Natural Resources Essay

Natural resources are useful materials or substances that exist in the environment like land, water, sun, trees, oil, minerals, etc. Natural resources are generally classified as renewable resources and non-renewable resources. Resource depletion means exhaustion of natural resources in a certain region. When the rate of consumption of these resources exceeds the rate at which they are restored, depletion of resources occurs. The utilization of natural resources has increased considerably due to the rapid growth in population. Improvements and advancements in science and technology have resulted in overutilization of natural resources. Some of the major causes of depletion of natural resources are as follows: Overutilization or exploitation of resources. Partial allocation of resources. Population growth. Advancements in technology. Deforestation. Soil erosion. Mining. Depletion of non-renewable resources (water, minerals, oil, and gas) has a serious impact on world economy and can c reate an imbalance between different nations. Overutilization of resources can cause disruption and destruction of the ecosystem. Overexploitation of water has caused drying of water bodies like lakes and streams. Therefore, we must utilize these resources carefully to maintain a balance between nature and mankind and also for the sustenance of life on earth. – Overutilization of natural resources has caused serious imbalance in nature. Various environmental issues like Greenhouse gases, global warming, and pollution have cropped up due to overuse of natural resources. According to the environmentalists, some of the non-renewable resources like oil, petroleum and gas will be completely extinct in the near future if we do not carefully use and conserve them. Conservation of the natural resources is not an easy task especially due to the fact that we are heavily dependent on these resources for our daily needs. However, we can adopt the following simple ways and strategies to save our environment: We should use paper products that are recycled and also practice recycling of paper. Unnecessary use of paper should also be prevented. Read more:  Essay on Conservation of Resources We should plant a tree and take part in plantation programs organized by the Government. Reforestation should be encouraged and practiced. We can save water by fixing any nozzle or tap that is broken or cracked. When bathing it  is better to use a bucket or tub than the shower. We should employ proper waste disposal techniques like composting. Dumping of wastes in lakes, rivers and the seas should be stopped. We can harvest rain water by installing rain water harvesting systems in homes and offices. The rain water is useful for gardening and cleaning purposes. We should try to restrict the use of vehicles as much as possible. If possible we can choose to walk or use a cycle. In this way we can save oil and gas. A hybrid car is always a better option because it runs on both electricity, and small quantity of gas. We can save energy by switching off all the electrical appliances that are not in use and also by using those products that consume lesser electricity. We can save electric ity and natural gas by using solar energy. Many appliances like solar cookers, solar heaters use solar energy instead of electricity. Photovoltaic can be used to generate electricity from solar energy.

Misdoubt Chamber of Commerce Essay

Introduction Misdoubt Chamber of Commerce (MSCC) is a non-profit organization created out of the need for legislature that directly addressed transportation access, an issue that was affecting the business and economic development. As time progressed and the business grew, the executive board acknowledged the need to migrate to computer technology to use information at their disposal efficiently. The goal of this case study is to analyze and list the changes that occurred as a result of MSCC acquiring new systems for handling business operations. Background After a thorough analysis MSCC’s computer systems were found to be lacking proper integration and documentation, had very little maintenance and support and were not Y2K compatible at the time of the evaluation. To help grow revenue at a rapid rate and to reduce staff and programs Leon Lassiter was hired in December 2000. Lassiter brought 12 years of marketing and sales management experience working with American Brands. He believed that working with MSCC would have afforded him the opportunity to make a bigger difference than he would have been able to make with his former employers. His vision, along with the newly hired computer programmer Simon Kovecki, was to incorporate a computer system that enabled the organization to run its principal functions more efficiently. Len Lassiter was a strong advocate for the organization purchasing a new system called UNITRAK. Although this may have been a smart business decision, employees were disillusioned as they felt that they should have been consulted when decisions of that magnitude needed to be made. Simon Kovecki, who never received the promotion that he felt was merited, also voiced his concerns about the fact that access to data was too easily accessible. Eventually, Lassiter’s demonstration of the new UNITRAK System was persuasive and powerful enough to convince the MSCC to purchase the system. The purchase of the new system, which in itself was fraught with delays, brought on some new challenges. The implementation of the project was late with staff and users raising concerns. However, it was deployed and Lassiter was adamant that two days of training was required by all employees to understand this new system. Initial reactions were that this system was not as user-friendly or efficient however Lassiter allayed these concerns stating that the system as a new one and as such would require employees spend some time getting comfortable and familiar with this system. One of the requirements of the UNITRAK is that older data had to be altered and or converted to a new system for effective application. This process was not without its problems as there were errors converting data, data was corrupted, and backups accidentally erasing crucial data. Jeff Hedges, in charge of computer operations, rarely followed up on system purchases and uses as he was preoccupied with other facets of the organization. All these problems led to an uncertainty as to whether the organization would have been able to face the upcoming Y2K changes . Discussion With all the changes that MSCC was facing, the need to list problems and solutions was imperative as we can see here: Lack of required skills of the computer department personnel: oProblem: Simon Kovechi had very little experience was disappointed with the fact that he did not get the promotion that he felt he deserved. He was also unable to acclimate to the new system in a timely manner due to his lack of IT experience. oSolution: Experienced personnel are essential to any system changes within an organization. Appropriate delegation of work: Problem: Jeff Hedges was unable to give the new system the attention that it warranted as he also had other responsibilities. In the case of Leon Lassiter, he was put in charge of computer operations although he was not the employee responsible heading computer operations. oSolution: Personnel with IT knowledge should head the computer operations department and in a situation where the company is transitioning, should be their primary focus. Supporting applications and software: Problem: UNITRAK was unable to provide adequate data conversion support. oSolution: It is imperative that when an organization is the moving to a new computer system they select one that provides adequate reliable support. compatibility Consistency of data: Problem: Separate databases run on one system. Solution: Integrated database should be utilized to allow for more efficient data entry. Lost data: Problem: Old information lost in previous backups due to lack of proper implementation. oSolution: Proper documentation of software so that backups are not corrupted. Y2K compatibility: Problem: System incompatible with Y2k Solution: Systems should be updated in a timely manner so that compatibility is not an issue. Based on these problem and solution sets MSCC should implement the following: †¢Ensure that IT department has employees with the necessary skillsets for data conversion; †¢The board and management of the organization should be actively involved in the implementation of any new systems; †¢Request adequate support from UNITRAK along with proper documentation for the new system. †¢Ensure the organization has an efficient backup system in place †¢An outside consultant should be hired to help make the system Y2K compatible in a timely manner. Reviewed and made more concise. Conclusion MSCC relies heavily on data that is accumulated within their computer systems. In this instance, they were found to be negligent in protecting and securing their most important assets thus almost claiming bankruptcy in the process. MSCC should have had a strategic plan for implementation of a new system to achieve a seamless transition with very little loss to the business.

Do Colleges Use PSAT Scores?

Most generally, the PSAT/NMSQT (literally Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test / National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test) serves as practice for the SAT. This test is usually taken in the first semester of 11th grade, while the newer versions, which include PSAT 10 and PSAT 8/9 , are taken in 10th and 8th or 9th grades respectively. Since you probably won’t be taking the SAT before your junior year, the latter tests serve as measures for what you’re learning and indicate whether you’re on track for college. Colleges usually don’t see your PSAT scores. In most cases, just you and your high school are able to see the report. These reports offer details on your performance in different areas and can help you determine which areas you need to improve and hone your practicing. Your PSAT/NMSQT scores may enter you in the National Merit Scholarship Program if you take the test as an 11th grader. Your scores may also be used as qualifiers for other scholarships. So while college probably won’t see your PSAT scores, that doesn’t mean they don’t matter. The earlier you take the PSAT, the more likely your score will change when you take the SAT. That’s one reason why it’s not the most solid indicator of your SAT performance, though it can show you where you should focus your practice efforts. When you receive your report, you’ll see college readiness benchmarks that indicate how prepared you are for a college curriculum. Still, remember that you have more than a year and a half of high school education, so there’s plenty of time to improve. Check out Are PSAT Scores Related to SAT Scores? for more information on how your results on the tests correlate. You raw scores, or total number questions you answered correctly, are converted to a score on a scale of 160–760 for each section, for a total of 320–1520. The tests themselves mirror the SAT and include Reading, Writing and Language, and Math. You will also see subscores for specific skill sets and percentiles that indicate how you did relative to others taking the same test. For instance, if you scored in the 80th percentile, you scored better than 80 percent of test takers. Whatever your personal goals and objectives are for the PSAT, you should definitely aim to exceed the College Readiness Benchmarks. The good news is that if you don’t, you have time to improve for the SAT. Each skill will be color-coded according to when you’ve reached the benchmark. Green means you’ve met or exceed it in that area, yellow means you’re approaching the benchmark, and red means you need to strengthen your skills in the area. With our free SAT guide, you'll get ’s top tips for mastering the SAT. Enter your name and email below to download the checklist. As we’ve discussed, colleges don’t typically pay attention to PSAT results. In most cases, they won’t even see your results. However, you shouldn’t blow off the test. It can help you a lot in preparing for the SAT and understanding your college readiness and where you need to improve. If you take the PSAT seriously and prepare for it as though you were taking the SAT, you may have a less stressful admissions and financial aid process. Doing well can also boost your confidence, since scoring well can alleviate fears that you might not do well on the SAT, and the practice can help you cope with test anxiety before the tests colleges will see. Think of it as a rehearsal for the real test. Your PSAT scores can also help you win scholarships. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation cosponsors the test and will automatically receive your results. (Check out How to Qualify for the National Merit Scholarship Program for information on the award.) Some other scholarship committees, including National Hispanic Recognition Program, the National Scholarship Service, and Telluride Seminar Scholarships, use these results, too, although you may elect to not have them sent. Ultimately, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of the PSAT. It can help you a lot with practicing, studying, preparation and, ultimately, getting into college. Looking for some help with acing the SAT? The SAT Tutoring Program will help you achieve top scores on your test. We’ll pair you with two private tutors, one for English and writing, and one for math and science. All of our tutors have scored in the 99th percentile on the section they are teaching and are chosen based on teaching skills and ability to relate to their students.

