some people. While some regard the essence of the sphinx as an important aspect reflecting the fourth dynasty, others associate it with the Egyptian gods. ‘The dream stela’ in the middle of the paws of the sphinx that has inscriptions on it tells the story of prince Thutmosis who slept in the middle of the paws and had a dream in which the gods spoke to him. After this, some Egyptologists claim that the monument had transformed from a king icon to a god icon. The sphinx holds a lot of mystery concerning origin, purpose and disproportion of the monument. Question two Mehmet Ali is a name familiar in Egyptian history because he established a new Egypt after the French troop led by Napoleon left (Darwin, 2007:66). Egypt was an agricultural country during napoleon’s rule. Mehmet was formally a member of the ottoman army and was an Albanian. He moved to Egypt after the departure of napoleon and was ready to transform the empire. He moved to Egypt under the instruction of his uncle the governor. Having grown up in the uncle’s family, he had received responsibilities that presented him with an opportunity to develop great leadership and political skills. In 1801, his mission in Egypt was

Ethan Frome Essay Example for Free

Ethan Frome Essay Ethan Frome had nothing but sickness and trouble. His life revolves around taking care of one invalid after another, from his father, his mother to his hypochondriac wife and finally ending up as a disfigured and very image of â€Å"ruin of a man†. He failed to achieve any of his ambitions to leave town and become an engineer and did not succeed even in his desire to run away with Mattie Silver. Aside from poverty, the rigid moral character of Ethan prevents him from going against the social conventions in favor of his personal ambitions and fulfillment. Set in New England, in the rural town of Starkfield, Massachusetts, this literary piece was written by Edith Wharton in 1922. The bleak environment of seemingly endless winter aptly sets the tone of the story and the fate of Ethan Frome. A narrator who was forced to stay in Starkfield because of a workers strike was instantly fascinated by Frome’s appearance that looks quite old for a man of fifty-two and disfigured since an accident twenty-four years ago when he first saw him outside of the post office. He went on to find out more about him as he had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story (1). The story of Ethan Frome is a portrayal of a passive and unhappy man who is weighed down by his duty to his wife and his bitter existence as a poor farmer. Ethan had been in Starksfield since his youth when his father died and he had to come home to take care of his ailing mother and their farm. Prior to this event, he was taking a technological course in Worcester but the lack of money prevented him from realizing his dream to become an engineer. He decided to marry Zenobia Pierce or Zeena, his cousin who came to help him care for his mother, after the burial as he was afraid to spend the winter alone. Though Zeena was lively and cheerful at first, she later on fell silent and sickly. He woulf often think that had his mother died in the springtime he would not have thought of offering marriage to Zeena. Her illnesses became her obsession as she would go on a monthly trip to Bettsbridge to see her doctor. For rural towns like Starkfield, people with sickness or complications are common topic for conversations and are â€Å"singled out for a great fate†. Zeena’s illness became her weapon that she uses to take control of the household and of Ethan. Mattie Silver actually came to the Fromes to do the household chores in exchange for the food and shelter as she was also destitute after the death of her parents. Since she was not used to doing housekeeping, Ethan would help her out in doing her chores just so she would not incur the wrath of Zeena. Ethan eventually fell in love with lively and cheerful Mattie who gave Ethan respite from the isolation and loveless match with a sickly and whining woman. The illicit relationship however advances to no more than holding of hands as both Mattie and Ethan are too afraid to defy the forces of social and marital duties. The time came though that Zeena decided to send Mattie away because of a broken red pickle dish that is symbolic in the story of the marriage of Ethan and Zeena. The idea of living apart from each other was unbearable for Mattie and Ethan that upon the suggestion of the former, they went on to take a sleigh ride that would crash them into the big elm tree. The attempted suicide failed leaving Ethan disfigured and Mattie a paralyzed woman. The irony of the story is that in the end Zeena seem to overcome her illness and became the caregiver of the now invalid, whining Mattie and the lame Ethan. The entire life of Ethan Frome had been a series of dreams destroyed because of the circumstances of him being poor and his adherence to social duty. His opportunity to leave town and finish education to eventually become an engineer was hindered when his father died and he has a farm and an ailing mother to take care of. Their farm as he said was â€Å"side-tracked† when the railroads where put up and no more people came to town. He blames this as the cause as to why his mother’s condition deteriorated. It could also mean the lost opportunities for the town and also to him as the place got left behind in the course of development. Ethan was one of the people stuck in Starkfield, a place where most of the smart ones get away(14) as Harmon Gow, the stage driver in the story, aptly puts it. The bleakness that surrounds Starkfield, for one thing, is not an environment that would nurture youth and create a field for dreams to come true. The narrator in the story noted that although he initially felt invigorated by the clear blue skies and shocking white of snow, this was soon followed by long periods of cold and darkness that he begun to understand the deadness of the community (15). In an environment that was neither nurturing nor bountiful, Ethan is further subdued into the tangled web of harshness and scarcity. The Fromes practically had to eke living from what little they could get from their farm for their survival. The connection between the land and the people is symbolic in the story. The environment made life for the townspeople difficult such as when Ethan and another man had to struggle in the sleet just to be able to transport logs. Starkfield is isolation in itself, with the places beyond it seen as a place to â€Å"get away† so as to seek a different fortune or freedom from the drab and coldness of the place. The limitations of the environment coupled with poverty further intensified the lost potentials of Ethan Frome. There was the poignant scene where the narrator accidentally left his biochemistry book in the sleigh and later on sees it in Frome’s hand. Ethan was both fascinated and humbled by the book as he exclaimed, There are things in that book that I didnt know the first word about (18). It shows that Ethan’s curiosity and intellect had very few outlets in that kind of environment. For a fifty-two year old man who found excitement in a book, it is painful to think of what he could have been had he got the chance to explore his potentials. The conflict between personal passion and social convention is another theme portrayed in the story. The character of Zeena and Mattie were so different that the reader would readily understand the choice of Ethan between them. Mattie symbolizes beauty and energy in her ways, in the colors that she uses from the ribbons in her hair to the dish that she illicitly uses whereas Zeena possesses the deathly and sickly qualities in life. The sexual and emotional frustration in the marriage of Zeena and Ethan is symbolized by the unused pickle dish. Though shown as Zeena’s most prized possession, it remains at the topmost of the china closet left and unused. The barren relationship that they have is further portrayed with them not having children and hardly ever sharing a conversation. Ethan fell in love with Mattie and had come to hate Zeena but his strong sense of marital duty prevents him from deciding to be with Mattie. He acts with uncertainty and frustration under the looming shadow of his obligation to Zeena that it created a conflict in him. Ethan is also hesitant to leave his sickly wife for he believes that if he went away it would leave Zeena alone and penniless. Even in the moment when Zeena went away, her presence was greatly felt in imagined visions and in the symbol of the cat. Conventionally, the society upholds marriage as a sacred bond and is, in fact, at the apex of the set social orders. A man and woman are joined in marriage; it is protected by the norms of the society to keep the union intact. The critical eyes of the society is so that it could even permeate walls of intimate moments like the evening that Ethan and Mattie spent together when Zeena went away from the town to see a doctor. Their excitement though withered when the cat broke the dish and the looming figure of Zeena in their minds. Zeena’s absence bear more weight that her presence that conversation became impossible. The circumstance does not allow them to attempt to recreate a fantasy of life together, spending an evening as a husband and wife would. Their passion was shrouded by guilt and the unseen eyes of the society that both of them felt in the situation. As Ethan noted in the warm lamplit room, with all its ancient implications of conformity and order, she (Mattie) seemed infinitely farther away from him and more unapproachable (54). Conformity and order in the living room reminded Ethan that it belongs to Zeena and Ethan and could never be Mattie and Ethan. And when Ethan crossed the line when showed the slightest act of passion by kissing a piece of cloth that she was sewing, Mattie was spurred into retreating, scared of the repercussions with the transgression made. Poverty also limited the illicit lovers from taking serious step in pursuing an adulterous affair. Mattie, for one, was in a very precarious condition being dependent on the Fromes for her daily sustenance. Having nowhere else to go, she is also afraid of going into that kind of relationship with Ethan that could take away the refuge that she now has. Ethan, on the other hand, his duty to his wife and even to the Hales prevents him from acting on the situation like the loan that he planned to take from the Hale in able to elope with Mattie. Ethan did not only sacrifice his chance on love but he also sacrificed his ambitions just so he can fulfill his social duties. He had to give up his dream to move out of Starkfield and of becoming an engineer to care for his father, his mother and the farm. And upon the death of his mother, he end up in frustrated desire to fulfill his dreams for he was trapped in a marriage with a sickly wife whom he cannot bear to leave because of her condition. Though a sympathetic character, Ethan Frome can be also frustrating because of his lack determination to change the course of his life. He allows circumstances to take over him and did not decidedly pursue his interests and ambitions. Like the epitaph of the original Ethan Frome in the graveyard with his wife Endurance, he endures rather than act on his fate in pursuit of happiness and fulfillment. In his relationship with Mattie, instead of finding the courage to address his dilemma he opted for suicide with his lover, which he did not even decide on but took on upon the suggestion of Mattie. This was his only bold decision in the entire novel but this too ended up as a failure leaving him ruined and destined to live his entire life with an invalid lover and a controlling wife. Though Ethan is a sensitive and decent person he lacks emotional strength and determination. Instead of mustering enough courage to defy conventions, he chose not to take decisions and face the consequences of it, The deadened vitality of Ethan Frome from the decades of frustrations and his inability to rise up beyond the circumstances had left him in a situation where is â€Å"not much difference between the Fromes up at the farm and the Fromes down in the graveyard†.

