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Monday, September 30, 2019

Book Review on Poor Economics

BOOK REVIEW POOR ECONOMICS: A RADICAL RETHINKING OF THE WAY TO FIGHT GLOBAL POVERTY By: Abhijit V Banerjee & Esther Duflo POOR ECONOMICS argues that so much of anti-poverty policy has failed over the years because of an inadequate understanding of poverty. The battle against poverty can be won, but it will take patience, careful thinking and a willingness to learn from evidence. Banerjee and Duflo are practical visionaries whose meticulous workoffers transformative potential for poor people anywhere, and is a vital guide to policy makers, philanthropists, activists and anyone else who cares about building a world without poverty.CHAPTER 1: THINK AGAIN, AGAIN Poverty and development can sometimes feel like overwhelming issues – the scale is daunting, the problems grand. Ideology drives a lot of policies, and even the most well-intentioned ideas can get bogged down by ignorance of ground-level realities and inertia at the level of the implementer. In fact, we call these the â₠¬Å"three I’s† – ideology, ignorance, inertia – the three main reasons policies may not work and aid is not always effective.But there’s no reason to lose hope. Incremental, real change can be made. Sometimes the change seems small, but by identifying real world success stories, facing up to real world failures, and understanding why the poor make the choices they make, we can find the right levers to push to free the poor of the hidden traps that keep them behind. CHAPTER 2: A BILLION HUNGRY PEOPLE? Jeffrey Sachs, an advisor to the United Nations and director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, is one such expert.In books and countless speeches and television appearances, he has argued that poor countries are poor because they are hot, infertile, malaria-infested, and often landlocked; these factors, however, make it hard for them to be productive without an initial large investment to help them deal with such endemic problems. But they cannot pay for the investments precisely because they are poor — they are in what economists call a â€Å"poverty trap. † Until something is done about these problems, neither free markets nor democracy will do very much for them.The basic idea of a nutrition-based poverty trap is that there exists a critical level of nutrition, above or below which dynamic forces push people either further down into poverty and hunger or further up into better-paying jobs and higher-calorie diets. These virtuous or vicious cycles can also last over generations: early childhood under-nutrition can have long-term effects on adult success. Maternal health impacts in  utero  development. And it’s not just quantity of food – quality counts, too. Micronutrients like iodine and iron can have direct impacts on health and economic outcomes.But if nutrition is so important, why don’t people spend every available extra cent on more calories? From the look of our eighteen-count ry dataset, people spent their money on food†¦ and festivals, funerals, weddings, televisions, DVD players, medical emergencies, alcohol, tobacco and, well, better-tasting food. CHAPTER 3: Low-Hanging Fruit for Better (Global) Health? Every year, nine million children under five die from preventable diseases such as diarrhea and malaria. Often, the treatments for these diseases are cheap, safe, and readily available.So why don't people pick these ‘low-hanging fruit'? Why don’t mothers vaccinate their children? Why don’t families use bednets, or buy chlorinated water? And why do they spend such large amounts of money on ineffective cure instead? There are a number of possible explanations. These can include unreliable health service delivery, price sensitivity, a lack of information or trust, time-inconsistent behavior and the simple fact that the poor may not be able to tackle big, chronic illnesses. None of these reasons explains everything in isolation.But understanding what stops the immediate spread of our ‘low-hanging fruit’ – bednets, de-worming medication, vaccines, chlorinated water – is an important step in improving global health, and may finally help to eliminate health-based poverty traps. CHAPTER 4: TOP OF THE CLASS Over the past few decades, children have flocked into the schools, but schools seem to have delivered very little: teachers and students are often absent, and learning levels are very low. Why is this happening? Is it a supply issue, where the government needs to provide children with better schools, better textbooks, better teachers and better facilities?Or is it demand, where parents would lobby for quality education if and only if there were real benefits? There seems to be a problem with both. For example, parents expect both too much and too little from the schools: government jobs for those who graduate from secondary school, and nothing for the rest. Teachers seem focused on te aching small elite, and undervalue the regular students. These expectations affect behavior and generate real world waste. But the good news is that these expectations and these real world outcomes can be changed CHAPTER 5: Pak Sudarno's Big FamilyMost policy makers consider population policy to be a central part of any development program. And yet, unexpectedly, it seems that access to contraception may not be the determining factor in the poor's fertility decisions. So how can policy makers influence population? Instead of contraception, other aspects like social norms, family dynamics, and above all, economic considerations, seem to play a key role, not only in how many children people choose to have, but how they will treat them. Discrimination against women and girls remain a central fact of the life for many poor families.Going inside the â€Å"black box† of familial decision-making – that is, understanding how and why decisions are made the way they are – is essential to predicting the real impact of any social policy aimed at influencing population. CHAPTER 6: BAREFOOT HEDGEFUND MANAGERS The poor face a huge amount of risk – a friend of ours from the world of high finance once noted that they're like hedge fund managers. These risks can come from health shocks – like an accident – or agricultural shocks – like a drought – or any other number of unexpected crises.Often, the poor just don't have the means to weather these shocks, and so they get pushed into poverty traps. The steps they take to protect themselves form these risks are insufficient and often costly: they choose less profitable and less risky crop, they spread themselves too thin across a great number of activities; they exchange favors with neighbors. Yet all this doesn't always even cover large shocks. CHAPTER 7: MICROFINANCE The fact that banks are often unwilling to lend to the poor, coupled with the extremely high interest rates m oneylenders charge, was a call to action for the founders of microfinance.Enforcing credit contracts involves collecting extensive information about the borrower to ensure repayment. The high cost of gathering this information makes neighborhood moneylenders the easiest source of credit. Microfinance institutions rely on their ability to keep a close check on the customer, in part by involving other borrowers who happen to know the customer: This was a recipe for enormous success, there are more than 200 million microfinance borrowers today. Many MFIs were unwilling to evaluate whether their lending programs were helping the poor.The MFIs were financially sustainable and borrowers kept coming back, which the MFIs saw as proof enough. When an Indian MFI, Spandana, was rigorously evaluated, there was clear evidence that microfinance was working. People in Spandana neighborhoods were more likely to have started a business and made large purchases. However, there were no detectable impa cts on women's empowerment, spending on education or health, or in the probability that kids would be enrolled in private schools. One of the limits of microfinance is its inflexible structure and focus on â€Å"zero default. It may not be an effective borrowing channel for entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks and will go on to set up a large business. More established businesses do not find it that much easier to get credit. In particular, they run the risk of being too large for the traditional moneylenders and microfinance agencies, but too small for the banks. We need to see the equivalent of the microfinance revolution for small and medium firms; figured out how to do it profitably on a large scale is the next big challenge for finance in developing countries. CHAPTER 8: SAVING BRICK BY BRICKJust as with lending, banks have not found a good way to adapt their services to the poor. The administrative costs associated with managing small accounts are too high. Instead, th e poor find unusual and ingenious ways to save. They buying durable goods like jewelry or new bricks for their house. Many form savings â€Å"clubs† such as the popular rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) in Africa. However, the fact that the poor have to adopt complicated and costly alternative strategies to save means that saving is harder than if they had a bank account: access to a saving accounts increases profits and consumption.With new technology and innovations like M-PESA in Kenya which allows cell phone users to send money with their phone, microsavings might become the next microfinance revolution. However, not all barriers to savings are externally imposed. The poor, like anyone else, easily give in to the temptation to spend money in the present rather than save it for the future. They have difficulty, for example, saving enough over a short season to buy fertilizer; but a program to help them buy it early increased fertilizer use. The poor may be more subject to temptations than the rich because the items they dream of may be further from their reach.Poor people who feel that they have opportunities have strong reasons to cut down on â€Å"frivolous† spending and invest in the future. Those who feel that they have nothing to lose, in contrast, save less: hope matters! CHAPTER 9: RELUCTANT ENTREPRENEURS Many expect that the poor will find successful business opportunities. They haven't been given a chance, so their ideas are fresher: MFIs have many examples of successful clients, like a garbage collector turned recycling empress! The sheer number of business owners among the poor is impressive. When tiny grants were made to small businesses in Sri Lanka, their profits increased rapidly.However, while many of the poor operate businesses, most of these businesses are tiny. The businesses of the poor tend to have few if any employees and very limited assets. The businesses run by the poor are also generally unprofitable, which may well explain why giving them a loan to start a new business does not lead to a drastic improvement in their welfare. Many businesses suffer from the â€Å"empty shelf† problem: a space a created for a shop, but no inventory fills the shelves. Even a small investment in more inventory will have large marginal returns, but once the shelves are full, the business has no further scope to grow.Despite initial large returns to small investments, many small businesses hit at point at which a substantial capital investment is needed in order to continue growing. However, few people are willing to give such large loans to the poor. Because of this trap, the poor may not invest as much (both money but also emotions and intellectual energy) into their businesses because they know that their business will always remain too small to make real money. Often, the enterprises of the poor seem more a way to buy a job when more conventional employment opportunities are not available t han a reflection of a particular entrepreneurial urge.One of the most common dreams of the poor is that their children become government workers – a stable, though not always an exciting job. A sense of stability may be necessary for people to be able to take the long view. People who don’t envision substantial improvements to their future quality of life may stop trying and end up staying where they are. Creating good jobs could go a long way in increasing the stability of the lives of the poor, which will, in turn give the poor the opportunity and the urge to invest in their children and save more.There are more than a billion people who survive off of the earnings of their own farm or business. We must be impressed by their resilience. But these small businesses will probably not pave the way for a massive exit from poverty. CHAPTER 10: POLICIES, POLITICS Even the most well-intended and well-thought-out policies may not have an impact if they are not implemented pro perly. Corruption, or the simple dereliction of duty, creates massive inefficiencies. Many people believe that until political institutions are fixed, countries cannot really develop. There may be no natural process to completely eliminate bad institutions.Institutional change from the outside is probably an illusion. But it is not clear that things will eventually fix themselves. However, fighting corruption appears to be possible to some extent even without fixing the larger institutions. Relatively straightforward interventions, such as threatening audits or publicizing corruption results have shown impressive success. Often, small changes make important differences. In Brazil, switching to a pictorial ballot enfranchised a large number of poor and less educated adults. The politicians they elected were more likely to target their policies to the poor.In China, even imperfect elections led to policies that were more favorable to the poor. In India, when quotas for women on villag e councils in India were enacted, women leaders invested in public goods preferred by women. Policies are not completely determined by politics. Good policies (sometimes) happen in bad political environments. For example, Suharto built tens of thousands of schools in Indonesia. And bad policies happen in good environments, because what the government is trying to do is hard: generally, the government tries to convince people to do something they would not like to do, like wearing a helmet on a motorcycle!The opportunities for corruption are rife. Bad policies are often a product of the three I's: ideology, ignorance, inertia. For example, nurses in India, whose job description is so overwhelming that they have decided that they cannot possibly do it, and instead do nothing. Careful understanding of constraints can lead to policies and institutions that are better designed, and less likely to be perverted by corruption. Changes will be incremental, but they will sustain and build on themselves, and perhaps even improve the political process.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

How Does the Prologue at the Start of Romeo and Juliet Create Suspense?