HYPNOTHERAPY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

HYPNOTHERAPY - Essay Example Thus, in this way monotony to the visual sense can be achieved by hypnotist. When depriving a subject of a habitual pleasure such as smoking, following suggestion could be given to compensate for the deprivation: â€Å"Cigarette smoking will fill you with disgust. From this moment on and always in the future, any tobacco smoke entering your mouth or nostrils, will taste and smell like burning rubber. You should refuse to accept the cigarette†. To generate emotion in the subject, the hypnotist must steer the subject towards nervous apprehension. The hypnotist should alter the voice, move closer to the subject and apply in a carefully articulated monotone with a slow, monotonous rhythm. The hypnotist should make sure that what aromas or smells are present in the room at the beginning of a session, do not suddenly fade to produce an obvious sensory change. In addition, one should make certain that no new or unfamiliar smell enters the room to alter the established pattern of olfactory impressions. This is the way to apply monotony to the sense of smell. Whilst being hypnotised, the subjects eyelids may be inclined to flutter or twitch. This indicates that he is still consciously aware of the existence of his eyelids, and of the need to control them if the eyes are to remain closed. The hypnotist should thank the difficult subject reassuringly, and should try to give him the feeling that something positive has been achieved. Thus, the hypnotist can protect his image against the possibility of failing to hypnotise the difficult subjects. A hypnotist should tell that he I going to place his/her hand on the left shoulder of one member of a group of hypnotised subjects, until then the subject has to remain asleep ignoring all the suggestions. Then, when the individual feel that it is his turn now, then the subject will immediately start responding to all the suggestions made by hypnotist. For mass hypnosis, forego the

A New Work Ethic Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A New Work Ethic - Case Study Example Indeed, what Sheehy reports as typical in a capitalist-based work environment is a matter of fact which most corporate people in the field of business may not be significantly aware of. There were a number of instances when I witnessed how the restaurant’s crew managed to game the system to their advantage. One time, I saw a co-employee assigned in cooking took for personal consumption a portion of dish from the plate that was to be served for customer and when I expressed curiosity and asked, I was merely told that it was no big deal since leftovers are a very common outcome from majority of customers. Another time, some three of the crew conspired to take a couple of bills from the petty cash compartment which they effortlessly carried out and it felt sad on me to have stayed helpless and that accounting of money for contingency purposes is deliberately overlooked. A friend of mine confessed of doing errands for office colleagues who had guts for spreading their weights arou nd as though to claim advantage of the good terms possessed between them and the immediate bosses who make critical decisions. Most of them, according to my friend, are also into the tradition of manipulating timekeeping record with low risk of getting caught due to poor coordination among responsible departments. It is no surprise at all, thus, to have read from the details of Sheehy’s personal work experience. (2) Explain the implications of the work ethic Sheehy describes for the future of American business. With the new work ethic shown in the work scenario presented by Sheehy, the economy of the future American business might run the risk of yielding a lesser probability of attracting stable consumerism. This would necessarily reflect in the customer feedback indicating unfavorable general results toward the unpleasant approach majority of them receive from inefficient and impolite working staff. Revenues are put at stake once the quality of customer service is taken for granted due to the conflict set by the prevailing ill attributes of work ethic which translates to problematic impression on a reputed business label through underperforming employees. American business could well be confronted with the predictable consequence of losing valuable clients who are naturally eligible to change preferences or make adjustments on priorities and budget on the basis of several factors including consideration of new line of commodities made by leading competitors in U.S. and abroad. (3) Explain whether it is more reasonable to expect workers, especially in a capitalist society, to be more devoted to their jobs, more concerned with quality and customer service, than Sheehy’s co-workers were. Knowing how a capitalist society works to meet its objectives via optimum capacity of production which the capitalist greatly expects from the pool of workers who are normally paid the minimum, it would be inconceivable for a worker to favor the company’s i nterest firsthand. Most probably, these working individuals would have motives and work ethic similar to those which Sheehy’s co-workers exhibited. As commodity production remains one-sided on generating massive profits for the capitalist while laborers are inclined to settle with a steady state of economy that is either hindered or is not supported in growth. Hence, it becomes natural

The Irony of Presence and Absence in a Tethered World Assignment

The Irony of Presence and Absence in a Tethered World - Assignment Example   People are cyborgs because they become their technology, where they expect enhancement of, not just their experiences and interconnections, but also their identities. Turkle argues that connectivity also allows people to experiment with their identity development through Erik Erikson’s notion of the moratorium (152). She describes it as having new free spaces, where people can easily explore the production of ever-changing identities. Moreover, Turkle underscores the irony of using technology for one’s diverse gains. The tool becomes the person, as the person becomes inextricably dependent on it. Turkle argues that the more people use tethered technologies, the more they nurture their dependence on it (154). Furthermore, Turkle explores her hesitancy in embracing a virtually connected self. She admits that she enjoys being connected because she can bring memories with her anywhere she goes, and she can remain connected to her loved ones. However, Turkle recognizes t he drawbacks of 24/7 connection: the inability to be disconnected when one should be so. In â€Å"Tethered and Marked Absent,† Turkle describes how technology connects and disconnects people from one another. On the one hand, communications technology connects people in real time. On the other hand, as they use these technologies, they become disconnected with whoever they are with physically. The disconnection includes having a sense of limitless privacy as if others around them no longer exist. In â€Å"From Life to the Life Mix,† Turkle emphasizes how technology provides new materials for reworking people’s identities. She uses the term â€Å"life mix† (160) to describe the shift from multi-tasking to living parallel lives. She gives examples on how Second Life and other social networking sites allow people to be their real selves, even when these identities live in a parallel dimension, and where every aspect of its looks and capabilities are contrive d. In â€Å"Multitasking and the Alchemy of Time,† Turkle discusses the illusion of multitasking benefits. First, multitasking does not make people more efficient because studies show the contrary. Second, multitasking becomes addictive, though it can be physically and emotionally stressful. She offers examples of parents not doing much parenting and students not doing much studying because of their mobile communications devices. Turkle is amazed that people think that they can be more by doing more when it is evident that they can hardly concentrate on their existing tasks because of constant interruptions.  

American teens and violent video games Research Paper

American teens and violent video games - Research Paper Example Accumulated evidence pointed that there was a â€Å"causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children† (Smith and Donnerstein). With the evolution of technology, the rise of the video game industry had given rise to a new form of entertainment that quickly became one of the favorite activities of children in the United States. Uninfluenced from economical distraught and recession, the annual income has increased over the years, with sales that amount to $16.6 billion in 2011 (fig.1).The target group of the industry included individuals ranging from various age groups, with teenagers being the one of the most prominent with surveys showing that â€Å"99% of boys and 94 of girls play video games†(Lenhart et al.). With the first appearance of video games, violence was almost always present, with the most notable example being Death Race 2000, a car racing game which involved running over spectators to collect points (Kent). Shorty after the release of the game in 1976, the uproar and protests by consumers led to the removal of the product from the shelves. The realistic nature of the game and the human-like forms that were depicted being killed in the game were the main concerns of the protesters. Other controversies created during that era included â€Å"Wolfenstein 3D†, which featured Nazi symbolism and violent shootings and the subsequent â€Å"Street Fighter† and â€Å"Mortal Kombat† franchises, featuring one-on-one fights and gory graphic sequences (Carnagey and Anderson). Violence in video games, as with violence in media, had been connected to detrimental effects on children and adolescents. With the appearance of the first violent videogame, media directly connected it with teen violence and murder instances. However since then, various correlation and observation studies have produced ambiguous and different results that either confirm or disprove the connection between violence in video g ames and aggressive behavior and violence in teenagers. This review will analyze the concept of violence portrayed in video games, the various aspects that are affected in teenagers, evaluate proposed solutions and suggest resolutions to alleviate those effects. Figure 1. Computer and video game sales from 2000 to 2011 (NPD) 2. Violence in Video Games The evolution of videogame technologies and graphics has differentiated the depiction of violence vastly from the original, with more realistic graphics and gore. The realistic turnpoint in the violence philosophy, was the fact that in Wolfestein 3D, enemies shot by the player fell and bled on the floor rather than disappear like in previous shooting games, clearly stating the shock value that granted the game popular and later banned (Kent). In 1993, with the release of Doom, the next major first-person shooter, new features were included such as players hunting and killing each other as well as more blood and gore. Modern-day violenc e in video games is distinguished in heroic violence and senseless violence. Games depicting heroic violence represent killing in the context of heroic narratives, obscuring the moral dimension of violence. These morally simplistic games present any actions taken by the player as justified and praiseworthy. The vast majority of these games are set during the World War II, one of the least morally objectionable wars in the modern history. The most prominent

Attacking Child Poverty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Attacking Child Poverty - Essay Example 1). Marshall suggests that the USA ignores the issue of childhood poverty when announcing its economic achievements, and when comparing these achievements to other capitalist nations. However, the rapidly increasing rate of childhood poverty in the USA is breaking with stereotypes of the situation. For example, regardless of ethnicity, White, Black and Latino figures are increasing at a similar rate (Sherman, , p.2). Also, there appears to be more incidence of childhood poverty amongst suburban and rural children than those in metropolitan areas (Sherman, ). The thesis statement for this paper is: Child welfare policies are outdated lacking a pro-social approach to prevent poverty. This paper will present a synthesis of articles that critique policies targeting childhood poverty, and will provide an analysis of those policies and the recommendations put forward by the articles. Firstly, a definition of poverty will be presented. Secondly, USA policies aimed at halting childhood poverty will be assessed. Next, recommendations to change the situation of childhood poverty the will be outlined and evaluated. Finally, a conclusion shall show how this review and critique has answered the thesis statement. The definition of poverty as decided by the government of the USA is set by the Census Bureau and considers the income of families with children and their size, with adjustments for consumer inflation (Sherman, ). For example, a family of four is believed to be living in poverty if the family income is less than $14 335 per year; for a family of two their income would need to be less than $ 9 137 per year to be thought of as living in poverty (Sherman, , p. 1). Hence, other industrialized nations appear to have less distance between their socio-economic classes and this enables their poor to maintain a higher standard of living as compared to those in poverty in the USA. The child welfare system appears to lack

