Causes of Imperialism

Causes of Imperialism In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, imperialism- a force of a greater nation that controls a smaller, weaker nation- began to take over many parts of the world in a frenzy. The more dominant countries at the time, such as the United States and many European countries began extending their influence to areas all over the world, from the Phillipines (which would be 56. 5% controlled) to the Africa (which would be 90. 4% controlled) , because they felt their â€Å"nations' will to power† was the best. Document 3) England began showing signs of wanting to control other nations, because this meant that there would be more trade with other countries. Imperialism meant more trade with other countries, and more trade meant more money. The more money meant that the country had more money to invest in industrialization. Industrialization also meant that buyers and customers had to be found in which to sell their products- another benefit of imperialism. Last ly, raw materials could be obtained cheaply, as could cheap labor.Because the English were ? The machinerization of England's factories did not only change England's economy, it changed the world. They were the first in the entire world to experience things like materlialistic benefits, and social pricetags of industrialization. This had happened for several reasons. England had good transportation, an abundant labor supply, inventions that revolutionized the manufacturing of many products (mostly the textile industry), and a stable government. All of a sudden, factories were making hings so quickly, so efficiently, that more and more materials were needed. Although certain machines and inventions helped, it simply wasn't enough. There was a very big piece of the manufacturing process missing, a piece that would improve England's manufacturing even further. And that was the very concept of unlimited supplies. Supplies come at a very heavy price, so the idea of an unlimited source of supplies was a novel idea. The problem was where to get them from†¦ And imperialism was the answer.The ability to control country naturally weaker yet rich with resources was absolutely perfect, and important for the development of of the country. Africa was the perfect choice to begin with. It was rich in many natural resources such as gold, platinum, diamond, gas, oil, coal, water, and free labor which â€Å"lay ungarnered in Africa because the natives did not know their value. † (Document 1) ? The English also felt a moral obligation to help the natives, whom they saw as cannibals and infidels. The English felt that they were not only â€Å"unfit for elf-government† (Document 7) but also â€Å"degraded, ignorant, and swept by disease. † (Document 4) They would continue to look down on them, mistreat them, and use them as a labor force. They felt that they could not be left by themselves, and had no choice but to be ruled over by a higher force; in this case, the English. This is why the English ultimately ruled over Africa for so long. Overall, the English were the number one force of nationalism. This is due to industrialization and their strong sense of nationalism.

Difference Between Your Mother and Your Grandmother

Difference between Your Mother and Grandmother ‘Grandma’, a word which fills you with emotion as soon as you hear it. She is a person who would go over the top to fight for you. Be it her own son, or even her soulmate, she would fight with anybody to defend you. Even if you’re wrong, even if you hurt her, she would be good to you no matter what. Your mom, for once, might hit you, scold you, but your grandma would never do that. Mothers have the household to look after, but you; believe me, you mean the world to your grandma.She, being elder to your mom, has several stories to share with you, her own life experiences as well, though some turn out to be boring, I bet you’d enjoy most of them. She’d even make false promises, like if you’d make a mistake, she’d stand by your side, saying, â€Å"Oh, he’s just a kid. Forgive him this time, he’ll never do it again,† to the person who’s scolding you. She’d bla me herself for your mistakes, saving you from the trouble, and being in soup herself. But despite all this, grandmothers are believed to spoil children.Parents often shout at them for giving so much of ‘unconditional’ love and all they do is listen, without a word. Now, I’d like to share my personal experience. My grandma was a talented and well-educated lady. We’d often sit and gossip about stuff, and play cards with each other. I also enjoyed her company. She, till class VII, was my teacher as well. All I am today is because of her. Everybody asked me to take tuitions at home, but I refused every time because she was more of a friend to me, than a teacher.Being the oldest woman in the family, she was in charge of all the money matters of the house. She used to keep some change in her purse, which always ended up in my pocket. Though dad often asked her not to give me so much of money, she used to agree, but I somehow managed to butter her up and get the notes and she also could not say ‘no’ to me, and was ready to give me whatever I wanted, as and when demanded. I cannot recollect a single occasion when she did not pay me. But due to her old age, her health was deteriorating for some time now.She was undergoing depression for the past seven-eight months and finally, she left for heaven earlier this year. In the end, I’d like to tell my fellow classmates who still have their grandparents with them that guys, you’re lucky to have such great people in your life. Respect them, and spend time with them. I wish I had practiced what I’m preaching because when on the bed, she used to call me, but all I did was giving a silly reason continuing to enjoy my own life and I still regret it. I wish I could thank her for all she did for me, but life is not always the way you want it to be.

