Monday, September 30, 2019

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

The text under consideration presents an excerpt from the novel â€Å"Great expectations† by Charles Dickens who is one of the world’s greatest novelists of the 19th century famous for his criticism of the bourgeois society of his time with its evils and contrasts of wealth and poverty, his unique mastery of character drawing and optimistic point of view concerning life and the world around him.The reader highly appreciates Dickens’s spirit of optimism, his love for common people and his strong belief in the final victory of good over evil as well as his humour which is to be found on every page and in characters and incidents of the greatest diversity. However, Dickens possesses a great dramatic instinct which can be proved by the following extract. On a stormy rainy night a young man named Pip is reading a book when a strange visitor interrupts him appearing unexpectedly.Pip lets him in wondering what has brought the man to his flat. While talking to him Pip su ddenly begins to recognize the guest whose strange behavior confuses the young man. The stranger turns out to be Pip’s mysterious benefactor whom he helped escape from pursuit when a child and this fact shocks Pip so much for he considers his present status to be his own achievement. The convict reveals secret after secret and does not conceal his pride of Pip’s being a real gentleman.The extract under consideration presents a piece of 1st person narration which proves to be more objective from the point of view of the novel protagonist with elements of colorful description and vivid portrayal intercepted with a dialog and flashbacks deepening the reader’s penetration into the character thoughts. The prevalent mood of the excerpt is gloomy, nervous and disturbing, full of anxiety and tension maintained by the weather behind the window of the Pip’s room with an air of approaching disaster.With every coming word the author creates the atmosphere of a lonely stormy evening that brings not only disaster but also renders the character’s thoughts, his state of mind and soul, his vague foreboding of radical but inevitable changes that are both captivating ad dramatic. With the tonality of the narration gradually shifting along the scale of intensiveness the text under analysis can be split into four logical parts and the following names can be suggested for each of them.The 1st part titled â€Å"An anticipatory fear† introduces the reader into the story and forms the background against which all the events take place. The 2nd one bears the name â€Å"The stranger in the room† acquainting the reader with the uninvited guest who is the embodiment of mystery and enigma. The 3d part of the excerpt called â€Å"The present meets the past† provides the reader with some new information concerning the protagonist’s early life and reasons his present behavior.The final part which presents the climax of the extract can be named â€Å"The revelation† answering the questions aroused in the previous parts. Let us consider each part of the text separately. The 1st part of the extract serves as introduction into a stormy and dark evening provoking the whole chain of mysterious and striking events happening to the protagonist of the novel Pip reading a book late at night in his small London flat at the top floor of the building.Every detail introduced by the author is called upon enhancing the gloominess of the atmosphere and preparing the reader for the events forthcoming. To intensify the wretchedness of the weather of the weather the writer resorts to the whole palette of stylistic devices – numerous repetitions (â€Å"stormy and wet, stormy and wet†, â€Å"mud, mud, mud†) to form the background against the events take place and gradually draw the reader into the story who comes across another SD – polysyndeton (and†¦ and†¦ and) that is another type o f repetition which intensifies the increasing strain and growing nervousness.Apart from that Dickens metaphorically compares the clouds with a heavy veil which being vast, heavy and all-embracing covers the whole city reinforcing the image of inevitable disaster by means of hyperbole (an eternity of cloud and wind, the worst day of all) lending an additional expressiveness to the narration. The wind is personified by the author and likened to a terrible monster, primeval beast which deals death and destruction and demolishes everything in its way (violent blasts, rages of the wind, the wind assails and tears the sound) in order to emphasize the implied feeling of the ramatic events coming. The lexical expressive means are strengthen by definite syntactic structures used by Dickens to contribute to a more colorful and probable presentation of the scene. The expressive intensive sentence â€Å"So furious had been the gusts† brings additional vividness and luster to the descript ion is accompanied by a SD of detachment which primary function is to add significance to the part of the sentence manifesting itself in the following phrase: and gloomy accounts had come in from the coast, of shipwreck and death.The time is flowing carrying away the last moments of Pip’s peaceful reading and the final one is burned out by the Saint Paul’s and all the many church-clocks striking. In this paragraph the author’s godsend is the use of SD of onomatopoeia (the sound of the clocks striking – leading, accompanying, following) that perfectly presents the idea of the clock chime as a sign of approaching danger or disaster.The parallel construction of this sentence is backed up by anaphora accentuating the temporary state of affairs (some†¦ some†¦ some). The SD of parallelism is also used by the author in the next phrase â€Å"The sound was curiously flowed by the wind and I was listening and thinking† which is gradually bringing t he reader to the 2nd part of the excerpt â€Å"The stranger in the room† further intensifying the tense atmosphere of the 1st one.Gloomy prophesies turns out to be true – the strange uninvited guest is coming up the stairs to intrude into Pip’s apartment and Pip’s life. Dickens masterfully resorts to the SD of metonymy to maintain the air of mystery and growing suspense – Pip hears a footstep, not a man (I heard a footstep on the stair, the footstep stumbled), talks to a voice that seems to be the echo of his own words (There is nothing the reflected by matter? Nothing the matter†¦) presented by anadiplosis, sees a face – larding the image of the stranger with a special choice of words including epithets rendering not only the character’s thoughts but also enhancing the general sense of anxiety the whole extract is permeated with (nervous folly, awfully connected, dead sister, blown out lights, incomprehensible air, mere instant, the darkness beneath, a shaded lamp etc. ).The author has a firm grip on reader’s interest inserting an indefinite pronoun â€Å"whoever† which precedes the actual description of the night visitor built by the author with the help of antithesis (he was substantially dressed, but roughly), simile (like a voyager by the sea and tha abundant use of various epithets (muscular man, strong on his legs, large brown venous hands, browned, hardened). His hair is metaphorically called iron-grey, and judging by his appearance one might say that this person is used to hard work.The paragraph is practically built on parallel constructions backed up by anaphoric repetition (that†¦ that) to make the description of the stranger more expressive. Pip gets involved in the conversation with his visitor and we cannot but notice that these principle characters are opposed to each other at different levels and in different ways – both in speech and their attitude towards each ot her.All kinds of deviations from standard English – phonetic (arter, fur). Grammatical (you’ve grow’d up, I have never forgot it, you was a saying, wot) and lexical (nigh, alonger) are typical for Pip’s guest speech as contrasted to Pip’s highly educated phraseology that forms the huge gap between these two people that at first sight seems to be insuperable.Besides with the dialog intercepted the reader should pay the closest attention to the politeness the visitor addresses with to Pip (by your live, Master) and Pip’s inhospitable answers and nervous reactions finding their expression in such words as â€Å"resent the recognition of brightness, unwilling, ask as civilly as he can† revealing his inner shapeless fears and temporary mental state.One must feel the constant intention of the stranger to reach to Pip, to express joy caused by the sight of him (bright and gratified recognition that shone in his face), holds out both his hand s to Pip – the phrase which runs like a refrain through the whole text merging its parts to a single whole and totally enjoys the view of Pip’s flat â€Å"looking about him as if he had some part in the things he admired†.Ascribing some positive intentions to the strange visitor on the one hand the author intensifies Pip’s negative attitude towards him on the other, laying an emphasis on the fact that Pip suspects the stranger to be mad, recoils from him talking to the interlocutor even in somewhat humiliating way (Why do you, a strange coming into my rooms at this time of the night, ask that question? ) when the first hint at disappointment of the night visitor gradually realizing him being an uninvited guest appears expressed by the epithets (his coarse broken voice) and his moment hesitation presented by epiphoric repetition (I’ll speak in half a minute.Give me half a minute, please) although his strong believe in Pip and his admiration remain u nshakable. The atmosphere of growing suspense and tension maintained in the previous part bursts into a well-considered moment of recognition causing a tsunami of thoughts and feelings that threatens to devour the principle character. Pip’s night guest turns out to be the convict he helped escape from pursuit long time ago – and now this man so suddenly and unscrupulously interferes with Pip’s life.In order the reader forms a clear view of the situation, the author gives a flashback into the past events proceeding the present ones with a perfect use of causative-consecutive ties and connections. It is necessary to point out that repetition takes various forms in this paragraph. By means of anaphoric reiteration (For I knew him, but I new him, I knew him now! ) the writer sets an unmistakable rhyme reinforcing with every beat of Pip’s heart his feeling of realization and anxiety that is immediately communicated to the reader.No need to take a file, no need to take the handkerchief, no need to hug himself – there is something sinister about the fact that the phrase â€Å"no need to† is repeated so many times that the reader may find disturbing. As always when a repetition takes place, it results in a parallel arrangement of constructions (had driven away, had scattered, had swept us to the churchyard) which is meant to accentuate certain significant details of the past horrible for Pip.The constant use of the verb â€Å"to know† which is definitely a key word of the paragraph deserves special attention, as it is employed so as to emphasize the very fact of recognition. Moreover, the author resorts to a special choice of words aimed at lending an additional expressiveness to the moment described to produce the greatest possible effect achieved by the smallest possible means: to detect, to recall, feature, recognition, identity, suspect, consciousness, distinctly etc.The dramatic opposition of the characters previou sly introduced by Dickens finds its further development in the course of narration when being under the influence of moment hesitation Pip finally gives his hands to the convict – reluctantly – who grasps them heartily, and kisses them, and holds them which forms a kind of antithesis in the attitude of the personages towards each other. While the convict interprets Pip’s unconscious resignation as a good sign even going to embrace him, the protagonist overcomes his shock and astonishment to keep the distance (I aid a hand upon his breast and put him away) raising his voice in a fit of anger and in his desperate desire to be as far from this man as possible. The author favors reiterations in great abundance expressing one and the same idea from different angles to reveal Pip’s hesitation, lack of self-confidence with the help of root repetition (grateful, gratitude, to thank, to be thanked), anaphora (I am glad, I am glad) and chiasmus (I deserve to be tha nked, you have come to thank me).As the author puts it Pip loses his self-possession not knowing what to do and the SD of aposiopesis (But surely you must understand – I†¦) is an excellent proof of it. The last phrase of the sentence bringing up the paragraph may be regarded as a logical summing up of what was previously said presenting the reader with a magnificent metaphor â€Å"the words died away on my tongue† proving to be an apotheosis of Pip’s temporary state of numbness and shock.While analyzing the text we must take into account the fact that both characters are presented in evolution – but each of them in his own unique way. At the beginning of the excerpt Pip is self-confident, self-reliant, a bit arrogant considering himself to be a master of the situation although this state does not last long. Pip tries to keep at the same level of formality but he is confused, nervous, anxious. Pip recognizes him but he’s unwilling to renew the chance intercourse with him (But our ways are different ways).In the course of narration he suffers lack of words and numbness while concerning the convict Dickens makes a well-thought-out swift in the mood of the personage shifting from friendly tone to somewhat ironic and self-assured one. The convict also repeats himself but deliberately as it produces quite a different, even opposite impression on the reader – his speech is now imbued with bitter disappointment and irony seems to be a perfect tool for its expression.Apart from this he tries to sound poetic (many a thousand mile of stormy water, since you and me was out on them lone shivering marshes) and all the dialect and uneducated features of his speech prominent not only in phonetics, but also in vocabulary and syntax cannot prevent the reader from perception of his romantic nature. In the stream of consciousness Pip turns off to his past again remembering some significant details about his acquaintance with the conv ict.Dickens resorts to anaphora (I was a poor boy, and to a poor boy they) to lay a special stress on the fact mentioned intensifying it with oxymoron (they were a little fortune) to lend probability and additional expressiveness to the description of Pip’s joyless childhood full of hardship and privation. The fact that the convict gave some money to Pip finds its reflection in the present when Pip is trying to repay to him to split all the bonds between them and get rid of the feeling of obligation. The protagonist’s actions insult the convict who does not care of money, burning them down.It is necessary to point out that Pip’s actions are connected polysyndetically to indicate Pip’s hurriedness and nervousness whereas the convict’s actions are joined asyndetically displaying perfectly his self-reliance. The contradictions of the convict’s manifest themselves in the recurring SD of chiasmus (with a smile that was like a frown, and with a fr own that was like a smile) employed by the author confuse Pip even more when the night guest puts a question truing to sound greatly and deeply ironically – May I make so bold as ask you how you have done well? laying a special stress on â€Å"how† which is italicized. The question influences Pip in a strange and frightening way and the author reinforces his hidden fears using the emphatic it-structure in the following sentence – It was only now I began to tremble – in order to mark the moment when Pip’s numbness is ready to set him free giving way to much wilder feelings and emotions. To impart to the paragraph its own stylistic value Dickens resorts to the SD of metonymy (lips had parted and shaped some words that were without sound) to deepen Pip’s hesitation and feeling of uncertainty.The question is piled on the question while the convict deliberately disparages himself (a mere warmint) to let Pip feel in full measure, keenly, acutely t he convict’s ironic attitude towards him as a naive boy who thanks his lucky stars having no slightest idea of his real benefactor. Along with the epithet â€Å"wildly† the author make use of a colorful simile – with my heart beating like a heavy hammer of disorder action – and the SD of suspension (as to the first figure now.Five? As to the 1st letter of this layer’s name, now. Would it be J? ) to introduce the reader into the final part of the extract under consideration containing the denouement of the whole text. The final part of the text presents the climax of the excerpt with Pip’s state of shock being underlined in a number of ways and exaggerated. The author’s chief weapon is hyperbole. The abundant use of hyperbolic plural orms (disappointments, dangers, disgraces, consequences) blended with metaphoric (all the truth of my position came flashing on me, rushed in in such multitude) and some other hyperbolic expressions (I was borne down, had to struggle for every breath, could not have spoken one word though it had been to save my life, suffocating) give the reader a vivid sense of revelation befallen Pip who is about to faint which is proved metaphorically by the author (the room began to surge and turn) as well as metonymically (bringing the face that I now well remembered).The final part is based on the SD of suspense which makes the idea of revelation more prominent and surely holds the reader’s attention till the very last word. The use of emphatic it-construction (It’s me wot has done it! ) deepens the reader’s understanding of it. The last paragraph is practically built up on parallel constructions backed up by anaphoric repetitions (as ever I earned a guinea, that guinea should go to you, as ever spec’lated and got rich, you should get rich) and the SD of antithesis (I lived rough, that you should live smooth, I worked hard that you should be above work).Rhetorical qu estions that do not need any answers but stimulate some meditations upon the real state of affairs strengthen the crash of all Pip’s great expectations. Disparaging himself deliberately the convict desires to sacrifice a lot for Pip’s sake that emphasizes his magnanimity and Pip’s pettiness. The young man’s happiness is the only compensation he needs and exclaiming – I could make a gentleman – and, Pip, you are him! – he sounds proud and satisfied with what he has done.In his novel Dickens touches upon some burning issues of his time in a life story of a young man whose being poor and lonely gets a chance to change all his life with the help of money and the power they give abandoning his friends and family, almost betraying the only people who ever loved him. With an ironic and satiric touch the author uncrowns all the great expectations of the young man who is subject to go through disappointments of his adult life much harder to ov ercome than childhood ones. For me the great value of the extract consists in my desire to read the whole story appeared while analyzing this text.To tell you the truth I’ve experienced some controversially feelings reading this passage trying to understand it completely and utterly. As they say good deeds are those you are not telling of so no matter how proud you are of your success and your achievements concerning some other person’s destiny you should not come to him to point out the connection between your actions and his fortune in order to avoid the annoying feeling of obligation, especially in case you do not know this person well enough to make him feel obliged.From my personal experience I cannot but say that friends and family will realize themselves whether they should thank you or not, as regards some other people you’ve ever secretly helped – sometimes it’s even a pleasure to watch them coping with their lives knowing that you’ ve taken part in their success but keeping it to yourself to enjoy privately. Good deeds will be rewarded in any case – no need to force people thanking you or this gratitude will bring no good.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