How does the Prologue at the start of Romeo and Juliet create suspense? William Shakespeare, writer of Romeo and Juliet, creates suspense through the use of different techniques. Shakespeare is very particular in his choice of diction, by wisely picking specific vocabulary to create an atmosphere. It is usual that a Greek tragedy, such as Romeo and Juliet, contains a Prologue to set the tone for the rest of the play. Shakespeare wrote the Prologue in a Sonnet form using Iambic Pentameter, which contains 10 syllables per line.Iambic Pentameter uses of unstressed and stressed syllables to create a rhythm or flow to the Prologue. The rhyming ABAB pattern is used throughout the whole poem except the two last lines, which are rhyming couplet. Shakespeare used this type of writing to copy a real life speech, as this would be the case when someone did a public reading of the Prologue. The sonnet form normally informs that the play will be about love, suggesting to the audience what kind of play they are about to watch. Like every play that contains love, Shakespeare also includes a certain amount of hate, to create drama.At the beginning of the paragraph Shakespeare creates suspension at the opening sentence. The way in which Shakespeare uses his rhyming techniques draws a big attention to the opening phrase, â€Å"two household† families. The diction â€Å"two† emphases that the poem is about two families off the same standards, which may have some kind of conflict between them. It then briefly describes the two families Capulet and Montague’s; hinting that two families are similar in a way that they are all respected since they are â€Å"both alike in dignity†.By using the term â€Å"alike† suggests that they are to the same degree, none of them are superior. This opening sentence creates suspense because Shakespeare doesn’t reveal what would be the conflict between the two families or why are they alike in dignity. On the o ther hand, on the second line the â€Å"fair Verona† which is the place where the scene is laid out is a place of beauty, Verona is known as an Italian city that has a splendid beauty. This contrast between the beauty of Verona and what seems as a conflict between the two families generates a tense atmosphere.Yet, the â€Å"grudge† between them causes a negative mood. The diction â€Å"grudge† connotes the hatred between the two families; an old disagreement between the families will soon turn to a new conflict; it may include violence and drama. Shakespeare used the first 3 lines of the Prologue to describe the families’ feud and give an introduction to the readers of the main families in Verona. Shakespeare used alliteration of the repetition of the letter ‘F’ on the begging of words. The alliteration on the 5th line demonstrates they were born cursed from their enemies meaning they are â€Å"fatal lions of these two foes†.The dictio n â€Å"fatal† implies that both lovers were born doomed for a bad ending, this tense atmosphere is created due to the unknown ending of how the love between two cursed enemies end. The alliteration also changed the topic from the families feud to the introduction of the two lovers. The 6th line states that from these two houses, two â€Å"star-cross’d† lovers will appear. The terminology â€Å"cross’d† connotes that the whole universe is against them, meaning they have every possible reason to give up but their love bring them together.It also foreshadows that a death will occur. The fact that the families do not get along and they still try to make their love work creates suspension because it keeps a constant feeling that the hate between the families will ruin the lovers love. On the middle of the poem, Shakespeare refers that the lovers â€Å"death† would â€Å"bury their parents’ strife†. The expression â€Å"death† symbolizes the end of life; this strong term advises that the â€Å"death† of the lovers would â€Å"bury† the anger between the two families and they would agree to stop quarrelling.This sentence creates a negative mood due to the reason that both lovers would die and both families would become friendly again. The â€Å"continuance of their parents’ rage† indicates that the uncontrolled emotion could cause violence between the two families and end up in death. The fact that the spectators already know that there could be death crafts a tone of suspense. The ending of the prologue informs the audience that the above outlined plot is about to be performed and gives a hint as to how long it will last.The 13th and 14th line, last lines of the Prologue, asks for the audience patience. All these techniques and detailed vocabulary William Shakespeare uses in the Prologue creates suspense and a contrast between loves and hate atmosphere. Conclusively, the most effective techniques Shakespeare used in the Prologue were the precise use of vocabulary that hinted what would happen and introduced the story in a dramatic way. Also, Shakespeare uses a lot of foreshadowing; these two techniques created suspense and an atmosphere to the Prologue.Shakespeare used a Prologue to introduce to the reader a general summary of what the play is about. When the reader first reads the prologue, it is attracted to continue reading the play even if Shakespeare’s vocabulary is not easy to understand. The impact the Prologue has on the audience is the suspense Shakespeare created leaves the reader curious and with the will to continue watching the play. Overall, the way Shakespeare expresses himself with different and exact vocabulary creates suspense. By: Gabriela Matarazzo