Urban form and sense of security

This study tries to explore human perceptions of security In urban environments, by Investigating the impact of design actors in the built environment on an individual's perception of personal safety in that space. This study was carried out within the context of an urban design study rather than within a human psychology-based study. To validate these factors a site from the traditional fabric of Mohammedan is studied and is compared with the same factors at a site in the newer fabric of the city.The paper finally attempts to establish the relevance of the traditional urban form within contemporary city developments, in achieving better sense of security in public spaces. Understanding of the basic theme a. Deflation of Sense of security Sense of security In simple terms can be defined as a human feeling that makes the person convinced that he she is safe and secure in a particular place or context. The person with a sense of security is not feared of any force which can be a person , a group of persons or an animal or any other manmade / ‘supernatural' force which can put them in danger (physical or mental damage).People develop specific fears as they learn about certain people, objects, animals or natural/ ‘supernatural' forces. A child was conditioned to fear a white rat in the laboratory might fear even other white, furry objects Kenny P. Joy I 2 traumatic accident. For example, if a child falls into a well and struggles to get out, he or she may develop a fear of wells, heights (acrophobia), enclosed spaces (claustrophobia), or water (aqua phobia). There are studies looking at areas of the brain that are affected in relation to fear. L Variation in the definition.The definition of sense of security varies from person depending on their age, gender, and cultural background. In all of these categories there is a weaker section which is feared of the other group or some external force, be it manmade or ‘supernatural'. In the case of gender, women being weaker by physical strength fear f attacks of men on them in form of sexual assault, rape, eve teasing etc. Whereas in the case of age, children, being weaker in physical strength, associated lack of mental maturity in understanding the reality, make them fear of adults or even ‘supernatural' powers who can pose harm to them.Often cultural backgrounds affect the sense of security since form, color, light, sound, smell and other characteristics which are a part of any space will have different meanings in different cultures. The concept of sense of security is not confined to people who belong to any of the weaker groups of these categories but is applicable to any person. For example an able bodied adult male who does not belong to those weaker groups, also is prone to dangers of attack or theft in the public by criminals or animals. The fact that he is also in danger, inculcates a lack of sense of security within him.Here, when it was discussed about the about the victim of such an attack losing sense of security, we should not 1 http://en. Wisped. Org/wick/Little_Albert_experiment 3 forget that the sense of security of these criminals too are in question. They are again in a fear of danger from being caught by police. Though these are some of the basic factors that determine a person's sense of security, sense of fear in various forms is generated in a person due to the physical character and quality of the space where he is placed.For a person, the sense of security within an urban space is primarily linked with the level of familiarity, which means a sense of fear is generated in the person automatically in an uncertain environment. Fear can channel one's energies away from areas of perceived threats and into directions that seem safe. Fear is a distressing negative sensation induced by a perceived threat and is a basic survival mechanism in response to a specific tumulus, such as pain or the threat of danger. Factors that determine sense of security in an urban space. Acre level to micro level. At a macro level the location and the context of the urban space of study determines the sense of security of the person using it. This factor has an impact on the way a person moves within a city through preferential selection of routes which give him a sense of security. The next factor that affects the sense of security includes characters at precinct level – legibility and permeability. Legibility of the space makes a person free from getting clueless in an unknown urban space by aging the place more graspable for the user.Permeability helps in removing the feeling of a strange enclosure for a user in an unknown place with provision of number of visible alternative routes. These qualities are predominantly dictated by the form of the urban space. 4 Further going down into smaller levels, there are fine elements within the urban space including visual and non visual elements, which makes the space feel secure for t he user. They include factors such as width of the space or street, lighting level, sound, smell, architectural details, artifacts, etc..Besides characteristics of a space, he sense of security is also created by the kind of people who are associated with the space directly or indirectly. This dimension which comes into the picture while defining the sense of security is territorial definitions. When the territories of an urban space is defined well by the associated people through physical elements like form, character, details etc. Or non physical elements like activities, sound, smell, their cultural expressions etc. It creates a sense of non belonging or unfamiliarity (often attached with fear) for a person entering into the transition space.Definition of an urban space that offers sense of security: The sense of security of an urban space cannot be defined in terms discreet qualities which secure a safe feeling to any particular group (weaker group) of people discussed above ne ither can it be defined in terms of any quality which acts at a particular scale (micro to macro as discussed above), but is a quality which is a complex of all the above mentioned factors at all scales acting upon any person at any particular time in a particular urban space.Time become another factor defining the sense of security as various processes along he time, make the visual and non visual qualities of the space change accordingly. Time determines the type and intensity of activities happening in any urban space changing the level of sense of security throughout the day. The sense of security in urban space is relatively high when the perceived activity level of a particular urban 5 space is high for which time is a very important factor to be considered.The lack of activities, proper lighting, attack of dogs etc create an environment in Mohammedan city wherein beyond midnight and before dawn level of sense of security will be extremely low. Since the control of built form design has little to do with the perceived sense of security during the odd hours of the night, the study limits its scope into the non – odd hours. Relevance of sense of security in urban design: Sense of security adds on to the quality of an urban space.Proper design and effective use of the built environment can lead to a reduction in the fear and incidence of crime, and improvement of the quality of life. Recent trends and concepts of urbanism across the world, being learnt from the mistakes of the past forms of unsustainable urban development, have been stressing and demanding distance friendly urban spaces and networks to get integrated with mass public transit systems. Sense of security, therefore becomes an essential quality of the urban streets and other spaces to bring in people into walking who have once left walking and resorted to private vehicles.Establishing the relationship of sense of security with the design of urban space Factors that determine sense of sec urity in an urban space: The above discussion identifies two key factors whose subcategories can be listed down as the elements that determine the sense of security in the urban pace which include: The form of the urban space: This multidimensional element can be broken down into further sub elements such as street width, built form height, street enclosure ratio, building setbacks, texture of the surface, porosity of the built envelope, the size or the footprint of the buildings and permeability. Relation of the interiors with exteriors: Though the discussion is predominantly about the sense of security in urban space or the space between buildings, the spatial configuration and the relation of the interiors with the exterior spaces is an important factor. The elements which define this relationship are as follows: Compound wall, position of the entrance into the building, level difference of the ground level with the pedestrian surface level, presence of parking space in front of the building, amount of vegetation in front of the building, percentage of openings in the building elevation etc.Validation of these factors through case studies of urban spaces in traditional urban form: To understand and validate these findings in reality, urban spaces in the traditional built fabric of Mohammedan: Teen Darwin precinct with neighborhoods around (fig 1). The dense built fabric with low rise attached built structures housing a mix of uses predominantly residential and typology plays an important role in the keeping up the perceived sense of security. Urban spaces in between purely residential built environments often interact with the pedestrians very weakly and the level of activity is very less.This space gets activated as more and more building uses and activities like commercial or cultural activities gets inserted into it as what is seen in the site under study. The urban form is characterized by narrow pedestrian scale streets with small building footprints. The built form itself evolved out of strong social relations which in these neighborhoods. The territoriality was strongly marked by an area within which the inmates engaged themselves throughout the day – the flower shop, temple, vegetable and grocery shop, work place (often at not so far distance from the neighborhood till recent times).The public space seeps into the residential transition 7 spaces (verandah). The presence of large openings on the building fade always gives the pedestrian a sense that people can see him or in other words gives a sense f presence of people (rather than alienated or lonely) while moving through these public spaces. The In short, the perceived level of activity is high which in turn maintains a high level of natural surveillance. This traditional fabric essentially thus maintains a high level of perceived activity throughout the day and even late hours of the night.Fig 1 – Site map (Source – Google Earth) Fig 2 – Built fo rm (source – Author) Contemporary scenario: Understanding the changes occurred to the urban form structured by new principles which are predominantly non pedestrian and how it affected sense of security in public spaces: The perceptions and meanings of security have changed over time as technology transformed the form of the cities and the way in which they work. The built form which was predominantly fine grained became coarser and coarser as well as loosely packed.This transformation was in fact a product of the process of evolution of the urban form which got mutated by the insertion of automobile movements. The new age lifestyle redefined the character and qualities of living and work environments. As Kenny P. Joy I 8 making them shift to new comfortable and faster modes of movement through automobiles. This in turn affected the pattern of distribution of facilities and various building uses essentially disturbing the pedestrian scale of streets. The conventional planning principles made cities which are large grained with wide roads and segregated activity zones for different activities.This made the Indian city devoid of it original character and vibrancy created by a vibrant mix of activities or land uses. The city became more and more complex in its physical and social systems which supported it. Crimes rates rose in new forms and the sheer number which in turn affected the notion of public space as an alien space. People took time to associate themselves with public spaces and minors generally are discouraged in using public spaces especially in odd hours. Though systems to ensure security through police or security personnel as well as technological advancements (like CATV surveillance, mobile tracking systems etc. Have been put into use in public spaces, they work in their own limitations. Moreover for a pedestrian using the public space, these systems are additional backup systems of security which still hold a second place after the basic i nstincts or the responses to the environment through which he / she s moving. Demonstration through a case study: The site selected for understanding the change happened in the urban form is the newly developed area on the western side of Mohammedan – Nehru Magna Junction precinct (shown in fig 3).The site is located along BRATS corridor – a conventionally planned area in the Western side of Mohammedan city. The neighborhood and the adjoining commercial belt got developed into its current form after the insertion of the BRATS corridor in 2010. 9 Fig 3 – Site plan (Source – Google Earth) It has got a mix of housing typologies ranging from low rise apartments cluster of mall footprints as well as taller apartment complexes with few or nil commercial spaces in the ground floor.Since the streets are designed for vehicles, the street widths are large and lack elements make them pedestrian friendly. The built form includes typically, discreet built forms formin g islands (or array of islands) within open spaces unlike the previous case where the open spaces formed the islands in between the built form. The spaces between the buildings which contained human activities in the previous case became spaces of movement here. Relationship of the built form with on street pedestrian became weak due to many factors.The built form of especially the residential neighborhoods is characterized by residential buildings separated from the street space with a compound wall needing for more privacy within the property. The low rise built forms as residences or the second Kenny P. Joy I typology found are the tall apartments which may or not have commercial space in the ground floor. A family claim to a territory diminishes proportionally as the number of families who share that claim increases. (Oscar Newman. Creating Defensible Space).In these tall apartment blocks, the number of dwellers is so high hat, they hardly take any responsibility or rather use i t considerably to a basic level of activity. This makes the space further inactive and less maintained bringing down the level of sense of security of that space. The other qualities of urban form that determine the sense of security includes permeability and variety. Conclusion This study examines the relationship and role of urban form and typology in determining the level of activity as well as natural surveillance which are the quintessential determiners of sense of security any urban space.In above discussions on case studies, a significant trend observed is the evolution of built arms to achieve more privacy. When the built form is evolved out of a process in which pedestrian behavior, activities and his response with nature is structuring principle, the sense of security a pedestrian enjoys is much higher than in an urban space within a built form structured by behavior and movement pattern supported by automobiles.Mohammedan city current growth is through a form of developme nt which is a characteristic of the latter case. In the contemporary urban development where dimensions of privacy, demands of new lifestyle and perceptions of security eve changed urban form, the traditional urban form may not be possible to be recreated as it is, but the principles of the same can be incorporated within to create urban spaces which may not render a sense of fear in the users. 11 Reference Books Phaedra,Shills, Khan, Camera and Errand, Shills.

Marketing Mix Strategy Nuematic Shoppe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Mix Strategy Nuematic Shoppe - Essay Example Nuematic Shoppe is an Indian company dealing in distribution of pneumatics, hydraulics, LPG/CNG Gas Kits, Multivalves, Filters, Sealing elements, fittings, anti-vibration mounts. The company is a well known entity among the Indian industries with an international reputation as the only professional distributors of exclusive pneumatics and other products. Apart from the above mentioned products, the company is also representing hosts of Indian and international brands like â€Å"Shubhnorg†, â€Å"Stetters†, â€Å"Zeroil Hunter† and â€Å"Haag Zeissler† (www.neumaticshoppe.com) . As the company has good number of customers who place their requirements well in advance, the company is able to cater to the needs in time of emergency as it has stocks readily available. The company is powered with over 40 employees in the factory and 20 administrative staff handling the customer orders, queries, requisition and distribution.     Though the company was doing w ell in the market, there were few complaints arising from the customers about the quality of products which resulted in withdrawal of some orders by them. In order to identify the problem as per the marketing mix strategy, all the 7P’s of company are detailed below:1)  Product: The prodcut or the service is the element which satisfies the client’s needs generating two types of relationships with the prospect: a functional and a linking one which in turn relates to the products usefulness. The product manufactured by any company has to be in demand by the consumer (Belohlavek, 2008:15) .

Respiratory System Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Respiratory System - Assignment Example The coarse hair, mucus and cilia in the respiratory tract clean, warms and moistens the air. Hair is in the nostril region while mucus and cilia are found in the rest of the nasal cavity. Hair and cilia in the nose are used in screening air while in trachea cilia moves upward and carry the food particles in the pharynx. The heat given by the blood vessels warms the air while the wet surfaces moisten the air. As air moves out during exhalation, it cools and dries up. During cooling, moisture is deposited on lining of the nose and the trachea (Michael & Albert 2001, p.10-13).NoseNose opens at the nostrils which lead to nasal cavities. Nasal cavities contain ciliated cells that act as the odour receptors. The cells contain nerves that lead to the brain. Nasal cavities communicate with cranial sinuses in the skull. Any inflammation of the duct stimulates accumulation of fluid. The hollow spaces in the nose enhance filtering, warming and moistening the air (Michael & Albert 2001, p.10-13) .PharynxPharynx is funnel-shaped and links oral and nasal cavities to larynx. Tonsils in the pharynx contain lymphocytes that protect against inhaled foreign antigens.Alveoli are contained in the lungs, and each sac is surrounded by the blood capillaries. The walls of alveoli contain the squamous epithelium or the flattened cells that enhance the exchange of gases. The surfactant in the alveoli reduces the surface tension and prevents lungs from closing. During inhalation, the air moving in and out, tidal volume, is small.... The heat given by the blood vessels warms the air while the wet surfaces moisten the air. As air moves out during exhalation, it cools and dries up. During cooling, moisture is deposited on lining of the nose and the trachea (Michael & Albert 2001, p.10-13). Nose Nose opens at the nostrils which lead to nasal cavities. Nasal cavities contain ciliated cells that act as the odour receptors. The cells contain nerves that lead to the brain. Nasal cavities communicate with cranial sinuses in the skull. Any inflammation of the duct stimulates accumulation of fluid. The hollow spaces in the nose enhance filtering, warming and moistening the air (Michael & Albert 2001, p.10-13). Pharynx Pharynx is funnel-shaped and links oral and nasal cavities to larynx. Tonsils in the pharynx contain lymphocytes that protect against inhaled foreign antigens. Larynx Larynx acts as air passage between the pharynx and trachea. Larynx moves up against epiglottis when swallowing food; the flap tissue prevents f ood from entering into the larynx. Alveoli Alveoli are contained in the lungs, and each sac is surrounded by the blood capillaries. The walls of alveoli contain the squamous epithelium or the flattened cells that enhance the exchange of gases. The surfactant in the alveoli reduces the surface tension and prevents lungs from closing. During inhalation, the air moving in and out, tidal volume, is small. The vital capacity can be increased through expansion of the chest and lungs. During inspiration, external intercostal muscles and the lungs will contract. Diaphragm is dome shaped, and it will lower and contract during inhalation. The volume of the thoracic cavity increases, lungs expand, and the pressure in the alveoli decreases. This allows air to floe naturally flows outside the

The Matrix Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

The Matrix - Movie Review Example The Matrix depicts that human intelligence is a strong force which cannot be repeated or mechanically restored. The movie portrays human intelligence is based on such issues as reasoning, thinking, and problem solving. People differ in their ability to reason effectively. However, the cognitive processes responsible for human actions and performance cannot be repeated by machines. The movie portrays that most people live in quite large social groups, and their intelligence evolved to cope with the demands of social life, the need to learn one's place in a social hierarchy, how to interact with one's social superiors and inferiors, how to co-operate with others, and how, sometimes, to outwit them. In the article, Lazar underlines that: â€Å"power in itself is deceptive as it is based on a paradox: it allows the taste of truth/knowledge but causes its own end (and arguably the end of truth/knowledge)† Using such characters as Neo, Morpheus and Trinity, the movie portrays that o nly human beings have the ability to think and apply decision-making to complex situations. Machines are unable to think flexibly. The Matrix shows that people go one step further by attributing, the possession of a 'theory of mind' which, they proposed, underlay the machines ability to understand, control, or predict the behavior of others. The idea has been taken up by numerous fiction writers, some of whom have argued that we possess a domain-specific 'theory of mind module'.