BCR Importance of nitrogen Essay

1. Probably they include negatives and, if possible, positive controls. Is your negative control a test plant that is planted in a pot with no legume planted in the pot? Do you have any other negative controls? How about positive controls? Are there some plants which you know will grow well under the conditions that you are specifying? Are you using these as positive controls, while your test plants will be a different type of plant? 2. I suspect they also include a method of checking, periodically, for results â€Å"over time,† meaning either daily, weekly, monthly †¦. 3. Wouldn’t you want all of your test â€Å"subjects† exposed to the same environmental conditions, with the exception of the one element for which you are testing. That means that all get the same amount of light, water and soil and that the light, water and soil are from the same source. So, you will need a way of measuring the amount of light, water and soil. If you are planting in containers, wouldn’t you want all of the containers made of the same substance, instead of having some be of plastic and some of wood? Wouldn’t you want them to all be the same height, width and depth? Wouldn’t you want them all oriented with respect to the sun such that none blocked sunlight from the others? Wouldn’t you want to weed them all frequently and regularly to insure that the presence of weeds did not adversely effect one or the other of your test subjects? I suspect that your instructor wants you to say in your experimental proposal write up how you will orient the containers and what they will be made of and what are their dimensions and how often you will check for weeds and measure light water and soil†¦ 4. Won’t you need to decide what constitutes a positive result and what constitutes a negative result. 5. Probably your instructor wants you to choose an objective measure for your results and state what that will be. For example: If you are growing other plants along with the legumes, will you measure the growth of their stems with a ruler? If they are branched, will you only measure the total height, or will you measure all of the branches separately? If they have fruit, will you weight the fruit? If you weigh it, how will you decide that it is time to pick and weigh it? At the end of the experiment, will you remove the whole plant, roots and all and weigh it? 6. Will you plant the legumes at the same time that you plant the test plant? or will you plant the test plant on day 5, 6, 10†¦ after the legumes have been planted? Will you plant only one legume to each box? If you have them growing at the same time, how will you orient your plants so that neither the legume nor the test plant will overshadow the other but that the roots of the legume are close enough to effect the soil for the test plant? Or, if you don’t think that will work, will you plant the legumes and let them grow and die before you plant your test plant? 7. How will you record what you have done? Will you make a spreadsheet and record that, for example, you have gave all the plants a cup of water per day or a quart of water twice a week? Where will you note the growth of the plant? how many weeds you pulled? Will you note the conditions of the leaves of your test plant or the conditions of the legume plants? Where will you note any unforeseen changes? 8. How will you write up your results? Most scientific papers have 5 sections. Does your instructor wish for you to include this in your proposal? 1) Introduction, 2) Materials and Methods 3) Results, 4) Conclusions and Discussion, 5) References