Saturday, September 28, 2019

A Mythical Roadmap of the Movie Cars Essay Example for Free

A Mythical Roadmap of the Movie Cars Essay ? The first stage of separation is the call to adventure. Followed by the refusal of the call and the crossing of a threshold. Call to Adventure: In most situations, this call becomes the subject of the story or the plot of the movie. For Lightning, he thinks his call to adventure comes over the Public Announcement System when the tie-breaking race in California is announced. While this may be the obvious choice, but I don’t think that it is. We need to look at Lightning as the potential hero and observes how he grows over the course of the journey. He doesn’t grow in skill as a driver. He ran his first race at the beginning of the movie a lot better than the race at the end. The call to adventure is not always the destination, but the road leading to the destination. The adventure is in the hero’s growth. The growth that Lightning experiences is in his ability to have and appreciate friends. As cheesy as it sounds, the call to adventure for this movie is the call to find friendship. Refusal of the Call: The refusal of the call happened during the first race when Lightning refused the help and friendship around him. Let’s admit it, Lightning was a jerk. He alienated the people who tried to help him. Three different crew chiefs quit on him during the one season he’s been racing. His arrogance at the end of the first race was so bad his entire crew quit on him. Another example of Lightnings Refusal was his initial refusal to pave the road he destroyed in Radiator Springs. It was through his paving the road that he learned the lessons of the journey. Crossing the Threshold: The symbolism of the thresholds in the movie are found in the highways that Mack and Lightning re traveling. The â€Å"Mother Road† on Route 66 is significantly more important as it is on the Mother Road that we meet the Threshold Guardian, embodied by the Sheriff. As Lightning is frantically trying to find the interstate and Mack, he speeds pas a sleepy Sheriff’s speed trap. The local sheriff begins to follow him with sirens going. Instead of stopping, Lightening goes through a chain of events throug h the forgotten town of Radiator Spring destroying the main road and other property and landing himself in jail, or the impound. This leads to the initiation phase, which can be summarized by the road of trials, the meeting with the goddess, and apotheosis. Road of Trials: The neat part of the Road of Trials step in Cars is that they are somewhat associated with an actual road, in this case, Route 66 or the Mother Road. As Lightning began to face his trails during the movie, he began by failing them. Lighting’s failure in his encounter with the threshold guardian, the Sheriff, resulted in the destruction of the road. When Doc challenged Lightning to a race, Lightning again failed due to his arrogance and lack of experience racing on dirt. The turning point on his road of trials came in the pasture where he and Mater, the local tow truck, were tipping tractors. Lightning successfully tipped all of the tractors by revving his engine. He was also successful in escaping from Frank the Combine. There, Lightning’s luck changed and he was able to fix the road, learn to race on dirt and redeem himself from his earlier failures. The Meeting with the Goddess: I had a couple of options in picking the goddess who Lightning would meet. Since Lightning is a male, I began looking at the female characters. Had the hero been a woman, I would have included the male characters in my search. One important part of identifying the Gods and Goddesses is to not get hung up on their gender but on how the character fills the role. I first went to Sally Carrera, a 2002 Porsche Carrera, as a possibility for the goddess, but I needed to remember not to confuse the romantic interest with the goddess. The goddess that Lightning has to meet needs to be associated with a trial or test that he had to pass in order to continue on his journey. The character that I identified as the goddess, was not a main character, she didn’t even have any speaking lines. The goddess was Bessie. Bessie is the name given to the road paving machine that Lightning had to drag at a snails pace to fix the road. I chose Bessie because she was the symbolic and literal obstacle that was keeping Lightning in town. To leave town, Bessie would have to be on the other end of the road with smooth pavement behind her. Lightning challenged Bessie’s role as his captor when he tried to speed up the process of fixing the road by quickly laying down the asphalt that he later had to scrape up. When Lightning was put in his place, humbled, and respectful of Bessie’s role as the goddess, he could begin to accomplish the task before him. Apotheosis: The step of apotheosis or becoming the father or god began when Lightning discovered that Doc was a retired race car. Discovering Doc’s Piston Cups and watching Doc race helped Lightning to realize that he could learn something from Doc and he quickly regretted not listening to the advice Doc previously offered. The true point of apotheosis comes during the final race when Lighting takes things learned from his time in Radiator Springs and used it to position himself for the win. This includes driving backwards using rear view mirrors and driving on the dirt infield during a spin-out that helped him take the lead. Even though he did not win the race, or the cup, as Doc had, it was Lightning’s to give up. He became the race car that Doc would be proud to know. The third and final stage of Lightning’s journey is the return, characterized by a refusal to return, the crossing of another threshold, the mastery of two worlds, and the freedom to live. The next three step follow each other in very rapid succession. The refusal came when Mack and the rest of the media came to bring Lightning back to the â€Å"real† world. Lightning didn’t want to go. He had fallen for the temptress, Sally, and was ready to abandon his journey. Luckily for him, Sally told him it was okay to go and he left, returning to the world he left behind. The magic flight out of the fantastical world in this story had been combined with the crossing of the return threshold. Mack the truck carries Lightning out of Radiator Springs and onto California. The events surrounding this is discussed a little more when we talk about crossing the return threshold. During Lightning’s stay in Radiator Springs, he became more attached to the people there. It is easy to imagine that he would give up the California race if that meant he could stay with Sally and the residents of the town. The sweet ambrosia of friendship he tasted there was more powerful that the desire to have the Piston Cup. As demonstrated in the movie, there were three aspects to this rescue from without. First is how the media was notified by Doc of Lightning’s location. Second, is Mack with the media entourage barreling into town to take Lightning away. And third, Harv the agent reminds Lighting about the Race, Dinoco, and his rival Chick Hicks. Doc, Mack, Harv, and the media each helped to rescue Lightning. Reluctantly, he allows himself to be rescued and backs into Mack’s trailer for the magic flight to California. The Crossing of the Return Threshold: In the step of crossing the return threshold, we see the return of the Sheriff in his role as the threshold guardian. He and Sally stopped Lightning from leaving by siphoning his gas tank on his first night in the impound. Later, the Sheriff almost had to go after him before Sally and Lightning went on their ride to the Wheel Well. After Lightning finishes paving the road, and thus completing his road of trials, the Sheriff changes his demeanor and is ready to give Lightning a police escort to help Lightning get to the race on time. In the Sheriff’s role as the threshold guardian, he has released Lightning from â€Å"captivity† and it is now Lightning’s â€Å"refusal to return† that is keeping him there. Lightning crosses the return threshold as he takes his magical flight in Mack’s trailer. One part of crossing the return threshold is that the fantastical world, or the world forgotten, becomes forgotten again. Lightning had become a catalyst of life and energy culminating with everyone in Radiator Springs cruising under the neon lights. When Lightning had left town, Doc finally got what he originally wanted. After a tongue lashing from Sally, Doc quietly sat there as everyone left him alone. He sat there thinking about what he had done as the neon lights turned off, one by one. The world forgotten returned to its anonymity as Doc sat on the darkened road, under the traffic light’s flashing yellow signal. Perhaps the saddest moment in the movie. Master of the Two Worlds: The second to last step in the journey is when the hero becomes the master of the two worlds. This is done by finding the ultimate boon and sharing it with those around him. Since the Ultimate boon in the gift of friendship, it is shared in two situations. First, Lightning shares his friendship to the residents of Radiator Springs when he becomes the customer of all of their stores. They share their friendship back when they show up to be his pit crew. Most notably is Doc acting as the crew chief. Lightning did not show his friendship to Doc in the same manner as he did to the others until he helped King across the finish line. Another large sharing of friendship is where he arranges for Mater to take a helicopter ride over Radiator Springs. Freedom to Live: The Freedom to live is shown primarily in the epilogue after the race. Lightning has merged his two worlds together and can now freely live in the racing world but still be with his friends, especially Sally. Lightning literally puts Radiator Springs back on the map when he moves his racing headquarters to the small town. Also, Lightning becomes a new man, or car, as shown by his new paint job, inspired by the classic 1957 Chevy. In many ways, I have found this journey to be similar to that of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh begins his journey at home as the restless king. He soon meets his helper Enkidu and the two of them go off on their adventure to the forest to defeat Humbaba. Enkidu dies. This prompts the grief stricken Gilgamesh to cross the Threshold of Adventure to seek the answer to immortality. While in the underworld/other world Gilgamesh passes many tests before he meets Utnapishtim and his wife who help him find the magical flower of everlasting life. But Gilgamesh loses the magic plant in his Peak Experience to the trickster snake who steals immortality for itself. So Gilgamesh returns home with the boon, the understanding that immortality is reserved for the gods and that he is human. He will experience death and he realizes that he must live his life and enjoy it. So he writes down his tale to spread the word to his people. As a result, Gilgamesh’s journey comes full circle just as Lightning McQueen’s had in the movie. For this reason, I have concluded that all heroes must use the phases of the journey mentioned in this paper. Though the sequence of the steps may change, they are almost always taken. A Mythical Roadmap of the Movie Cars. (2018, Nov 05).

Friday, September 27, 2019

An Investigation on the Selection of Social Service Provider and Buyer Dissertation

An Investigation on the Selection of Social Service Provider and Buyer Behaviour - Dissertation Example According to (Pires and Stanton, 2002), social services are of key importance to the society as these help in strengthening the quality of life of individuals. Although, social service provision is more popularly linked to governmental organizations, there are in fact, a number of non-governmental social service providers as well. Some of these are professionally managed by trained personnel working full-time and paid adequately while others may be formed by volunteers working in their leisure time (Munday, 2007).The users of social services may vary in terms of the urgency of their needs and degree of their dependency on service providers. There may be a dying day-laborer requiring immediate medical care from the nearest possible provider on one hand, while a child laborer in the need of proper education for a bright future on the other. The need and dependency of the former does not leave him much scope to dwell on choices and selection criterion whereas the latter can improve his chances of continuous support and future employment by making a prudent choice. A consumer of general commercial or other services follows certain steps, knowingly or unknowingly, in order to reach a decision while making a choice of a service provider. One of the models defining such a process is the EKB (Engel, James, David Kollat and Roger Blackwell) model with stages of problem recognition, internal and external search, alternative evaluation, purchase and outcome (Engel, J., Kollat, D. and Blackwell, R. (1968). But a consumer of social services differs from the general consumer on a number of significant parameters including sources of information, aptitude and spending capacity (Pires and Stanton, 2002). This affects the process followed adversely more often than not.The selection process of these consumers may be influenced by familiarity, proximity, endorsement and acceptance of claims prima facie without due diligence (Schiffman et al, 1997). This paper therefore proposes t hat there is a need to understand the decision making process and criteria employed by the buyers of social service, so that more targeted promotion or reach out programs can be developed by the social service providers. Social service providers across the UK are funded by the government and private donations and it is essential that the funding is justified in terms of concerted and targeted help made available to those who are in real need. However, the selection of a service is largely dependent on the individual who needs it, and therefore it is important that the service providers are aware of how this selection process occurs. 2. Research Objectives -To evaluate the factors that influence the selection of service provider It is expected that there will be both external situational factors as well as internal, psychological or personality factors that impact which criteria are adopted by the consumers. -To explore the specific criteria that the consumers of social service emplo y in selecting a service The proposed objective of the research is to understand the criteria that social service buyers adopt in selecting a social service for themselves. -To develop a framework for consumer behaviour for selection of social service provider Another aim of the research is to develop a framework that can be used to predict consumer behaviour for consumers of social services. 6. Literature Review A preliminary review of the available literature has

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Incarceration Type and Family Intervention as Determinants of Essay

Incarceration Type and Family Intervention as Determinants of Recidivism in Juvenile Delinquency - Essay Example The risk of facing harsher punishment through possible incarceration in adult prisons blossomed as a way to deter juveniles from engaging in violent crimes. Supporters of juvenile incarceration in adult prisons therefore rely on its supposed deterrent value. Despite the growing concern about juvenile violence, many opponents of the current system have continually pointed out that the risks involved in imposing adult penalties to juvenile offenders far outweigh the presumed benefits. Convicted juveniles are placed in adult correctional centers in the hope that the harsher environment would better rehabilitate them. The opposite seems to be the case. Many opponents of adult incarceration, for example, believe that it does not deter juvenile violence at all. This theory has is supported by several studies. Allard (2002), for example, found that adult correctional centers actually had a negative effect on juvenile delinquents. Compared to their counterparts who were retained in juvenile centers, transferred juvenile offenders released from adult correctional centers have been found to have a higher tendency for repeated criminal behavior. (Allard 2002) In the same study, recidivism was shown to be noticeably more significant among juvenile offenders who had been incarcerated in adult prisons. Such findings are diametrically opposed to the theory that adult punishment would lead to more effective rehabilitation for juvenile delinquents. This stand is further supported more recent work which revealed that the mental states of juveniles being sent to adult prisons did not significantly differ from those being sent to juvenile centers. This finding debunks the notion that juveniles sent to adult prisons are different from the regular juvenile delinquent, a wayward youth whose behavior already warrants harsher measures. Beyer's (2006) study of 50 juvenile delinquents that he had encountered in the course of several years as a psychologist rejected the notion of harsh punishment as the catch-all solution for juvenile crime. His study, instead, forwarded the conclusion that while juveniles sent to adult prisons have almost negligible differences from those retained in juvenile centers, the juveniles which are produced at such prisons come out harder and more prone to recidivism. We may thus logically entertain the existence of a relationship between incarceration type and recidivism or repeated criminal behavior. The truth of this statement would have weighty implications both on the juvenile criminal system as well as the legal policies that are currently being implemented in addressing juvenile violence and crime. Aside from asking ourselves whether harsher punishments are truly effective in curbing juvenile crime, we also encounter questions about alternative mechanisms. Grisso (1996), for one, points out the manifest challenges being faced today in the field of juvenile justice. New ways to discourage juvenile delinquency must be adequately examined. More importantly, Grisso (1996) offers the position that harsher prison conditions for juvenile offenders through incarceration in adult correctional facilities may actually be doing more harm than good. Social