Role of micro finance in natural disasters

Role of micro finance in natural disasters The impacts of natural disasters are mainly faced by the poor community people in every country. It is very much tough for the poor people to cope with the impacts of natural disasters. Micro-finance has not only generated enormous hope for the poor people in many developing countries but also played a vital role in natural disasters affected areas. In this paper, the roles of micro-finance in mitigating the impacts of natural disasters are illustrated. It has been seen that micro-finance institutions provide support on poor community people prepare for the onslaughts or rehabilitation needs of the disaster victims, show coping mechanism during a disaster hits and how people can wake of a post natural disaster both at the personal level and generally. Key words: Role of Micro-finance, impacts of natural disasters, poor, support, coping, developing countries. Introduction: Over the years, natural disasters seem to have become more frequent across the world, resulting in enormous human and economic losses. Natural disasters take many forms like earthquakes, floods, cyclones, tsunamis, tornados and droughts, which threaten the very existence of the local communities. Further, it has been observed that the effects of natural disasters are more acute in developing countries than in developed ones. Natural disasters have had devastating dev ·as ·tate  Ã‚   tr.v. dev ·as ·tat ·ed, dev ·as ·tat ·ing, dev ·as ·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. .. Click the link for more information.  effects on the poor. For example, in 1998, Bangladesh experienced the flood of the century. Households exposed to flooding had major crop failure, suffered various water-borne diseases, lost shelter, assets and the ability to meet basic needs. Results show that the burden of medical expenditures due to flood-related sicknesses is significantly higher for poorer households, and for households more exposed to flooding. More positively, econometric results indicate that social cohesion built on group-based micro-finance programs provide an informal social insurance that reduces sickness shocks. The strength of group-based micro-credit in coping with natural disasters is yet to be fully explored. Micro-credit may not be effective in the case of a large-scale natural disaster that creates a covariate shock. However, even in the case of a large-scale natural disaster (e.g. 1998 flooding), social capital developed through micro-credit programs is s hown to play a positive role in reducing the burden of sickness shocks. Micro-finance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services. At the end of 2009, 1,084 MFIs that were serving 74 million borrowers ($38 billion in outstanding loans) and 67 million savers ($23 billion in deposits). For example, In Indonesian context, micro-financial savings and lending institutions support families to ensure consumption against illness shocks. Micro-finance actually helps the poor and vulnerable poor people. So, micro finance reduces vulnerability and increases coping against socio-economic shocks, including Natural disasters. At the same time, microfinance can provide relief in direct response to disasters. Thus it is possible to make micro finance tools a part of diverse disaster relief programs or response. Objective of the study: Disaster mitigation practices needs to be tied up throughout the life cycle of micro-finance tools in order to make poor community people sustainable and minimize non-financial losses. As just mentioned, the roles of micro-finance in mitigating the impacts of natural disasters are the purpose of this study. This study is prepared based on the following questions: What are the roles of micro-finance in mitigating the impacts of natural disasters, coping mechanism during or after disaster period? What are the main lessons and challenges of micro-finance to mitigate the impacts of natural disasters in poor community? Microfinance and Disaster Mitigation: Some Conceptual Issues The attributes of microfinance, which are applied in reducing household level risks, are relevant for reducing disaster risks too. Microfinance instruments help poor households diversify their income by source and season. They also diversify income by earner as it provides opportunities to women to earn. Multiplicity of income-earning opportunities and asset building through microfinance help poor households in dealing with disasters better. Microfinance also provides explicit and implicit insurance to the households. There is growing interest and constant experimentation in using microfinance in disaster management. The role of microfinance and microfinance institutions in disaster situations, however, is to be clearly analyzed here. Microfinance deals with the poor who are vulnerable to various types of risks. The poor are more likely to be hard-hit hard-hit adj. Badly or adversely affected: Official rescue and recovery efforts were just getting underway in this ravaged port city and more than a dozen other hard-hit towns  R. .. Click the link for more information.  by disasters like drought drought,  abnormally long period of insufficient rainfall. Drought cannot be defined in terms of inches of rainfall or number of days without rain, since it is determined by such variable factors as the distribution in time and area of precipitation during and before .. Click the link for more information., floods, cyclones, and earthquakes. Disasters normally give rise to two kinds of needs, namely relief and rehabilitation. What is required immediately after a disaster is relief to take care of food, shelter, medicine and other immediate needs of the victims. Through its long term impacts of reducing poverty and supporting sustainable development, microfinance reduces the vulnerability of the poor to disasters. Microfinance cannot, however, provide standalone protection against disasters. It must be part of a greater strategy of disaster risk reduction. MFIs must be prepared for disasters by developing disaster management plans that ensure the survival of the MFI and sustainable delivery of its services. Education on microfinance and disaster mitigation is needed for both successful poverty reduction and disaster impact reduction. Microfinance must be linked to disaster mitigation, especially during rehabilitation when the links between recover y and preparedness are clearly evident. MFIs like BRAC, ASA, Grameen Bank, Shakti etc. are working to reducing vulnerability during natural disaster by providingClint-responsive loans, housing improvement loans, adaptation of current lending, emergency reconstruction loans etc. They help to so compulsory savings, voluntary savings, adaptation of forced loans etc. MFIs suggest people for doing Insurance (best established before disaster). MFIs provide money transfer services (remittances likely to increase), Grants and donations (for increasing power and building financial discipline), Livelihood relief (no payment) to the poor community people. Microfinance Institutions also provide non-financial services like training, information dissemination, distribution of supplies etc. In the aftermath of a disaster, microfinance can quickly provide relief, and then support sustainable recovery and rehabilitation. Microfinance institutions can additionally provide post-disaster communication and coordination through their established community networks. Microfinance requires a degree of self-management by clients and is normally community based, thus fostering recovery ownership, dignity and community cohesion during traumatic and unstable times. Microfinance can reduce the cost of post-disaster recovery financing, while reducing aid dependency. At the same time, however, post- disaster aid can distort markets, adversely affecting microfinance performance. Post-disaster activities must be carefully considered to prevent negative long-term impacts on local markets and MFIs. To best reduce disaster impacts on a community, MFIs should offer a suite of flexible products to adapt to specific needs and situations. Links and/or partnerships with the formal financial secto r are needed to enhance liquidity and support institutional and managerial capacity. IV.Cases (Disaster management of Micro-finance programmes): Flood in Bangladesh (1998): Bangladesh is largely a flat deltaic country formed by the confluence of great river systems of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna. These river systems annually drain a vast basin about 12 times its own size. Apart from this, hilly regions experiences flash flood after heavy rainfall and due to frequent depressions in the Bay, Bangladesh experiences regular threats of cyclonic storms, often catastrophic. The role of microfinance services in responding to disaster risks was demonstrated first during the 1998 flood. Bangladesh experienced the worst floods in its history from July to September 1998. The damages to standing crops, livestock and houses were overwhelming. The income generating activities of rural landless people were almost suspended. There had been a huge loss of property and human and animal lives during the SIDR attack in 2007 in the coastal areas of Bangladesh, nearly 4 millions affected, and more than six thousand people died, thous ands of livestock perished, and 0.9 million homes fully or partially damaged. All the MFIs in Bangladesh responded to the unprecedented situation of floods and SIDR. During the floods and cyclones, MFI workers even went on boats to ensure that weekly contacts with all members were maintained. Workers carried money with them and provided immediate interest-free consumption loans so that the members would not go hungry. the MFIs allowed the members to withdraw their savings. Grameen Bank, BRAC, ASA, Proshika, TMSS, CODEC, GUK and many