Saturday, September 28, 2019

A Dolls House Essay -- A Dolls House Essays

Ibsen said that his mission in life was to â€Å"Inspire individuals to freedom and independence† which was shown throughout the play A Doll House. Since he wrote modern theatre, the characters were real and audiences could relate to them. He particularly questioned the role of men and women during his time. Ibsen used A Doll House to motivate women so they would seek more power and freedom in their relationships. Audiences could then look up to characters such as Nora and Mrs Linde whom were independent, some what ahead of their times. Ibsen’s purpose was to not only to enlighten women of their unfair status but also to make the men understand women are much smarter than what they think. His goal was to change these attitudes of all humans so equality could be reached. By 1878-79, when A Doll House was written, women’s rights had become a burning issue. People such as John Stuart Mill who wrote The Subjection of Women (1869) were one of the first to raise these issues and could be seen as an early feminist. They raised question as to whether the female role was fair. Before then, women were very submissive and had little opportunities. They were unable to have a job and were expected to do household duties and take care of the children. Men were the dominant ones but the women knew no different. For the few who could see this inequality, they were seen as ‘unfeminine’ as they were thinking for themselves, which is something only a man would do. Ibsen would be on their sides and tried to express that it was all right, through his characters. Nora plays upon her innocence and helplessness at the beginning to achieve things, being the typical stereotype of women in this time. â€Å"Oh, please, stand up for themselves. They were unlike the stereotype in which women were made into and took responsibility for their actions. The play would make people think and discuss these roles of men and women and even question the values of society. Ibsen hoped he would make women realise they deserve a choice as to whether they want to marry and to be equal with men. Bibliography Mills, John Stuart 1860, The Subjection of Women, Prometheus Books, New York â€Å"Ibsen- woman’s rights† 2005 http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/2001/fr/ibsen/form.html, 24/04/05 â€Å"A Doll House- Ibsen† 2005 http://www.novelguide.com/ADoll'sHouse/themeanalysis.html 24/04/05 â€Å"Woman’s right and roles† 2005 http://www.unesco.no/kommunikasjon/hukommelse/ibsen.html. 24/04/05 â€Å"Woman’s Liberation, Ibsen† 2005 http://www.international-relations.com/cm3-2/Feminismweb. html 24/04/05

Friday, September 27, 2019

GREAT IDEAS Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

GREAT IDEAS - Assignment Example ut the nature of reality for instance, taking things as they appear to an individual without having to commit his senses to understanding them more by unlocking the hidden aspects through reading between the lines: At which point an individual ascends progressively to higher or best knowledge. In broadest terms, Plato’s allegory not only reveals how the cave is analogous with the physical world, but also how ultimately elements of philosophy progressively develop into the best grade of knowledge with the ability, according to Plato, to form the best individuals suitably refined by this knowledge to occupy and perform their duties in different levels of society according to their talents. Using the allegory of the cave, Plato sets out to explain a kind of ascent into knowledge, where an individual enters and emerges from the lowest and illusory grade of knowledge, and climbs to the level of the best knowledge of understanding reality. Thus the cave and all it represents is analogous to the physical world where an individual’s earlier judgments are seen to be mostly superficial by experience. However by and large, through his interaction with science and the realities of how things work, the body of knowledge gained becomes a prerequisite of improving and making better earlier impressions. This progressively leads to higher knowledge and the discovery of eternal ideas and forms like Justice, Truth, and Beauty which help in creating essential structures and basis for citizen’s capacity building in a state. Ascending into higher grade of knowledge is important and will equip an individual with a greater power of understanding and thus a refined capacity to make the best of any given situation. But certain aspects and problems require specific and specialized attention, for instance a critically ill patient. Besides leadership require certain individual characteristics and qualities that the knowledge of philosophy alone may not bequeath an

Thursday, September 26, 2019

The concerns will be with regard to population in the Research Paper

The concerns will be with regard to population in the - Research Paper Example According to the pilot issue of Horizon: Future Issues for Development, in an article entitled â€Å"Population Growth, Environment and Food Security: What Does the Future Hold?,† human population growth is â€Å"the most significant cause† of many of the problems that the world faces like climate change, poverty and scarcity of food resources. By around 2050, the growth of the world’s population will be by 2.7 billion thus resulting in an estimated total of 9 billion people by that time (Collodi & McCormack, 2009). This significant increase in the human population will definitely outrun the supply of natural resources and will definitely force man to exploit the natural environment for the sake of survival. In the table below from the United Nations Population Fund, one can see that the projected population of the world by 2050 is either 7 billion still, or 10.5 billion as the upper limit, or ideally at 9 billion. One of the problems caused by overpopulation that will most likely affect the world on a global scale is environmental degradation. The overwhelming growth in population is expected to lead to unsustainable demands on the environment as well as natural resources. There is also a consequent production of hazardous waste and an intensified level of urbanization, both of which are expected to contribute to the degradation of the environment. There is also climate change due to the increase in the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by around 52% by 2050. Aside from this, water is expected to be scarce, and that 90% of freshwater supply will be gone even by 2030. Moreover, there is also an expected doubling of the demands for energy all over the world even 20 years from now. There is also a considerable loss of biodiversity, destruction of many ecosystems, and renewable environmental resources because of excessive draining of wetlands, clearing of forests and expansion of infrastructure (Collodi & McCormack, 2009). Another global problem

How does mobile device impact hospitality industary Essay

How does mobile device impact hospitality industary - Essay Example Mobile devices such as smartphones (the word cellular phone is no longer applicable with what it can do), computer tablets, wi-fi connectivity, etch that even digital cameras now are becoming mobile communication devices. In a report by Mobilize Worldwide, the leading developer of mobile applications for promotions in the web and electronic platform, that includes interactive websites, and similar marketing channels, there were 211 million subscribers of mobile device in the US alone as of May 2011 and this figure is continually rising. It also added that of these figures, 82% of adult Americans has a cellphone, 31% of which are classified as smartphone. The company’s research also revealed that 25% of Americans rely on their mobile devices with regard to their access to the internet than the traditional computer. Almost all at 95% of all mobile device users are also capable of sending and receiving multimedia messaging service or MMS and/or short messaging service or SMS or s imply text messages. This is worth noting because most of those who receive data from mobile devices read the messages within three minutes upon receipt at 90% percent of the time. It also revealed that 79% of smartphone users do online shopping and 74% of these purchases were a result of smartphone online research. More interestingly, the study was supported by the Pew Research that more than half of mobile pohone users use their mobile devices to find information about local hotels (Kasavana, nd). II. The hospitality industry The hospitality industry is composed of cluster of of industries comprising of accommodations, restaurants, entertainment, recreation and amusement sectors (Bit Wave Solutions, nd). The hospitality industry is a thriving multi-billion industry dependent on its customer’s free time, disposable income and willingness to engage in leisure. Example of sectors in the hospitality industry are hotels, restaurants, themed park and amusement centers involving a gamut of operations that animate the whole industry to serve the guests that would avail of their service. The rising prosperity in the new markets enabled the hospitality industry to expand its operation across the globe with the people’s rising disposable income offering them different service and amusement depending on their preference. Along with the expansion of the operation of the hospitality industry is the improvement of its infrastructure to better serve its customer and to remain relevant in a very competitive business environment. One of the fastest aspect of development in the hospitality industry’s infrastructure is the information technology that enables the use of mobile devices to increase customer engagement with the end of enhancing customer experience. The services that mobile devices enable includes â€Å"website configurations, fluent marketing campaigns, location-based activities, digital couponing, and point-of-sale settlement. Currently, the fastest growing segment of m-commerce service is mobile payments featuring cashless and cardless payment platforms â€Å" (Kamanava, nd). The increased use of information technology in the hospitality industry that facilitated these services has resulted in creased expectation of visitors and personalized service especially to those who are returning customers. This became possible because hospitality indu

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Review Of System ROS Versus Gordon Health Assessment Essay

Review Of System ROS Versus Gordon Health Assessment - Essay Example While in the Gordon functional assessment is where the nurses entail on issues regarding the metabolic processes of the patient. This is where the nurse digs out about the fluids that the patient takes. On Review of the system, matters concerning allergies, it's extremely critical to these patients. A bee sting can cause enormous swelling. There are also matters to do with cat and dogs fur. Some patients suffer from different complications. While In the Gordon functional assessment the nurse inquiries on matters on elimination patterns. This is where the nurse asks the patients about matters regarding constipations. In Gordon assessment, the Nurses addresses on issues concerning the activity and exercises that the patient Takes every day. Between the two discussed health assessment methods, I would prefer the Gordon health assessment method. This is because Gordon entails more on the patients and it also gives the patient a solution to the problems. This is because the nurse focuses on various issues regarding the patient. These issues are like the activity and exercises. There is also the issue of pain where the nurse asks the patient about the sensory experience. The nurse also focuses on sleep and the rest of the patient, role of the sexuality on how the patient feels about his sexuality, values, and beliefs and also faces stress and a solution is given on how he tolerate the stress. So I would recommend the nurses to use the Gordon functional assessment because it entails on the emotions and patterns of the patients.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Water resource issues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Water resource issues - Essay Example Population size is increasing day by day whereas the availability of fresh water remains stationary or decreasing. As a result of that, the available fresh water per head is getting reduced as time goes on. Drinking water is an essential commodity required to sustain human life on earth. It is believed that the next world war may be occurred probably for the control of fresh water resources. Many people believe that the recent attack on Iraq by America was not to take revenge upon Saddam, but to seize control over the fresh water resources of Iraq. In any case, drinking water shortage is getting intensified as time goes on. It is necessary to manage water resources judiciously to overcome the drinking water shortage. Strategies necessary to reduce the pollution of fresh water resources should be implemented as much as possible. The usage of fertilizers and chemicals should be reduced as much as possible and organic farming methods should be employed more and more. Industrialization should be done carefully and the industrial wastes should not be allowed to mix with fresh water resources. In short, a little bit control on industrialization and farming would reduce the water pollution