Business ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Business ethics - Essay Example akes the market becomes inefficient because it makes companies look good not by producing the best product and services at the least cost but by means of misrepresentation. Companies are made to look profitable by financial acrobatics when in fact, they are not making that much. The prevalence of fraud has a grave social implication whch everybody experienced recently. The financial crisis was precipitated by fraudulent companies where investors lost its trust in the market because of frauds. The law intends to make the financial industry objective and ensures that the financial reports that companies release to the general public are accurate and free from fraud and prevent other companies to have undue advantage through fraud such as the case of Enron. This will make the market more efficient because it prevents fraud which distorts the market. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act law intends to remove the possiblity that auditing firms and companies will connive to give the public a false financial report that distorts the operation of a free market. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act would prevent auditing firms such as Arthur Andersen to assumed the role of an Management Consultant as well as Auditor for companies like Enron. When Arthur Anderson became a Consultant for Enron, it became in effect its employee and thus losing its independence thereby conflict of interest inevitably arise which is inimical to the efficient operation of the market. This would be prevented with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act because the law stresses Auditor Independence that establishes the independence of external auditor to limit the conflicts of interest. Conflict of interest leads to losing independence of audit report that lead to their audit certification of a company’s overstated earnings and thereby distorting the market by not reflecting the true financial position of its players. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act also mandates the establishment of a Public Company Accounting Oversight Board which

Weathering Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Weathering - Research Paper Example The rate of weathering is also affected by various factors such as climate, geology, relief, soil or vegetation cover, as well as human activity. Research studies regarding the causes and effects of weathering continues and play a vital role in understanding the history of earth movement and development. Weathering is defined as group of slow processes by which surface rocks are broken into smaller pieces or dissolve into water as caused by the impact of the atmosphere and hydrosphere. It is considered as the primary stage in the denudation of the landscape since rocks are loosened by the weathering process. The length of time that rocks and minerals have been exposed at the surface of the earth will dictate the degree to which they have weathered. Pushkar (799) explained the process of weathering: Soils are derived from the parent rocks by the process called weathering. Formation of soil is initiated by disintegration or weathering of parent rocks by certain physical, chemical or bi ological agents. As a result, soil-forming rocks are broken down into small particles called regoliths, which finally develop into mature soil by pedogenesis. After the loosened rock particle moves due to flowing agents specifically air, water or ice, erosion or mass wasting occurs. Erosion refers to the â€Å"movement down slope due to gravity† (US Geological Survey National Park Service). Physical weathering or mechanical weathering is a type of weathering in which the breakdown of rock relies solely through mechanical forces such as freeze thaw, pressure release, thermal expansion, salt crystallization, sand blast, and glaciation, which do not alter the chemical composition of the rock. Freeze thaw refers to the breakdown of rocks as a result of the expansion of water during freezing which is common in places where temperature often fluctuates around zero degrees Celsius like in upland Britain. This procedure is most effective in jointed rocks particularly granite. Pressur e release or dilation happens when weathering and erosion removes overlying rocks. The released pressure expands the rocks, making it to have fractures which weaken the rocks as they become susceptible to weathering agents. Sheeting of rock follows when cracks develop parallel to the surface. Thermal expansion, also called as insolation weathering, results from large diurnal temperature ranges that influences heating and cooling of the rock. The rock expands when heated and contracts when cooled. The changes caused by differing temperature results in stresses in the rock layers. Salt crystallization takes place when saline water passes through crevasses and joints in rocks, evaporates, and salt crystals are formed as the dissolved salts crystallize. The crystals can cause granular disintegration or the gradual breaking off grains of rock. Sand blast occurs in arid and desert conditions when wind and sand disrupts rocks. Lastly, glaciation or ice formation corrodes and breakdown rock s into sand particles as the melting of ice during summer season move downwardly on the slopes and produces glacier movement (Codrington 252). On the other hand, chemical weathering is defined as â€Å"the decomposition of a rock by alteration of its chemical composition† (Codrington 252). The processes of chemical weathering are solution, hydrolysis, chelation, hydration, carbonation and oxidation-reduction. Solution involves the removal of certain mobile components of rocks for instance, calcium sulphates and chlorides, making the rocks porous and easy to disintegrate. Hydrolysis breaks down or washes out components of rocks such as alumina silicates and silicon which leads to simpler mineral matter like