Photography and Consumer Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Photography and Consumer Culture - Essay Example (Lury 2011, p.112-119). Consumer culture propagators believe that the buying and selling of goods and services is a cultural activity, affected by the cultural perceptions of people and not just the economical and political factors (London & stone 2012, p.298-306). By saying so, we mean that what effects one individual affects the whole cultural community. In other words, we can say that consumer culture is strongly influenced by consumerism; this concept promotes that the desire for goods generates and fosters the bases of a social and economical culture. This theory of consumer culture believes that social cultures are based on the demand of goods and services in a particular community. This joint demand of commodities brings together the people of a geographic area and ties them in a community. Consumer culture is tightly bound with advertising and globalization since the limitation of geographical boundaries has been rendered useless by the integration of world markets. To unders tand it better we must look at the features of consumer culture: 1. The founding idea of the concept is that people’s identities are defined by the commodities that they own and the services they can afford to purchase. 2. It bases on the premise that the attainment of happiness is dependent on the accumulation of things and objects. 3. Leisure time is also an important factor in consumer culture; the free time in which people go and shop the products/commodities which define their status. People are tied together in a culture through the products they own and the services they utilize. This concept is particularly useful in marketing and advertising where creating an ad for every individual in the target market will be impossible and very expensive, consumer culture concepts lets marketers create an ad that grabs the attention of a large market share (London & stone 2012, p.298-306). A point to be considered here is that although an individual may belong to a culture but he/ she also has some individual opinions, thoughts, and way of perceiving things and objects. So what should an ad comprise of to generate the desired results in all consumers, or at least in a major segment of the target market? Taking a look at our ad, the happiness factory ad shows explicit and colorful images to support and strengthen its underlying message so as to attract the attention of its target audience immediately. The ad is different in its creativity and approach; it is not saying anything, there are no words used, but still the message is loud and clear and evokes the desired results. It explicitly indicates a way of living, a particular and differentiated life style that is only for those people who drink coca cola. What coca cola is trying to do is create a culture, a brand tribe of coca cola across the world, in all areas where coco cola is operating. It wants to create the impression that people who drink coca cola are united by a unique experience that others are fa r too unlucky to get or understand. (Wolman 2006, p.48-57) They want to convey the idea that coco cola delivers

Sustainability Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

Sustainability - Assignment Example Wood is a natural resource which can exist freely or by the influence of human activities. In Italy, there is a greater increasing demand for wood, which has seen the resource being sort for from other countries. Basically, wood is used in Italy for various purposes including electrical power generation, co-fire with coal, and heating in homes, commercial enterprises and institution. This project is aimed at ensuring that wood becomes a sustainable resource in Italy through good and ethical uses and business practices. It will also look at some of the corporate social responsibilities that the businesses and companies of Italy can involve in, in-order to make wood a sustainable resource for the future generations. The project will also touch on the effects of wood to the environment and how such can be controlled to enable the achievement of a sustainable wood condition in Italy. Wood is a natural resource that grows naturally, but can also be domesticated. Wood grows to make a forest, where the forest is now formed by a group of wood. The natural resource is used for various purposes including the use as fuel as well as the use as a building material, electricity generation, heating up rooms and so many other uses. In Italy, wood has always been used for such purposes as mentioned above. The use of wood has been seen to be on a higher increase, beginning from the traditional uses of wood in Italy. Traditionally, wood was used to make furniture, construct structures such as houses and to make sculptors (Bob, 2011: pg. 1-4). During this period, there were a lot of trees that would provide the particular types of wood that were needed for such purposes. People never used to scramble for the resource due to its sufficient availability and occurrence in the land. Considering that the population was not so high and there was plenty of

Social Marketing-Does the kindly reminder on the package of cigarette Research Proposal

Social Marketing-Does the kindly reminder on the package of cigarette can affect the customer buying cigarette - Research Proposal Example 7). There are eight principles of social marketing namely â€Å"customer orientation, insight, segmentation, behavioural goals, exchange, competition, methods mix, and [social marketing] is theory based† (Janssen et al., 2013). Stead et al (2007) found that social marketing can be used to develop an effective framework directed at interventions in behavioral change and can serve as a toolkit that can help organizations change health behaviors. One of the basic principles of social marketing is focus on the audience. Marketing mix cannot be useful until each of its four P’s are designed with the preferences, attitudes, behaviors, and characteristics of the target audience in mind. An example of the significance of perspective of the audience during the intersection of environmental and cultural contexts is provided by Romer et al (2009) who have examined the mass media’s contribution in a campaign for prevention of HIV in sexually active high-risk African American adolescents while addressing misconceptions regarding the use of contraception. The strategy of segmentation, like many marketing interventions, particularly addresses the social desires and norms of cultural subgroup. Behavioral change interventions can be classified according to a plethora of frameworks, though none can be considered as conceptually coherent and comprehensive (Michie, Stralen, and West, 2011). For example, the UK’s Institute of Government’s MINDSPACE is a very influential report meant to serve as a checklist to guide policymakers with the most important behavioral influences (Institute for Government, 2010). MINDSPACE is the acronym that represents the initial letters of these influences i.e. â€Å"messenger, incentives, norms, defaults, salience, priming, affect, commitment, and ego† (Michie, Stralen, and West, 2011). However, all important types of intervention are not

There should not be state sales taxes assessed on Internet purchases Essay

There should not be state sales taxes assessed on Internet purchases - Essay Example However, this aspect of sales tax free goods is not available in many states or countries. It has been observed that in many states of the United States of America (US), the consumers making online purchases are required to pay the requisite sales tax amount in their respective state tax agency. This prospect of providing tax free goods or products has hampered the revenue of the government as well as the brick-and-mortar retail outlets which are providing identical goods and services by minimizing their sales volume and customer base (FindLaw, â€Å"Do You Have to Pay Sales Tax on Internet Purchases?†). It has been observed that in the US, law has been formulated as well as implemented with the intention of collecting sales taxes for the shopping which are made online. In this respect, the Marketplace Fairness Act has been formulated with the intention of collecting sales tax in relation to online transactions which are performed within states. Moreover, this Act allows an ex emption for online retailing businesses with less than US$1 million domestic sales annually (Yadron, â€Å"Lawmakers Reintroduce Online Sales Tax Legislation†). Thesis Statement The paper intends to describe the issue i.e. whether or not sales taxes should be assessed on the purchase of goods through internet. The discussion will identify the major aspects with regard to the issue. Moreover, certain supporting opinions will be provided regarding the issue with facts as well as logic. Objective Description of the Issue The sales taxes on the purchases which are made through online sources are dependent on the location of the consumer. The Supreme Court in the year 1992 made rules that online retailers who have a physical presence in the states are charged with sales taxes on most of the purchase transactions made. In this aspect, online retailers are obliged to charge sales tax for the goods which are sold to home state consumers. In case, when goods are sold to consumers in o ther states then such consumers can acquire these goods without any sales taxes (FindLaw, â€Å"Do You Have to Pay Sales Tax on Internet Purchases?†). It has been observed that there are many large websites which are performing business transactions free of sales taxes by inaugurating subsidiaries with the intention of performing only the online businesses. It is also recognized that they perform online business transactions without physical presence. The above mentioned practice of online businesses is required to be mitigated with the objective of assisting the online businesses with physical presence that are losing sales volume due to online shops which are providing goods at free sales taxes (FindLaw, â€Å"Do You Have to Pay Sales Tax on Internet Purchases?†). The consumers purchasing tax free goods from online sources are required to pay sales tax to the agency in a direct manner where sales taxes are charged in their states. In case, where the consumers pay sal es tax directly to the sales tax agency are termed as ‘use’ tax. The only difference between sales tax and use tax is regarding the paid tax amount. In terms of sales tax, the tax amount is directly paid by online retailers to the sales tax agency. While, in case of use tax, the tax amount is paid by consumers themselves. Moreover, collecting use tax for small purchases tends to

Astronomy assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Astronomy assignment - Essay Example It is a fact that moon does not produce its own light but only acts as a reflector of the sun’s lights. One can observe different parts of illuminated moon by the sun as it moves around the sun. This is the reason why the moon changes its shape in time and regularly. This observations where moon changes its shape in time is called the phases of the moon. As the moon moves around the earth, its one side is illuminated and changes in time from dark to fully lit and henceforth. When the moon is fully lit, it’s said to be in lunar phase (Pamela, 1996, Web) where one observes a full moon on the side facing the earth. This phase only appears when the earth positions itself between the sun and the moon where the moon reflects the lights of the sun directly to the earth. The moon the enters the quarter moon phase in about a week later and is seen as half since the visible lit portion is half by somebody on earth. When the moon moves between the earth and sun, one observing it from the earth sees a complete dark surface since at this time it’s reflecting the lights back to the sun. The complete darkness is seen at different parts since the moon itself is not transparent and blocks the lights from the sun. Although some of the lights surpasses it and directly hit the earth as the moon is smaller than the size in terms of size. This occurrences is called the new moon phase. Before and after the quarter phases of the moon, there are crescent and gibbous phases. In crescent phase, the moon surface as reflected on earth is less than half lit. Whilst in gibbous phase, the moon surface viewed on earth is more that half, but not full lit. The moon’s revolution around the earth makes it to appear like it is changing its shape. But the fact is that, it is caused by the different angles by which, it is observed on its lit-surfaced side. As