Monday, September 23, 2019

Zara stays in Europe while other brands outsource to offshore Essay

Zara stays in Europe while other brands outsource to offshore manufacturers - Essay Example Supply change management (SCM) in simple words can be defined as the process of transformation of goods from the raw materials state to the final product and finally handing it over to the end customer. Different companies have different SCM strategies which vary depending upon the short and long term objectives and goals the company wants to achieve.Also factors effecting SCM strategy depends upon the structure of the company i.e. either it’s a manufacturing company , a distribution company, a retailing company or a mixture of these companies. Zara is one of the five apparel retailing chains owned by Inditex group. Although Inditex manages designing, manufacturing and retailing of its goods but it enjoys major presence globally in the market through its chain of retail stores. The key to Zara’s success was the implementation of a unique SCM strategy. While other retailers in the business were focusing on completely outsourcing there manufacturing to offshore; mostly co untries like China, India, Bangladesh etc. saving costs by utilizing cheap labor, Inditex decided to digress from this convention being followed and managed to succeed in its approach. MAKE-BUY DECISIONÂ  : With all the firms entangled between the decision of manufacturing the products in-house or outsource it to off-shore suppliers majorly because of cost saving which involves availability of labor at much cheaper cost i.e. margins 18 to 20 times less for hiring of what you get locally in Europe or America or more expertise available across borders and other reasons. Similarly these factors have influenced the decisions in the Apparel industry aswell with the entire thought process working behind the reason that cost saving in the manufacturing will yield much more profit in comparison to opting to an in-house or nearer manufacturing options. The giants of the fashion apparel industry like GAP, H&M and many other smaller brands choose to outsource their manufacturing completely of fshore. Although one benefit they yielded through this that their manufacturing process saved heavily by employing cheap labor but on the other hand they became open to many risk factors including Global trade policies. International treaties. The social responsibility of providing employment to local labor. The harmful manufacturing process to the environments as a result of mass production which recently gained awareness of population and started to effect the sales and the image of companies and brands. Longer lead times i.e. the replenishment time for the inventory were quite high and could affect sales quite heavily in case the company and stores fell victim to inventory stock-outs. Unexpected weather risking the timely delivery of product. While on the other hand Inditex choose to be different from the trend of outsourcing manufacturing offshore and made the most of this opportunity. Zara being an emergence of Spain opted to the unique strategy of opening manufacturing plants near to where the retail stores were located. Apart from that Zara dost not entirely own the manufacturing process but in Spain and Portugal it own a series of workshops which are bonded in contract with the firm. In doing so Zara was affording labor cost 18 to 20 times higher than its major competitors but still managed to yield profits on the same scale and competitive advantage on the competitors by Quicker replenishments. Continuous and innovative designs. The Entire process of SCM was interlinked. Environmental friendly projects. Proving itself more socially responsible by hiring local employees. While all the major competitors of Inditex specifically to ZARA like The American GAP and the Swedish H&M SOURCING STRATEGIES AND SUPPLY CHAIN CONFIGURATIONS The sourcing strategies in the apparel industry were majorly divided between two major chunks. One was relying on cheaper product sourcing by outsourcing offshore which lead to few designs being in limelight for longer periods thr oughout the seasons. The other chunk selected to keep

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The Ghosts of My Lai Essay Example for Free

The Ghosts of My Lai Essay Sometimes events in a person’s life can have dramatic effects long after the incident is over. If the problems are serious enough, psychological and mental imbalances can occur. Such is the case with John Wade. His participation in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam never leaves his consciousness. It haunts him in the forms of dreams and affects his self perception and behavior. Ultimately, it casts upon him the suspicion of murder. Throughout the details of John and Kathy’s days at the cabin, John’s nights are troubled by dreams of his time in Vietnam. He dreams of shooting his trenchmate and of other amorphous yet frightening memories. His lack of sleep and the anxiety these dreams cause haunt him during the day as well. His mutterings of â€Å"Kill Jesus† are a concise manifestation of this problem. Other than the dreams, John still internalizes his persona as a sorcerer. From his childhood, John turned to magic to make his problems disappear, or as he notes, â€Å"where he could turn bad things into good things and just be happy† (O’Brien 66). His father’s taunts at his weight and his father’s alcoholism were made easier to bear by his ability to perform tricks. When he goes to Vietnam, he internalizes his role as the magician even more and is given the nickname Sorcerer by his platoon mates. However, when he cannot make all the death and destruction disappear, the doubts begin to creep in. He accidentally kills one of his own men, makes him disappear, and this constantly affects him through dreams. Later, in the My Lai massacre, he adopts the name Sorcerer himself, perhaps as a way to disengage himself from the murders he was committing and from his ultimate crimes. Once home, he continues this need to control. He creeps around and spies on Kathy while she is at college, deriving a sordid feeling of power from this secrecy. He acknowledges that â€Å"The trick then was to be vigilant. He would guard his advantage. The secrets would remain secret – the things he’d seen, the things he’s done. He would repair what he could, he would endure, he would go from year to year without letting on that there were tricks† (O’Brien 46). It sounds as if John cannot separate his experience with death and fear in the war with his fear that his wife will somehow leave him. These feelings followed them throughout their lives, never letting up. Alcoholism also impeded upon their lives. He refuses psychiatric help. Infidelity and the ghosts of Vietnam eventually erupt to the surface, ruining John’s political career. He finds he has lost control of his life, and with the disappearance of his wife, of Kathy herself. At the end, he loses himself, leaving only speculation of what could have happened to his wife. The stress that Wade endured in Vietnam, particularly his role in the My Lai massacre, coupled with the dysfunction in his relationship with his father all led to a frightened but controlling husband in John Wade. The mystery continues.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Strengths Based Model and Case Management Model Comparison

Strengths Based Model and Case Management Model Comparison KAVITESH P TAHAL AGEING AND DISABILITY Compare two models Strength-Based Model Strengths based practice is consistent with the rights arguments outlined earlier. That is, it is has a focus on the equal rights of citizenship that disabled people have. These rights include the rights of access to all resources, options and opportunities; the rights of people to choose and direct service provision to enhance their lives; and the right to actively live and participate in the same communities as everyone else. It is an important approach to conducting needs assessment and service coordination because: It is an empowering approach to alternatives which have historically focused on deficits and problems within families or people needing support. In strengths based approach the focus is on the strengths and abilities of the person. It avoids the use of stigmatising, labelling or blaming language. It creates hope within people and their families by focusing on what is currently successful or has been successful in the past for them. It focuses on people’s abilities and resiliencies and places them in the â€Å"expert† position on their own goals, ambitions and solutions to difficult situations. The â€Å"professional† worker is placed in the role of partner and guide. It captures (often for the first time) the positive things in a person and the person’s environment that can serve as a start for positive changes. People and their families are more engaged in a process where they feel they are an important part, not simply a recipient of others’ â€Å"service†. Communities are seen as an important source of resources rather than obstacles or barriers to overcome. Assessment: Strengths-based service delivery often starts with an assessment process to prompt the client and program staff to identify capabilities and assets which the client can mobilize. The information collected some of the clients history, the type, frequency, and call such a problem, process as mood, personality changes and behavioural painful emotional reactions, and severity of cognitive change, the problem with such other diseases of the nervous system and the physical signs of damage to the test as the language of social behaviour assessment difficult enough -solving, thinking. Planning: Strengths-based service planning begins first with identifying what causes the current health situation, planning how to maintain behaviour, planning how to prevent further and future complications. The planning process also take into consideration the individual’s own life’s perspectives relating to their beliefs, cultures and their religion while taking care of their personal needs. The plan will be vary over phase as during the healing the client and the case manager have to examine the variations and development that the client has encountered so the goals will be adapted based on the certainty and the course of attainment. Coordinating: For coordinating services using the strength based approach, the resources must be readily available. It should be in the position that is easily accessed by the client or it has the capacity to relocate their services so that it is can reach to the client. The services should also serve the interest of the client which includes but is not limited to: Housing, employment, healthcare, transportation and education. It must be culturally sensitive as well as being person-centred and community based. The client must understand as the availability and the efficiency. Besides that the case manager must also have a regular contact with the client and be prepared to make any variations to make certain the plan is permanently appropriate and updated. Strengths: It focuses on the person’s abilities rather than their disabilities. It empowers the individual letting him or her decide about his or her life. The person feels important as they became part of the process. It also avoids discrimination and stigmatising since the person with disability is the one defining him and not the health professional promoting self-esteem. Appropriate for all types of elderly. Leading to developing the confidence for independent decision making and help-seeking together with the help of the family and health professionals. Key to confidence to belief in oneself and a willingness to keep on through life challenges. Identifies and amplifies existing client system capacities to resolve problems and improve quality of life. Weakness: This model has existing and potential abilities became the basis of classification and not the aspirations of individual. It is sometimes difficult to establish individual aspirations since it requires effective communication and not readily assessable. Many critics of the strength based approach points out the limitation to which abilities define the capability of the person to participate in the community. Perspectives of the disability people: The strength base model is useful as it builds hope through relationship with people, community and culture. Also it strengthens the belief that people are experts in their own lives and the professional or carer’s role is to increase and explain choices and encourage people to make their own decisions and informed choices. Summary of the expected outcomes for the disabled: For the strength based model, the predictable results are that the psychological health of the client is strengthened and various the incapacitated can cooperative well to the society like the normal individuals without much psychological obstacles. Empowerment in their own lives. Clients are able to do activities of daily living. There is a sense of confidence in his/her day-to-day activities. Clients could express happiness that’s he is able to convey his/her messages and feeling comfortable about his/her environment. Clients enjoy life and feels he is useful for family members. Provide client’s relatives for and after care help from various agencies. Case management Model Case management is a collaborative process of assessment, planning, facilitation, care coordination, evaluation and advocacy for options and services to meet an individuals and family comprehensive health needs through communication and available resources to promote quality, cost effective outcomes. Some functions of case management include: Client identification. Outreach. Service assessment. Planning and monitoring. Linking, referring or brokering access to needed services. Advocating for needed services for an individual. The provision of support to families and significant others in the person’s environment Assistance in developing a social support network. Assessment: Initial history of clients is taken with physical and medical examination. Neurological assessment with particular attention to vision and hearing is essential to rule out other neurological problems. Mental Status Examination is to detect abnormal features in a patient’s behaviour and state of mind at the time of the assessment. General appearance and Behaviour- Patient may restrict his activities to an increasingly limited area within which he is able to cope. He will often repeat things that he has done several times, apparently without any awareness of what he is doing. Speech- may show a variety of more or less non-specific anomaly together with restriction of content, difficulty in finding words and naming objects, reduced fluency, repetition, preservation and lastly speech is striking when it occurs again be alert to any neurological abnormalities. Attitude – cooperative, hostile, suspicious, fearful and evasive. Mood the client’s emotional response lack of depth and are poorly sustained. Planning: Planning is done with consideration for all clients’ culture and belief in mind and family members are involved in discussion making. A routine plan for activities is done with clients consent and is aware to follow. Client is involved on planning and planning done in a safe and less congested environment. All types of illness are treated accordingly and client aware of it. Coordination: Client is helped or supported in ADL’s. Ensure a pleasant, safe and quiet environment. Client is well aware of environment and communication maintained. With clients consent preferred name is used with respect. Repeat the routine activity in a specific time of the day. Speak slowly, clearly in simple sentence. Client’s hygiene is maintained. Maintain communication with relatives and friends. Provide opportunity to do the tasks with assistance. Strengths: Support to keep frail aged persons and people with disabilities living with complex and multiple supports needs to remain in their own homes and local community. Provides mainly for the roles and tasks required for social work staff in the provision of help, support and guidance to people requiring continuing care at home. In assessing priorities and consideration will be given to the following client risk factors/situations. Weaknesses: The assessment and case planning process will determine an individuals eligibility for assistance by this service. Mainly focused in the organisation than concern with the coordination and organisation of care for individual clients. Providing direct services or psychotherapy as part of case management may contribute more substantially to the stabilization or improvement of clients’ situations, but such support probably needs to be sustained over time to produce long-term effects. Perspectives of the disability people: Needs are being met by services and resources. Trust and communication with case manager. Disability, physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, and developmental or some combination of these may be. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; Lack of activity in executing a task or action by a person, is a challenge; A block of life to participate in problem situations experienced by an individual in involvement is a problem while. So it is a complex phenomenon of a persons body and she remains a feature of society in which the interaction between features is revealed. Summary of expected outcomes: Talk about the problems they face at home to encourage family. Explain the need for physical and social settings. Support to various institutions for managing customer relations and education. The importance of follow-up care. Customers enjoy life and support for the family, too. In the community to talk with other people feel happy. Customer concentration and efficiency in their work shows References:- Source: Strengths-Based Social Work Practice online. Retrieved from http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Strengths-Based_Social_Work_Practice2. Source: Recovery approach online. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_approach Source: 12th Case Management Society of Australia online. Retrieved from: http://www.cmsa.org.au/definition.html Source: Case Management and Community Care Australia online. Retrieved from: http://www.cmsa.org.au/finalcasemanagementdiscussionpaper.pdf Source: Case Management Services online. Retrieved from: http://www.merrichs.org.au/Pages/CaseManagementServices.aspx KAVITESH P TAHAL S/N: 14030411Page 1