other small MFIs despite a very serious financial consequence for their liquidity, opened access to compulsory savings account in an attempt to reduce the precipitous decline many households experienced in their incomes. In non-disaster times, members of these institutions did not have access to these funds unless they had fully repaid any outstanding loans and decided to leave the MFI. BRAC also operated disaster-related deposits, which allowed members to keep their assets safe from loss or damage due to the floods. A number of MFIs such as ASA and others provided voluntary savings facilities to their members. These facilities provided the members more assistance in disasters than compulsory or disaster-related savings with less negative financial consequences for the MFI. Tsunami -Micro Finance in Sri Lanka(2004): The December 2004 tsunami is one of the worst natural disasters experienced by Sri Lanka in recorded history. With over 35,000 dead and over 800,000 displaced it is a disaster of a magnitude that the country was ill equipped to deal with. Thirteen of the countrys twenty five districts were affected with the North and East provinces accounting for over two thirds of deaths and nearly 60% of the displaced. Sri Lanka (RADA) estimates that about 150,000 people lost livelihoods about 80 per cent of the affected lost their main source of income; 90 per cent lost their productive assets including the abodes. There were several issues facing the micro finance sector even pre-tsunami. The micro finance market has been pluralistic with high penetration by many different types of institutions, employing a wide range of micro finance models and methods. Bulk of micro credit is funded through Government banks and programmes, through subsidized credit, w hich is not sustainable. Agro Micro-Finance, BRAC, Arthacharya Foundation were working in Sri Lanka during tsunami. While these MFIs might be fulfilling their social mission, they were not charging interest rates that would achieve cost recovery. Capacity building of these institutions was a priority. Agro Micro-Finance was operating in eight districts in Sri Lanka, many of which were affected by the tsunami. Arthacharya Foundation is a national not-for-profit NGO functioning in seven districts. This organization is working with a large number of donors in promoting micro enterprises through savings and credit, and also working in health and sanitation. BRAC set up operations in Sri Lanka for undertaking post-tsunami rehabilitation activities. BRAC has quickly expanded the outreach as well as loans since establishing operations in Sri Lanka. Within a year of operation the number of clients reached has touched 26,373 making it one of the larger MFIs in Sri Lanka. Well established man agement practices and systems have enabled the MFI to quickly scale up. Though the initial operations were through grant funds from BRAC and Oxfam NOVIB, BRAC has recently approached commercial banks for loans for expanding its loan portfolio. Pre-tsunami, voluntary savings was offered by four MFIs and compulsory savings by ten MFIs. Overall, there have been several positive developments due to post-tsunami funding by donors. Lessons and challenges of micro-finance: As we look broadly at micro-finance as an industry, and at specific experiences in the natural disaster context, it is possible to draw several broad lessons: Microfinance cannot be a financial safety net to an entire affected community, but can play an increasingly constructive role in disaster preparedness and response as it expands its range of products and services. Establishment of long-term relationships between individuals and MFIs allow poor households access to existing MFI products that can help reduce some of the hardships caused by natural disasters. Preparedness of the MFIs staff and systems is the key to providing timely response to clients. Timing of MFI services matters to clients: emergency loans must be available quickly after disaster strikes, while reconstruction support is useful once the household has fully passed the emergency stage. Along with these broad lessons, there are also clear bottlenecks that limit the role MFIs currently play in natural disaster response and mitigation: Most MFIs do not have the liquidity position (or access to a Disaster Loan Fund) to respond quickly or fully in a disaster context. MFIs-from management, to field staff, to reserves, to information and communication systems-are not currently prepared to either weather or respond to a natural disaster situation. MFIs have not considered client needs from an emergency perspective; rather products and services are primarily geared to day-to-day business or household concerns. Demand for special services may be small, yet may require significant institutional investment. Therefore, individual MFIs are unlikely to invest in developing or maintaining these services. Regulatory restrictions and limits to institutional capacity will keep most MFIs from mobilizing voluntary savings for the foreseeable future. Findings of the study: Although the concept of using microfinance for disaster mitigation is a novel idea, the relevance of microfinance under disaster conditions especially for the poor is yet to be fully established. Microfinance even under normal circumstances faces quite a few limitations in bringing about improvement in livelihood. While microfinance can ensure livelihood protection by reducing various shocks and vulnerability, it cannot lead to livelihood promotion unless it is accompanied by other equally important measures like training, market linkages and technology development. As micro-finance institutions involved in livelihood restoration interventions, they are aimed at establishing funds that could be used in normal situations and during times of disaster. Their main aim during normal times was disaster preparedness. By taking up various activities aimed at disaster preparedness, they secured livelihoods and resources, improved the lives of the communities, made them less vulnerable and bet ter equipped to face disaster. In case of an emergency, the projects assisted the communities in mitigating mit ·i ·gate  Ã‚   v. mit ·i ·gat ·ed, mit ·i ·gat ·ing, mit ·i ·gates v.tr. To moderate (a quality or condition) in force or intensity; alleviate. See Synonyms at relieve. v.intr. To become milder. .. Click the link for more information.  the effects through loans reserved for the purpose. Insurance could be a useful instrument of risk mitigation for the poor especially under disaster situation Micro-insurance can take up under MFIs to provide protection to the women against loss of life, accidents, prolonged pro ·long  Ã‚   tr.v. pro ·longed, pro ·long ·ing, pro ·longs 1. To lengthen in duration; protract. 2. To lengthen in extent. .. Click the link for more information.  illness and hospitalization, and damage or destruction of houses and household assets. Thus, both during normal and disaster times, the MFIs funds were used mainly through loans. The core objective of the MFIs is to reach out to the most vulnerable among the target groups. As observed in the study, the members would like to depend upon MFIs for their social, economic and emotional security. For protection and improvement of their livelihood, they need diverse financial services. Many of them would like to take up income generating activities to strengthen their economic base. Moreover, no significant attempt is made by these interventions to adopt an integrated approach required for improving the livelihood of the disaster-affected households. Given the fact that the members of the poor households in the study area are faced with many social and economic constraints like illiteracy, severe caste and gender discrimination, and landlessness, m ere introduction of microfinance may not help them in bringing about any significant improvement in the livelihood. VI. Methodology: The study mainly uses secondary sources. Secondary data on Flood in Bangladesh (1998) was colleted from Bangladesh Country Report by Sirajul Islam (INAFI Asia Bangladesh) and Tsunami Micro Finance in Sri Lanka (2004) was collect from Review of Post-Tsunami Micro Finance in Sri Lanka by Girija Srinivasan. Moreover, I have taken help from different websites and books. VII. Conclusion: Reducing the Poors vulnerabilities to disasters and emergency situations is the role of micro-finance in disaster risk mitigation. It can immediately relieve financial burdens caused by the on set of calamities, especially if savings and micro-insurance is included in the package of services. It can further support consequent initiatives for sustainable disaster recovery and rehabilitation. Since, MFI is private in nature; it has great potential to provide financial and non-financial services in all stages-relief, rehabilitation, reconstruction and development. However, micro-finance services alone cannot immediately translate into a stand-alone successful disaster recovery enterprise but needs to form part of an over-arching disaster risk mitigation strategy. The success of the microfinance industry in various disasters is indicative of future accomplishments in exploiting microfinance for pre- and post-disaster mechanisms. While micro-finance can be an entry-point for the delivery of sustained services in disaster situation, it still needs the prompt provision of services from the government, like installation of damaged infrastructure and other rehabilitation interventions and active participation of other civil society groups for training, counseling and organizing. A more thorough understanding of microfinance and disaster mitigation is needed for poverty reduction and disaster impact reduction. Finally, it can be said that micro-finance institutions can be an entry point or a point of convergence of poverty alleviation and disaster mi tigation programs.