Starting and Developing a New Venture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Starting and Developing a New Venture - Essay Example In the case of Haji he started Easy jet airliners after leaving Stelmar Tankers, his own shipping company by persuading Lucas to lend him ?5 million. He started Easy jet a low cost budget airline using two rented 737s and ?29 one-way fares to Glasgow. By starting Easy jet Haji was not bowing to the pressures of risk but took an imperative measure even though he had been charged earlier with counts of poor maintenance of his vessels and manslaughter. Moreover he started Easy jet by borrowing money. It is a known fact that borrowed money attracts interest and the principal money has to be paid and therefore it becomes, quite impossible to get promising returns in the first years of business. In his autobiography Richard Branson reckons that his passion in doing business is motivated by setting huge goals that are apparently unachievable, and staying focused to rise above them. This shows that Branson was aware of the risks involved in a huge venture when he set up Virgin Atlantics. Bes ides in 1993, Branson took the greatest risk by venturing into the railway business. This project was very costly and most people though he would not make it. It goes without taking that Branson and Haji took a partial path when it came to risks and only took the initiative of such ventures when they deemed them worthwhile in the long run. LOCUS OF CONTROL The locus of control is the power in the principle that one can formulate and implement things. Most entrepreneurs have a high locus but in most cases they are poor in delegating duties. They are upbeat when it comes to venturing into business. They tend to be more practical and positive about their business ventures. In 1993, Branson took what most people thought was a very risky:... Curiosity and creativity is the quintessence of entrepreneurism. New products, new solutions and new ways are the core of creativity and in general entrepreneurism. It is about willing to think of all possibilities and opening one’s mind to creative things through being inquisitive of what is going on in the globe and quite often generating a gimmick of stuff that suggests one’s ability to create new products that other people are afraid of thinking. Branson has been termed as one of the new generation of the creative world. He took products that were already in existence and made them look original. He has revolutionized the airline business by integrating it with other business ventures like the Virgin Fuels and Space tourism. Virgin Fuels was designed to respond to global warming and exploit the insistence spikes in fuel expenditures by offering a revolutionary, less costly fuel for machines and, in the near future, aircraft fuel. Branson stated that he was formerly a global skeptic and his decision was influenced by Al Gore.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Action Potentials and The Cardiac Cycle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Action Potentials and The Cardiac Cycle - Essay Example ld take approximately 200 to 500 milliseconds to complete and conducted from cell to cell, slower compared to less than 2 milliseconds in the action potentials in skeletal muscles (Seeley, Stephens, and Tate, 2007: 333). The following figures depict the stages or phases of an action potential: resting potential, depolarization, repolarization, and returning to resting potential or the final repolarization phase. The resting potential is the stage when the cell is not conducting an impulse (Rothenberg and Chapman, 1989). At this resting stage, the concentration of sodium (Na+) ions is higher outside the cell than the inside. On the other hand, the potassium (K+) ions are evidently higher inside the cell, compared to the outside. In this manner, the sodium-potassium pump is constantly at work to ensure a more positive ionic environment outside the cell membrane, thus leaving the cell interior highly negative (MCB-HHMI Outreach, 2005). Depolarization marks the first step in sending a signal or action potential, wherein the negatively charged cell interior is disturbed by the entrance positive Na+ ions, as we can see in the above figure (MCB-HHMI Outreach, 2005). Further, it is in this stage that Na+ channels open to give way to the diffusion of Na+ into the cell, at the same time, the K+ channels would just begin to open but closes immediately to decrease the permeability of cell to K+ (Seeley, Stephens, and Tate, 2007: 333). We can notice in figure 2 that the potassium and sodium channels are like gates that open to give way to their respective ions. Accordingly, the opening and closing of these membrane channels are responsible in the production of action potentials, as a result of the changes in cellular membrane permeability (Seeley, Stephens, and Tate, 2007: 333). In addition, calcium (Ca++) channels slowly open to cause Ca++ ions to diffuse into the cell, which also mimic depolarization (Seeley, Stephens, an d Tate, 2007: 333). An action potential triggers

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Advanced financial Accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Advanced financial Accounting - Assignment Example Auckland Int’l Airport handles almost 70% of the international traffic or 13 million passengers annually for New Zealand. (Auckland International Airport, 2013). For this financial analysis, Annual Financial Filings for last three years (FY2012, 2011 and 2010) have been used. These are available on company website http://www.aucklandairport.co.nz. Summarized 3 year financial reports are provided in Appendix 1. Deloitte is the independent auditor for Auckland International Airport. Deloitte in the Audit report mentions that they conduct these audits based on International Standards on Auditing and International Standards on Auditing (New Zealand) and that it is the responsibility of the Company (Auckland International Airport) to prepare and consolidate these reports. In the Annual report of 2012 (Auckland International Airport Ltd., 2012), The Company prepares its financial statements in accordance with NZ GAAP standards. However, the auditors certify that these reports comply with NZ IFRS and other applicable Financial Report Standards, such as IFRS, appropriate for profit-oriented entities. The Company treats cash as Current Assets in accordance with generally accepted good accounting practices. Discussion on this item is relevant to Balance Sheet and Cash Flow statement. The company explains the definition of cash in Note 2h (Auckland International Airport Ltd., 2012, p. 49) as follows: â€Å"Cash in the balance sheet comprises cash on hand, on-call deposits held with banks and short-term highly liquid investments. For the purposes of the cash flow statement, cash consists of cash as defined above, net of outstanding bank overdrafts.† According to Note 2j (2012, p. 49), an estimate of impairment for uncollectible amounts is made where there is objective evidence that collection of the full amount is no longer probable. Bad debts are written off when

Monday, September 23, 2019

The Real Number System and Order of Operations Assignment

The Real Number System and Order of Operations - Assignment Example M stands for Multiplication and it takes the third precedence in the order of operations. Looking at this expression, 4 x 8 – 6 + 3, we multiply 8 by 4 to get 32, then add 6 to 3 to get 9. Subtracting 9 from 32 we get 23. S stands for subtraction. Any subtracting command is executed last when doing the sums. In our above expression, our last step was to subtract 9 from 32 where we got 23. The order in which the signs will follow each other is important and it determines the answer one gets. Following the correct steps and orders in life is very important. For science students, following the correct order of operations and steps would mean the difference between getting the desired results and getting a disaster in case the steps are mixed up. Take an example of the preparation of Potassium Hydroxide;- If for example a student interchanged the steps and put the potassium into the water bath then due to the high reactivity of potassium with water, an explosion would ensue. This just helps to illustrate the need to follow correct steps in real

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Plot summary of the old man and the sea Essay Example for Free