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Dentist Admissions Essay: Changing the World One Gum at a Time :: College Admissions Essays

Changing the World One Gum at a Time My college plans include attending a two-year college and then pursing a degree in dental hygiene. I believe that I will have a great opportunity to give back to my community with my chosen career. As a dental hygienist, there would be many ways to help young and old alike. The time that I would volunteer would enable me to become more involved in the life of our community. Our community usually has a small health fair sponsored by our local hospital. Services are offered to the public free of charge or for small fees. The health fair has not included dental health services. I think that this would be a wonderful way to promote good dental health. Brochures for all ages could be provided on the importance of dental hygiene. This would also be an excellent time to encourage and teach young children the importance of brushing their teeth. Toothbrushes and toothpaste could be provided for the children at this time. Another opportunity in giving back to the community would be through the school system. With the financial help of local civic clubs, kits could be prepared for the students in the elementary school. Through the kits, the children could be taught the importance of taking care of their teeth. I believe that the younger students would respond well to the "tooth fairy." The tooth fairy could then teach the correct techniques for brushing and flossing teeth. This would be a fun experience for the younger students, as well as a fun reminder. Here again, students would be educated and provided a service. One other way that I believe I could give back to my community would be through the local nursing home. Comfort and not being forgotten are both important to our senior citizens. Checking with the nursing staff on the condition of the residents' dentures would be an opportunity to serve. The nursing staff could recommend those residents that might have minor problems with dentures.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

David Gutersons Snow Falling on Cedars Essay -- Snow Falling on Cedar

David Guterson's Snow Falling on Cedars Snow Falling on Cedars, a novel written by David Guterson, depicts the struggles that many Japanese-Americans faced in our country throughout World War II. Though the events and characters in this novel are fictional, the manor in which they were treated was not. Ever since the tragedy of December 7, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese people throughout the United States were seen as traitors through the eyes of Americans. Every Japanese, whether or not they were a natural born citizen or an illegal alien, were all treated as a possible threat to the safety and well being of the United States. Kabuo Miyamoto, the Japanese American put on trial for murder, had endure this harsh reality of racism that plagued his town and saturated the court system giving him no chance for a fair and just trial. On the morning of December 7, 1941, the surprise bombing of Pearle Harbor violently awoke America causing great uproar throughout its nation. With all of America hating the then called, â€Å"Japs,† it made certain that no other Japanese person either from Japan or from our own soil, got a chance to do any further damage to our already crippled country. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Executive Order in February of 1942, which gave De Witt the power to round up over 112,000 Japanese Americans, over half of whom where U.S. citizens by birth (Manzanar 2). These Americans were forced to leave everything behind taking only what they could carry. They were sent to one of the ten concentration camps established throughout the United States. They were constructed in remote areas between the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Mississippi River (Relocation 1). The United States governme... ...treated as enemies in their own country just because of their family background. Just as these Japanese Americans were considered guilty by race, so was Kabuo Miyamoto. His Japanese background alone was enough to convince the island of San Piedro of his guilt. Kabuo Miyamoto had to endure this harsh reality of racism that plagued his town and saturated the court system giving him no chance for a fair and just trial. Work Cited Guterson, David. Snow Falling On Cedars. New York: Vintage Books, 1995. Manzanar. â€Å"America’s Concentration Camp.† February 1942. http://members.aol.com/EARTHSUN/Manzanar.html. P.B.S. â€Å"Conscience and Constitution.† July 2000. http://www.pbs.org/conscience/the_story/characters/akutsu_jim.html. Relocation of Japanese Americans. â€Å"War Relocation Authority.† May 1943. http://www.sfmuseum.otg/hist10/relocbook.html.

Admissions Essay: I Wish to Study Medicine :: Medicine College Admissions Essays

Admissions Essay: I Wish to Study Medicine    I have not always wanted to be a physician like many people who apply to medical school; instead my decision to enter medicine has been the culmination of experience and self-discovery. When I was fifteen I was stricken with a cryptic illness. After several years of suffering and many doctors visits I was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythramatosis. The Lupus diagnosis would changed my life in almost every aspect and was the beginning of the path that has led me towards medicine.    It was hard for me to deal with the diagnosis and even harder to learn my body's limitations. Every waking moment was a reminder that I was sick, and there was no comfort to be found in the medical world as there is still no cure for the disease. By this point in my life I had considered going into medicine. I had been a patient enough to know what it takes to be a good doctor. During the period before my diagnosis I had a few good doctors but I had also been faced with doctor's who didn't listen, who had no bedside manner, and who made incorrect assumptions. I knew that I would be better at these things for having suffered them. Unfortunately, at this point in my life I also knew that I was not healthy enough to be capable of withstanding the stressful years of medical school. I wanted to work near the human body, and my own personal research about lupus led me to seek out a degree in public health.    I've spent the past year going to school, working, and volunteering and I've learned through various ways that medicine is not only a path that I'm capable of, but one that I want more than anything in the world. As a full time student I have successfully taken many challenging courses. I have been working part time in a psychobiology lab learning how to perform research first hand. It was here that I discovered that although I love research, in many ways it is too disconnected from the people it is helping to be my ideal career. I spend a great deal of time in the clinics and the hospital at Boston University Medical Center and there I have observed the patient-doctor interaction and realized that I want to be involved with the people I'm helping.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Case Study on Motivating Partners at Starbucks