Shakespeares Macbeth - The Transformation of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth

The Transformation of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth      Ã‚   In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the characters  Macbeth and Lady Macbeth decide, in a great fit of ambition, to kill King Duncan.   Later in the play we see the same two characters undergo a transformation in their personalities after murdering the King.   Macbeth begins the play as a noble soldier and gradually changes into an ambitious and murdering tyrant.   Lady Macbeth begins as a strong, ambitious woman who dominates her husband and gradually changes into a weak and guilt-ridden woman.   This essay will explore the characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth before and after the murder of King Duncan. Macbeth begins the play as a noble and trustworthy soldier, with a placid and honest personality.   Unfortunately he is told three prophecies by three witches and it is these prophecies that gradually change Macbeth into a greedy, untrustworthy, ambitious tyrant.   Similarly, like Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is also overruled by her ambitious nature and not only encourages her husband to kill the king, but plans it herself.   Lady Macbeth begins as an ambitious, overpowering and domineering woman, particularly towards her husband.   Though as time passes we see Macbeth become domineering and unbearably ambitious, while Lady Macbeth becomes the lesser of the two and her guilt becomes too much to bear, hence leading her to death.   Macbeth is obviously gullible as he believes the witches after a while and relies on their prophecies constantly.   This changes not only his life, but also Lady Macbeth's life and the lives of those living in Scotland at the time.  Ã‚   However Macb eth and Lady Macbeth believe that the witches are good luck, this proving to be quite the opposite. ... ...on Shakespeare s Tragedies . A Course  Ã‚  Ã‚   of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.  Ã‚   Shakespeare, William.   Tragedy of Macbeth . Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul  Ã‚   Warstine. New York: Washington Press, 1992.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Steevens, George. Shakespeare, The Critical Heritage. Vol. 6. London:  Ã‚   Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981.  Ã‚   T.W. Shakespeare, the Critical Heritage. Vol. 5. London: Routledge & Kegan  Ã‚   Paul, 1979.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wills, Gary. Witches & Jesuits. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.      Epstein, Norrie, The Friendly Shakepeare, New York, Viking Publishing, 1993. Harbage, Alfred, Macbeth, Middlesex England, Penguin Publishing, 1956. Magill, Masterplots- Volume 6, New Jersey, Salem Press, 1949. Staunten, Howard, The Complet Illustrated Shakespeare, New York, Park Lane Publishing, 1979.   