Sam Houston Summary Essay Example for Free

Sam Houston Summary Essay Sam Houston had to face many obstacles since he was a little boy. He had very little education; however he educated himself with many readings from his father’s library. Houston served as governor for Tennessee and Texas. He also served as a United States senator for thirteen years. . He befriended General Andrew Jackson and remarried three times. Houston was made the first president of the Republic of Texas in 1836 and was re-elected in 1841. He gave many speeches throughout the years. Houston died on July 26, 1863, in Huntsville, Texas. Sam Houston, fifth child of Samuel Houston and Elizabeth Paxton Houston, was born on March 2, 1793. His father, Samuel Houston, a member of the revolutionary member, went bankrupt in 1806 and had no other option but to sell the Timber Ridge and move west to Tennessee. His father died the same year! A year later, Sam Houston, his mother, and his eight siblings resided south of Knoxville in Maryville, Tennessee. At the age of fourteen, Sam Houston had little education but spent a large amount of time reading books in his late father’s library. He also spent a great amount of time clearing land and developing a farm. The family decided that he would work as a clerk in a store because in his brother’s eyes he wasn’t doing anything worthwhile. Sam showed no interest in this job which resulted in his disappearance from the job and home. He crossed the Tennessee River with the Cherokee Indians. Houston joined a band of approximately three hundred Cherokees led by Chief Oo-loo-te-ka. The chief liked Sam greatly that he soon adopted him and gave him the name â€Å"Colonnen†. Colonnen refers to â€Å"The Raven† which is a symbol of good luck to the Indians. He went into debt due to bringing gifts home to his Indian friends each time he went to visit his family. At the age of nineteen, Houston had to find a way to get out of debt and decided to become a teacher. He charged the students a higher rate than usual which only took six months to pay off his debts. At the beginning it was just a way to make money but he soon realized that he had a strong interest in teaching. The War of 1812 had begun shortly after Houston began teaching. His career ended really soon. â€Å"Euclid soon defeated him and ended whatever thoughts he may have had of a permanent careers as a teacher. Houston was not amongst the early volunteers of the war; however he decided to enroll in a local academy to further his education in math. On March 24, 2013, Sam decided to enlist in the United States Army. Within a few weeks of training he became a sergeant. Nine months later, Sam was promoted to third lieutenant. Early in the 1814, Houston came under command of General Andrew Jackson. He became really good friends with Jackson for approximately thirty years. During the war, Houston was wounded and General Jackson ordered him to stay out the rest of the battle. The Indians refused to surrender. Houston volunteered to lead the attack; however his men hesitated to go forth, Houston ran forward and the Indians ended up shooting him twice in the right shoulder. Jackson ordered the Cherokees to complete the battles which forced the Indians to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson. This treaty consisted of giving up their claims to more than three-fifths of Alabama. Sam Houston was treated at one of their hospitals in eastern Tennessee and then transported back to Maryville. After the treatment he was assigned to the Southern Division of the United States Army. He was on light duty in the adjutant general’s office. On October 28, 1817 Houston was appointed federal subjacent to the Cherokees. At the age of twenty-five, on March 1, 1818 he resigned from the army and as Indian subagent too. Three months later, Sam Houston returned to Nashville to begin the study of law with Judge James Trimble. It only took Houston six months to learn and pass the bar examination. He then moved to Lebanon and opened a law office. In 1819, Houston was elected attorney general, and he then returned to Nashville. He was very successful and knowledgeable but he was not satisfied with the pay. He resigned in1820 in private practice in Nashville. â€Å"In 1823 he ran for the United States House of Representatives from the ninth Tennessee District. † (pg 15) Houston’s second term ended on March 1827, he went back to Tennessee to run for governor. He put himself in the public’s eyes by attending political rallies and any events that included the voters. â€Å"In early September he defeated Cannon by more than 11,000 votes in a total of more than 75,000 and won the governorship. † (19) In 1824 Sam Houston was introduced to a woman named Eliza Allen. She was only twenty and Sam Houston was thirty-five at the time. He asked her father for his permission to marry his daughter. Her father gave him permission to wed his daughter. She did not love Sam; however her family pretty much pressured her into marrying Houston only because he was a successful man. She followed their command and accepted his proposal in October 1828. They exchanged wedding vows on January 22, 1829 at the Allen’s home. Unfortunately, three months after the marriage his wife left him and went back home to her family. She refused to be with him and on April 16th Houston resigned as governor of Tennessee. It is still unknown why she left Houston, although she was pressured into marrying Houston. Sam and his companion, H.Haralson, journeyed down the Cucumber River to Ohio on April 23, 1829. He ended up in Arkansas with his Cherokee friends. His companion continued to travel leaving Houston behind with his adopted father and friends. Sam Houston soon discovered that the Cherokee nation had to move out of Arkansas and into east-central Oklahoma. The Cherokees were worried that the whites were going to take their current land again. Houston became their advisor and a listener to the Cherokee tribe. â€Å"Houston departed to Washington to inform President Jackson that several Indian agents should be removed and the Treaty of 1828 honored. He traveled to Washington D. C. to inform how the Cherokees received unbroken promises and that they rather have money verses gold. Sam Houston wed another woman, Tiana, while still married to Eliza. It wasn’t a big deal because she was considered Indian and his other wife was Cherokee. Within time he got a weakness for alcohol. It started interfering with his everyday live, was turned down when he campaigned for a position on the Cherokee council, and he also hit his adoptive father. Soon after, his mother fell ill and was rushed back to her home in Tennessee where she died in September 1831. A month later he traveled back to the Cherokee nation. In April he was arrested and punished for striking congressman, Stanbery, with his cane. He was found guilty and received a reprimand. In October 1832, Houston started preparing for his trip to Texas; however his wife refused to go. Houston left her some of his possessions and then divorced her. Sam Houston set up headquarters in San Felipe and began to plan a defensive strategy against the Mexicans. The volunteer soldiers under Stephen Austin battled and successfully took San Antonio, killed Milam, and forcing General Cos to surrender. The soldiers believed that the war was over; however Houston was not convinced that it was over. He made a public announcement that Texas was in need of 5,000 trained men by March 1, 1836. While Houston and the men prepared for the war they were approached by Fannin and the two leaders that won at war in San Antonio. Fannin, Johnson, and Grant came in making promises to the soldiers causing thousands to leave Houston and to join their militia. Sam Houston continued to lead approximately sixty to seventy men. On January 20, Houston traveled to San Felipe to meet with Governor Smith. Houston spent the rest of February with the Cherokees and Indians in the northeast. After arriving at the convention site, Washington-on-the-Brazos, he received news that Santa Anna’s army had attacked Texas and â€Å"besieged† the Alamo and the remaining soldiers. The declaration of independence was adopted on March 2nd. Two days later, Houston had become â€Å"commander in chief of the land forces of the Texian army both Regulars, Volunteers, and Militia, while in actual service. † On March 11th, Houston reached Gonzalez and found 374 volunteers that were led by Edward Burleson. While preparing the men for war Houston received news that Santa Anna’s army had â€Å"taken† the Alamo and attacked and burned all of its defenders. Houston ordered Fannin and his army to retreat to Victoria. They were captured and murdered by the Santa Anna’s army. On April 20th, the battle began between Santa Anna and Houston’s soldiers. Unfortunately, Houston was injured during the battle. Houston’s army men had captured and killed many men causing Santa Anna to offer a peace treaty. Houston refused until both government leaders were present. Fortunately, Houston’s approach succeeded. Sam Houston and Eliza’s divorce was not final until 1837. Houston served as president for two years, December 1836 to December 1838. He was reelected in September 1840. In 1836, a small group of soldiers were attacked by the Mexican General Santa Anna. Houston’s army won the battle against the Mexican forces at San Jacinto and gained independence for Texas, opened up a law office, and promoted a land development after his term expired. He traveled to Mobile, Alabama to interest a wealthy merchant, William Bledsoe, in the Sabine City project. While visiting the Bledsoe estate Houston met Margaret Lea. They were married in Marion, Alabama, on May 9, 1840. They had eight children. Margaret convinced Houston to stop drinking and attend church. Houston continued to work towards annexation with the United States. He used the United States and Great Britain hatred to one another in hopes to make each country want to snatch up Texas so that the other country could not. With high hopes of joining with the United States, the United States still was unwillingly to annex Texas. In 1845, Texas became part of the United States. â€Å"Houston’s joyous moment at the approach of annexation was tempered by the death of Andrew Jackson on June 8, 1845. The family rushed to the Hermitage but arrived a few hours late. They attended the funeral and were guests at the Donelson plantation for several weeks. † (139) Meanwhile, Mexico was at war with Texas for ten years. Houston remained in Washington to work in support of the war. Houston left Washington in the spring of 1847 because his wife had surgery due to breast cancer. â€Å"Houston traded Raven Hill for land within a few miles of Huntsville and planned to build a home for his family. He remained in Texas for the rest of the year, keeping abreast of the war news as General Winfield’s Scott’s army took Mexico City. † (147) In January 1847, Sam Houston obtained a new six year senate term. Houston became a presidential candidate but Houston’s mind and heart was with his family. In 1852, Franklin Pierce was elected; however if Houston put in the effort he could have won. January 15, 1853, he was elected to a new six-year term as Senate. In October 1853, Houston’s family moved to Independence, a city fifty miles to the southwest, while leasing out his home in Huntsville. In 1859, Sam Houston appeared to be leaning toward retirement. Houston invited the public to vote in his favor; however he did not campaign. â€Å"Texans who wanted his leadership had drawn him into the contest, and they did the campaigning. Houston became the only man in the United States to serve as governor of two states. He promised funds for railroads, schools, river improvements, and a protector of Texas if Mexico should try to battle again. Houston was all about the people he served and not the political party. Some petitioned for him to run for president, but he refused to participate in the national convention. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States, Houston warned Texans that the civil war was going to happen if Lincoln violated the Constitution. The Texas convention removed Houston from office and replaced him with Lieutenant Governor Edward Clark. This resulted because Houston refused to take oath to loyalty to the newly formed Confederate States of America. He wanted to avoid war at all cost and declined Lincoln’s offer to use the federal troops to keep him in office and Texas in the Union. After leaving the Governor’s mansion, he continued to support Texas. Sam Jr. joined the Confederate Army, against his father’s advice, was wounded at the battle of Shiloh. He was reunited with his family but on crutches. Houston moved his family to Huntsville because United States â€Å"took† Galveston and â€Å"destroyed the Houston’s family’s main source of income. † (197) In the winter of 1863, Houston fell ill. He developed an awful cough and was diagnosed with pneumonia. His wife stayed by his side and heard his very last words before his death, â€Å"Texas†¦Texas†¦Margaret. † Texas and his family were very important to Sam Houston. Sam Houston, one of the most important political figures to Texas. Houston served as governor for Tennessee and Texas. He also served as a United States senator for thirteen years. . He befriended General Andrew Jackson. He remarried three times; however he had eight children with his third wife. Houston was made the first president of the Republic of Texas in 1836 and was re-elected in 1841. He gave many speeches throughout the years. He led a successful battle for Texas Independence. On July 26, 1863, Houston died of pneumonia in their â€Å"Steamboat House. † He will always be remembered!