Plot summary of the old man and the sea Essay The Sea is the story of an epic that makes a very great effort between an old, who has a lot of experience of a particular activity and he is the epitome of a modern human life, it was happened in a small fishing village near Havana,Cuba, The waters of the Gulf of Mexico, in the 1940,s in the twentieth century. The writers of modern age focused on man as well as psyche of man rather than society, so that Ernest Hemingway wants to write the old man and the sea ,which was the old(Santiago) suffered from alienation ,that alone all the time, it was one of the features of modern age. (Miller, 2002: 3). In 1930,s and during the second world war Ernest Hemingway was lived in Cuba, and because he was loved hunting and fishing and in the age of childhood he fished and hunted with his father, so that he began to write the old man and the sea in the last years of his life and published in the 1952 as a single issue of human life in modern age. In that small village, the villagers must work, which work it is fishing to get money so as to sustain in life, so that each members in the village go to sea with his boat or skiff in the early morning for fishing, and Santiago, old Cuban fisherman was one of them, but alone. As (Ernest Hemingway said). He had a shack which was a small building made of woods, in it a bed, a table, one chair, a picture in colour of Sacred heart of Jesus and another of Virgin of Cobre of his wife on the shelf in the corner under his shirt. He had a small boat and gone eighty-four days without took a fish. The boy named Manolin, that the old man took him when he was five years old and the boy loved him too much and loyalty for him, when the boy saw him without taking a fish in the first forty days while he took three fish in the first week. It made the boy, unlucky to see the old man each day went and came, went and came with his skiff empty and without fish, then the boy came to help him such as coiled lines or the pole, harpoon, brought coffee, sometimes with some food from Martin or Perico, and newspapers that talked about baseball, then it would been the discussion between Santiago and Manolin, that Santiago had a huge  admired for the Great DiMaggio, he was great in baseball player, and whose father was fisherman. The boy left him because his parents forced him to do, and go to another boat. The parents of the boy with the villagers called Santiago salau or unlucky and laughed at him, but Santiago said toward Manolin I knew you did not leave me because you doubted, then the boy said no it was true because my father made me left, so I must obey him, finally the boy left him and Santiago goes to sleep, in his sleep he dreamt lions that played on the white beach of Africa, this was a sense when he was a very young man. The next morning before sunrise Santiago went to Manolin’s house to wake Manolin so as to carry Santiago’s gear to his boat and drinking coffee, on the beach wished each other good luck. (Miller, 1988: 3-20). This time that started with the new day Santiago decided to go far out from others fisherman in the sea, he rowed steadily away from shore toward the deep waters of Gulf Stream. The first he heard the leaps of the flying fish then he saw flying fish pursued by dolphins a diving, circled seabird, he considered to be his friend, and he followed farther and farther out the seabird that was hunting for fish. One of the old man’s’ lines goes taut, and then the old man said out laud, would made a lovely piece of bait. Big fish pulled the boat every day farthest from shore until lost lights of his village. He can’t increase the tension on the line, because if it was too tauted it will be break and the fish will get away. It was a kind of struggle big fish (Marlin), and Santiago, that Marlin wants to get free and the old man wants to get his aim, goal, and desire that stands for life. Because he could not took big fish in to his boat and said a loud I wished I had the boy, but nothing, then he said to himself you have to work better, it was a kind of encourage himself, and he was optimistic all the time although he was alone, and can’t catch a fish, so as to helped himself he said toward Marlin I loved you and I respect you but I will killed you dead before sunset, after that a small tired bird named (Warble) came from north toward the old man’s boat, perched on the taut fishing line that linked the old man to the big fish, the old man told the bird to stayed and rested here to live and to sustain like other any man or birds, he said you were tired and loneliness as me. He didn’t mentioned the Hawks that waited for little bird, suddenly the Marlin surged, and the bird left him without any reaction, Santiago didn’t aware of the bird because his hand was bled, while marlin was quiet, the old man took the line with his back and ate the tun a that he caught day before, then turned to his imaginary mind to baseball, the great DiMaggio, and he wondered if DiMaggio would stayed with the marlin. The marlin woke and jumped out of water again and again and began to circle around the boat for hours and the line taken by Santiago’s hand that fought with the circling fish, after hat he pulled the fish on to it was side by the boat and plunged his harpoon in to it. (Miller; Asiaing. com, 10-37). Note; now he was happy, comfort and without any harm or pain because he got or completed his great aim, desire with the catching of big fish. Here the long strength struggle finished between The Old Man, and the Marlin with the fish lurched out of the water and dead, he pulled the boat toward the fish fastened the fish to the side of the boat. He thought how much money he could make from such a big fish, and he imagined that DiMaggio would be proud of him. The old man found himself wondered, luck, happy, and got his aim, goal, and he rowed toward his village with the great won in his life, but his happiness long less which an hour later amako shark arrived having smelled the marlin’s blood, the second fight and struggle began with sharks that wanted to eat the marlin’s flesh, he was able to killed a number of sharks with his knife and weapon, but he lost his knife and things in the process. He was failure after all and when he got back to the shore of his village there was nothing left but the head, the Skelton, and tail of the marlin. He beached his boat and went to his small building slept and dreamed the lions and turtles. The next morning, Manolin came to the old man’s shack with brought a coffee and despite the old man’s bad luck he decided to go fishing with him again. The entire fisherman had gathered around the Santiago’s boat and measured the Skelton at eighteen feet. Hemingway employed a number of images that link Santiago to Christ, the model of transcendence, who turned loss in to gain, defeat in to triumph, and even death in to new life, and as a representative character for everyone in the society. (Miller, 2002:26-31). Major Characters in the old man and the sea: *Just we had two major characters, 1-Santiago, (The Old Man). 2-Manolin, (The Boy). -Santiago; The old man of the novella’s title. He was a Cuban fisherman, suffered terribly throughout The Old man and The Sea, he had went eighty-four days without caught a fish, and became laughingstock of his village, but he was able to patient. (Miller, 2002: 5). -Manolin; was present only in the beginning and in the end of The Old Man and the Sea, but his presence was important, because Manolin’s love and loyalty for Santiago highlighted the Santiago’s valued as a person and as a fisherman. (Miller, 2005:6). Minor Characters in the old man and the sea: We had four minor characters in the old man and the sea. 1-Marlin, (Big fish). 2-Joe DiMaggio. 3-Martin. 4-Perico. *Marlin; It was a big fish, which was the greatest aim and goal of Santiago. The struggle more than three days between Santiago and Marlin, it was the trying by Santiago to catch Marlin, he had took marlin, but it was destroyed by sharks later. (Miller, 2002:5). *Joe DiMaggio; although he never appeared in the story. He was one of American most famous baseball players; Santiago worshiped him as a model of strengthen and young. (Miller, 1988: 55-56). Note; he always *Martin; Martin a cafe owner in Santiago’s village, didn’t appeared in the story. Manolin often went to martin for Santiago’s supper and others. (Miller, 1988:12). *Perico; perico was the owner of the bodega in the Santiago’s village. He didn’t appear in the novella the old man and the sea, but he served an important role in the fisherman’s life about the scored of the baseball’s newspaper. (Miller, 2002: 6).