Aloe Vera as Paper Glue Essay

Abstract This research work is about creating a new invention out of Aloe Vera. Thereare hundreds of products made from this plant but we have to think of a unique one thatcan be useful in our everyday lives. We decided to make an â€Å"Aloe Vera Paper Glue† thatis combined with additives that have a sticky effect to come up with our desired product.This discovery is eco-friendly because it doesn’t contain harmful chemicals thatwill have negative results or side effects. Aloe Vera is extracted and blended withunprocessed, natural substances unlike any other paper glues which contain chemicalsthat can affect the sensitivity of a person using it.Can we make paper glue out of Aloe Vera extract? It is a question than was givenan answer on this research. We successfully made this work valid by giving explanationsto queries and discussing the uses of Aloe Vera plant, methods used and many other things that require thinking, experimenting and analysis.Because of the substances found within the plant, we were able to make a fineglue out of it. With the help of resources like internet, encyclopedia and old highschoollectures, we searched for substances, mixtures and ingredients that can help improve thestickiness of our product.People should embrace the birth of this newly-discovered product because of itseffectiveness and cheapness. Aside from that, it has no effects in the environment, it isdifferent, and it helps support the use of Aloe Vera plant in the industry Introduction Aloe Vera as the Main Component of the Product Aloe Vera has been widely used today in the form of lotions, soaps, astringents,ointments and other kinds of products. In this study, we will use Aloe Vera to create asticky and fine paper glue that can be used at home and school. This study leads to theenrichment of Aloe Vera and discovery of a product that will replace the kinds of gluecurrently available in the market.Aloe Vera, the main component of the product holds the scientific name,Aloe barbadensis miller liquid. It is an herb, which is known mainly for its cosmeticfunctions. However, this plant is also rich in substances that aid in several illnesses andailments. The aloe Vera plant has been found to have great contributions to health, bothinternally and externally. Research studies have shown that it has properties comprisingof inhibitory, anti-inflammatory, regenerative, and anti-bacterial functions.Preparations made with Aloe Vera as the primary ingredient have been effectivein reducing pain and allergies. In the same way, some of its properties are responsible for cell regeneration that causes close cuts and hemorrhages to heal easily and more rapidly.Its purgative properties, brought about by the existence of six antiseptic agent substancesin the plant (that is, cinnamic acid, lupeol, sulphur, salicylic acid, phenol and ureanitrogen), make it ideal in eradicating parasites, harmful bacteria, and fungi in theintestinal tracts. Sabila can be used externally for the treatment of acne, pimple burns,insect bites, and for moisturizing and hydrating the skin.There’s a reason Aloe Vera is trusted in products you see every day and thatreason dates back thousands of years. Aloe Vera is being used by human being for morethan 5000 years now. The earliest civilizations revered this extraordinary botanical for itsastonishing properties. Aloe Vera uses are legendary and this information has beenpassed down through time, enhanced by scientific innovation and centuries of experience. Research Objectives and HypothesesOBJECTIVES This study aims to create a cheaper and more effective type of paper glue from theleaves of Aloe Vera that is processed in a natural way and mixed with natural substancesthat can contribute to the stickiness of the product.It also aims to show the utilization of Aloe Vera not only in medicinal andcosmetic purposes but for school use as well. HYPOTHESESNull Hypothesis: Aloe Vera, when extracted, will not form a gel-like substance called â€Å"drug-aloe†which gives the stickiness of the glue made out of Aloe Vera. Alternative Hypothesis: Aloe Vera, when extracted, will form a gel-like substance called â€Å"drug-aloe†which gives the stickiness of the glue made out of Aloe Vera. Literature ReviewHistory of Aloe Vera Plant Aloe Vera is a species of Aloe, native to Northern Africa. It is a stem less or veryshort-stemmed succulent plant growing to 80-100 cm-tall, spreading by offsets and rootsprouts. The leaves are lanceolate, thick and fleshy, green to grey-green, with a serratedmargin. The flowers are produced on a spike up to 90 cm tall, each flower pendulous,with a yellow tubular corolla 2 to 3 cm long.Many ancient works, including the Bible, refer to the use of aloe. One of the firstdocumented users of aloe vera was Cleopatra, who lived from 68 to 30 B.C. She is said tohave used the gel on her skin as protection from the sun, and to have thought the gelhelped to keep her skin young-looking. In fact, the Egyptians may have used aloe vera intheir embalming of bodies, among other uses. For over 3,500 years, tales of â€Å"healing Aloe Vera† plants have been handed downthrough centuries by word of mouth. From the Bible’s mention of removing Christ fromthe cross and wrapping his body in aloes and myrrh, (John 19:39), we find Aloe Veramysteriously appearing in every phase of history, with many testimonials to its greatmedicinal values. The earliest documented use of Aloe Vera comes from the ancientEgyptians, but it was also grown and used by King Solomon, who was said to havevalued it highly.Alexander the Great conquered the island of Socotra in order to have the Aloe for his army. During his fabled travels in the Orient, among the many marvels recorded byMarco Polo were his descriptions of the many applications of the Aloe Vera plant. TheSpanish Conquistadors discovered various herbal medicines in use in Tenochtitlà ¡n.At the heart of many of the Aztec cures, it is known that Aloe Vera was theeffective agent. These Aztec herbal medicines were transported back to Europe by theSpanish, during the sixteenth century, where they became the foundation for modernWestern medicine. Aloe Vera has been found described in writings in many differentcultures and as far bask as the Greek, Egyptians, and Roman Eras. References have alsobeen found in writings from the Indian and Chinese Early cultures. Uses of Aloe Vera Aloe Vera plants are readily available and some people keep a potted plant in thekitchen. A leaf spike may be cut open and the gel applied directly to a cut or burn. For other uses, particularly for internal use, commercial gels and juices, which are processedunder strict controls, can be found at most health food stores as well as manysupermarkets.Animal studies and anecdotal reports claim that drinking Aloe Vera juice or taking it as a tablet or capsule can reduce swelling and inflammation in arthritic joints.Drinking Aloe vera juice may also help those asthmatic patients who are not dependenton cortico-steroids. In 1997, University of San Antonio researcher Jeremiah Herlihy,Ph.D., conducted a study to observe any negative effects of drinking Aloe daily. Rather than exhibiting negative effects, however, test animals receiving daily Aloe showed aremarkable reduction in leukemia, heart disease, and kidney disease.Dr. Herlihy concluded, â€Å"We found no indication of harm done to the rats even athigh levels.† In fact, the Aloe-drinking animals actually lived 25 percent longer thanthose in the control group (IASC Conference, Texas, 1997) Adopting aloe products intoour daily nutrition habits is a great way to improve by a natural way, our health, our body’s regeneration and our beautiful appearance. At the same time we acquire balance of the mind and body and overall wellness. When we feel good, healthy, beautiful and overall regenerated –a healthy mind inhealthy body–, we avoid frequent visits to the doctor and acquire positive energy. Our external appearance and image is improved. And all this is apparent in all looks. Theunique and beneficial for our health, components of aloe show that this natural dietarysupplement is essential in our nutrition.It is noteworthy, that so many different products in various categories nowcontain aloe. And there is no wonder why food – health and wellness industries, consider products from aloe as the key to their up growth in the decade 2010 to 2020. Dailynutrition habits, which includealoe Vera juice, bee productsand other natural nutritional supplements, contribute greatly to how healthy we appear, feel and think. Composition of Aloe Vera Plant The active substances of Aloe Vera are found in the leaves whichare composed of the rind, juice and a gel-like substance, the pulp. The active substancesare polysaccharides, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, yellow sap (Aloin, or anthraquinones) and Barbaloins (a glycoside), etc. The pulp of Aloe Vera is composed of 96% water and 4% polysaccharides and other substances.The plant contains many vitamins, excluding vitamin D but including theimportant antioxidant vitamins A, C and F. Vitamins B (thiamine), niacin, vitaminB 2 (riboflavin), choline and folic acid are also present. Some authorities suggest that thereis also a trace of vitamin B 12 (Coats1979). Sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium,manganese, copper, zinc, chromium and iron are all found in the aloe plant. Magnesiumlactate inhibits histidine decarboxylase and prevents the formation of histamine from theamino acid, histadine (Shelton 1991). Histamine is released in many allergic reactionsand causes intense itching and pain. The prevention of its formation may explain theantipuritic effect of Aloe Vera.Sugars are derived from the mucilage layer of the plant under the rind,surrounding the inner parenchyma or gel. They form 25 per cent of the solid fraction andcompriseboth mono- and polysaccharides. By far the most important are the long chainpolysaccharides, comprising glucose and mannose, known as the gluco-mannans (Beta -(1, 4) – linked acetylated mannan). Unlike other sugars which are broken down prior toabsorption, the polysaccharides are absorbed complete and appear in the blood streamunchanged. Here, they act as immuno-modulators  capable of enhancing and retardingthe immune response.. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Aloe vera gel provides 20 of the22 necessary amino acids required by the human body and seven of the eight essentialamino acids which the body cannot synthesise. These must be ingested in food. Sallycylicacid is an aspirin-like compound possessing anti-inflammatory and antibacterialproperties. Topically, it has a kerolytic effect which helps to debride a wound of necrotictissue. Plants have sterols which include Campesterol, f3 Sitosterol and Lupeol (Coats1979). Saponins are soapy substances form 3 per cent of the gel and are generalcleansers, having antiseptic properties (Hirat and Suga 1983). It could be said that itworks because the Aloe Vera plant produces at least 6 antiseptic agents: Lupeol, salicylicacid, urea nitrogen, cinnamonic acid, phenols, and sulphur.All of these substances are recognized as antiseptics because they kill or controlmold, bacteria, fungus, and viruses, explaining why the plant has the ability to eliminatemany internal and external infections. The Lupeol and salicylic acid in the juice explainswhy it is a very effective pain-killer.Next, it could be said that Aloe Vera contains at least three anti-inflammatoryfatty acids, cholesterol, campersterol and B-sitosterol (plant sterols) which explains whyit is a highly effective treatment for burns, cuts, scrapes, abrasions, allergic reactions,rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatic fever, acid indigestion, ulcers, plus many inflammatoryconditions of the digestive system and other internal organs, including the stomach, smallintestine, colon, liver, kidney, and pancreas.B-sitosterol is also a powerful anti-cholestromatic which helps to lower harmfulcholesterol levels, helping to explain its many benefits for heart patents.If we add that Aloe contains at least 23 polypeptids (immune stimulators),then we understand why Aloe juice helps control a broad spectrum of immune systemdiseases and disorders, including HIV and AIDS. The polypeptids, plus the anti-tumor agents Aloe emodin and Aloe le ctins, explains its ability to control cancer . Observations and Justification of Research Work In our findings, Treatment A and C are much better than treatment B because itresulted in a sticky glue. The concentration of vinegar affected the low effectiveness of the glue used in Treatment B and the even distribution of substances used in Treatment Aaffected the high effectiveness of glue. The concentration of Aloe Vera glue affected theslight effectiveness of the glue used in Treatment C.Can we make paper glue out of Aloe Vera extract? It is the research problem thatneeds to be solved in this report. Based on the methods performed, the amount of AloeVera gel used should be measured and tested in different trials and treatments in order tomake the research work valid.The research design supports the alternative hypothesis presented in a tablebecause of testing the amount of Aloe Vera gel used to achieve the usefulness of thedesired paper glue. It was tested in an accurate and precise manner because of carefulanalysis and experimenting.The findings were successful and evidence was stated in the previous pages so wedon’t have to test again. The experiment was created in a step-by-step manner and testedin different levels of concentration and mixtures. Conclusion Based on the experiments performed and results obtained, Aloe Vera, whenextracted will form a gel-like substance called â€Å"drug-aloe† that is used in order to achievethe effectiveness and stickiness of the paper glue. During the research experiment, threetreatments were tested with different levels of substances used including the maincomponent, the Aloe Vera gel. Among the treatments (A, B, C), Treatment A, was thestickiest and most effective. Treatment A contains 20 % of Aloe Vera gel, 20 % of water,20% of baking soda, 20% of vinegar and 20% of powdered milk combined to form the100% concentration of the glue.The factors which affected the efficiency of the paper glue are the evendistribution of substances and the careful use of materials and methods involved in theglue making. During the process, we gathered information and listed every essential datato have good findings and results.Aloe Vera, the main component of the product was proven to be a useful kind of plant not only in terms of medicinal and beauty products but in making a paper glue aswell References David R. Caprette (caprette@rice.edu), Rice University 25 Aug Boudreau MD, Beland FA (April 2006). â€Å"An evaluation of the biological andtoxicological properties of Aloe barbadensis (miller), Aloe Vera†. Journal of environmental science and health. Part C, Environmental carcinogenesis & ecotoxicologyreviews 24(1): 103–54.Vogler BK, Ernst E (October 1999).†Aloe Vera: a systematic review of its clinicaleffectiveness†. The British journal of general practice: The Journal of the Royal Collegeof General Practitioners 49Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 6(13). Retrieved February 6, 2011 fromhttp://PAREonline.net/getvn.asp?v=6&n=13Basic Steps in the Research Process, Retrieved fromhttp://www.crlsresearchguide.org/How to Write an A+ Research Paper, Retrieved from http://www.aresearchguide.com/1steps.html

How to Arrange Prepositional Phrases

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partial-birth abortions and abortions

This is about my views on the controversial subject of partial-birth abortions and abortions. There are many views on these so-called practices of neonatal medicine from the extremists who demonstrate how "powerful" they are by blocking abortion clinics, to the protesters that say people have the choice to kill an unborn child. That is why I think that all these protests, "demonstrations", etc. are not only useless but also tarnishes the civility of both opposing organizations. Should modern day man lower himself to the level of legalized killers or should they raise themselves above the people and doctrines they hate so much to destroy the foundations from which they[pro-choice] build upon? I want to start off with saying that I believe that people should not have the choice wether or not to keep an unborn child under any circumstances. They need to suffer the consequences of their actions. They already made the choice of the risk of conception. The two people who concieved the child need to face up to life. The law is sheltering people from life. I think that the people who do have abortions don't see abortion as killing a child, they see it as a solution to an unwanted problem. Teenage pregnancy should not be a problem, there is no reason to have to worry about it, there should be protection used if physical contact should happen. The two people who concieve a child in high school are not at the mentality level for a child. The child is better off in an orphanage. This is where I change sides, if a child is concieved while either person is in high school, an early abortion should be legaly demanded. The high schoolers have their entire lives infront ! of them and a child wont drastically change all of that. I also think that people who concieve from a crime(ie. rape), they also should be allowed to have an abortion. As I have said before that I take no sides, I also don't remain neutral. I am pro-life o