Common Causes for Emergency Geriatric Treatment

Common Causes for Emergency Geriatric Treatment Introduction Chronological age of 65 years or above is accepted as the defining criteria for Geriatric patients in most developed countries 1 .This large heterogeneous group is further classified into three subpopulations commonly referred as ‘Young-Old’ [65-74 Years], ‘Old’ [75-84 Years] and ‘Old-Old’ [85 years and older]. Worldwide, the number of Elderly persons is expected to more than double from 841 million people in 2013 to more than 2 billion in 2050 2.In United States, patients over the age of 64 years account for 15-18% of ED visits 3 .Of these, about 35% requires admission as inpatient and a significant proportion of this gets admitted to Intensive care units 3.. The common geriatric syndromes in the Emergency Department include altered mental status, functional decline, fall, trauma, acute abdomen, infections, acute coronary syndromes, cerbrovascular accidents and exacerbations of chronic respiratory disorders. There are unique characteristics and special needs which have to be kept in mind while addressing elderly patients in the emergency department. The clinical presentation of geriatric patients is usually complex with more of atypical manifestations; confounding effects of co-morbid diseases, super added cognitive dysfunction, polypharmacy and associated adverse drug reactions, psychosocial issues and lack of adequate social support etc 4. Assessment of these issues usually demands a comprehensive approach with detailed clinical and liberal laboratory and imaging evaluations. This is justified in the context that a brief focused evaluation can overlook many life-threatening conditions in these patient group. More over the attending physician should also try to understand the baseline functional status of the patient prior to the presentation as it has got important prognostic implications. Thus it requires great skill, knowledge and patience from the part of the attending physician and the health care team as such to effectively and safely manage this vulnerable patient population. Approach to Unstable Elderly patient in Emergency Department In general, the principles of resuscitation in elderly patients are same as the standard guidelines followed for adult patients. But it is desirable for the emergency physician to speak to the immediate relatives or to the patient himself if possible to see whether there is any advance directive or patient’s wishes for end of life care decisions. If present, it has to be respected before taking treatment decisions. The special characteristics in elderly while assessing Airway, Breathing and Circulation are summarized in figure 1.Nasal airway or Nasogastric tube has to be inserted gently with care as the nasal mucosa is very friable and has a tendency to bleed in elderly patients. Always examine the oral cavity in unconscious patients for loose fitting dentures or partly chewed food as they can cause potential airway obstruction and if present, has to be removed. Edentulous airway can result in ineffective bag-mask ventilation. Hence well fitting dentures can be kept insitu while bag mask ventilation but always has to be removed before attempts of intubation. Difficulty in extending neck or in opening mouth has to be anticipated while attempting intubation due to degenerative diseases of spine and temperomandibular joints. Arterial Blood gases are an important adjunct to the clinician as the clinical response to hypoxia, hypercapnea and acidosis can be blunted in elderly. Arterial hypotension (systolic BP 5. Serial assessment of Blood pressures and Arterial Blood gas examination to see trends in lactate, base excess and acidosis can identify such potential high risk candidates early 6. Fluid resuscitation should follow in the standard fashion with fluids or blood in an elderly patient who is hemodynamically unstable in the Emergency department. But it should be careful with constant monitoring to avoid pulmonary edema. Early blood transfusion should be considered in elderly unstable trauma patient. Common Geriatric syndromes in Emergency department Altered Mental status At least 25% of elderly patients in the ED have altered mental status 7, 8. Delirium is an acute confusional state and dementia is a chronic confusional state. Etiology of delirium is often mutltifactorial but often represents an underlying medical emergency. Diagnosis of delirium is clinical and is based on assessment of the level of consciousness and cognition. The confusion assessment method (CAM) is a useful tool for diagnosing delirium at ED 9.The important management steps in the Emergency department are illustrated in Figure 2.The first priority is to address predisposing and precipitating factors like hypovolemia, hypotension, hypoxia, hypoglycemia, hyponatremia, Acidosis etc. Often inpatient admission is needed for the management of the underlying illness. Drugs like haloperidol or lorazepam may be used in cases of extreme agitation but with caution and at titrating doses. Decline in Functional status Functional status reflects how well a person is able to meet his or her own daily needs-like feeding oneself, dressing up, getting out of bed, bathing, toileting etc. The attending physician should not misinterpret a decline in functional status as a part of normal ageing process. Functional status of an elderly patient can be formally assessed with use of standard scales for basic activities of daily living. Activity of Daily living –ADL is one such tool and is shown in figure 4. New onset Functional decline is often precipitated by medical, psychological or social reasons. Patients with unexplained functional decline need admission for evaluation and management. Functional decline is an important predictor of further functional decline, repeat ED visits, hospitalization, need for home care or institutionalization and death10, 11. The general approach to a patient with decline in functional status is illustrated in figure 5. Falls Falls account for approximately 10% of emergency visits in Elderly 12, 13.Falls are the most common cause of fatal as well as non fatal injuries in geriatric population. A fall should be treated as a symptom and the physician should evaluate the causes and consequences of fall. The most common reasons for injurious fall-related ED visits among the elderly were fractures (41.0 percent), followed by superficial/contusion injuries (22.6 percent) and open wounds (21.4 percent) 13. Serious injuries associated with fall include hip fracture, rib fracture, subdural hematoma, other serious soft tissue injury or head trauma. It is important to remember that a fall can signal a sentinel event in an elder person’s life triggering a downwards spiral of complicating events, finally leading to death. Acute abdomen in elderly Acute abdominal pain in elderly usually poses a challenge to the clinician as the symptoms are often non-specific, abdominal findings are often subtle and the presence of co-morbid conditions which can complicate the definitive surgical procedures. Common causes of acute abdomen in elderly include acute cholecystitis, acute appendicitis, peptic –ulcer perforation, mesenteric ischemia, acute pancreatitis, ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, bowel obstruction and diverticular diseases. Elderly usually presents with atypical symptoms, often significantly late in the course of the illness. It is essential to consider serious medical conditions like inferior myocardial infarction, pneumonia, pleurisy, diabetic ketoacidosis and pulmonary embolism in all cases of suspected acute abdomen. Abdominal tenderness may not be present or poorly localized. Guarding or rebound tenderness might be difficult to appreciate. Serial abdominal examination is important as new signs tend to appear with time. High risk features include acute onset of pain, severe pain, pain followed by vomiting, worsening or persistent pain, signs of peritonitis, hemoperitoneum and hemodynamic disturbances. Liberal imaging is the usual protocol with Plain x-ray abdomen, abdominal ultrasound and CT abdomen as necessary. Patients with continuing symptoms but with unremarkable laboratory and imaging studies should be observed and serially evaluated as necessary. An approach to elderly with abdominal pain is illustrated in figure 6. Infections in elderly Elderly are significantly more prone to infections and its life threatening complications. Presentation of infection can be atypical with lack of fever or localizing features. Sepsis can present with subtle clinical features like lethargy, decline in functional status or confusion. Usual site of infections include lung, urinary tract, skin and abdomen. High index of suspicion is necessary to early identify the patients with sepsis. Management of Severe Sepsis and Septic shock in elderly should follow the standard guidelines used for adults like international surviving sepsis guidelines 14. Early initiation of antibiotics and other sepsis resuscitation bundles is found to improve mortality and functional recovery 15, 16, 17 .The salient points in the clinical approach to an elderly with suspected sepsis are summarized in figure 7. Medication related problems Adverse events related to drugs are common in elderly population and is a common cause for ED visits. Elderly are more susceptible to serious and fatal adverse drug effects due to polypharmacy, lack of monitoring , non-adherence, use of multiple medications, use of over the counter medications, wrong dosage , altered drug metabolism and propensity for drug interactions. The risk factors for serious adverse drug reaction in elderly include ‘old-old’ patient, lean body mass, more than 6 chronic medical illnesses, 9 or more drugs, more than 12 doses per day and a previous history of adverse drug reaction 18. Most commonly encountered problematic drugs include diuretics, NSAIDs, Warfarin, Digoxin, antidiabetic agents, antiepileptic agents, chemotherapeutic agents, antibiotics and psychotropic drugs 19. Detailed drug history, reviewing prescriptions and direct verification of current medications may prove to be very helpful strategies while evaluating geriatric patients in th e ED. Elder Abuse and Neglect Elder abuse is defined a single or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust which causes harm or distress to an older person 20. It can result either from an act of commission or of omission and may present as physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, care giver neglect, self neglect and financial exploitation. It should be suspected in patients who present with unexplained or multiple injuries in various stages of evolution. Key points: The characteristics and needs of elderly in the Emergency department are quite different than the younger patient. Clinical presentation of life threatening diseases can be atypical, subtle or misleading with absence of classic symptoms and signs. Presence of multiple co- morbid conditions and cognitive impairment usually complicates the picture. A comprehensive work up-including detailed history, physical examination and liberal investigations and imaging is recommended than a brief goal directed or symptom based work up. Altered mental status, falls, functional decline, acute coronary syndromes, stroke, infections with or without sepsis, acute abdomen and trauma are the common geriatric syndromes in the emergency department. Social and non medical issues are important and need multidisciplinary input to ensure safe and effective disposition of these population.

Reflections on The Tao Te Ching Essay -- Ancient World Culture

Reflections on The Tao Te Ching When the early Christians had to keep their faith against the persecutions of the Roman Empire, they had -- obviously -- a visible enemy. Once their religion was legalized and established, however, they had new questions to ask concerning who they were, what could hurt their souls and their way of life. Some of them, at least, concluded that the materialism of the dominant Roman way of life was a non-agressive, but equally corrosive force that would destroy them -- not physically, but spiritually. These Fourth Century Christians, men and women, then left their societies and withdrew into the desert to be able to find true "paradise," not in a safe, secure niche in society, but in their relationship with God. That is, they had to escape the values that so comprehensively enveloped them that they could not think or feel clearly about deeper matters. Thus "freed" in the desert, they could know what a full human life was in practice. These spiritual discoveries of a "way" to live, to be, could then be used to challange the complex and tempting materialism that seemed to dominate the culture of the time. In a much briefer, easier, and less focused way, Henry David Thoreau, someone better known to our own time, tried his "experiment" by living for two years in the woods by Waldon Pond in order "to drive life into a corner" and find out just what it really was worth and what it essentially meant. According to Thoreau, people too readily accepted one already established set of ideas or another, good or bad assessments of life, and didn't seek answers for themselves. He too in his course of events wanted to make known what he learned, wanted to "publish," as he said, the essential "goodness" or "meanne... ...ind hits it. Those who by the age of eighteen have thick calendars organizing their too-complicated lives, those who have learned that a branch does not have real meaning, those whose religion tries to teach simplicity but does not get heard ("consider the lilies of the field, they do not spin nor toil, yet Solomon in his glory was not so brightly arrayed") -- can we enter the vision of the writings of one of us who lived 2500 years ago and left the city of confusion to find wisdom? Can we find in the tensions of his writings -- as they are the shapes of the tensions of living in a confused world -- the "way" of life that is most natural? Can we be at home in the universe that produces us and mirrors so readily what we are when we stop and look, wary as those crossing the ice, listening for cracks that might freeze them before they drowned, we see and hear the signs?

Information Relevancy for Online Consumer Decision-making Essay

Introduction The emergency of Internet has largely changed the travelers’ decision-making process (Buhalis, 2007) and websites have become such an integral component of today's businesses that website effectiveness are of strategic importance to companies at large and hospitality and tourism businesses in specific. It has been a customary practice for hospitality and tourism companies to conduct business transactions to market themselves (Buhalis, 2003; Buhalis & Law, 2008; Wang, 2008) and to enhance communication between suppliers and consumers (Law, Qi, & Buhalis, 2009). As a result, website effectiveness has been a topical area that received sustained scrutiny from tourism and hospitality researchers. However, only a moderate level of success has been achieved (Law, Qi, & Buhalis, 2009). Recent literature in tourism website evaluation have attempted to investigate this area from various angles including website design and functionality, consumer hedonic experiences and perception of information quality (Law & Bai, 2006; Law, Qi, & Buhalis, 2009). However, only limited research has been conducted in evaluating online travel agencies’ (OTAs) websites and travel agencies’ websites (Kaynama & Black, 2000; Chung & Law, 2003; Roney & Ozturan, 2006). The majority of existing studies in this area are conducted in the context of hotels or tourism destinations. Methodologies employed by these studies are mainly using survey questionnaires to measure the overall satisfaction level of online travelers, or other exploratory approaches such as content analysis or attribute/functionality counting against a predefined checklist (Law, Qi, & Buhalis, 2009). It should be noted that most of the existing research tended to only measure the o... .../desire/action to make final booking. 2) Questions related to their perceptions how relevant the information presented at each webpage is in assisting their decision-making. 3) Questions related to their personal information. Expected Contribution Providing relevant and timely information at each page of a website can be crucial in supporting consumer decision making and therefore website effectiveness. This research would be able to identify specific types of information that online travelers would need at certain stage of their decision-making process. It will potentially provide recommendations to OTAs for online information optimization. Additionally this research could build academic linkage between traditional service industry where customer-employee interaction mostly occurs and online service industry where customer-computer interaction mostly occurs.