Cyber Security Research Paper Essay Example for Free

Cyber Security Research Paper Essay 1. Preface This security profile of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is based on two documents of public record. The first is the published VA Handbook 6500 (VAH 6500) which defined policy and procedures for systems within the purview of the VA (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2007). The second document is the Federal Information Security Management Act Assessment for FY 20011 commissioned by the VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) and performed by Ernst Young in accordance with Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) guidelines (VA Office of Inspector General, 2012, p. i). 2. Identification of Controls This security profile presents one control function from three primary policy and procedure controls. These controls are â€Å"System/New Technology Development Life Cycle† from Management Controls, â€Å"Security Training, Education, and Awareness† from Operational Controls, and â€Å"Remote Access† from Technical Controls. These controls are selected based on the lack of resolution based on information provided fiscal year 2006, 2010 (VA Office of Inspector General, 2011) and 2011 (VA Office of Inspector General, 2012) FISMA audits. 3. Management Controls The protection of systems via risk mitigation techniques are referred to as management controls. Management controls are designed to minimize risk associated with development process and systems implementation. 4.1. VAH6500 Section 6.a.(7) System/New Technology Development Life Cycle VAH6500 requires that any new technology undergo a systems development life cycle (SDLC) specific to the VA. The cycle consists of Initiation, Development / Acquisition, Implementation, Operation / Maintenance and Disposal. Systems must be able to encrypt/decrypt data. Systems not capable of this must receive a waiver from the OIG. 4.2. Implementation Assessment The SDLC program provided does not provide the necessary information for an effective program. No supporting material or references to NIST SP 800-64 Rev2 Security Considerations in the System Development Life Cycle or VAH 6500.5 Incorporating Security and Privacy into the System Development Life Cycle is made. 4.3. Implementation Impact The OIG 2011 FISAM Assessment indicates that â€Å"FISMA Section 3544 requires establishing policies and procedures to ensure information security is addressed throughout the life cycle of each agency information system† (VA Office of Inspector General, 2012, p. 9). Based on the lack of consistency in use of SDLC and change control, major security risks may go unnoticed. 4. Operational Controls Operational controls focus on techniques and procedures put in place by Information Technology staff or systems managers. The purpose is to increase security and provide deterrence via system controls. 5.4. VAH6500 Section 6.b.(11) Security Training, Education, and Awareness VAH6500 provides a concise policy which states any individuals that access sensitive information or systems must complete annual security training. Key persons with â€Å"significant† roles must attend additional training. All training is monitored for completeness. Policy indicates before employees can use systems security training must be completed. 5.5. Implementation Assessment Policy indicates that fourteen key pieces of information must be covered before an individual is allowed to begin work. This training must also be refreshed annually. The tracking of this information is the responsibility of the local ISO (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2007, p. 57). 5.6. Implementation Impact The distributed manner of training management is not conducive to consistent security training. The OIG 2011 FISAM Assessment findings indicate a centrally managed training database be used to ensure personnel receive the proper training needed for their job function (VA Office of Inspector General, 2012, p. 15). 5. Technical Controls The technical control area focuses on minimizing and/or preventing access to a system(s) by unauthorized individuals via technical measures. The measures are designed to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of a system(s) (VA Office of Inspector General, 2012, p. 54). 6.7. VAH6500 Section 6.c.(3) Remote Access Control VAH6500 relies on nineteen policy requirements to enforce technical control. VA policy states that no sensitive information may be transmitted via internet or intranet without proper security mechanisms that meet NIST FIPS 140-2 criteria (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2007, p. 61). Each department within the Agency is responsible for monitoring remote access and privilege functions. Access can be revoked by a supervisor or superior at any time. The remaining requirements cover contractor access, PKI certificate distribution and termination of accounts. System protection is the responsibility of the ISO for each area of access. 6.8. Implementation Assessment VAH6500 does not utilize NIST SP 800-46 Guide to Enterprise Telework and Remote Access Security. The OIG 2011 FISAM Assessment also indicates some remote access systems do not provide Network Access Control (NAC) to block systems that do not meet predefined security requirements (VA Office of Inspector General, 2012, p. 6). 6.9. Implementation Impact The diversity of ISO management practices coupled with a lack of specific procedures for management, auditing and access creates opportunity for security breaches. 6. Summary The three controls outlined in this document show the disparity between written policy, procedure, and implementation. In order for the VA to be successful in meeting the standards of future FISMA assessments, a fundamental change in operations within the VA is required. 7. Comments The multifaceted nature of operations within the VA requires guidelines that meet the needs of multiple departments within the Agency. All three controls discussed in this document have very broad definitions to accommodate the extensive variety of services the VA provides. This flexibility coupled with a drop in training acceptance, legacy systems (VA Office of Inspector General, 2012, p. 7) and the lack of an â€Å"implemented components of its agency-wide information security risk management program† (VA Office of Inspector General, 2012, p. 3) will continue to limit future progress. These delay factors provide an understanding of why twelve recommendations from prior FISAM assessments remain open. Of the twelve recommendations listed in the VA FISMA FY 2011 report, only three have been closed, while three other recommendations have been superseded by new recommendations (VA Office of Inspector General, 2012, p. 19). The recent announcement of the Continuous, Readiness in Information Security Program (CRISP) seems to indicate a fundamental shift in the way the VA views security issues (United States Department of Veterans Affairs). In order for this program to be successful, this message must be understood and acted upon by all persons under the VA umbrella. 8.References Department of Veterans Affairs. (2007). VA Handbook 6500. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. Retrieved February 20, 2013, from http://www.va.gov/vapubs/viewPublication.asp?Pub_ID=56 Department of Veterans Affairs. (2010). Strategic Plan FY 2010-2014. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. Retrieved February 20, 2013, from http://www.va.gov/op3/Docs/StrategicPlanning/VA_2010_2014_Strategic_Plan.pdf National Institute of Standards and Technology. (2010). Guide for Assessing the Security Controls in Federal Information System (NIST 800-53a). Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office. http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-53-Rev3/sp800-53-rev3-final_updated-errata_05-01-2010.pdf United States Department of Veterans Affairs. (n.d.). CRISP. Retrieved February 21, 2013, from United States Department of Veterans Affairs: http://www.saltlakecity.va.gov/features/CRISP.asp VA Office of Inspector General. (2011). Department of Veterans Affairs Federal Informati on Security Management Act Assessment for FY 2010 (10-01916-165). Washington, D.C.: US Government Publishing Office. Retrieved from http://www.va.gov/oig/52/reports/2011/VAOIG-10-01916-165.pdf VA Office of Inspector General. (2012). Department of Veterans Affairs Federal Information Security Management Act Assessment for FY 2011 (11-00320-138). Washington, D.C.: US Government Printing Office. Retrieved February 20, 2013,from http://www.va.gov/oig/pubs/VAOIG-11-00320-138.pdf