Friday, September 20, 2019

Defining Globalization In An Operational Way Politics Essay

Defining Globalization In An Operational Way Politics Essay It is often very difficult to trace the origin of concepts and ideas in social sciences because the concepts, theories and ideas are the products of collective activities. Therefore, it would be very difficult to identify the first use of term globalization while according to Malcolm Walters, the author of book Globalization, Roland Robertson was the early user of this term (Walters, 1995)  [1]  . Apart from the fact, who has used this term for the first time, at the emergence of twenty first century globalization in the form of concept, and slogan is used frequently as compared to any other term. In Singapore, almost everything has significance with globalization from the inflow of foreign capital, technology, workers, music, movies, culture etc. Some people consider the globalization as a train with no brakes crushing everything coming in its way and some people consider it as a benefit to get on the train towards economic growth and modernization. Concept of Globalization According to the meanings in the Oxford Dictionary, the term glocal and the noun glocalization are created by contracting both global and local together so as to make a blend (Robertson, 1995, p. 28)  [2]  . The term was transformed on Japanese word dochakuka which basically meant to adapt the farming tactics depending on the local condition of individual. Within a business world, the concept was adopted so as to refer to global localization and the idea and term of globalization originally comes from Japan (Robertson, 1995, p. 28)  [3]  . However, the term glocalization was frequently used since late eighties, there were various relevant terms existed that were used by social scientists and are still continued to use. It was claimed by various sociologists that subjects and areas like sociology and political sciences were the products of western social experiences when such fields and areas were transported to non western or non European contexts there was a need for indigen ization. The idea of indigenization created a debate among scientists because it raises basic questions regarding the application of these concepts and ideas. One of the basic concerns of globalization is that it opens the doors of doubts regarding the originality of cultures. In longer term perspectives of globalization, the locality and local are considered to be the outcomes of globalization as it is difficult to find any culture that can be viewed as isolated from the procedures of globalization (Khondker, 2004, pp. 1-9)  [4]  . The influence of globalization on culture depends on the consideration of individual about the local cultures to be protected from the external influences or the creation of new cultural activities results from the mixing of ideas and concepts from various cultures. In fact there are some cultures as discussed above that are isolated and cultural interaction though relations of trade have occurred for thousands of years. Therefore, it can be observed that the values are key to assessing the influence of globalization on the individuals lives around the globe. At the instance, it is viable to spread the concept of globalization in such a way that the conflict between various values is highlighted as they play their role in specific circumstances. Hence, the McDonaldization or Americanization of the world presents the procedure of globalization that is driven by the consumer culture of America rolling over other various cultures (Rothenberg, 2003)  [5]  . Economic Phenomena and Globalization While the US Senate pushes a bill to complete a 700-mile-long fence along the Mexican border, Saudi Arabia is finalizing plans for a similar project: a 560-mile-long, US$12 billion dollar electrified fence along its border with Iraq. Both fences are being built to keep outsiders out, to foil illegal immigrants, refugees, black-market weapons dealers, drug runners, and in Saudi Arabias case, terrorists. The US and Saudi Arabia have decided that the consequences of not building a fence are more costly than ever before, thanks to globalization, which has made borders more penetrable by more people.  [6]   Though globalization and its causes and effects are integral to reporting issues like these, the definition of the word is widely debated. Is it widespread economic liberalization? Are national frontiers simply irrelevant? (Barber, 1996)  [7]  . Scholars have developed many definitions, but no matter which definition is chosen by a journalist for a story, the definition should be operational. It should allow for in-depth qualitative and quantitative analysis, so that causes and effects can be identified. Specifically, in international reporting, an operational definition of globalization should help a journalist answer important questions regarding the role of borders, domains, consciousnesses, actors, and consequences in a story (Holm, 2006).  [8]  Are fences on state borders a sign that globalization is weakening, or an example of globalizations sometimes localizing effects? In other words, the globalization might be considered and classified functionally relevant to the series of economic procedure. Such procedures include the liberalization and deregulation of markets, privatization of assets, retreat of state functions in terms of welfare, diffusion of technology, foreign direct investment etc. The term refers to the spread of sales, production facilities, manufacturing processes all around the world that can reconstitute the international division of labor. The prior decades of globalization has been witnessed by various analysts and often the discussion of globalization has been condensed into the discussion of national income that is measured in terms of growth. Connecting the amalgamation of globalization to the economic procedures, a broad statement made by Robert Z. Lawrence that in general terms the economic amalgamation leads towards the convergence with poor economies growing more fast as compared to the rich economy (Lawrence, 1996)  [9]  . It was also noted by the Harvard economist, Jeffery G. Williamson and the President of the Economic History Association, both argued that the globalization leads towards convergence as observed and evidenced in the historical decades. The essence of the argument was regarding the bottom line in terms of the living standard gap between developed and under developed countries reduces with the passage of time and hence the convergence indicates the destruction of this gap in terms of percentage (Williamson, 1996, p. 278)  [10]  . Globalization in Technological and Social Revolution It is considered to be inconsistent to ignore the more theoretical perspective in terms of the matter evidenced as a decisive shift away from industrial capitalism to a postindustrial conception of economic relations. The identical economic phenomena identified earlier are essential not only due to the reason of their representation of unique cluster of activity but also due to the representation of a new form of activity. This concept suggests an outstanding revolution among the techno-industrial higher classes that are mainly driven by the technological enhancements ultimately rendering the entire globe as a single market. It is a comprehensive vision in terms of globally cohesive production, specialized but interdependent markets of labor, privatization of state assets at faster pace, tangle linkage of technology across the conventional national borders. Furthermore, it is also argued that the development of entire new and recent economy has been evidenced along with a typical shi ft that is influencing the way of considering the wide variety of social and economic relations (Castells, 1991)  [11]  . Jan Aart Scholtes definition of globalization cannot clarify globalizations role in events like these. He sees globalization as a shift in the nature of social space due to the increase of transplanetary connections and the development of supra-territorial connections between people; he does not leave room for globalization as a force that can lead to or bolster the local (Scholte, 2005).  [12]  In addition, the space has been condensed due to the technological development even though the influence of such condensability most probably to enhance the diversity that is captured within the context of glocalization. The general reorganization of economic activities are considered to be in progress at regional levels while on the other hand, the eruption of information or communication and commodities or services flows is emerging across the various cities, regions and nations. The term glocalization is sometimes associated with the globalization as there is some conflict between thes e terms in terms of compliment or confliction. The context that glocalization is the localization of economic and political relation while shifting the authority from national level downward in such a way that heighten the responses of globalization and the conflicts with other perspectives suggesting that both are opposes on the basis of analysis and examination (Higgott Reich, 1997)  [13]  . Globalization, he says, involves reductions of barriers to transworld connections (Scholte, 2005)  [14]  . Boundaries have become defined under different criteria in a transplanetary, supra-territorial world. Not only do states borders mean less, but new types of borders exist; you can be online or offline by the click of a mouse, for example. And technology has also made supra-territoriality a possibility: global telecommunications, the Internet. Quantitatively, he says, there are more transplanetary links, the effects of relations are bigger, and the interactions are happening faster. Transplanetary relations, although they have been going on for centuries, are denser than those of any previous epoch (Scholte, 2005)  [15]  . Qualitatively, it is the supra-territorial nature of social space that is unique to the present era. Supra-territorial relations are those social connections that substantially transcend territorial geography (Scholte, 2005)  [16]  . One major sourc e of conflict lies within the context that globalization reduces the essence of geography while on the other hand, glocalization enhances it as a opposing tendency and geographical association in a sense of region and trading becomes the vital importance. Another source of conflict as suggested by Ruigrok and Rob van Tulder as they defined globalization and glocalization in terms of conflicting strategies of firms. It was also suggested that globalizing firms trail a strategy that endeavors for a worldwide division of labor in the firm while on the other hand, glocalizing firms trail an alternative strategy in which the firms find ways to imitate production within various regions while avoiding the risk associated with the establishment of trade blocs. Hence, glocalizing firms find ways to generate an interfirm division of labor that is geographically concentrated (Ruigrok Tulder, 1995, pp. 46-131)  [17]  . In most general terms, the globalizing firms are labeled multinational corporations as the glocalizing firms find various ways to imitate depending on the regions and with this difference, both behave in different manner. Multinational firms most probably decentralize production and sales but the decision making remain steadily centralized in a categorized structure. In behavioral terms, it is reflected in susceptibility to retain the overwhelming majority of Research Development facilities with specific exceptions at home (Louis W. Pauly, 1997)  [18]  . Moreover, the significance of revolution in the most positive form is reflected in the claims of Peter Schwartz and Peter Leyden that offers the prospects of four decades of prolonged growth and noteworthy transformation which is inspired by the deregulation and technological enhancements in terms of computers, telecom, biotech, nanotech, alternative energy etc (Schwartz Leyden, 1997, p. 116)  [19]  . Scholte points out four other notions of globalization as internationalization, liberalization, universalization, and westernization, and he describes these definitions in contrast to his. If defined as one of these four notions, he contends, the term globalization adds nothing new to previous understandings of the world, whereas his definition adds the concept of supra-territoriality. Scholte warns that the four definitions also hold implicit dangers because of their foci, which are narrow. If people see globalization as only economic liberalization, they will miss other important factors that make up globalization. Such limitations are dangerous according to Scholte because they blind people to the discontinuity in the underlying character of social geography (Scholte, 2005)  [20]  . If we define globalization in one of these four narrow terms, we merely rehash old knowledge and lose a major opportunity to grasp-and act upon-certain key circumstances of our times (Scholte, 2005)  [21]  . But can Scholtes definition and his new contribution, supra-territoriality, help us grasp and act upon key circumstances of our times? In international reporting-which should help us to at least grasp key circumstances-it is, to some extent, helpful to understand globalization as a respatialization of social life based on transplanetary and supra-territorial connectivity. Scholtes definition is especially useful to understand the use of framing in reporting. Globalization and Terrorism In chapter one of Framing Terrorism, Norris, Kern, and Just explain that journalists need frames to convey dominant meanings, to make sense of the facts, to focus the headlines, and to structure the story line (Norris, Montague, Marion, 2003)  [22]  . Frames help organize and prioritize stories in the nebulous realm of all news. Frames are powerful features of reporting, and can influence social space by agenda-setting, cognitive priming, and evaluation, especially when a large portion of the population has access to news and repeatedly experiences the same frame. More quickly and more widely than ever-because of mass-communications and instant transmissions-framing can link vaguely related issues with the magic of one term. 9/11, for example. It has been observed that America is at war with terrorists for over a long period of time. United States has never realized the magnitude of war until September 11, 2001. The conflict had been establishing since 1983 Marine Corps barracks bombings in Lebanon and few analysts predicted the hostility coming their way. A concept has been hypothesized by contemporary theorists renowned as the fourth generational warfare with the blurred distinctions between war and peace, civilian and military, and national and transnational groups. The global war on terrorism fits in such concept with the adversary using asymmetrical capabilities in surprising ways to devastating effects. It has been clearly understood by United States when coupled with the mass destructive weapons (Lind, Nightengale, Schmitt, Sutton, Wilson, October 1989, pp. 22-26)  [23]  . According to Norris, Kern, and Just, the event of 9/11 created a critical culture shift in the predominant news frame used by the American mass media for understanding issues of national security, altering perceptions of risk at home and threats abroad (Norris, Montague, Marion, 2003)  [24]  . Even if the real threat of terrorism did not change, the power of framing has kept the fear of terrorism ripe in the US, through the war on terrorism frame, still used daily in US international reporting. The widespread fear instigated by framing has consequently allowed the US government to restrict some civil liberties through the Patriot Act. Supra-territorial and transplanetary connections in mass communications have allowed the US government, in conjunction with US reporting, to efficiently frame international reporting and quickly assert influence over civil society. The terrorist attack on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre was considered to be a significant and more deadly demonstration of various trends that have emerged in the period of post-Cold War. It was not considered to be a turning point that signaled and indicated the initiating of new decade of internationalization. It is obvious that terrorists always had evil objectives as demonstrated on September 11, 2001 in terms of capability to carry out deadly determinations anywhere across the entire globe with vast and major influences. Contradicting the capabilities of terrorists requires the re analyzing of strategic backgrounds and the response of United States towards such strategies. Moreover, the United States has been forced to consider the national interests and estimate the strategies of national security as a result of September 11, 2001. The most major trends having devastating influence on the strategic framework and background includes collapse of the bipolar system, reviv al of globalism, and rise of Islamic extremism. The convergence of such trends enabled various nations to experience peace, strength and increasing affluence along with various challenges. The strong repercussion have created against the considerations of various societies in terms of increasing consistency among nations and cultures that challenge to devastate and destroy the traditional local values. The terrorism has been lifted globally due to these trends and due to which it is essential for United States to re-assess the strategy (Terrorism, November 2002)  [25]  . Meanwhile, supra-territorial and transplanetary connections have benefited terrorists, as well. Al Qaeda has used the Internet to spread its message through websites and videos, and global television has allowed an array of terrorist messages to be spread to homes everywhere. Political terrorism is theater, Michael Stohl writes in Demystifying Terrorism, and terrorists are primarily interested in the audience (Stohl, 1988)  [26]  . To spread its messages, to reach audiences, to travel anywhere in a day, to take advantage of the fact that people travel en masse, to develop financial portfolios and make money through the global black-market drug and weapons rings, terrorists have relied on the density of transplanetary and supra-territorial nature of todays globalized space. But do terrorists do what they do just because that can? What are their motives? Are they just madmen? How do terrorists in Afghanistan differ from terrorists in Indonesia or India? What regions are especially conscious of terror-related problems? Why does Saudi Arabia think a fence can keep terrorists out? What are the consequences of not answering these questions? In international reporting, an understanding of Scholtes definition can help identify a storys potential frames (9/11, the War on Terror) and can even describe why some things are able to happen (terrorists are able to have a more wide-spread effect on the global stage). But in international reporting, Scholtes broad definition can only answer a slice of specific questions. It does not lead a journalist to answer important questions regarding the role of borders, domains, consciousness, actors, and consequences in a story. Contradictions and Uncertainties of Globalization Borders, in Scholtes definition, are broken down in the process of globalization, just as all barriers are reduced, and this result in more transworld social contacts (Scholte, 2005)  [27]  . With globalization, he says, people become more able-physically, legally, linguistically, culturally and psychologically-to engage with each other wherever on planet Earth they might be (Scholte, 2005)  [28]  . Besides the fact that he remains unclear about how these barriers break down, an increasing ability to engage with each other would not necessarily lead to further globality. As drug-runners and migrants have greater cross-border mobility thanks to quick transport and communications, more are crossing the US border with Mexico; in response, the US builds a fence, a literal enforcement of its traditional borders. And Saudi Arabias most recent answer to terrorism is the same: enforce traditional borders. Globalization actually links the people all around the world as a result of which new commonalities emerges into experiences with their differentiating and producing new inequalities. Similarly, when it connects the isolated regions to global network parts of the world, it ignores other regions. The events reveal the contradictions and conflicts at the core of globalization and the technologies of information, communication, and transportation facilitating the globalization can be used to damage it, and generating instruments of devastation along with the production (Kellner, 2002, pp. 285-305)  [29]  . Consequently, it has been argued that in order to theorize globalization properly it is essential to conceptualize the various contradictions that are generated by the combination of globalization of technological revolution and restructuring of capital, as a result of which conflicts are generated between capitalism and democracy. In the global economy, globalization involves the production of logic of capital with the spread of democracy in information, finance, investing and dispersal of technology. Thus, globalization is a mixture of capitalism and democracy in which the logic of capital and market system enter more fields of global life in terms of democracy spreads, more political areas and spaces of daily life are opposed by democratic demands and forces. It is observed that sometimes globalization promote democracy and sometimes it constrains it by either equating capitalism and democracy, or in a problematic manner (Friedman, 1999)  [30]  . Assessing of Matter At international level, developing and developed countries have differentiating concerns on wide basis. In developing countries, the importance is on development at any cost by indicating that the developed countries industrialized at time when there was no repute for environmental concerns and labor standards were also offensive. All such things were maintained by developing countries in order to receive assistance as little opportunities and chances were available but were needed to develop in any way. Moreover, developing countries have asked international community to postpone or cancel their astounding debt. Such countries are basically compelled to repay the loans that were taken by previous dictatorial regimes or suggested by the donors to finance development schemes (Chapter 11 Globalization)  [31]  . Additionally, if the world is becoming respacialized according to transplanetary and supra-territorial connections, is any compression of social space equally important among all domains? An African-American crude-oil trader with the Internet has more global impact than his familys remote Ugandan village with an Internet connection. But which domains of social space are more affected by respacialization, and compared to what? Is the crude-oil trader any more effective with blue-tooth technology, than he had been with wired technology? Is the village able to use their Internet connection in a way that will change their lives? Scholtes definition does not leave room for economies of scale or the ingrained character of traditional life in parts of the world. Traditional life and identities establish regional consciousnesses that determine agendas. How does a respacialization of social life change consciousnesses? The EU exists, and Europe has asserted itself as a unified economic power. Has this changed the way Germans think of themselves? How has it changed the German agenda? Scholtes definition doesnt consider the subtle interplay of identities as important in forming policies, whether the world experiences more connectivity or not. Just as domains are not equally important, neither are actors. On whom should international reports focus? Scholtes definition gives us no clues: who are those responsible for the respacialization of social life? Does it matter? And who are affected? Certainly not everyone, and certainly not in the same ways. Scholte admits this: the trend has not touched all of humanity to the same extent (Scholte, 2005)  [32]  . But how can this be measured based on Scholtes definition? This most important part of globalization, Scholte only touches upon. He writes, The growth of transplanetary and supra-territorial connections empowers some people and disempowers others (Scholte, 2005)  [33]  . If globalization creates inequalities, how great are these inequalities? Can we do anything about them? How can journalists begin to discuss them in a story? Scholtes definition leaves many questions unanswered, though these are what build stories. Other, more operational definitions of globalization have been developed and used by journalists and social scientists, on which journalists depend for measures of their subjects, audience, and their own effects. In Hans-Henrik Holms The Effect of Globalization on Media Structures and Norms, for example, this definition of globalization was used: the intensification of economic, political, social and cultural relations across borders (Holm H.-H. , 2001)  [34]  . Although it is not a universally accepted definition, the definition focuses on structural and technological elements and so can serve as a crucible, leading to new developments and insights. By including economic integration in the definition, Holm can deduce that globalization has had an effect on Danish media. One of many examples: Internationalization has pushed the media business towards larger and larger units (Holm H.-H. , 20 01)  [35]  . Holm could maneuver between qualitative and quantitative analysis and come to specific conclusions about how globalization has affected editorial choice in Danish media. In other studies, globalization as a term is more useful if it is not defined by the study. In Andreas Schucks study of vote choice in the Dutch EU constitution referendum, participants were asked their opinion of globalization, among other factors. This part of the study tried to find how some factors affected vote intention before the start of the campaign, and results indicated that people who had a fear of globalization were more likely to intend to vote no. (Schuck, September 2006)  [36]  According to Schuck, this is one of the first studies of its kind to take participants views of globalization into account, even though the term was undefined by the study (Schuk, September 2006)  [37]  . The participants relied on their own understanding of the term, however foggy. Requiring that participants defined globalization in Scholtes terms would have been counterproductive, not only because it would have been time-consuming to explain Scholtes definition. Even if the participa nts learned and understood the concept according to Scholte (or anyone else), the study then would not have revealed how public perceptions of globalization affects voters decisions. Conclusion Ultimately, globalization is not only a condition, but it is also a tool. By using the word in clearly decided ways-defining it or leaving it to subjects in a study or interview-globalization can lead journalists to understand and tell their stories more effectively. But globalization should not be over-estimated, as Holm points out in his study. When globalization is clearly defined, it is often found that the local, the traditional, is still important. One of his conclusions, in fact, is that classical news criteria are still the best predictors of what news will be chosen and used(Holm, 2006)  [38]  . And as the case