African American Bell Curve Essay -- essays research papers

The bell curve of African American rights has risen and fallen throughout America’s history. The period between the Pre-Civil War Era and the Post Civil War Era, were momentous in displaying the status and rights of African-Americans in the time. As the Civil War approached, the status of African-Americans was an increasingly troubling issue among the American Public. During the War, the bell’s curve had reached its height. And during the Post-Civil War, the curve fell slowly and would not rise again for another 100 years. The cause of this racial bell curve is a series of political and social events that directly affected the lives of African Americans.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Compromise of 1850 marked the initial rise of Black loss of rights in this period. Previously, it was possible for Northerners to ferry slaves to their freedom. However, “Included in the compromise were funds budgeted specifically for catching fugitive slaves and prosecuting anyone lending assistance in the effort'; (Kevin Holloway, The Fugitive Slave Act and the Compromise of 1850). With specific funds that were directed in catching fugitive slaves, white bounty hunters could freely raid the North and search for fugitive slaves. These brutal hunters could now abduct any Black person left alone. Many Blacks that were never in bondage were kidnapped and taken to the South to be slaves. This legislation limited the rights of African Americans and enabled the white populous to oppress African Americans.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The bell curve approached its peak when the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin was introduced to American Culture. This novel, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was a revelation to the North because it displayed the cruelty of the southern trade practice. This single piece of literature created uproar throughout the country. The North was outraged by its tale of tragedy, deceit and hate. The South was outraged by its conception of slavery and its bashing of the southern culture. Either way, it marked an event in American History that would change history forever. African American status was now a major issue among Americans. Abraham Lincoln, in remarks to her book, once said to Harriet Beecher Stowe, “So you are the little lady that caused the big war.'; The quote displays the impact in which this one novel broug... ...created by Lincoln to educate the Freemen, and to make sure that the Blacks were not totally stripped of their rights. Along with the Freedmen Bureau, various laws and codes were passed (that had little effect) that also protected the rights of Blacks. After the Civil War, it was a time of Reconstruction. The Black Slave Factor was eliminated; blacks were now ignored and would not be heard for another 100 years. The bell’s curve fell.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Between the Pre-Civil War and Post Civil War periods, the rights and social place of Blacks had risen and fell similarly to that of the curve of a bell. The height of the curve reached its peak during the war, and fell after. The Compromise of 1850, Uncle Toms Cabin, and John Brown’s rebellion all marked the rise in the bell curve. The Civil War, and the Emancipation Proclamtion marked the peak in the bell curve. The 13th and 14th amendments, along with the Jim Crow laws and the establishment of the Freedmen’s Bureau all marked the decline in the Bell curve. 100 years later, the bell’s curve would reach its climax once again during the Civil Rights Movement, and once again, fall.

Traits of a Good leader

Today we live in a modern world where change is the only constant. We are surrounded by uncertainty in our daily lives, whether it is personal or professional. It is important to understand that a leader has to be comfortable dealing with uncertainty and change. First it is important to understand who a leader is. At the most basic level, a leader is someone who guides or leads other people. In more detail, a leader is a strong individual who has a vision or a purpose.He or she also has the skills and dedication required to see this vision through, guiding others to elieve in this vision and implementing the plan so that the desired result is achieved. The authors of Leading the Way look at seven angles or attitudes that make a successful leader. If these seven blocks are considered and improved, one is sure to be a more effective leader. According to Leading the Way, the two basic foundations of leadership are individuality and insight. It is vital to understand these before one can succeed at being a leader.Individuality is ones personal identity. Who you really are, what you stand for, that is individuality. When it comes to leaders, one who displays a strong ndividuality be being himself or herself is a powerful personality who will be looked upto. Individuality means bringing ones personal experiences, values and beliefs to the table (Leading the Way. 40). It is good for a leader to have his or her unique style and to follow the values he or she believes in. Personal experience is one of the greatest strengths of individuality. Every individual has his or wealth of unique experiences.When a leader is proud of his or her individuality and displays it openly he or she is sure to be more effective. I am trying to implement this is my personal aily life by dissecting my own values and trying to see what makes me unique. I have found that I am a very open person, direct and emotionally expressive. I let my emotions guide me. This is who I am as an individual an d has played a large part in my success as well as failures. Being emotionally expressive at work has helped my team understand my passion for my work that I love what I do and that has greatly benefitted me.It has a negative impact on my relationships, so I am working on controlling my emotions to reduce emotional outbursts. I am a firm believe that it is lways better to be yourself no matter what. Ralph Waldo Emerson summarizes thus concept of individuality beautifully in the form of this quote: â€Å"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment†. The second foundation that is vital for a good leader is Insight. To the lay man, insight might simple mean understanding, or reexamining and then understanding.Leigh and Maynard break this down into three parts self awareness, understanding others, and seeing what is going on. In order to be insightful, one must be aware of imself or herself. Knowing your strengths as well as your flaws, seeing yourself and understanding who you really are is insight. A good leader is one who is completely aware of himself or herself, the positives and negatives. In order to be insightful, one her strengths, weaknesses? Really understanding others is a tough skill to master, but if a leader tries to understand his coworkers he will be more liked as well as a much more powerful leader.An insightful leader is also one who is aware of his surroundings and not Just looking, but â€Å"seeing† what is happening around him or her. I am trying to incorporate this in my daily life by questioning my own choices. I'm trying to understand why I do certain things, why I make certain decisions. Sitting down and thinking about my personal values, and the reasons why these are important to me has made me gain more insight into my own life. For example, I find that a value that is vital to me is trust.When I tried to understand why its so important and my number one val ue, I have realized that being let down in relationships has made me form trust issues. I am also trying harder to understand and appreciate others. Doing this is actually helping me strengthen relationships with loved ones. The next important leadership capability that Leigh and Maynard talk about is â€Å"initiate†. Being initiative means being proactive or action oriented. To initiate something is to start something or take the first step to begin something. This is a crucial quality that a good leader must possess.To take initiative the right way, one must put in a good deal of time and effort into researching the material, forming a way to approach it. Taking the required risks to begin something new, have the determination to follow it through. A good leader is a risk taker, but he or she is also ready to take responsibility for his or her actions. A good leader is willing to be held accountable for both failure as well as success. The leader often must be the one insti gating the task. He or she bears the major risk and should be ready to be accountable for it.Leadership is a powerful position, and as famous people have said â€Å"with great power comes great responsibility', this entails a leaders role too. In my everyday life, I am trying to take more initiative by taking on new tasks, and following through what I start. Sometimes a big mistake I make is procrastinating. Nowadays I am trying to begin and follow through my tasks. To take on new things, the results I am getting are a huge boost in my confidence. My coworker is also impressed that I am getting so much more done and asked me what my secret is!I have always been ready to face the results of my actions; so taking responsibility comes to me naturally. The fourth tool that a good leader should possess is the ability to engage and involve everyone to achieve the vision. A synonym for involve is to include. A good leader is an individual who engages his team, by empowering individuals. T he leader makes the individuals feel valued and important. He empowers the individuals through programs to develop their skills and through coaching and mentoring.The leader also receives constant feedback about himself or herself from people and improves his ways based on the criticism. When people feel important and included, then they are more motivated to deliver the best results. A good leader will work on engaging his employees. To incorporate this step into my daily life, I am trying to hear more opinions from people. Whether it was a team project I had for economics last eek where I was the team leader, I asked everyone for their ideas and we all worked together as a team. Respecting and gathering the opinions of others makes them energy to the task.Inspiration. It literally means to be motivated or moved emotionally to be creative and get a productive task done. A good leader is one who inspires people. An inspiring leader is one who taps into what really is his or her pers onal motivation and passion. He or she is passionate and expressive. The leader should have a clear larger than life vision, and be able to talk about this honestly. This vision should be omething that reaches people. People should believe in this vision and find the leader is genuine and passionate. Communication is also a crucial key to be inspiring.A good leader will have effective ways to communicate the vision and truly motivate people to believe in it and act on it. In my life, I am tapping into what own inspiration is. I find great sources of inspiration from quotes and success stories. I have started keeping a Journal of these inspiring thoughts and look at them when I need a push or motivation. â€Å"A good leader inspires others with confidence in him; a reat leader inspires them with confidence in themselves â€Å"- Anonymous. The sixth skill that a leader should possess is the ability to improvise.Improvising means being able to adapt. In an uncertain world, a leader s hould be able to face changes head on and adapt to them. To make things and situation work by compromising and improvising. A good leader needs to be flexible, as nothing is written in stone. In changing trying situations a leader has to be flexible and find a solution with the available resources. A leader has to be creative and innovative, to make things work along the way. When stuck in a challenging situation the leaders ability to be innovative and encouraging will define the success of the organization.In my daily life I find improvising difficult. When stuck with uncertainty, I am more focused on the problem than finding a solution. My goal is to try to improvise and work on finding solutions. Last week at work I had to file a report by the end of the day and my colleague called in sick. Normally I would have been worked up and focused on how tough it would be to accomplish this task alone. I tried to improvise by getting all the documentation done at work and then filing the report once I was ome so I could have it ready the next day.The seventh key to being a successful leader is the ability to implement plans. Implementation literally means putting into action. In order to implement, one must be action minded with a can-do attitude. A plan must be formed and the leader must follow it through with persistence and dedication. Feedback is an important aspect of implementing and a leader should encourage and give helpful feedback. The leader must also track the progress of the task and make sure that it is going smooth. Don't worry that people don't listen to you, but worry that they watch you.A leader should exhibit the model behavior that he or she receives from employees. The ability to implement and follow through is the only way to ensure success. I have started making sure that I follow through and complete any task I take on. I used to procrastinate a lot , but now I am trying on getting things done in a timely manner and also track the progress o f my tasks. An individual who wants to be the best possible leader should really work on improving these skills. Leadership is a way of life. A leader really makes a change and dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. â€Å"