TABLE OF CONTENT CASE STUDY ON MOTIVATING PARTNERS AT STARBUCKS2 Question 1: Given Starbuck’s training approach, benefits, package, work/life program, and partner relations mechanisms, what insights have you gained about its approach to employee motivation? Explain your answer. 2 Introduction2 Motivation2 Expectancy- Probability (E to P)4 Instrumentality- Probability (P to O)4 Valence- V(R)5 Conclusions6 Question 2 : What needs does Starbucks appeal to through its training approach, benefits package, work/life program and partner relations mechanisms? 7 Employees’ inner satisfaction. 7 Equal treatment8 Listen to employees8 Question 3: What is important to you in terms of your personal work motivation? How does that which motivates you fit with Starbuck’s approach to motivating partners? 10 CASE STUDY ON MOTIVATING PARTNERS AT STARBUCKS Question 1: Given Starbuck’s training approach, benefits, package, work/life program, and partner relations mechanisms, what insights have you gained about its approach to employee motivation? Explain your answer. Introduction Starbucks Corporation, the most famous chain of retail coffee shops in the world, mainly benefits from roasting, selling special coffee beans and various kinds of coffee or tea drinks. It owns about 4000 branches in the whole world. The reasons of why Starbucks is worldwide popular are not only the quality of coffee, but also its customer service and cosy environment. Besides, it is also famous for its satisfaction of employees. The turnover rate of employees at Starbucks was 65% and the rate of managers was 25% a year However, the rates of other national chain retailers are 150% to 400% and 50% respectively. Compared with them, the turnover rate of Starbucks is much lower than other industries on averagely. As a result, Starbucks would be one of the optimal business models for the strategies of employee motivation, customer satisfaction and cooperation of teamwork. Motivation Motivation refers to forces within an individual that account for the level, direction and persistence of effort expended at work[1]. People have basic needs such as food, secure or achievement, that translate into an internal tension that motivates specific behaviours with which to fulfil the need. If the behavior leads to ones success, the person will fall in the state of satisfaction or we can call it reward[2]. Rewards are two types; intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic rewards refer to satisfaction occurs in the process of performing an action. Such as a salesperson that sold encyclopaedias for intrinsic reward of helping children read well. Extrinsic refers to a reward given by another person such as promotion and bonuses. The understand that I had on Starbuck’s approach to its employee motivation is best by explaining the case based on the Vroom’s Expectancy Theory of Motivation; is based on an idea that work effort is directed toward behaviors that people believe will lead to desired outcomes. The Expectancy Theory of Motivation explains the behavioral process of why individuals choose one behavioral option over another. It also explains how they make decisions to achieve the end they value. Vroom introduces three variables within the expectancy theory which are valence (V), expectancy (E) and instrumentality (I). The three elements are important behind choosing one element over another because they are clearly defined: effort-performance expectancy (E to P expectancy), performance-outcome expectancy (P to O expectancy). Three components of Expectancy theory: Expectancy, Instrumentality, and Valence. 1. Expectancy: Effort > Performance (E>P); 2. Instrumentality: Performance > Outcome (P>O); 3. Valence – V(R) Expectancy- Probability (E to P) Expectancy is the belief that one's effort (E) will result in attainment of desired performance (P) goals. Factors associated with the individual's Expectancy perception are self efficacy, goal difficulty, and control. Self efficacy is the person’s belief about their ability to successfully perform a particular behavior. Goal difficulty happens when goals are set too high or performance expectations that are made too difficult are most likely to lead to low expectancy  perceptions. Control is one's perceived control over performance. In order for expectancy to be high, individuals must believe that they have some degree of control over the expected outcome. Starbucks had matched employees to the jobs based on their abilities and clear communicating the tasks requires for the job is an important part of this process. This process took place within the 25 hours of classroom training. Instrumentality- Probability (P to O) Instrumentality is the belief that a person will receive a reward if the performance expectation is met. This reward may come in the form of a pay increase, promotion, recognition or sense of accomplishment. In Starbucks, they offer various types of benefits package includes full medical and dental insurance coverage, disability and life insurance, vacation days, a retirement saving plan with match company contributions, discounted stock purchase plans and stock options as part of Starbuck’s BEAN STOCK Program. Instrumentality is low when the reward is given for all performances given. Factors associated with the individual's valence for outcomes are trust, control and policies. If individuals trust their superiors, they are more likely to believe their leaders promises. When there is a lack of trust on leadership, people often attempt to control the reward system. When individuals believe they have some kind of control over how, when, and why rewards are distributed, Instrumentality tends to increase. Formalized written policies impact the individuals' instrumentality perceptions. Instrumentality is increased when formalized policies associates rewards to performance. Valence- V(R) Valence: the value the individual places on the rewards based on their needs, goals, values and Sources of Motivation. Factors associated with the individual's valence for outcomes are values, needs, goals, preferences and Sources of Motivation Strength of an individual’s preference for a particular outcome. Motivation = expectancy x instrumentality x valence Managers should make each factor positive in order to ensure high levels of motivation. Conclusions Referring to this case study, the new Baristas carefully selected and will receive 25 hours classroom training before they start their job. During this training, Baristas will be trained, coached exposed to the company’s goals, diversity awareness, customers, succession planning and career development plan. This would be the E to P Expectancy Concept. The Baristas then exposed to the company’s benefits and rewards; where the P to O Expectancy Concept occurs. The last one is the Valences outcomes. Starbucks distribute rewards that employees’ value. This action can increase the expected value of outcomes resulting from desire performance. Expectancy Theory of Motivation remains ones of the better theories for predicting work effort and motivation, and with one limitation that is, the theory had ignore the role of emotion in employee effort and behavior. Question 2 : What needs does Starbucks appeal to through its training approach, benefits package, work/life program and partner relations mechanisms? From my analysis earlier, Starbucks training approach, benefits package, work/life program and partner mechanism had fall into needs theory of Expectancy Theory. As I have stated earlier that this theory had ignore the emotional factor. As this theory seems using some kind of mathematical method on measuring the level of motivation, the emotional entity was so abstract and difficult to measure. What most important is the positive impact or the outcome occurs. I wanted to conclude that there were several soft impacts happened in Starbucks as the consequences of the implementation of Expectancy Theory. Employees’ inner satisfaction. A pervious researcher, Pugh & Hickson cited Elton Mayo made an investigation called ‘Hawthorne Experiment’. According to the results, if managers provided a suitable working environment considering each personal requirement and their sense of satisfaction rather than a higher salary or bonus, workers were encouraged to be more hard-working and efficient. He also verified that if managers of an organization do not consider about individual works’ needs and wants, then treat them as equal units would â€Å"maximize payment and minimize effort†. As a result, how to use non-financial incentives would be an important issue for nowadays business. The chief executive officer of Starbucks Corporation, Howard Schultz, considers that the tip of success in Starbucks is not coffee but employees. Constantly accumulating the working experience of employees and providing chances of promotion in a company for working partners is the way to operate sustainability. He firmly believes that the spirit of Starbucks is employees and feels honoured about the value of Starbucks employees. For this reason, it is necessary to have a perfect education and training policy for better performance in a company. Starbucks offers an interactive structure that makes personnel instil themselves into their job; hence they can motivate partners to satisfy themselves then achieving a new level of performance. Equal treatment The managers in Starbucks treat each workpeople equally and all of the staffs are called ‘partners’, even the supervisors of each branch are called it as well. In order to narrow the gap between managers and employees, they also co-work with the basic level staffs in the front line. Due to this, they can maintain a well management system and create a much closer and more familiar atmosphere than other place, which makes not only employees can enjoy their job but also customers are affected by their enthusiasm. Listen to employees Starbucks has a well-organized communication channel for employees. It places a great importance on labours. For example, managers plan the working hours per workers and arrange the schedule of time off, according to their wants to meet their requirements. There are interviews weekly to see what employees’ need is. A special survey called ‘Partner View Survey’ is taken off approximate every two years. The managers can receive feedbacks through the event to which part should be improved or what issue should be paid more attention to. The partners have the right to figure out what is the best policy for them, and the directors show a respect for each suggestion. Starbucks even wants every employee to join in making and developing plans, then achieving their goals all together. As a result, the policies and principles are communicated between all staffs, and there is no limitation in employees’ personal opinions. For this reason, business could improve their strategies even innovate by different ideas. Question 3: What is important to you in terms of your personal work motivation? How does that which motivates you fit with Starbuck’s approach to motivating partners? My important personal work motivation would be the physiological, safety and social motivation. If one organizational can provide this, I would say that I will be there for a period of time. There would be important  leadership implications to  enhance workplace motivation. There are  staff motivation opportunities  by motivating each employee through their style of management, compensation plans, role definition, and company activities. Physiological motivation can be imposed by company by provide ample breaks for lunch and  recuperation and pay  salaries that allow workers to  buy life's essentials. In government sector (where I work for), offers physiological needs, safety needs and also social motivation. Based on my individual view, managers within this sector may become varies in style of leaderships. This happened due to different background of race, culture and political views. If the managers fail to be fair or fail to perform, dissatisfaction among workers may occur. In government sector, most of the organizations within tend to be people orientation than result orientated. This similar to the environment in Starbucks, its employees, including informal personnel, are offered a great deal of welfare policies, for instance, commodities discounts for employees, medical insurance (including health, vision and dental) and vacations. Moreover, the partners who work over 20 hours a week are entitled for benefits. This related to safety needs. Social needs can be generate a feeling of acceptance, belonging, and community by reinforcing team dynamics. Howard Schultz and other Starbucks senior executives worked to instill some key values and guiding principles into the Starbucks culture. The keystone value in the effort â€Å"to build a company with soul† was that the company would never stop pursuing the perfect cup of coffee. Because of this, they have the same goal; in other words, they are motivated to increase the sales to earn more profits. Starbucks just handles personnel with its core value, which is the employees are the most important asset of Starbucks. Showing a respect to employees and well-developed environment have lead Starbucks to produce the best working quality for customers and an increase in profits. Starbucks establishes a well-developed system to keep good relationship between managers and employees. At first, the leaders of a retail shops use the same title â€Å"partner† as a basic level worker to narrow the gap of bureaucracy. Furthermore, they co-work in the first line to eliminate the distance between different statuses. Secondly, the numbers of employees are usually from three to six. Such a small size of a retail shop makes staffs acquaint with each other easily and deeply. In the co-working period, this helps a team to match different personalities and majors quickly to achieve well performance. Next, the suggestions and complaints provided by employees are treated of equal importance. In the same way, they have a right to participate in the process of revising company policies as well as a manager. In that case, each staff thinks that they also play an important role in company operating, and they can join to work out a direction of Starbucks. These give employees not only a respect, but a sense of participation. Yet, this Starbuck’s approach was hardly to be found in government sector. In public sector, they tend to uphold the hierarchy line. There were obvious gap between managers and subordinates. Furthermore, the organizations normally contain numbers of staffs. ———————– [1] Schermerhorn,Hunt,Osborn and Uhl-Bien â€Å"Organizational Behavior 11th edition† John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte. Ltd. 2011 [2] Richard L. Daft â€Å"Management† The Dryden Press 1997