Factors Which Led To The Origins Of Agriculture History Essay

Factors Which Led To The Origins Of Agriculture History Essay The transition from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to that of an agriculturist, is considered by some, to have been inevitable as part of the natural evolutionary progression and development of man (Rindos 1986: 6). It is in our nature as humans to be progressive and, as such, we automatically follow a sequence of pre-ordained (Harris 1986: 12) and invariable steps in order to achieve higher levels of social development (Westropp 1872, cited by Barker 2006: 8). A lack of knowledge was the only factor that prevented the transition from hunting and gathering to farming; before the Holocene, man had simply not reached the cognitive nor cultural level required to formulate the concept of agricultural subsistence (Richerson et al. 2001: 394). Bender agrees, noting that the mental capacity and physical dexterity of the humans that were responsible for the origins of agriculture, in contrast to hunter-gatherers of 4million years ago, were significantly more advanced, which in turn enabled the development of more complex societies (Bender 1978: 209). This suggests that the accumulation of knowledge regarding their local environment and resources, led eventually to experimentation and ultimately domestication. At the Cave of Diaotonghuan in the Jiangxi province of China, there is a gradual growth in the number of rice phytoliths of domestic form in relation to those of wild form (Higham 2005: 242). This indicates a gradual assimilation of domesticates into their subsistence base following the acquisition of appropriate knowledge in regards to domestication of their local resources; this eventually led to total reliance on intensive agriculture. Similarly, at Abu Hureyra in Northern Syria, the percentage of gazelle bones decreases over the sites period of occupation, whereas the number of bones belonging to domesticates gradually increases, eventually becoming the dominant component in the villagers subsistence base (Watkins 2005: 214). This was not a rapid, single event, b ut a more gradual process in which the villagers steadily became more dependent on domesticates. These examples demonstrate how knowledge was the limiting factor and how the gradual accumulation of knowledge (Zvekebil 1986: 9) and the resulting familiarity with potential domesticates resulted in their manipulation (Braidwood 1960, cited by Cohen 1977: 8), and, ultimately, domestication. The varying rates at which different cultures adopted agriculture can also be explained by this model; it took different societies different amounts of time to acquire the required level of knowledge and familiarity with their local resources (Braidwood 1960, cited by Richerson et al. 2001: 399); until this was achieved, progression to domestication could not occur. It is a common assumption that the lifestyle that is concurrent with agricultural production is significantly superior to that associated with Hunter-Gatherer communities. It has been suggested by some that if the adequate level of knowledge and cultural readiness had been achieved in favourable ecological circumstances, then the advantages of agriculture would have appeared so discernable as to make the transition to a domestic mode of production axiomatic (Zvelebil: 1986(b): 8). It is wrong to make this assumption, however, as it is not inevitable that agriculture will bring with it an easier and more reliable lifestyle; indeed, it has been adduced that the emergence of agriculture bought with it a number of disadvantages. These include chronic malnutrition the consequence of an instable subsistence base and resultant famine increased labour input and reduced leisure time. Furthermore, the appearance of widespread stress does not occur until reliance upon intensive agriculture is well established (Rindos 1986: 38). The Kung!-San Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert provide an interesting illustration of a modern hunter-gatherer group that has no need or desire to transfer to an agrarian way of life. Their subsistence base consists of varying wild materials, including both preferential and contingency resources; they operate on a schedule of strategic seasonal movements in order to exploit particular resources at specific times and locations throughout the year (Lee 1968, cited by Barker 2006: 29). Various mechanisms, including infanticide, allow population levels to be kept low and well within the capacity of the available food supply (Lee 1968, cited by Scarre 2005: 186) as well as enabling them to maintain their ubiquitous lifestyle. The Kung!-San do not suffer from any Puritan Ethos (Bender 1978: 206), and therefore the number of hours per day spent collecting food is kept to a minimum, relinquishing the majority of their time for leisure purposes. It can be s een, therefore, that the hunter-gatherer lifestyle can provide a reliable and varied subsistence base, as well as a more relaxed style of living; the incentives for transition to an agricultural lifestyle are not obvious. Because of this, it is possible that hunter-gather communities did not willingly accept to abandon their lifestyle of choice, but were instead forced by some external factor. Stark identified such factors as Push Models people were coerced into farming by some common factor or stress (Stark 1986, cited by Barker 2006: 36). Bellwood agrees, stating that there are no compelling reasons why hunter-gathers would have adopted agriculture, unless pushed (Bellwood 2005: 41). The origins of agriculture are often attributed to climatic variation, a significant push factor in the process of achieving intensified domestication (Moore 1986: 626). The study of ice cores, deep sea cores, and pollen profiles has revealed that the Post-Glacial period was characterised by a cold, dry and extremely variable climate. The transition into the Holocene, however, saw a shift to a more stable climate, with warmer and wetter conditions (Bellwood 2005: 20). It is this important climatic transition that is thought to have enabled the conversion to agriculture and is the foundation of a number of important hypotheses regarding agrarian development. An example of such is Childes Oasis Theory; he promotes that the melting of the European ice sheets at the end of the last glaciation would have forced rain bearing depressions north, promoting desiccation in the Near East. This in turn would have forced animals and humans into closer proximities around the ever decreasing number of water side locations. This allowed humans to develop a greater understanding of their local resources, and further to this, enabled them to realise the benefits of establishing a symbiotic relationship with the local fauna, as opposed to exploiting them using hunting strategies (Childe 1936 cited by Scarre 2005: 188); the advantages of this would simply have become obvious to them given the stress they were under from post glacial desiccation (Barker 2006: 14). An example of how desiccation can affects the subsistence base of a society can be found at Abu Hureyra. During the Pleistocene the villagers were dependent on a wide range of resources; they hunted wild cattle, sheep and gazelle, but also gathered a number of different plant species. With the onset of the Younger Dryas, the colder and more arid climate made gathering more difficult. The people of Abu Hureyra instead turned to intensive cultivation of rye, a robust cereal that could withstand the more difficult conditions (Watkins 2005: 214). Although this supports Childes idea that it was desiccation that caused the transition to agriculture, his theory in general is flawed and cannot be universally applied. Pollen analysis in the Near East confirms that the Early Holocene was indeed characterised climatically by a warmer, wetter regime and not by desiccation. The climatic transition in this region progressed from dry to moist, rather than the reverse, which devalues the foundation of Childes hypothesis (Wright 1977 cited by Rindos 1984: 15) due to the unsatisfactory environmental data which is the basis of his claims. The emergence of domesticated rye at Abu Hureya between 10800-9600BC, or during the Younger Dryas, is very early in contrast to other sites. For the most part, agriculture in the Near East was not adopted under desiccated conditions, but in the warmer and wetter conditions of the Holocene. The recovery and study of rice phytoliths at the Cave of Diaotonghuan in the Jiangxi province of China has revealed a correlation between climate change and the development of the domesticate. Within Zone G, which correlates to a period of more favourable climate, there is relatively high number of rice phytoliths. This number severely depreciates within Zone F, however, which is reflective of the colder and more arid climate of the Younger Dryas. The quantity of phytoliths once again increases significantly within Zones D and E due to a longer period of warmth between 8000-6000BC; the phytoliths here are evenly split between wild and cultivated forms. By Zone C, the phytoliths are entirely cultivated in form, and remain abundant, due to the continuing warm climate. This sequence reveals a correlation between fluctuations in climate and the quantity of rice phytoliths present. During colder periods, the amount of phytoliths decreases, whereas, they increase with more favourable climates. Ever increasing quantities of phytoliths of domestic form relative to the quantity of wild is also observable during the warmer periods (Higham 2005: 241). This demonstrates that it was during better climatic conditions that domesticates began to be more widely utilised, and not during periods of desiccation. Although Childes theory is, in general, flawed, there is evidence to support the claim that climatic variation did indeed have an effect on the origins of agriculture. One of the most interesting theories regarding the origins of agriculture considers the relationship between sedentism, population growth, and the availability of local resources; the transition to agriculture occurred, simply, because of disequilibrium between the number of available resources and swelling population numbers (Zvelebil 1986 (a): 9). Increased sedentism brought with it relaxation of mechanisms and birth controls previously used to keep population levels low (Rindos 1984: 19), which resulted in a significant increase in population numbers. The favourable, coastal, resource rich areas, that could previously support these smaller, hunter-gatherer populations, could no longer cope once the population had expanded beyond the regions carrying capacity. This led to expansion into more marginal zones (Binford 1968, cited by Bellwood 2005: 22 and Scarre 2005: 189), until further territorial extension became undesirable or untenable (Cohen 1977: 12); the populations of these ar eas were then forced to turn to agriculture as a means of subsistence intensification, allowing them to feed their growing numbers. This theory is particularly desirable as it not only accounts for why agriculture was adopted, but for why it occurred at differing rates at various different loci Population pressure had simply not yet reached the point where reliance upon agriculture was called for (Rindos 1984: 33). Unfortunately, there is an underlying problem with this hypothesis. As mentioned above, climatic change cannot be used as a globally extendable explanation for the change in subsistence base; climate, by nature, is regionally specific and the effects of it are therefore hugely diverse (Rindos 1984: 16). The favourable coast line habitats, which, according to Binford, were the areas where people first turned to sedentism, flourished with increasing sea levels. However, increased sea levels would affect differing coastlines in a number of ways (Cohen 1977: 7) the creation of superior habitats is just one of these. This would not have been a universal or uniform effect, and therefore cannot be a globally applied theory for the origins of agriculture. It still seems tenable, however, that population growth would have brought about a necessity for agriculture in order to provide a more stable food supply for an ever increasing population. Alternative views consider the origins of agriculture to be the result of social factors. Bender in particular promotes this idea, claiming that other factors, such as demography, are often considered to have played a much greater role than is realistic, whilst social structure is significantly over looked (Bender 1978: 204); ultimately it is the social relations that articulate society and set the evolutionary pattern'(Bender 1978: 218). In other words, it is social factors that bring about the most significant transitions and cause the greatest change. Competition between social groups is often considered to have led to the development of intensified food production in order to provide the specifically valued kinds of food deployed in competitive strategies and acts of reciprocity (Scarre 2005: 187). Feasting and the accumulation and distribution of prestige items were common mechanisms for achieving wealth, status and power. They are, however, expensive in terms of subsistence and require surplus resources (Zvelebil 1986(a): 10); hunting and gathering can only supply limited resources. This is why agriculture was developed in order to fund such reciprocal mechanisms via a more stable and consistent subsistence base. Alternatively, for Hodder, the domus the location of production and reproduction which constitute society and social relation (Hodder 1990: 39) was the social mechanism which drove the transition to agriculture. As a concept, it acted as a metaphor for the desire to control and transform nature; the individual experience of domestication led ultimately to intensification and domestication (Hodder 1990: 41). In summary, for economic domestication to be successful, it must be preceded by social domestication. Both of these examples illustrate how social pressure provided a positive incentive for hunter-gatherer societies to transfer to an agricultural lifestyle. Bellwood, however, considers an alternative view on how social pressures had an effe ct on the transition to domestication in certain landscapes, from the perspective of how hunter-gatherer communities were put under pressure from agriculturalists moving into their territories looking for regions of high agricultural potential. The relationship between the native hunter-gatherers and invading agriculturalists would have initially been one of exchange, and would have been mutually beneficial to both parties involved (Bellwood 2005: 41). It is often considered that contact with the agriculturalists would eventually lead the hunter gatherers to realise of the benefits of domestication, encouraging them to switch to this lifestyle. Bellwood suggests, however, that this may not have happened; he argues that as pressure on resources increased, along with increasing attempts by the agriculturalists to dominate the hunter gatherers, this would only have dissuaded them to change their lifestyle (Bellwood 2005: 41). This form of social pressure therefore acts only a deterrent to the adoption of agriculture. It can be seen therefore that no one explanation for the origins of agriculture is entirely satisfactory. This is to be expected, however; these factors are conceived at level that is too general to account for local distinctions (Moore 1986: 622). Domestication would have been adopted for a number of distinct and differing reasons, due to the diverse nature of the various loci where agriculture originated (Zvelebil 1986(b): 167). The origin of agriculture was not brought about by one driving factor it was not a monocausal phenomenon (Scarre 2005: 186). It was a combination of factors most importantly climatic variation, demographic change and social pressure, as well as the accumulation of necessary knowledge which would have combined in various ways to ultimately bring about a shift to food production.