On Being Sane in Insane Places Essay

Have you ever been in a confrontation with someone where they ended with calling you a lunatic, crazy, or insane? It does not feel too great. But at least you know you are sane, and to everyone else around you, you seem â€Å"normal.† Can you walk down the street and visibly see a difference between a sane and insane person? There are some people however that are permanently labelled as â€Å"abnormal† or â€Å"insane.† These people are diagnosed as â€Å"mentally ill† and are forever stigmatized and in some cases, dehumanized because of such labeling. Is it easy to distinguish the sane from the insane, or is it in fact the environment and contexts in which observers find these people? David L. Rosenhan formulated an experiment to investigate if psychiatrists could identify the difference between people who are mentally ill and those who are not. According to Rosenhan, â€Å"there are a great deal of conflicting data on the reliability, utility, and meani ng of such terms as â€Å"sanity,† â€Å"insanity†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ normality and abnormality are not universal† (Rosenhan, 1973, pg.310). Rosenhan formed a group of 8 people who attempt to gain admission to 12 different hospitals across the United States. The psuedopatients each claimed of having textbook symptoms of schizophrenia. Once admitted, the psuedopatients each described their histories truthfully, and â€Å"they strongly biased the subsequent results favor of detecting sanity† (pg.313). Each psuedopatient â€Å"ceased simulating any symptoms of abnormality† (pg.313). Nursing reports obtained that each pseudopatient â€Å"exhibited no abnormal indications† (pg.313). The average length of hospitalization was 19 days, and upon discharge, each psuedopatient had a case summary written. All of the summaries were â€Å"unintentionally distorted by the staff to achieve consistency with a popular theory of the dynamics of schizophrenic reaction† (pg.316). Each psuedopatient upon discharge was reported as in remission, not cured, which perpetuates the negative label. These ascribed labels are permanent, and puts the diagnosed person at a disadvantage forever. People diagnosed as mentally ill are treated dif ferently, in most cases they are treated as if  their thoughts and opinions cannot be trusted or taken seriously. This is not fair, nor is it accurate. There is an â€Å"enormous overlap in the behaviors of the sane and the insane†(pg.318). The sane are not always sane, similarly, â€Å"the insane are not always insane†(pg.318). While reading this article, I was reminded about the homeless, and that many people assume that just because they are homeless, they are likely to have a mental illness. Now I see why many people assume this; the reason is the environment and contexts that civilians see these homeless people in. It is possible that some of these people are mentally ill, but it is more likely that they are in their position because of other reasons. From a sociological perspective, this experiment highlights the conflict perspective. In class, we have discussed how power is the core of all social relationships, all social systems feature a superordinate group and a subordinate group. In mental institutions, as well as in the public, conflict perspective is conveyed via sane people discriminating the allegedly insane people. Psychiatrists, nurses, and even civilians are above the mentally ill, because they are â€Å"sane† while the â€Å"insane† are incapable of having valid opinions. Pow er is scarce, and everyone wants some of it, and unfortunately this permanent label is debilitating for the person who is marked with it, leaving them with little hope of upward mobility in our society. References Rosenhan, David L, (1973). On Being Sane in Insane Places. 310-321

Study Skills and Daily Homework

I think that daily homework is necessary for a student. Daily homework is a important factors in life of education. A lot of students face daily homework in school for years. I think that there are a lot of useful points. Firstly, I will explain that homework supply a person that he or she is regular. Secondly, I will talk that daily homework develop achievement. Thirdly, I will explain that daily homework supply feel of relaxing. Firstly, a lot of student study lesson in only exams time and generally they postpone many things.Therefore, in points daily homework is essential for students. If they had daily homework, they had to get up early and both will daily homework and will not postpone something. For instance, my sister is student at high school and generally her teacher gives daily homework. My sister was a irregular person in past but she is regular in terms of daily homework. As a result, I think that if you want to be a regular person, daily homework is the best way for it. Secondly, I believe that daily homework is a important way for both study lesson and repeat lesson.When students stroll away, I think that a lot of students don’t find time for studying lesson but while they are doing daily homework, they remember that what explain in lesson and students repeat in term of daily homework. For example, my cousin Ali always don’t like studying lesson because he thinks that studying lesson is boring but generally Ali is successful for and doing daily homework. In conclusion, daily homework shoes achievement. Moreover, I think that daily homework supply feels of relaxing. When a student do daily homework, he or she feels relax because he or she thinks that I don’t have homework, now I can do what want.For instance, my teachers give a lot of daily homework so I always do homework in the evening. After I do daily homework, I relax and sometimes I watch TV or search on the Internet. As a result, when people do something, they relax and this is the best feels. As a result, daily homework is important for students. Daily homework has a lot of advantages like repeating lesson, giving feel of relaxing and be a regular person I believe that daily homework play a important role in my achievement at university or high school. Therefore daily homework is necessary for a student. All right, why do you try doing your daily homework?