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Got Silk essays The article Got Silk, which was written for The New York Times Magazine by Lawrence Osborne, tackles the controversial issue of cloning and genetic engineering. Osborne is a journalist who on a regular basis contributes to such noted publications as The New York Time Magazine, Salon magazine, and The New York Observer newspaper. All of these publications are known for their intellectual and academic articles, therefore one would expect an article written by Osborne to be of the same quality. Yet when he tackles a topic that is touchy as cloning and genetic engineering of goats to produce spider silk in their milk it is not up to par. Instead, while explaining how spider silk is one of the strongest materials in the world and what it could be used for; Osborne falls short. Osbornes main argument in the article was that some of Nexias workers were unsure at the beginning of the abnormal experiments but then came around to the idea; Osborne shows this by joking around about the though t of it. Lawrence Osborne takes a tour of transgenic farm; a place were animal species are either cloned or genetically mixed to create medically useful substance. The farm is owned by Nexia Biotechnologies. Nexia scientists are engaged in an experiment where a single gene from a golden orb-weaving spider is placed into a goat egg. Nexia ends up with goats producing spider silk in their milk. The reason for the experiment is because the spider silk is virtually the strongest material that exists in nature. The use of the BioSteel (Nexias name for spider silk) will be for body armor, tennis racket strings, and fishing line. After visiting the farm Osborne wanted to write an informative piece, because, as he says: ...genetics is the most glamorous frontier of contemporary science, but also the most fraught with anxiety. It seems that cloning, transgenic animals and genetic engineering are where our dee ...

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Beuys Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Beuys - Essay Example In actuality it went underground, emerging again, in entirely new guises, only toward the end of the 1970s. In 1967 Joseph Beuys, a professor of sculpture at the prestigious Dsseldorf Academy of Art, founded the politically dissident German Student Party and in the following year aligned himself with the rioting students, who strongly influenced his attitudes to art and politics. Beuys was born in 1921 at Kleve in the Lower Rhineland, served with the Luftwaffe in the War, enrolled as a student at the Dsseldorf Academy in 1947, and was Professor of Monumental Sculpture there from 1961 until he was dismissed in 1972. Beuys, who remained committed to social change to the end of his life, founded (among other organizations) the Organization of Non-Voters/Free Referendum Information Point in 1970 and the Organization for Direct Democracy through Referendum in 1971. He also waged war against hidebound art education. Beuys summed up his countercultural stance in 1979: "Young people -- the hippies in the '60s, the punks today -- are struggling to find new ways of defining the culture they live in . They, not money, are the capital of society" (Adriani, Konnertz, & Thomas, 1979). More than any of his contemporaries, Beuys sought to confront the social situation of a physically and psychologically devastated Germany and, by extension, Europe. Facing up to German history and culture -the Nazi period and its antecedents -- he said that he would assume the shamanistic role of exorcising past horrors, indicating the traumas of a time and initiating a healing process." He also believed that the imaginative powers of art could change life and bring about a personal and national rebirth. His ideas appealed to the European art world, because they seemed peculiarly European and -- equally important -- because they were expressed in an advanced visual language. Beuys achieved widespread recognition in 1968 and, in the 1970s, became the most important and influential artist in Europe. Beuys proposed his art as an alternative to contemporary American art -- which to him meant pop art, exemplified by Warhol, and minimalism. He overlooked the fact that many American post minimalists were also reacting against pop art and minimalism and were, like him, moving into performance and installation art. And they were as affected by the Vietnam War and America's social evils as he had been by the Nazi horror, the Holocaust, the student uprisings of 1968 -- and Vietnam. (But he convinced a significant number of European artists and art professionals that his misreading of American and European art was the correct interpretation, in large measure because they wanted to believe it.) Beuys's artistic roots were in Dada-inspired fluxus, which had been at the center of the German avant-garde in the early 1960s. Attracted by its use of performance to break down barriers between art and life, he joined the group. In February 1963 he hosted an international fluxus festival, Festum Fluxorum Fluxus at the Dsseldorf Academy. On that occasion he performed the first of his "actions," as he called his theatrical pieces, titled Siberian Symphony. Fluxus artists, who generally favored simple, short, often outrageous and funny sound-producing events, found Beuys's performance too complex and metaphorical for their taste. But much as he

Nursing and health care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Nursing and health care - Essay Example angles. The American Thoracic Society Quality of Life Resource defines it to be an individual's ability to perform normal daily activities to meet basic needs to fulfill usual domestic and social roles (Leidy, N.K., 1994) and maintain health and well-being appropriate for age that subsumes into functional capacity and functional performance (Wilson, I.B., Cleary, P.D., 1995).Functional Performance: Functional performance, hence, is related to physical activities of daily living, simply assessed by self-report. Functional status can be influenced by biological and physiological impairment, symptoms, mood, and other factors like socioeconomic parameters. It is likely to be modified by the patient's health perceptions, for example, a person who thinks himself ill will have a poor functional status as measured by performance. Functional status is an aspect of health, and it is, in turn an aspect of useful, active life, and that becomes a problematic area in the elderly or geriatric age group.WONCA: In the perception of the World Organization of General Practice and Family Physicians (WONCA), it represents actual performance level or capacity to perform both in the sense of self-care or being able to fulfill a task or role at a given moment during a given period. The WONCA classification committee defines function as the ability of an individual to cope with and adapt to the changing elements in his or her individual environment and to perform certain tasks, like grooming, transferring, ambulating, bathing, and dressing to a measurable degree (WONCA Classification Committee, 1990).CICD: The Center to Improve Care of the Dying simply expresses this concept to be the...Laviolette, Melissa A. Bernstein, David Kaliton, Carmen Castaneda, Charles T. Pu, Jeffrey M. Hausdorff, Roger A. Fielding and Maria A. Fiatarone Singh,, Association of Muscle Power With Functional Status in Community-Dwelling Elderly Women, The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 55:M192-M199 (2000). Tomonari OKADA, Toshiyuki NAKAO (1998), Physical Functional Status And Factors Contributing To Disability In Japanese Chronic Dialysis Patients, Nephrology 4 (3), 195-203, doi:10.1046/j.1440-1797.1998.d01-27.x Valderrama, E., Gama, J Damian, J Perez del Molino, M Lopez, M Perez, and F Iglesias, Short Report. Association Of Individual Activities Of Daily Living With Self-Rated Health In Older People, Age Ageing, May 2000; 29: 267 - 270.

Computers and English Language Teaching Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Computers and English Language Teaching - Essay Example Thus students in one country can and do take classes in another. Before dealing with the details of computer aided teaching of English as a foreign language and teacher training, it will be useful to consider briefly the online education environment in general. The online teaching environment may be divided into two basic different types: synchronous courses and asynchronous courses. A synchronous course occurs in "real time", i.e. the instructor and the students are logged on to the internet at the same time and are within the online course, perhaps exchanging IM's or with a lecture occurring on a live whiteboard program. However, the best use of online education is in the asynchronous mode, in which lectures are available on the course website as P.Points and/or audio-visual files, students take part in threaded discussions and assignments are submitted to a digital drop-box (Kearsley, 1999). Some of the major advantages of online teaching are the ability of students in remote geographical areas to take classes, introduce new types of pedagogy to the 'classroom' and create a more reflective atmosphere for students. One major feature of online classes is that the dominant personalities that are found in all physical classrooms can no longer dominate all class discussions. More shy students who are likely to be silent and even unnoticed in the live classroom are 'heard from' in the online situation. Thus there is an equalization and a democratization of the student learning system that cannot occur in the actual classroom. This sense of equality comes at what some have seen as a considerable price. Bender (2003) poses a question that is difficult to answer, but which the online teacher (and especially the online teacher instructing language) must consider: Students generally like to have a sense of belonging. When they attend a class on campus, they become familiar with the room in which the class is held . . feeling included in a group is an important factor for encouraging the true potential for learning taking place . . . but is it possible for a class that does not occupy spatial coordinates to still generate a feeling of place . . . does the association of "distance" and "learning" constitute an oxymoron After all, education is surely about the meeting of minds, not their separation. (Bender, 2003) These are difficult questions that have yet to be answered because online teaching is still in its embryonic stage. As the Internet itself develops, and as bandwidth speeds increase to the point where real-time teaching and complex audio-visual materials will be available as easily as television is today, then a real test of whether there is a "place" within the online teaching environment will be set. As it is, all the signs seem to be that a sense of place can occur, as long as the teacher has a sound knowledge, both of her subject and also of the special opportunities and challenges of the online teaching environment. The Blackboard online platform is currently one of the most utilized within the world of online teaching. It offers the teacher a number of different teaching possibilities and strategies. These include the inclusion of lecture notes (often Power Point