Monday, September 16, 2019

Organisational Behaviour Ch7

CHAPTER 7 DECISION MAKING AND CREATIVITY Describe the six stages in the rational choice decision process Decision making: the conscious process of making choices among alternatives with the intention of moving toward some desired state of affairs. Rational choice paradigm of decision making: the view in decision making that people should and typically do, use logic and all available information to choose the alternative with the highest value. Decision making involves identifying, selecting and applying the best possible alternative. The best decision use pure logic and all available information to choose the alternative with the highest value Such as highest expected profit, customer satisfaction, employee wellbeing or some combination of these outcomes. Subjective expected utility: the probability (expectation) of satisfaction (utility) resulting from choosing a specific alternative in a decision. Decision making process: systematic application of stages of decision making. 1. Identify problem or opportunity 2. Choose the best decision process 3. Develop alternative solutions 4. Choose the best alternative . Implement the selected option 6. Evaluate decision outcomes Problem with Rational choice paradigm: 1. Impossible to apply in reality 2. Difficulty recognising problems 3. Process the huge volume of information 4. Difficulty recognising when choices have failed 5. Focusing on logical thinking, ignores emotion influence making decision IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES Explain why people have difficulty with it Problem identification is not just the first step in decision making: it is the most important There are five most widely recognised concerns. Stakeholder framing: attention-based theory of the firm: states that, organisational decisions and actions are influenced mainly by what attracts management’s attention, rather than by objective reality. Mental mode: if an idea does not fit the existing mental mode of how things should work, the idea is dismissed as unworkable or undesirable. Decisive leadership: being decisive includes quickly forming an opinion of whether an event signals problem or opportunity. Many decisions happens too quickly before having a chance to logically assess the situation, more often it is a poorer decision than would result if more time had been devoted to identify the problem and evaluating the alternatives. Solution-focused problems: decision makers engage in solution-focused problem identification because it provides comforting closure to the otherwise ambiguous and uncertain nature of problems. Perceptual defence: people sometimes block out bad news as a coping mechanism. Some people inherently avoid negative information. People are more likely to disregard danger signals when they have limited control over the situation. Identifying problems and opportunities more effectively * Be aware of the 5 problem identification biases * Increase awareness of problem identification, need willpower to resist the temptation of looking decisive * Create a norm of â€Å"divine discontent† * Discussing the situation with others to ease difficulty EVALUATING AND CHOOSING ALTERNATIVES Explain why people do not follow the rational choice model when evaluating alternative choices Bounded rationality: the view that people are process limited and imperfect information and rarely select the best choice. Problem with goals: assumes that organisational goals are clear and agreed on. Goals are often ambiguous or in conflict with each other. Problem with information processing: assumes that decision makers can process info about all alternatives and in their consequences, but it is not possible in reality. Implicit favourite: preferred alternative that the decision maker uses repeatedly as a comparison with other choices. iased decision heuristics: key element of rational choice paradigm, as people can estimate the probabilities of outcomes. 1. Anchoring and adjustment heuristic: people to be influenced by an initial anchor point such that they do not sufficiently move away from that point as new info is provided. Initial info influences evaluation of subsequent info 2. Availability heuristic: we estimate probabilities by how easily we can recall the event, even tho ugh other factors influence it. 3. Representativeness heuristic: we estimate probabilities by how much they are similar to something else, even when better information available. Problem with maximisation: people engage in satisficing, selecting an alternative that is good enough rather than the alternative with the highest value. To choose the best alternative is also demand more info processing capacity than what they willing to apply. Making the best choice among many, can be cognitively and emotionally draining. Evaluating opportunities: opportunity is different from the process of problem solving. Decision makers not evaluate alternatives, after all, the opportunity is the solution, so why look further, they tend to have an emotional attachment to the opportunity. EMOTIONS AND MAKING CHOICES: Describe 3 ways in which emotions influences the selection of alternatives 1. Emotions from early preferences: emotions form preferences before we consciously evaluate those choices 2. Emotions change the decision evaluation process: moods and emotions influence how well we follow the decision process. . Emotions serve as info when we evaluate alternatives: we â€Å"listen in† on our emotions and use that info to make choices Intuitive decision making: ability to know when a problem or opportunity exist and select the best action without conscious reasoning. * Gut feelings we experience are emotional signals that have enough intensity to make us aware * Not all emotional signals are intuitions * Intuitions are involves rapidly comparing nonconscious analysis Making choices more eff ective: Systematically evaluate alternatives against relevant factors * Be aware of effects of emotions on decision preferences and evaluating process * Scenario planning: imagining possible future, choosing the best possible solution long before they occur Evaluating decision outcomes: confirmation bias known as â€Å"post-decisional justification† * Forget or downplay the negative features of selected alternative and highlight the positive features * Typically nonconscious and driven by emotions * Gives people an excessively optimistic evaluation of their decision Escalation of Commitment: the tendency to repeat an apparently bad decision or allocate more resources to a falling course of action 4 main causes of escalation: 1. Self-justification: individuals motivated maintain course of action when need to justify their action 2. Prospect theory effect: a natural tendency to feel more dissatisfaction from losing a particular amount than satisfaction from gaining an equal amount 3. Perceptual blinders: occurs because decision makers do not see the problems soon enough, they screen out or explain away negative information, serious problems looks like random errors 4. Closing costs: decision makers will because the cost of ending the project are high or unknown Evaluating decision outcomes more effectively: * Separate decision makers from evaluators to minimise self-justification * Establish a preset level to abandon or re-evaluate the project * Find a source of systematic and clear feedback * Involve several people in the evaluation EMPLOYEE INVOLVMENT IN DECISION MAKING Describe benefits of employee involvement in decision making Employee involvement: when employees influence how their work is organised and carried out Benefits: improves quality and commitment – recognising problem more quicker – defining problem more accurately – improve solutions generated – specific conditions improves the evaluation of alternatives Contingencies of employee involvement Identify four option thet affect the optimal level of employee involvement 1. Decision structure: decision can be programmed and non-programmed, programmed decision need less involvement, because solution is already worked out from past incidents 2. Source of decision knowledge: employee have relevant knowledge than leaders, it is improves decision quality 3. Decision commitment: participation is improving employee commitment 4. Risk of conflict: employee goals and norms conflict with the organisation’s goals, whether employees will reach agreement on the preferred solution CREATIVITY Outline the four steps in creative process Creativity: the development of original ideas that make a socially recognised contribution Rely on to find problems, alternatives and implement solutions Creative process: 1. Preparation: person or team effort to gain knowledge and skills regarding the problem or opportunity, clear understanding of what we are trying to achieve 2. Incubation: the period of reflective thoughts, put the problem aside, however our mind is still working on it, maintain a low level of awareness†¦Ã¢â‚¬ divergent thinking† reframing the problem and generating different approaches to the issue â€Å"convergent thinking†: calculating the accepted â€Å"right answer† to logical problem 3. Insight: refers to experience of suddenly becoming aware of a unique idea CHARACTERISTICS OF CREATIVE PEOPLE Describe the characteristics of creative employee and workplaces that support creativity 1. Cognitive and practical intelligence: creative people recognise the significance of small bits of information and are able to connect them in ways like no one else could imagine, they also have practical intelligence, the capacity to evaluate the potential usefulness of their ideas 2. Persistence: higher need for achievement, a strong motivation from the task itself and a moderate or high degree of self-esteem, persistence is vital because creative ideas meet with plenty of resistance from others as well as failures along the way to success 3. Subject knowledge and experience: creative people have sufficient knowledge and experience on subject 4. Independent imagination: -high openness to experience, moderately low need for affiliation, high self-direction stimulation values Creative work environment * Learning orientation: leaders recognise that employees make reasonable mistakes as part of the creative process, and need to tolerate â€Å"creativity comes from failure† * Work motivation: employees can be more creative if they believe their work. Benefit the organisation * Open communication and sufficient resources Activities that encourage creativity

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Historical and Scientific Perspectives on Homosexuality