Sociology and Social Sciences

The traditional social sciences which have been developed as part of the totality of learning in the West have been brought over to Asia. It is now becoming increasingly evident that the validity of such social sciences, whether in the realm of research theory or of action policy, can no longer be accepted uncritically. An appreciation of what is valid or invalid, applicable or inapplicable, is therefore imperative.Such analysis is necessary not only as an academic venture; social change is basic to the Asian aspiration for modernization and the need is urgent for such change to be directed towards the achievement of what may well be Asian as distinguished from non-Asian goals. CULTURE The problem is clear and present. The Asian academic world, until now, has been staffed with many scholars whose training has been, for the most part, in Western universities and institutions. At the same time, the political and intellectual leadership in the larger life of its society is held to a sig nificant degree of Western-trained leaders.The orientation of many of these leaders has been conditioned by the predominantly Western culture. Trained to think in Western terms through the medium of Western languages, some are experiencing a reawakening to the reality of their situation. Asian intellectuals are undergoing an agonizing period of soul-searching. Their system of values, developed through years of training in, and broad exposure to, Western philosophies, is being shattered by a realization that these values may not be suitable to the Asian environment.Recently, Professor Ruben Santos-Cuyugan of the University of the Philippines expressed misgivings about the movement towards the unification of all knowledge, including the assumption of â€Å"universal categories of culture† and the universality of value judgment. This movement, according to him, makes the social scientist evade one of his fundamental responsibilities which is â€Å"to examine the ways by which h is science and thought, indeed his very perceptions, are rooted in the matrix of his own culture† (Santos-Cuyugan 1967). POLITICSIn the meantime, in the realm of politics, the postwar leaders of Asia have discovered that independence has not automatically ushered in the Utopia. Thus, they are not seeking the nature and structure of government that will best meet their needs, the political philosophies their peoples should embrace or adopt, and the policies that will bring about the good society by their indigenous standards and values. A starting point is the fact that with a few exceptions, the developing countries of Asia profess belief in freedom and human rights, the rule of law and constitutional government.These concepts and maxims are manifested in their constitutions. However, in spite of guarantees enshrined in their constitutions, these countries find it difficult to achieve real constitutional democracy. For the constitutions of the West have, in many cases, been tr ansplanted to Asian soil without the historical experience that nurtured them in the West, where they were the products of a long period of evolution and development. Democracy implies mass participation by the people in the political process.But if the people are not sufficiently educated in the processes of democracy, or have not sufficiently imbibed its spirit, how can it flourish? In fact, one wonders whether or not the structure of government of the Philippines, patterned as it is after the outlined in the American Constitution, is not really a hindrance to, rather than an instrument for, national development. In any case, it has become quite clear that Western-style democracy has to be modified so as to satisfy the urgent Asian desire for economic progress and social justice.Liberty, as this term is used in the West, has mainly the negative connotation of freedom from arbitrary restraint. In the Asian setting, it must be given a positive content; governments have to assume a g reater responsibility for providing opportunities for the growth and self-realization of citizens. In the same manner, â€Å"justice† has had mainly a political connotation in the West, where it is usually associated with law and social behavior. In Asia, if political justice were not integrally related to economic justice, it would be almost peripheral to the real problems.In so far as Asians are concerned, economic justice is the more relevant concept because it touches the heart of the existing social order. In this sense, it is associated with the eradication of poverty and the alleviation of human suffering. Another qualification should be made. There is so much lip-service to the concept of â€Å"rule of law† in many Asian societies. By this, people are supposed to be guided by certain legal precepts in their social relations. However, in the Philippine experience, despite the fact that most Filipinos are professed and vocal adherents of the â€Å"rule of law.â € They do not find difficulty in transgressing legal rules because in the business of everyday living, non-legal rules oftentimes command greater obedience than legal ones, especially when values such as family and kinship ties are involved. This is part of the explanation of such phenomenon as nepotism. Which is certainly frowned upon by the formal laws of society, but which is carried out in practice by almost everyone in political authority. Finally, bureaucracy, as an institution, is in external forms and manifestations similar to its prototype in the West.The same formal methods of recruitment, of organizational charts, of job descriptions, etc. , are utilized. But the ethos that animates Asian bureaucracy is obviously quite different from what animates Western bureaucracy. ECONOMICS The discipline of economics fives many illustrations of the limits of applicability of Western concepts, values and methods. The most evident at the moment is the emergence of new branches of st udy, such as development economics, and of a more socio-psychological approach to the study of economic systems than Keynesian economics allowed at an earlier period.Thus even in the West, there is a growing recognition (e. g. , Hagen 1962), that if economic growth is to occur, a country’s cultural patterns must be such as to produce â€Å"high need-achievement† directed towards â€Å"clusters of followers† once innovations are made. In fact, to achieve substantial economic development, it is suggested that the number of individuals with the entrepreneurial-motivational complex, and particularly with high achievement drives, will have to be significantly increased.Again, many Western economists have been laboring under the assumption of conventional analysis that the missing elements in developing societies are modern technical knowledge, capital, specially trained manpower, and a sound plan for using capital, manpower and technical knowledge. Once these element s were made available, they assumed, progress will automatically ensue. The international economic policy of the Western nations have therefore generally been geared towards providing these missing elements, with perhaps the strongest bias being in the provision of capital as the principal agent of development.The view is still widespread that if Asian countries can only obtain, through their own efforts or through foreign assistance, as sufficient amount of capital, they would be able to â€Å"finish the job† of development. The truth is that investment, whether public or private is subject to the risks, uncertainties and eccentricities of the poor public administration. Since development is a process, it is subject at every stage to how effectively the government can execute its plans.Moreover, it is now clear that traditional marginal analysis, however useful it may be as a basis for the understanding of advanced economics, can be very misleading for underdeveloped ones. W hen such factors as population growth and technological progress are made an integral part of analysis, instead of being left out altogether as in traditional equilibrium theory, out analysis can lead to policy conclusions exactly the reverse of what orthodox equilibrium theory might suggest.Even with the emergence in the West of development economics as a new field for the study of developing countries, certain biases continue to show. An example is the fact that in the West, economic development as a goal has been reckoned almost exclusively in terms of increases in annual national income. The corollary problem of income distribution has been merely glossed over. This is a serious omission because of the existing wide disparities in incomes among the peoples of the developing nations. This is illustrated in Philippine society.For this society may be likened to a social pyramid with an acute apex and a very broad base. At the apex is a very small segment of society, the rich and th e very rich; at the base are the broad masses of those who are poor and very poor. The constellation of power in our society has traditionally consisted of the hacendero-politico class at the apex of the social pyramid, which held sway over the lives of human beings. More recently, a new industrial class has appeared to increase their numerically few but historically powerful ranks.The elite class enjoys the benefits of modern technology and the affluence that it makes possible while the vast mass of the population lives close to the subsistence level. There is this a distressing and ever-widening gap in the process to goods and services. It is clear, therefore, that to be relevant to the realities of the Asian situation, economic development should not be reckoned only in terms of annual rates of economic growth, or of doubling national incomes in a decade.It should be vitally concerned with promoting economic justice, in spreading more widely the benefits of economic progress, and in continuously opening up new opportunities to an ever-widening circle of entrepreneurs and investors in the developing countries. In short, the achievement of economic democracy has to be a primordial goal, alongside the acceleration of the growth process. SOCIOLOGY In the realm of rural sociology, many practical limits to Western social research concepts and methods have been actually discovered in the Philippines. Methods and TechniquesTo begin with, planning a research project on the Western pattern is often not warranted by the amount and quality of available resources. There is, for instance, the problem of shortage of local professional social researchers compounded by the attitude which rural folks have for those social researchers. In the West, its rural folks are used to extension workers, welfare-agency volunteers, missionaries and the like. On the other hand, Philippine researchers and interviewers have been looked upon as philanthropists, as some sort of Rockefeller o f Ford Foundation representatives ready to give out material aid (Feliciano 1965).The establishment of concepts and definitions has not been easy. Social research is built around a framework which requires certain concepts such as household, family, literacy, religion, cooperation, and the like. But a research group, led by Professor Gloria D. Feliciano of the University of the Philippines, has recently concluded that in diagnostic studies wherein these concepts need to be stated in more refined or precise terms, an adaptation is necessary to avoid getting inaccurate data (Feliciano 1965).The term â€Å"religious affiliation. † For instance, has a connotation in the Philippines different from that in the West, where individualism and not â€Å"familism† prevails. In the West, it implies not only membership of an individual in a religious group. But usually religious preferences as well. In the Philippines, where close family and community ties are predominant, religiou s affiliation becomes a family or community matter. Hence, the term does not necessarily imply the religious preference of the individual.Another example mention by a Philippine research group has to do with family types: In this country (Philippines), one may not find a simple or nuclear family defined and interpreted according to Western standards. For, although it may appear simple nuclear structurally, functionally it usually partakes of the character of the extended type. Studies in recent years have exploded the myth that structurally the Filipino family is of the extended type. Rather, they showed that although the majority of the nuclear families live apart from one another, this did not deter them from helping one another in times of need or crisis.  (Castillo 1963 and Feliciano 1964, cited in Feliciano 1965).In reporting one of his studies, a Filipino researcher expounded on the problem he encountered in regard to the concept of cooperation: In the West, where this term gave rise to cooperatives, one usually thinks of it in terms of a disciplined, highly ordered code of behavior, de-emphasized family loyalties, rigid business principles, and a high degree of rationalized behavior. In short, the term has come to be associated with individual independence.In the Philippines, however, where the practice is deeply rooted in familiar or family ties, it is a matter of interdependence among indivuals. (Provinse 1960, cited in Feliciano 1965). Finally, insofar as the concept of literacy is concerned, a further refinement of sub-types is needed in the Philippines. It has been discovered that very often one encounters people who could literally read and write but who do not fully understand what they read or write.Role of Women, Role of Education In another report, Professor Gelia T.  Castillo, a pioneer rural research scholar in the Philippines, has found it necessary to reexamine the role of women in the development scheme (Castillo 1964). Her findings s howed such strong female influence in family and farm decision-making that for purposes of development work, it would be more fruitful to classify the Filipino woman in the rural scene as an active initiator, legitimizer, and decision-maker in her own right, rather than just a person who plays a mere supportive role to her husband, her father, or her barrio.A closer examination of the role of education has likewise been suggested because, while it is a potent instrument for effecting change in agricultural production, education acquires a different dimension when it â€Å"rules out mud on educated hands. † This view has been corroborated by another rural researcher, Professor Juan F. Jamias (1967). Who has an interesting explanation for the effectiveness of the â€Å"verbal culture† (education, research and extension) in increasing agricultural productivity in the Philippines.He states that the agricultural college degree in the Philippines has been â€Å"white-collar ized. † He cites data on the employment distribution of graduates of the College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines, which show that except for 8 percent engaged in farming, all the rest may be classified as white-collar workers. A later and more comprehensive survey revealed that only 1. 3 percent were actually engaged in private farming or business. Most of the graduates were actively involved in teaching and extension work. There are other examples of generalization that need closer scrutiny.In community leadership, does youth versus age necessarily mean change versus status quo? Is the mutual self-help circle, often regarded as an existing resource for cohesive community action, coterminous with the village unit of operations? The problem of concepts and definitions aside, the Feliciano research group has found out, too, that Western scientific sampling techniques are quite difficult to apply because, oftentimes, sampling universes such as geographic, or politic al subdivision lines are not definitely established.Furthermore, in many places, the basic socio-economic structure of the occupational groups, ethnic and religious groups, and types of land-use and land ownership have not been objectively defined. Raw Materials from Research in Action Programs The traditional social research method, which has come down to us from the West, calls for empirical evidence to support existing ideas. Our experience shows that rural research theory in the Philippines, in fact, being enriched by various experiences in research in action programs.The findings of Professor Gelia Castillo show that the researcher in action setting â€Å"has a unique advantage in obtaining substantive and methodological insights while actually participating in real life events which are part of the process of bringing about change. † At times, she says the problem which defies any design except the kind which involves a faithful description of down-to-earth happenings, is the most fertile source of insights. Examples to support this view have been cited.In the Philippines, many extension workers have claimed that most of the researches done are not practical and economically feasible under village conditions (From The Innovator, 1965). In the Philippines, experience, new theories in rural sociology are arising from empirical evidence. And the existing facts and data gathered are quite interesting because they are the results of pioneer efforts, empirically identified with their meanings laid bare rather than assumed by the conceptualizer. Truly, the agents of change in rural Philippines are breaking virgin ground. Knowing One’s AudienceAs we have said, in effecting directed social change, Western social scientists have focused their attention on knowing one’s audience. Even in the voluminous literature on diffusion studies in the United States, rarely have investigators addressed themselves to the nature of the innovation and the cha racter of the carriers of change. Among the advocates of change, there is an unchallenged assumption that the change being introduced is good, that the change agent is effective and that, therefore, the farmer who refuses to accept the innovation is irrational (Castillo). To be sure, the audience should be known.Who is the Asian farmer, for instance, whose ways are sought to be changed? This is an extremely important question. Again, one should know his audience in order to evaluate his data. It has been found that the reliability of farmers’ responses depends upon the respondent’s image of the researcher or interviewer and their expectations from the project. The Role of the Change Agent Be that as it may, to understand the subsistence farmer’s response or lack of response to the innovations sought to be introduced, the innovation itself must be proved, and the role of the change agent fully studied.On the latter point, one of the findings is that oftentimes a change agency is as rigid as the farmers it seeks to change. A former consultant has been quoted as saying that â€Å"the problems of development exist just as much in the organization charged with instituting change schemes as they do in the populace they are trying to change. † (Kumata 1960) To other findings have come out of the Philippine experiments. One is that a change agent can hardly expect to be effective unless his roles is accepted by his clientele.Rapport with the villagers, therefore, becomes a key factor. The other is that the agent of change in the Philippines should have a versatility unmatched by his counterpart in the West. The enormity and diversity of problem situations he comes to grips with require an interdisciplinary thinking, especially when he is the only social scientist within a radius of many kilometers. He should not be just a rural sociologist or an agricultural economist but a social scientist with expert preparation in his own discipline.He n eeds sophistication in social theory, mastery of research methodology, adequate comprehension of bureaucracy and political behavior, and intensive exposure to the world of village action, administration and policy. Towards a Theory for Developing Asian Nations It is of the highest priority that the teachers and practitioners in the social sciences in Asia emancipate themselves from the value-bias of Western concepts and postulates of reasoning. There is need for escaping the universalizing that characterizes much of the social sciences as they have developed in Western academic circles.Asian social scientists should undergo a truly creative engagement with their own culture and society, making use, in the process, of frameworks that provide standards of relevance to the experiences and aspirations of their own people. It should be constantly borne in the mind that there are limits to the applicability of Western concepts, values and method to Asian realities. It is important therefo re, that organized efforts be undertaken to compile and codify the vast amount of scattered data on particular subjects of social research in the different countries which are to be found in research offices and libraries of universities.With a commitment to intellectual efforts with a decidedly Asian value base, more genuine works of scholarships in the social sciences should come out of the academic world. With the growing data from field works and social sciences which enable d us to verify the referents of concepts in our respective countries, we may usefully embark on the ambitious project of setting up a theory for the developing Asian nations, and in the process, hopefully, understand ourselves.