Beuys Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Beuys - Essay Example In actuality it went underground, emerging again, in entirely new guises, only toward the end of the 1970s. In 1967 Joseph Beuys, a professor of sculpture at the prestigious Dsseldorf Academy of Art, founded the politically dissident German Student Party and in the following year aligned himself with the rioting students, who strongly influenced his attitudes to art and politics. Beuys was born in 1921 at Kleve in the Lower Rhineland, served with the Luftwaffe in the War, enrolled as a student at the Dsseldorf Academy in 1947, and was Professor of Monumental Sculpture there from 1961 until he was dismissed in 1972. Beuys, who remained committed to social change to the end of his life, founded (among other organizations) the Organization of Non-Voters/Free Referendum Information Point in 1970 and the Organization for Direct Democracy through Referendum in 1971. He also waged war against hidebound art education. Beuys summed up his countercultural stance in 1979: "Young people -- the hippies in the '60s, the punks today -- are struggling to find new ways of defining the culture they live in . They, not money, are the capital of society" (Adriani, Konnertz, & Thomas, 1979). More than any of his contemporaries, Beuys sought to confront the social situation of a physically and psychologically devastated Germany and, by extension, Europe. Facing up to German history and culture -the Nazi period and its antecedents -- he said that he would assume the shamanistic role of exorcising past horrors, indicating the traumas of a time and initiating a healing process." He also believed that the imaginative powers of art could change life and bring about a personal and national rebirth. His ideas appealed to the European art world, because they seemed peculiarly European and -- equally important -- because they were expressed in an advanced visual language. Beuys achieved widespread recognition in 1968 and, in the 1970s, became the most important and influential artist in Europe. Beuys proposed his art as an alternative to contemporary American art -- which to him meant pop art, exemplified by Warhol, and minimalism. He overlooked the fact that many American post minimalists were also reacting against pop art and minimalism and were, like him, moving into performance and installation art. And they were as affected by the Vietnam War and America's social evils as he had been by the Nazi horror, the Holocaust, the student uprisings of 1968 -- and Vietnam. (But he convinced a significant number of European artists and art professionals that his misreading of American and European art was the correct interpretation, in large measure because they wanted to believe it.) Beuys's artistic roots were in Dada-inspired fluxus, which had been at the center of the German avant-garde in the early 1960s. Attracted by its use of performance to break down barriers between art and life, he joined the group. In February 1963 he hosted an international fluxus festival, Festum Fluxorum Fluxus at the Dsseldorf Academy. On that occasion he performed the first of his "actions," as he called his theatrical pieces, titled Siberian Symphony. Fluxus artists, who generally favored simple, short, often outrageous and funny sound-producing events, found Beuys's performance too complex and metaphorical for their taste. But much as he

Computers and English Language Teaching Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5250 words

Computers and English Language Teaching - Essay Example Thus students in one country can and do take classes in another. Before dealing with the details of computer aided teaching of English as a foreign language and teacher training, it will be useful to consider briefly the online education environment in general. The online teaching environment may be divided into two basic different types: synchronous courses and asynchronous courses. A synchronous course occurs in "real time", i.e. the instructor and the students are logged on to the internet at the same time and are within the online course, perhaps exchanging IM's or with a lecture occurring on a live whiteboard program. However, the best use of online education is in the asynchronous mode, in which lectures are available on the course website as P.Points and/or audio-visual files, students take part in threaded discussions and assignments are submitted to a digital drop-box (Kearsley, 1999). Some of the major advantages of online teaching are the ability of students in remote geographical areas to take classes, introduce new types of pedagogy to the 'classroom' and create a more reflective atmosphere for students. One major feature of online classes is that the dominant personalities that are found in all physical classrooms can no longer dominate all class discussions. More shy students who are likely to be silent and even unnoticed in the live classroom are 'heard from' in the online situation. Thus there is an equalization and a democratization of the student learning system that cannot occur in the actual classroom. This sense of equality comes at what some have seen as a considerable price. Bender (2003) poses a question that is difficult to answer, but which the online teacher (and especially the online teacher instructing language) must consider: Students generally like to have a sense of belonging. When they attend a class on campus, they become familiar with the room in which the class is held . . feeling included in a group is an important factor for encouraging the true potential for learning taking place . . . but is it possible for a class that does not occupy spatial coordinates to still generate a feeling of place . . . does the association of "distance" and "learning" constitute an oxymoron After all, education is surely about the meeting of minds, not their separation. (Bender, 2003) These are difficult questions that have yet to be answered because online teaching is still in its embryonic stage. As the Internet itself develops, and as bandwidth speeds increase to the point where real-time teaching and complex audio-visual materials will be available as easily as television is today, then a real test of whether there is a "place" within the online teaching environment will be set. As it is, all the signs seem to be that a sense of place can occur, as long as the teacher has a sound knowledge, both of her subject and also of the special opportunities and challenges of the online teaching environment. The Blackboard online platform is currently one of the most utilized within the world of online teaching. It offers the teacher a number of different teaching possibilities and strategies. These include the inclusion of lecture notes (often Power Point