A Reflective Self Assessment Paper Social Work Essay

A Reflective Self Assessment Paper Social Work Essay According to EPAS competencies, a social worker should engage in self-reflection, self-monitoring, and correction; engage in career-long learning. When starting this self-reflection, I ask myself, which part of social work practice may influence my ability in performance. I think maybe, I will try not to deal with cases involving children living with family violence. In 2003, when I was only 16 years old, I was sent to Portugal for a year as a cultural exchange student. One day, my host mother asked me to pick my 9-year-old host brother home after school. When I entered his school, a little boy just rushed to me and kicked me saying Chinà ªs! Chinà ªs! (Chinese in Portuguese). I thought that I never knew this boy and there was no use to argue with a little boy so I just ignored him. Then while my host brother and I were walking out of the school, the boy appeared again and came to beat me saying again Chinà ªs! Chinà ªs!. I got really angry and went to the principals office to report the situation. The headmaster told me that the boy was a Brazilian and his family background was quite complicated. He grew up in a climate of family violence and he always performed aggressively at school. After that incident, I started to have fear and lost trust in this kind of children. Recently during my part-time job in Centre on Behavioral Health of HKU, we are having a pilot study on abused women and children in Harmony House. My supervisor asked me to be in charge of the part of children, who are of 5 to 12 years old. Later in the formal study, the sample size will be much bigger. I found it difficult in designing questionnaires and conducting interviews properly for children, especially those who are living with trauma and family violence. We used several validated questionnaires, but the kids could not understand the questions, neither could they comprehend expressions like suffering, fear and worries. Moreover, when doing the interview, they would suddenly lose patience in talking with you, thus many questionnaires remained uncompleted at all. For those children, reading peoples faces are sometimes a necessity to survive in the family. In order to pretend as normal as other children and to behave as a goody boy or girl, they tended to give us answers which t hey thought their peers would possibly say and their parents and we interviewers would prefer to hear. Therefore, I tell myself, in social work practice in the future, I will avoid children if at all possible, particularly children living in domestic violence. When I precipitated to write this self-assessment, I reflected and found that my past ideas seemed very immature and they were against social work principles. We believe in the equality of every human-being and we pursuit social justice all the time. But when it comes to the issue of children, I have bias against them and directly avoid them. Children who live with family violence are vulnerable and oppressed and we social workers have our primary mission to pay attention to their needs and empowerment . We social workers respect the dignity and equality of every individual, and we are committed to assist them to solve the problem and get the needed resources. Social workers also strive to make social institutions responsive to human needs so we should also put efforts on the restoration family functioning to meet childrens needs. Therefore, to be a qualified social worker, I should apply these principles and values to guide my professional practice other than personal experience and bias. As we all know, Family is a special social system which performs certain functions and certain responsibilities. It performs the essential function of attending to the social and educational needs, health and well-being, and mutual care of its members. So parents have responsibility to meet childrens needs and provide adequate care, affection, safety, stimulation, guidance, boundaries and stability. Inside the family, parents are significant support systems and attachment figures for childrens socio-emotional development. So when the functions and responsibilities are replaced by verbal, sexual, physical violence and various forms of maltreatment, and when support, care, and harmony no longer exist, family can be very harmful to a child. According to Harmony Houses statistics, the number of children admitted to their shelter has increased by 60% in the past twenty years, from 155 cases in 1985 to 250 cases in 2005. 100% of them witnessed domestic violence at home and 65% were directly abused by their fathers. Over 96% of child witnesses felt scared, while over 70% felt angry, helpless and did not know how to seek help from external resources. Around 30% of them even tried to fight against their abusive fathers to protect their mothers, causing and long lasting scars throughout their lives. In addition, 85% children having witnessed domestic violence will suffer from mild to severe levels of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Experiencing or witnessing a violent event is a very strong stressor to children, especially when it is human designed, long-lasting, and the aggressor and victim are close to them. Children who are abused, neglected and exposure to family violence are more likely to produce problems of emotional and behavioral adjustment, and even PTSD symptoms like withdrawal, regression, aggression, anxiety, helplessness, low self-efficacy, lack of concentration and so on. In Osofskys study, he divided children suffering from domestic violence into three categories by their ages. 1) Very young children are likely to show emotional distress and immature behavior. Sometimes they would also have somatic complaints and regressions in toileting and language. 2) For school-aged children, they will probably exhibit a greater frequency of externalizing and internalizing. Externalizing includes aggressive and delinquent, while internalizing consists of withdrawn and anxious. 3) Adolescents may have a highe r level of aggression but a common acting-out. Moreover, their cases are often accompanied with anxiety, behavior problems, school problems, truancy, and revenge seeking. From the perspective of social learning theory, children will learn and intimate what they experience and see. What can kids learn from domestic violence? 1) Violence is an appropriate way to solve conflicts. 2) Violence is a part of family relationships. 3) The perpetrator of violence in intimate relationships often goes unpunished. 4) Violence is a way to control other people. So intergenerational transmission of violence often occurred and children are likely to become offenders in the future. . In addition, if parents are emotionally unavailable and abusive, children will lose the basic trust to others in their development. When a childs parents are in a state of hostility, they have to somehow make a choice. Such choice of loyalty to one of the parent inevitably will bring about the worsening of the family communication and relations. Growing up under such stressful conditions with unmet childhood developmental needs will affect their view toward themselves as a person, and thei r view toward parents, family, marriage and interpersonal relations. When I start to work with a child from family violence, I should keep my role in mind all the time that I am coming to help and try to establish a professional and helpful image in communication with the child and the family. In problem assessment stage, I need to make clear what is known and what is not yet known, and carefully observe what the family environment the parents are providing for the child, what developmental needs of the child are not met and what are the existing problems and difficulties in restore the functioning. In the part of family and parents, it is necessary to assess the family history and functioning, basic care, safety, emotional warmth, housing, employment, income, familys social integration, etc. In the section of childrens developmental needs, there are several dimensions to be considered as followed: Health It includes a childs physical and mental well-being as well as his/her medical care, nutritious diet and sport exercise. Education It covers all areas of cognitive development of a child from his/her birth. It involves ones access to school education, books, and other school facilities, interactions with other fellow children, attendance of school activities, and development of skills and interests. Emotional and Behavioral Development It concerns how a child can react to people by feelings and actions, which includes attachment, temperament, adaption, self-control and so on. Identity It means the childs understanding of him/herself has an independent and valued person, relating to self-efficacy, self-image, self-esteem, sense of belonging to the family and the society. Family and Social Relationship It refers to a good relationship with parents, siblings, caregivers, peers and other important people in the childs life. Social Presentation It means how a child presents him/herself in various social situations and how the presentation fits his/her age, gender, culture and religion. Self-care Skills It concerns a childs independence by observing his/her practical, emotional and communication competencies in living and solving problems by him/herself. It should be pointed out that non-verbal cues are very important and useful in assessing the children. The assessment process can be therapeutic itself, so every action we take should be very careful, otherwise the interview can bring further harm to the child. After collecting the information, together with comprehensive analysis and planning, I can move on to the intervention stage. The first step is to prevent the maltreatment, and ensure safety and cares for the child. Coping resources like relatives, schools and communities can be searched and used into the practice. Besides, refugee service is another choice. At the same time, proactive work of target services should be provided to the family and the children. For example, if the violence is because of the parents mental health or drug and alcohol abuse, actions like medical and rehab treatment can be adopted to this salient problem. The second level of intervention is to recover the vulnerable children who have suffered from abuse and neglect. The intervention should fit the characteristic of the age and gender of the child and his/her particular situation and needs. Many approaches from expressive art therapy, play therapy and body-mind theory can be applied to help the child identify and change destructive belief patterns, identify and express emotional residue, exercise personal control, make plans for future and break down the sense of isolation. However, if the trauma is too severe for me to handle, I will refer the child for further clinical treatment. Then comes the third level of the intervention. It aims to ensure the long-term well-being of the child and the family. More target services are followed up to provide a good family environment for the kid. Many integrated therapeutic intervention models can be adopted for the whole family. For example, parent-child interaction therapy suggests that modifying family interactions can diminish the childs behavior problems and improve positive parenting skills, and it effectively reduce likelihood of future abusive actions. Above is my plan of practice with children living in family violence. I found that the whole process seemed not that difficult although many practical problems might appear during each stage. I am very energetic but hot-headed. Sometimes when I encounter a hard nut to crack, I will be worried and anxious all the time doing nothing, and thinking about how to avoid it. As a future social worker, I will cultivate my patience, psychological quality in crisis and difficulty, and try to obtain more professional skills to handle problems properly.

Elizabeth Bishops Poem Filling Station Essays -- Elizabeth Bishop Fil

Elizabeth Bishop's Poem "Filling Station" In poetry many elements are used to bring life to a literary work. Some of these include style, structure, imagery, diction, and allusion. In Elizabeth Bishop's poem, Filling Station, the author uses them skillfully to create meaning in a story that otherwise would be banal. Her usage of expressive details supports the writing which helps the reader to imagine what the author is describing. Her style also appeals to the readers emotions and imagination to draw them into her harsh reality.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the elements that she uses to engage the reader is through the use of diction. In the first verse, the author opens by describing the setting as dirty. She further supports this in lines 3 - 5 by stating that the station is "oil-soaked", "oil-permeated", "over-all black translucency". These compound phrases gives the reader a clear image of the unpleasant environment that the author is portraying to the reader. In the second verse, the author introduces the father, a character who embodies his surrounding environment. Dressed in what the author describes as "a dirty, oil-soaked monkey suit" which does not even fit the character's stature, the reader can infer that the family is living under poor conditions. This is further confirmed when the author describes the son's appearance as "greasy" and "throughly dirty".   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the next verse, the author moves away from the disgusting scene of the gas station and uses vivid imagery...

Gifted Hands Essay -- essays research papers

Gifted Hands is an inspirational novel based around the life of Ben Carson, from his rugged upbringing in inner-city Detroit to his position as director of pediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins Hospital at age 33. The novel foregrounds Carson’s struggle to defy all odds - aided by his iron will, tremendous faith, respect, meekness and an unconditional devotion to God. Carson displayed great determination and dedication from a young age. He thrived to be ahead of his studies and went the extra mile for the well-being of his education. After I started pulling ahead in school, the desire to be smarter grew stronger and stronger. Carson focused more on being the best he could be rather than being top of the class. The desire to be smarter is an admirable trait essential for an academically ...