According to Rathus, Nevid, and Fichner-Rathus, (2005) the term homosexuality denotes sexual interest in members of one’s own anatomic sex and applies to both_ _men and women. Homosexual males are often referred to as gay males and homosexual females or referred to as lesbians. Gay males and lesbians have existed throughout history. The historical and scientific perspectives on homosexuality have shaped the way gay individuals perceive themselves in various ways. These perspectives may also be beneficial to heterosexuals' understanding of others in our world of sexual diversity. When looking at historical perspectives, religion and past societies' sexual behavior is addressed. Although past Greek and Roman cultures were frequently involved in homosexual relationships, the Christian religion denounced those sexual associations and made their beliefs and intentions clear that this behavior was not to continue, for example, according to the book of Genesis in the Holy bible, the city of Sodom was destroyed by God as a punishment as a punishment for sexual activity with members of the same sex. The legal system became intertwined with the Christian belief that homosexuality was sinful and would punish inappropriate sex acts as criminal offenses (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). Another perspective to consider is heritage. Traditionally, in many cultures, there are specific roles for the male and the female. When family is the â€Å"primary social unit† as we find in Latino and Latina American culture, anything but the designated gender roles is not acceptable (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). Interestingly enough, males can be sexual with other males without being considered gay (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). Women cannot be sexual with other women though because that would be a threat to the traditional male dominance in that culture. Women also need to be virgins when they marry men so any sexual acts before marriage are prohibited. Specific gender roles in many cultures around the world lay the foundation for what is correct and incorrect for males and females in regard to sexual orientation. The scientific perspective of homosexuality is whether homosexuality is caused by environmental influences or whether gay individuals are born that way. This question has been pondered byscientists for decades, but there is strong evidence to support the idea that homosexuality is an inborn characteristic. Research done on both identical and fraternal twins, show that there are higher concordance rates of gay monozygotic twins. Rathus, Nevid, and Fichner-Rathus, (2005) report that about â€Å"52% of identical (MZ) twin pairs were found to be â€Å"concordant† (in agreement) for a gay male sexual orientation, compared with 22% of fraternal (DZ) twins and only 11% of adoptive brothers† (p. 312). Also, evidence has suggested that hormonal influences could be responsible for differences in sexual orientation. Rathus, Nevid, and Fichner-Rathus (2005) explain that prenatal sex hormones be responsible for tissues in the brain to think sexually one way, but for genital development to be the other way. Also, structural examinations on the brains of heterosexual and homosexual males have provided speculative evidence that a part of the hypothalamus in gay males is smaller than that region of the hypothalamus in heterosexual males. The scientific perspectives have helped many gay people come to terms with themselves, which has made coming out easier. Before scientific evidence provided clues that homosexuality could be inborn, many people believe that people â€Å"choose† to be gay. However, the scientific evidence proves that many are actually â€Å"born† gay. Gay people do not choose their sexuality, but rather live according to sexual impulses that are going on within them. Gay individuals now accept themselves more because they are convinced that they did not choose their sexual identity, as much as it was given to them. Many homosexuals have formed organizations that are involved personally with others in sharing life stories and involved politically in achieving equal rights for gays and gay couples Although I have always been attracted to individual of the opposite sex, which means that I am Heterosexual, after learning about the historical and scientific perspectives of Homosexuality that I was not aware of before, I better understand others who are oriented in ways that differ from mine. I feel as though learning about the history, the scientific research concerning cross-species subjects, and the biology on homosexuality can be beneficial for humanity in order to learn tolerance for differences among sexual orientations. References Rathus, S. A. , Nevid, J. S. , and Fichner-Rathus, L. (2005). Human sexuality in a world of diversity. (6th ed. ) Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. Historical and Scientific Perspectives on Homosexuality HISTORICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVES PSY/265 Ana Diaz 10/20/1012 Kavita Kostek The way we view homosexuality has very much to do with how we were raised and taught depending on where we are from, our parents beliefs and what others around us tell us. Because of this we believe what we believe and will stand by them unless we ourselves come to a different conclusion as we grow older. I was raised a Catholic and was taught by the Bible teachings that homosexuality was wrong and will go to hell if that is what you practiced.In this paper we will look a little at the historical and scientific perspectives of homosexuality. We will first be starting with the historical view which has much to do with what the bible teaches on homosexuality. When we look back at ancient Greece where homosexuality was really not that big of a deal, older men would have relationships with adolescent males’ right at the time when they grew their first beards (online text pg. 28). Then we can go to Rom e where there were men that were very feminine and walked around certain parts of town looking for men to bed.In Florence which was a very Christian city had many sodomites (this is a Jewish and Christian word that signifies the connection between sodomy and the city of Sodom in the Bible which supposedly God destroyed (Genesis 19). I remember watching a movie called â€Å"Caligula†. This movie depicted how free the Romans were with sexual favors and bedding with those of same sex was an all-time occurrence especially male with male (online textpg. 287).Sodomy was such a natural thing but it bothered the governors at the time so they created a group called â€Å"The Office of the Night in 1437 to enable its citizens to be able to accuse others anonymously of sodomy (Human Sexuality pg. 287). Once the Roman Empire ceased to exist, throughout Western Europe Christianity spread and its beliefs were made part of secular laws. Next we can take a look at homosexuals through the cr oss-species perspective. Biologists have watched the male-male and female – female behavior of 450 species in every part of the world (Hird, 2006).Through this study they monitored the behavior of baboons and learned that male baboons may present their rear to other male baboons and allow themselves to be mounted either because the other is dominant or for protection and favors. I think by this study they concluded that human beings are much more like the animal species than we want to be. We do have animal instincts. We will now look at the psychological views on homosexuality with looking into the psychoanalytic views of Sigmund Freud who is the originator of psychoanalytic theory.He believed that children are all open to all forms of sexual stimulation. He says that once a boy lets go of the incestuous desire for his mother he will relate with his dad and will desire women as he reaches puberty and the same for girls when it comes to how they relate with their mothers. Wha t Freud is saying here is that depending on the relationship between parent and child and how it manifests itself sexually has influence on what the person’s personal sexual preference they will have when they mature.People are afraid of coming out and letting others know that they are gay because they are afraid of ridicule, personal injury or being ousted from their families. In the past it was much harder because there was much homophobia around. Now with all the gay activists and groups for support it is much easier. We have to be true to ourselves and if we feel that who we are physically is not who we really feel like then we should have to feel that we have to hide it. I grew up Catholic as I have stated and I grew up thinking that sex was between man and woman and not man-man or woman and woman.Now as I am older I know that people are just people but have different likes and that is what. Scientific findings never stirred me one way or another as to my sexual orientat ion. What did do it was my religious beliefs and even though I have nothing against the LGBT community I still believe that sex should be between man and woman along with marriage but I would never deny anyone else right to live life as they feel is right for them. References: Human Sexuality online text . Historical and Scientific Perspectives on Homosexuality According to Rathus, Nevid, and Fichner-Rathus, (2005) the term homosexuality denotes sexual interest in members of one’s own anatomic sex and applies to both_ _men and women. Homosexual males are often referred to as gay males and homosexual females or referred to as lesbians. Gay males and lesbians have existed throughout history. The historical and scientific perspectives on homosexuality have shaped the way gay individuals perceive themselves in various ways. These perspectives may also be beneficial to heterosexuals' understanding of others in our world of sexual diversity. When looking at historical perspectives, religion and past societies' sexual behavior is addressed. Although past Greek and Roman cultures were frequently involved in homosexual relationships, the Christian religion denounced those sexual associations and made their beliefs and intentions clear that this behavior was not to continue, for example, according to the book of Genesis in the Holy bible, the city of Sodom was destroyed by God as a punishment as a punishment for sexual activity with members of the same sex. The legal system became intertwined with the Christian belief that homosexuality was sinful and would punish inappropriate sex acts as criminal offenses (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). Another perspective to consider is heritage. Traditionally, in many cultures, there are specific roles for the male and the female. When family is the â€Å"primary social unit† as we find in Latino and Latina American culture, anything but the designated gender roles is not acceptable (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). Interestingly enough, males can be sexual with other males without being considered gay (Rathus, Nevid, & Fichner-Rathus, 2005). Women cannot be sexual with other women though because that would be a threat to the traditional male dominance in that culture. Women also need to be virgins when they marry men so any sexual acts before marriage are prohibited. Specific gender roles in many cultures around the world lay the foundation for what is correct and incorrect for males and females in regard to sexual orientation. The scientific perspective of homosexuality is whether homosexuality is caused by environmental influences or whether gay individuals are born that way. This question has been pondered byscientists for decades, but there is strong evidence to support the idea that homosexuality is an inborn characteristic. Research done on both identical and fraternal twins, show that there are higher concordance rates of gay monozygotic twins. Rathus, Nevid, and Fichner-Rathus, (2005) report that about â€Å"52% of identical (MZ) twin pairs were found to be â€Å"concordant† (in agreement) for a gay male sexual orientation, compared with 22% of fraternal (DZ) twins and only 11% of adoptive brothers† (p. 312). Also, evidence has suggested that hormonal influences could be responsible for differences in sexual orientation. Rathus, Nevid, and Fichner-Rathus (2005) explain that prenatal sex hormones be responsible for tissues in the brain to think sexually one way, but for genital development to be the other way. Also, structural examinations on the brains of heterosexual and homosexual males have provided speculative evidence that a part of the hypothalamus in gay males is smaller than that region of the hypothalamus in heterosexual males. The scientific perspectives have helped many gay people come to terms with themselves, which has made coming out easier. Before scientific evidence provided clues that homosexuality could be inborn, many people believe that people â€Å"choose† to be gay. However, the scientific evidence proves that many are actually â€Å"born† gay. Gay people do not choose their sexuality, but rather live according to sexual impulses that are going on within them. Gay individuals now accept themselves more because they are convinced that they did not choose their sexual identity, as much as it was given to them. Many homosexuals have formed organizations that are involved personally with others in sharing life stories and involved politically in achieving equal rights for gays and gay couples Although I have always been attracted to individual of the opposite sex, which means that I am Heterosexual, after learning about the historical and scientific perspectives of Homosexuality that I was not aware of before, I better understand others who are oriented in ways that differ from mine. I feel as though learning about the history, the scientific research concerning cross-species subjects, and the biology on homosexuality can be beneficial for humanity in order to learn tolerance for differences among sexual orientations. References Rathus, S. A. , Nevid, J. S. , and Fichner-Rathus, L. (2005). Human sexuality in a world of diversity. (6th ed. ) Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.