Home Depot Essay Example for Free

Home Depot Essay It is not common for an enterprise to rise from the level of start-up to market domination in less than 3 decades, but Home Depot has this special distinction. With annual sales in excess of $80 billion from over 2 thousand retail stores (A Portrait of Growth, 2007) this remarkable corporation did not even exist until 1978. This stunning growth, which has an impressive record of profitability as well, has been largely achieved in North America, during the less than dynamic times of the last quadrant of the 20th century. The Home Depot success story is not in mere commercial or financial terms alone, but is also a powerful symbol of the spirit of free enterprise: the company was founded by a team of just 2 entrepreneurs, and has made deep inroads in all the communities it serves (Roush, 1999). This document combines both internal and external views and accounts of the functional histories and accomplishments of Home Depot, and concludes with observations about the possible future prospects of the corporation in the global markets which have begun to unfold. Company Analysis Home Depot has been built on a triad of platforms, which can be used to analyze its performance in qualitative terms (A Portrait of Growth, 2007). The first of these planks has been to build on a core business, which the company has executed with finesse and with impressive results. The corporate brand has become virtually synonymous with all do-it-yourself and do-it-for-me home improvement activities in the United States. The company is present in all 50 States, and has a comprehensive package of products and services for all categories of individual home owners. The company brand is an assurance of quality and value-for-money for an entire generation of U. S. citizens. Easily accessible customer advice (Roush, 1999). and strong cultural roots in the multi-racial values of modern America are inextricably linked with all phases of company operations. A second dimension of Home Depot has been to extend business (A Portrait of Growth, 2007). The management has been relatively conservative in this respect, adding wholesale and electronic business lines, but without the kind of aggressive expansion that was a hall-mark of its early years of store expansion. Indeed, it is also interested to dispose off its wholesale business. It is possible to think of many extensions of the original home improvement business in a retail format, which the company seems to have ignored. However, business extension remains a key stated aim of Home Depot. The third plank of Home Depot is to enter new markets (A Portrait of Growth, 2007). Implementation, being restricted to Canada, Mexico, and China, has been poor. Russia, India, the European Union, Brazil, the Middle East, and South Africa, are some of the potential markets which Home Depot has ignored. There seems to be no systematic effort to exploit the Internet and establish a strong global presence, as many other U. S. based corporations have done. The overall qualitative company analysis of Home Depot shows excellence in and focus on growing the core business, with limited forays in diversification, and weak attempts to extend the business to all available markets. Quantified company analysis leads to the same conclusion: Home Depot yields high short-term cash, but seems to be low on initiatives for new investment. 2005 Gross Profit, at over $27 billion, is more than a third of sales revenue. This is quite extraordinary for a business without proprietary products or technology. It reflects the success of the company’s basic philosophy of achieving economies of scale (Roush, 1999). The 2005 achievement is no ‘flash in the pan’ for the company has an impressive record of 5 years of operating margin expansion. Long term debt is less than 10% of equity, indicating some possible diffidence of company management about future prospects. It does not augur well for investors who look for superior growth opportunities. The 2005 Quick Ration is below 0. indicating efficiency in purchasing and logistics, with due leverage of its commanding market share and brand strength. It is clear that Home Depot is a successful and profitable enterprise, though it is inadequately geared to exploit new opportunities and emergent market trends. The company’s financials and business structure indicate that it may have already crested its best years, especially with respect to the limitations to further growth in North America. Segregated accounts for operations in China are not available in the public domain, but it appears that the company has not matched its historical success in a new continent. The entrepreneurial origins of Home Depot may not be entirely relevant for the professionalism demanded by a global market environment. Economics High volumes at low prices are at the heart of the business model (Roush, 1999). The network of over 2 thousand retail stores, with national spread in the United States, and enviable brand equity, combine to attract a plethora of suppliers with apparent deep discounts for the company’s endorsement. The economics of Home Depot act as an entry barrier, preventing regional competitors from attacking its market share. High cash generation puts Home Depot in a formidable bargaining position, and with the power to sustain predatory pricing offers. The Home Depot economic model has deeper roots in people than in numbers! Decades of intensive training and close interaction between the founders and front-line employees (Roush, 1999) make the company’s stores more than mere warehouses of branded goods. Home Depot emphasizes customer education, which attracts middle-class first time home buyers in sustained and large numbers. The company has carved a large segment in the U.  S. market with such deep footprints that they are almost impossible for newcomers to erase. Accounting Home Depot is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (Home Depot Inc, 2007). It has met all reporting and disclosure requirements without any exceptions on record. Auditor comments on its financial statements show adequate compliance with statutory accounting standards. It is apparent that the company has an adequate accounting system, which is able to capture details of millions of transactions in reliable manner. Though the Management Information Systems of Home Depot are not in the public domain, it is possible to observe that even statutory treasury functions are advantageous for the company. The control of such a large number of sales items spread trans-nationally over such a large number of locations, would itself serve as an entry barrier for a new entrant. The company must excel in systems development, even if some parts are outsourced, to account correctly for such a large number of daily transactions. The Home Depot accounting system is therefore a significant non-financial asset of the corporation. Such systems have large future profit potentials if the company diversifies and enters new markets. Finance Earnings have grown by more than 20% for 4 consecutive years (A Portrait of Growth, 2007). Cash generation exceeds $7 billion. Total assets are about $44 billion. The equity base is stable at just over 2 billion shares, but long term debt is just 9. 9% of equity. The company is amazingly liquid for a business, which on paper should be most vulnerable to the vagaries of customer demand. The Current Ratio is just 1. 7, which is remarkable for so many items on sale across more than 2 thousand depots. Return on Investment in 18. 31, which exceed expected performance for a business without patents and proprietary technologies. Home Depot has a sterling financial performance, and is extremely sound by all financial yardsticks. However, the equity is not adequately leveraged. It appears that the management does not have new ideas about the future, though the business segment in which it operates is full of technological, economic, spatial, and demographic changes. Even the Current and Quick ratios, while admirable from an accountant’s perspective, may be questioned in terms of inventories of scare materials such as wood. Overall, finance has opportunities to excel as a function when a company grows aggressively, makes ambitious expansion plans, and deals in multiple currencies. The financial waters of Home Depot are placid! Marketing The Finance function of Home Depot may be a quiet place, but Marketing is a dynamic function for the company! Excellence in customer service is a founding value of the company (Roush, 1999). Much of this is achieved through intensive training programs, and by innovation in store design. It is hard to match the incomparable product and service combination of Home Depot and it is apparent that the company has a strong understanding of middle-class Americans as a customer segment. All home improvement needs can be met at the company’s stores, and customers have come to rely on the company’s pricing for a wide variety of tools and fixtures. The company brand enjoys top-of-the-mind recall, and has strong associations with the generic product category of retail home improvement. The do-it-yourself product category is very large in most sections of U. S. society, so Home Depot has a durable line of revenue by dominating this market. The business calls for deep understanding of the multi-faceted needs of home owners, and Home Depot has nurtured a special bonding with typical customers ever since its inception. The brand loyalty is extremely strong and has not been broken by any competitor as yet. The company has such a strong hold on the market that new manufacturers of appliances, fittings, and surfaces, are forced to enter the market through Home Depot stores. Customer education is a key consideration at Home Depot (Roush, 1999). This serves to protect the company’s market shares for even the most generic product lines, because no one else matches the information needs of new home owners, or older ones who encounter new problems in their properties. Since the company also offers favorable pricing, customers have little motivation to switch loyalties. Repeat custom is ensured through universal customer satisfaction. There is also plenty of space devoted to do-it-for-me market segments, which combines well with the wholesale business (now on the block for sale) to bring in valuable endorsements from experts in the professional home repair and redecoration businesses. Customers routinely visit Home Depot without any specific product in mind, or even without fully knowing what exactly they need to buy. The friendly advice which is easily and freely available at Home Depot serves to hook customers and has them returning for all home improvement needs. The service also serves to expand the overall market for home improvement, encouraging home owners to take on tasks which they may have left unattended or passed on to service providers, were it not for the guidelines forthcoming from the stores of Home Depot. The encouraging ambience in the stores of Home Depot is reinforced by wise and timely mass media communication. By advertising on a NASCAR theme on television (A Portrait of Growth, 2007) the company shows deep appreciation of its typical customer cluster, and their preferences. Home Depot is also an official NFL sponsor, which is most appropriate considering the profile of the typical customer who shops at Home Depot, and who is responsible for the vast majority of home improvement decisions. Home Depot excels in all aspects of Marketing with sharp focus on a targeted segment. The Marketing Mix is a coordinated mix of product and service elements guaranteed to ensure repeat custom and durable brand loyalties. Though Home Depot has not slackened its intensive marketing efforts to this day, the residual effects of the goodwill it has generated can stand it in good stead for years. It is considered to be one of the best retailers in North America by customers, associates, and peers alike. Management The Chief Executive Officer and senior Legal and Human Resources personnel have left the company in the last 3 months ending February 2007 (A Portrait of Growth, 2007). All the vacancies have been filled by internal promotions. Such moves would indicate strong management resistance to proposed changes of basic direction, and a determination to persist with established business patterns. The implications are even clearer for a company such as Home Depot, with strong traditions for developing and depending on people. The possible power struggle may have left significant sections of the remaining staff in turmoil, and perhaps now actively searching for alternate jobs. The former Chief Executive Officer is bound by a year’s no-compete clause, and cannot solicit employees to leave and join in his other ventures for the next few years: such clauses in separation contracts also suggest that many people in Home Depot may want to search for alternate jobs as soon as they have options. There is no merit in this matter as far as Home Depot’s future prospects are concerned. There is worse conflict with a major share-holder as well, over strategic direction (A Portrait of Growth, 2007). The share-holder entity, which is professionally managed, has merely asked for an independent strategy review, which is not something against the best interests of Home Depot. However, the Board has decided to oppose the constructive resolution. Reviews by outsiders are never binding on clients, so the management’s intransigence in this matter leaves room for doubt about cohesion at the top of the hierarchy. It is apparent that the company is divided between proponents of change, and a powerful group which favors the status-quo-ante. Though Home Depot has a spectacular performance record, it is true that the 21st century global market is quite different from domestic USA towards the end of the last millennium. New demographic segments of the wealthy, and of some immigrants, have emerged even within the strong hold of the home market, so a recasting of strategy seems in order, even if such an exercise were to conclude that the company is already on the right course. Hands on Human Resources Management, with emphasis on training (Roush, 1999) formed the template of the early success of Home Depot. However, a modern corporation cannot survive on breakfast meetings between employees and founders alone! Diversity concerns have certainly altered the composition of the work force, so new ways of managing people and deploying resources are inevitable. The present Home Depot management may have become prisoners of past achievement, preferring to stay with a course which may not be appropriate any longer. While internal promotions are creditable to a certain extent, Boards also need infusion of new perspectives from other successful companies. By filling all the recent vacancies internally, Home Depot may have deprived itself of valuable perspectives from the street. The company’s close association with middle-class America may become a limitation as it is forced to engage with unfamiliar markets and new customer types. Overall, serious discontinuities are evident in the highest echelons of Home Depot.