Prompts Sat

SAT Essay Prompt Bank 5th Edition Compiled by [email  protected] March 10, 2008 Table of Contents Essay Scoring Guide†¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 3 Practice Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 4 May 2006 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 5 Oct. 2006 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7 Nov. 2006 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 8 Dec. 2006 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 9 Jan. 2007 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦11 Mar. 2007 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦ 12 May 2007 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 13 June. 2007 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 14 Dec. 2007 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 16 Nov. 2007 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 17 Dec. 2007 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 19 Jan. 2008 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦20 Mar. 2008 Essay Prompts†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦22 SAT Practice Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of success and achievement, they must forget t he past, repress it, and relinquish it. But others have just the opposite view. They see old memories as a chance to reckon with the past and integrate past and present. Adapted from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, I've Known Rivers: Lives of Loss and Liberation Assignment: Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. When people form opinions about someone or something, what affects them most is not substance but style.In other words, the way something appears or is presented is more important than what it actually is. This principle affects how people look at their leaders and their lives, the books they read, the products they buy, and even th e subjects they take at school. Assignment: Is style more important than substance? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. If we valued honesty, we would be willing to risk our jobs to become whistleblowers and tell truths that our employers did not want revealed. If we valued success, we would give up our free time in order to excel in a subject or sport. In other words, the sacrifices we are willing to make reveal what we care about the most. Assignment: Can what we value be determined only by what we sacrifice? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 Think carefully about t he issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Something flawed is far more interesting than something perfect. Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of life’s ironies that this, which we all aim at, is better not quite achieved. -Adapted from W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up Assignment: Is perfection something to be admired or sought after? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 5 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. We need to remember that wisdom is not just about what we think or know, but more importantly, how we act. Simply being smart is not enough. I define wisdom as the application of intelligence and experience toward the attainment of a common good. In other words, the wisest people are those who look out not just for themselves but also for others. -Adapted from Robert J.Sternberg, â€Å"Teaching for Wisdom in Our Schools† Assignment: What makes a person wise? Are the wisest people merely smart or are they also concerned with the well-being of others? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. May 2006 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Some people claim that each individual is solely responsible for what happens to him or her.But the claim that we ought to take absolute responsibility for the kinds of people we are and the kinds of lives we lead suggests that we have complete control over our lives. We do not. The circumstances of our lives can make it more or less impossible to make certain kinds of choices. -Adapted from Gordon D. Marino, â€Å"I Think Y ou Should Be Responsible; Me, I’m Not So Sure† Assignment: Are we free to make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices we can make? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Certainly anyone who insists on condemning all lies should think about what would happen if we could reliably tell when our family, friends, colleagues, and government leaders were deceiving us. It is tempting to think that the world would become a better place without the deceptions that seem to interfere with our attempts are genuine communication.On the other hand, perhaps there is such a thing as too much honesty. Adapted from Allison Kornet, â€Å"The Truth About Lying† Assignment: Would the world be a better place if everyone alw ays told the complete truth? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. It is not that people dislike being part of a community; it is just that they care about their individual freedoms more.People value neighborliness and social interaction until being part of a group requires them to limit their freedom for the larger good of the group. But a community or group cannot function effectively unless people are willing to se aside their personal interests. Adapted from Warren Johnson, The Future Is Not What It Used To Be Assignment: Does the success of a community – whether it is a class, a team, a family, a nation, or any other group – depend upon people’s willingness to limit their personal interests? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. There is an old saying: â€Å"A person with one watch knows what time it is; a person with two watches isn’t so sure. † In other words, a person who looks at an object or event from two different angles sees something different from each position. Moreover, two or more people looking at the same thing may each perceive something different. In other words, truth, like beauty, may lie in the eye of the beholder.Adapted from Gregory D. Foster, â€Å"Ethics: Time to Revisit the Basics† Assignment: Does the truth change depending on how people look at things? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken f rom your reading, studies, experience, or observations. October 2006 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. While some people promote competition as the only way to achieve success, others emphasize the power of cooperation.Intense rivalry at work or play or engaging in competition involving ideas or skills may indeed drive people either to avoid failure or to achieve important victories. In a complex world, however, cooperation is much more likely to produce significant, lasting accomplishments. Assignment: Do people achieve more success by cooperation than by competition? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Sometimes it is necessary to challenge wha t people in authority claim to be true. Although some respect for authority is, no doubt, necessary in order for any group or organization to function, questioning the people in charge-even if they are experts or leaders in their fields-makes us better thinkers. It forces all concerned to defend old ideas and decisions and to consider new ones. Sometimes it can even correct old errors in thought and put an end to wrong actions. Assignment: Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. We don't really learn anything properly until there is a problem, until we make a mistake, until something fails to go as we had hoped. When everything is working well, wi th no problems or failures, what incentive do we have to try something new? We are only motivated to learn when we experience difficulties.Adapted from Alain de Botton, How Proust Can Change Your Life: Not a Novel Assignment: Does true learning only occur when we experience difficulties? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. There are two kinds of pretending. There is the bad kind, as when a person falsely promises to be your friend.But there is also a good kind, where the pretense eventually turns into the real thing. For example, when you are not feeling particularly friendly, the best thing you can do, very often, is to act in a friendly manner. In a few minutes, you may really be feeling friendlier. Adapted from a book by C. S. Lewis Assignment: Can deception—pretending that something is true when it is not—sometimes have good results? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.November 2006 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. It is wrong to think of ourselves as indispensable. We would love to think that our contributions are essential, but we are mistaken if we think that any one person has made the world what it is today. The contributions of individual people are seldom as important or as necessary as we think they are. Assignment: Do we put too much value on the ideas or actions of individual people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Many people deny that stories about characters and events that are not real can teach us about ourselves or about the world around us. They claim that literature does not offer us worthwhile information about the real world. These people argue that the feelings and ideas we gain from books and stories obstruct, rather than contribute to, clear thought. Adapted from Jennifer L. McMahon, â€Å"The Function of Fiction†Assignment: Can books and stories about characters and events that are not real teach us anything useful? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. â€Å"No one is perfect. † There are few among us who would disagree with this familiar statement. Certain that perfection is an impossible goal, many people willingly accept flaws and shortcomings in themselves and others.Yet such behavior leads to failure. People can only succeed if they try to achieve perfection in everything they do. Assignment: Can people achieve success only if they aim to be perfect? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Everybody has some choice. People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are.I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and, if they can't find them, make them. Adapted from George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warren's Profess ion Assignment: Do success and happiness depend on the choices people make rather than on factors beyond their control? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. December 2006 SAT Essay PromptsPrompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. In order to be the most productive and successful people that we are capable of being, we must be willing to ignore the opinions of others. It is only when we are completely indifferent to others' opinions of us—when we are not concerned about how others think of us—that we can achieve our most important goals. Assignment: Are people more likely to be productive and successful when they ignore the opinions of others? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.Support your position with reasoning an d examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. In many circumstances, optimism—the expectation that one's ideas and plans will always turn out for the best—is unwarranted. In these situations what is needed is not an upbeat view but a realistic one. There are times when people need to take a tough-minded view of the possibilities of success, give up, and invest their energies elsewhere rather than find reasons to continue to pursue the original project or idea.Adapted from Martin E. P. Seligman, Learned Optimism Assignment: Is it better for people to be realistic or optimistic? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt a nd the assignment below. It is easy to make judgments about people and their actions when we do not know anything about their circumstances or what motivated them to take those actions.But we should look beyond a person's actions. When people do things that we consider outrageous, inconsiderate, or harmful, we should try to understand why they acted as they did. Assignment: Is it important to try to understand people's motivations before judging their actions? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Abraham Lincoln said, â€Å"Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. † In other words, our personal level of satisfaction is entirely within our control. Otherwise, why would the same experience disappoint o ne person but delight another? Happiness is not an accident but a choice. Assignment: Is happiness something over which people have no control, or can people choose to be happy? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.January 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Many people believe that our government should do more to solve our problems. After all, how can one individual create more jobs or make roads safer or improve the schools or help to provide any of the other benefits that we have come to enjoy? And yet expecting that the government—rather than individuals—should always come up with the solutions to society's ills may have made us less self-reliant, undermining our independence and self-sufficiency.Assignment: Should people tak e more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Most human beings spend their lives doing work they hate and work that the world does not need. It is of prime importance that you learn early what you want to do and whether or not the world needs this service.The return from your work must be the satisfaction that work brings you and the world's need of that work. Income is not money, it is satisfaction; it is creation; it is beauty. Adapted from W. E. B. Du Bois, The Autobiography of W. E. B. Du Bois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century Assignment: Is it more important to do work that one finds fulfilling or work that pays well? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. The education people receive does not occur primarily in school. Young people are formed by their experiences with parents, teachers, peers, and even strangers on the street, and by the sports teams they play for, the shopping malls they frequent, the songs they hear, and the shows they watch. Schools, while certainly important, constitute only a relatively small part of education. Adapted from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, â€Å"Education for the Twenty-First Century† Assignment: Is education primarily the result of influences other than school?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. If we are dissatisfied with our circumstances, we think about changing them. But the most important and effective changes—in our attitude—hardly occur to us. In other words, we should worry not about how to alter the world around us for the better but about how to change ourselves in order to fit into that world.Adapted from Michael Hymers, â€Å"Wittgenstein, Pessimism and Politics† Assignment: Is it better to change one's attitude than to change one's circumstances? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. March 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. From the time people are very young, they are urged to get along with others, to try to â€Å"fit in. † Indeed, people are often rewarded for being agreeable and obedient.But this approach is misguided because it promotes uniformity instead of encouraging people to be unique and different. Differences among people give each of us greater perspective and allow us to make better judgments. Assignment: Is it more valuable for people to fit in than to be unique and different? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.It is easy to imagine that events and experiences in our lives will be perfect, but no matter how good something turns out to be, it can never live up to our expectations. Reality never matches our imaginations. For that reason, we sh ould make sure our plans and goals are modest and attainable. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations and something turns out better than we thought it would. Adapted from Baltasar Gracian y Morales, The Art of Worldly Wisdom Assignment: Is it best to have low expectations and to set goals we are sure of achieving?