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Analysis of the art of Pablo Palazuelo Essay -- Art Artwork Pablo Pala

Geologic form un-earthed: "Seeing through" the art of Pablo Palazuelo "Science and art are two 'di-fferent' ways of getting to know the world, ways which-from a shared origin-evolved separately. [...] The two 'di-fferent' conceptions as well as the corresponding attitudes and activities reveal their reciprocal 'in/cidence' (the result of their common origin) when they are studied in depth and 'without pre/judice.'" --Pablo Palazuelo, (Vision-Time essay, Reina Sofà ­a, 259) Today science and art reflect two different ways of knowing the world. As a scientist, the geologist gets to know the world empirically, through the visual perception of nature's explicit geologic forms. The artist, on the other hand, gets to know the world through intuition, a prescient feeling that reveals the implicit nature of form itself. The art of contemporary Spanish painter Pablo Palazuelo provides a vehicle through which the geologist can know natural form by experiencing its misterium conjunctionis of complementary "desires", where arbitrary distinctions between science and art disappear. Seeing through Palazuelo's art gives the geologist an insight into the way in which nature constitutes itself, an insight that completely reorients and clarifies the geologist's way of thinking. This fresh new perspective opens the window of conscious perception by awakening the scientist's dormant sensibilities. Geologic form was unearthed before me in this manner several years ago during a visit to the Museo de Arte Abstracto Espaà ±ol in Cuenca, Spain. The Lunariae series of Pablo Palazuelo caught my eye. At first glance I saw a brittle fracture system, not unlike ones I had mapped in a surface outcropping of rock or in an u... ...uries ago were forgotten and foresees those not yet born" (Energy, Matter and Form essay, Soledad Lorenzo, 9). Palazuelo's presentient art informs the vision of the perceptive scientist. The geologic form, unearthed by the geoscientist, informs the images of the artist. In this sense, through their open dialog, the conceptions, attitudes and activities of science and art do indeed reflect their "reciprocal in/cidence." "The image is the experience itself." --Pablo Palazuelo (El cuerpo geà ³metra essay, Theo, 2) Works CiteD: Palazuelo. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofà ­a, Madrid, 1995. Palazuelo. Pinturas, esculturas y gouaches, Galerà ­a Theo, Madrid, 1985. Palazuelo. Galerà ­a Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, 1997. Palazuelo, Pablo, and Kevin Power. Visià ³n y Geometrà ­a: Una Conversacià ³n con Kevin Power. Granada: Deputacià ³n Provincial de Granada, 1995.

Use of the Single Effect in A Cask of Amontillado Essay -- Cask Amonti

Use of the Single Effect in A Cask of Amontillado Edgar Allan Poe's "A Cask of Amontillado" is perhaps the most famous tale of terror ever written. Montresor, the story's narrator, leads the reader through his revenge on Fortunato. Montresor entices Fortunato into the dark recesses of the family catacombs with the promise of a very fine wine. At the climax of the story, Montresor shackles Fortunato to a wall and seals him away forever behind brick and mortar. In all of Poe's short stories he attempts to convey "a certain unique or single effect." "A Cask of Amontillado" expresses its dark view of human intention by using elements of irony, foreshadowing, and metaphor. The first person point of view also lends itself to an exploration of the inner secrets of Montresor. The major theme in the story is the deep hatred buried within the outwardly congenial Montresor. This makes it vital that the story be told with Montresor's thoughts known to the reader. The tale simply would not work if it were told from Fortunato's point of view, or from a dramatic/objective angle. An omniscient view would function, but by knowing only Montresor's thoughts the reader develops a trust in him, and this causes the story's theme to have a more personal effect on the reader. "A Cask of Amontillado" is replete with ironic statements and situations. Fortunato's very name is ironic given his horrific fate. At the beginning of the story, when Montresor divulges his theories on proper revenge, he says, "A wrong is unredressed when retibution overtakes its redresser." This is ironic (and a bit amusing) as Montresor is utterly consumed by his hatred of Fortunato. Then, during their descent into the catacombs, Montresor tries several times to con... ...ontresor's sociable facade, then the catacombs below symbolize the hate within him. Poe gives explicit descriptions fo the foul caverns. They are "insufferably damp . . . encrusted with nitre." The "founess of the air" nearly extinguishes their torches. Poe describes the "white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls." Clearly Poe's desired efect is to expose the evil that consumes from within. Each of the literary devices used in "A Cask of Amontillado" serves to reinforce Poe's single effect. As Poe himself says in "The Importance of the Single Effect in a Prose Tale," an author "invents such incidents--he then combines such events as may best aid him in establishing this preconceived effect." The use of the first person perspective along with some irony, foreshadowing, and metaphor aid the delivery of Poe's single effect in "A Cask of Amontillado."