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Every event has consequences that are potentially beneficial. We may not always be happy about an experience, but we should at least gain in some way from it. For example, the worldwide gasoline shortage in the early 1970's created many hardships but inspired efforts to conserve energy.Whether the gains are large or small, there is something positive or useful f or us in everything that happens to us. Assignment: Do we really benefit from every event or experience in some way? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. May 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Materialism: it's the thing that everybody loves to hate.Few aspects of modern life have been more criticized than materialism. But let's face it: materialism—acquiring possessions and spending money—is a vital source of meaning and happiness in our time. People may criticize modern society for being too materialistic, but the fact remains that most of us spend most of our energy producing and consuming more and more stuff. Adapted from James Twitchell, â€Å"Two Cheers for Materialism† Assignment: Should modern society be criticize d for being materialistic? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Knowledge is power. In agriculture, medicine, and industry, for example, knowledge has liberated us from hunger, disease, and tedious labor. Today, however, our knowledge has become so powerful that it is beyond our control. We know how to do many things, but we do not know where, when, or even whether this know-how should be used. Assignment: Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignm ent below. We do not take the time to determine right from wrong. Reflecting on the difference between right and wrong is hard work. It is so much easier to follow the crowd, going along with what is popular rather than risking the disapproval of others by voicing an objection of any kind. Adapted from Stephen J.Carter, Integrity Assignment: Is it always best to determine one's own views of right and wrong, or can we benefit from following the crowd? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. It is often the case that revealing the complete truth may bring trouble—discomfort, embarrassment, sadness, or even harm—to oneself or to another person.In these circumstances, it is better not to express our real thoughts and feelin gs. Whether or not we should tell the truth, therefore, depends on the circumstances. Assignment: Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. June 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.People are happy only when they have their minds fixed on some goal other than their own happiness. Happiness comes when people focus instead on the happiness of others, on the improvement of humanity, on some course of action that is followed not as a means to anything else but as an end in itself. Aiming at something other than their own happiness, they find happiness along the way. The only way to be happy is to pursue some goal external to your own happiness. Adapted from John Stuart Mill, Autobiograp hy Assignment: Are people more likely to be happy if they focus on goals other than their own happiness?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Heroes may seem old-fashioned today. Many people are cynical and seem to enjoy discrediting role models more than creating new ones or cherishing those they already have. Some people, moreover, object to the very idea of heroes, arguing that we should not exalt individuals who, after all, are only flesh and blood, just like the rest of us.But we desperately need heroes—to teach us, to captivate us through their words and deeds, to inspire us to greatness. Adapted from Psychology Today, â€Å"How To Be Great! What Does It Take To Be A Hero? † Assignment: Is there a value in celeb rating certain individuals as heroes? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.The advancements that have been made over the past hundred years or more are too numerous to count. But has there been progress? Some people would say that the vast number of advancements tells us we have made progress. Others, however, disagree, saying that more is not necessarily better and that real progress—in politics, literature, the arts, science and technology, or any other field—can be achieved only when an advancement truly improves the quality of our lives. Assignment: Have modern advancements truly improved the quality of people's lives? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.Support your posit ion with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 It is not true that prosperity is better for people than adversity. When people are thriving and content, they seldom feel the need to look for ways to improve themselves or their situation. Hardship, on the other hand, forces people to closely examine—and possibly change—their own lives and even the lives of others. Misfortune rather than prosperity helps people to gain a greater understanding of themselves and the world around them. Assignment: Do people truly benefit from hardship and misfortune?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. October 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. A person does not simply â€Å"receive† his or her identity. Identity is much more than the name or features one is born with. True identity is something people must create for themselves by making choices that are significant and that require a courageous commitment in the face of challenges.Identity means having ideas and values that one lives by. Adapted from Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action Assignment: Is identity something people are born with or given, or is it something people create for themselves? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.We value uniqueness and originality, but it seems that everywhere we turn, we are surrounded by ideas and things that are copies or even copies of copies. Writers, artists, and musicians seek new ideas for paintings, b ooks, songs, and movies, but many sadly realize, â€Å"It's been done. † The same is true for scientists, scholars, and businesspeople. Everyone wants to create something new, but at best we can hope only to repeat or imitate what has already been done. Assignment: Can people ever be truly original? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. All people who have achieved greatness in something knew what they excelled at. These people identified the skills that made them special—good judgment, or courage, or a special artistic or literary talent—and focused on developing these skills. Yet most people achieve superiority in nothing because they fail to identify and develop their greatest attribute.Adapted from Baltasar Gracian y Morales, The Art of Worldly Wisdom Assignment: Do people achieve greatness only by finding out what they are especially good at and developing that attribute above all else? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Having many admirers is one way to become a celebrity, but it is not the way to become a hero. Heroes are self-made.Yet in our daily lives we see no difference between â€Å"celebrities† and â€Å"heroes. † For this reason, we deprive ourselves of real role models. We should admire heroes—people who are famous because they are great—but not celebrities—people who simply seem great because they are famous. Adapted from Daniel Boorstin, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in Americ a Assignment: Should we admire heroes but not celebrities? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.November 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. People today have so many choices. For instance, thirty years ago most television viewers could choose from only a few channels; today there are more than a hundred channels available. And choices do not just abound when it comes to the media. People have more options in almost every area of life. With so much to choose from, how can we not be happy? Assignment: Does having a large number of options to choose from make people happy?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. We are often urged to solve problems by ignoring traditional approaches and by finding solutions that are innovative or unconventional. We are encouraged to be creative and to trust that a new way of thinking will yield new insights. But innovation may be impractical and unnecessary.The best ways of fixing problems are often the tried–and–true ways. Assignment: Is it always necessary to find new solutions to problems? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Many people consider the arts—literature, music, painting, and other creative activities—unnecessary because they provide us with nothin g more than entertainment.Yet the arts are extremely valuable because they have much to teach us about the world around us and also because they help people find meaning in life. Assignment: Is the main value of the arts to teach us about the world around us? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. All people judge or criticize the ideas and actions of others.At times, these criticisms hurt or embarrass the people receiving them. Other criticisms seem to be intended to make the critics appear superior. And yet criticism is essential to our success as individuals and as a society. Adapted from Ken Petress, â€Å"Constructive Criticism: A Tool for Improvement† Assignment: Is criticism—judging or finding fault with the ide as and actions of others—essential for personal well-being and social progress? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.December 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. The first problem for all of us is not to learn but to unlearn. We hold on to ideas that were accepted in the past, and we are afraid to give them up. Preconceptions about what is right or wrong, true or false, good or bad are embedded so deeply in our thinking that we honestly may not know that they are there. Whether it's women's role in society or the role of our country in the world, the old assumptions just don't work anymore.Adapted from Gloria Steinem, â€Å"A New Egalitarian Lifestyle† Assignment: Do people need to â€Å"unlearn,† or reject, many of their a ssumptions and ideas? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Our determination to pursue truth by setting up a fight between two sides leads us to believe that every issue has two sides—no more, no less.If we know both sides of an issue, all of the relevant information will emerge, and the best case will be made for each side. But this process does not always lead to the truth. Often the truth is somewhere in the complex middle, not the oversimplified extremes. Adapted from Deborah Tannen, The Argument Culture Assignment: Should people choose one of two opposing sides of an issue, or is the truth usually found â€Å"in the middle†? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support y our position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. All around us appearances are mistaken for reality. Clever advertisements create favorable impressions but say little or nothing about the products they promote. In stores, colorful packages are often better than their contents. In the media, how certain entertainers, politicians, and other public figures appear is more important than their abilities. All too often, what we think we see becomes far more important than what really is. Assignment: Do images and impressions have too much of an effect on people?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 Until fairly recently, technological innovations and inventions were intended to serve basic human needs or desires. Today, however, the most important and urgent problem confronting us is no longer the satisfaction of basic needs. The primary purpose of modern technology is to solve the unintended problems caused by the technology of years past.Adapted from Dennis Gabor, Innovations: Scientific, Technological, and Social Assignment: Is the most important purpose of technology today different from what it was in the past? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. January 2008 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. It is better to try to be original than to merely imitate others. People should always try to say, write, think, or create something new.There is little value in merely repeating what has been done before. People who merel y copy or use the ideas and inventions of others, no matter how successful they may be, have never achieved anything significant. Assignment: Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use the ideas of others? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.Often we see people who persist in trying to achieve a particular goal, even when all the evidence indicates that they will be unlikely to achieve it. When they succeed, we consider them courageous for having overcome impossible obstacles. But when they fail, we think of them as headstrong, foolhardy, and bent on self-destruction. To many people, great effort is only worthwhile when it results in success. Adapted from Gilbert Brim, â€Å"Ambition† Assignment: Is the effor t involved in pursuing any goal valuable, even if the goal is not reached? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue.Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Newness has become our obsession. Novelty is more interesting to us than continuing with whatever is â€Å"tried and true. † We discard the old so we can acquire the most recent model, the latest version, the newest and most improved formula. Often, we replace what is useful just because it is no longer new. Not only with material goods but also with cultural values, we prefer whatever is the latest trend.Assignment: Should people always prefer new things, ideas, or values to those of the past? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and ex amples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Since we live in a global society, surely we should view ourselves as citizens of the whole world. But instead, people choose to identify and associate with smaller and more familiar groups.People think of themselves as belonging to families, nations, cultures, and generations—or as belonging to smaller groups whose members share ideas, views, or common experiences. All of these kinds of groups may offer people a feeling of security but also prevent them from learning or experiencing anything new. Assignment: Is there any value for people to belong only to a group or groups with which they have something in common? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Marc h 2008 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Organizations or groups that share a common goal often mention teamwork as their secret to success by insisting that people in the group work together for the good of the entire group. However, by requiring each individual to accept the decisions of the others in the group, organizations may discourage the expression of individual talent. Ultimately, a group is most successful when all of its members are encouraged to pursue their own goals and interests.Assignment: Are organizations or groups most successful when their members pursue individual wishes and goals? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Being loyal—faithful or dedicated to someone or something—is not always easy. People often have conflicting loyalties, and there are no guidelines that help them decide to what or whom they should be loyal.Moreover, people are often loyal to something bad. Still, loyalty is one of the essential attributes a person must have and must demand of others. Adapted from James Carville, Stickin': The Case for Loyalty Assignment: Should people always be loyal? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 3 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Winning feels forever fabulous.But you can learn more from losing than from winning. Losing prepares you for setback and tragedy more than winning ever can. Moreover, loss invites reflection and a change of strategies. In the process of re covering from your losses, you learn how to avoid them the next time. Adapted from Pat Conroy, My Losing Season Assignment: Do people learn more from losing than from winning? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.