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Irrigation as a Tool for Frost and Freeze Protection Essay -- Agricult

For years now farmers and researchers have understood the value of applying water to crops during periods when the temperature drops below 32oF (0oC). The temperature of 32oF is the freezing point of water and is the temperature at which crops start to become damaged due to the formation of ice crystals in their tissue cells. The point that this starts to occur is considered the crops critical temperature. The critical temperature usually is slightly lower than the freezing point of water and depends on the duration at the temperature. For example, in citrus the critical temperature at four hours is 28oF. This means that a citrus tree can stand a temperature of 28oF for four hours before sustaining damage. After four hours the damage is proportional to the time that the temperature remains below the critical temperature. Temperatures below 28oF for a short period of time (one or two hours) will cause only minimal damage. Temperatures over 28oF can be tolerated for extended periods of time with only minor damage (partial leaf burn, partial defoliation, etc., but no wood damage). Other factors such as stage of growth (if the plant is in early stages of growth or mature), fruit set (whether the crop is still on the plant or not), dormancy (whether the plant is actively growing or is dormant), plant water content (whether the plant is under water stress or not) and overall plant health will influence the critical temperature for a specific crop. There are three ways that water can transfer heat for freeze protection. The first way is through radiation. Water pumped from wells will be introduced into the field at a much higher temperature than the surrounding air temperature (in Florida the temperature for water coming from a well is... ...rmittent coverage. References Hochmuth, G.J., S.J. Lacascio, S.R. Kostewicz, and F.G. Martin. 1993. Irrigation Method and Rowcover Use for Strawberry Freeze Protection. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 188(5):575-579. Miller, F. 1977. College Physics. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. New York. Parsons, L.R., and T.A. Wheaton, 1987. Microsprinkler Irrigation for Freeze Protection: Evaporative Cooling and Extent of Protection in an Advective Freeze. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 112(6):879- 902. Parsons, L.R., T.A. Wheaton, N.D. Faryna, and J.L. Jackson. 1991. Elevated Microsprinklers Improve Protection of Citrus Trees in an Advective Freeze. Hortscience. 26(9):1149-1151. Rieger, M., F.S. Davies, and L.K. Jackson. 1986. Microsprinkler Irrigation and Microclimate of Young Orange Trees During Freeze Conditions. Hortscience. 21(6):1372-1374.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Automobile and Car Pooling Essay

Car pooling, also known as ride-sharing or lift-sharing, can save you big bucks on gas, wear and tear on your vehicle, oil resources and reduce all the associated nasty environmental impact associated with your driving. The benefits of carpooling are many. If you are currently driving every day, you’re going to save money on your commute costs by carpooling. In some cases, depending on the length of your commute and the number of days you don’t drive, the savings can be significant. You’ll endure less stress on your commute. Finally, by driving less you’ll be helping to keep the air clean. First, car pooling saves you big bucks on gas by, instead of you and your friend, cousin, or relative both taking different cars and you both are going to the same place, you both can take the same car and share the gas money instead of taking your own cars and paying much more gas money. Couple months ago gas prices were going up, I think that people are deciding to car pool more so they can save big bucks on gas. Also, rather than you and your buddy or cousin both adding mileage on your cars you both can just go together and add mileage to one of your cars instead both cars. This can also lower the risk of car accidents that happen on the road if there is less cars being used. If you and your friends car pool then you guys need to always plan the times because no one want to be late to work or any other place you have planned. Car pooling also has big responsibilities because the driver has to be on time to take the friend or buddy to work and also has to be on time to pick that person up. Second, another thing that car pooling is good for is that it keeps the environment and air much cleaner. One example of this would be is rather than two car engines working at once and putting a lot of nasty pollution in the air you could take one car and keep the air half cleaner. If car pooling goes in effect and many people decide to do this then there will be less cars on the road which will leave much less traffic jams. Also, this will make it easier for the road construction workers if there is less cars on the road because then they could work more and get there job done earlier. Finally, car polling is good because it leaves much more parking places in many crowded areas. One example of this would be is that when students go to school in the morning it is usually hard to find a parking place because they are all taken by other students cars but if a couple of friends used on car then this will leave much more parking place for others. Statistics show carpooling is very safe. However, you must keep your personal safety in mind. If you are considering carpooling with people you do not know, you should meet with them in person before hand. This meeting will serve two purposes. First, you’ll have a chance to discuss your ideas on setting up a carpool without obligating yourself to do it. Then, you’ll be able to assess your comfort level with the people. Ask questions and trust your instincts. If you are not comfortable with that person then just tell them you have decided not to carpool anymore. If you known the person your carpooling with than that is much easier for you to be comfortable with them but also carpool with people you trust because your putting your life in there hands by being the passenger and letting the driver control the vehicle because anything can happen on the road and one example of this would be an accident. I think in my opinion that carpooling is good because it saves you big bucks on gas, helps you keep your wear and tear on your vehicle less, and it also helps the environment out by putting less pollution in the air. I always carpool with my friends because of these reasons, but remember pick right carpooling partners or partner that you trust and are comfortable with before you start to carpool with them.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Steps To Become A Successful Christian

Now hundreds of years ago there lived a rich man by the name of Sheikh Albert, who had a very beautiful daughter who's name is Princess Mila. Now this man was as rich as can be. He had a very big house, a ranch, hectares of land and room full of the finest jewelries and gold. Since he is becoming old and there's no one to succeed him, he decided to throw a party for his daughter's 1 8th birthday. So he sent out his servant to annoy once to every young educated bachelor out there that they were invited to attend his daughter's birthday party.During the party, and hen everyone was there, Sheikh Albert invited all the bachelors to come outside to participate in a simple game. So when they were outside they saw this huge swimming pool swarming with crocodiles in it. And then Sheikh Albert announced to everyone, â€Å"anyone of you who can swim successfully across the swimming pool from one end to the other will get what they want from me. They can have the hand of my daughter in marriag e, have my house, have my ranch, have all my money and†¦ The rich man wasn't even finished talking when they heard a loud splash coming from the swimming pool. So when they looked they saw this young man swimming for his life, swimming as fast as he could to get to the other side of the pool. After a short struggle and in Olympic record fashion he was able to get off to the other side of the pool and escape the wrath of the crocodiles. Upon seeing this the rich man was very happy and immediately interviewed the man. He said, â€Å"congratulations young man for you are very brave, you have won this contest.And now for your prize I will let you choose your bounty. Do you want the hand of my daughter in marriage? The young man still soaking wet ND looking confused said † No sir, I do not want to marry your daughter. † The rich man was surprised so he asked again â€Å"do you want my mansion and my ranch? † The boy said â€Å"no sir don't want your mansion and your ranch†. Do you want all my jewelries and my gold? † The boy answered â€Å"no sir I don't want your ranch. † So the rich man feeling annoyed blurted: â€Å"Well for crying out loud what do you want! The boy still confused answered: â€Å"l just want know who pushed me into the swimming pool. † The end.! The reason why told you this story is because I'm very sure we all can relate ourselves to the poor boy. During the start of our Christian ministry we all have been pushed in some way or another by concerned people to renew our relationship with Jesus Christ and to actively participate in God's ministry. My push came at a very opportune time, because as recall it was one of the darkest periods of my life. I call it dark because I couldn't see any light, any hope that my life would be better.I have already stopped believing there is a higher being out there who guides us and takes care of Lamentations 3:2 ESP. ! He has driven and brought me into darknes s without any light,;! Fortunately there are people like Sheila who would stop at nothing just to bring the light of Jesus Christ to other people who are still living in the dark. So make sure you know the name of the person who pushed you and if they are here right now please thank them for doing whatever they had to do to bring you here to the path of God's light. Because when they pushed you, you already won the promise of God's salvation.Matthew 25134 ESP. ! Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.! Now let's move on to our topic for tonight. We are goanna talk tonight about the 7 steps to becoming a successful Christian. They say success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose, in other words it is the achievement of one's goal. In order for us to be successful we Ernst first have a goal we should be aiming at. So what is our goal as Christians? Christia nity means â€Å"little Christ†.We are trying to be as much like Jesus as we can. He has set an example and we're doing our best to follow it.! 2 Corinthians 5. 17 E-SF / 15 helpful votes! Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.! We have to make plans to succeed. One thing I've learned is success is not accidental. You're not going to accidentally accomplish your goals. You have to have a plan. If you're goanna get to the right destination, you goat know where you're going and how you're going to get there.If you've ever been at the beach, just floating in the water, relaxing, you'll notice after a while the current has taken you far away. That's the way it is in life. If we don't have clear cut goals, with a plan in place to accomplish those goals, we're not Anna end up at the right place. Psalm 37:23-24 ESP. 1! The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he s hall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.! The first step is to Read the Bible! If we're ever goanna be true Christians we have to not only read the bible but to study it.I heard somebody say that â€Å"continuous learning is a minimum requirement for success in any field. † And in order for us to be truly successful as Christians we have to consistently and contain ally learn about God's message for us. The bible says! Joshua E-SF This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you meditate it day and night, that may be careful to do according is written it. For then will make way prosperous, have good success. The bible has been written as a guide for us so that we may know how God wants us to live each day.We should read and study it because it is God's word to us. It will help you know God better. When we read the Bible, we are actually listening to God's message to us.! I remember early on when was just a small kid, when computers were not yet as ubiquitous as it is right now, my dad bought a second hand word receptors from a friend of his at a real bargain. You know what a word processor looks like right? Well, it's a cross between an electric typewriter and a computer. It has a keyboard, which is connected to a monitor. It looks like a desktop computer but the only thing it does is process word documents.It's more like a typewriter, the only difference is that you can see text on the screen of the monitor before you can actually decide to print it on paper. My dad was an architect by profession, who eventually became a sales manager for one of the pioneers in the colored roofing industry in the Philippines. But when the company closed down he decided to setup a company of his own distributing roofing materials to his clients. He was previously using a typewriter to prepare price quotations for the materials that he would send to his prospective customers.But when his friend called him up to sell him their word processor at a bargain price because their family was leaving for the states, he immediately grabbed it thinking that it would make his work a lot easier. So when the equipment finally arrived at our house, my dad got excited and decided to try to use it. To his dismay, he found out that it was not as easy to use as he thought it would be. What's even worse is because it's a second hand item, it did not come with an instruction manual because the owner had misplaced it during moving out.Don't get me wrong, my dad is really smart guy but when it comes to gadgets and technology, he's really slow at it. And without that instruction manual provided by the manufacturer of equipment, he would have not even the slightest chance to learn how to use it. So he decided to go back to using typewriters. And what happened the word processor? Lotus sat ender his desk for a long time until he decided to throw it away.! My friends, this is what happens to us when we don't read the Bible. We become useless as Christians.